"Me… or Michael." Selene's voice was unwavering.
"Yes." Kahn joined Duncan's side. "Whichever one dies, the Stealth Shooters will get a heavy blow."
"Kahn, why are you doing this?"
Kahn chuckled. "I told you. I do what is best for MY race."
"You're just like Viktor," Selene spat out.
"Oh, no. I didn't kill anyone for the cause."
"But you'll have others kill."
"Viktor didn't have the imagination for that," Kahn bragged.
"No, he didn't," she agreed. "But he was still able to keep me in his grasp for six centuries."
"Well," Kahn said soothingly, "Maybe you're just too fucking stupid."
Selene felt the instinct to snap Kahn's neck, but she knew Duncan would kill Michael immediately afterwards.
"Tell me Kahn, what makes you think this plan will work?"
"My plan's worked so far. What's to make me think that it won't keep working?"
"Has it ever occurred to you what would happen if—"
"Has it ever occurred to YOU what would happen if my plan doesn't work," Kahn interrupted sharply. "It's a lose-lose situation for you!" When Selene shot Kahn a confused look, Kahn elaborated. "Ever seen Van Helsing? The vampire in the beginning… Marishka? – is killed and the other two vampires get more blood-thirsty. Did you really think that wouldn't happen here?"
"You think that the Death Dealers would get motivated."
"You know the Death Dealers – You know that revenge can be a damn strong motivation. Elders know that it drove you for six centuries."
Selene couldn't think of anything to say. She had to admit that thee plan was pretty fool-proof… except that he underestimated her. He thought of her as the weaker vampire she once was, not the immensely powerful Hybrid-like being she was.
Michael slowly lifted his head. Hoarsely, he croaked, "Selene… kill me."
Selene was shocked. Did Michael think she couldn't defeat Kahn and Duncan?
"Michael…" Selene couldn't form her emotions into words.
"Selene…" Michael said softly, almost whispering, "If you don't, then the war could go dramatically in their favor."
Even though Selene knew he was right, she felt an instinct to go against what Michael said. And she always went with her instincts, whether or not it proved to be the wrong move.
Duncan punched Michael square in the jaw. "Shut up, you piece of shit."
Kahn shot Duncan a look. "He was helping our cause, Duncan."
"Oh." Duncan looked sheepish.
Selene took the opportunity to punch Kahn on the nose, causing a thin stream of blood to come from his nostrils. Kahn groaned in pain and sank to the floor, and Selene ran over to Michael. She kneed Duncan on his private parts, resulting in a loud groan and Duncan passing out. She went straight for Michael.
Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her neck. She reached to touch a long dart sticking out from her neck. Selene was woozy and felt like her body was heavier than she could bear. Her eyelids were closing against her will, and she felt her breathing slow.
Then all she was in was black.
She woke up in a body that felt like she had been ran over by a truck a few times. Her whole body was throbbing and she felt like everything was just sagging.
She opened her eyes slowly, and took in the scene. She was in a moldy, damp area; she was chained to a concrete wall, and the only illumination in the room (cellar?) was a dim light bulb on the ceiling.
She moaned softly as she lifted her head, which seemed to weight over thrice as much as it had before.
"Selene?" It was Michael's voice, only it came in a whisper that sounded tired, at best.
"Yeah." Selene found her voice wasn't much better – it came out as a croak.
"Jesus Christ – are you okay?"
Selene glanced around. "Where are you?"
"Across the room." Selene squinted, and could make out a vague shape that resembled Michael.
"Oh." Selene leaned her head back, only to lean the spot where the dart had penetrated her neck. It was still extremely sore, so Selene gasped in pain. She quickly stopped leaning her head against the wall. "How long have I been out?"
"Long enough for me to get one handcuff chain loose." Selene couldn't see it, but she was sure Michael was grinning.
"Can you get the other one off?"
"Yeah—"
Suddenly there were footsteps at the top of the stairs that were near Michael. Michael quickly stopped speaking.
