Heirot

She was expecting them to view them as outsiders, and it didn't surprise her that they brought up the fact they had gone relatively unnoticed until their arrival. But, when the priest called for them to rise, Tenele felt unprepared. Tenele looked at Vlad warily, and slowly pushed to her feet.

The priest studied them, his gaze hard and unreadable. "Tenele and Vlad. It appears we will face another battle tomorrow. I have spoken my belief as a leader of Thar's Way. The men and women in this room must make the ultimate decision as a group. I must apologize in advance of their decision. It seems tomorrow, we will either betray you, or we will be forced to rely on your strength a second time." He turned to his congregation. "You all must choose." He stood back and sat down behind the pulpit.

The room was very silent.

A woman stood up and walked unsteadily to the front of the church. She stopped in front of the two of them, and turned to Vlad. "You require strength...to fight for us tomorrow, do you not? My husband is already... I have no purpose beyond this. Take me, and defend these people." She raised a violently shaking hand and pulled the hair back from her neck, inches from Vlad.

The vampire stared at her warm neck, close enough for him to hear the blood flowing through her veins. "Go sit down," he said quietly.

"It is better me than some other-"

"Sit down!" Vlad snapped in disgust.

The woman cowered backwards, her legs buckling under her.

Vlad put a hand over his chest and winced. The amulet buzzed hot and sickening against his collarbone. His bones throbbed. "Listen," he squinted out over the group. It was so bright... "I am not so weak as to melt at the sight of an exposed neck. I control my Hunger more perfectly than you can probably believe. If I posed a threat to you, I would say so, and then do something about it. If you expect us to fight for you tomorrow, you have to start trusting us."

The room went silent again. Vlad's tight grip over his own heart commanded some bewildered attention, but no one seemed willing to speak.

Tenele's eyes flickered to Vlad's hand and the way he clutched his chest. They slowly rose to his face, before movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. A man stood out from the crowd. "They want you two," he called to them. "They are going to kill us all because of you. Haven't you a heart. You're lives could save us all. Whose to say they will kill you."

Tenele frowned at him. "We can save you."

"Really?" A woman laughed. "One battle and your out of commission." The round woman stood up to join the man.

Tenele felt fire in her cheeks. The woman struck a nerve, because those were the very thoughts that kept running through her mind. "Encase you didn't notice it was two of us against more than a hundred."

"Yes, but who is going to fight for us tomorrow?" she growled. "Look at him. He looks sick, and you're near death!" Tenele's blood was boiling. "I say we hand them over, spare ourselves the fate that fell upon our villages. I still hear those cries in my sleep."

"Aye," a few agreed.

Tenele shifted to face the congregation. "Who will fight for you?" Tenele asked heatedly. "Why don't you try fighting for yourself!" A resounding gasp spread through the room. "I'm the last of the Queen's Maidens for a reason, because of people like you who run instead of fight. So what if your afraid. So am I, but I don't cower under Thar's skirt. And I would gladly walk out those doors and hand myself to them right now if it means you live past tomorrow but there is no guarantee, now is there? How do you know without a shadow of a doubt that once we are in their hands they won't storm right in here to rape and slaughter you all? So, yes, give up the only two people in here that have the balls to fight for you."

The rush of her blood driven by her temper made her head swim and the world wobble.

Vlad stubbornly removed his hand from his chest and stared out over the distrustful audience. He could literally hear the faltering rhythm of Tenele's heart, and it shifted his focus to her. The ache in his bones wore away, less quickly than the previous times, but away. He took a step closer to her in case she went down. The displeased murmurs faded among the group as they watched the two interact. "Tenele, perhaps you should sit a minute," he said quietly."

Tenele met his eyes. "No," she told him firmly. She wasn't about to sit down while all the people were watching, already judging that she was weak. Her pale skin blended with the white shirt and the silver of her hair to where she matched Vlad's vampiric appearance.

"You have a choice to make, and you'll have no one to blame for the outcome but yourselves. We won't make it for you," Tenele muttered.

