David wandered through the coven looking for Claire. She fascinated and frustrated him at the same time. It had been two weeks since her protector's, Sam's, death and the destruction of her safe house. And yet, he still knew very little about her. She hadn't tried to escape since that first day, much to his surprise. But, then again, she hadn't done much either. Her first few days consisted of sleeping, eating, and watching Tanis. Tanis wouldn't have minded much if she had contributed. He wanted to know her history. But she was tight lipped about everything.

David had to intervene when Tanis had attacked her, threatening to turn her into a vampire just to read her history. Outwardly, she showed fear, but David had seen her eyes, and they mocked Tanis. After that David kept a closer eye on Claire when he was at the coven. He made sure that everyone, including his father, knew that he was protecting her. His father was not happy about his decision, but David didn't care. David had learned to trust his senses. After all, he had rescued and helped Selene, and that turned out to be for the best.

Selene, on the other hand, had become indifferent toward Claire. At first she had been furious that Claire had destroyed the castle. She chided the young woman, saying they could have handled any attack. Claire disagreed with her, earning Selene's best death stare. David and Michael had been impressed, but thought Claire foolish when she didn't look away from Selene. Eventually, they returned to the coven. Claire had been helpful in giving them the locations of three more safe houses. But when Selene, Michael and David examined them they realized that none of them would have what they were looking for. Whatever was important was destroyed.

David passed by one of the smaller libraries then stopped. Claire sat on the ground, writing furiously in her little journal. No one, not even David, had read what she was writing. He would eventually read it. He just hoped that she would get comfortable enough to write something of importance in it.

Claire looked up and smiled. "Eve, right?" she asked.

David placed himself against the door to the little library, but didn't enter.

"You are the human, Claire," Eve responded, walking out of the shadows.

Claire nodded. "And you are the hybrid born," Claire said back, a hint of teasing in her voice.

David peaked in and saw Eve carefully sit near Claire, but not that close. "Why aren't you scared?"

"Scared of what?"

"Of me? The vampires? Lycans? Anything? You're human, right?" Eve examined Claire with her eyes.

"Is that the question you wanted to ask me?" Claire asked with raised eyebrows. "Why I'm not scared? You've been trying to talk to me for two days."

Eve slowly shook her head. "No," she admitted. "Will you tell me about him? Alexander Corvinus," she quickly added.

Claire put her pen into her journal and closed it, setting it down on the ground. "What do you want to know?" she asked.

Eve gulped. "Was he a good man?"

"He used to say 'A good or evil man is relative to whoever is viewing them. In the eyes of my children's offspring, I would probably be considered a good man for giving my children life. For, without my sons, they would not exist. But in the eyes of my children, I would probably be seen as an evil man. For allowing their offspring to murder, rape, and destroy each other.'"

Eve frowned. "But he kept the fighting between the vampires and the lycans hidden from the humans."

"Allowing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of innocent people to die because he didn't step in to protect him," Claire pointed out.

"So, he was a bad man," Eve said softly.

Claire leaned back, shaking her head. "I never said that."

Eve frowned. "Then?"

"In my eyes, he was a good man. A human man. Immortal, but human. Can you imagine the inner turmoil he had to go through each time he had to clean up a fight between the lycans and the vampires? The questions he had to have asked himself, been asked by others? Why not stop the blight? He was the strongest. Storm Victor's castle and take out all the lycans and vampires at once. After all, he was alive when the vampires and lycans lived together. Not the ferals, of course, but Alexander could have hunted them down. By that time the ferals were no longer a problem."

Claire turned her body so that she faced Eve. Her voice held passion in it. "But he would have to kill his sons. Sure, he had three more children…" she paused. "Well," she said. "Not by then. By then he had descendants from his human children." Claire stopped talking as she spaced out.

"It's not that hard," Eve stated. "Better to kill the few to save the many."

"Could you so easily kill your mother or father?"

Eve didn't answer as she thought. She had gone through a lot during her years at Antigen. Despite never meeting or knowing her mother and father, she had a strong connection to the both of them, especially her mother. "I couldn't," she finally admitted, shaking her head. She had barely been reunited with them. And even if she had known them all her life, she knew she could never kill her parents.

Claire leaned forward. "That feeling that you have for your parents. Imagine that, but even stronger," she said softly. "He cared about all of his children. But… I think he cared the most about those two. They were his first children from his beloved wife. Twins were rare during that time and it was even rarer for a woman to survive child birthing. For her to give him five, healthy, children and for them to survive to adulthood was a feat unto itself."

Eve frowned and cocked her head. "How do you know so much?"

Claire sighed as she leaned back against the foot of a table. "I talked a lot with him. The others, his men, respected him deeply, but they all thought him too serious. No one had the 'guts' to talk to him or ask questions. But I did."

"And he told you all this?" Eve couldn't help but sound skeptical. "And why tell me this? Why tell me when you haven't talked to anyone else?"

David waited for her next words. He too was curious.

"If your father had asked, I would have told him. You are a Corvinus by blood."

