Bond Of Blood

Chapter 3

"Well, the first thing I have to ask is why Cicero is lying on the floor over there," Morgan said as she sat down, pointing to the motionless assassin with a slightly concerned look on her face.

"He wouldn't shut up," Babette replied as she sat down beside Astrid.

Astrid nodded to Nazir, who promptly walked over and threw a goblet of water onto the jesters face. The reaction was instantaneous. Cicero leaped into the air as though he had been lying down in a pool full of slaughterfish and he drew his ebony dagger out of his sheath, his eyes slightly wild.

"CALM DOWN!" Nazir roared, his own scimitar blade deflecting a dagger thrust.

Cicero looked around and spotted Morgan and Serana sitting there, and once again, he changed personalities immediately. He sheathed his dagger before walking around the table...on his hands, before sitting down beside Morgan and gently took her hand in his before giving it a gentlemanly kiss.

"Ohhhh, if Cicero had known you were coming, I would have worn a better attire!" Cicero cooed, Morgan grinning in response as she eventually managed to move her hand away.

"Flatterer," she told him with a cheeky wink before looking back to Astrid, who had rolled her eyes at the scene before clearing her throat.

"Thank you for coming Morgan. I know that getting a letter in such a manner was unexpected, but we are desperate for help," Astrid started, her eyes looking more weary than Morgan would ever think could happen to someone such as her.

"Where is everyone? Gabriella, Festus, Veezara, Arnbjorn, Liz...," Morgan trailed off, seeing how all the blood drained out of Astrids face as each of those names were rallied off.

Morgan felt Seranas hand gripping hers under the table and she gripped back in kind, feeling a sense of dread settling over everyone in that cold room. Astrid took a few deep breaths while Nazir passed a few goblets of Alto wine around, a goblet of blood for Babette, Serana and Morgan. The vampires looked at Nazir, who shrugged.

"It's mine."

Morgan took a small sip, even though she was well fed already, and continued to watch Astrid as she replied with a small and almost timid voice.

"It's easier to start from the beginning," she said.

4 weeks earlier...

"So? How was the contract?"

Arnbjorn gave her wife a slightly angry look before reining in his beast blood. He knew he shouldn't feel angry at her, he knew just how bad things had gotten over the last few months, but sometimes he couldn't help but vent his frustrations out at anyone within sight. Most of the time, it was Astrid who received his anger, the rest was generally aimed at the jester.

"Fucking awful," Arnbjorn groused as he sat down on the chair with a thump.

"Explain."

"Well, the person who enacted the Black sacrament turned out to be a town guard undercover," he replied sharply, feeling his blood churn once more. "I had to kill the whelp before he could alert the town guards on duty once he found out who I was."

"And then?" Astrid hissed, feeling a worsening sense of fear smother her with every second.

"I managed to catch him and broke his neck in an alleyway."

"Good, no harm done? Right?"

"No. You see, I happened to have killed the little shit in an alleyway full of guards who must have been waiting for him to bring me to them."

"By Sithis," Astrid muttered.

"I killed a few of them, but more turned up. You know how many of the cockroaches there are in Solitude. Anyway, I managed to flee with a few arrows up my arse."