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<\/p>\nHe walked down the tunnel and past the large stained glass shield of Sithis that concealed the entrance to the Sanctuary. It was a big space, open, smelling of wood smoke and slightly moist stone.\u00a0 This close to the sea it was damp, and as long closed-up as the space had been, lichen and moss had overgrown many of the stone surfaces. It was largely quiet save for the crackling of the fire, but an occasional loud moan erupted from one of the hallways.\u00a0 Andante grinned. The playroom Delvin\u2019s men had built for the Listener was being used.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nazir was seated at a large table in the main area, along with one of the new recruits.\u00a0 The big Redguard looked up and greeted him with his slow smile and deep voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2019re back.\u00a0 You know, this place is starting to feel like home.\u00a0 Must be all the blood stains.\u201d\u00a0 He grinned. \u201cAnd the moaning. The moaning is particularly homey. How went the killing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA success, as usual, Nazir.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t even know I was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDrained him in his sleep, undoubtedly, like the accomplished warrior you are,\u201d came a child\u2019s voice, dripping with sarcasm, from the corner.\u00a0 Andante looked at her slight figure and grinned. Nazir laughed, a slow rumble.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know me too well, Babette,\u201d Andante answered her. \u201cIt was hardly the finest meal ever but I was hungry at the time, so I killed two birds with one stone, as they say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to refine your palate, Andante,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI do wish you would come hunting with me some night.\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled at him, a child\u2019s cherubic smile on the face of a three hundred year old thing of nightmares with a finely-honed expertise in brewing the deadliest of poisons.\u00a0 Andante was not, as a rule, fond of children.\u00a0 Babette was different, though, undoubtedly because she was not actually a child. She had an acerbic and macabre sense of humor that went along with her great age and that amused him no end.\u00a0 He was fond of her.\u00a0 Well, of Nazir too, if he was truthful.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have to pretend to be anything other than himself around these people; they\u2019d made him welcome and, if the stories were true, they\u2019d been equally welcoming to werewolves and other types of societal misfits in the past.<\/p>\n
Babette had been more than helpful in acclimating him to the business of being a vampire.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t taken her long to notice, and she\u2019d taken him under her wing. He had taken her instruction and advice and had run with them, just as fast as he could run.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome day soon, my dear.\u201d\u00a0 Never, my dear. Never.<\/em>\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to make you feel bad about your lesser hunting abilities.<\/em> Babette was strong, and experienced, but he had long since surpassed her; and while she knew that, he didn\u2019t care to rub her nose in it. She grinned at him and turned to climb the stairs behind them.<\/p>\n There had been great things afoot when Andante joined both the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild, and in spite of his best efforts he\u2019d been unable to tease out what, exactly, all of those things had been. The Brotherhood had been nearly decimated in some great catastrophe in Falkreath, and had moved here to Dawnstar not long before he had joined them. Emperor Titus Meade II was dead, and the Brotherhood had somehow done that, as well. That much he knew. What exactly had happened in Falkreath, he did not, aside from it having something to do with the Listener; and that fact made him take her very seriously indeed.<\/p>\n He knew even less about what had happened in the Thieves Guild other than the fact that a prior Guildmaster had been killed and everyone was happy about it. Nobody was sharing a single detail beyond that to someone who was, after all, still fairly new to the family.\u00a0 It mattered to him not at all aside from curiosity; all he had cared about at the time was that there had been voids for the filling in both organizations, and that he had done his best to fill them. Still, information was always the close companion of power, and he\u2019d been trying to pry details loose ever since.\u00a0 Both Brynjolf and the Listener knew he belonged to the other organization, thanks largely to Delvin Mallory\u2019s close relationship with the former head of the Brotherhood, and thus far there had been no problems.