Heirot

Vlad smirked at him. It figured that Tenele's father would be feisty. "The wound she sustained yesterday...was severe. She can't be moved. Not yet. Later, after the battle. Will you come back?"

Vincent stared at him for a long minute, and then he nodded slowly. "I will," he told him. "Here after the battle."

Vlad smirked approvingly. "Well then. Sir." He put out his hand to the werewolf.

Vincent blinked, and then slowly shook Vlad's hand. "Good luck, Vampire," he smirked. "I mean, Vladimir. I'll help as much as I can." Vincent backed off towards the forest and disappeared behind the brush.

Vlad zapped himself back inside the compound to a frenzy of activity. The men stopped rushing around when they saw him. "Lord Dracul! We thought..."

"That the mean werewolf would eat me and you'd be on your own? Really, have a little confidence," Vlad scoffed, patting the man on the back. "How is the evacuation coming along?"

"Almost everyone is in the sewers, as you said. Except those who know how to fight."

"Good," Vlad said. "Showtime soon, keep getting ready."

He walked through the chaos and made his way back to the room where Tenele was resting. He walked in calmly and quietly, as if there wasn't a battle about to overtake the compound. "Awake?" he asked her as he came to sit on the mattress next to her.

Tenele's green eyes flashed open. "Yes," she told him. "I was about to get up." And then she realized she couldn't sit up. But, she'd concocted a plan that would insure she was on her feet in no time. "What did that thing have to say?" She shifted her legs off the opposite side of bed and did this terrible looking roll until she fell onto her knees off the bed and out from under the covers. She laughed at the clumsiness of the gesture, but she used her hands and finally she was able to stand on her feet.

"Very graceful, my dear," Vlad smirked at her antics. "It was just some gawker from the other side come to talk tough. He had nothing useful to say." He reached out to support her in case she lost her balance. "You feel well enough to walk and fight?" he asked her, keeping his voice free of judgment or skepticism. It was going to be her own judgment, and if she didn't want to stay put, he knew better than to think he could make her do otherwise.

Tenele met his eyes, frowning. "I don't want to leave you to fight alone," she told him truthfully. "But, I fear I may be more of a distraction the way I am. And at the same time my pride eats at me to fair weakness in the face of battle. Talon used to tell me I got the stubbornness from our mother, and the pride from our father." She touched his cheek gently. "What do you think I should do? Do you think I can fight like this? Honestly, tell me what you think I should do?"

Vlad smiled. "I think you should kiss me," he leaned around her to steal one from her lips. "I think you should preserve your father's pride for another day," he spoke with his lips brushing hers, "and wait in the sewers with the refugees. If you're forced to fight down there, it will be because you are the only defense that remains to us. Call on your mother's stubbornness then."

Tenele smiled at him, returning his kiss. "I like how you said wait there instead of hide there," she told him. "It makes it a little easier to swallow that pride. You will be careful. You will not do anything foolish?" She rested against him, slipping her arms around his waist.

* * *

The forces moved through the brush and into the snow covered clearing before the gate of the monastery. The leader of the army lowered his hood to reveal skin the color of fresh blood. His eyes were black as soot. His teeth filed to a point. "Get their attention," he spoke evenly to the man beside him. His servant hold a silver horn to his lips and blew. A deep groan, haunting to the bones, echoed warning off the trees and walls of the monastery.

"What will it be? Their lives or yours?" Artanin called to them.

"Do I ever do anything foolish?" Vlad asked with a smirk as he gave her one more kiss. He put his hands on her shoulders and teleported them both to the mouth to the sewers, where a few remaining civilians were filing into the relative safety of the underground area. It would certainly be easier to defend a narrow tunnel than a whole compound, though very few with actual fighting skill had been spared from the main front.

Vlad shared a ready look with her as her turn came to go down. Then he turned and ported up just inside the front gates. "Sounds like they're a bunch of musicians out there," he mocked as the horn's blast did very little to impress him.

Tenele stepped inside the sewers and two of the men not fighting barricaded the door. "How are you dear?" an old woman asked Tenele. She felt a little embarrassed since the day before she'd promised to help protect them.

"Not well enough to fight, unfortunately," Tenele told her softly, glancing down.

* * *

"Its quiet," Artanin muttered. He nodded to the one who blew the horn. He called in an old Arken tongue, and a sea of human soldiers flooded towards the compound. Not as many as before, but enough.

Vlad watched the humans pouring down the snowy landscape like a mudslide. "Alright," he said. "Get everyone manned up on the wall. I'll take the field."

"Alone?" the high priest demanded.

"First you don't want casualties, now you don't want me alone," the no-life king teased. "Just keep your archers ready. If you can shoot it with an arrow, I'm letting it through. I'll handle the other 'monsters' first. We may end up yielding ground inside the building if they reach this door. Just remember, the weak are already hidden."

Before they could argue, Vlad teleported outside to meet the attackers.

Atanin watched as the human soldiers moved towards the wall. The demons lurked back, waiting for the vampire. Artanin looked at the vampire with little humor. His eyes then glanced behind Vlad to the temple. He then tilted his head to the right, to the bulky goblin he stood with.

"Detain him."

The goblin grinned, revealing rotten teeth and slime before lurching forward on wide bare feet.

Vlad let his claws free and burst forward. He had no weapon, but he didn't really need one. Attackers literally didn't seem him coming as he ported around them like it was some kind of dance. He caused just enough fuss to enjoy himself, but his main objective was further ahead. Humans were boring to fight. They shredded like paper.

A smirk crossed his face as the goblin strode into his line of sight. A much larger and stronger opponent. Vlad smiled at him with maddened glee. He didn't get to fight one of these every day. However, he also had a big to-do list and not a lot of time. "Let's make this short and sweet," he offered. He ported behind the creature's back, jumped to kneel on its huge shoulders, and twisted its head a full 180 degrees. The creature collapsed to the ground as he landed on his feet.

"Next!" he sneered.

He was not left waiting. Five minutes later, Vlad was still fighting while a literal trail of freakish corpses littered the field behind him. The wall was doing a pretty decent job of picking off the human ranks, though they were breaching the front door surely and surely.

Vlad paused to gauge the size of the forces remaining. Three fourths of the enemy was already cut down. However, his energy level was nearing less than that. He spun and threw up his claws to block another vampire that was attacking him from behind, working to conserve strength.


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