Damien was driving. Selene had protested, said that driving helped get her mind off of things.
"That's the problem," Damien noted. "I've heard about the first time you drove at night with Michael."
Other than that, the car ride was spent in silence half of the way. Eventually, Damien tried to break the silence.
"Guess who my favorite actress is," Damien asked.
"That woman in Pearl Harbor?"
"Naw, but she's a close second," Damien said, in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.
"Who?" Selene clearly had no intention of playing this game.
Sensing this, Damien just gave her the answer. "Frances McDormand."
"Who," Selene asked, repeating what she'd just said.
"Are you kidding?" Damien asked, seemingly shocked that Selene had never heard of her.
"No."
Sighing, Damien pulled over. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a picture of Frances McDormand. He showed it to Selene.
Selene glanced at the picture. "Wow, she's hot," Selene said.
Damien smiled. "Man, you've gotta be the only woman who'd say that to a guy."
Selene smiled. "But she is," Selene said.
Suddenly, there was a rapping at the passenger window. It was Kahn.
Selene rolled down her window. "Kahn?"
Kahn nodded. "I need to talk to you," he replied urgently.
Damien said coldly, "Well, she doesn't have to, Blood."
Selene gave him a reassuring look. "It's fine, Amie."
"But—"
Selene silenced him. "I'll be right back."
"No," Kahn said, "no, she won't. It might take a while. I think you could just leave."
Selene opened the car door and began to get out.
"Wait," Damien cried. "I mean, how did the guy even know we were here?"
Kahn answered curtly, impatiently trying to get Selene from the car. "I saw you guys parked here, and I need to talk to Selene now, so I thought it'd be better than calling and arranging a meeting."
"I don't know, Selene. There's something about this blood I don't trust."
"Look," Selene said, growing impatient, "I've known Kahn all my immortal life. He can be trusted."
Finally backing off, Damien muttered, "Fine."
Relieved, Selene got out of the car and slammed the car door shut, and watched as Damien pulled away.
"Your friend's a bit paranoid, huh?" Kahn smirked.
"You can ever be too careful, I guess," Selene replied darkly.
"Ah, how true that is." Kahn turned around, and walked away. "Follow me," he commanded.
A bit hesitantly, Selene followed Kahn. "Where are we going?"
Kahn chuckled. "Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do," Selene replied, "But I'd still like to know where you're leading me."
"A meeting place, where we know we won't be watched."
"Oh."
They walked for what felt like an eternity and a day, but in reality was for about 20 minutes, until hey reached a cluster of abandoned warehouses. Kahn opened the door to one, and ushered Selene inside.
When Kahn closed the door to join her, Kahn turned on the light.
"Well, we're here," Selene said, sizing the place up.
"Yeah, we're here." Something about Kahn's face, its enigmatic feeling and uncanny features.
"Kahn, what—"
"Tell me, Selene, " Kahn interrupted. "You've known me for what? 750 years?"
"At least."
"And you've always known me to do what is best for my race, have you not?"
"Yes, that's why you agreed to work with me."
"Yes, but imagine how I felt when Michelle contacted me to tell me of her new visitor. And she told me that you would have to pick between the war's end and Michael. Tell me, which will you pick?"
"Kahn—"
"You'd pick Michael, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you?"
"Kahn, it isn't that simple."
Kahn screamed in her face, scaring her. "THEN MAKE IT SIMPLE!"
Selene tried to soften her voice, hoping it would calm him down. "Kahn…"
Kahn did calm down, too fast for Selene's comfort. "Let me make it simple," he said soothingly. "Let me make it simple," Kahn repeated.
"Bring him out," Kahn commanded to what seemed like no one.
But there was someone. He was a vampire, who looked familiar.
"Duncan?" Selene said. She realized it was him, the vampire who'd worked in the security booth at the destroyed Ordoghaz when Selene had last seen it.
Duncan was dragging someone.
It was Michael, bound and gagged.
Damien was not happy. He never liked bloods; Selene was the only exception. Even the bloods that were either neutral or supposedly on their side were not trusted by Damien. Their side had been burned by traitors more than once, and Damien was hardly forgiving of their race.
"Damn bloods," Damien cursed to himself. Even if Selene had known that blood for her whole immortal life, Damien knew damn well that the possibility of a back-stabbing occurring never went away. Still, Selene appeared to trust him, and Damien trusted Selene's instincts. Ever since he had met her, her instincts had never been wrong – but did that go the same as her instincts before he met her?
Damien's cell phone rang, wrenching him from his thoughts. It was Derek, Selene's right-hand man. He picked up.
"Yeah?"
"Damien? It's me, Derek," said the voice on the other line. The tone was clearly urgent and worried.
"What's wrong?"
"Are you with Selene?"
"No, just dropped her off."
"With who?"
"Some black blood she said she knew for a long time." Damien heard Derek curse on the other end.
"A black guy?"
"Yeah," Damien answered, "Yeah, a black guy. You know who he is?"
"Amie," Derek changed the subject, his tone becoming gloomy. "Amie, Michael's missing."
Damien thought he was hearing things. "What did you say?"
"You heard me, dammit. Michael's missing. That black guy you just saw with Selene? He kidnapped Michael." Damien was quiet, trying to process this. "He took Michael," Derek said quietly, "And the bastard is now with Selene," he muttered. "Did you see where they went?"
"No, I didn't," Damien said regretfully.
Derek cursed again. Then there was dead silence, and Damien could heard Derek take a deep breath to calm down. "Okay," he finally said. "Okay, I know that they usually meet in an abandoned warehouse. And they're usually near the water, near the river."
"Wait, she's been meeting this blood secretly? For how long?"
"150 years."
"Damn!"
"Yeah, but let's not worry about that, now. We've gotta figure out—"
"Follow her scent."
"What?"
Damien repeated, "Follow her scent." He suddenly made a U-turn and went back the way he had come. "It's not far where I dropped her off."
"The scent's probably faded by now," Derek said pessimistically.
"I have the best nose of the Stealth Shooters. You know that."
"You think it's that good?"
"Look, I'll call you if and when I find it. Just find my car's location via the tracking device, and be ready to back me up."
"Okay."
The phone call ended.
Selene couldn't believe her eyes. How could Kahn, the only one she'd trusted all this time, betray her?
"Pick one."
"What?" Selene wasn't sure what he wanted.
"Pick one. I'll kill Michael, or I'll kill you."
A/N:
I realize it took me a while to get it up. I had a bad case of Writer's Block, it's never happened to me before. I couldn't phrase anything for my life. It also didn't help that I had no time to write...
Anyway, hope you had a nice time reading this chapter.
KATEB819
