Chapter 7: Beast Inside
Michael examined the Walther P99 Selene had loaned him. It was unmodified, with black slide instead of Selene's silver. He pulled back the slide to reveal Silver-nitrate rounds. Why would she give him anti-Lycan rounds? Lycans were animals, he could handle animals. What he needed help with was vampires.
Michael sighed and put it in the waistband of his jeans. He was never going to get used to this. Lucian was examining several knives, most of them his own, and handed Michael a dagger in a leather sheathe.
"Sykes-Fairborn combat knife." He stated.
"How do you know?"
"Well, I'm still around, aren't I?"
Selene waited outside of Grim's chambers. The doors opened, a pair of pissed off vampiresses stalking out. Selene walked inside, palms sweaty.
"You have fought in many battles. You've trained your body to react to anything instantly. This will work in your favor. It will teach you the basics of controlling your body. But to truly succeed, you will need a resistance to one critical poison. Come closer." Selene stepped closer to the ancient Corvinus. "Closer. Much closer."
Selene stepped up the first two of the throne's steps. Grim inhaled deeply. His next exhale was a greenish mist. He suddenly lunged up from his throne, pressing his lips into Selene's. Selene suddenly felt groggy. Grim pulled back from the kiss and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. Selene felt warm. She felt like she was in Michael's arms, looking up at the sky, watching it fill with fireworks. Selene was light-headed by the experience, she had never seen fireworks.
"So pretty," she murmured. 'Wait, how could she be in Michael's arms? He was in their room with Lucian!'
'Yeah, they are pretty.' The Michael-shadow said. Selene forced her head away from the fireworks. 'Selene?'
"No!" she cried. The world spun. She felt, rather than saw, Grim perk up.
'Selene!'
"No!! No! No! It isn't real! Shut Up!"
Something in Michael roared, baring silver Lycan fangs. Bone began shifting, without Michael willing the change. But instead of the streamlined Hybrid form, this was a monster mix of Lycan and Vampire. His hands were Lycan, with long, curving claws, his arms were thick and brutal, ripcords of muscle. His legs reverse-jointed, snapping his lower legs in half. Michael cried out in pain.
Lucian watched, his eyes wide.
Two bat-like wings grew from Michael's back, tipped with long bone-blades, suitable for ripping apart his prey.
Selene! He needed to see Selene! He barged right through the door, breaking it apart with his wings. Soren stood there, a broad sword in hand. Michael let out a hissing growl, and stabbed the vampire through the gut, and tossed him aside. He could smell her. She was afraid, afraid and crying. Who? Selene. Oh, yes, his mate. Why crying? He broke through a half-foot thick oak door like a hot knife through butter.
A Hybrid was suddenly there, and punched him backwards. Straus. Michael grabbed his fellow Hybrid's fist and slammed him into the floor behind him. Straus lunged out and grabbed his shoulders, performing a suplex. Michael roared in pain as his wings were crushed. He lashed out with his claws, leaving five long, bloody lines, where pieces of intestine showed. Straus returned with a slash at the face, blinding Michael with his own blood.
Michael flailed about, trying to find a target. He was suddenly kicked backwards, two vampire instantly on him, with a sharp blade pressed to his throat.
"Michael!" Selene cried, awakened from the nightmare. "What are you doing?" Michael's body began to return to human.
"He's become too dangerous." Grim said. 'He was an unflinching desire to protect you, even at the cost of lives. He needs to be locked away until he can control the animal." Michael wiped blood out of his face.
"Unless," Grim started, but paused.
"Unless what?"
"Unless you change the poisons now. No more training. It'll be life changing at such an early stage."
Michael sat up, panting, just in time for Lucian to come in. He looked from Michael to Grim. "You should've foreseen this!"
"I should have." Grim admitted. "Selene, Michael won't be able to control the berzerker form for some decades yet to come. You need to change this poison now. Lucian and Straus will hold back Michael during the ceremony."
Selene looked to Michael, then back to Grimoire. "Alright."
Like? The Berzerker form was just something I made up as I wrote this. For those interested, (Foxmac,) the berzerker form is an uncontrollable reaction to the scent of fear or pain when mated. They heal very, very quickly, shrugging off any blow, and unlike a Lycan, who can strategize, a Berzerker Hybrid can't reason, all they can do is charge. And no, Soren is not the same Soren from Underworld. After such a glorious death, you think I'd bring that prick back? He's just as much a prick though, which is kinda sad, considering it's a badass name. Fayde, now that I've decided to give him a backstory, was a Human in Rome. He wasn't a Corvinus, however. He was a slave-gladiator, and had a run in with another Vampire. Eventually, he wound up in England, just in time for the Mayflower, and met Grimoire when he arrived. (and he's Straus's great-great grandfather.)
Anyway, please leave some reviews, if I didn't cover everything.
