The Dawnguard

Sharp cracks of wind echoed across the silent street in rapid succession.

The lead Ghoul, a crossbow bolt embedded in its forehead, collapsed and slid across the ground, coming to a halt right in front of Rosie.

The second and third followed immediately after, both taking bolts directly to the skull from the shadows.

In the blink of an eye, all three hunched figures lay dead.

Rosie looked down.

The so-called Ghouls were gaunt and thin, their skin an unhealthy grayish-purple covered in fine wrinkles.

They were completely hairless, with sharp ears, sunken cheeks, and shriveled lips that pulled back to reveal jutting yellow canines.

The nails on their hands were long and sharp, gleaming with a dull, keratinous sheen.

“I didn't expect to run into a Harper here.”

A voice spoke up, carrying a lazy yet confident tone.

Rosie looked up.

A figure stepped out from the shadow of an overturned carriage at the side of the street.

It was a tall woman clad in sharply tailored, form-fitting leather armor, her striking curves plainly visible even in the dim light. She held a repeating crossbow with intricate mechanical gears, and a slender rapier hung at her waist.

Standing a short distance ahead of Rosie, Alysia looked at the woman and spoke. “A hunter of the Dawnguard appearing here... does that mean Stratholme has already been taken over by vampires?”

The woman pressed down on the crossbow lever, drawing the string back with a crisp clack, before casually answering, “Not taken over. They've been lurking here all along.”

Her gaze lingered briefly on Alysia's hood.

“If it weren't for this plague, our informants wouldn't have uncovered them.”

“So the plague wasn't caused by the vampires?” Alysia pressed.

The woman snorted, her tone dripping with matter-of-fact obviousness. “Of course not. No matter how foolish vampires are, they wouldn't be stupid enough to do something like this in their own backyard.”

Saying that, she slung the repeating crossbow back over her shoulder, bent down, grabbed the bolt embedded in the Ghoul's forehead, and yanked it out.

With a soft squelch, the bolt came free, trailing a spurt of dark fluid.

The moment the tip left the skull, the Ghoul's skin collapsed rapidly, its meat and bone dissolving into a puddle of dark gray sludge.

A sickening stench drifted into the chilly air.

Unfazed by the odor, the woman gave the bolt a quick flick before tucking it back into the quiver at her waist.

Rosie leaned in slightly toward Alysia and whispered in a low voice, “Harpers and Dawnguard... what are those?”

Before Alysia could speak, the woman chimed in, “Aren't you two together?”

Rosie shrugged. “Uh, I'm just hired help.”

The woman let out a soft laugh. “The Harpers are just a bunch of hypocrites operating under the banner of 'defending freedom.'”

“We are hypocrites, then?” Alysia's tone remained as flat as ever. “And your Dawnguard is nothing more than a band of money-grubbing bounty hunters.”

Rosie darted her eyes back and forth between the two. Their relationship clearly wasn't great.

The woman raised her chin slightly. “We are professionals who hunt vampires, unlike you lot who stir up trouble everywhere over petty nonsense.”

Just as Alysia opened her mouth to reply, Rosie cut in. “Ladies, save the banter for later. We have guests.”

She gestured with her chin toward the far end of the street.

In the shadows at the end of the street, more figures were gathering.

Hunched silhouettes squirmed and surged through the dark.

Whether drawn by the noise or simply wandering this area from the start, their numbers far exceeded the previous wave.

At least thirty of them were closing in rapidly along the walls and ground on both sides of the street.

The woman instantly dropped the bickering, unslung her repeating crossbow, and raised her arm to aim at the approaching shadows.

Adjusting her breathing, she didn't forget to toss out a taunt: “If you're afraid to die, go hide already.”

Rosie glanced at Alysia and suggested, “Since she put it so nicely, maybe we should take our leave.”

Alysia stood rooted to the spot. Her hood concealed her expression, but Rosie could see her hands at her sides clenching and unclenching slightly.

Rosie sighed.

She pulled out her dagger, twirled it half a turn between her fingers, thought better of it, and tucked it back.

Drawing her one-handed sword, she took half a step forward and stood firmly beside the woman.

The woman's repeating crossbow roared first.

Bolt after bolt shot forth in rapid succession, the shafts cutting through the air with sharp whistles, forming a dense, lethal line down the dim street.

The leading Ghouls took the strikes full-on, tumbling one after another mid-sprint with heavy thuds and brief shrieks.

After emptying her entire magazine in one breath, the woman slung the crossbow over her back and gripped the hilt of the rapier at her waist. With a sharp clang, she drew the slender blade, its tip tracing an arc in the air to point at the rapidly closing Ghouls.

Then, a dark shadow leaped past her.

It was Alysia, who had remained silent and still until now.

Her body unfurled in midair, the silhouette of her black cloak seeming to swell and blur in that split second.

The next instant, a massive grizzly bear slammed heavily onto the cobblestone street, crushing the foremost Ghoul entirely beneath its body.

The sickening crunch of snapping bones rang out clearly.

Swiping a thick forepaw sideways, the grizzly sent a Ghoul that was about to pounce flying through the air.

The Ghoul flipped several times in midair before slamming into a roadside wall with a thud, sliding down into a pile of mangled flesh.

“Woah... as expected of a druid.”

Watching the grizzly shake its head with a low growl, Rosie couldn't help muttering aloud.

Then, raising the buckler in her left hand and tightening her grip on her sword in her right, she lowered her center of gravity and charged toward the swarm of Ghouls ahead.

The edge of her shield slammed hard into a Ghoul's face, immediately followed by a sweeping slash of her blade.

Beside her, the woman's rapier flashed like a silver thread, piercing straight through the skull of another Ghoul.

The battle against the Ghouls had begun.