Disclaimer: I own Daenerys Aerilyn Ramsey, Jared Russel, Derrik Kingsley, Margret Grosse and Mimzy. I do NOT own characters or content belonging to Chronicle, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the Underworld films. If I did own the rights to anything other than what I've specifically mentioned, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

Chapter 10

Upon arriving at one of the entrances of the Den, I knew something was wrong. The scent of vampires was strong in the area and when we got closer, Raze found and killed one that was keeping watch. He barked an order for the others to search the area and we both dropped down the shaft. There were entrails and ichor covering the walls and floating in the water. I cast a worried glance at him and we both surged forward. Raze was the one to find Lucian on the ground, unmoving and his veins blackened. He had liquid silver nitrate oozing from a single gunshot wound in his chest. My old friend dropped the vampire blood he'd been carrying and knelt in shock next to him. He turned his head back and forth and I could see his grief plainly on his face. My heart felt cold in my chest. I was frozen in place while Raze became filled with rage and ran to ambush a group of vampires running through the hallway nearby. I ignored the sounds of him winning the fight as I stepped over to my lover and pulled his limp body into my arms.

I was frozen with heartache. I was on autopilot as I kissed his forehead and stroked his hair. I could feel his heartbeat, though weak as it was, and begged him to wake up. In the Den around me, I could hear the roar of my Lycan brothers and the gunfire of the vampires that had come to destroy us. I heard a commotion in the next room and peeked through a hole in the wall to see a man restrained on the examination table struggling to release himself from it. Is that Michael Corvin? I wondered. Lucian groaned in my arms as though to respond to my question. I immediately drew my attention to him.

"Lucian! Lucian!" I whispered fiercely. His eyes fluttered open and he gave a small smile at seeing me and then his face twisted into one of pain. "What happened?"

"Kraven betrayed us," he replied, his voice strained. "In the exam room. I took Michael's blood. I already injected myself; I made a syringe for you and for Raze."

I turned to glance into the room where Michael was still struggling against the bonds that held him. I was torn on what I should do. I looked down to him and his eyes were insistent as he looked into that room. He wanted me to get the blood, I was sure of it. I ignored his desire and began adjusting his body in my arms.

"I need to get you out of here," I whispered instead. I moved to pull him up but he shook his head and shrugged out of my grasp, though there was a painful grunt that followed.

"No, Dae. You need to get that syringe. It's everything I've worked for. It's more important than my life," he told me as he crawled towards the hole in the wall. I was about to say something when a vampire dressed in a black leather jumpsuit and a black corset killed a transformed Lycan that was entering the room with extreme prejudice before approaching Michael. I tensed and pulled back the side of my coat where a pair of knives floated from their spots and prepared to send them flying through her spine and skull when, to my surprise, she released Michael from his restraints.

"I have to get you out of here. Viktor's on his way, and he won't be satisfied until every Lycan's dead," the female vampire spoke quickly, looking into Michael's eyes.

"They'll kill you too, just for helping me," he replied.

"I know."

"I know what started the war." His statement was grim and Lucian's eyes were just as glued to the scene as mine were. My heart had begun to race at the implications of what I was seeing. A vampire fell in love with a Lycan. I knew that Lucian must be thinking that history was about to be repeated, hopefully with a better ending. Behind us, I heard the unmistakable sound of a Lycan, probably Raze, breaking through a concrete wall and attacking another group of vampires. I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed and realized it wasn't one of the Death Dealers. They would be more inclined to use modern weapons. It must be Viktor. I turned back to the scene unfolding in front of me and carefully approached Lucian as he struggled to move towards that room.

The vampire and her new companion started out of the room and I took that as my chance to steal into it for the syringe. Just after I started back to Lucian, we heard several gunshots. A few feet away, Kraven had shot Michael with the same silver nitrate bullets he'd used on my beloved. I felt my teeth become a mouth full of fangs and my sight distorted as my eyes changed to that shocking starburst blue over black. The daggers that floated at my side started spinning like the blades of a saw. I was about to intervene when Lucian grabbed my ankle and shook his head. I heard Kraven begin to speak and his voice made my hackles rise.

"Okay, that's enough," he spat as he stepped forward to grab the female vampire by the arm. "You're coming with me!"

"I only hope I live long enough to see Viktor choke the life from you," she snarled as she slapped his hand away.

"I bet you do," he nodded, a barely concealed smirk on his face. He looked like he was ready to inflict some pain. "But let me tell you something about your beloved dark father. He's the one who killed your family, not the Lycans. Never could follow his own rules. Said he couldn't abide the taste of livestock, so every once in a while he would go out and gorge himself on human blood. I kept his secrets, cleaned up the mess, but it was he who crept room to room, dispatching everyone close to your heart, but when he got to you? He just couldn't bear the thought of draining you dry, you who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death."

