Author's Notes: This is an AU from the standpoint of Underworld: Evolution. Lucian's too cool to die. ;-) This was written for Lucky Chan in the Yuletide 2006 challenge. Thank you very much to lynnmonster for the beta read!

Children of Corvinus

I can scarcely believe the scene that unfolds before my eyes.

They kiss.

And lightning is caught twice in the same bottle.

---

You thought me dead, I see. No matter. You're not alone. This is not the first time I have found it convenient to live in the shadows that only the presumption of death can provide. I find it cuts down on unfortunate incidents and unnecessarily frequent travels. Sometimes it's simply very useful to wait underground, weathering the chaos until a clear path presents itself. And I never surface without having a trick or two up my sleeve.

Or in a syringe, as the case may be.

My time is short, I'm afraid. My flesh and tissue have been too long tainted with the lycan mutation. I do not believe that the injections of blood from Amelia and Michael Corvin will truly save me. But they have allowed me, at least temporarily, to evade the effects of the infernal liquid silver. I have managed to escape and find refuge while I lick my wounds. More importantly, I was given quite a gift. After the battle ended, its bloodied soldiers gone, I had the chance to crow over Viktor's corpse -- to howl a song to the heavens, where my Sonja and our child smile down on me.

If you think that barbaric, remember that I have waited centuries for this day. I have bided my time for what feels like eons. From the moment that I tore my own flesh for Kraven, I have watched as the vampires slowly slaughtered my people. I have honored my agreement to let Kraven rise. I allowed him to make preparations to overthrow Viktor as the war raged around us. But all the while I used my time underground to the fullest, honing and refining my plan, reading the histories and piecing together the Corvinus family tree. To bring my dream to fruition I needed to unravel the mysteries of the immortal clans, and unravel them I did. For this I worked cautiously, single-mindedly for centuries while the world carried on around me.

And the vampires think us nothing but rabid dogs. Could they be as filled with such patience and purpose?

I doubt it. And so would you, if you're smart.

When Viktor took Sonja from me, when he forced me to watch her die, I knew there would be no going back. I knew that I would avenge my people somehow. Someday. And I knew when I saw him that Kraven was the vehicle. He was power hungry and blind -- seeing only the chance to rid himself of Viktor, to take over the covens, to be the most powerful of the vampires. This allowed me to control him. I used him to carry out my agenda while he thought he was using me to carry out his. I can't pretend that it doesn't please me -- Viktor getting his due -- but it would be a mistake to assume that I am in this solely for revenge. There are forces in this world stronger than hate and rage. Even for us immortals.

Perhaps especially for us immortals.

I have done what I have for love -- love of a single woman. My Sonja. She was a master who loved a mere slave, a woman who loved this poor animal. But I did it also for love of my people. We have lived too long toiling in the shadows of oppression, unable to follow our heart's desires. I would walk to the ends of the Earth for the feeling I had when I held Sonja in my arms. I would fall from the highest spire to bring justice to the lycans in her name.

Does it surprise you that a 'beast' such as myself could be swayed so by love? Did you think me incapable of it? If so, you have been listening to too many vampire legends. They twist us, you see. The victors always write the history after all, and they are not always so concerned with accuracy. They choose not to allow even their own kind to read the history they have written. Much could be said about that, but I will leave that to another place and another time.

My point is simply this -- the ones who think themselves cultured, who think themselves superior, have neither the patience nor the will to accomplish anything of meaning. They have grown lazy and decadent with the passing centuries. They carry on gluttonously, like pigs feeding at a trough, while the world shifts under them. I thought the vampires no longer capable of anything impressive. I thought them capable of nothing requiring imagination or depth of feeling.

So imagine my surprise when I watched this vampire, this Death Dealer, kissing the human who fell to my bite. A Death Dealer who was, by definition, a volunteer in Viktor's army. A Death Dealer responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of lycans throughout the centuries. That this could be a creature capable of love was more than I could have imagined. That she could love a lycan was beyond all pale. She is my Sonja born anew. Of nothing else have I ever been this certain.

I watched them from my place behind the rubble. The vampire and lycan kissed, and then slowly parted, the aching of love palpable between them. I could barely believe it possible -- the ache in my own heart was overwhelmed only by the knowledge that all I have worked for, all my people have suffered for was finally at hand.

Now all that is left is to do is wait for history to take its course. Soon this feud will end and a new era will be born. The children of Corvinus will again be one family. Whether I live to see it or not is immaterial. I have seen that the future I worked for is now inevitable, and that is enough.

The blood feud between vampire and lycan began with love.

And with love, it will finally be ended.

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-knightshade
January 1, 2007