DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters cannon to the Elder Scrolls franchise. All characters (save my dovahkiin) are owned by Bethesda.

Chapter 1

Raucous laughter and cheering filled the air around the Nord sitting in the corner of the Ragged Flagon. A dozen mugs were raised in honor of the first good year for the guild in a long time and raised in the hopes of many more to come.

It had been the first year in far too long a time that the Thieve's Guild had this much luck and prosperity. The events leading up to this massive turnaround were becoming as legendary among thieves as the Nord's tale was to the rest of Skyrim.

It had been two years since the newest Dovahkiin had been revealed to be this Nord and a year since Alduin had been sent back to the void he was spawned from. It had been over a year since the assassination of Titus Mede II and the death of Harbinger Kodlak. It had been a good, but long, two years since his return to his family's homeland.

At a glance the tall Nord seemed more likely to be in heavy armor with a greatsword strapped to his back not clad in the black leathers of the Thieve's Guild guild master and not a weapon in sight. He was tall, even for a Nord, and built like a bear. His head was covered in short, thick, jet black hair, and a faint shadow of the same hair had crept its way back on his face.

He glanced around the room from his spot in the corner, taking in the cheery faces of the people that were one of his families. His other two were under Dawnstar in their Mother's sanctuary and in Jorrvaskr in Whiterun. His friend Brynjolf caught his eye and they raised their mugs to each other, saluting each other for their parts in bringing Nocturnal's favor back to the guild.

He downed the thick contents of his mug and motioned over for another refill. A peculiar scent caught his nose just before a heavy weight dropped into his lap. The pale and sharp features of little Vex entered his vision as she settled herself drunkenly on his lap. Her arms wrapped around his neck and her lips barely found his. Her breath rank of mead and he could smell the overpowering honeyed scent on her and the scent of something he couldn't quite place.

More laughter filled the air around them, everyone in the tavern that could see the look of outer shock on their leader's face had to hold on to something to keep from falling over. When she finally pulled away from him, his mouth hung slightly open, refusing to form the words he wanted.

When he had first joined the guild, Vex was always an annoying person to be around. She was always tight-lipped around him and had rebuked his advances in the past. She had said the last time he had made a pass that the only way she would even consider it would be if she was raging drunk. By the smell of her breath she was far past raging drunk. How she was still conscious was a mystery.

Vex turned away from him, one arm still draped around his neck and the other raising her mug to the rest of the guild.

"A toast!" She shouted, only a slight slur in her words."To the man that brought our guild out of the sewers and into the thrones!"

The rest of the guild quieted down a bit. All of them stood and raised their mugs towards their leader and Vex in the corner.

"To the man that brought our luck back! To the man that slew the World Eater! To the Dragonborn! To our Guild Master! To Garen!" Vex shouted, somehow not slurring her words in the slightest. Vex threw her mug back, gulping down her thick mead.

"To Garen!" The rest shouted and followed Vex's lead.

Garen smirked and took a sip from his freshly refiled mug, savoring the thick Black Briar mead. Vex, having finished her mug, turned back to Garen. Garen sniffed the air, and managed to pick out the odd scent around her out of the honey of the mead. It was one he had smelled on others before but never on her. Garen raised an eyebrow at the lithe woman in his lap, noticing her smug and seductive smirk.

"Change in heart there little one?" Garen chuckled. A slight growl rumbled in his chest, shaking Vex.

Vex replied only by finding his lips once more. Soon as she parted from him, Garen stood up, throwing Vex over his shoulder with ease. Garen shook his head and chuckled again. Delvin looked up to them from his seat at a nearby table, a questioning look on his face.

"She's clearly off her rocker." Garen spoke to Delvin, feeling Vex's tiny fists pounding on his back.

"Put me down you giant oaf!" Vex yelled at him, earning a laugh from the others.

"I'll make sure she doesn't do something she'll regret later." Garen smirked to Delvin, who chuckled back at him.

