DISCLAIMER: I don't know if I still have to do these, but best to be on the safe side: I don't own Underworld or anything about it.

Chris sprinted along the streets, his vampiric heart pounding under his cold skin. Alex was a Lycan. His enemy. What would happen now; what could happen now? Leaping high into the air, the vampire flew over rooftops and lampposts, not at all caring for the small boy who stared up as he soared overhead. Landing in the park where he had been turned, Chris stared around wildly. Catching a cold, almost metallic scent, he ran towards its source, quickly locating a lone vampire who was dawdling on a street corner. The vampire turned as Chris approached; he appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with long, bleached-blonde hair and hard grey eyes.

'I haven't seen you around before,' the vampire said. He was clad in an ankle-length black leather coat, a pair of dark glasses tucked into a pocket.

'I'm new to this,' Chris replied shortly. 'Where's Selene?'

'Selene?' The older vampire looked surprised. 'You know her?'

'She turned me,' Chris told him; the vampire's eyebrows rose.

'Unusual.'

'A Lycan broke all my bones and left me for dead.'

'That might explain it. She was always a touch sentimental - for one of us, at any rate.'

'So where is she?'

The vampire looked Chris over, examining him. 'Come with me.'

***

Alex stormed down the road, violently pushing aside anyone who was stupid enough not to get out of his way. A young mother with two small children crossed to the other side of the road to avoid him; he glared at them briefly before turning his attention back to the piece of paper held in his hand. His fingers traced a few lines on the map, drawing out his route to the Lycans' regional headquarters.

Wondering why Raze had given him such a badly drawn map - in case it ever proved necessary to consult with older Lycans - he turned it upside-down so as to try to make more sense of it. As it turned out, several of the lines he had mistaken for streets on a map formed writing. Alex almost grinned as he tried to make out the words; the handwriting was horrendous.

'Must be Raze's,' he muttered to himself, turning along an alley that would apparently lead him to the nearest Lycan base; the terribly scrawled words read 'Direction of get to HQ'. The appalling grammar was clearly another of Raze's many literary shortcomings.

Reaching an old-looking building that was marked on the crude map with a large X, Alex pushed open the door and wandered inside with his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual.

'Can I help you?' an old man asked. He looked as though he worked there; some sort of curator, maybe?

'I'm looking for…' Alex wondered what to say. 'I'm looking for Lucien?'

'Yes…' The old man gestured to a small, ordinary door in a corner. 'He is not expecting guests.'

'Thank you,' Alex said cautiously, wondering how much the old man knew about Lucien; he didn't smell like a Lycan. Perhaps he knew nothing, in which case the Lycans were probably planning to kill him.

Opening the door carefully, Alex slipped inside and jogged down a short set of stairs to reach a cellar, one wall filled with row after row of casks on shelves. Lucien sat in the centre of the small room, his eyes closed. Alex reached up the stairs and closed the door quietly; Lucien's eyes opened at the barely audible noise.

'You.'

'Me.'

'What do you want?'

'I need help.'

Lucien stood, a small smile creeping across his face. 'I take it Raze did not explain exactly what would happen to you?'

'No.'

'You're hungry?'

'Yes.'

'You need to feed.'

'On what?' Alex had already tried to eat a bar of chocolate, with disastrous results.

'Flesh and blood,' Lucien told him.

'I won't kill humans,' Alex said.

'Of course not. You were only so recently one of them yourself.'

'So what can I do?'

Lucien crossed to the wall of barrels, sniffing the air. Following his nose, he selected one of the casks and took it from the shelf, tossing it to Alex.

'Drink.'

Alex took the stopper from the drum, sniffing at its contents. There was a salty smell; the tang of blood. Greedily Alex lifted the barrel to his lips and drank, feeling the - somehow still warm - blood cascade down his throat. It was delicious.

'That blood has been accumulated over years from donations. No human has been harmed to acquire it.'

Alex lowered the cask momentarily, taking a deep breath. 'Why? You don't seem exactly…' He cast about for the right word '… humanitarian.'

'True. Generally I would simply rip the head off any human I could find, but we keep this store in reserve. Just in case.'

'Thank you,' Alex said, and raised the cask once more.

Lucien chuckled dryly. 'Don't mention it.'

Alex was about to leave, but stopped himself and turned back.

'There's… something else I have to tell you.'

***

'This is… Well. It's home, I suppose.'

Chris stared from his guide to the castle and back again. 'You live here?'

'Some of us do, the older ones mostly. Aristocrats and the like.'

Chris ran an eye over the massive building. It was somehow incredibly sinister, and would not have looked out of place in a horror film. Perhaps that was why the vampires liked it.

'And Selene's in here?'