\u00a0 All they asked was that he remembered when to eliminate a target and when to simply rob him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve run out of assignments for you, at the moment.\u00a0 You\u2019re due a short vacation, anyway.\u201d Nazir chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cBut here\u2019s your payment.\u201d\u00a0 He passed Andante a large sack of gold. \u201cBy the way, the Listener has been looking for you.\u00a0 I think she\u2019s got a delivery for you to make. And who knows, maybe she has a new target for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Nazir,\u201d he said, weighing his new wealth. \u201cI\u2019ll go find her right away.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahh, lovely. Perhaps a new ring or three; I need some practice on my enchantments.\u00a0 And for all I know Brynjolf will avail himself of my stock of skooma.\u00a0 I\u2019ll need to replenish my supplies.<\/em>\u00a0 He shook his head to clear it.\u00a0 The idea was too distracting. I hope he doesn\u2019t use too much of it, actually, he thought, frowning.\u00a0 I\u2019d hate to see him become reliant on the stuff. It\u2019s easy to forget that he\u2019s not indestructible.<\/p>\n A petulant voice mumbling incessantly wafted down from the upper landing.\u00a0 \u201cCome, now, Mother.\u00a0 Won\u2019t you speak to dear, sweet Cicero, your humble and reliable Keeper? Just once?\u201d<\/p>\n Andante rolled his eyes.<\/p>\n He still couldn\u2019t fathom why, when she\u2019d had the opportunity to kill Cicero, the Listener had chosen to spare the mad Keeper.\u00a0 It was true, or so they told him, that Cicero had considerable skills as an assassin. \u00a0And yet, as the Keeper, he was never sent out on missions.\u00a0 The man was unbelievably irritating. Andante tended to flaunt his own good looks, that was true, but Cicero was outright flamboyant, prancing about in a jester\u2019s outfit, dancing around at inappropriate moments, speaking in bad rhyme.\u00a0 One just wanted to slap him back to himself but that would undoubtedly be a dangerous course of action.\u00a0 He was small, but he was in fact deadly. Cicero had sliced up half the people in the former Sanctuary before escaping to this one, if the stories were to be believed. And he had had his eye on Andante from the moment they had met each other.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Andante, is that you?\u201d Cicero called down, his voice musical in a discordant way.\u00a0 \u201cCome and spend some time with poor, lonely Cicero.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be right up, dear,\u201d he called up in return, a shudder running up his back.\u00a0 All of the men in the world and this would be the one who actively sought his attentions. I\u2019m not picky, generally speaking, but there is nothing in this world that could convince me to give Cicero a go. It\u2019s not that he\u2019s bad looking, really, but he\u2019s just so very odd<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy in the name of Sithis did she keep him alive?\u201d he muttered under his breath.<\/p>\n \u201cI will never know, my friend,\u201d Nazir said. \u201cJesters make me bilious and Cicero is the worst of the lot. Especially when he dances.\u00a0 That makes my skin crawl. But when the Listener speaks, we all obey.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante smiled at Nazir, once more admiring the handsome man.\u00a0 He had been the one who recruited Andante into the Brotherhood.\u00a0 The big, standoffish Redguard with the wickedly sarcastic sense of humor and enthusiastic desire for death and destruction had felt like a friend to Andante from the moment they\u2019d met. He\u2019d brought Andante to the Sanctuary and introduced him to all that was left of the Brotherhood at that point:\u00a0 the Listener, Babette, and Cicero, the man who cared for the desiccated corpse in the huge coffin, the Night Mother.\u00a0 Andante wasn\u2019t much for cults or religions or mystic legends from days gone by; all he knew was that being a part of this group opened doors that would otherwise have remained closed to him. There was room for him here. \u00a0Besides that, while Nazir was outwardly calm and relaxed about the Brotherhood it was clear to Andante that he was feeling a fair amount of pressure to rebuild the ranks after the disaster in Falkreath.<\/p>\n What a shame that he turned me down cold like that.\u00a0 Well, at least he hasn\u2019t held it against me. Now if only Cicero would leave me alone\u2026\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYes, yes,\u201d Andante nodded.\u00a0 \u201cAnd it\u2019s not that I have any objection to doing so.\u00a0 But I do wonder about that particular decision of hers. She sometimes seems almost too kindhearted for her own good, and I can\u2019t get over the fact that I am saying that about an assassin.