Garen readjusted Vex over his shoulder, earning a small shriek for his efforts. He shook his head and headed into the back of the tavern, towards the cistern and the guild hall. He had to duck his head a few times so as to avoid the low hanging arches, but he soon found himself standing next to Vex's claimed bed.

He grabbed Vex's hips, eliciting a strange mix between a giggle and a moan from her. Garen lifted her off his shoulder and made to set her down on her bed, but Vex's legs wrapped themselves around his waist, keeping her in front of him. Her arms once more hugged his neck and she brought her lips to his again, moaning against his mouth.

"Vex." Garen broke from her, forcing her off his body. "We both know you don't really want this."

Vex looked into his icy blue gaze and shook her head smirking at him. "You should know I do mutt. You should even be able to smell how much I want this."

Vex made to lean into him again, but Garen held her shoulders at arm's length from him. He looked at her, sadness in his eyes, and shook his head.

"I know you well enough by now to know that you don't change your opinion of someone easily."

There was a time when he would have given into her without a second thought. That time seemed so long ago now. It was a time before he had become Harbinger of the Companions, before he had become a Nightingale and even before he had become the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. All three of these things had thought him the honor he had lacked for much of his life. All had shown him that every choice had its far reaching consequences.

Something in his eyes made Vex look away in sadness and a small amount of shame. Garen looked down at her, and placed a hand under her chin. He brought her face up so that she was once more looking at him.

"I'm sorry Vex. If you truly feel this way, tell me when you're sober. I will not take advantage of someone close to me." Vex nodded and put her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.

Vex released him when she felt his body stiffen in her arms. She looked up to find his eyes covered in a milky white film and his head tilted to the side, staring at the wall behind her.

Come to me my Listener. The harsh raspy voice of the Night Mother spoke in Garen's head. I have need of your aid.

"Yes my Mother." He whispered out, not knowing that he had spoken the words aloud.

The film covering his eyes vanished and Garen looked back down to Vex. He smiled at her.

"I need to go. The Hunt is calling." He lied to her. Most in the guild knew that he was a werewolf, but they cared not after he had brought glory and riches back into the guild.

Vex felt a ping of sadness in her gut. Few outside of the Brotherhood knew that he was a member, much less their Listener. The only ones that he had told in the guild were Delvin and Brynjolf. Both had sworn to keep it to themselves, but Vex had overheard them talking of it.

Vex pulled Garen down for another kiss, but he didn't resist. When they parted Vex cupped his face in her hands.

"Be safe you stupid mutt." She spoke calmly, searching his eyes for any other secrets.

"Always am." He smirked at her. She snorted in response and let him go.

Garen walked over to his own bunk and pulled out a set of leathers that were as black as the darkest night. Vex settled herself onto her bed and watched him. He donned the outfit, the armor of a Nightingale, and pulled out his bow, sword and dagger.

Garen looked back to Vex, who promptly closed her eyes faking sleep, when she opened them he was gone, having faded into the very shadows themselves.

Garen stepped out of the secret entrance to the guild hall, and took in a deep breath of the fresh night air. He itched to feel the rush of the cold night air rushing through his fur as he ran through the plains and forest of Skyrim as a wolf.

"What are you…?" Garen heard someone speak off by Riften's main gate. "AH! HELP! GUARDS! GUARDS!"

"Finally." Garen chuckled under his breath. "Something to kill. Been too long."

Garen cloaked himself in Nocturnal's shadows, becoming invisible to all but the keenest of eyes. He headed off to the gate and the sounds of swords clashing on shields filled the air. The sounds of lightning discharging could also be heard and Garen quickened his pace. Guards stood no chance against a foe that could wield magic.

Garen drew his Nightingale Bow and knocked an arrow, ready to fire on whatever it was that was attacking his city. He came upon the battle that was in full swing and his eyes widened. With their backs to him stood four figures with skin as pale as the snow itself. In front of them, engaged in hand to hand combat with the guards were four more figures. These had an eerie blue glow around them.

Vampires. Garen hissed to himself.

As far as Garen cared, vampires were not a scourge on all of Tamriel like others thought. Sure there were some that hated everything about the living and attacked anyone they could, but those were surprisingly few and far between. He knew all too well how viscous those few would be however.

