AUTHOR'S CORNER

It's time for chapter two. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of positive feedback I've received, even subscriptions, and you all have my humble thanks!

Many of you have complained how there are few good Sonja/Lucian fics on the web, and I completely agree with you. This was part of the pushing motivation this story, and the fact that I was brimming with curiosity about a love that started a war.

So in response, here are two of my personal favorite S/L fics:

.net/s/2182066/1/Just_Like_Heaven

.net/s/1611004/1/The_Covenant

I draw a lot of inspiration from 'The Covenant' and think that Jess J is a brilliant writer. Unfortunately, Jess J is a retired fan fiction writer and never finished The Covenant.

Alright, enough commentary and back to the story!

- - -

Lucian froze in his tracks, chained to the spot. He hadn't predicted any of the vampire royals would have left the party so early, so he chose the quickest passage- the restricted corridor reserved only for vampires. What was worse was the way he reacted.

He stared.

No, he flat-out gaped at the woman in front of him. It was socially unacceptable, but he hadn't managed to muster the strength to look away from her blue eyes. They were a natural, deep shade of blue that Lucian couldn't find a name for even if he stared for a hundred years. He desperately wanted that hundred years to stare.

24-karat locks caressed her face and flowed as a waterfall of melted gold down her shoulders, shining brilliantly to each fine end. Her skin was the purest shade of pale, and he immediately knew her to be the legendary princess of the moon his mother warned him of in stories when he was but a pup.

She was so beautiful, that young lycans would waste their youths away just staring at her face. When she had left them, they howled at the moon in sorrow, its pale glow reminding them of their lost love.

Lucian would have gladly sacrificed his youth. It would be worth it.

Her eyes met his with a mutual curiosity. An understanding that speaking meant everything, but at the same time, could mean nothing.

Lucian kneeled so that his body would tear his eyes away from hers for him.

"My apologies, milady. I wasn't aware the party had ended. Forgive me."

Lycans were only ever allowed to look their masters in the eye when given orders, but under usual circumstances, they were to look towards the ground. Lycans were slaves, mere scenery to the vampires, and anyone who thought otherwise would receive swift punishment. Looking at a vampire woman the way Lucian just had was beyond scandalous.

"Please, don't apologize. You're not at fault," she responded, her voice sweeter than any sugar Lucian had ever tasted and he was surprised the words didn't melt on her tongue before she had the chance to speak them.

A deadly silence followed. Lucian was compelled to move, and at the same time, rooted to the spot. He was the rabbit, too petrified by her grace to move a muscle or scream, so close to a certain death while falling in love with the arrow.

***

He's a deity. He's a sun. He's different. None of Sonja's thoughts could properly describe the man in front of her. He lit up the room without any means of a candle or torch, just with his presence. She could feel it. She could feel him. He was a sun, and if she stepped too close, she'd surely be burned.

But it was the first thing that had ever relieved the cold.

Though a lycan! Her father had instructed her to stay away from the 'devilish hounds' that 'snarl and kill anything that crosses their path'. She'd crossed this lycan's path completely unharmed. For only a moment, she wondered how many of her father's stories had been lies.

Their curious thoughts were interrupted by voices. Two harsh voices that undoubtedly belonged to vampires sent on a reluctant search for their missing princess. It only took an instant to understand what that meant for the lycan, memories of others being whipped to near-death for lesser crimes.

"Quickly! Come!" she commanded as she ducked into a nearby weaponry room. The lycan followed obediently and without hesitation. Neither had dared to breathe when the footsteps reached the door.

"Damn girl," came the hiss of the first vampire, his voice muffled by the door, yet distinctively clear, "must have run off to her quarters before we could catch her."

"Her father won't like that," came the second.

"He never does. It's not as if this were the first time."

"Truly. Maybe he should adopt and hope for better luck the second time."

The pair's laughter followed them down the hall as they returned to their party.

Sonja felt humiliated. She was the opposite of what her father could have hoped for, hiding in a weapon's closet with a lycan.

"I think… they're wrong…"

Startled, Sonja looked over to the corner where the bold lycan had spoken the words, obviously reading the despaired expression on her face.

"How would you know?" she asked, her dismayed lips trying for a polite smile.

"You don't even know me."

"You have the glow."

"The what?" Sonja asked, confused by his cryptic answer.

