Silas had said that he’d give her one chance, but that was only to mask how much physical and emotional pain he was in. It gave him a chance to hear her out, and regain himself.

 

 

Silas: I’m ready any time.

 

Lisaly looked at Silas intently.

 

Silas: None of that, not until I’m able to sort out the truth from your—

 

Lisaly: Crap… Not you too…

 

Silas: W-what is it?

 

 

Lisaly: *sigh* You have sunlight poisoning. But our kind isn’t affected by sunlight unless it was either ingested or you were stabbed by something enchanted with sunlight…

 

 

Silas: (Stabbed… By something enchanted with sunlight!? So young Rose did intend to kill me that day…) Is there a cure?

 

 

Lisaly shook her head.

 

Lisaly: As long as you’re a vampire there’s none that I know of. However, becoming mortal again will negate the poison in its entirety.

 

 

Silas: W-wait… What!? This is the first I’ve heard about regaining my mortality! Isn’t becoming a vampire permanent?

 

Lisaly: It’s true that most vampires die as such… But there is a way to turn back.

 

 

A smile came to Silas’s face at this news. It was finally a way out. A way to escape his endless torture without taking his own life. He was going to ask Lisaly how she knew all of this…

 

 

…When he finally noticed her eyes and her skin color…

 

Silas: Did you… Are you—

 

 

Lisaly: I think it’s about time I told you everything now. And as you asked, I won’t lie, embellish, downplay or exaggerate a bit of it. Only then do I think that you’ll believe me in the slightest.

 

 

Lisaly: So Silas… Do you trust me?

 

It was a loaded question. One he was easily able to answer minutes before, but if he expected the truth from her, he’d have to give it as well.

 

Silas: I’ll try.

 

Lisaly: If we go ALL the way back to the beginning, I’ll have to start with Lamae Bal. Now I’m not going to bore you with how she became a vampire. You should know that already.

 

 

Lisaly: Instead, you know how she is known as the Blood Matron, Mother of Vampires?

 

Silas: That priestess who was raped by Molag Bal? I know all about the Matron of Vampires.

 

 

Lisaly: Yes… See, the first nine ‘children’ she sired each had a peculiar strain of the disease.

 

 

Lisaly: Valunayne Salingonin, an Altmer woman and the ninth person Lamae sired, was the Matron of our particular strain of the disease. She was a vain woman that was obsessed with her looks.

 

 

Lisaly: She thought that others were beneath her. Valunayne believed that there was no one dead or alive that was worthy of her. However, Dibella didn’t see it as such…

 

 

Lisaly: And cursed her and all of her line with the discolored skin that we have… Unless of course we constantly feed from the person we love…

 

Silas: Sounds like a pretty tame punishment.

 

 

Lisaly Tame for us, maybe. For Valunayne however, it drove her mad and part of that insanity has been passed on throughout the years with each new person turned.

 

Silas: But… I’m not insane!

 

 

Lisaly: Tinira doesn’t think so, although it seems that it shows itself more prominently when you sire more vampires.

 

Silas: If she says it, you know it’s a—

 

 

Liasly: You starve yourself, torture yourself, and plot revenge without care of that happens to you…  In fact, you WANT to die. That’s not normal, love. It’s not normal or healthy.

 

 

Silas rolled his eyes and scoffed.

 

Silas: So what does any of this have to do with your little bet?

 

Lisaly: Well… I had met you before either of us had feelings for one another. I saw you training with Gaulfi a few days before he turned you, and I was intrigued with your… Skill…

 

 

Silas: *smirk* Heh, I bet you were intrigued with something else too.

 

Lisaly: G-g-glad to see you haven’t lost your…

 

Silas: Charm?

 

Lisaly: Yeah… Heh, I guess that’s it…

 

 

Lisaly: *smiles* Anyway that night, I went to where you both were sleeping and well… I took a nibble…

 

Silas: …You wanted to see how I tasted? But it’s just blood right? What was so—

 

 

Lisaly: It wasn’t JUST blood. When it passed through my lips and coated my tongue… By the Divines I completely buckled. It took everything I had to not drain you completely…

 

 

Lisaly: …And to stop myself from kissing you until daybreak.

