Out of the frying pan...

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as they got to the portal leading out of the Soul Cairn. They had been tensed the entire ride back, waiting for something bad to happen. All their worry was for not though as nothing happened. No enemies tired ambushing them, and even the mist covering the ground was a little less dense than it had been before. Almost like something was wanting them to leave as soon as possible.

Serana took the lead as she led them back into the portal. Before Rictus entered though, he spared a glance back at the desolate surroundings. He could make out two Souls observing him. One bowed towards him in gratitude while the other gave a sarcastic salute before they both disappeared. Rictus felt a little pang of regret about not being able to do more for Thaena, but at least Assur was no longer living a tortured existence of a warthman. He didn't particularly feel anything special about who he presumed was the original Skilled of one handed. Without waiting any longer, he quickly entered the portal.

Going through the portal was a strange experience. It wasn't like how his normal teleportation felt at all. When he had entered the portal coming into the Soul Carin, there was a strange feeling of going down and to the right as well as some other directions he couldn't comprehend. This time though, it felt like he was going sideways and inside out.

Exiting the portal, Rictus could tell something was wrong. He was not in Valerica's study in Castle Volkihar. A large table sat before him and was filled with all kinds of food and drink. A stone fireplace sat beside it with a roaring fire. There were no walls or anything else though, just an impenetrable darkness. Nothingness may have been a better description of it, but Rictus was struggling to fully comprehend that notion though.

Sparks of light could be seen penetrating the darkness though and rotating around the space he found himself in. Sometimes they moved closer while other times they winked out completely. It was beautiful and mesmerizing watching them move. The clearing of someone's throat quickly drew his attention. His brow furrowed in confusion.

"Sanguine?? What's going on?"

The Lord of Revelry was sitting on a plush blood red chair by the fireplace, which Rictus would have sworn was not there just a second ago. Sanguine motioned for him to take a seat at another chair that had suddenly appeared right behind him.

"I think that is pretty obvious. We are sharing of drink together."

Rictus nodded in agreement as he finished drinking from the massive mug of mead in his hand. He just went along with the sudden appearance. A daedric Prince in his own realm is a power few could comprehend. All he could do was sit, drink, and listen. If stayed sane, well that was just a bonus at this point.

"I was actually quite disappointed, you know? Your good old uncle Sanguine has been nothing but good to you, yet you try and go behind my back. It's almost insulting."

Rictus wracked his brain pondering what he was talking about. Sanguine let out a sigh as he sat down his drink.

"I can see by that stupid look on your face that you don't even understand what you did. Guess that is my own fault for giving a mortal too much credit though. I'll make it obvious. Why did you try and give your soul away to Molag Bal, the King of Strife, the Harvester of Souls, Lord of Lies, and the King of Rape?? What made you think that was a good idea?"

He was stunned silent by the questions. It had seemed like a good idea at the time since he needed to enter the Soul Cairn. It was either keep his soul intact as a vampire or split his soul which just seemed like an even worse idea.

"I needed to get into the Soul Cairn. I didn't trust Serana, or anyone really, to safely split my soul so that I could get in. Becoming a vampire was the better choice in my opinion."

The Daedra chuckled at his explanation.

"A good looking women promising power are a weakness for many. Let me guess. You were not too worried about being a vampire since you thought you could find that other mortal in Skyrim who knows how to cure vampirism, give him a black soul gem, and then it would be like nothing ever happened, right?"

"Uhhh….yeah. That was my plan actually."

Sanguine nodded his head after taking another deep pull from his mug.

"Did it ever occur to you that not all souls are exactly equal? That Molag Bal may be a bit more observant of the things going on in his realm, especially the theft of the more potent souls promised him, compared to those sleepy hippies the 'Ideal' Masters? Why would he trade a powerful soul like yours for something more mundane?"

The questions shook Rictus a little bit. He had thought it really would have been easy to cure his vampirism. It was such a simple thing in the game. Take a filled black soul gem to Falion who would take him to some summoning stones, cast a spell, and he would be cured. Such a simple idea in theory. Heck, he had even contacted Falion so that it could be resolved as soon as he exited the Soul Cairn. A bit of fear creeped into him at the thought of his miscalculation. Sanguine kept talking though.

"You could have just asked me for help you know? I know Molag is known for being the creator of the vampires, but he isn't the only one who has ever made one you know. Why I used to have entire vampire clans of Khajiit devoted to worshipping me. They don't call me the Blood Cat for nothing you know?"

