A/N: Hello everyone, I have returned as promised. Thank you all for being patient with me. I needed a few weeks to sort some personal life stuff and get my head back in the game. We're pushing on with part three and on to the end of the epically long story that I so did not intend to end up this long, but I've committed now so there we go. XD. I hope you have all been well whilst I've been away, it's been a strange year indeed. So kick back and take your mind off it all with some good old Lambert fanfiction. So glad to be back, but I'll stop jabbering and leave you to read, review and enjoy once more! :)

Part Three – The Other Side

Chapter 29

'It strikes me profoundly that the world is more often than not a bad and cruel place.'

-Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho

The first thing that hit him was the smell. It was a cloying, pungent concoction that made him instantly want to gag. It wasn't the same as the reek of a swamp or the sweet stench of decay on a rotting corpse, but it clogged his throat and made it hard for him to breath. The second thing he noticed was the noise; it was a constant barrage of sound bombarding his ears. Roaring and screeching and banging. It was like being in an arena full of monsters all fighting to the death to get out.

Then there were the lights. They were overwhelmingly bright. Burning points of radiance that hurt his sensitive witcher eyes. He was in a narrow alley, and it was night, but the sky was lit up by a strange glow that looked nothing like moonlight. He squinted and coughed against the foreign surroundings, then his stomach rolled and the effects of going through a portal finally caught up with him. Leaning to one side he emptied the contents of his guts onto the stone ground. It was only when a noise of disgust came from somewhere underneath him that he realised he was on top of a warm body.

Hands pushed against his already sore stomach and forced him to roll over. Lambert took a moment to catch his breath and spit the bitter taste of bile out of his mouth before trying to stagger to his feet. Ellie remained prone on the ground, staring up at him with horrified eyes.

'What the fuck did you do?' She snapped. He tried to formulate a coherent thought, but all the noise and lights, not to mention the fucking stench of the place, made it hard for him to think.

'You were going to leave me.' He managed to say, pressing a palm to his forehead to try and keep the words from flying away. Gods he had a headache. 'I couldn't let you.'

'You shouldn't be here.' She said, her voice nearer to him now, he attempted to focus his over stimulated eyes. She was stood right next to him; her expression livid.

'Well, I'm here now. What is this place?' He tried to look past her and out towards the majority of the noise and blindingly bright lights were.

'This is London.' She replied, her tone still saturated with anger. 'Although I was aiming for Purgatory, so something isn't right.' She gave him a sidelong look, her eyes narrowing to thin slits. 'Don't know how to get back to your world so you're stuck here for now.' She gave him a look like this was his fault and not hers for trying to ditch and run. Lambert felt a jolt of nausea rock through him; well…maybe it was a little his fault.

'Stay with me and don't wander off. I can't deal with a lost witcher in London and whatever it is O'Dimm is currently doing to my home.'

He could hardly see her and his headache was getting worse, but he did his best to follow the blurry outline that was Ellie as she walked towards the lights. It was definitely night, as he could see only black when he looked straight up, but the sky was devoid of stars and there was no moon visible over the towering stone buildings that surrounded them. They reached the end of the alley and Ellie paused for a moment, her head sweeping from side to side. She glanced over her shoulder and appraised Lambert for a second.

'Don't talk to anyone either.' She added as a side note as she stepped out of the shadows and he completely lost her from view. It was like taking a triple dose of cat and walking into broad daylight. Lambert shut his eyes instinctually as he moved out of the comparatively dark alley and into what sounded like a main thoroughfare. Instead of the familiar beat of horses' hooves and carts there was that horrendous roaring sound, like a pack of wyverns with a toothache were racing back and forth in front of him.

His nose flared, trying to compensate for his lack of vision, and took in a large whiff of that choking stench that permeated the air around him. He coughed, trying to clear his nostrils so he could at least smell where Ellie had gone but it only resulted in letting more of the disgusting smog into his lungs. Blinded and gasping for air, Lambert moved his feet in the direction he was sure he had last seen blurry Ellie walking in.

The ground was made of something hard and unforgiving like stone, but it was flat. Too flat, perfectly flat. It felt strange and disorientating, especially when the ground suddenly disappeared beneath his feet and he dropped a foot, making him windmill his arms wildly for purchase. He managed to balance himself and found the lower ground still the same strange hard flatness, so he continued to walk. The wyverns sounded louder and through his squinted eyes he could just make out large, fast moving shadows flying past him. The noise appeared to be coming from them.

What was this place? How did she do anything with all this racket and light?