'She ought to be, unless she's out chasing the dogs.'

'She does that a lot, then.'

'Yes. I suppose you could say it's her job.'

'She seems quite good at it.'

'She is.'

The vampire spoke into an intercom; Chris was surprised to see such a modern security system in such an old building. The gates opened mechanically, and the two vampires strode inside. An older vampire stood just before the castle's main entrace, long black hair sweeping down on either side of his face.

'Kraven,' Chris's guide greeted him.

Kraven merely nodded in reply. He gazed at Chris, who found himself almost sucked into the man's black eyes. 'Who's this?'

'A newbie,' the blonde vampire told him. 'He's looking for Selene.'

Kraven's glare intensified. 'Why?'

'She turned me,' Chris said, speaking to Kraven for the first time.

Kraven's face softened almost infinitesimally; he didn't look capable of a smile, but his expression was now more understanding. 'I see.'

The older vampire turned, pushing open the doors. Chris hung back, but his guide gestured that he should follow Kraven.

'You're not coming?' Chris asked.

'Nope. Places to go, Lycans to kill. You'll probably have those sort of jobs too, soon enough.'

For the first time, Chris realised what being a vampire meant. It wasn't just that he was different. He was part of a new world. A different society, an ancient civilisation in which he now had a place and a duty.

'Bye, then.'

The blonde vampire nodded and sprinted off, vanishing into the distance in just a few moments.

'Come!' Kraven called back; Chris ran after him.

They walked through halls crowded with vampires drinking from glasses filled with red liquid. Chris caught the scent and knew that it was blood. Every one of the vampires was clothed in the most extravagant outfits Chris had ever seen; the women wore long, flowing dresses of silk or some similar material, and each and every one of them was beautiful.

'These are the… nobles.' Kraven spoke the word with obvious contempt.

'What are you, then?'

Kraven glanced down as they walked; Chris, in his black jeans and casual T-shirt, felt incredibly out of place among the experienced vampires. 'I'm a Death Dealer. As is Selene.'

'Sounds like fun.'

'It is. You look like you could do it, actually; we've been looking for new recruits.'

They passed through the rooms, Chris staring around at the multitude of vampires. He hadn't realised there would be so many vampires, and that so many of them would be women. He knew it was slightly prejudiced, believing that there would be more male vampires than female, but from what he had seen of them they were a combative race, and an immensely powerful one.

'Selene!' Kraven called as they reached a new section of the castle, even darker and more sinister than the last halls.

Chris stood awkwardly under the probing gazes of several more vampires, these clad in leather outfits which stood in stark contrast to the rich outfits of the aristocratic men and women from the previous rooms. After a few moments, a black-haired woman detached herself from the crowd and walked towards Kraven.

'You called?'

Chris stared at Selene, trying to absorb every detail of the woman who had made him a vampire. He wanted to know everything about his new race, and especially about Selene. She was the closest thing he now had to a mother; his own parents had noticed something different about him, though they didn't know what it was, and had become incredibly distant. That suited Chris fine - if they found out what he was, the vampires would probably kill them.

'You turned this one?' Kraven's tone was irritated - angry, even. 'Without my permission?'

Chris stared at Kraven. The Death Dealer's expression was furious.

'He would have died,' explained Selene incredulously. 'You can't be angry at me for doing that!'

'You saved the life of a human.'

'Exactly! And now look at him! He's strong, Kraven! He's one of us.'

Kraven glanced briefly in Chris's direction. The young vampire recoiled under his black, hard gaze. 'You should have asked permission.'

'I don't need to. I'm not your queen, however much you might think I am.' Selene seemed exasperated now rather than angry. It was certainly an improvement.

Kraven pushed Chris forwards. 'Speak.'

'You remember Alex,' Chris started, unsure what to say.

Selene nodded, her face twisting in both remembrance and… was that apology?

'Well, he's, erm… He's a Lycan. That's what they're called, right?'

Selene nodded again, now looking sad. 'I know he is.'

'You didn't tell me that?! What… why… but… but he was my friend!'

'He can't be anymore.'

'Why? Why do we have to fight?'

'It's just the way it is.'

'Well, that's shit!' Chris bellowed.

Selene exhaled as the other Death Dealers looked on. Kraven looked disappointed; Chris guessed that it was due to his desire to befriend a Lycan.

'You don't have to kill him. Yet.' It was a new speaker, a blonde woman who looked out of place amongst the Death Dealers; she looked far more like one of the aristocrats.

'Go back,' Selene said. 'Never speak to him again.'

Kraven spluttered something, but the two women silenced him with simultaneous withering stares.

Chris turned. And left.

***

'A vampire…' Lucien mused.

Alex waited for his response anxiously.

'Kill him.'