blood moon, marc spector

nine.

THE TROLLEY TRIP WAS QUIET AS MARC AND LILITH ATTEMPTED TO BLEND IN WITH THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS. lilith, of course, envied them as they walked towards the dig site in search of historic treasures at the remains of the sanctuary of athena polias at priene. she and marc, meanwhile, snuck the opposite direction when their fellow travelers weren't looking.

lilith had led the way into the mountains, having remembered the general course that she'd taken when she was there with frenchie. she had a good feeling that she'd be able to tell where the kingpin's guards were hiding once she was in the space itself.

unfortunately, the terrain had changed somewhat in the year or so it had been since she and frenchie had been there. somehow, it seemed that thousands of trees had grown in every direction, making it near impossible to see anyone that could be hidden.

marc was fed up, having trusted lilith to know where she was going. "why don't you just stop for a second and let me look? give me the map."

lilith ignored him, continuing to look between the map in her hands and the terrain in front of her. something wasn't adding up.

"lilith, i'm serious. just give me the map."

"maybe, if you were quiet for one second, i could focus." she replied.

"maybe, if you weren't so damn stubborn, we'd actually be getting somewhere here." he said, mirroring her tone.

"will you stop?" lilith shot him an annoyed look.

"stop what? telling you the truth? you know, you could use some damn truth. anyone ever tell you you aren't a team player? that you're a pessimistic narcissist?" 

he'd seemingly forgotten their agreement to be kinder to one another.

"yeah, i'm a real glass half full kind of person." she said. "can you be quiet?"

marc rolled his eyes. "and there it is again, always being dismissive-"

"shut. the fuck. up." she said, putting a hand over his mouth to silence him.

it was finally quiet enough that she could hear her breath. then, a bird in the distance. then, a twig cracking. she knew marc heard it too when he grabbed her hand and lowered it away from his mouth with a nod.

she raised a brow at him as if to prove her point, which only made him shake his head at her. "c'mon." he said, leading the way towards the noise.

the man in the bushes knew he was caught the second the pair moved closer, and he jumped out from behind the greenery with a knife ready to be aimed. marc was faster, though, shooting him square in the forehead. lilith had almost forgotten how good his aim was.

"okay. that's one." he said. "hear anybody else?"

lilith looked around, glancing up at the trees above her. "they're gonna know we're here after that gunshot." she mumbled. "i'm assuming if they aren't all in this area right now, they will be in about five minutes. we need to find somewhere better to be."

marc nodded, following her line of thought. "you know this place better than me. is anything going to give us good cover or a good vantage point?"

she thought about it for a moment. "yeah. yeah, maybe. if it still exists."

lilith led the way to a nearby demolished hellenistic sanctuary, not too different from the one they'd just left at the dig site. this one was more preserved, though, with multiple of its walls still fully built up in the indention in the ground in which it resided.

"this doesn't seem like good cover." marc said. "or a good vantage point."

"maybe not." she agreed. "but if anyone wants to come near us, we'll see them."