When I returned to the sanctuary, I was greeted quite warmly; everyone seemed relatively happy to see me, especially Antonetta, but she's always cheerful. We spent the evening drinking Hydromel around a table, discussing various contracts with amusing conclusions, and celebrating my promotion as an assassin, which put me on the same level as my companions. The anecdote about the girl tied to the bed with a pierced heart amused them greatly.
Incidentally, I had the chance to meet another member of the sanctuary, quite discreet, Teineeva, another Argonian. He seemed rather downcast because he had not found a certain 'Ecorchequeue.'
"- Ocheeva has praised your merits, my brother. Welcome to the family, and keep up the good work."
The next morning, Vincente was beside me and greeted me.
"I have a job for you, my friend, a rather ordinary task that will be a change from intimidation or pretending to conjure a ghost. It's simply about assassinating a man living in Bruma, an elderly and sick man. Would that suit you? If you execute this murder impeccably, you will receive a gold reward in addition to your other good deeds. So?"
I thought for a moment that Vincente was being ironic, but there was indeed an assassination request for this man, a certain Azazer. According to the Dark Brotherhood's sources, he was a quiet and kind old man, working at night and welcoming homeless people into his home without asking for anything in return. No need to ask why someone would want to kill this man; a contract is a contract.
"- Ha! Is this a joke, my beloved brother? Killing a simple-hearted old man? Please, you, who are capable of making people believe in the existence of a ghost!"
I asked where Taleandril had gone, but she replied that she was no longer with us.
"Yes, an amusing contract for her. She'll have to pretend to be the grandmother of an Imperial, murder his wife, and frame him for the murder. I envy her a bit. As for me? Oh, nothing terrible, just convincing a depressed ex-soldier to commit suicide. Routine, after the streak of good contracts we've had. You think I need useful items or spells? Don't joke, he's just an old man. Be nice, become his friend, and... snaps fingers... Or well, kill him in his sleep. Why always choose the difficult way?"
Antonetta was right; I was seeking complication. A hit in his sleep, and I could move on to something else.
"Well, I suppose you can take this... It's a disease acceleration potion! If someone with the flu takes it, their flu will immediately turn into pneumonia and take them to the Oblivion. What better for an old sick man?"
I thanked my sister and set off for Bruma. I arrived in broad daylight, and the cold was quite severe, so I hurried to Azazer's house, which turned out to be a real mansion. The lock silently exploded, allowing me to enter the house without making a sound.
The house was huge, three or four stories high, but the decor was somewhat strange. There were mirrors on almost every wall, along with many stuffed animal heads. Everything was eerily quiet, and there was a peculiar smell in the air, probably the stench of the homeless people living here.
As I climbed the stairs, all the light vanished as the shutters were closed with boards. Mister Azazer worked at night. I didn't need to use my night vision; I would spare that effort for my freshly healed body.
I reached the bedroom, gently opened and closed the door. The room was very spacious and mysteriously enticing. A softly lit fireplace illuminated the otherwise pitch-black room, with a piano and a beautiful antique library. The shutters were closed and blocked with boards, while Mr. Azazer slept peacefully.
The floor was very dirty, and although I couldn't see what was on it, I could feel the dirt on my suit. Moreover, the floor had a strange consistency. Something was eluding me.
I stood right in front of Azazer; he slept, smiling, on his back with his hands on his belly. This position seemed familiar to me. I didn't even bother waking him or using the accelerated disease potion.
My dagger had plunged into Azazer's throat up to the hilt, creating a chilling gurgling noise. He opened his eyes and looked at me with a gaze filled with despair. To my great surprise, he started smiling, a broad smile.
When I realized what I had just done, my heart skipped a beat. The room was filled with the corpses of people Azazer had killed and devoured. His eyes turned orange, his facial features sharpened, and his skin turned pale; his vampire fangs gleamed like knives.
He grabbed the arm with which I had stabbed him and began squeezing it. He possessed tremendous strength. He effortlessly pulled the Dagger of Misfortune from his throat, threw it away, and leaped toward my neck to bite me.
His fangs sank into my flesh, and I felt him feeding on my blood while his throat rapidly regenerated. I managed to take out my dagger and plunge it into his abdomen, causing him to let go. He laughed and punched me in the chest, sending me crashing through the wall of his room and back into the stairs.
At this point, I probably had a broken arm, but adrenaline kept me alert. I jumped to my feet and rushed towards the front door, but it was too late; metal bars had just blocked the exit from the monster's lair.
I coughed up blood and suddenly realized that I had contracted hemophilia, the vampire disease. Once this job was done, I needed to find a cure quickly. That is, if I survived.
As the swarm of bats approached, I had to make a quick decision. When Azazer reformed in the hall, he saw no one. He was still smiling, still enjoying himself, probably.
Sometimes, I think Sithis has a certain sense of humor when it comes to me.
He looked around and spoke in a very soft, almost mesmerizing voice.
"- It's rare for prey to come willingly into my lair, dunmer."