 

Silas: Ha! So, it was love at first bite?

 

Lisaly: *sigh* Call it what you want, but I knew you were special then and there.

 

 

Lisaly: So before Gaulfi awoke, I went off back to Volstikar Manor and discussed it with Tinira.

 

Silas: I assume she was less than amused?

 

Lisaly: You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said…

 

 

Lisaly: Tinira and I… We’ve been friends since before we were turned. There is… WAS no one whom I trusted more.

 

Silas: So you what? Gossiped about it?

 

 

Lisaly: *smirk* You can bet your purple butt we did. As we were ‘gossiping’ she noticed that my skin had become… normal.

 

Silas: Normal?

 

 

Lisaly: I had a reddish pink tint to my skin, where as yours is more purple, and hers even more so. However, my skin looked like… what it did when you first saw me. I looked like I do now...

 

 

Lisaly: Because of that, Tinira began to dig into what had happened. She’s always been meticulous in her ways…

 

Silas: Ugh… Tell me about it…

 

Lisaly: Anyway, after scouring almost every book in the Manor, Tinira went missing and then a day later she returned looking ‘normal’ as well.

 

Silas: Wait, time out! You’re telling me… That Tinira…

 

Lisaly: *sigh* She loved… She loves you, yes.

 

Silas could not… WOULD not believe what he was hearing. This is the same woman that has beaten, berated, and tortured both mentally and physically…

 

 

Silas: Bullshit! She’s fucking tortured me every chance she got!

 

Lisaly: But it was always with lies. Easily discernible lies if you were more open and less… Hateful.

 

 

Silas: Tsk! Don’t give me that.

 

Lisaly: Fine, I won’t. But love, the fact of the matter is, we both soon realized what this meant and we knew that we could not and would NOT share you.

 

 

Silas: And so you made the bet… Fine. I’ll believe that. And from what you’ve told me, I can believe that all you did was alter your appearance. At least I can try to…

 

Lisaly: Thank you.

 

 

Silas: So what in Oblivion went wrong? Why did Tinira turn me when she did? What happened to our… Heh… I see… So you never were pregnant… You couldn’t have been anyway…

 

 

Lisaly: You’re right, I couldn’t. But, Silas… I… I just wanted… *deep breath* You told me over and over that you wanted a child. That you wanted a family… So… Yes, I faked my pregnancy and birth…

 

 

Lisaly: And that child may not have been ours… But it was ours…

 

Silas felt a knot in the pit of his stomach at the implications of her words.

 

Silas: What… What does that mean, Lisaly?

 

 

Lisaly: I… I had a thrall that favored me. I got ‘pregnant’ around the time that she did.

 

Silas: Ha… Hahaha… So I was caring for… I loved and mourned for your ‘food’s’ child?

 

 

Lisaly punched Silas.

 

Lisaly: If you EVER call Ahetotrix ‘food’ again, I don’t care how much I loved and still love you… I WILL make you regret it.

 

Silas: *glares* But isn’t that what she was?

 

Lisaly: She consented to allow me to draw blood from her from time to time—

 

Silas: She consented in the same way that a cow consents to being milked! Don’t give me that!

 

 

Lisaly: Ahetotrix was my friend! How dare you—

 

Silas: Vampires can’t be friends with their thralls the same way a Nord can’t be friends with his mead.

 

Lisaly pushed him back.

 

Lisaly: You ass!

 

 

Lisaly: I don’t know why Tinira turned you before she was supposed to, but she’s damn sure made you into the kind of vampire that SHE loves. You used to be so kind, so understanding… What happened?

 

 

Silas: (I lived my whole time as a vampire wanting to die for you, and now I…) *sigh* Nothing… Just continue.

 

Lisaly: …When you turned, you ripped through the guards and made a beeline to me.

 

 

Lisaly: I had just gotten the baby to fall asleep, when you suddenly attacked us.

 

Silas: I… remember that…

 

Lisaly: What you probably don’t remember is that I didn’t die.

 

 

Lisaly: You ripped a hole through my chest, but I did not die… Yet. Tinira showed up in a panic and having seen what you did, she commanded you to back down and turn back…

 

 

Lisaly: And you complied… If I were strong enough I would have hit her and cursed her out… But upon seeing your purple skin and realizing I could do nothing for you in the state I was in…

 

 

Lisaly: I allowed her to take me away to be healed.