He walked a few more steps, before a high-pitched wailing erupted from behind him. It sounded like the loudest war horn he had ever heard, and whomever was blowing it was approaching at a rapid pace. Lambert turned, but still blinded he couldn't make out where the horn was coming from. All he saw was a looming dark mass that was charging towards him. Instinctually he reached for his sword but found his back bare. Of course, he hadn't been wearing them when he fell through the portal with Ellie. He tried to make himself look bigger, hoping whatever monster was attacking him would decide better of it, and extended his hand to attempt to use Aard to repel it.

He made the sign in the air, but there was no familiar tingle of power in his fingers, and the charging beast didn't slow, its ear-splitting cry now deafening to him. For the first time in a long time Lambert felt panic. He couldn't see or hear, he had no idea what this thing was and he couldn't hope to outrun it. He braced himself for impact but just before the large thundering mass of black hit him, he felt a smaller, softer impact on his side. He was thrust to the ground, and hit his shoulder hard on the strange flat stone. The thing that had hit him landed on him with a grunt, and the charging monster flashed past, its horn now coming out in short, angry staccato bursts.

'Yeah, and the same to you fucker!' Ellie shouted from on top of him. 'What in Purgatory were you doing, walking into the road like that?' This was directed at him, it was a lot quieter but no less annoyed.

'I can't fucking see.' He shot back angrily, feeling a flush of chagrin at having already got into trouble in her world. 'What was that thing?'

There was an exasperated sigh and he felt her weight leave him as she got up. 'A car. It's like a cart, but faster and made of metal.'

He tried to look up at her but it was still just a blur of light and shadow. Another sigh. 'Close your eyes, then slowly open them until they adjust.'

Lambert was so fed up and disorientated he obeyed without a snarky comment, a truly momentous occasion. Sure enough, after a few minutes of slowly opening his eyes bit by bit, his sensitive pupils were able to adjust to the harsh lights and he could make out his surroundings. Even with his sight back the witcher had a hard time understanding what he was seeing. It was a road, just like Ellie had said, except it was filled with the fast moving, metal carts she had described. They had no horses or oxen pulling them, they were running as if by magic. He couldn't even see the people or goods they were transporting. Just faceless moving boxes of metal and glass. The roaring wyvern noise was coming from them, and occasionally he could hear the high-pitched war horn sounding in the distance.

He was sat on the flat grey stone that made up the ground here, but on a slightly raised part to one side of where the 'cars' were. This part of the road was no less busy however, but it was filled with hundreds, upon hundreds of people walking. It may not have been that many, but even in Novigrad at the height of Belleteyn he had never seen so many people, and they were all wearing such weird garments. A few of them glanced curiously down at the man sat on the floor staring up at them with wide, cat like eyes, but the majority of them were looking down at something in their hands, or talking loudly to no one in particular.

Lambert turned to focus on Ellie again, she was looking down at him with a concerned but slightly amused expression. He got the distinct impression she was laughing at him but he was too overwhelmed by everything to care. She offered her hand for him to get up but he brushed it aside, not unkindly, and righted himself. Brushing down his leather breeches he gave her a sideways look.

'How do you manage to get anything done with all this noise?' She gave him a small smirk and shrugged.

'You get used to it. Although I did like the quiet of your world. Made a nice change.' Happy that he was at least able to see her again she began to walk off into the ever-flowing river of people. Seamlessly weaving her way through the bodies, not attracting the slightest bit of attention. Lambert, on the other hand, drew a few more eyes than her, some of them even looking up from whatever they had in their hands to stare openly at him. He shot them the same contemptuous glare he reserved for anyone who was stupid enough to leer at him, but there was none of the disgust or hatred he was used to behind their looks. Only curiosity.

After a bit he found it easier to ignore the stares and focus on where Blue eyes was leading him through this horrendously crowded and enormous city. She walked with the easy confidence of someone who knows their surroundings, and Lambert felt himself trusting her implicitly as she led him down busy roads and winding alleys. Eventually they turned off the main thoroughfare and onto quieter streets, where there were less people, less strange carts and most importantly, less lights. It was still lit up by the tall ever burning candles that lined the side of the road, but there was none of the vividly coloured, blaring lights covering every building.

Lambert couldn't get over how tall everything was. No matter how far they travelled through the city, they were always surrounded by towering walls of stone. It was hard to tell if the buildings were shops or places of residence as they all had the same angular design that belayed nothing. Ellie kept periodically glancing over her shoulder to check on him, but he was behaving like a good little boy. He hadn't started any fights or caused any trouble since the 'car' incident.