Garen drew his arrow back, aiming on the closest vampire. He let it loose and it found its mark in the back of the creature's throat. He quickly fired off another arrow, this one finding its mark in another's back.

The vampires screamed in pain and all of them spun around searching for the source of the arrow. Garen quickly sent another towards the second vampire. His arrow found it's home in the vampire's chest, sending it crashing to the ground dead.

He quickly slung his bow over his back and drew his Nightingale Sword and his dagger, the Blade of Woe. He could feel the Blade singing out for blood his hand gripped it, for once he was more than happy to indulge it's unquenchable thirst for blood.

The two remaining vampires began walking towards him, searching out for the sender of the arrows. Thanks to his armor and Nocturnal's gift he was near impossible to spot in the dark. When the vampires stood only a few feet away from him, Garen drew in a deep breath.

"Yol." He spoke as he drew in air. The vampires turned and looked directly at him and Garen smiled grimly.

"TOOR SHUL!" He finished, shouting at the vampires. Once the last word left his mouth, the air exploded out of his lungs sending a ball of fire into the faces of the two vampires.

Garen smiled at the screams of the vampires' pain. He took their distraction of the fire eating away at their faces to quickly lop off the head of one with his sword and stab the other through the throat with his dagger. He left his dagger in the vampire's throat, feeling the blade drinking in the creature's blood, and rushed off to aid the city guards.

When he reached the guards the vampire thralls had begun to disintegrate and turn to dust. The screams of the injured reached his ears and he looked around. Garen found three guards lay on the ground bleeding from a myriad of wounds. The other guards stood around looking around in shock at the disintegrating corpses.

"Quick! Someone get a healer!" One of the guards shouted.

Garden shook his head. He had seen wounds like theirs in the past. Getting a healer would take far too long for any of them to live.

"There's no time. Give me some space, I can help them." Garen commanded the guards.

Even cloaked in his Nightingale armor the guards knew who he was. Being the right hand of Maven Black-Briar had its uses especially in her hold. The guards all stepped away from the wounded, letting Garen kneel next the the dying men. Garen reached up to his neck and brought out the amulet of Mara he kept hidden below his tunic. Gripping it in his hand he closed his eyes and held out his other hand over the three guards.

Lady Mara I ask for your aid. Heal these men who were injured in your service. Spare the families of these men the pain of losing their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons.

With his words spoken in prayer to the goddess Mara, Garen felt a rush of energy spring from the amulet in his hand. He opened his eyes to find a bright light, near blinding in the late night darkness, flowing out of his extended palm into the bodies of the three guards. The other guards watched in awe as the wounds of their compatriots were magically healed by this strange light. When the light faded, Garen let his hands drop and he turned to the nearby guardsmen.

"Get them to the temple. The priests there can take better care of them than I can." Garen spoke softly, feeling the magic that had flowed through him fading. The guards around him nodded and moved to help their fellows up to bring them to the temple of Mara down the street.

"My lord." Garen heard behind him. He turned to see one guard looking at him in awe. Garen cringed at the title. While he had been given the 'thane' title by Maven, and had the same done quite some time ago in Whiterun, he still did not like the notoriety that went with the title.

"These vampire attacks have become more and more frequent. Have you thought of joining the Dawnguard?" The guard asked.

"I haven't heard of this group. What are they? And where can I find them?" Garen responded, curious as to what the guard was speaking of. For the last week or so there had been reports from all of his organizations of vampire attacks becoming more frequent on travelers and merchants. Now it seemed they were bold enough to attack holds themselves.

"They're an old group of vampire hunters. They're said to be reforming in the old fort in a nearby canyon, Dayspring Canyon I think is the name."

Garen nodded to the guardsman. "My thanks. Look out for those three will you?" Garen motioned towards the three that were being carried away.

"Of course my lord." The guardsman saluted and hurried away.

Garen took in a deep breath and the milky white film covered his eyes once more. His head craned back, looking up to the sky.

