TITLE: EXILE: HIDDEN WORLD

AUTHOR: ELTHIAL

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Matrix or any of its characters so don't sue etc but I definitely do own Lilith and pretty much the majority of characters in this fic, they are mine and mine alone, if you want to play with them then ask nicely :P

NOTE: My french isnt exactly brilliant since i failed but i tried, this is the largest ATS fic ever write beating C&C 34,000 words. Its going up on instead of the ATS website first so i can benefit from the review system.... READ & REVIEW PLZ

Quentin waited patiently as the search engine compiled thousands of results and organised the relevant pages for the user to review. What he was seeking was a veritable needle in a haystack, years of myths, stories and movies had all but buried the truth so far down in the depths of false information that he feared he it may well remain hidden from him forever. He didn't even truly know if what he was searching for even existed, for all his years of looking he only had fragments of half information; all he knew was that he had to find out once and for all. Lest it remain in his head clawing away at what remained of his sanity.

In his searches he had found others that searched night and day for elusive answers, it seemed that the world hid many secrets, many dark and mysterious secrets and those who were rumoured to have found the truth seemed to disappear from existence, no trace of them left. Their disappearances were enough to give him pause; their disappearance could be caused by the dangerous wraiths he was chasing although some of the others believed that they were caused the government covering up some conspiracy or other. He wasn't alone in his search and although others wanted to find answers to different questions such as "what is the matrix?" and "are we alone in the universe?" their resources could be of great use, having access to materials that were usually restricted from him.

Quentin leaned forwards in his chair as his instant messenger program chimed, informing him of a new message, opening the flashing box he looked at the incoming message.

Lorelei: Hi dark

Lorelei: How goes the search?

Darkworld5: Same old same old, still looking for more information

Darkworld5: I still feel like I'm still missing that last piece of the puzzle...

Darkworld5: LOL, Knowing my luck I'm probably missing the rest of the puzzle too...

Darkworld5: So, how's you?

Lorelei: I dunno, some thing really strange is happening.

Quentin looked at Lorelei's last message trying to figure out what they meant, failing he decided to ask.

Darkworld5: Strange as in how?

Lorelei: There's been a spate of murders and disappearances, it's a little worrying.

Lorelei: The police are useless as usual, what I find is worrying is these aint the kind of people who suddenly disappear.

Lorelei: They're school students and such.

Darkworld5: You okay?

Quentin paused for a moment.

Lorelei: FOCL, don't worry dark, I can handle myself. I'm the last person to worry about.

Darkworld5: Good

Lorelei: No the reason I'm telling you is its people looking for answers who are going missing. Be careful dark.

There was an awkward pause in the conversation with Quentin trying to work out how to answer back to that, Lorelei saved him from the problem by piping up again.

Lorelei: If you don't mind me asking but why are you looking for them? It seems dangerous...

From the message it seemed to him that Lorelei was generally wondering and maybe a little worried, most people just dismissed his search as crazy or as an eccentric hobby.

Darkworld5: I dunno... It just... I feel this inch in my mind... I think I saw one once and now, I just have to know if they are real, if they exist..

Lorelei: Alright, i have to go now....Just be careful. I'd rather nothing happen to you. best of luck...

Lorelei Has Logged Off.

Quentin stared at the screen for a moment before leaning back in his chair, that had been a strange conversation especially when Lorelei had said he/she was the last person he had to worry about. Maybe they knew karate or something, Quentin shrugged then turned his attention back to the computer as the search engine bleeped, showing it had finished compiling results. Back to another night of searching then.


London is one of the oldest cities, its history bloody, mysterious and as such it tends to attract certain inhabitants, few even gave it a thought as this ancient city has seen their like over and over again. While few believed the myths or in the creatures that roam, many who do accidentally stumble across them create great fantasies to convince themselves against what they saw.

In this city everyone is willing to pretend they don't exist, something which suits them fine.