That was until he found himself skirting round a cluster of dark-skinned men that were all gathered beneath one of the tall light structures. They were talking loudly to each other and inhaling some kind of strong-smelling medicinal substance. Lambert wasn't sure what it did, but he had seen druids doing something similar in his world. They ignored Ellie, much like everyone else had previous, but one of them looked over at him as he passed close by.

The man reached out and grabbed Lambert's arm, stopping him briefly in his tracks. 'Yo blud, them's some fancy looking garms. Where you get them?' Lambert frowned at the man, his eyes slightly bloodshot as he tried to interpret what he had said. Before he could formulate a response however, the man caught sight of his eyes and his face split into a wide grin. 'Forget the garms man, you got some sick contacts. Your eyes look well beast.' He turned to his friends who were all now paying attention to the exchange, a few of them made noises of assent and moved their hands rapidly in the air. Lambert reflexively pulled away from the man's grasp, certain they were about to try and attack with some kind of magic. Instead they all flinched with him and gave him mistrustful looks. The man who had originally stopped him held up his hands in a familiar gesture of surrender.

'Yo, chill. Was just paying you a compliment blud. You get me?' Lambert didn't know how to respond. He was so used to people being repulsed by his mutations that having them interested, and even complementary of them felt like an out of body experience. Luckily, before he could open his mouth and inadvertently cause more offence Ellie appeared by his side.

'Excuse my friend lads. He's a bit nervous of strangers. We're on our way to a fancy-dress party. Have a nice night.' The men looked at Blue eyes as if she had just popped into existence, not walked right by them and doubled back in the middle of an empty street. The one that had stopped him gave her a bemused look then nodded, already turning back to his friends.

'It's cool yo. Just tell your friend to be less skittish. Never know who might pull a blade when you act all freakish like that.' Ellie was dragging Lambert away by the time they had returned to the conversation. He glared down at her.

'Didn't need rescuing like some damsel.' He muttered.

'Really?' She said, her jaw tight. 'Cos from where I was stood it looked like you were about to punch one of them. Just try and blend in.'

His teeth ground together at her annoyed tone. 'And how, exactly, do you want me to do that when I look like this?' He waved a hand at his attire. She didn't even look at him as she marched him around the corner and into another alley.

'I'm working on that.' She bit out and continued on in silence. After a few more tense minutes, they came upon a building that look somewhat familiar to Lambert. It wasn't as tall as the buildings on either side of it, but it had a much more impressive air about it. It was made of stone, however, unlike the strange flat stone that everything so far had been constructed of, this was rough-hewn blocks and elaborately carved pieces of masonry. It looked a lot older than the angular structures around it and had large double oak doors, banded with black iron. High vaulted windows lined the sides and above the door was a round window filled with intricately painted glass. This looked like a temple of some kind.

The temple was dark and looked to be empty but Ellie didn't break step as she strode up to it and pushed on one of the heavy wooden doors. It opened with an aching groan and she gave Lambert a look before slipping inside. Unsure what any of this meant or why they had come to this odd juxtaposition of a building in the dead of night, he followed behind her, shutting the door with an equally loud creak behind them.

The temple was completely dark inside. It smelt of incense and wood oil, and it felt like home. Lambert let out a long sigh as his eyes adjusted with relish to the naturally dark surroundings. The thick stone walls blocked out most of the city noise apart from the occasional blare of those car horns. Their footsteps were the only real sound as they walked into the middle of the temple, between two rows of benches. The ever burning light from outside shone a little through the windows, casting colourful patterns on the floor.

Lambert was enjoying the sanctuary from the new world outside when Ellie began calling out, her voice bouncing off the stonework. 'Father Eli. Are you awake? It's Ellie.'

The temple remained still and silent even as her voice faded, but then a burst of soft light appeared beneath a door to the far end of the building. The light oozed out as a person opened the door and stared blinking out into the cold room.

'Ellie? Is that you? What's the matter?' A voice far younger than Lambert had been expecting called over to them, then the owner of the voice followed. When Ellie had said 'Father' he had thought of an old, bent over priest, with a tumbling white beard and failing eyes. Instead a man in his late twenties approached them, his thick curly mop of hair a little tousled from sleep, his dark eyes flicking from Ellie to Lambert inquisitively.

'Sorry Eli, but I'm trying to find Enoch. Have you seen him?' Father Eli rubbed a hand over his face.

