Zerith sat in a chair next to Nyx's bed, watching her sleep. Emerald Vex had graciously allowed him to watch over the half-elf, though Red and Blackie had been most enthusiastic about offering their assistance. The dark elf was most grateful that Vex had chosen him for the task, even though he knew it was because the daedra count didn't quite trust the brothers. Nyx was twined in and out of the black silk sheets, a most appealing picture. the sheets offered only the barest glimpses of her pleasantly plump figure--a length of rounded thigh, the curve of her hip, a shadow of her breast. Zerith was sorely tempted to join her on the bed, to awaken her with kisses. He hadn't been able to do more than embrace her in months, and he ached for her. Still, he shuddered to think what would happen to them both should Emerald Vex arrive and find them in a passionate embrace. Zerith reached out and stroked Nyx's curling ash brown hair. Mousy, she called it, but Zerith saw it as more of a silvery brown. She never could see how beautiful she truly was, to himself, and others. Her exotic looks, her height, her curves had brought her nothing but ridicule from most Bretons. The Breton ideal of beauty was petite, delicate, dainty blue eyed blondes or brunettes. Certainly not a woman as fiery, as brassy as Nyxalinth. Nyx murmurred in her sleep and turned over, exposing her long, smooth back. Zerith shivered and forced himself to concentrate on what she might be dreaming of... **The thief taker Edmond was chasing me through the streets of Vanshire once more. He'd offered to forget the whole thing if I'd just let him have a little fun with me. I had a little fun with him instead, kicking him in a very sensitive place before running to the Angry Porcupine. "Get back here, you little <! You're gonna pay for doing that!" I ran all the faster, desperate to reach the inn, and safety. At last I flung open the door and dashed inside. I stopped short, staring in amazed horror at what I saw. Everyone--the patrons, Joel, Elfiran, Crow--were dead. Joel lay backwards over the bar, his throat slashed, not by a dagger, but by the talons of some horrible beast. Elfiran was crumpled at the foot of the stairs leading up. He looked like he might have been sleeping, for his eyes were closed. Only when I drew closer did I see that his head had been twisted all the way around. As for Crow, he'd been impaled with one of the fireplace pokers. A hurt, strngled sound escaped my throat. I backed up, only to trip over the body of a beautiful dark skinned wood elf. Her hands were entwined with those of a powerfully built dark elf dressed in daedric armor. Their expressions, their positions would have been heartrending had I not been so terrified. Everyone was dead. Kriella and Tenaka Khan lay in an embrace, roasted nearly beyond recognition. Only their armor, their insignia told me who they were. A gorgeous dark haired elf woman dressed in ebony armor sat at a table, a daedric dagger buried in her chest. Next to her was a younger elf, equally beautiful, equally dead. Sobbing, I turned away, only to see Dremora Rathine's disembowled remains. Bluish black daedric blood had mixed with the red blood of the dead mortals in viscous purple puddles. I hadn't liked Rathine, nor what he had done to me. But this...Skudge lay near the fireplace, his little body mangled and torn. From the look of the wounds, something, something with *fangs*, had been torturing him before he died. "They fought me. They're coming for you, my beauty, but I won't let them have you." Emerald Vex smiled smugly. He strode across the room with feline grace, his black velvet cloak floating behind him like poisonous smoke. He stopped where the dark elf and the wood elf lay. He toed the dark elf's corpse with a booted foot and said, "Though it yet remains to be seen whether I will have the pleasure of destroying this lout or not." "You leave my friends out of this!" I snarled. Emerald Vex laughed cruelly. "I think not. They've already involved themselves, beauty. Kriella Khan, Skudge, and Rathine only await for the others to complete their quest and return. Then they will meet me here, on my turf. And they will be destroyed." "Mercy, my lord," I whispered. "Don't do this thing, I beg of you! They--they only want to help me. They're my friends." True, I didn't recognize most of them. But with the clarity that only dreams seem to give, I knew all their names: Balefire. Twilight. J'Layah. Mea. I'd heard the names, but oh! what a sad way to put faces to the names! He smirked. "And what are you willing to give?" I was at a loss. "What more can you want? You have me! I am bound to you now!" He was at my side. "Think, Nyxalinth. The one corpse you do not see here--who would it be?" He caressed my cheek. And I knew.** "Nooo! No! Anything, my lord! Anything but that!" "Nyx! Nyxalinth! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!" Strong arms wrapped around me, held me close. Zerith held me close while I wept with the horror of my dream. When my sobs finally abated, I said, "Oh, gods, it was horrible! I dreamed about that thief taker that was chasing me on the day we met--remember him?" Zerith smiled tenderly. "A day I'll never forget." "But this time, when I ran inside the Angry Porcupine, everyone was dead! All my friends, my friends who were going to help me get you away from here, they were dead! Emerald Vex killed them." I shuddered. Zerith stroked my hair gently. When I found the strength, I went on. "He said that they were coming to help us, and he destroyed them. And he said the only way I could save them was to let him destroy you instead." He gasped sharply. "Oh, Nyx...I'm so sorry..." I sobbed. "I woke up right after that. I pray that I never, ever have to make that choice! I care for my friends, but I can't live without you!" He held me tighter. "Me too, my love, more for your own sake than my own. He seeks to frighten you into submission, my love. If your friends are coming, and he resorts to these bullying tactics, then he is worried." "So am I. One of the people in my dreams--I know who he is, though I've not met him--Vex said he wasn't sure if he would have the pleasure of destroying him or not. Something is amiss, I fear. But if he is this worried, and if the stories I've heard of this particular warmage are true, Emerald Vex has every right to be worried."