Disclaimer: I don't own Underworld or anything publicly recognizable. Only the plot and the characters I created.
Watch Yourself
Chapter Nine
Selene frowned and remembered that very same night for a different reason. She hadn't paid very much attention to Tanis at the time but she remembered now that he had looked pale, his face gaunt and drawn. He had seemed frightened and in some type of shock, almost to the point of being withdrawn.
"I thought I killed all of the lycans that were chasing you, Tanis," Michael said, confused.
"You did, but Dominic had probably stayed back once he saw you."
Selene stared intently at Tanis. It wasn't that simple. The lycans didn't come out of hiding in these times unless provoked. "What did you do?"
Shocked, Tanis looked up at the Death Dealer. "Wha-What do you mean, Selene?" he stuttered.
"What did you do to make the lycans hunt you, Tanis?" she clarified.
Andreas Tanis grimaced and looked away. He was ashamed of what he had done but at the time he thought he could protect himself.
After a few moments he turned to look at Selene again. "At the time I thought it was the best thing to do. I was constantly finding myself in compromising positions where I thought I wouldn't make it out alive. Dominic happened upon me one night while I tried to fight off some humans. He stepped in with a couple lycans from his pack and killed them.
"Apparently he had heard of me and of my connections to you and your family, Selene. Dominic wanted me to bring him to you in exchange for protection. I had agreed and led him around for months while he protected me…" Tanis trailed off, turning to glare angrily at the enhanced image of his enemy. He now regretted ever making that deal.
"I eventually found out why he wanted me to bring him to you. He wanted to kill all of you and take Eve…Once I found out I tried to disappear but he found me anyway. So I ran and ended up here. I swear I wasn't trying to lead him to you," he added hastily, glancing quickly at Michael at the sound of his growl.
Selene nodded, scowling at what she had heard. "We believe you, Tanis. It's just the thought of someone trying to take one of our children away from us again that upsets us," she told him, subconsciously hugging her son closer to her chest and glancing at Eve. They shared a long look, remembering what happened when she was a young child.
It was unpleasant to say the least.
"What will he do with her?" Eve whispered softly. The young hybrid thought that the little tiny vampire was a bit strange and wasn't very close to her, but Erazebet was still considered a part of their family.
Nothing was said for a moment as everyone stared at Tanis. He had kept silent for so long that no one had expected an answer out of him until he spoke.
"He'll make her his mistress and torture any information he can get out of her while pleasuring himself."
A loud uproar began at his words as everyone spouted out their displeasure and hatred of what the lycan would do. It was disgusting, vile, and loathsome what he would do to her. Not in any of their wildest dreams had they imagined Tanis would tell them anything like that.
Only imagining what Dominic was most likely going to do to her made Tanis sick to the stomach. Only someone so perverted and demented as he would do something like that. Never in all of the many centuries he had lived had Tanis ever encountered someone such as him, vampire, lycan, or otherwise.
It truly made him appreciate Selene and Michael for taking him in when they did. He could only imagine what Dominic would have done to him if Michael hadn't saved him that day. Tanis most likely would have been a pile of ash or perhaps a bloody pile of dismembered flesh and bones lying in a corner somewhere.
"We can't let him get away with this," Eve cried out, grasping David's hand tight in her own. The thought of someone doing something as depraved as making a woman his slave made her sick to her stomach and filled her with anger all at the same time. If someone so much as thought about doing this to her or her mother Eve would kill them without so much as a second thought.
Selene nodded in agreement. They couldn't let this lycan get away with kidnapping Erazebet and doing depraved things to her to torture information out of her. It wasn't in her nature to allow lycans to get away with doing things like this.
"We'll find a way to get her back," Michael promised, looking at Tanis as he said this. Tanis looked like he was on the verge of tears and needed a few words of encouragement.
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