"It's not something a vampire could easily understand… but, we lycans know… it's like the thin layer of light that surrounds the moon… people can have it, too… it's rare, but I can see it in you… a light that gives all people hope."

Sonja stood speechless, mouth agape, expectantly waiting for the right words to come.

"Did you just compliment me?"

He laughed, and for some reason unknown to her, it made Sonja smile.

"What's your name, lycan?" she asked.

"Lucian, milady," he answered, his words formal but his tone soft.

"Lucian," she said absent-mindedly, noting how the name fit perfectly on her tongue.

She attempted to move closer to him, but retreated when an icy pain cut into her arm. She'd forgotten the room was recklessly cluttered with weapons… silver weapons!

Sonja gasped and immediately pushed open the door, the light seeping in the room revealing the lycan's sickly white face, quickly descending into unconsciousness. She dragged him out of the room, a silver arrow in his side rapidly poisoning and drawing the blood out of his body.

Tearing off a portion of her dress, she wrenched the arrow from his side and hastily covered the spitting wound with a bunch of velvety cloth. As his eyes closed and his mind began to fade, she pleaded for him in the most cliché ways to refuse death.

"Please, don't give in! Don't give up yet."

***

Lucian groaned, dim lights and a dull pain in his side confusing his vision. Disoriented, Lucian tried to defy his body's painful urging to return to consciousness, his aching mind feebly grasping for the thin wisps of his last memories. Snarling voices… a blue dress… Sonja… oh, her…

"Ah! You're awake!"

Lucian jumped at her voice, his wide eyes gawking in disbelief at her relieved face. Her buttermilk laugh almost completely eased the sudden fear following the realization of where he was: the vampires' sector.

"I was fearful that you might die from blood loss, so I had my maid Jocelyn help me bring you here for me to better attend you. Don't worry, she's one of the few uncorrupted of my kind. Now drink," she instructed, handing him a goblet filled with a light yellow liquid.

Sailors could no better resist the call of the siren than Lucian could Sonja's voice. He quickly swallowed the liquid, its freezing effects causing goose bumps to crawl across his skin.

"Consider yourself lucky to be born with a normal digestive system," Sonja chided at his disturbed look, implying at the difficulty vampires had receiving any ingested medicine for pain, their systems mutated to receive only blood.

The fresh scar on Lucian's side turned to ice, numbing the pain.

Sonja ran her fingers over it, her hand managing to be even colder than the effects of the tonic, though Lucian was sure it wasn't the cold that caused him to inhale a sharp breath.

Sonja removed her hand, afraid that she had hurt him, though Lucian shook his head.

"It wasn't pain, milady. It was quite the opposite."

Sonja looked at him with inquisitive eyes, the deep pools of her eyes he assumed served as an illusion hiding the true fire beneath them. He could only imagine it matched the growing flame in his tightening chest.

"I… I must go," Lucian said, the truth painful in his voice.

Sonja nodded dumbly, but wasn't discouraged by his words. If anything, they fed wood to her secret fire.

Lucian lifted himself off the makeshift bed she had prepared, noticing for the first time the crushed and bloodied strips of blue she had removed from her dress. That beautiful dress that she had probably treasured, spoiled by his blood. It was best that he leave. It was best that he didn't further troubling her.

"Lucian!" Sonja called to him as his hand grasped the door knob, not certain if he had the strength left in his drained body to face her and then leave her with the same resolution.

"Yes, milady?"

"Do you think it possible," she started nervously, mindfully watching each step onto the thin ice covering lethal waters, "that I might see you again?"

Lucian paused, his heart elated that she wanted to know him, but also very concerned for her. Her nature was kind but incredibly careless, capable of tarnishing her reputation among her people.

"If that is milady's wish, then we shall meet again soon."

Sonja nodded, a signal allowing him to leave. As he left, his heart was still thundering in his ears and in his blood, the sensation of her wintry fingers lingering on his skin.

TO BE CONTINUED

Wow, finally got the second chapter out. The first chapter took a little less than an hour to write and edit, while this chapter took well over three days to imagine, write and edit. However, this chapter is considerably lengthy compared to its predecessor. I'm going to TRY and get one new chapter out each week, but we'll see how much more school wants to burden me with absurd amounts of homework and strains on my free time.

I have to admit, I'm not as pleased with this chapter as much as the first. What do you think?