One such Mythological creature was Katrina although technically there was nothing mythological about her, that was false truths perpetuated by the ignorant masses and she was in fact an Exile, a rogue computer program that existed in the simulation of a world that has been destroyed for several centuries. Although if Katrina was honest that sounded no less incredible than half the myths that existed, Katrina herself was perhaps what you would class as a typical female vampire, she had the trademark long black hair, scarlet coloured eyes and her skin tone was a shade too pale. Her kind were mostly created through the incompatibilities between the codes of the previous version of the Matrix and the current one, she hadn't always been a vicious bloodsucking predator that needed to feed regularly from the blood of humans. Once upon a time she had been a fiery redhead Russian girl whom had enjoyed art and music although she still enjoyed such things becoming a bloody predator and forever hiding from the sun had permanently tainted her soul if such things existed.

A long time ago she would have greatly mourned the loss of her innocence and hated having to kill to sustain her existence, admittedly vampires did not actually have to kill their prey but going to long without killing made one more unstable and then friends and family suffered. They were monsters, predators and it seemed like that was the way they were always going to remain, it was a curse that few other types of Exiles understood and many shunned them as Heartless murderers especially the arrogant angels. Few vampires had ever changed what they were, Persephone was the most well known, she couldn't stand what she had become and had thrown herself at the Merovingian begging to no longer be a monster but that had a terrible price. One that Persephone would likely to continue to pay for the rest of her life, all other stories ended in similar ways and Katrina had come to accept that there would never be anyway to go back to her previous existence. So she merely lived life every day at a time, trying to forget the blood and countless victims until she hungered once again, like now.

With lidded eyes Katrina watched people walk past her in the street while she leant against the wall of a building, ignored by the vast majority of people passing her by. Some could sense something wrong with her, unworldly but that same sense convinced them not to linger and they scuttled along fearful of what they sensed.

Katrina's partner Marcus was elsewhere in the city, 'Most likely off hunting, the greedy sod' Thought Katrina irritably; he hadn't even bothered to invite her along and that really pissed her off. Still she was perfectly capable of getting her own lunch, so here she was idly watching the crowds and listening to the music coming from the still open shops and the night-club that was just across the road. She could have taken any of the hundreds of sheep that flocked past her on the streets, and would do if need be, but her people were engaged in a war and eating an dangerous enemy was not only more satisfying than a Coppertop but also depleted the enemies numbers.

It was a vicious war over territory that existed only within this one city, London was home to Lilith's clan and coven, and it was also home to several major facilities that insured stability and control throughout the entire matrix. As such the rebellion sought to control, compromise and destroy those key building in the hope of damaging the Agents control, added to that the fact London was a capital city with a lot of potentials to recruit and you had a serious bid for power on your hands. The war to control the streets of London had been going on for almost 100 years with the rebels fairly quickly realising the significance of the area as they learnt more and more about technology, the area was unique for another reason. The Agents didn't search and destroy Rebel or Exile targets; it was an unwritten law that as long as both Exiles and Rebels kept their fights out of the publics' eye and didn't do anything to threaten the safety of the Matrix then the Agents didn't care what they did. The Agents had suffered their own casualties, mainly from the Exiles and their abilities, so therefore after losing two of the original trio of the London Agents, they were quite content to sit back and let the two sides decimate each other to their hearts content. The Agents now only protected the key facilities and occasionally went out for hunting when there was too much unrest amongst the ranks of Rebels and Exiles.

Scanning the crowd once again Katrina spotted two people who looked suspiciously like her desired prey entering the night-club across the road, slipping silently through the crowd she followed them, far enough behind not to be noticed but not far enough to lose track of them. While the two rebels went straight up to the bar without checking around, 'Sloppy of them' though Katrina, she slide into one of the darkened corners of the room and made herself at home before observing the two from across the club. As far as she could tell they were either recruiting another unfortunate soul tonight or were once again seeking information to use against both her fellow Exiles and the Agents. The first of the rebels was a tall 6 foot 4 inch man with ginger hair if Katrina judged correctly; he was wearing what would be considered the standard Rebel "uniform" made of black leather. The second Rebel was shorter and Katrina guessed his height to be about 5 foot 8 inches with neon green hair and a bomber jacket.

Katrina watched the two for a moment as they ordered drinks and talked with the barkeeper before scanning around the club, the normal variety of coppertops hung around whilst there were no other Exiles in the club, there was Recruit Moore sitting in another corner unnoticed by the Rebels. He spotted Katrina looking his way and raised his glass in salute, she hated that devious fucker of a Recruit but she didn't want to pick a fight tonight, it seemed neither did he. He did seem interested in what she was going to do with the Rebels however as he indicated with his pint glass, Katrina grinned nastily in reply, licking her lips making the Recruit smirk before going back to his drink.

