Holier Than Thou

[Emora Deen]

Tenele looked to the window behind the desk. "We fought against Verin in the Outerlands, fought hard. He refused Verin's influence... And to help him fight harder for our Gods, Thar and Attara, he was... blessed and given immunity." Tenele wasn't sure how the priest would take that Vlad was experimented on to become what he was, so she omitted it for the time being. "You won't approve our marriage will you?" She couldn't stand the wait, and if his answer was no then she wanted to hear it.

She already knew.

[Soran Nightblade]

The high priest was quiet for some time. "You believe that that creature, for all his darkness, loves you? That it loves by the same definition of love that you do?" His pale gray-blue eyes studied hers. It wasn't rhetorical. It was a real question.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele frowned at him. "Yes," she told him with all the conviction in her heart. "He does." She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Vlad did love, and while he might not show it the same, inside his feelings were just as strong. "If he did not, why would this wild beast consider binding himself to a frail mortal? What does he have to gain from it?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"That, I must agree with. Your lifetime will be momentary in comparison to his. If he does... love you," he seemed to trip on the words, "he is choosing a very rough path. And you, in turn, will not be able to bear children. You will not grow old with your spouse. You will be tying yourself to the darkness every bit as much as he is tying himself to the light." He shook his head. "Why you young people must always choose the hardest way is beyond me."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smirked. "Sometimes the path isn't the one we choose, but the one we fall upon," she told him gently. "Whether it is the one that is the best for me I'm not certain... Though, I may not be able to bear his children, there are surrogate father's... Many nobles pursue those when they are unable to have children with their spouses. And I am a half-elf. I still will not live as long as him... but I will live longer than a normal human. It would not be a perfect marriage, but what marriage is? All that really matters is how we feel, and we love each other. I'd go to Verin's realm and back to get him, and he would do the same."

Tenele hand twirled the ring on her finger.

[Soran Nightblade]

The priest studied the ring she was fussing with, trying to imagine the blase vampire he'd just interrogated purchasing such a ring, and offering it to her, and proposing the way a human man might. Maybe she had bought it for herself. No... the whole thing was just crazy enough to be true. "I take it that because you are here, your mother has given her blessing on this. I am known for my liberal views. She would not send you both here merely by accident."

[Emora Deen]

"Sinead has given her blessing," Tenele admitted. "Lovingly at that. Sinead tried very hard to put what was between Vlad and I at rest, but she realized, just as I hope you will... that we cannot stop. We love each other, and even if you can't give us your blessing that will not stop or change how I feel for him. I have already except the alternative, and am willing to step down as Queen's Maiden. I also am willing to relinquish any attempt for Sinead to name me her heir, though even if Vad marries me I doubt that would be approved. If Sinead chooses, my brother would make a fine king." Tenele closed her mouth, realizing that she seemed to be rambling.

"I need you answer, Father. You're sanctuary may very well be under siege, and if you need time to think I understand. But, I have to put your people above my own personal desires. I can wait.... I've waited already," she mused

[Soran Nightblade]

The man leaned back in his chair, like he was calling up rules and procedures in his head and deep in thought. "Lord Dracul walks in peace under this roof. If God has no quarrel with him...then neither do I. For this reason, I will support your union. A rather historical union, at that." He grinned slightly at Tenele. "I assume you wish to be prompt."

[Emora Deen]

Tenele was glad to be sitting, because her heart fluttered so fast she felt weak. She look dumbfounded, and her mouth opened to ask if she'd heard him right. Fearing to hear a different answer she clamped her mouth shut. "Prompt?" she asked. She hadn't thought it would be approved, and given no thought to time. "How prompt do you think would be acceptable?" For that matter, how prompt would Vlad consider acceptable, maybe he proposed because he thought it would never be approved.

That was a stupid thought, she immediately dismissed it.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Well, your fiance seems to believe the compound is under attack. So perhaps when that is put away, we can see to this matter," the priest said. It was clear from the calm in his voice that even he found it hard to imagine anyone invading this place. No one would dare, not really. That Sinead had sent her pet monster and her dearest Maiden to him for his blessing on their union only seemed to deepen the sense that nothing was truly at risk.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele smiled. "That is agreeable... I'll go tell him the happy news," she said with excitement. She jumped up out of her seat and bowed respectfully to him.

She opened the door to his office and began dodging the crowd to get back to narthex where she'd left Vlad. "Miss!" a voice called. She looked back to see two thin men coming towards her. "We need your help. You're the one that the Queen sent right? Queen's Maiden, half-elf? You can heal?"