He inspected his surroundings, having no reflection in the mirrors.
"Normally, I have to feast on the beggars of this town, but their blood is tainted. You, on the other hand, are young, beautiful, and have good blood!"
The situation was dire; I was facing a mid-level vampire without any items capable of harming him—no crosses, no holy water, no light spheres, no stakes to drive into his heart.
The vampire began to laugh softly and spoke into empty space.
"Prey, listen to me, even if you hide, I will always know where to find you."
He looked up and saw me on the chandelier, his gaze sent shivers down my spine. He let out a terrible cry and leaped toward the chandelier, which I barely had time to unhook and drop on him before resuming my escape. It wouldn't kill him or hurt him much, at best it would slow him down.
I could hear him extricating himself from the chandelier, still laughing. In a split second, he stood in front of me, looking straight into my eyes.
"Why do you flee, my friend? Why do you struggle so much?"
It was vampire charm; his eyes were irresistibly drawing me in.
"You will become a vampire, a slave to my will, my friend. Don't fight, accept to become my servant, serve me..."
He approached my neck, ready to drink all my blood. A normal person might have succumbed to being bitten, I suppose. But it's well known that I am not normal, and I only serve myself.
I plunged my dagger into my leg, snapping myself out of the charm. Taking advantage of the surprise, I thrust the same blade into the vampire's face, between his eyes, and started attacking him as much as I could.
The hemophilia was draining my energy, and I couldn't perform at my best. Seeing that my attacks were having no effect on him, I leaped backward and vanished suddenly, while the predator calmly regenerated, his eyes glowing red.
The hunter's vision—he could see me perfectly.
I barely managed to dodge his punch that shattered the wall, but his kick sent me flying to the end of the corridor. In mid-air, I managed to string my bow and shoot, but he shrugged off my arrows, accelerated, caught me in mid-air, and broke my bow before grabbing me by the neck with one hand.
"You amuse me, prey. I haven't had this much fun in a long time..."
He suddenly stopped talking, something in his stomach seemed to bother him. Let him laugh at that.
The tips of the arrows exploded inside his body. He let out a horrible cry and literally exploded, leaving me falling to the ground. I was in a sorry state, but I had made it out alive.
I got up as best as I could; I'd have to ask Ocheeva for another Dagger of Misfortune and a new bow.
"Bloody insect!"
I turned around, the scattered fragments of the vampire's body were reassembling to form a single entity again. He was no longer calm and smooth as before; he was an angry beast wanting to devour me whole and make me suffer to the maximum. He raised his fingers, and his nails transformed into retractable claws, which he lunged at my throat before sending me crashing through the wall and into the cellar.
Finally, I experienced what it felt like to receive something sharp in the throat. To be honest, I expected worse. I had nothing left except a rope and the disease acceleration potion that Antonetta had given me. And suddenly, a stupid idea popped into my head. Hemophilia, the disease of vampirism.
I opened the small vial and drank it all.
"I'm going to kill you. Oh, no, first, I'll eat you halfway and leave you alive, then..."
The pain was unbearable; I felt my muscles developing abnormally, but it wasn't visible on my body. My teeth grew rapidly; it felt like my eyes were burning. I thought my back was going to explode, and it wasn't entirely wrong; my flesh burst open, and a pair of black wings emerged. I felt my face thinning, my skin sticking to my bones. My eyes were now two spheres of fire; I could see perfectly in the dark, spot every living being in Bruma, and I sensed that I could remain invisible for hours, that I could single-handedly kill all the guards in the Imperial City. However...
"By the Nine, you're a Nosferatu! How is this possible? I've existed for two centuries and I'm only of mid-level! How did you..."
I was hungry.
I lunged at him, using my black wings, and began to feast on his neck. He tried to push me away, but I unsheathed my claws and started slashing him. Apparently, Nosferatu wounds were impossible to regenerate. First, I cut off his legs, then his arms, and devoured them in front of him.
I didn't know vampires could cry.
"Please! All I wanted was to feed! I was just hungry."
So was I.
I smiled as I approached him; he needed to live as long as possible while I fed. I had to plug my ears because he was screaming so loudly.
"- Allow me to say, my beloved brother, that the vampire form suits you very well, and those wings, what a marvel!"
Antonetta and Vincente came to see me in Azazer's house cellar the next day to provide me with a cure before I became too addicted to blood.
"- You made quite a ruckus, my friend, but no matter. Tomorrow, Bruma's newspaper will clearly explain that Azazer was a vampire, devouring beggars and hunting them in his house. However, you're refusing the dark gift?"
The vampire condition was too unpleasant, too many constraints, for things that weren't worth it. There was no way I'd become like Vincente or Azazer, confined at home, fearing the light, and losing my immortality.
Antonetta handed me a vial containing a pinkish liquid.
"- My beloved brother, if you thought the transformation into a vampire was painful, you won't like the healing process at all."
I shrugged my bony and spike-covered shoulders and downed the potion in one go. I had already endured so much these past few days.