Panic left Michael, determination to help Selene replacing it. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He placed Selene gently on the floor. The sun's rays washed over Selene's beautiful features, which were already starting to gain color after centuries of shying from the sun and its rays. Michael took another deep breath and let it out. He had to calm down and figure out a way to help Selene. He couldn't just let her die before their wonderful potential future together even began.

Michael thought hard, trying to figure out his next move. He checked Selene's pulse; it was still powerful. She was still breathing. He concluded she was suffering from blood loss, but nothing else.

Suddenly, a thought struck Michael. William! It was hard to believe that William had remained un-fed and survived after all of this time. Michael ran off in the direction Marcus had come from, right before he had cruelly impaled Selene with his talon as he had done to Michael.

Michael walked through twisting pathways, following the lingering scent that Marcus had left behind. He finally came up to an area that seemed like a dead end in water, but Marcus's scent was strong here; more specifically, the smell of fear was very strong here. Walking deeper into the water, he held his breath as he went under the water's level. Once under, he could see that the "wall" was indeed, not a wall. It seemed to be a doorway, sort of, that opened upward.

Still holding his breath, Michael lifted the wall up, and walked quickly as the door fell with a thud behind him.

Now he was in William's prison – the place that William had been confined to for six centuries, the place that Marcus had sought for just as long. Examining William's prison, Michael stepped inside the area that resembled a coffin, that seemed to go into the wall. He was shocked to find a tube that seemed to be the right height for William's mouth. A smell of blood that didn't smell like pure blood (cloned blood?) drifted around the tube.

Michael followed the tube up around where William's head would have been, and the tube went into the wall. Frustrated that he couldn't tell what direction the tube had gone, or how long the damn thing even was, Michael slammed the wall in anger. He was surprised to hear a hollow sound.

Sharpening his nails into claws, he ripped off a piece of the wall – and found some strange mechanism that seemed to pump blood into the tube. The switch was in the "On" position, but no blood was flowing out of the opening. Following a hunch, Michael tried sucking on the opening of the tube. He got his first taste of cloned blood.

Unlike Selene's, which he had tasted yesterday (although it seemed so long ago), it was neither cool nor sweet. It had a coppery taste, and it was disgustingly warm. Although it gave Michael energy, it wasn't as refreshing as Selene's had been.

Michael pulled away from the tube and wiped his mouth. Ew, THIS is what Selene's been drinking as a substitute for human blood? If this was an improvement on their old method, he shuddered at the thought of the taste of cattle blood.

Unfortunetely, this would have to do.

Tracing his own scent back through the tunnels, he found Selene still lying right where he had left her. Picking her up, he carried her back into William's prison.

Then came the hard part – getting Selene to drink from the tube. He hoped it would work.

Taking extreme care not to sever a vital part of his arm, Michael sharpened his nails once more and made a tiny cut on his wrist. He brought his wrist and held it right under Selene's nostrils. The sweet scent of Michael's blood awoke Selene.

"What?" Selene murmured. Her eyelids lifted, but started to droop again.

"Not yet…" Michael whispered softly to her. "Stay with me, Selene… stay with me…"

He carried her over to the tube. He stuck the tube into her mouth.

Almost immediately, the dark fluid already began to come through the tube and into her mouth.

Selene's eyes widened, and her eyes changed colors. But what shocked him was not the fact that they had changed, but how. Instead of the usual cobalt blue color, the eyes seemed to flash and turn more ice-colored-like.

After a few seconds passed, Selene pulled the tube from her mouth. Silence cut in like a razor blade.

Selene cleared her throat. "Thanks."

She turned her eyes back to their usual chestnut colors. "No problem." Michael said. Even he knew it did not sound sincere, but it was all that came to mind.

Both walked out of the prison, and Selene led the way to the submerged entrance. The trip was silent until this point.

"The entrance got submerged over the years. We have to swim our way out of here."

Michael nodded his understanding. His eyes drifted involuntarily to her wound. To his vast relief, it was beginning to heal, and it was no longer bleeding as profusely as before.

"Let's go." Selene said.

Both held their breaths and swam for the surface. Then they swam to the shoreline of the outside of the prison. Afterwards, they lied down and slept, right next to each other as the sunlight covered them like a blanket.


Author's Note:

Just to let you know, I'm not planning to do a love scene – it's not really "my thing."

- KateB819