No one moved an inch from where they stood even after the sound of Annuska and Tomi's footsteps faded away. They never would have imagined that the newbie would have the guts to stand up to Lucian, let alone physically assault him. And they couldn't even begin to wrap their minds around the woman who had shown up seemingly out of nowhere. She was obviously not as strong as the others in their group, being at least half a head shorter than Lucien with little to no muscle tone the men were confused at how she could draw such a hostile response from their leader without even trying.

"Pierce! Taylor! Put some clothes on, will you?"

It was clear that Lucian was still a bit stunned from being struck but was trying his best to hide that fact from the rest of them in an attempt to regain some of his dignity back. Luckily for them everyone kept their mouths shut and he stalked out of the room leaving them to heave a sigh of relief. Lucian was a good leader and was normally very understanding but once someone had pissed him off he was ruthless and none of them wanted to be the one to push him over the edge.

Meanwhile while Lucian was somewhere in the tunnel system working off his temper Tomi had lead Annuska to the living quarters he shared with five of the other new members.

"Mother why have you come here, it is not safe. These men are nothing like the ones back home they do not care for peace, only death. Lucian is hell bent on exterminating the vampires and nothing you say will be able to change his mind."

"I know that dear, but I haven't come to change his mind. You must remember that I am almost as old as he is and I experienced the same torment he did will under Viktor's rule. I understand why he does what he does and I will not stop him. In fact I hope to help him, right now his goal is to destroy the three vampire elders and as much as I hate violence I believe it is necessary. In order to have peace we must first put the old feud between vampires and lycan to rest and to do that we must get rid of those who would see it continue until one side is completely gone."

"But wouldn't that mean getting rid of Lucian as well?"

"Not necessarily dear. You must understand that most of his hatred is for Viktor and through him the entire vampire race. Until that man is dead Lucian will never be able to let go of his hatred however he might be persuaded to change his view once he has gotten the revenge he so craves."

"Do you still love him mother?"

Annuska froze; she knew she shouldn't be surprised by that question however she still had to take a moment to catch her breath. She had never regretted telling her children about Lucian and her feelings for him, even if she didn't tell them what the name of her unrequited loves name was, but now it was coming back to bite her.

"Yes Tomi I do, I don't think I could ever stop loving him to be honest. However he does not love me and I would appreciate if you do not draw attention to my feelings. I am perfectly content with helping he achieve his goals, even if he doesn't feel any sort of affection for me."

She could tell by the look on Tori's face that he wanted to argue with her however the deep respect that he held for her won out and he nodded dejectedly, he would keep her secret even if he didn't want to. She drew him into a hug and was about to ask him about his time away from the castle when the scent of blood mingled with a familiar musk hit her nose. It was Raze and he was injured.

"Tori, I have to go check something, I promise we will catch up later." And with that she took off not even waiting for him to agree. She followed the strong scent of blood to a makeshift lab of some sort where she found Lucian and Raze along with another lycan who came across as some sort of mad scientist and a dead lycan.

"… ambushed. Death dealers, three of them."

She arrived just as Raze was giving his report to Lucian, a small blessing because the man was so focused on what Raze had to say that he didn't notice her sneak in and move to stand in one of the corners of the room. She cringed when she saw the circular blades embedded in his chest, knowing they must hurt like a bitch, especially since he had been moving around and carrying the other man's dead weight. Lucian however didn't seem to care about the fact that one of his men was injured and another was quite possibly seriously injured.

"And the candidate?"

"We lost him."

"You lost him?"

Lucian looked absolutely livid over the fact that the two had lost their target, a man by the sounds of it. Meanwhile the doctor ripped open the coat of Raze's dead comrade to find that the man's chest was riddled with bullets.

"Look at this mess."

"Ag rounds, high content. Prevented him from making the change."

The doctor pulled one of the bullets out and Annuska flinched as she watched. The bullet seemed to smoke as it was removed, reminding her of the deadly sting of silver.

"No use in digging gout the rest. Silver's penetrated his organs. Regeneration's impossible at this point. Let's take these out, relax. "

Without another word the doctor took a rather strange looking device from his medical cart and proceeded to yank each of the circular blades out of Raze's chest. Annuska couldn't bear to watch and instead chose to look around the room. She found the man hanging from the ceiling in chains to be somewhat curious however what truly piqued her interest was the wall covered in pictures, news clippings, and scraps of paper along with the table with Erlenmeyer flasks filled with multiple differently colored liquids. She made a note to ask Tomi about what the doctor was up to before turning back into the others conversation. Unfortunately they had only removed the first blade while she had been observing the rest of the room.

"The Vampires didn't realize you were following a human…Did they Raze?"

