Heirot

Vlad shifted the talisman so that it hung behind his neck and then put his arms lightly around her lower back. His gaze shifted to the wall behind her. "You appear to have a very diligent maid."

"I sort of stumbled on her," Tenele breathed out in a sigh, shutting her weary eyes. "She did not want me to come to the wall because of my blood loss. You didn't tell me I was bleeding to death on the couch." She pinched his lower back with her fingertips playfully.

"You didn't ask," Vlad smirked. "Shall I escort you back inside?" He offered her his arm.

Tenele frowned. "I'll get my coat and come back to join you... I know if you escort me inside you'll get me relaxed to where I sleep again and I don't want to sleep. They could come back any second and I don't want to be sleeping when it happens." Tenele peered behind Vlad down to the small clearing just before the gate. There was a hooded figure standing lone there, staring at the gate. His head slowly cocked towards them. She couldn't see beneath the hood, but she knew it was looking at them.

"Someone's there..."

Vlad peered down at the loner. "Unnervingly calm, for a lone attacker." He smirked, staying out of sight. *Stalker,* he called his hound. *Greet our guest.*

The hellhound stepped forth from the shadows surrounding the compound and strode ominously toward the cloaked figure. A low snarl called the stranger's attention to the wolf.

The hooded figure cocked its head at Stalker. His hand slid out from under the cloak and he waved casually at the hell hound, as if he were dismissing it. "I have a message for the High Priest!" A deep voice called. "And for you human inhabitants."

A flurry of mummers could be heard spread through the compound in a ripple.

"I don't like this," Tenele told him.

Vlad tilted his head, interested in the stranger.

"Should we send someone out?" One of the guards asked, running up to him. Suddenly he wasn't so scary when they needed protection, apparently.

Vlad shook his head and held up a hand to the guards, making them hold their positions. "Do share," he called down over the wall." Stalker's eyes glinted hungrily, empowered by the sound of his master's voice.

"We offer a way out for your trapped inhabitants," the voice called cockily. "Hand over the vampire and the Queen's Maiden and we will let your people live. We will pass by this monastery as if it doesn't exist. If you don't hand them to us by morning, then we will burn your church to the ground. Stone, and all."

"They must want to study you," Tenele muttered. "They have to be curious as to how you can enter this place and they can't."

"Sounds like a party," Vlad scoffed. Murmuring broke out around them. The men were staring at he and Tenele, looking torn and confused.

"Why should we believe you will leave us in peace?" called one of the men over the wall.

"I'm impressed. That's more reluctance than I expected," Vlad observed to his fiance, tipping his head in acknowledgement.

His expression shifted as the high priest suddenly climbed out onto the wall with them. "Whoah, there, priesty. We have enough problems without you falling off the building." He stepped toward the elderly man as he approached the edge of the wall.

"Out of my way, Vladimir!" the priest addressed him like a meddling youth.

Tenele had to admit, she had completely expected them to throw them to the wolves at first chance. She was a little be impressed that they didn't. She watched the High Priest, pulling on Vlad's arm so he didn't get in the old man's way.

"Why don't you go on your faith," the man called. "What have you to lose? Give us the vampire and the woman, and you have a chance of peace. Maybe I'm talking to the wrong people? Maybe I should be talking to you Queen's Maiden? How would you like the lives of these people on your hands? I don't know if the vampire would care so much, but I suspect you might, no?"

"Oh, he's good," muttered Tenele, frowning.

"What will it be Priest?"

"Old man-" Vlad started, but the priest shushed him.

"Did I not tell you? You do not make the decisions here," the man drilled his gaze into Vlad's. The others began talking among themselves. The high priest leaned out over the wall. "You can come back with an army, if you have one. If you haven't noticed, we're quite comfortable defending ourselves."

"Yes! Good, priest," Vlad muttered under his breath. He was pleased by the bluff; they needed the image of strength.

"The two you call for will not be leaving until my business with them is finished."

