So This is a fun idea I had about skyrim involving both the Hearthfire DLC and the Dawnguard DLC. I always wondered what that necromancer was up to down by Lakeview Manor, and now we know! :)

~Sundas, 24'th of evening star, North Eastern Woodlands of Falkreath Hold~

Deep within the woods, in the shadow of a grand mountain at dusk, stood a mage. She was a proud Nord; her blonde hair tied in braids, fierce blue eyes, and a determined steely glare. She was dressed head to toe in dark robes, the color of the void under charge by Sithis, but betraying her identity with a green skull emblazoned on the front of her tunic, indicating her pride in her studies of the Necromatic arts.

While she was indeed standing, she was more or less hunched over, deep in study over a conjuration book; Liminal Bridges, furiously scanning the pages for anything that could aid her in her spell.

"Damn it!" Hjilde growled in frustration, slamming the book shut and glaring down at the bones scattered around the alter. Her project would never be finished at this pace.

She had all that she could possibly need, all except a single shin. Once she had that, she would have a full skeleton. But why stop there? If she could successful stitch together human flesh over the bones, and a heart... and infuse it with enough magic, she could create life! Soon there would be books dedicated to her, songs sung in her honor, and all those fools at the college would moan their devotion to her, Hjilde, the bringer of life!

Her daydreams were interrupted by a crunch in the surrounding foliage. Drawing her dagger, and readying a spell of frostbite in her left hand, she called out in a stern tone.

"Who's there?"

"Sorry, that would be me! Please sheath your weapon, I don't want to hurt you. I just wish to talk to you." A voice replied.

It was male, and had the slight husky drawl of a Dunmer. Hjilde frowned, looking to her creation. Could an Elf benefit her work in any way?

Walking proudly from the foliage stepped a tall, and relatively handsome Dark Elf. He was dressed in some form of robes, but the craftsmanship was unrecognizable to anything worn by any mage she had ever seen. It was almost an armor, with dark Pauldrons and a black chest-piece like a chitin, but with distinct flowing maroon fabric flaring at the waist and wrists, and manifesting itself in a shoulder cape. His hands were gloved in dark gauntlets made of black leather, the nails coming to harsh points that glinted like silver in the candlelight of the alter, while his feet were simply covered in black boots. His eyes... There was something... unusual about them, but she could not put her finger on it, and thus discarded any notion of irregularity. Surprisingly, his hip bore no weapon, where such a lordly figure would at least have an axe or sword on his belt, if not a staff of a thousand gemstones and fitted with gold, he was unarmed.

This was a dangerous place to be unarmed.

"I am sorry to intrude on your studies, but I am Dominus Cruor, the new Thane of Falkreath Hold," He began. Hjilde stiffened. Had she been so careless that the idiot Jarl learned of her presence already? She was deep in the woods, and had covered her tracks well with the wolf den nearby.

"I have recently built my homestead not to far from here, and I wanted to ask if you would like to come over for a glass of wine? My wife and I just finished constructing it, and I would be happy to have a learned individual in attendance." Dominus added, flashing a surprisingly charming smile. Hjilde considered the offer. A warm meal, and a glass of wine. By Yismir, when had she last had wine? Not to mention a warm meal! Besides, he seemed harmless, if a bit naive.

Hjilde smiled back to the Dark Elf.

"I would love to attend. When would you like me to arrive?"

"Oh, a little past sundown; I wouldn't want to disrupt your work. Oh, and if I may," He approached, rummaging through a satchel he had attached to his back. From the satchel, and in a disturbingly calm fashion, he removed a bloodstained shinbone and laid it on the alter.

"I noticed your skeleton was incomplete." He said simply, before leisurely strolling off back the way he came.

Hjilde marched through the thicket not an hour later, following the path the mer had carved in the plant life on his way to her. As she rounded a bend, where the plants began to clear, a great manor stood. Her eyes widened; how had this been built so quickly, and without her noticing! if she took twenty paces back from her alter, she would have seen it clear as day. As soon as she approached the fence to the manor's animal pens; the cow sleeping soundly and the trio of hens resting with their heads under their wings, the ring of a sword being unsheathed rang through the night. A Redguard woman charged from the other side of the open space, unseen in the shadows. She was dressed in heavy steel armor, and garbed in the traditional Redguard hood.

"Who are you?" She barked, pointing her curved scimitar at the Nord.

"Rayya! Stand down girl, I invited her!" A familiar voice bellowed.

Hjilde looked to her left, and saw Dominus standing on the porch of the grand manor.

"My apologies for my mistake, Master. I will return to my post." Rayya said, inclining her head in a bow with her fist over her heart. As Hjilde watched her leave, a thought crossed her mind, a small flicker; Wouldn't a guard, or housecarl, refer to their Thane as 'my Thane'? And not as 'Master'?

She ascended the steps, and joined the Dunmer, she was surprised to see a second figure standing calmly beside him. A Nord woman, fair of complexion and slender of body, with bright red hair the color of blood. She wore a simple dress, but her posture and facial expression indicated that she was no mere commoner or servant girl; She was his wife, if the ring on her finger was any indication.

"Welcome to Lakeview Manor! I didn't catch your name?" Dominious said warmly, joining hands with his wife and sitting opposite Hjilde at the table on the patio.

"Delphine. Delphine Ice-Bloom." Hjilde replied. She was no fool; she was a necromancer and had seven deaths to her name. She would not allow an elf with seemingly more money then sense, if the house, the guard, and the woman on his arm was any indication, turn her in. She doubted he had met the barkeep Delphine in riverwood, the last settlement she had visited before beginning her project. She had no issue using her surname; both of her parents were dead and her brother died a year ago with the stormcloaks.