I am sorry my Mother. He spoke, sending his voice to the Night Mother. I will be late in arriving.

Be quick my child. The Night mother's harsh, raspy reply came into his mind immediately.

"So this is Dimhollow Crypt" Garen sighed.

He stood outside the frozen over and crumbling archway that lead into the crypt. If he had to guess then other than the freshly made boot prints, no one had been in this forsaken tomb in centuries, maybe even longer. He bent down and sniffed the ground, inspecting the varying boot prints and the prints of several dogs. Garen shook his head.

There must be at least twenty different smells here.

Any other time and he would have considered trying to sneak in and simply slit their throats one by one. However, the way that Isran and that Vigilant of Stendarr had spoken, he was on a time limit. He had wasted enough time already in simply getting here.

He reached into his mind and found the inner beast that always lurked just below the surface of his mind. He felt his body shift and change around him. His hair grew longer and thicker, spreading to cover most of his body and even his armor. His arms and legs grew longer and thicker, the power of the beast making his muscles more powerful than they already were. His face lengthened until it ended in the snout of a wolf's. Once the transformation was complete, he let out a primal howl, letting the beast into his senses.

He strode into the crypt, dropping down to all fours to fit into the entrance. It wasn't long before he came upon his first prey.

"Another Vigilant. Come to die like the dogs they are." A voice reached Garen's ears.

"A shame." Another voice chuckled. "He didn't even put up a fight."

Garen let out a snarl, coming into the light of the vampire's camp. Standing there in the firelight were three vampires and a pair of black as night dogs. The smell from the dogs was all wrong though, they didn't smell alive but reeked of death.

"So you think dogs die easy do ya." Garen growled out standing up on his hind legs. The eyes on all the vampires turned to saucers at the sight of the eight foot tall monster before them. The dogs growled at him and barked, eager to kill this newest creature.

Garen roared and lunged forwards, raking his claws across the front of one vampire ripping its chest open. He turned to the other two and lunged forward again, but a weight on his back brought him to the ground. Claws and teeth found their way into his back and he howled in fury.

The vampires finally broke out of their shock and spikes of ice sprang into their hands. They each threw one, but the spikes merely bounced off his tough hide. Garen roared out, still feeling the impacts of the ice on his body. He reached back behind him and grabbed both of the dogs in his claws. He threw the creatures at the closest vampire, who tried and failed to dodge the living missiles. The three bodies crashed into one another with a sickeningly wet crunch. None of the bodies moved, laying still in their new deaths.

Garen turned to the last vampire, a malicious smile evident even on his wolf maw. The last vampire dropped its weapon and ran in fear. Garen laughed and ran after it, catching the creature in only two bounds of his powerful loping stride. He pounced on the fleeing vampire, sinking his claws into the fleeing creature's back, forcing it down to the floor and pinning it there. Garen bent his head down low, bringing his muzzle down next to the creature's ear.

"May Lord Bal torment your soul." Garen snarled.

"NO! Please!" The vampire pleaded, screaming in fear.

Garen growled and bit out the creature's throat, silencing it once and for all. The werewolf stood from the vampire's corpse and spat out the flesh of its throat in disgust.

"Vampires, only thing in Skyrim that taste worse are Druagr." He shook his head and proceeded deeper into the ancient crypt.

"Alright then. No where else to go but the way I came." Garen muttered to himself.

He had cleared out the crypt of any and all vampires and their hounds that he had come across. He even had to face the largest frostbite spider he had ever laid eyes on.

Now he stood in a large circular chamber with a pedestal inside a ring of pillars in its center. He quickly said a prayer for another Vigilant of Stendarr that he had come across who had been slain by the vampires. He closed the man's eyes and moved into the ring of pillars.

The area surrounding the pedestal inside the pillars had several concentric rings laid out on the floor. Atop each ring stood at least two small pillars, each of which stood only three or so feet tall and were topped by a small basin.