She flicked an eye towards the bar where the two Rebels were leisurely talking to the barkeeper, catching up on the local news and gossip while they slowly drank their drinks fully giving the appearance that they might be there for a while. Catching the eye of a particularly attractive Coppertop on the clubs dance floor, she made her way to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering in his ear if he would enjoy dancing with her. She spent the next few minutes dancing to the music that thumped out of the clubs speakers and enjoying the feeling of a mans body against hers as she lost herself in the moment, forgetting about her life for a moment.

The hotness that was the strong male Coppertop was taken away from Katrina as Recruit Moore cut in taking his place, the Coppertop was then snatched by some bint with a mini skirt that must have been a belt in a previous life and breasts the size of rusty cannons. Katrina was most displeased and demonstrated this to the Recruit by doing a damn good impression of crushing his hand; Moore winced at the abuse of his hand but otherwise handled it stoically.

They danced together in the middle of the club as if they weren't mortal enemies, bodies working together, grinding and rubbing as they danced to the sensual music. As Katrina pressed her back against the well-muscled Recruit admiring the strong body, he wrapped his arms around her hips causing her to rest her head back against his shoulder as they swayed.

"You're after the rebels" He murmured in her ear "But do you really know who they are?"

Katrina pressed her body back further into the well-toned Recruit, letting her head fall back more as she turned and purred into his ear "Lunch"

The Recruit chuckled tightening his arms around her, enjoying the illusion of having some semblance of control over this dangerous and sensual creature in his arms, no matter how brief.

"Well let me tell you... they are Livewire and Vantabel, possibly two of the most dangerous rebels in London. Rumour has it that they are doing something to discover that little disappearing trick you Exiles pull. All in all they are bad new... and they've just spotted us" He finished wryly looking at the two now angered Rebels who had obviously recognised the Recruit.

The Rebel with green hair stepped forward as if to pound the Recruit but was held back by the taller one who had obviously realised that the crowded night-club could become Agent central should a fight break out. Instead they settled for glaring hatefully across the club at the Recruit and by association the raven haired beauty in his arms, unwilling to fight but just as unwilling to back down and leave, the result a strange glaring match between the two parties.

Katrina rapidly began to tire of the hate filled gazes and what she had quickly decided was a male, testosterone, "Alpha Wolf" pissing contest. Katrina made a noise in her throat half between a chuckle and half between a growl, silly rebels; didn't they know she was the only "Wolf" in this flock of sheep?

Keeping her head on Recruit Moore shoulder and his arms around her hips, she rolled her head to fix the two Rebels with a cold unflinching gaze of scarlet eyes that she held for an unnaturally long time without blinking making the Rebels shift in discomfort. Katrina smiled slowly and seductively showing just enough fang to make the Rebels back up a pace or two, Katrina giggled and gave the Rebels a coy wave as they fled out of the club.

She gave a content sigh and rolled her head back to its original position before speaking into his ear "Give me a reason for letting lunch get away"

"Because Rebels taste yucky?" The Recruit hazarded looking amusedly at the vampiress in his arms. "Besides, I thought you liked me" he stated mock hurt.

Katrina turned in his arms before kissing him solidly on the lips, Katrina's cool tongue danced around the Recruits warm mouth, she dragged her sharp fangs across the Recruits lower lip sending a flood of blood into their mouths before breaking the kiss. Katrina licked the aftertaste of blood off her lips before speaking to the stunned Recruit. "I don't date lunch" She stated mock sympathetic "Sorry"

She took a step back from the Recruit "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few things to do before the night is done" She told him before walking off and disappearing into the night.

Moore stared at the space she had previously inhabited, fingers pressed against his lips to try and staunch the blood flow. "What a kisser" he muttered half sarcastic before going off to do something about this bleeding, before he attracted every vampire in a 5 mile radius...


Quentin browsed through the website, the usual array of myths and legends as well as people who claimed to be vampires. He had tracked a few of these so called "Vampires" down and all they had proven to be were normal people living out their fantasies and a total waste of time. No, he had come to believe that the true vampires only managed to survive in anonymity and used the false myths as a veil to hide behind instead of a culture or heritage. One of the few useful things about such sites is the other vampire hunters which frequent them with whom he could share information with, some of the more useful tidbits of information had come from fellow hunters.