"Ah, Delphine. I like that name. Now, I have several different types of wine, which would you like?" He asked, standing and walking towards a small table, where a collection of dark bottles stood in a row next to a trio of silver goblets.

"I'm not sure... I haven't drank wine in quite some time. Perhaps some alto if you have any?"

"Certainly! I have a bottle right here. After you have spiked your pallet, I have some fine cheeses you should try, not to mention enough wine and ale to drown a horker!"

Hjilde laughed. A hardy and true laugh; it had been too long since she had done that. Not laughed, she laughed all the time reading her favorite line in 'A Hypothetical Betrayal'. No, it had been far to long since she had used magic to drown Horkers. It was so entertaining! The blubber convulsing, the flippers waving pathetically as it tries to swim to the surface, but is being held in place, then the fat rippling as it-

"Delphine? Delphine? Did you hear me? I asked if you would like the Ash-Yam stew, or the Venison Roast?"

Hjilde snapped out of her sociopathic fantasy and looked up to her host.

"Ah... I'll have the... stew." She said, her thoughts muddled slightly. By the nine, she was not used to drinking.

"I'll have my steward prepare it. I'll be back in just a moment." He said, rising to his feet and entering the house.

A brief silence elapsed between the Necromancer and the Thane's wife, until Hjilde broke the silence.

"So, what is it like? Living here in all the finery of a Jarl's Thane?"

"It certainly has its perks! But it can get pretty dull out here. Thankfully my business associates are constantly around in order to keep the coin trickling into our coffers."

"Business associates? What do you do?"

"I mostly do business with the Khajit trading caravans, and dealing in Sleeping Tree Sap on the side."

Hjilde stiffened. She cautiously took a sip of her third glass of wine, the once fruity aftertaste now tasting like sewer water. She was not in the home of a naive Thane and his wife; he was in the house of a dangerous couple. A Thane, a man of incredible political power in the hold and possessing the ability to order the Hold's guards around, and with the wealth to bribe them if his orders went unheeded, and this... woman, this kingpin of a trading circuit, and a drug dealer to boot. The Overworld and the Underworld bound in unholy matrimony, and she was sitting right in the den of it, drinking their wine and sharing a meal with them!

"Are you alright Delphine? You look ever so pale." the woman said, her eyes wide in concern. Now that Hjilde noticed, she too had something off about her eyes, something... predatory.

"Ysolda dear! Could you open the door, my hands are full." the muffled voice of the Thane said behind the door.

"Certainly, my love." She said in a raised voice, standing up and walking slowly towards the door.

Now's my chance Hjilde thought. Quickly and quietly stand up, and run. Run to Felglow keep, or even to back to the College, by Oblivion she would not be caught in this skeever trap!

As she pressed her hands on the table, eyeing Ysolda's back all the while, she stood slowly, before a familiar voice boomed behind her, causing her to sit back down with a disillusioned slump.

"I thought I smelled Alto Wine, might I have a glass, my Thane?" Reyya asked, climbing the steps to join the trio at the balcony.

"Certainly, housecarl! It's getting late anyways, and no bandits would seek to raid us at this time of night. Have a bottle and rest easy tonight lass." The Dunmer noble said cheerily, grasping a black pot in both hands, gloved to protect his flesh against the steaming contents. He set the pot down in front of the Nord Necromancer, before placing a spoon before her.

"It's quite hot, so mind yourself." He said, sitting back down across from the Nord, folding his hands patiently on the table, like a sabercat lying in wait.

Two bottles of Alto wine and four tankards of mead later, and Hjilde's tongue was loosened significantly to the pair's questions. The couple's tongues were as sharp as razors and the questions surprisingly precise.

"...After the college kicked me out, I say to meself, 'Hjilde, don't listen to those milk drinkers. Go out and continue your studies on your own!'" she slurred, waving her tankard in the air and sloshing half of it's contents onto the ground.

Dominus smiled widely, exhaling slightly at the wasted drink, but with very little care.

"Goodness, even Lord Sanguine would loose to your skills of drinking!" Ysolda said, her eyes wide with incredulous shock.

"There's enough alcohol in your blood to make a Vampire drunk." Dominus chuckled softly, locking eyes with Hjilde.

Though she was in a drunken stupor, she detected through the haze of her drink the tension in the air. The Dunmer puckered his pips, and a small, opaque sphere, akin to a spell of Calm from the illusion school, lightly sank into her chest.

"Hey! What're you..." Hjilde began, but she broke off. She felt remarkably... calm? No, at peace. There was no issue with his spell; after all with his astute questions on the nature of her work, why wouldn't he be a mage? Besides, there was nothing wrong with the way he was gripping her head, or the teeth sinking into her neck.

"Ah, dinner's started! I wondered when we were beginning." An young woman crept from the house. She was incredibly pale, and with a head of hair as black as night. She wore an armored corset of the same make and style that the Dunmer Thane was swathed in.

"Apologies, Serana. I couldn't resist taking the first bite. Reyya? I order you to stand on hold. I wasn't jesting when I said we could get drunk off this one's blood; she's all but drunk us of house and home." The Dark Elf said, wiping his bloodstained lips on his sleeve, before moving over and allowing Ysolda a drink of the Necromancer's blood. After all; why stop drinking while there is still wine in the bottle.

So this is a kinda interesting idea of what I would do if I were a sadistic vampire in the game, kinda just flex my power. I may make this into a full story of a vampire dragonborn trying to quietly take over skyrim, if this gets enough views then I'll post a second chapter.

And now, a small note on my account:

-I will be updating The General SOON! I am sorry for being so late in posting things but I have hit some writers block and life catching up with me.