Garen strode up to the pedestal in the center to find it topped by a button. He eyed the pillars around his cautiously before placing his hand onto the pedestal. A purple glow sprung up in each of the rings and Garen's eyes widened. No stranger to Nordic traps he figured this could be a much more complex one and made to pull his hand away from the pedestal, however his body was held fast and he was unable to move his hand. He gripped his arm with his free hand and made to pull away when a large spike jumped up out of the top of the pedestal, impaling his hand that had pressed the button on the pedestal.

Garen let out a roar of pain and the spike retracted into the pedestal. He watched in amazement as the spike pulled out of his hand, healing the wound as it retracted. He pulled his hand away, in awe of what had happened.. He looked down at his hand, inspecting it to make sure his eyes hadn't lied to him. Sure enough, the wound that should have been there was not, and the only indicator that anything had happened at all was the blood soaking his glove.

There must be something in here. Garen thought, his voice lost. This must be some sort of mechanism to open this pedestal. Brilliant.

Garen looked around once more. What ever this thing was, he noticed that the purple glow spread outwards away from the pedestal and into the basins atop the pillars. The purple glow only reached some of the basins however. Garen stood there, thinking as to what the key to all this was. If he was good at anything, he was good at puzzles.

Ten minutes and several failed attempts later and the last pillar was pushed into the right spot. Each one needed to be in a specific place in order for the purple glow to spread. With the last pillar in place, the glow connected back to the pedestal. The ground began to shake around him and the rings began sinking into the ground, forming steps down downwards while the pedestal itself rose out of the ground to stand at least ten feet tall. When the room stopped shaking everything stood deathly silent, as if waiting for something to happen.

"Well. Let's hope there's something worthwhile in here. If not I might be just rather mad at this whole thing if it turns out to just be a waste of my time." Garen spoke and stepped up next to the pedestal turned pillar.

He reached out and placed a palm on the smooth surface of the pillar, bracing for something like another spike to pierce his hand. He let out a breath when no such thing happened and instead, part of the pillar began sliding down into the ground. Garen stepped back to watch as a hollow space inside the pillar was slowly revealed. What was revealed to be inside took him by complete and total shocking surprise.

Inside were not gems, or coins or other such riches. Inside the hollow space of the pillar, the most beautiful woman Garen had ever laid eyes on stood with her eyes closed. Garen lacked words to explain her beauty, all he could say was that she looked to be the epitome of the word perfect.

The woman standing in the space was fitted in a form hugging garb of some sort that looked like something a noble would wear. On her belt hung a sheathed dagger that appeared to be similar to the daggers that were of elven make. The dark browns and blood reds of her outfit made her pale skin seem paler in the dim light. In the dim light of the crypt she looked as if her skin was as pale as the winter snows. Out of the corner of his eye, Garen caught a glimpse of a gold handle of some form over the woman's shoulder.

The woman's eyes fluttered and she raised a hand to her forehead. The woman groaned and took an unsteady step out of the hollow space. She took another step and stumbled, snapping Garen out of his awe of the woman.

Garen stepped forward and caught her before she could fall to the floor. "I got ya."

"Take it easy." He spoke, his voice thick and his throat dry. "You been in there a while, lean on me til ya get your feet back."

"Thank you." She spoke drowsily putting most of her weight on him and holding onto his shoulder. Garen once more found himself speechless, to him her voice held a musical quality to it.

She's way out of your league, get ahold of yourself! His mind screamed at him.

"You alright there lass?" Garen asked. If this woman was what the vampires were then she either had to have been really important or had pissed them off somehow, maybe both.

"I think so. Thank you." She shifted her weight off of Garen and stood on her own. He kept his hands on her shoulders just incase she needed the extra support.

The woman finally opened her eyes and Garen was stunned. They were the tell-tale orange/red color of a vampire and yet they seemed to draw him in. A look of equal shock that Garen felt made its way to the woman's face.

"You're a…" They both spoke at once and both stopping mid sentence their mouths agape.

Garen knew that she couldn't see his face, the only part of his body that wasn't covered in his armor were his fingers and the top of his head and the hood from his cloak threw deep shadows over his face. The way she seemed to be able to meet his eyes was unnerving however and something about him set her off the same way her eyes set him off.

