On my knees

So this tribe was a group of fanatics taking care of the temple. Keeping outsiders away, probably by using not so friendly methods. Apparently they lived around here, and not with the normal population. Her whole explanation made him not all too excited about encountering one though. ”Sounds like a fun bunch”, He chuckled. Again, joking to hide his nerves. Though he trusted Lexa enough to not turn around and start running. If these people lived in Vanaheim, they were automatically under her command too, right? She wouldn’t let them hurt him.

The temple had other plans though. The arrow that was coming for him, wouldn’t do much to a vampire. But it would hurt, that was for sure. Luckily he could catch it right before the sharp point would rip through his skin. If there was poison on this, he could get very sick. It would not kill him, but it would not be fun either. So he threw away the arrow quickly.

The Commander started explaining that these traps were set there by the tribe, to keep out unwelcome visitors. ”Well, I’m pretty sure the Mother must like me then”, He said with a little smile. He didn’t actually believe he just had been saved by a Goddess though. No offence. It was thanks to his vampiric reflexes and speed that he had stopped the arrow right in time. The male walked over to the other again, feeling safer when he was near her. The corridor seemed to get smaller anyway, so there was not much space to take distance anymore.

Her next warning sent a shiver down his spine. Now he was really worried. He couldn’t make jokes and she wasn’t sure she could protect him? That took away basically everything that had given him the confidence to come here in the first place. Couldn’t he just turn around now and start running? ”I’m pretty sure I can outrun them though”, He said, jokingly. Again. He clenched his jaw and sighed right after. ”I never learn, do I?” He maundered. Why was it so hard for him to keep his mouth shut? Luckily he didn’t hear any heartbeat aside from hers, which hopefully meant there were no crazy tribe people around.

While they were walking further, she warned him for more traps every now and then. After a bit, he knew what he had to look out for, so he didn’t get into any more trouble. Eventually they ended up in front of a set of stairs that had been carved out of the mountain. “We are getting close,” She said. ”If it has, I really got into digging lately. Fix me a shovel and I’ll dig it out”, He shrugged. Then his hours wasted digging graves wouldn’t have been for nothing. The vampire started walking up the stairs, unbothered by the fact that a human would probably struggle with this. Another perk of being a vampire. At least his muscles didn’t start burning when he was doing an effort.

Trapped. That was the very last word he wanted to hear right now. The male was glad he had no heartbeat. Otherwise, in this moment, even she would be able to hear it go wild. He was oblivious to the fact that she was just messing with him. ”There really is no other way out?” He asked, slight panic in his voice. Of course there wouldn’t be another way out. They were inside a fucking mountain. Those weren’t known to have emergency exits, were they?

Reality came dangerously close. His own comment reminded him of everything he was trying to run from. He almost immediately regretted making it, as he hadn’t thought it through. Of course she didn’t really understand. So her question was very logical. “What the hell have you been digging for?” The vampire avoided her questioning gaze. Suddenly the stairs were far more interesting. After a short moment of silence, he looked up again, a weak smile on his face. ”Let’s talk about that some other time”, He said. He was not ready to deal with all that again.

If something were to happen that they couldn’t get out of this temple, then they would have a problem. True, he was immortal, so technically he couldn’t die. When he didn’t feed, he simply went into a comatose state. Some sort of ‘sleep’ where he wouldn’t be able to do anything. Basically dead dead. Before that would happen though, the thirst would come. And with only her heartbeat taunting him, it wouldn’t take more than a couple of days before.. No. He would rather have her stab him so badly he wouldn’t be able to move anymore, so she would at least be safe.

Thanks to his own mindless comment, he was now thrown back into the reality he was trying to hide from. The small graveyard in Kaz’ garden.. The young women he had buried there because his fledgling didn’t know when to stop and wouldn’t listen when he told him so. When she grabbed his hand, he sighed softly. He nodded at her words. Sounded like a plan. They were getting close to their destination anyway.

The gigantic hall they entered, was completely empty. Except for some kind of elevated platform that displayed a coffin. It was cold in here. Not that he actually felt it on his skin. He could feel it in his chest. ”Is this a tomb?” He asked quietly, afraid to disrupt the silence. Afraid to.. Cause something to happen, even if he had no idea what to expect.

”For crying out loud, Lexa”, Mort sighed dramatically when he finally realised she was just messing around with him. He gave her a gentle push with his shoulder. Why did he have to be so naive all the time. He had taken her very seriously, because they were talking about serious subjects. He had just accepted whatever she was saying as being true. Just like he was now listening to her explanation about this room, and especially the coffin in the center of it. The room almost felt haunted. As if someone was.. Watching them. He wasn’t too far off with that feeling, but he blamed it on the mysterious nature of this temple. Not on the fact that someone was actually watching them.

There had been no other heartbeat than hers. He was a hundred percent sure of that. So the attack came as a full surprise. The male was thrown onto the ground, a groan of pain escaping his chest as he hit the rock rather hard. From the moment he was kind of recovered, he wanted to get up on his feet again, knowing that being on the ground was the worst position to be in when engaged in a fight. A sharp pain shooting through his throat kept him from moving though. The tip of a sword was slightly piercing his skin, causing black drops of blood to trickle down his neck. When he followed the blade, he was met by a pair of greyish blue eyes. The look in them wasn’t too hard to figure out. Whoever this was, she was not pleased with his presence.

Mort was all kinds of confused. How had he not noticed a heartbeat when they had entered this room? Why was there still no other heartbeat audible, except for Lexa’s? Also, why did her heart thrum in her chest? As if she was having some sort of panic attack? This was not good. He was also a bit too shocked to find a possible and logical explanation. The sword pressing down on his throat wasn’t really helping either. The male tried not to panic himself, but it was to no avail. Especially when she started acting.. Weird.

The guardian of the Temple was looking around, as if she was speaking to the ghosts that were haunting this place. While she turned to Lexa, he tried to move away from the blade. His attempt was cut off immediately when she noticed and pushed her sword a bit deeper. A soft whimper of pain interrupted the silence. ”Lexa”, He managed to say, almost with a begging intonation in his voice. More black blood was being spilled, and even though it would not kill him, it sure was not pleasant either.

What scared him most about all this, was that Lexa didn’t seem like herself. At all. He had never seen her panic, but she sure had chosen the right moment to do so. The vampire was too inexperienced to get away from the blade by himself. The guardian handled it with so much precision and skill that she would probably be able to hurt him pretty bad if he tried. When he called out her name, she kind of snapped out of it. Not entirely though. There was this.. Uncertainty in her actions. Like she didn’t know what to say or do exactly.

The guardian went into a brief discussion with the ghosts again. Was she speaking to the Mother herself? Whatever it was, she finally pulled away the sword and stepped aside. The vampire got up quickly, pressing his fingers against the cut on his throat. It would heal soon, so he wiped away some of the blood with his hand. ”The Commander was teaching me about the origins of her people and faith”, He replied, also a bit unsure about what he was supposed to tell her. Last thing he wanted, was to anger her. That seemed like a very bad idea.