I swear nothing gets me more annoyed then people just flat out insult storys, I like to go back and read some of the wasted time people typed out on my other storys, I mean theres criticism, and ther s being an ass. Sometimes criticism is spoken through being an ass. Which is fine, as long as they offer advice.

Anyway, read. Im very happy with this chapter

The scene wasn't what he had expected when Serana called it a garden.

It was gray. Dead.

He turned to look at Serana who was just as shocked as he was. She took a couple steps forward. Still in disbelief.

"What...What happened here...This place used to be so...Beautiful..." She sighed. "My mother would have hated to see it like this" She walked towards what appeared to be a sundial in the middle. She looked at it in an odd way "Huh...This moon dial is missing some crest..." She said.

"Moon dial?" He walked up behind her and looked at it from over her, sure enough it was missing some circles.

She nodded "Yeah, the originals owner had a sun dial. Being vampires we had no use for it, but instead of getting it removed my mother had it turned into a moon dial...I never knew why...I guess as art..." She took another look at the circles surrounding it "But it appears some crest are missing here..." She thought for a moment "What if my mother is trying to tell us something? They have got to be around here somewhere."

"And i presume you want me to look for them?" Alrek sighed. She nodded "I'd imagine they'd be nearby" She gave a reassuring smile. He stared at her again for a moment, simply taking in the smile that adorned her smooth face, the moonlight reflected off of her pale skin, making her glow.

"Something wrong, handsome?" Serana asked, still smiling. But this time in a more teasing manner. "N-nothing...I'll go look for those missing crest" He turned around as he said that. Serana smiled, happy with herself at successfully teasing the big bad wolf.

Alrek came back with several reflective plates in his arms.

"Are these it?" He asked. Serana took a look at them then nodded. "Yeah looks like it, go ahead and place them down, I'll take half" she said, grabbing half the stack and placing them down in their rightful places.

They stepped back and took a look at it. "Well?" Alrek asked. Serana shrugged, "Maybe push the dial?" She said. Alrek walked up and pushed the dial. It budged slightly but didn't move much after that. "Mind helping me out?" He grunted. "Oh sorry" She walked up and pushed. Still nothing.

Alrek took a step back. She took a step back with him. "Are werewolves supposed to have inhuman strength?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms. "Aren't vampires?" He shot back. She clicked her tongue. Touche.

"Here lets try again, on three" He walked back up to it and got ready to push, she followed suite and waited for him to start counting. "Okay, One, Two, Three!" They both pushed with all their might on three, it budged slightly then started turning, eventually it started turning on its own and they jumped back as the ground beneath them began to shift and collapse into stairs leading down.

"Very clever mother, very clever" Serana thought aloud. Alrek took a look at the stairs leading downward. "Where do you think they lead?" He asked, turning his head towards her. She turned her head towards him. "Only one way to find out" She said as she walked down the stairs, Alrek followed suite

The stairs led into straight tunnel, which they followed until they reach another door, this opened up into a grand hall.

"Huh...The ruined tower...So this is where she went..." Serana thought aloud. They heard the rattling of bones and the heavy foot steps of the undead. Alrek unsheathed Dawnbreaker and glanced at Serana. "Got me covered?" He asked, she smiled. "I always do" He nodded and ran in, she fired off ice spikes at the archers and any undead that attempted to sneak up on him.

They eventually made their way to an opening that was sealed of via metal spikes. "You know where the chain or lever is?" Alrek asked. Serana shook her head "I've never been here, I always thought this place was abandoned. The main entrance was sealed off." Serana answered Alrek scanned the walls until he spotted a chain swtich just over the head of a statue. He walked over to it. "Found it" He said as he walked over to it.

Serana didn't bother checking where he was walking until she decided to sneak a glance at his shoulders. But what caught her eye was the statue that the chain was over.

"Alrek! wai-" she was to late as he pulled the chain, the sliding of the spikes were heard followed by the explosion of rock followed by the roar of a gargoyle.

It caught Alrek by surprise as it dug it's claws into Alrek's stomach. It lifted it up as he growled then threw him across the room, he landed with a loud thud against a rock pillar.

"Alrek!" Serana cried out, he groaned but didn't move, blood was already starting to coat his hand as he clutched the wound.

The gargoyle turned it's attention towards Serana as he gave a loud, bellowing roar as it charged her. She grabbed her elven dagger and unsheathed it, she quickly side stepped to the side as the beast ran into the wall, she fired off another ice spike into it's back it turned around and used it's wings to hop over to her, landing heavily and shattering the stone floor, it swung it's mighty claws at her but she ducked and stabbed it in the abdomen. She let her vampire powers activate as her hand glowed red and she grabbed it's head and drained away it's life.

It grabbed her wrist and and struggled to pull it away from it's head, but she held strong, narrowing her eyes as she stared deep into it's pitch black eyes, she almost thought she saw fear in them. Weakened it fell to it's knees as she yanked her knife out of it then, using her hand to keep it's head steady, shoved it straight through hits temple.

She took a step back, breathing heavily. Partly shocked at what just happened before a groan bought her back to her senses. She turned towards Alrek and ran over to him, practically sliding to a crouch next to him, he was propped up against the pillar, breathing heavily and clutching his wound.

"Man...I really hate those things" He laughed then cringed in pain. "Now is not the time to be joking, you idiot. I wish I knew some restoration spells." She sighed, angry at herself for not knowing those kind of spells.

"It's fine, this should heal. I think" He went to go laugh again, but decided against it. He pulled out a potion from divines know where and uncorked it, pouring the contents into his mouth before throwing it against the wall, shattering it.

"What was that?" Serana asked "You're classic healing potion, I say we rest and let it do its thing." Alrek answered. Already the the bleeding seemed to stop.

"Here? In this undead infested tower?" Serana asked, raising an eyebrow, yet smirking slightly at the same time.

"You want to do all the killing while dragging my bleeding body behind?" He asked. "You say that as if I'm unable to fend myself" She pouted. "I just took out that gargoyle!" He shrugged "Sorry, must've missed it" He smirked in a teasing manner. She pouted again "I will never understand how you're able to joke in such situations"

"Then don't lets rest up." He offered. "There should be some sleeping bags in my bag over there" He pointed towards the far end of the room, where he got attacked at. His bag way laying there, some of it's contents were strewn about, but everything seemed to be intact.

She went over and laid out the bed rolls. She helped Alrek over to his as she laid down on hers. She put them just a little bit closer together.

"I hope blood washes out..." He added before he closed his eyes.

She simply stared at him.

What a lovely man