"Ah. So Selene's finally up." Kahn stalked down the stairs, and paused at the bottom. For one fearful moment, Selene feared Kahn would see that Michael had gotten one handcuff free, but Kahn turned to face Selene. At the center of the room, Kahn pulled a chain, which illuminated the room with lights. Selene squinted against the sudden light. Kahn grinned, which frightened Selene more than she was willing to admit. "Thought I'd OD-ed you there for a while."
Selene glared coldly into Kahn's eyes. "You fucking traitor."
Kahn viciously backhanded Selene across the face. In spite of the burning she now felt in her cheek, she turned her head back and leveled him with her glare. "How sad it is that it took me being chained to a wall for you to be able to raise a hand against me like this."
Kahn pulled a sharp knife from his pocket. She stared at him with a neutral mask. Angered by her apathetic expression, Kahn abruptly stuck it in her shoulder. Selene bit her lip to keep from screaming.
Over Kahn's shoulder, Selene could see Michael quietly struggling to free his other hand from its handcuff. His eyes met hers, and his eyes were filled with worry.
Kahn sadistically twisted the knife and pushed it in deeper. Selene gasped from the unexpected pain. Satisfied, Kahn pulled the knife from her shoulder.
"Watch your mouth, Selene. I don't think that Viktor would've taken kindly to you speaking such filth."
"Viktor's dead. You'll be dead soon, too." Selene's neutral features betrayed no hint of when she was really feeling or thinking.
Visibly infuriated by her lack of emotion, Kahn once again struck with his knife. This time, however, it was in her palm. Once again, Selene suppressed a pained gasp. Kahn withdrew the knife from Selene's right palm and immediately stuck it into the left one.
Unable to brace herself against the pain, Selene let all of her pent-up pain in one shriek. Proud of his small accomplishment, Kahn left the knife in Selene's palm. Selene slowly glanced over Kahn's shoulder; Michael was furiously working on freeing himself from his torture of watching the woman he loved in pain and being helpless to stop it.
Asking the question that had preyed her mind for a while, she asked, "Why don't you just kill Michael? You don't need my permission."
"Well, see that's the thing. If I kill him, we all know that you'd do what the Death Dealers would do if I died."
"So why not kill me?"
"And how would the Stealth Shooters react?" Selene became quiet. "At first, I considered this. But dammit, Derek and Damien and Marc would take over and would probably beat the crap outta my Death Dealers. What to do, what to do?"
With a bored look on his face, Kahn twisted the knife in Selene's palm, 90 degrees, then waited a few seconds, then twisted it another 90 degrees. Each time, Selene did not show any signs of pain. After the knife had been twisted 180 degrees, Selene glanced hopefully over Kahn's shoulder.
Michael had gotten himself freed!
Michael easily got his legs, which were not bound in chains but rope, freed. He ran up to Kahn, and knocked him out. He was about to snap his neck, when Selene shouted, "Wait! Stop!"
"Why?"
"Just… wait. We don't know what the repercussions may be, yet."
Giving in, Michael stepped over Kahn's unconscious body to get to Selene. He cautiously pulled the knife from Selene's palm, although she was tempted to tell him not to bother, since the damn knife had been pulled out of her with no mercy several times already. He attempted to rip the chains holding Selene to the wall in two, but found that he'd used all of his energy already in getting himself free.
"See if Kahn has the keys on him," Selene told Michael.
Michael went to search, when heavy footsteps were heard above.
"Oh, shit," Selene cursed. "Someone must've either heard us, or…" Selene glanced around the room, only to spot what she was HOPING was not there. "…or someone saw us."
When Michael gave her a puzzled look, Selene indicated with a nod of her head. "Camera."
Before Michael could do anything else, a rush of men rushed down the stairs, all armed with arms of some sort or another. There were at least a dozen of them.
"We found them," one of the men spoke into a walkie-talkie.
A/N:
Finally finished this chapter...
So, hope you enjoyed it. Another chapter should be coming out soon (crosses fingers)
KATEB819