"I'm a what?" Garen asked, curious as to what of the myriad of things he was she had picked up on.

"I'm not sure what you are." She replied looking at him curiously. "You smell like one of Hircine's chosen, you wear the armor of an agent of Nocturnal and you have the mark of Sithis on your soul."

Garen reeled in shock. How had she known that last bit? The first two were obvious to those that spent too much time in books, but the last? Something was definitely different about this woman, and it somehow drew him to her.

"I wasn't expecting someone, well anyone, like you. More someone like me." She spoke, either not noticing, or not caring about, his physical display of shock.

"You mean you were expecting another vampire." He sighed out.

"Yes." She looked over his shoulder. "I was more expecting them." She pointed to the bodies behind him.

Garen turned to look back at his handy work. He smirked at seeing the three mangled corpses of the last vampires and the piles of dust from their thralls.

"Yeah." He chuckled and looked back to her. "I don't really care for competition when I'm clearing out old ruins. It didn't help that they were vampires and that they attacked me."

The woman's eyes took on a guarded look to them and Garen noticed her fists ball up at her sides. He let his hands drop and took a step back.

"But since you haven't outright attacked me like those fools over there." Garen shrugged. "I guess you're alright."

Garen reached up and lowered his hood, allowing her to see his eyes. He held out a hand to her.

"Name's Garen." He allowed a smile to come to his eyes.

"Serana." The woman replied and shook his hand. She looked down at his hand, the same one that had the spike impaled in and turned it to look at the back of his hand. They both saw the, now dry, blood coating the outside of his glove. The woman, Serana, licked her lips much as one that was dying of thirst would and a hungry look came to her eyes.

"Don't even think about it." Garen warned and Serana dropped his hand hurriedly.

"I'm sorry, I've been in there for who knows how long." She shook her head and her eyes showed the sincerity of her apology.

"I understand. I've experienced a vampire's thirst first hand when one doesn't quench it." Garen replied easily. Part of him knew that he shouldn't be telling her about himself, but another part felt at ease with giving her this knowledge.

Serana looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really? But you're…."

Garen held up a hand interrupting her. "It was before I received my gift."

Serana nodded. "Tell me, who is Skyrim's high king?" She asked, possibly to see if she had been in there as long as she had thought she would be or not.

"That depends on who you ask." Garen muttered out. To him, the conflict between the Stormcloaks and the Empire was a waste of time. There was very little way for him to profit from either side winning, so he had helped to prolong the starring match that was currently raging as much as he could.

"Oh? Who is the throne in contest between?" Serana asked, her interest peaked.

"A Jarl named Ulfric Stormcloak and the Empire's Jarl, Elisif." Garen shrugged out.

"Empire? What Empire?" Serana asked, a look of shock and confusion on her face.

"THE Empire? In Cyrodiil?" Garen spoke as if this was common knowledge, since it was.

"Wow I must have been in there much longer than I thought." Serana shook her head in dismay.

"So now that I've let you out, what are you going to do?" Garen asked. If she said something that might cause someone harm he would be forced to kill her, and he really didn't want to harm her, even if she was a vampire.

"I'll need to go home. My father will probably want to know I'm alright." Garen nodded to this. If her father was also a vampire and still alive he probably would want to be made aware that his daughter was safe, Garen knew that's what he'd want.

"If you want I can take you home. Skyrim's a harsh land and the landscape has probably changed quite a bit." Garen offered. A small part of him hoped she would say no, but most of him wanted no harm to come to her.

"No it's fine. I can make my way home on my own." Serana shook her head.

"Trust me when I say this." Garen spoke taking a step towards her. "You don't want to travel alone, especially as a vampire. Even more so with that Elder Scroll on your back" His eyes locked onto the scroll now that he had a better view of the woman. Strapped to her back, was one of the ancient Elder Scrolls, Garen was all too familiar with how powerful and dangerous the information the Scrolls contained could be.

"And why is that? The Scroll bit is obvious, but why the vampire part?" Serana spoke not moving, save to look up at him.