"No, I mean, I don't think so."

"You don't think, or you don't know?"

"I'm not sure."

I looked like Lucian was about to reprimand Raze for failing his mission however a subtle beeping noise interrupted him. The doctor went over to the table and started to stir the dark red liquid one of the flasks contained and they all watched as it turned black.

"Negative, I really must have a look at this Michael."

Judging from the look on his face the fact that whatever test they were running came back negative made him even more irritated with Raze for failing to capture this "Michael".

"Must I do everything myself?"

Lucian spun on his heel and stormed out leaving an awkward tension in his wake. Raze's ego was obviously bruised by his failure and in his anger he ripped the last blade out of his chest. The doctor seeing that there was no more of the poisonous metal left in his body left Raze to clean himself up while he removed the chains from the half dead man and proceeded to drag him off somewhere. Annuska took this opportunity to grab a wet towel before approaching the much larger lycan, she still remembered how he had released her from the prison cell when Lucian first revolted against their masters and hoped that she could help him as he had once helped her.

"Are you okay Raze, I know that lycan regenerate but we can still feel pain, we aren't invisible no matter what Lucian would like to think."

The man looked up with a somewhat startled expression, he had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard her come in let alone approach him. She smiled; she always found her ability to sneak up on others funny.

"I am fine. What are you doing here? We all assumed that you had died during our escape."

Annuska smiled sadly, "no friend I was not killed. I simply thought it better if I went my own way. I never fit in with the other works and I know they looked down on me because of my position and I can't blame them for that. Had I come along I would have just caused trouble so instead I went my own way. I found an abandoned castle that I claimed for myself and used it as a refuge for children orphaned because of the war."

She was careful not to mention that she had taken in vampiric children as well as lycan, he may have held more respect for her than the others did but even he wouldn't understand her want for peace.

"So that is all you have been doing for so many years, raising those who were left alone during the war? That is not very glamourous I would have thought you would have tried to build a life for yourself and start over."

"Unfortunately my friend there are something's that are impossible to move on from, you understand that better than most. I could never get over what happened in the past, and my regrets about not being able to prevent things from happening the way they did. I took in the orphans in an attempt to prevent what happened to our generation to bleed into theirs. I wasn't completely successful but I would like to think I at least helped them grow up in a good environment before they were forced to face the harsh reality that is the world."

Raze nodded and the look in his eyes told her that he understood her better than most ever would. Like her he wasn't a creature driven by violence however unlike her he was willing to kill as many people as he needed to in order to insure that he accomplished his goals. While they talked Annuska had taken to cleaning his wounds and before they knew it he was completely healed and ready to move on to his next task.

"I will go after him Raze, don't worry I won't let him die a second time."

Raze could see that she meant what she had said with her entire being. Though she didn't know it he had seen her love for Lucian reflecting in her eyes as she spoke and knew that she was hell bent on protecting him, even if it meant having to die to ensure his survival. Not sure what to say to her he simply nodded and watched as she walked off, he hoped that Lucian would be able to see past their shared history and realize what was right in front of him. Annuska was an amazing woman and it would be a shame if her love was forever wasted on a man who couldn't even recognize its existence.

So I haven't forgotten this story, in fact I had been meaning to update it for a really long time but never got around to it. The truth is between college and work I barely have enough time to sleep let alone write. I promise I haven't been purposefully neglecting you guys and I appreciate everyone's continued support of the story. I would like to say thanks to everyone who has followed or favorited this story so far, seeing that people like this story always helps me to want to write more.

To BrySt1: Haha I'm glad that you liked the last chapter. I promise that Lucian will be less of a "booty" in the upcoming chapters, Annuska just has to put him in his place.

To Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967: I'm glad you loved the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one just as much

To Guest 1 & 2: I'm glad you both enjoyed this story; I will try to update more frequently however because of college I make no promises.

To FortheloveofLucianandSonja: I'm glad you like this story I'm sorry it took so long to update, I hope you liked this chapter just as much as the last one

To Purple-Luv's-Green-Hates: I'm flattered that you consider this story one of the good Underworld fics and I apologize that it has taken me so long to update. I hope you continue to love the story and I would love to hear more about what you think about it in the future.

To samanthatm: Haha no I haven't given up on this story it has just taken me forever to update it. I hope that the wait was worth it and that you enjoyed this chapter just as much as the last one.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far I really appreciate it. I would love if everyone would Review and let me know what you think of what's happened so far. Let me know what you think should happen in the future too; I'm always open to suggestions. Criticism is also welcome as long as it is worded in a kind and respectful manner.

Thanks again for reading this story, YOU ALL ARE AMAZING!
-Ambercat999