 

Silas: W-w-wait… S-so I didn’t kill you!?

 

Lisaly: Not directly, no. Tinira tried to give me some of her blood, but I kept vomiting it up.

 

 

Lisaly: When she poured blood on the wounds, it hurt a lot… But it slowly healed. She looked into what disease could possibly affect a vampire so—

 

Silas: And she found out it was sunlight poisoning…

 

 

Silas:  But how? I changed at night!

 

Lisaly: All light of Magnus is filtered through Meridia’s Colored Rooms, and that light is reflected off of Nirn’s two moons, Secunda and Masser…

 

Lisaly: Meridia probably foresaw the monster that the combination of an apex werewolf and someone from our Clan could bring about… And so she chose to use you as a weapon…

 

 

Lisaly: …Against Tinira's and my short sightedness. It’s also why you couldn’t drink from anything but my blood when you were first turned.

 

Silas: Y-you knew that too?

 

 

Lisaly: I suggested it after Tinira came to me and told me what was going on with you.

 

Silas: Wait… So when did you die then?

 

 

Lisaly paused, and Silas wondered whether or not she was contemplating lying to him… But then she sighed and frowned at him. 

 

Lisaly: You’re going to think it was your fault…

 

Silas: Wasn’t it?

 

 

Lisaly shook her head fervently.

 

Lisaly: N-no! See, when I was partially healed and we’d learned what was ailing me, Tinira decided that the best way to cure myself would be to regain my mortality.

 

 

Lisaly: So she pulled some strings and got a former necromancer from the College of Winterhold to try and do an experimental ritual to me.

 

Silas: Judging from your eyes… It worked right?

 

 

Lisaly: Ugh… I-it did, but again we were punished for our shortsightedness. As a vampire, the poison was going to kill me albeit very slowly… But as a mortal…

 

 

Silas: You got rid of the poison—!

 

Realization flashed in Silas’s eyes and her words echoed in his head, ‘You’re going to think it was your fault…’ But it was. And the knowledge of what he’d done…

 

 

…Made Silas regret his actions towards Lisaly until this point.

 

Silas: You weren’t healed yet… And there was no way for your body to… Dammit… So that’s what you meant… Lisaly… I—

 

 

Lisaly embraced him and shook her head over and over.

 

Lisaly: Don’t apologize, love. You did nothing wrong. Nothing at all…

 

She waited for him to calm down, and then let him go with a smile.

 

Lisaly: This brings us to your second question, why do I have your new beloved’s face.

 

Silas: S-she’s NOT my beloved!

 

 

Lisaly: *smile* You never could lie to me Silas, even when you were angry with me. Even now. As for her though… When I realized I was about to die, I asked the necromancer to partially soul trap me.

 

 

Lisaly: This way, part of my soul could come here… And be able to talk to you like this, and the other part of my soul—

 

 

Silas: Could go back to the Dreamsleeve… But… What if your soul was never reincarnated? What if it was too weak and simply was destroyed?

 

 

Lisaly: What would it matter to ME? All I was worried about was you, Silas. I even went so far as to make Tinira wipe the memory of your real anguish at attacking me from your mind.

 

Silas: But… Why?

 

 

Lisaly: Do you really think if you KNEW that I was alive, and then died because of wounds caused by you that you would have handled it better? Especially with the transformation you were going through?

 

 

Silas: I would have wanted to know! I should have been there for you! I could’ve—

 

Lisaly: *shakes head* You thought that I was a mortal. Finding out I was a vampire then, would have been too much.

 

 

Lisaly: The shock of it all, me being a vampire, YOU being a vampire, me dying… It would have broken you who was just beginning your new life.

 

Silas: And? That didn't stop Tinira!

 

 

Silas: A week after the attack, I recovered and that is when she told me that what I thought was a weird dream was in fact reality. That I’d become a monster and killed the woman that was my love!

 

 

Silas: My sun in the morning and my moons and stars at night. Is that the woman you remember? Is that the same woman that was your best friend?