Now all he was looking for was that key piece of information so he could he could finally get his questions answered. The hunters were all people who totally believed in the existence of vampires and had seen them at some point in their lives; the nearest major group of hunters near him was at London. That city seemed steeped in myths of vampires, werewolves and many other creatures of legend, far more than any other city it seemed and perhaps it was just wishful thinking on his part but it seemed that the nearest source of paranormal activity to him just happened to be the largest.

He had actually gone to the lengths of renting an apartment in London, no cheap feat, and was going to spend the next few months if need be combing the streets over every night trying to find his vampires. Perhaps that seemed to be a little obsessive but the more time that passed without knowing the truth; the less he seemed to care about the lengths he was taking to find out.

There had been a recently suspicious body found completely drained of blood in central London, it was rare that they left bodies behind but most likely this vampire had either been disturbed while feeding and had be forced to leave a body behind. So he was packing to move into his new apartment as soon as possible, he would like to follow this trail before it went too cold to track anymore and again he was fortunate that London seemed to have such heavy vampiric activity.

Quentin yawned and checked his clock 2 am, it was late, he at least needed some sleep if he was ever going to get up tomorrow so he saved the relevant pages of information straight to his hard disk for more detailed look through later, once that was done he began logging off the computer and switched it off before heading pretty much straight to bed.


Katrina kissed a handsome Asian man passionately as she pressed him against a wall in a darkened alley, she had spent the last hour working on him enough so she could gain enough trust to get him in this situation. However it was in the early hours of the morning and it would be daylight soon, so she hadn't the time to be a picky eater.

She kissed across his jaw and then down his neck, kissing and nibbling before she sank her fangs viciously into his jugular making him cry out in pain and shock as he fought against her. Katrina just used her deceptively powerful and unnatural muscles to hold him fast as she drank deeply from him until he slowly weakened and then fell limp in her arms.

After she drank her fill Katrina let the Coppertops dead body slump to the ground, watching it idly not feeling any compassion or emotion for her victims anymore and withdrew a switchblade from her pocket, slashing across the body's throat destroying her mark on it. Once she'd done the basic cover-up that she had performed so many times it felt instinct now, Katrina looked around for any other ways of concealing the corpse more. The simple slashing across the throat destroyed any trace of her fang marks and made it look like some random murder, as such it was taught to every fledgling vampire.

The police however, while stupid and ignorant, were not blind and would very quickly become suspicious at having hundreds of throat slashing murders on their hands, so they were also taught to take further measures in concealing deaths. Katrina's eyes lighted on a dumpster and she spotted an opportunity for burning the body beyond recognition. Dropping the body into the dumpster she pulled a lighter from the body's pocket and used it to set the mass of papers within the dumpster alight, waiting until she was sure the fire had taken before turning to walk away. A dark figure emerged from the shadows behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder without warning; Katrina instantly spun around and placed her foot in the figures face felling them.

"Shit! Damnit Katrina!" the dark haired male figure cried as he clutched his nose.

Katrina relaxed her fighting stance and looked at the figure on the floor in front of her. "Marcus?" She asked recognising the voice.

"Oww......yes me" Marcus replied irritably rubbing his injured nose.

Katrina thought she should apologise, she really did. "Why the fuck are you following me?" She demanded glaring at her partner.

"I'm not bloody following you anywhere woman" Marcus stated still annoyed as he got back on his feet.

Katrina sighed softly and kissed him gently. "Sorry I'm a little worked up tonight" she explained resting her head against Marcus's chest, and then she hit him lightly in the chest. "Although you should have told me you were hunting" she admonished.

Marcus smiled at the suddenly pacified Katrina who was resting against his chest; he had that effect on her, making her calm and at peace. "Did you have fun with the recruit tonight precious?" he asked idly while stroking her hair, he had caught the recruits scent on her.

"Nothing happened" she murmured sleepily into his chest before yawning in the most absolutely cutest way.

"Come on Kitten" Marcus said scooping Katrina into his arms "It'll be daylight soon and sunlight is not meant for such as us"

Katrina growled in appreciation as Marcus effortlessly carried her before sleepily murmuring "bed time?"

