Fire And Fangs

Chapter 1

Morgan sighed as she cleaned off the gore that coated her daedric longsword. She hated caves and she especially hated spiders...with their eyes and the disgusting drool when they approached, not to mention their poisonous attacks and their repulsive hairs. She wished she had never found Fort Dawnguard a week ago.

After hearing rumours about the faction, she had decided to see what the fuss was about. Everyone in Whiterun had been talking about it and she had gotten so annoyed by the chatting, she had sought out the fort for herself. After meeting their leader, a rather droll man by the name of Isran, she had been asked if she could meet up with a Vigilant of Stendarr in assisting him remove a cave of vampires. She had found the Vigilant drained of his blood in the outer cave.

"Idiot" she muttered. She didn't like talking ill of the dead, but going into battle against at least four vampires and a few hideous dog-creatures was never going to work well. She had covered up the body before moving deeper into the cave system, dispatching over a dozen vampires...and a few spiders. She spat on the corpse of the monster spider lying at her feet in front of her as she moved into a large open cave, where she could hear a few voices.

Morgan softly kneeled down near a gargoyle and watched as a vampire ripped out the throat of what looked like another Vigilant, before walking away, bragging about 'bringing her to Harkon'. she didn't know who this 'Harkon' was, but she knew that these were yet more vampires and these were here for a purpose.

I can fight against dragons and steal their souls, I can fight against forsworn and hagravens. But when I meet a spider that's as big as a horse, I get all itchy!

Morgan sighed softly as she withdrew her ebony longbow. It was her pride and joy. Enchanted with fire and a paralysis enchantment, it was a deadly combination against anything that couldn't resist the enchantments. Like bandits. And it also worked well against vampires and spiders too by the number of corpses she had left lying throughout the caves. She readied an arrow and pulled the string back, eyeing her first target. It looked like a thrall. A bandit that had obviously been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She let her arrow fly and was pleased when it thumped into the forehead of the thrall and when it disintegrated into ash, she knew that the other vampires would notice the rather spectacular change. So she readied another ebony arrow and lined up a vampire this time, noting how the red eyes were glancing around to see who had fired the arrow that was lying in the middle of the ash pile next to her. It was when the creature looked directly at where she was crouched down next to the statue when she let fly, the arrow piercing the vampire directly through its chest as it has started to yell to the others.

The other vampire were looking around even more now that they had been reduced to just two. Morgan took them both out with two more well aimed arrows but she didn't move for a few minutes, knowing how vampires loved to use their invisibility skills. She looked for the tell tale shimmer effect and she saw none. She slowly stood up and placed her bow back onto her back, before withdrawing her blade again and stealthily made her way down the sloping pathways towards the giant circular structure in the centre of the room.

When she was satisfied that she was now alone, she sheathed her blade and walked towards a plinth in the centre and placed a hand on the top. And she screamed as an invisible force kept her hand in place and a foot long spike went straight through her left hand. She gasped as it withdrew and she took a step back on shaky legs as she held her other hand over the bleeding wound and used her Breton magic to heal the wound.

Damn traps.

But it wasn't a trap, she realised, as she saw purple lights appear in various areas of the circle, with a few torches built into the ground also lighting up a light purple. It was a puzzle then. Not that that was a good thing, she told herself. She spent a lot of time inside Nordic ruins and she knew how bad the traps could be in those places.

She gently started moving a few of the plinths back and forth, noting how the purple light sometimes lit up and sometimes it didn't. She also noticed that some plinths couldn't be moved and she thought that was because she was on the right path. So when the circle suddenly went a few feet downwards and the purple light suddenly vanished, she stepped back slightly, looking at the stone structure in the centre. It was around seven feet high but there was nothing so show what could be inside.

Morgan was always cautious about traps and mechanisms, but this one didn't have any traps surrounding it which made her think that the spike had also been there for a reason. Maybe it was operated by blood? She didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary and surely Isran was wondering why she had been away for a few days. Hell, he probably thought she was dead or worse, a vampire by now.

I will kick him up the arse next time I see him, Morgan thought. Had he known just how infested this cave had been? She had been lucky she had managed to stay alive for Talos' sake! She sighed and concentrated on what she was facing now. She would kick him later.

She slowly pressed her hand against the stone, and for the second time, she stumbled back slightly as the side of the column suddenly dropped downwards....and a woman fell out of the column to kneel on the floor, her breathing ragged. She hadn't been expecting this. She was expecting some treasure of some sort. Hell, she even...

Is that an Elder Scroll on her back?

She recognised it of course. She had had to get one herself in order to defeat the World Eater, Alduin. Going into that Dwemer ruin had not been pleasant, and neither had been trying to figure out that blasted lighting puzzle. How the hell the dwarves managed to get anything done with all their traps and mechanisms was beyond her. Yes, they had been much smarter than any of the species around now but was all that stuff necessary?

The woman had slowly stopped hacking and Morgan looked down...and stiffened as she met the other womans gaze. They were a vibrant orange colour, different from the usual red that she was accustomed to. She was a vampire.

What the hell have I gotten into now? Morgan thought as the vampire gave her a single blink of her eyes.

And then she was slammed onto her back and felt the weight of the vampire as she straddled her chest. Morgan grabbed the vampires neck as she leaned down, preventing her from sinking those long fangs into her body. She didn't want to be a vampire. She loved the sun. She loved her husband, who was probably wondering where in Talos' name she was while he was back in Whiterun with Lydia, her Housecarl.

Morgan tried shifting her weight to dislodge the vampire but the vampire just tightened her legs round her ribs and smirked slightly as she used a single hand to grab one of hers. Morgan shivered in fear. Her arm was easily being removed from the vampire neck...and she would soon be vulnerable, especially if the vampire managed to pin her down.

There was one solution and if this didn't work, she was dead. Or undead.