 

 

Lisaly closed her eyes and was silent for a while before she answered him.

 

 

Lisaly: …Actually… Maybe… Her and I had differing opinions on what an ideal vampire should be, but… We respected each other enough to not get argumentative about it.

 

 

Silas had hoped for a different answer, any different answer, but he couldn't say he was surprised by her response... Just hurt.

 

Silas: I see…

 

 

Another silence formed between them as they both tried to figure out how to continue their conversation forward.

 

 

After a few minutes, it was Lisaly that took hold of the situation.

 

Lisaly: You said ‘was’… Does that mean that I’ve been replaced? That SHE now occupies your heart?

 

Silas: I… I don’t know…

 

 

Lisaly: *smirks* Then let me make this easy for you. The necromancer told me that because my soul was already familiar with undeath, that if the half of me that went to the Dreamsleeve…

 

 

Lisaly: …Was enough to be reincarnated… It would be possible to bring me back to life.

 

Silas: L-Lisaly!?! That’s… By the Divines, that’s the best news I’ve heard in—

 

 

Lisaly stopped him with but a finger.

 

Lisaly: There’s a catch though. You would have to soul trap and kill the person who has the other part of my soul.

 

 

Silas: Fine, that's no—

 

Memories of Liri flashed before Silas's eyes and he felt an ache in his heart that he hadn't felt for centuries.

 

 

Silas: But that means… You're asking me to—

 

Lisaly: I'm not asking anything from you. All it means it that you have to be true to your heart. ‘Mold me, break me, my life is yours now and forever.’

 

 

Lisaly: From the moment I first took a sip of your blood, my life has always been in your hands. And as long as you are indeed true to your heart, I won’t mind spending the rest of my days…

 

 

Lisaly stared blankly out towards the horizon and nodded. She then started to become incorporeal once more and turned back towards Silas with a pained smile.

 

Lisaly: Heh, it's a pity.

 

 

Silas knew what was happening without being told, but it didn't make it any less painful.

 

Silas: (I will NOT lose her again!) Lisaly? Lisaly! What’s wrong? What happened? How can I help—

 

 

Lisaly shook her head and sighed.

 

Lisaly: Time's up. I guess that was all the Ideal Masters would allow…

 

Lisaly sighed again.

 

Lisaly: Yeah... Definitely was a pity… There's so much I wanted to say…

 

 

Silas bolted towards Lisaly and he saw her turn the same pale blue that she was when she first appeared before him. But the only thing on his mind was that he wanted was to hold her in his arms again…

 

 

But he feared that he was too late.

 

Silas: (Maybe if I can reach her, maybe if I can embrace her again… Maybe she’ll—)

 

Silas reached towards Lisaly but by the time he'd gotten to her…

 

 

She was gone, with only traces of light left behind to signal that she'd ever been there, and they too soon vanished.

 

Silas fell to his knees overcome with grief once again. He let out a deafening roar that shook the ground beneath him, and instilled fear in the souls that preoccupied this realm.

 

 

Silas: I'll kill you...

 

Silas looked towards the same sky that had greeted him when he first arrived.

 

Silas: YOU HEAR ME YOU BASTARDS!!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!!

 

 

Rage consumed Silas, and he could feel that same evil energy that enveloped him on the night he was turned return to him. But before he could act against the realm's overlords…

 

 

He was thrust back from whence he came… Back to Proudspire Manor, with no sight of Tinira, Innis, or Liri to be found.

 

 

He wanted to scream, wanted to tear this place apart with his own hands, but then he remembered the words that Tinira had said before she'd cast him off to the Soul Cairn…

 

 

Tinira: Surprised? I so desperately wanted you to disobey me so I could go after the mortal, your fiancée, and your underling…

 

 

Silas stood up and instantly donned new attire.

 

Silas: I screwed up! I wasn’t fast enough… And I will never make that mistake ever again!

 

 

He rushed out of the house and changed his form into that of a swarm of bats in order to hasten himself. Silas knew this form was going to garner attention, but time wasn't on his side.

 

 

Silas: (Divines… I've got to find Innis, Liri, Serana and Rosalie before Tinira does! Because if I don't…) Hircine… Kynereth, give me strength…