"And so is my mother," Eve interjected.

Claire nodded. "Yes, but she wouldn't want to hear what I had to say. She wants to know the present, not the past. She wants to know what can help her now."

Eve didn't say anything. It was true. Selene was impatient when she didn't get the answers she wanted. She didn't care the how or why. All she wanted was the information to get what she needed done. "Where are you going?" Eve asked as Claire grabbed her journal and stood up.

"I've had enough storytelling for today," she said. "I might be able to answer more questions tomorrow. But, I think the sun is going to be going down soon and I rather like watching the sun setting." She didn't wait for Eve to argue as she walked out of the room.

David zipped himself away from the door, and casually headed her way. "There you are," he said, putting the best fake smile he could. "I've been looking for you."

"Will you take me up top to see the sunset?" she asked.

He nodded.

The two walked silently through the seemingly empty coven halls. There were other vampires around. David spotted them, but they quickly went in the opposite direction.

"Why were you looking for me?" Claire asked, breaking the silence.

"I was just making sure that none of the other vampires tried to harm you." It was partly true, but mostly false. The only person he had to worry about was his father, and the older vampire had gone to one of the few remaining covens.

She looked up at him through the corner of her eye then chuckled. "The other vampires keep away from me like I'm a plague. They have been doing that for a week now. The only vampire I need to worry about is your father and he's gone," she said. "So, why lie to me?"

His mouth dropped slightly as he tried to out think her. "You're a very secretive person. I didn't want you to stop telling Eve the stories about her ancestor, because I was listening," he said.

"I wouldn't stop even if Tanis was there. Why keep her own family history from her? She's a Corvinus."

"And yet you haven't said anything before," David quickly pointed out.

"She never asked." Claire looked at him stubbornly.

They were quiet after that, slowly making their way up to the surface. David led her up the stairs and opened a door, leading to the outside. The sunset had a pink and purple hue to it. It was beautiful. They were in a small balcony that overlooked the dam. It was made so that the workers of the area could see the dam and make sure everything was working properly.

Claire placed her elbows on the rail and leaned forward. "You don't have to worry about me running away," she said, giving him a quick glance.

"I'm not," he replied. "You haven't tried, and even if you do try I can always catch up to you."

She let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah," she said. "So, why haven't you tried to make any of the others hybrids like yourself?" She turned and leaned her back against the railing as she eyed him.

David put himself closer to her and smiled. "In a way, it's not my gift to give," he said. "Alexander Corvinus gave it to Selene and she in turn saved me after I had tried to save Eve. If not for her, I would not be here."

"That would have been a shame," Claire said softly. He looked at her in surprise, but she didn't return his gaze. Instead, she focused back on the setting sun. "If I was dying, would you turn me into one of you?"

"No."

She cocked her head as she looked at him curiously. "Why not?"

"Why would I?" he countered. "You clearly have shown that you don't want to be a vampire, hybrid or not. Why make you into a creature you don't want to be? Why give you the abilities to make it easier for you to defy us?"

Claire laughed, shaking her head. "True."

They were silent as she watched the sun. He was a little off-put by her stance. He was used to seeing her so tense, but right now she was relaxed. Her hair was up in a bun, except for a single stubborn strand that clung to the side of her face. He felt like brushing it behind her ear, but forced himself not to. Feelings? He couldn't have feelings for her.

She grew serious and clenched her fists. "The hybrids," she said. "The lycan ones. Have you ever met any like them?"

He shook his head. "Similar, but not complete. Antigen had started working on a 'cure', trying to use Eve's DNA as the basis. There were only two that had the complete serum put into their systems. Eve and Selene killed both of them. We were unable to destroy the research that night, but we found out that all of it was destroyed."

She looked at him in surprise. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "A very reliable source told us. She's an older vampire. Now one of the oldest, in fact."

Claire tensed. "Where is she now?"

David shrugged. "America, I think," he said. "It's where she has been for the last two hundred years. It was the second time she had come back in the last two hundred years. She brought a small team of vampires with her and said that they destroyed everything we couldn't." He shook his head and placed his hands on the rail. "She hates it here though. I guess she just wanted to assure us that she helped us get rid of our threat. It was not a surprise to us that she went back home."

Claire let out a sigh of relief, making him frown.

"Have you met her?" he asked.

She turned away, but shook her head. "No, I have heard about her. Before I went underground, I heard that she tried to rally all the vampires. She tried to establish that vampires were a better race."

David nodded his head, remembering what the vampires called 'Tears of Ashes'. It was supposed to be the day they proved to the humans that they were stronger and better. But the humans had been prepared. They blasted the vampires with UV lights almost immediately, painfully paralyzing the majority of the group. Few escaped. There would have been more vampires alive, had she not convinced them to join her in what ultimately became their last stand.

He clenched his fists at the memory.

"What?" Claire asked.

