"You still haven't said it?" Damien asked incredulously.

"No," Selene said, hoping to end this conversation as quickly as it had begun.

Marc walked in the dojo. "Said what?"

"Nothing," Selene said, dropping her gaze.

"It's three words!" Damien exclaimed.

"I've got three words," Derek said as he walked in. "'I… need… SEX!'"

"What are the three words?" Marc asked, ignoring Derek as he went to the target practice area.

Selene didn't answer.

"'I love you,'" Damien answered.

Selene smacked Damien playfully.

"She can't get enough of me," Damien remarked.

"Who can't get enough of who?" Michael asked as he entered.

Damien lowered his gaze. "No one."

Happy that someone could still put Damien in his place, Selene answered. "He's saying that I can't get enough of him."

Amused, Michael asked, "Is it true?"

Suddenly, a cell phone rang. It was Derek's. All conversation stopped, since usually when Derek's cell phone rang, the news was never good.

They all listened to Derek's side of the conversation.

"Shit… How many? Are you sure? … Where were they? … All of them? No, of course not… Alright, bye." Derek hung up, his expression somber. "Another six Stealth Shooters were killed today. They were scattered throughout the city."

"Double-check the body count?" Selene asked.

"Yeah."

"It's my turn," Michael said quietly. He turned and left the room without meeting anyone else's glances.

"He takes war hard, doesn't he?" Damien asked.

"Yeah," Selene answered, then left the room to follow him. She caught up to him down the hall. "Hey, Michael!" she called after him.

He turned around slowly. "Yeah?"

Selene stroked his arm gently. "Look, I'll do it for you."

Michael shook his head. "No, I can do it," he said in a tone that didn't even convince him.

She scoffed. "Look, Michael. You were a doctor. Yeah, it was two centuries ago, but it was still your choice in life. You're a healer, not some destructive soldier. We can't fault you for that."

Michael sighed. "I've been at war for two centuries," he said slowly. "And I still can't look at a body without flinching." He turned around to head down to the mortuary, but Selene grabbed his arm. He tried to pull himself free, but her grip was too strong. Sometimes her strength still surprised him.

"I'll do it for you," she decided, letting go and walking past him. Michael thought about fighting her, but the truth was he was relieved not to have to go to the mortuary.

"What a girl, huh?" Damien's voice came from behind him. Michael turned around to face him.

"You got a crush on her?"

"It's an innocent one," Damien insisted. "It's just that after all she did for me, it's hard not to."

"All the she's done for you?" Michael sounded confused.

"She never told you, huh?" Michael shook his head. "She saved me, which surprised me, knowing the way she's treated Lycans for all those centuries."

"You heard about her before you joined the Stealth Shooters?"

"It was kinda hard not to. You heard about her everywhere and feared her everywhere if you were a Lycan. I was just a guy with his ear to the ground, but even I knew who she was."

"Oh."

"Anyway, one night some Death Dealers caught me in their territory, and the Stealth Shooters just happened to be in the area. Selene and her team killed off every vamp, and even though the whole group wanted to kill my ass, she pulled rank and let me go. I was so speechless, and so grateful – the next night, I became a member of the Stealth Shooters."

"Wow."

Damien chuckled. "Damn bitch musta been outta her mind that night, but if I bug her, she doesn't complain." He patted Michael on the shoulder in a friendly way, turned around, and left. Michael smiled and returned to his room.

Damien went back to the dojo.

"She stop him?" Derek asked.

"Yeah. She went for him."

"How sweet," Marc commented.

"She'd do the same for any of us," Damien said.

"Who would?" Selene asked as she walked into the room.

"No one," the three answered in unison. Raising an eyebrow yet avoiding the subject, Selene confirmed, "Six dead bodies." She walked in the weapons cage.

Damien followed her. "Whacha doing?"

Selene sighed heavily. "Inventory."

Damien winced. "Ew."

"Well, someone's gotta do it."

Nodding, Damien left the cage to find that they were the only two in the dojo – the sun was rising now. Not enjoying the silence, Damien pulled out his favorite movie and popped it into the TV's space for a tiny aqua cube. It seemed to be a new type of way to view movies.

Sitting down on a chair and getting comfortable, Damien switched on the movie. It was Pearl Harbor.

Selene stepped out of the cage for a moment. Grinning at the movie, she asked, "What is your damn fixation with this movie?"

"I dunno, I just like it."

Selene rolled her eyes and left, back into the cage.

"It was my last movie," Damien said quietly, stopping the movie.

He was standing in the doorway. "What?" Selene asked.

"It was the first movie I cried in, and the last movie I ever saw in theatres." Damien frowned at the memory. "It was supposed to be a crappy movie. Crappy movies were my thing, so one night I went out and saw the movie. I dunno why, but I liked it. So much, in fact, that I cried in the ending. Musta been the only sap doing that." Damien paused to lean against the doorframe. "After I left the movie theatre, I heard some screaming in an alley nearby. I stepped in to see some jerk biting a woman. I yelled at him, but he'd already tore her neck off. He lunged at me, and he bit me… sank his fangs into my shoulder…" Damien's voice trailed off, his eyes distant. Then, he jumped, realizing he had stopped talking. "Someone was coming, and the guy got scared and left. I don't really remember what happened after that, just that Lucian found me, took me in his car, drove me back to his fortress."

Selene rose to her feet and touched Damien's arm in a sympathetic way. He met her eyes. "You were neutral when I found you," Selene said, changing the subject.

Welcoming the change, Damien said, "Yeah. After Lucian's death, a bunch of us scattered. It was only a few months after that that you found me… Saved me."

Damien leaned forward as if to kiss her, but Selene pushed him back. There was an awkward silence.

Selene indicated the television with a nod of her head. "You should finish your movie. This inventory won't do itself." Damien's eyes dropped to the floor and he walked away.

"Selene?" She turned around. "I like you."

Immediately, she said, "But I love Michael."

"Then why don't you tell him that?" When Selene didn't answer, Damien popped out his movie and left the dojo in silence.

Alone, Selene sighed. "I love Michael," she said to no one in particular.

A/N:

Well, here's the sequel to "The Light at the End of the Tunnel". I thought it'd be nice to show a more nicer side to Selene in this story. After all, in Evo, she was already showing signs of humanity, so after 20 years, I think she'd be exhibiting SOME kind of human side, right? XD

Just wanted to thank everyone who read my last story, and everyone who submitted a review.

Lemme know what you think about it, and enjoy yourselves!

KATEB819