"Throw them out," someone muttered.

"We can't do that," another argued.

"Its us or them. Two of of them for a hundred of us. I think a fair trade."

"We don't know if they will keep their word!"

Tenele closed her eyes, shaking her vision clear.

"How do you suppose we make the vampire leave? The blessings don't work on him," someone called from the very back of the room.

A flurry of whispers fluttered around.

"Throw her out," someone else answered, and Tenele couldn't find the face in her dizziness. "He's supposed to love her, right? He'll follow her if we throw her out."

"Yes, I love her. And yes, I will follow her if you throw her out. Really, I think you might be overestimating the value of your company," Vlad scoffed. However, his attention was mostly on Tenele and not them as he spoke. She needed to rest. She was pushing too hard. She would make herself worse.

What did those demons want with her?

"Shea's forces are not the sympathetic type. They believe in clean obliteration, not mercy. No matter how insignificant you may think this place is, to Shea, it is a stronghold against her forces. And that makes it a target." He frowned at them. "Tenele and I are strong. You are not. I don't like it when Shea wins, and neither does your queen. If you intend to turn us out, I'll need every able bodied person, women included, back here in half an hour. I need the pews removed and weapons gathered. You will all need training."

The room stared at them blankly.

"Well? I said I would train you," Vlad barked.

"...What will become of you and the lady, if you go?" someone in the front murmured, looking truly uneasy. It was one of the monks.

"Guess," the vampire grinned ruthlessly.

"This is not Thar's way," another spoke out.

"Fool! He said he would train us!"

"That's not the point!"

The room went quiet as a young boy, about seven years old, emerged from the crowd and walked forward. He went straight up to Tenele and Vlad and looked up at them. "Can you really save us?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, boy," Vlad said, raising a brow at his boldness.

He looked up at them like they were real people. He grinned slightly. "I trust you."

"I trust them, too," another said from the front. The monk again.

Tenele smiled down at the child, nodding to him as he vouched his words of trust, and slowly but surely grown men and women began to follow the beliefs of a child. Not all, but enough. Over half. Relief flooded her, too quickly. She tilted her head and reached to the side for her fiance. "Vlad," she breathed, warning him even as she started to go down. She was furious with herself, but her mind suddenly felt like mush... so much so that she couldn't stay mad for long.

Vlad heard her voice and knew what was going to happen. He turned his attention from the crowd and shifted to catch her weight in his arms. He knelt slowly with her to bring her body horizontal. The room went utterly silent as they all watched the two lovers.

"Tenele," he whispered, cradling her against his arm as he felt her forehead. He hated seeing her like this. "Water," he said, sounding a little hoarse as his voice rose to normal volume.

Like some silent spell had been broken, several people burst forward from the crowd to help him.

"Here, I have water," someone passed him a canteen.

"I'll make something she can swallow without chewing," the chef who had been in the kitchen when Tenele was trapped in the sewer said. She scurried out of the room.

"Maybe she should be brought to her quarters."

"There's only a couch in the library. She can use my room," one of the monks said.

"Oh mercy, we were standing here bickering that whole time," a woman fussed.

"Lord Dracul," the high priest said, returning to the group, "You are able to carry her?"

Gods, did he really look that bad? He wanted to say something sarcastic to the priest, but all that came out was "Yes."

"I'll lead you," said the monk who'd volunteered his bed, placing a hand on Vlad's shoulder.

The no-life king glanced up at the human who was bold enough to touch him after all he'd done that day. 'Again, do I really look that bad??' he groaned internally.

He telepathically raised her legs up into his other arm and lifted her very carefully, using some magic to avoid supporting her by her wounded back. He stood up and nodded to the monk before following him out of the room. Those who were left without anything to do stood there in guilty silence around the place she'd collapsed.

Tenele fought the exhaustion, but not enough to keep track of the conversation taking place. She blinked her eyes open every now and then to catch glimpses of the action, her stubbornness trying to fight it regardless of how much her body told her she was running on empty.