Tenele nodded. "Yes," she replied.

"Come with me... I have someone that needs help," the other side. He carried with him a bucket. "She's this way."

Tenele glanced back towards the door, frowning at how close she was to telling Vlad they could get married. "Can I just get Vlad..."

"Its urgent!" the thin man told her quickly. "She's dying..."

Tenele nodded. "Okay, okay... lead the way."

She followed him to the back of the sanctuary where a small door lead down a narrow stone hall lit with torches. It was cold and snow drifted across the floor from the open windows. They came to a round room that surrounded a well with wooden doors closed and latched across the middle over the top.

"'One sec," the man replied. "I need to get some water."

"I thought you said it was urgent and she was dying," Tenele muttered, watching as he removed the latch and through back the doors. He tied a rope to the bucket and began to lower it down. After a while he started to pull it up.

"Shit, its stuck," he growled, leaning down. "She needs water... she's so thirsty. See if you can reach it, will you?"

Tenele looked at him and then the well. Slowly she stepped forward, thinking that the situation didn't seem to be the best, but what if she was over thinking it? Tenele bent to peek down into the well. She felt a hard shove and before she could grab onto anything she fell head first into the well.

Cold icy water swallowed her down at the bottom, and it was so cold it stole the breath form her lungs when she surfaced. She wiped the water from her eyes in time to see the doors close one by one and hear the latch click.

It became black as pitch, save small circles of light from small slanted vents in the walls. It was enough for her to see a path before her and behind her. A path meant a way out... right?

* * *

"Did you get her?" The thin man asked the fellow Arken spy as he emerged with his empty bucket.

"What do you think?" he asked, setting the bucket in the corner. "Now we just need to get rid of the other one... Then, no one will be keeping watch on this insect infested hole."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad ignored the stares of the resident monks and nuns in the eatery hall. All around him, others were bringing breakfast from communal pots by the far wall to the tables throughout the room. His expert ears caught their murmurs like the words were spoken straight to his face.

"What is that thing doing here?"
"Do they even eat?"
"Maybe they're just pretending to be sent by the queen."
"This place is supposed to be sacred..."

You got that right, he thought. He couldn't stop his mind from going back to that momentary lapse a few minutes ago. He stared at the bare tabletop he sat before. He remembered. He couldn't not remember. The burning, the impossible agony of Thar's power melting him from the inside out, boiling him alive. There was no mistaking it. He'd just gotten a free sample of the full package he'd experienced in that dungeon in the Outerlands. He told himself it had to be a fluke. He'd been...inoculated.

He tapped a finger on the table and waited or Tenele. She'd just woken, and he was sure she would be hungry when she was through with the high priest. He finally tired of waiting and of the boring gossip of the rest of the room. He went back to the sanctuary, dropping his eyes from the sunlike brightness of the holy objects and scrolls adorning every wall and window in the room. He strode straight on to the high priest's office and knocked on the door.

And was surprised when the priest opened it and stared at him in confusion.

"Tenele?" he asked the man flatly, squinting at the neon-bright talisman around the man's neck, knowing perfectly well the one he was wearing around his own neck would be just as bright if he hadn't shoved it under his shirt to keep it from distracting him.

"She left some while ago," the man responded curiously, studying the vampire's expression.

Vlad met his eyes with equal curiosity. "Alright," he said unreadably, and disappeared, leaving the priest alone once again.

Back in their quarters, he glanced around, sure she would be here if not in the dining hall. Where did she end up going? He made his way to the door. He'd walk the compound the old fashioned way, then.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele was angry, but more angry at herself for being so damn nice. She sloshed through the waist highfrigid water, having to feel her way at some points when the vents disappeared. She felt only a slight pull of current and she followed it through the maze of tight corridors to the point she knew she had to be going in circles. It was a labyrinth that felt like it was built out of some morbid idea of a joke.

Finally Tenele wondered for well over an hour and a half before she must have taken a right turn... She saw torchlight and followed it, her pace growing quicker the closer she got. And then, she caught a horrific smell. It sent her gagging, and she quickly covered her mouth. Around the corner lay a flat stone platform along the back wall of a square room. A nest seemed to be built in one corner from rages, pieces of clothing, and in the opposite corner were remnants of flesh and limbs.

Tenele swallowed, to the right was another hall, and she could see a shadow coming down it. She backed away quickly back the way she came trying to make as little noise as possible.