"Because there is a group of vampire hunters hunting down any that they come across. I should know, I'm one of them." Garen let his seriousness into his tone and eyes, hoping she would believe him.

"Oh?" Serana looked up to him curiously. "If you're a vampire hunter then why haven't you tried killing me yet?" She asked still skeptical.

"Because I don't care if you're a vampire or not. So long as you don't harm others I couldn't care less what you are. If you're a vampire and living your life out in peace not harming anyone, then good for you, I'll leave you alone." It was rare for someone to share Garen's views, but having been on almost every side of life, he had learned to accept people for what they were when others shunned them.

"Then why are you a vampire hunter?" Serana asked taking a step towards him so that only a few inches separated them.

Garen shrugged. "There are groups of vampires attacking holds and villages and I want to stop them. The ones here were one such group."

Serana smiled up at him and nodded. "Alright then I'll let you escort me home. I'm sure my father will pay you for your troubles."

Garen smiled as well, even though she couldn't see it. "Good. Now I think I've had enough of this place to last a life time."

Serana chuckled. "You're not the only one."

Garen turned his back on Serana and strode back towards the way he had come in. He heard the light footsteps of Serana following behind him. Once they left the circle of large pillars the ground around them shook and a loud crash could be heard.

Garen and Serana were both instantly on alert. Garen drew his bow out on reflex and he heard Serana draw her dagger out behind him. A loud roar filled the air around them and a large winged creature charged at them from out of the darkness.

In a heartbeat Garen sent an arrow towards the beast, catching it in the chest. His arrow only served to slow it down and piss it off. The air next to him froze briefly and a spike made of ice raced past him and buried itself into the creature's chest. The beast stopped in its tracks and looked down at the spike jutting out of its chest. Garen used the creature's distraction to send two more arrows down range before it charged them once more. He managed to get one last shot off before the creature was upon him.

Without thinking, Garen took in a large gulp of air. "Yol."

"TOOR SHUL!" He shouted and a ball of fire engulfed the creature, burning it alive. The creature fell to the ground, howling in pain as the fire spread over its body.

Garen turned to look over his shoulder at Serana and chuckled at the look on her face. Her eyes were wide in both awe and fear and her mouth hung open.

"Glad you decided to let me help you?" He asked still chuckling. Serana only nodded in response.

"Come on. We'd best hurry out of here." Garen strode forwards once more, trusting that Serana would follow when she was ready.

"Gods damn it." Garen sighed once they reached the mouth of the cave. They had fought their way through a host of undead to get out of the crypt and it took longer than Garen would've liked. He had hoped that it would be near dusk or at least late in the evening, but it was already the next morning and not even close to noon.

"What? Afraid of a little sunlight?" Serana chuckled next to him, squinting out the mouth of the cave.

"No. It's just easier for me to travel at night. Makes it faster when you can run as a beast without worrying about being spotted."

"You do know I'm not a werewolf right? I can't run at the speeds you can." Serana looked at him with a curious expression.

"Yep. Never said we were walking there though." Garen chuckled.

"Then how would we get there? Teleport?" Serana spoke with sarcasm making him grin.

Garen laughed. "If I could do that I would have by now."

"Then how are we getting there?" Serana asked an annoyed tone seeping into her voice.

"I can carry you there on my back." Garen chuckled and sat down, earning a disbelieving look from Serana.

"I need to rest for a few hours before we leave though." Garen relaxed against the wall nearest to him.

He looked up to Serana to see her clutching her arms over her chest and visibly shivering. To him the cold was nothing, this was just chilly compared to what it could be.

"Cold?" Garen asked and Serana nodded.

"I don't mind fixing that problem if you don't." He chuckled out, earning a raised eyebrow from Serana.

Garen closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. A few moments later and he heard Serana drop down next to him and then lean into his side. He chuckled again and grabbed her about the waist and dropped her into his lap, hugging her to him. Serana let out a yelp of surprise but didn't resist, instead she leaned into him more drinking in the massive amount of heat he generated.

"I'm a light sleeper so no biting." Garen managed to speak out before sleep overtook him.