The Vampire Prince, The War That Started It All. Options

[Lord Veneficus]

Hey you guys. This is my new fan-fic. Comments and critiques would be the most welcome. Oh, and don't tell me this is cliche', as I already know that. Just give me some pointers and advice, please.
------------------------

“Praise be to Lord Vile and the blood patron, Molag,” Acerbus whispered in the darkness as he stood from the obsidian pedestal in the chapel. The glass windows were stained with the color of blood. The moonlight poured through them, casting the crimson rays all across the room, bathing him in the light. He turned and headed for the hidden trap door into his home below the chapel.

Acerbus Occisor was born an Imperial. His hair was as black as the Void itself and it fell to his wide shoulders. His eyes were of the deepest and darkest crimson, seduction and cunning flowed from them. His face was pale and very gaunt due to the lack of blood he drunk. A long, crooked scar ran diagonally down his back. Acerbus wore a tight black leather suit and a dark sapphire blue hooded cape.

He climbed down the ancient oak ladder and into the cave that surrounded him. The walls of the old place had fresh pickaxe cuts into them for more room and walking space. The amount of recruits who had joined the Esoteric Fangs had stretched the cavern to several levels below the chapel. It was an astonishing amount of vampires in one location. Over three thousand had joined the guild over a one hundred year span. But a thousand are there under the chapel, as it is the place where the guild was founded.

The guild of assassins has prospered over the span of one hundred years and now rivals the power and fear of the Dark Brotherhood presence in Cyrodiil. The Fangs have been taking most contracts from the Dark Brotherhood, almost crippling the ancient guild from under its foundations.

Acerbus nodded at the vampiric children roaming about the halls of the expansive cavern. The uppermost level of the cave was the market, with several other sections ranging from fletchers to bladesmiths and general goods to large bottles filled to the brim with human blood, ever so sweet blood. He moved towards the back wall of the top level and to the vendor sandwiched in between two larger stalls.

“Hi, Peter. What do you have with you today?” Acerbus asked with questioning eyes. The vendor, a gray headed Nord taller than his stall, stood there swaying to some music that no one but he could hear.

“I have just come back from High Rock. It seems that they have been performing illegal experiments and doing research there. I was lucky enough to steal a few books from their alchemy labs. Here have a look,” he answered politely. Acerbus could tell from the tone of Peter’s voice that he had just recently fed, as he is usually irritable after a missed feeding. Acerbus grabbed the red leather bound book and began to flip through the pages. The script it was written in was a beautiful one, curvy letters and the perfect slant of them. Acerbus immediately recognized it as a woman’s; no man could write like that.

He finished flipping through the first one and put it down. He picked another up, this one was bound in a blue cotton cover and was embedded with blood red rubies. Acerbus opened it up to the first page.

Porphyric Hemophilia: The Vampires

He began to read it. It told of the many different clans of vampires of Tamriel and their abilities and weaknesses. This was the perfect book to further increase his studies of his kin. He looked up from the book and queried, “I’ll take this one. How does twenty septims sound?”

Peter nodded and Acerbus placed the gold on the table and walked away. He moved downstairs to his room and began to drink a bottle of blood, all the while reading his newly acquired book.

EDIT: Changed seductive to seduction

This post has been edited by Lord Veneficus: Jul 7 2008, 05:57 PM

[Lord Veneficus]

Oh and about the poem, I know it might not be very good, but I thought it would add something special to the story.

Chapter Six

Acerbus,
If you wish to know more about your father, come to the dark corner behind the training dummies in the training room at seven a.m. Let no one know of this, understood?

Acerbus refolded the letter and tucked it in his boot. He stood from the table, not bothering to pick up his mess. He was still receiving those nasty glares and angry remarks as he walked by certain tables. Acerbus was getting those things due to him not being the most likeable fellow in the guild and that many believed that Ralas favored him more than the other members. He had no other choice but to ignore them, as fighting and injuring other members was against the rules and guidelines of the guild.

As he left the room, he could hear the screams coming from his blade. They quickly faded away, withdrawing back into its depths. Whoever had sent him that letter must have known him really well. It couldn’t have been his mother because she died two years ago. It bothered him only a little but not much, she wasn’t really there for him as a child. Acerbus didn’t want to bring back his old memories, as many were brutal and emotionally distressing.

He entered his room, looking for his quill and ink. It had been quite some time before he wrote a poem. That was one of Acerbus’ many ways to pass the time. He didn’t think he was perfectly good at his own literature, but he liked it very much. Acerbus found his quill and ink and sat down at his aged oak table and began to write.

Blood, spilling over the rim of the silver goblet
Flooding the room with its sweet, warm aroma
Filling the nostrils of the luster of blood and
Sliding delicately down his throat, quenching his dire thirst
As the last drop fell from the chalice, his bloodlust was satisfied

Acerbus sat back in his chair, observing his most recent work. He knew it was not something a master poet would write, but it vented Acerbus of his anger and stress, which he seemed to have a lot of lately.

Jena walked in. “Hey, Acerbus. What’s with the long face?” She asked jokingly. Acerbus looked up from his parchment and gave her a faint smile. He motioned for her to sit down, which she did rather quickly, so quickly that she nearly fell out of her chair. Acerbus chuckled lightly at her near fall, hoping she would not take it as an insult. “I… I meant to do that, yeah,” she stated.

Acerbus went back to answer her question. “I have been rather unsettled lately, feeling as though maybe Ralas wants me dead. I believe that is the reason he won’t allow me to bring anyone with me on my assignment. Tell Octavian to do what I told you yesterday, okay? I’ll need him as well,” He said as he patted Jena on her gloved hand. “I don’t like to talk about this but you deserve to know, I’ve been thinking of my mother and what she would do to me as a child. If I didn’t do something just right for her, she would thrash me and lock me in my cramped room. She wanted me to become a killing machine, something that my kind nature would not allow. Every assassination that I have done, I have had some sort of remorse for the person I would send to void of Oblivion itself; be it an Argonian hatchling or a Nordic barbarian.

“I know you may think that is a weakness, but I find it just an emotion that must be overcome and only that I cannot do so. I get my job done and continue with my next assignment. I never left this guild because it is my home and there is no other place left for me to go. My mother is proud, even though she is dead, of what I have become, but I… am not. That is the reason I am so reclusive and reluctant to make friends, as I am afraid of being used only for my abilities and nothing else,” Acerbus said, his head hanging. A single tear dropped into his lap, causing him to lift his hood over his head.

Jena sat there, awestruck at what she was told. If only I’d known sooner. She thought to herself. Jena had never heard or seen Acerbus so open before, it didn’t worry her but it was a bit strange to see someone so hard and solemn say things like that. Jena stood from the wobbly chair and leaned over to give Acerbus a comforting hug.

Acerbus felt arms wrap gently around his torso, he smiled under his hood, glad that it was Jena who wished to comfort him. He closed his eyes and said, “Thank you, Jena. You truly are a caring person and a great friend. I am glad to have you by my side.”

Jena smiled, wishing that Acerbus had something different than that. How she truly loved him, yet he didn’t know at all. He was completely oblivious to how she really felt, which made her wish it would come to him soon. She let go of him and moved back. “I’ll go tell Octavian about the Sundas,” She said as she walked from the room.

Acerbus leaned back in his seat, wiping the chilly stream of tears from his eyes.