'I have. He came to the sanctuary a few days ago, he may still be here. You're welcome to look.' Ellie placed a hand on his arm.

'Thanks, now go back to bed. I'll be sure to use the back door on the way out.'

'Of course, and maybe later you can introduce me to your new friend.' Eli said with a yawn. Lambert tilted his head awkwardly at the priest, unsure what was happening.

'I'm Lambert.' He offered unhelpfully. Father Eli fixed him with eyes that were certainly more awake than the rest of him.

'Pleasure to meet you Lambert. You'll find safe refuge and hospitality within these walls.' The witcher wanted to ask what he meant by the strange greeting but Ellie was already a good few feet away from him with no indication of stopping. He quickly caught up with her as Father Eli shuffled back to what must be his quarters.

'What is this place?' He whispered, conscious his voice travelled in the empty room.

'It's a church. Quite ironic really.' Ellie replied as she approached a table covered in a clean white cloth, a brass cross ornament set reverently upon it.

'Ironic how?' He said, not sure what the irony actually was.

'Churches are holy places in my world, and traditionally demons and their kind are considered anything but holy.' She was moving around the table and lifting the cloth to reveal something. 'Father Eli is an exception to his faith, in as much as he believes all things deserve to be treated with kindness and tolerance.'

There was a loud thud as Ellie bent down to lift something, then she gave Lambert another expectant look before disappearing under the table. Moving around it, he saw a hidden trap door had been opened and Ellie was descending down a flight of wooden stairs. There was no light but his eyes were just about good enough to see her outline vanishing below. With little choice and feeling increasingly out of his depth, Lambert followed, being sure to shut the trap door above him.

They descended a short way, arriving in a small, dark room that was only just big enough to house the both of them in it. He was pressed against Ellie's back as she negotiated yet another door. There was still the angry tension emanating from her, and he knew she was annoyed he had followed her here. They needed to talk about it but right now was clearly not a good time.

There were faint noises coming from the other side, the low rumble of voices and movement. As Ellie opened the door the voices fell instantly silent, a fearful kind of hush settling over the room. Stepping in Lambert saw a dozen or so people gathered in what looked like a cellar, except instead of barrels of produce or drink there were tables and chairs set up as if this was a communal living space. The people occupying the space all stared at the new arrivals as they moved inside, the door clicking shut behind them.

There were the same brutally strong lights strung up along the curved stone ceiling, and now he was closer Lambert could hear a dim buzzing sound coming from them. The cellar stretched the length of the temple, or church as Ellie had called it, above, but there were doorways leading off like limbs from the main body of it. A few smaller heads peeked out from these doorways, it looked like this was some kind of refuge for families or lost souls. Scanning the faces, he picked up on the strange coloured eyes and ethereal features of the people. Even as he noticed this his medallion tremored as one of them detached from the group and moved towards them.

'Ellie, we were worried something had happened to you. Enoch said you vanished nearly a fortnight ago.' The woman who had spoken was in her mid-forties and had a halo of flaxen curls tumbling around her attractive face. She smiled at Ellie with vivid, almost luminescent green eyes, but Lambert's attention was immediately caught by the distinctive elongated canines poking down below her upper lip. His medallion jumped wildly as she turned her eyes to him, her friendly smile faltering as she took in his unfamiliar presence.

'I don't believe we've met before, I am Rachel.' She said, her tone guarded.

'He's a friend of mine.' Ellie interceded. 'Have I only been gone a fortnight?'

Rachel looked back at her. 'Yes, why?'

'No reason.' Ellie replied dismissively. The blonde haired…woman? Demon? Lambert really wasn't sure, gave him another curious look before a high-pitched cry of delight drew the room's attention.

'Ellie!' A small golden ball of hair and clothes dashed over to them and collided with impressive force into Blue eyes. She smiled, for the first time since they'd got here, and wrapped her arms around what now looked like a little girl of around 7, her small moon face surrounded by the same curls as Rachel. They were clearly related and from the way Rachel's green eyes softened at the exchange Lambert guessed at her being the child's mother.

'Hey Tia. My, you've grown.' The girl beamed up at Ellie with wild green eyes, her white teeth perfectly even apart from the same pronounced canines as Rachel.

'I have, I have. Soon I'll be as tall as you.' Ellie ruffled the girl's mad hair affectionately, the crown of her head only just level with her waist. 'Are you staying here?' Tia asked hopefully. The smile on Ellie's face dimmed.

'Afraid not. Just looking for Enoch, but I'll visit for longer soon…promise.' Tia looked crest fallen.