"I'm sorry," she muttered faintly. She winced, though Vlad was trying to keep away from the wound on her back, it was sore and new.

"Sh. Relax," Vlad instructed her calmly as he whisked her down the hall, following the quick pace of the monk. The man opened an unlocked dormitory and invited them in with a wave of his hand. He cleared his bed, pulling the blankets aside as Vlad set her down on the mattress. It may not have been the lap of luxury, but this room was in the central part of the compound, making it much warmer than the exterior room they'd been in the night before. A small fire burned in the corner of the room, which was shared by 5 other monks. Vlad supported her back as he set her down, keeping her in a sitting position. "Try to down some fluids before you get too relaxed," he instructed her, offering the canteen that had been given to him.

She reached for the canteen, pressing it to her lips with quivering hands. She drank down the cold water, handing the canteen back to him. She was upset with herself for being this weak, and she wasn't sure she could voice it. Tomorrow morning a battle was coming to their door and she knew she wouldn't be her best, and that was even if she could get out of bed. Her anger at herself did no good for her heart, and it fluttered with each passing wave of self-loathing. She knew that there was nothing she could do about being wounded or getting better, but the idea of lying helpless in bed while they were being attacked was more than she could really bare.

"Those spies are still in the pantry," she muttered wearily. "You need food too..."

Vlad blinked at her. It seemed to him an odd time for her to mention his health, when her own condition was so weak. He couldn't quite seem to think about anything else. But the logic sank in nonetheless. "The last I checked, the monks were squeamish about letting me kill them. They may not be so squeamish after what has happened today," he said thoughtfully.

The man whose bed they were using listened in to the conversation. Before he could comment, the high priest followed into the room. "How are you, my dear?" he asked as he approached her bed opposite Vlad.

"I'm fine," she lied. She frowned. "I'll be fine," she corrected. "I'll be okay in the morning." Tenele's green eyes met Vlad, and then they rolled to the High Priest, as if she expected them to agree with her. That's all that mattered to Tenele about her own condition, that she'd be okay in the morning.

The high priest opened his mouth to reject Tenele's plan, but Vlad cast him a telling look that silenced his protest. Bossing her around was not a good idea right now. She had to define her body's limits for herself.

"...Very well. Please rest thoroughly," he said reluctantly. He turned his attention to Vlad. "Thank you both for your tolerance of that negotiation. It was necessary for the people to understand Thar's way on their own. You left that room in quite an uproar. I believe, having seen your tenderness for each other, they are now bolder in standing behind you. Vladimir," he looked at the vampire seriously, "What must be done to...prepare you for tomorrow? How much is...needed."

Vlad raised an eyebrow at the priest. Feeding the hungry went without saying, but feeding vampires? "Well, there are, of course, two approaches to the task," he said, smirking at the flicker in the man's composure. "If there are volunteers, it will take about 15 to do it safely. If there are prisoners you are willing to sacrifice, only 2 are necessary. They will, of course, not survive."

The priest cringed at his practical explanation, like he was describing how many potatoes were needed for a recipe. "It is not Thar's way to kill one who is defenseless."

"I suppose. You could set them loose and make a sport of it, but I'd still call them pretty much defenseless," Vlad smiled darkly.

The priest nodded. "Please wait a bit longer. We will reach a conclusion." He turned and left the room.

Vlad rolled his eyes and pulled the blankets up over Tenele. Yet another visitor scurried in - the chef from earlier. She brought a bowl over to the bedside. "It is apple porridge," she explained. "The sugar should help." She began to hand the bowl to Vlad and then hesitated, stumbling on the concept of a vampire feeding a human girl.

"I'm not going to hog it from her, if that's what you're thinking," he said good-naturedly. The effect took some effort, but it could be done.

"Of course not!" she exclaimed, suddenly embarrassed by her own hesitation, and handed the bowl over to him.

Tenele blinked her eyes open. "Apples," she muttered, smirking. That sounded good. She was fighting extra hard to stay awake now, and you could tell it from the heaviness in her eyes. "Thank you," she told the woman softly.