She moved quickly through the passageways, not even bothering to take a moment to wonder why anything that did that to humans lived below a church. Not even bothering to figure out if it could be Vlad... She just moved as fast as she could before she became someone elses dinner.

Tenele turned around a corner quickly, looking back to see it was following her. She looked at the slanted vents that lead up to the surface floors, and then back down either side of the hall. It was small... but maybe she could fit through it and wiggle up? She pulled herself into the sloped opening and began to shimmy up. Using her boots and hands, even her knees to lock her progress as she went. She grew closer and closer to the light, and when she reached it she found thick bars blocking her escape.

"Hey!" Tenele called to a girl as she passed. The young woman looked around, and then kept walking. Tenele frowned... and when the next one walked by she called out louder.

This one stopped. "Come here!"

"What are you doing in there?" she asked, not moving close enough for Tenele's liking.

"Long story, I need you to get me out of here," she told the woman.

"Really not sure I'm going to be able to do that... Isn't there a door?"

"If there were a door, I'd use it," Tenele muttered in frustration, and then froze.

There was a clicking noise, an alien like sound from below. She glanced down to the shaft, and saw nothing but the glint of moving water... And then a head. It was hideous. Glossy black skin, wet with slime or water, and a wide mouth that beheld two rows of teeth both top and bottom.

Tenele pulled on the bars as it stuck hands with three inch claws into the hole and began dislocating bones to fit through. She tugged harder, turning her eyes to the woman. "Pull! Do something! Just get me out of here!!"

The beast grew closer, clucking that little noise, but she noticed something as it came towards her. It wasn't bursting into flames... It was a demon, a beast, shouldn't it burst into flames?

The woman ran forward at Tenele's panic and pulled as hard as she could, but never budged the bars. Tenele felt the hand wrap around her boot and pulled. It was strong and she couldn't hold onto the bars for long. Her wet fingers slipped lose, and she disappeared down the dark hole.

* * *

"We need to find that Vampire," Lin muttered.

"How do we dispose of him without getting our heads ripped open?" Bosh asked.

"Well, we just need to get him out of this place and I think the demon part of our patrol can handle him just fine," Lin muttered as they rounded a corner. "Now... we just need to find him."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad was striding down yet another gloomy stone hallway (how many did this place have?) when he heard a scream up ahead. He ran around the corner, almost bumping into a couple of men coming the opposite direction. That had been a scream. Hadn't it? Great. He'd never find Tenele at this rate. He continued forward, ignoring the men he'd crashed into, and found a room off to the side, a kitchen, where a woman was kneeling beside a grate in the floor. She was sobbing.

Vlad dodged into the room and went to the woman's side. "What is it?" he demanded somewhat impatiently. The woman shook her head, staring down at the grate and sobbing beyond speech. He didn't give much thought to it when the men he'd almost collided with appeared in the doorway behind him. "Tell me what happened," he encouraged the woman less harshly, though his voice hardly seemed sympathetic.

[Emora Deen]

Lin and Bosh looked at each other and then at the grate. "Hey, you're that vampire guy, right?" Bosh asked before the woman could mutter anything.

Lin elbowed him and glared at him. "What?"

"I couldn't get this off... and she's gone," the woman cried. "Poor thing, she's gone. Something just... drug her away."

"I saw that silver haired lass go out the front gate, encase you were wondering," Bosh continued, and Lin elbowed him harder. "What the hell!"

Lin grabbed Bosh by the collar and pulled him around the corner, thinking he was far enough from the vampire that he couldn't hear. "Hey, if he goes down there too and gets eaten alive then we don't have to worry about getting outside the gates."

* * *

Tenele's eyes snapped open minutes later, lying on something soft and slushy... and it smelled horrible. She looked down, and in panic realized that she was lying on that pile of body parts. She rolled and slipped into the water, and with scanned the area around her.

Reaching forward out of the pile she pulled a dagger from the sheath still hooked to the torso of a body. How many people got kicked down wells in this place?!

Then it came, out of no where from the hall behind her. It lashed out at her with claws, and she ducked. It came at her with another swipe, and she clamored up the stone deck, twisting and dive back off it towards his head. Tenele drove the dagger into its neck, meeting eyes that seemed to sit behind a glass globe... almost like a mask. His rows of teeth were two different types of teeth. The front row were sharp and jagged, and the back row were normal.

Tenele jumped off him and ran as fast as she could through the water.