Rictus looked up at Sanguine at that. He really hadn't known that Sanguine was able to make vampires. The fact he had vampires worshipping him was something he had never heard of before. 'Could that have happened in one of the other games I didn't play as much?' On some level, it made sense given Sanguine's name basically means a crimson or bloody red liquid, at least he believed that was what it meant.

Taking a moment to collect himself, Rictus chugged his alcohol for what felt like a few minutes before stopping to take a breath. Feeling a little looser, he bowed his head slightly towards Sanguine.

"What do you think I should do then?"

A loud booming laugh was the Daedric Prince's response.

"HAHAHA!! No need to get all mopey about it. It shouldn't be too troublesome for you to get back your soul if you'd want it."

That wasn't the reaction he had been expecting at all.

"Why do you say that?"

A big shit eating grin covered Sanguine's face as he seemed to loom over Rictus menacingly.

"Why because Molag Bal does not have your soul. I do."

"…What? Why? How?"

The smile seemed a little more malicious now.

"Well because I hated the thought of someone else getting the soul I have been keeping an eye on. You have been wearing the Sanguine Rose this whole time. Did you really think its only purpose was summoning a daedra? It is my personal artefact after all. I was easily able to influence that little sexually charged moment of transformation, intercept your soul, and bring it here instead."

Rictus thought on those words and wasn't sure how much he liked them. He had always tried his best to avoid the daedric princes, but it hadn't really worked out very well for him. Agreeing to become a vampire had actually been completely opposite compared to how he had been operating before. Could he had been subtly influenced to make that decision so that Sanguine would be able to take his soul?

"How would I be able to get my soul back from you then and cure my vampirism?"

A long taloned finger tapped onto a giant mug.

"Now why would you want that? You are more powerful than ever. The vampires I create have a special affinity to blood magic and can even siphon power from other creature's blood. Your power would grow significantly if you did this to something powerful, say a dragon? You may not have a fancy Vampire Lord form, but innate talent for blood magic seems a fair trade. On top of all this, I am the Lord of the Myriad Realms of Revelry where you could get you very own pocket of Oblivion tailored made for you."

The power he spoke of was tempting, so was his own personal slice of Oblivion. Rictus couldn't help feeling tempted at the offer. Sanguine was always known as being one of the better daedric princes.

"Many already think you have some level of reverence for me anyways. Your little restored are some of the hardest partiers out there. Seems being given a second chance on life will make you want to let loose and indulge yourself. You even breed mutated goats! I mean come on. Those are a staple of my more devout worshipers, who use them to partake in various rituals."

Huh. Rictus had never thought about the goats thing being something related to Sanguine. That was definitely new. His followers being a bit crazy at parties wasn't too unusual though. Many of them had been in terrible situations before he healed them, so it wasn't too difficult to imagine they would want to celebrate their newfound strength.

"I agree you are making some very good points. If I do decide I still want my soul back from you, how would I go about it though? Hypothetically of course."

The look given to him by the Prince made him think this was what he had wanted all along.

"I suppose someone sufficiently powerful would have to be traded for it. Preferably an extremely strong vampire. If they just so happened to be the patriarch of a mighty vampire clan, that would just be the icing on the sweet roll."

As he said that, a dark black gem appeared in Rictus's hand.

"That little gem right there would be mighty useful in that hypothetical situation. It even has a rune of soul trapping on it that activates when placed on or in a powerful vampire. Pretty neat huh? Not many things would be capable of taking a soul before it moved on to where it was claimed."

Nodding his head in agreement, Rictus knew this was what Sanguine wanted him to do from the very beginning. It wasn't even too bad of a deal in his opinion. He had planned on killing Harkon anyways, so this just gave him a little extra motivation.

"I understand. Thank you for indulging my curiosity. Now, how would I get out of here?"

Another sleazy smile appeared on Sanguine's face as they both took a drink from their cup.

"Get out of here? Why, the party is just getting started! Besides, it would be rude not to share a drink in thanks of me saving your soul from ole Molag. Unless you are into his kind of…ministrations??"

A sinking feeling grew in Rictus's gut at his words. As he sat down another empty tankard, figures appeared around him as he felt his head go slightly fuzzy. Any spell he tried casting escaped him as he took another sip from his mug in annoyance. A few more sips had him smiling though. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to cut loose a little. He deserved a break, and who wouldn't want to party with Sanguine? He was great.