'He came here a while ago, then some slayers got close to the church and he told them to go away.' Tia sounded resigned as she told Ellie. Rachel curled an arm around the girl and pulled her to her side. Ellie looked up at the woman, alarmed.

'There were slayers here?' Rachel gave her a small smile.

'Don't worry. Enoch saw them off, and Dante doubled the guard around the church.' Lambert felt his gut twist uncomfortably. He had heard that word before, when he had first met Blue eyes. He kept his expression neutral but the blonde woman still gave him a sideways glance. 'He's probably with Dante at his club right now if you want to try there.' She finished.

Ellie rubbed a hand over her face. 'Thanks Rach. I'll check there.' She chucked the little girl under the chin, earning her a grin and made to go. Rachel looked at Lambert suspiciously.

'So what kind of hybrid are you? I've never seen anything with eyes like yours.' He was unsure whether he should respond. Every encounter so far had left him feeling confused, and Lambert had decided he really didn't like not knowing what was going on. As if sensing his unease Ellie jumped in again.

'A new kind. He's with me until I can figure out what to do with him.' Rachel's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

'Okay, stay safe Ellie. No disappearing this time.'

Ellie gave her a tight smile. 'Sure thing.'

Taking that as his cue to leave, Lambert gladly followed Ellie back out of the cellar. A backward glance saw the other 'people' moving to gather round Rachel and Tia. Their ethereal faces all staring at him impassively. It sent a cold shiver shooting down his spine, and his medallion gave one last token shake before he quickly left the room.

The church was dark again as they came up through the trap door. Father Eli had clearly gone back to bed. Instead of walking back through the wooden benches and out the front, Ellie led him through a side door and into the back rooms of the building. Pushing aside some boxes, she revealed another door, this one leading outside and into a back alley. The noise and smells of the city still hit Lambert like a runaway cart, but at least this time he was braced for it. He wrinkled his nose against the pungent stench and tried to stay focused on the sound of Ellie's boots clicking against the stone.

She walked a few feet away from the church and turned to survey him. 'Well, you haven't caused too much fuss so far, but I think we better change our clothes before we head to Dante's.'

'What were they?' He asked, changing the subject. Ellie looked confused for a second then frowned.

'Does it matter?' She replied defensively.

'Yeah.' He snapped back, his anger and frustration at being led around like a stray dog starting to fray at his nerves. 'It does. Call it professional curiosity.'

'There's a mixture. Rachel and Tia are vampires, amongst a few others. There are a one or two sucubi, incubi and even a werewolf living there at the moment. All of them hybrids, and all of them hunted.' She folded her arms and scowled at him. 'Happy now?'

Lambert blinked. 'Vampires? Sucubi? Werewolf? What the fuck is going on down there Blue eyes. You starting a cult of monsters?'

'Not all monsters are bad. I thought you knew that? Some are just trying to live peaceful lives. Father Eli and I set up the sanctuary for those who wanted shelter from the ones trying to destroy them.'

'And who might they be?' He said, folding his own arms.

'Gatekeepers, the ones that think all hybrids are vermin, and…others.' She trailed off, her eyes darting away.

'Slayers?' Lambert asked. Ellie looked back at him sheepishly.

'Yes.'

'You called me a slayer once.' He took a step closer, until he was crowding her space. Her annoyance at him dimmed and she looked upset almost.

'I was wrong okay. You're not like them.' She was trying to dodge the subject but Lambert knew the signs.

'They're monster hunters? Like me?' There was a long pause, during which another horn sounded in the distance. Then Ellie nodded.

'They're humans who hunt hybrids…and demons occasionally. They're not much to worry about, but when they come in large numbers they can be dangerous to people like Tia and Rachel.' Her eyes flashed brightly with anger even in the weird orange light of the ever-burning candles.

'Okay.' Lambert said, realising he had pushed her too far. 'Where are we going now then?'

Ellie let out a long sigh. 'We're looking for my partner. Rachel seems to think he may be with Dante, the leader of their coven, so we're going to find out.' Her eyes shifted up and down his body. 'But like I said, we probably need to find a change of clothes. Better you blend in than draw more attention.'

He stared down at her. He wanted nothing more than to grab her and pull her to him. It had been a long, bizarre few hours but he was grateful she was still with him. He'd have to worry about getting back to Geralt and the others at some point, but right now he'd help Ellie. Even if that meant spending more time in this strange world of blinding lights, deadly carts and monsters that needed a safe place to hide from humans.