"Yes Katrina, bed time" Marcus answered as he carried her towards the nearest entrance to Lilith's den which was an abandoned underground station, an incomprehensible murmur from Katrina was the only reply he got as she fell asleep.

Katrina was one of those few vampires who fell into a deep sleep with the approaching dawn, it was quite worrying to Marcus especially as Katrina often liked to cut it extremely close at times and so just before morning he'd usually track her down, making sure she got back safely. Marcus shifted the sleeping Katrina in his arms slightly, he had to admit that she never fell asleep before she was safe somewhere unless he was around, perhaps because she felt safe around him but Marcus still worried for her at times. Once she fell asleep she was all but dead to the world and nothing besides the setting sun would arise her, he personally considered that a curse but was continually amazed at how Katrina could easily ignore it, just thinking of it as part of normal life which he guess it was for her. Marcus himself became tired and sleepy during the day but at least he could ignore it and stay awake during daylight hours should he choose to, although he'd probably be worse for wear the next day.

Descending down the stairs of the old station Marcus nodded to the singular Exile armed with a machine gun who stood at the entrance of the tunnel that lead down to the den, it was still a long walk to the den itself but at least this walk would be underground. This particular entrance to the den might seem under-protected but the tunnel like all the other routes to the den lead directly into a "security" room which was the Den's primary defence from attackers coming from the surface, blast doors, machine gun emplacements, significant cover for the defending force as well as near zero cover for the attacking force made this room a practical killing zone. The room was lethal enough even without the additional security of highly trained Exile guards and automated turrets which eliminated any hostile target, it became obvious why neither the Agents nor Rebels ever made a successful strike against the Den.

Katrina wasn't the only one to fall asleep during daylight hours; Lilith also rose with the setting sun and slept at the rising sun although unlike Katrina, Lilith was quite in turn with the emotions and mental states of people around her. Periods of high emotion or mental agitation woke her too, if anyone was seriously panicking, scared or feeling down right aggressive then she would be awoken However Lilith had also been awakened by over-frisky young Exiles befoe, having an angry, grumpy and downright pissed off ancient vampire interrupt you must not be a very pleasant situation. Marcus was surprised that they hadn't lost a few limbs, Lilith most definitely not a morning person and it had become an unwritten rule to keep any and all "friskies" to night time when Lilith just consciously blocked the mental noise of the Den out.

Marcus's thoughts came to a abrupt stop as he came to the room he shared with Katrina, he'd somehow managed to walk all the way from the "security" room to their room without noticing at all which at 3 floors down was no short distance. Performing a miraculous feat he managed to get his key card into the room's door slot and open the door while still holding the sleeping Katrina, after managing that he stepped into the room and proceeded up the stairs onto the elevated second floor were they had their bed and laid Katrina gently down on it.

The room if it deserved to be called that was quite literately huge although not on the same scale as some of the other rooms in the Den, with it being large enough to fit a small house inside and by anyone's standard it was quite large for personal quarters. The room being roughly 45ft squared was currently decorated in a modern white with pine and stainless steel clean look, not the typical gothic style you'd associate with a pair of vampires and it surprised many who had seen it. In the left hand corner away from the door was an elevated second floor which stood 8ft taller than the rest of the room and covered about 15ft supported on stainless steel pillars, it was on this platform that both Katrina and Marcus had a pine futon with white silk sheets. Marcus gently stripped Katrina down to her undergarments and placed her under the covers before getting ready for bed himself.

Katrina could afford a room such as this because she was from the old world and had been around long enough to gather a significant sum of money during her life which whilst nowhere near to the same scale that some of the old ones had managed to achieve to accumulate during their lifetimes. Marcus himself was only 60 years old as an Exile, not even half of Katrina's age and he hadn't even existed as a system program when Katrina herself had chosen to walk the path of Exile. It was at times like this that it struck him how much she had lived through and survived, the older in age Exiles became the fewer in number they got as accidents, Rebels, Agents and even fellow Exiles claimed them, perhaps the reason why Katrina felt safe around him was it gave her an opportunity for someone to worry about 'Her' for once, Marcus mused.

Pulling back the covers back and getting into bed besides Katrina, he decided to stay with her for as long as she would have her and protect her to the best of his ability, although she scarcely needed it, like he had done for the past 15 years.