\u201d He stretched. \u201cWell, let me go get the inevitable taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood luck. And then you need to go find her.\u00a0 She\u2019s at her house, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante walked up to the stairs and approached the Night Mother\u2019s coffin, where Cicero hovered almost continually.\u00a0 Look at him. He\u2019s positively wriggling.\u00a0 Let\u2019s make this short.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHow goes the business of attending the Night Mother?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Andante.\u00a0 It is so good of you to visit Cicero.\u00a0 The Night Mother is, well, silent.\u00a0 As usual.\u00a0 The Listener comes to listen and the Keeper \u2026 keeps.\u00a0 As usual.\u00a0 But I hold out hope.\u00a0 I do.\u00a0 Some day our lady will speak to dear Cicero.\u201d<\/p>\n He sidled up as closely to Andante as he could.\u00a0 Andante had long since established a distance within which he would not tolerate Cicero\u2019s presence and, for the most part, Cicero respected that.\u00a0 He often wondered what exactly went on in Cicero\u2019s head.\u00a0 He was a smart man, that was clear, but he was also quite clearly insane and one never knew about insane people.\u00a0 Especially insane people who were efficient killers.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd maybe, some day?\u00a0 Andante and Cicero will \u2026\u201d He giggled.\u00a0 \u201cGet to know each other better?\u201d<\/p>\n Andante fought not to grimace.\u00a0 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t put too many septims on that particular bet, Cicero.\u00a0 Still, it is good to see that you\u2019re doing well.\u00a0 Now if you\u2019ll excuse me, I need to speak with Babette.\u201d\u00a0 A convenient excuse that happens to be true.<\/em><\/p>\n Babette had come to the alchemy station on this upper level while Andante was talking to Nazir, and was now sitting at a small table overlooking the Sanctuary\u2019s main chamber.\u00a0 The scent of the herbs she had ground and infused into a foul-smelling concoction lingered in the air, and he wrinkled his nose at it.<\/p>\n She looked up at him and smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you discovered anything yet?\u201d he asked quietly.<\/p>\n \u201cI have, but you won\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTell me.\u201d\u00a0 He pulled out another chair and sat down.<\/p>\n \u201cThe name of the place is Volkihar Castle.\u00a0 It belongs to a powerful clan of vampires of the same name, and their progenitor is Harkon. Lord Harkon. He ruled the area when he was a mortal, but that was a very, very long time ago.\u00a0 They say that he made a deal directly with Molag Bal to become a vampire and is thus of pure blood, unlike those of us who came by our condition in\u2026 other ways. He thinks of us as lesser beings.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante felt himself becoming irritated.\u00a0 Lesser? \u00a0Really? How dare he.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWell then. There\u2019s no help for it. I will simply have to eliminate him.\u201d<\/p>\n Babette shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that easy.\u00a0 His entire clan lives there. They\u2019re all very powerful. They don\u2019t let people inside, not even other vampires.\u00a0 I was turned away as a \u2018half-breed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. Nobody has been able to enter for years. And even if you could get in, and defeat all of the others, he himself might be impossible to kill.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI find that hard to believe.\u00a0 I am Nightlord, after all, Babette.\u00a0 I have barely been scratched in a battle for a long time now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he,\u201d she said smugly, \u201cis a Vampire Lord.\u00a0 You know about them, yes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDamn.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante frowned.\u00a0 He did, indeed, know about Vampire Lords.\u00a0 They were a different form of life altogether, a transformation in much the same fashion that a werewolf was something \u201cother\u201d in its beast form, and they were deadly.<\/p>\n Babette is right.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that I could take down a Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWell\u2026 Do you have any other ideas? Is there anything else I could do?\u201d<\/p>\n I want that castle. I want that castle more than anything. I want it for\u2026us.<\/em><\/p>\n Andante had discovered the existence of the stunning building off the coast on one of his trips\u00a0<\/span>next to the ocean.