Strong hands began massaging his shoulders. Looking back revealed a very unique character. It was a towering man with large goat horns coming from his head. Thick hair covered his chest and legs, which looked just like goat legs. A serene smile was on his strangely familiar face.

"Relax Master."

His words gave him a sense of familiarity that put him at ease. The cackling of a whitehaired man in a suit of purple and red getting chastised by a giant armored figure barely drew his notice. The sweet smell of cheese and talks of payment were the last thing he remembered before his mind went black.

--------

A flash of purplish light brought Rictus's senses rushing back. Despite the disorientation, he quickly took in his surroundings. He let out a sigh of relief as he found himself back in Valerica's study in the castle. A few choice curses escaped his mouth at what had happened again. Frankly, he was tired of it. Having Sanguine basically force him into a drunken stupor whenever he wanted was getting old and overdone by this point. Couldn't he think of something more original? Unfortunately, that was just the way things happen when interacting with the Daedric prince of alcohol and revelry. 'It would be nice if it didn't happen like that. I suppose that is just a dream though.'

Somethings stuck out to him though as he looked over the room. It appeared much cleaner than it had before as if someone had been using it recently. There were some new furniture and supplies on tables he did not remember from his first trip here. He stopped as he passed by a large mirror.

"…Seriously?"

He remembered his old clothing had been destroyed in the fight against Durnehiir. He had put on some of his simple backup robes on their way back so that he wasn't nude, well beside the dragon priest mask he always had on him, which worked surprising good as protection for his most precious jewels. What he had on was no longer the simple clothes from before.

The new armor was actually pretty stylish. It had a long red overcoat which trailed down near his knees but was open at the front with a small slit in the back for ease of movement. A collar stuck up around his throat while thorny black vines with an outline of gold twisted around the cloak in various patterns with the occasional rose here and there. The top part of the armor had dark red and black daedric armor covering the upper half of his chest and flowing over his shoulders. At the bottom of his throat there was a small, raised section which had the Sanguine Rose embedded into it. Additional chainmail ran along his stomach with metal bands reaching across it. Dark grey gloves covered his fingers while black pants and boots finished off the ensemble.

A small note appeared in his hand after he finished checking himself out.

'I couldn't have my favorite mortal walking around looking like a beggar, especially when you got a job to do. That would just be in poor taste. Can't have good ole Uncle Sam spoiling you too much though, so go get that college girl to give it the works.'

The note then folded in on itself, creating a small origami rose before it burst into flames. Rictus couldn't help but be a little amused despite his annoyance. 'It does make me look kind of cool though. I can see why Alucard likes this kind of stuff.' He could tell the quality of the armor was a step above anything he had used before. Even with his very rudimentary knowledge of enchanting, he knew it would greatly bolster whatever enchantment was placed upon it.

The silence of the room was starting to get to him now though. Where was everyone and why wasn't anyone here? Had something happened to them without him knowing? Did Harkon find them all? How long had he been with Sanguine? His mind was barraged with all the questions and worries as he made his way towards the exit. Before he could make it there though, the door was thrown open with a bang.

"Darling!!"

Moira threw herself in his arms as she snuggled up against his chest. It was a bit of a surprise, but not an overly large one. He had actually made sure to bring her with him as backup when he initially infiltrated the castle so she could keep watch over the portal. She had been hidden from the rest of the group the entire time as an insurance policy. A small smile creeped onto his face as he held her affectionately.

"It's good to see you too Moira. Where are the others though?"

She looked away from him as she hid her face.

"Ah…well…there may have been some complications… I like the new outfit by the way. It looks good on you."

Not liking how she didn't actually answer the question, Rictus was about to press for more answers when a gruff familiar voice called from the door.

"About damn time you showed back up boy."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. This was not at all part of the plan.

"What are you doing here Ken?"

His friend and fellow leader let out a tired sigh. As he came closer, Rictus could see how tired he looked. Ken did seem to relax a little bit and straighten up after patting Rictus on the back, as if he had just transferred a great weight off his shoulders.

"The situation has changed a lot while you were gone. I am glad you are finally back so we can start putting things in order."

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[AN]: Well that just happened. This was not what I had originally planned out at all for the story, but I wanted to change some things up. Hopefully the whole interaction with Sanguine wasn't too terrible. It is tough writing about ancient and nearly unfathomable beings so I just did the best I could. We will just have to wait and see what all has changed while Rictus was away though.

Also, I based his armor off the Sanguine Alchemy from Destiny. I thought it was a really cool looking armor and kinda fit with the theme.