"I wonder how your flock feels about that?" the man called. "You have to have hundreds in there... do you think they will all share your same enthusiasm? What do you say humans? Do you honestly believe they'll protect you from all the forces of Verin and Shea? Do you honestly think two people can save you in the morning? I know one is wounded, and the other has to be hungry... I tell you, that there are far worst evils lurking out here than what you witnessed today... and most of them can breach your walls."

Tenele cast an uneasy eye to the refugees gathering in the square as they began to whisper among themselves. Her hand slipped around Vlad's giving it a squeeze. Her other hand wrapped around her arm. She shivered from the cold, and her knees were trembling. Her body didn't want her standing just yet.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I will have my army in the morning, but I will call again for their surrender. I hope you come to your senses," he announced, stepping slowly back before turning into the forest.

* * *

"I thought we were leaving," Dothan muttered next to Vincent as he stood at the forest edge watching the conversation.

"You are," Raider told him.

"And where do you think your going?" Dothan growled.

"I'll meet up with you mid-day tomorrow, but there is something I have to insure does not happen tomorrow. Those damn demonic priests are up to something..." Vincent ran a hand through his brown hair.

"Look, if your going to go into battle its gonna be awfully unfair if you leave us out of it. The men want blood," Dothan hissed. He frowned. "Is it about that woman you saved today. The Queen's Maiden. I saw you do it, and I don't know why you did it, but you need to come to your senses. Sure she made me all hot and bothered too, but she's meat. She's a freaking Queen's Maiden for crying out loud. And while I'd love to bang her too-"

Vincent gave an unearthly growl, his green eyes glowing. He cocked his head at Dothan dangerously. Dothan clamped his mouth shut at the frightening look the pack leader gave him. He backed away slowly. "So mid-day tomorrow," Dothan muttered. "Gotcha."

The men fell silent and stared at the high priest.

"To the sanctuary," he announced to the group. He pointed to two guards and appointed them to continue to keep watch. "You too," he ordered Vlad and Tenele.

Vlad put his arm around Tenele's cold waist. "Sounds like we're going to have a pep rally in the gym," he muttered.

"I hope its an encouraging one and not a vote to see if we get throne to the Arken wolves," Tenele muttered as the eyes followed them into the main hall leading towards the sanctuary. The people moved like a river, slowly filtering in and taking seats in the pews. She was secretly thankful to be back in the warmth of the monastery.

It took some time to get the exhausted, shell-shocked community back into one room. Vlad sat with Tenele in the front row, one leg crossed over with his arms stretched along the back of the pew. The unnatural brightness of the holy objects around the room along with the countless heartbeats clamoring together around him were enough to give the vampire a migraine.

"Attention!" called the high priest as everyone finally settled down. "As you all know by now, a stranger from beyond our gates has threatened to attack. We know very little about the forces available to him, but it is safest to assume he has the strength to present a threat." He looked around the room. "It has been a long day. Many of you have been hurt or exhausted. Many of you have been frightened. Some of that fear is not just of what attacked us, but of the manner in which we defended ourselves."

Eyes around the room floated to the vampire and Tenele.

"Queen Sinead knew this attack would come. She was generous to send us what forces she could spare. We are fortunate to have received such help."

"You heard it yourself, Father! Those men are after those two. They may have had that goal from the beginning! We were never attacked until they came here!" someone shouted from the back.

"It is not Thar's way to sacrifice sisters and brothers for the sake of personal safety. You must know this."

"They're not brothers and sisters! They're complete outsiders! Lord Dracul isn't even human!" one of the refugees protested.

The high priest's gaze darkened. "You, who came here wounded and emptyhanded, for protection, for sanctuary, are not to draw pretend lines of inside or outside. Not in this room," he ordered sternly. "Not in my church. Certainly not against the only two who got their hands dirty so that we might remain safe and indulge our pacifism inside these walls."

The crowd thought in silence. It was difficult to gauge the mood of the exhausted group.

"Lord Dracul. Lady Tenele. Will you stand, please," the high priest said to them.