\u00a0 Sometimes it was simpler to run up the<\/span>\u00a0coastline and then go inland than to travel roads infested with Forsworn. That\u2019s what he had been doing when he saw it, the castle seemingly floating in the fog not far offshore. He stood there, mouth open, just taking in the view, and the seeds of his second great desire had been sown. He found a boat tied up at a small jetty, rowed himself out to the island, and found what had appeared to be a beautiful, deserted castle. <\/span><\/p>\n When he closed his eyes he could see a vision of himself, establishing his own clan of vampires, there in the perfect, remote, beautiful spot.\u00a0 And in that vision he saw Brynjolf, with golden eyes, establishing the clan along with him. \u00a0His thinking mind knew that Brynjolf needed to be in Riften; in his imagination it didn\u2019t matter. It had seized him in a way nothing else had in the short time he could remember.<\/span><\/p>\n He wanted the castle.<\/p>\n The only thing he wanted more was \u2026 Brynjolf.<\/p>\n This will be my revenge.\u00a0 I will surpass them all.<\/em><\/p>\n Or if nothing else, I will have a perfect place, a remote place, to live out my days.<\/em><\/p>\n But he had not found a way in.<\/p>\n And he was determined to find a way in.\u00a0 He had asked Babette for help.<\/p>\n \u201cThere might be.\u00a0 You\u2019ll like this less,\u201d Babette murmured. Then she looked him directly in the eyes. \u201cYou need to become human.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante stood and slammed his hand down on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? Give up\u2026 everything I\u2019ve worked for?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShh. Just temporarily. Stop acting like a little boy. Sit down and relax and I\u2019ll tell you.\u201d Babette had the face of a child but when she scolded, her eyes became cold and harsh, and three hundred years\u2019 experience shone out from them.<\/p>\n All right. Damn it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any other sources.<\/em>\u00a0 Reluctantly, he lowered himself back into the chair.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a group, an old group from the Second Era.\u00a0 The Dawnguard. They were vampire hunters, and they worked out of an old castle southeast of Riften. They\u2019ve been reconstituting themselves, and their goal is to wipe all of us out. They have strength, and they have power. They\u2019ve been training battle trolls. They have silver weapons and I don\u2019t need to tell you what those will do to us as well as the werewolves. It looks like they\u2019re coming for Harkon first because he\u2019s the best-established and most well-known.\u201d<\/p>\n She leaned forward and stared at him, making sure that he caught her point.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m telling you is that you might be able to get to Harkon if you join them.\u201d<\/p>\n What is she on about?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure they would be happy to have a Nightlord with them, yes?\u201d\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.<\/p>\n She sighed. \u201cNo, of course not.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have to get yourself cured first. Then join up with them and see whether you can get access to Harkon.\u201d\u00a0 She crossed her arms and sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t even be suggesting this if not for the fact that they are after all of us, Harkon\u2019s clan and all the others in the world as well. They want to eliminate us, Andante.\u00a0 We are being hunted, each and every one of us. If you can get to the inside, once you\u2019re established, you might be able to help remove them as a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWithout my powers?\u201d\u00a0 I am nothing more than an ordinary Imperial man without them.\u00a0 It would never work.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo, stupid, you\u2019d have to become a vampire again.\u00a0 That can be easily accomplished after you\u2019ve secured your place with them.\u201d \u00a0She sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry I have nothing else to offer you, Andante.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s a fool\u2019s errand, and that you should just continue doing the Night Mother\u2019s work as you have been.\u00a0 But there is the chance that you could save us all and for that reason, I\u2019m sharing this with you.\u00a0 The Dark Brotherhood is on shaky ground, still, and we need time to rebuild, time we won\u2019t have if the Dawnguard wipes out half of us for being vampires.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTrue.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante stared at the table and thought hard.\u00a0 Give this up?\u00a0 Can I do it? Can I go back to being just a mortal man again? Needing to eat and drink and not just sweetrolls and brandy\u2026 Moving so much more slowly, losing that much power in an axe blow.