David chuckled, shaking his head. "Her name is Elizabeth. She came to our coven. I must admit, she knew how to inspire us. She claimed to be the eldest and everyone knew she was sired by Victor himself. I would have gone with her if not for my father. He commanded me to stay behind, and at that time I did not want to disobey him."

The two were silent as the sun finally set. David frowned as a car approached the dam.

"What is he doing here?" he muttered to himself, recognizing Detective Sebastian.

"Who?" Claire asked, but David jumped down to the ground, meeting Sebastian by his car.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

The human man jumped in surprise then sighed in relief. "I have something I'm sure you'll be interested in."

"Inside," David said as he escorted the man.

Sebastian followed him into the coven and stayed in the room that David left him in. "Claire, right?" he asked, spotting the woman who walked in.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm Detective Sebastian," he said as he walked over to her, holding out his hand. "I was the one who got the photos and brought them to Selene's attention."

She shook his hand. "Thanks," she said.

He frowned. She didn't sound happy. "Are you alright?" he asked.

A large smile crossed her face as she chuckled. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking. Thank you for doing that. I don't know how I would have survived if Selene hadn't rescued me."

He smiled back at her before turning his attention behind her. "Selene," he said. "Good."

"What have you found?" Selene asked as Claire moved away.

He held up a hard drive. "We need a computer."

Finding the coven's single resident techy vampire, Patrick, was easy for the group. The vampire rarely ever exited his room, except to grab more blood to feed. Before Selene, Patrick was the only real link to the outside world. The vampires rarely left their coven during the few years after the purge. All the news they received were what he had mined from the internet.

"Let's see here," Patrick said eagerly as he rubbed his hands and started to type. "It's encrypted, but that's not really a problem. Just have too…"

"Umm… you are so sexy, Patrick," a female voice complemented from the computer.

"That's Ana. Thanks, babe," he said proudly.

"Get to it," Selene snapped.

He quickly clicked and typed, not looking at the group who huddled behind him. "Looks like it's just a bunch of folders. Most are pictures, there are some videos. Didn't this guy know how to organize stuff?" He shook his head.

"Which is the newest one?" Selene asked.

Patrick organized the folders then clicked on the newest addition that had been added. "Looks like it's this one. Hmm… It's never been viewed," he said with a frown.

"Show us," she commanded. She didn't have to as Patrick was already clicking on the video as she spoke.

There was no date on the recording, making it all the more odd. A scientist appeared in front of the camera and stared at it wide eyed. "Anderson," he whispered in fear. "I don't know where you are and no one has told me anything. I hope you receive this. We may be in trouble. The experiment has gotten out of hand. She's in denial. She still thinks she's in control, but she isn't. This happened last night." The man shook his head. "I have voiced my fears to her, but she doesn't listen to me. She'll listen to you. Although I haven't heard from you in… a while… I'm sure you're still around. We need to get the situation back under control. I didn't sign up to make lycans the superior species. This wasn't a part of our mission."

The man pressed a button and the imaged was replaced with another recording. The camera itself was directed toward a hospital bed. On the bed was Sam. Claire gasped in surprise. A man who appeared to be in his late twenties walked over to the lycan who was still alive. He grabbed Sam's arm and Sam screamed in pain.

"You should make things easier for yourself," the man said. "Tell me what I want to know. Then you won't have to continue living this miserable life."

Sam chuckled then spit at the man's. The man shook his head as he wiped his face with his hands.

"She told me not to do anything to you. But I think this will be a faster way to get you to talk," the man said and snapped his fingers.

A scientist appeared, and cowered before the man. "But she said not to…"

The man spun around and half turned into a lycan. "I don't give a damn what she said. I am the Alpha here. You obey me now!"

The scientist looked surprised, but took a syringe from atop of a desk. His hands shook as he headed toward Sam.

Sam cried out in pain as he tried to struggle. It was clear that his body was healing very slowly and was almost completely broken. "You don't want to do this. Trust me! I will tear you apart."

The man snorted at that. "Highly unlikely," he said as he motioned toward his left. "All of those obey me like they do her. You will obey me too. And if you don't… well… I'll kill you."

The scientist grabbed Sam's arm and injected the contents into it. Sam gasped and screamed in pain. His body arched into the air then he collapsed, unconscious.

"How long will it take?" the man asked, rather impatiently.

"He was seriously wounded," the scientist said. "If he lives it may take hours if not days for…"

The man waved his hand in the air as he started walking away. "Call me when he's awake."

"And what about my lady?" the scientist called out.

The man laughed, but didn't answer as the video stopped playing.

"Your protector is still alive," Selene said as she turned to look at Claire. Her eyes narrowed with anger. "Where is she?" she asked.

David looked around the room. He knew that Claire was beside him when they entered the room. When had she left?

Sebastian frowned as he patted his pockets.

"What's wrong?" Selene asked.

"Where are my keys?" he asked as he dug his hands into his pockets.

"Claire," David whispered. He ran out of the coven and to the location of Sebastian's car. He stopped just short and almost let out a cry of distress. She had lied. She had been given the chance to escape, and despite her earlier comment, she had taken it.