\u00a0 Can I do it? Can I stand it?<\/em><\/p>\n It would be so much easier if I remembered anything about what I was before. Maybe I had some special skill, some special knowledge that would help me decide.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t. It\u2019s just nothing but a blank before that mountainside. \u00a0I can\u2019t remember, and I just have to decide based on what I know now.<\/em><\/p>\n If I don\u2019t do it, they\u2019re going to come for me and for Babette, and they will definitely kill us, because there will be more of them than there are of us.\u00a0 Even if the Listener and Nazir and Cicero and the new ones assist us we will all die. <\/em><\/p>\n He looked up at Babette.<\/p>\n Do I even care? I could just leave, find a place elsewhere, rely on my own devices.<\/em><\/p>\n Several long moments went by while he considered things.\u00a0 Babette met his gaze, but he couldn\u2019t tell what she was thinking.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care about the Dark Brotherhood. It\u2019s convenient, but that\u2019s all. Sithis be damned.\u00a0 I do his work but I don\u2019t care. But I don\u2019t want to see Babette or Nazir harmed.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been good to me. That might be a decent enough reason to give it a try and, as she said, it would be easy enough to come back here and have her turn me again if it proves to be too difficult.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0If I <\/em>do infiltrate the Dawnguard, and I\u2019m successful, then I will be able to offer Brynjolf the most beautiful home in the world. And maybe he\u2019ll come with me. That would make it all worthwhile.<\/em><\/p>\n And if I infiltrate them and am not successful \u2013 well, I will have simply died in a different way and by different hands, and probably not much sooner than I would have if I hadn\u2019t tried.<\/em><\/p>\n He sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t like the idea of dying because of what we are.\u00a0 And I want<\/em> that castle. What do I have to do?\u201d<\/p>\n Babette smiled.\u00a0 \u201cI thought you\u2019d see it that way.\u00a0 The man\u2019s name is Falion, and he works out of Morthal.\u00a0 He supposedly can make you human, fully human. The only other way is to become a werewolf and\u2026 I don\u2019t know about you, but\u2026 let\u2019s just say that Arnbjorn, the old Listener\u2019s husband, was amusing but I had no desire to be like him.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante shuddered. \u201cNo. No lycanthropy for me, thanks all the same.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go see this Falion fellow.\u201d<\/p>\n Babette gave him a look that almost seemed sympathetic.\u00a0 \u201cI know.\u00a0 It will be a shock.\u00a0 But it will only be for a short time and then, with any luck, you\u2019ll be able to accomplish your goals,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cAssuming you don\u2019t get yourself killed in the interim.\u201d<\/p>\n Andante rolled his eyes.\u00a0 Ah the unchild, as Cicero called her.\u00a0 What a creature.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re terribly reassuring, Babette,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll hold your well-wishes close to my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow then, I believe you need to go see the Listener?\u201d<\/p>\n Andante nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes, I do.\u00a0 Thank you, Babette.\u201d He stretched, rolled his shoulders, and sighed.\u00a0 \u201cVery well, then,\u201d he said to nobody in particular.\u00a0 \u201cTime to go see a man about a cure.\u201d<\/p>\n Babette smiled at him.\u00a0 \u201cGood luck, Andante.\u00a0 Do come back to us.\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI will, my dear.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about me.\u201d<\/p>\n He left by way of the Sithis shield. A cure.\u00a0 It put a shudder of revulsion up his spine.\u00a0 It was necessary. It would only be temporary, but still, he really didn\u2019t want to do it.\u00a0 He sighed.<\/p>\n Well, I do have a job to do for Brynjolf.\u00a0 I probably should do that first, yes? I\u2019ll go to Whiterun to do that job, return to Riften to speak to Brynjolf, and then make my way to Morthal to see about the cure.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Oh, who am I kidding. That\u2019s the longest possible route I could take other than going to Markarth first. I might as well be honest about it – \u00a0just don\u2019t want to do it.<\/em><\/p>\n Babette may not worry about me, he thought, but I certainly will.<\/p>\n He walked down the tunnel and past the large stained glass shield of Sithis that concealed the entrance to the Sanctuary. 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<\/p>\nPart I: Andante<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"