"Lies." Her voice wasn't so confident. I, on the other hand, believed him. He would be the cleanup service behind someone more powerful. I could see it.

"Believe what you want. Now, come on. Your place is by my side."

Whilst they were talking, Lucian had begun dragging himself forward and had just reached Kraven's leg when he was preparing to shoot Michael one more time with a, "So be it," and grabbed the coward's leg with a determined look on his face. I turned and grabbed the pack of syringes Raze had dropped and turned when I heard a cry of pain and metal snapping. Lucian had driven the blade he hid on his wrist in his jacket through Kraven's leg and had been thrown back with a powerful backhand for his trouble.

"Bite him," he whispered to the female vampire with an intense gaze and nodded to Michael. My eyes widened from my vantage point as she did so, without hesitation.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kraven growled as he ripped the blade from his calf.

"You may have killed me, cousin. But my will is done, regardless." I stifled my cry of horror as Lucian's last words were met with several more gunshots. I was getting ready to run to him when I realized that the footsteps approaching must be Viktor and more of his Death Dealers. I couldn't reveal myself to him. I wasn't strong enough to take him on and I didn't know what else I could do. I remained in my hidden vantage point, praying that Lucian could hold on for just a little longer. That his weakening heart would continue to beat for just a few more moments. If he had already injected himself with the Carrier's blood, I could still give him the vampire blood in one of these syringes and he could possibly survive. After all, if he became a hybrid, he wouldn't be allergic to silver anymore. Vampires aren't allergic to it, right?

Kraven must have heard the approaching vampires as well and scurried like a cockroach out through the exit shaft. Then, Viktor, an Elder vampire that I'd heard of but never seen before marched into the room and tore the female vampire away from Michael's throat and then lifted him up with one hand to glare into his eyes. They were barely open and he snarled as he threw him through a concrete wall into the much larger and wet room on the other side. He then looked about the room and turned to the vampire before him.

"Where is he? Where's Kraven?" he demanded. I watched as he seemed to take in the stunned expression on her face and he softened himself a little, as though he was feeling guilty for making a child cry. A single tear had begun to fall down her cheek. I glanced nervously over to Lucian's body. He was barely drawing breath and my heart clenched to see him thus. Viktor knelt in front of her and his voice was much softer. "Forgive me, my child."

"It wasn't the Lycans," she whispered. "It was you."

"Leave us," he commanded the three others that had accompanied him. They gave furtive glances around the room and left, though I could see the confusion in their eyes. He had risen and was stern-faced while he turned back to her.

"How could you bear my trust, knowing you had killed my family?" she asked.

"Yes. I have taken from you… but I have given so much more. Is it not a fair trade, the life I have granted you? The gift of immortality?"

"And the life of your daughter? Your own flesh and blood?" she challenged. At this his face contorted. It was a mixture of love and disdain and hatred. An odd combination, to be sure. He looked away, spotting Lucian's body. He reached down and tore the pendant from his neck.

"I loved my daughter, but the abomination growing in her womb was a betrayal of me and of the Coven! I did what was necessary to protect the species, as I am forced to do, yet again!" he cried with all the surety of a true fanatic. He was insane! I was sickened by his hateful presence and looked to Lucian's body again. His breathing was getting slower and I could barely hear his heart anymore. I looked down at the syringes in my possession. Two of them were the Carrier's blood and five of them were Amelia's blood. A plan formulated as I tossed one of each syringe into the air. They hovered around me as Viktor pulled out his sword and looked down through the hole he'd made in the wall to search for his quarry. Faster than I could see, a being of black skin, claws and eyes appeared behind the Elder vampire. He turned at the growling pants behind him and Michael, now a hybrid, hit him on the chest and threw him out to what would become their battleground. It was now or never. While they were distracted, I would save Lucian.

I concentrated and held out both of my arms. One was injected with Michael's blood and the other with the Amelia's while another syringe I commanded to Lucian. I couldn't let that female vampire see me. I didn't know her name but I suspected she was Selene, a Death Dealer of great repute that I'd heard Kraven had been obsessing over for centuries. I couldn't let Selene see me or she'd kill me on sight and would stop me from my mission. I watched as the syringe floated high above the ground and carefully allowed it to lower to Lucian's prone form. I glanced at Selene; she was distracted by the fight taking place below and seemed truly torn on what she should do. I looked back to the syringe and forced it into his chest, directly into his heart. If this helped him survive, it would have to start healing from there. I let the other syringe full of Michael's blood follow soon after. I had no idea how long ago he'd injected himself but I wasn't going to take chances. As soon as this one had followed suit and had the second injection in his heart I started to feel something changing in myself.

I held back a gasp of pain as I began to change, unbidden. I hadn't felt pain when changing since my fifteenth year as a Lycan, when I'd finally gained full control of my abilities. My bones in my chest snapped and reformed into a more animalistic ribcage and my fingers elongated as my flesh turned as black as night. In the other room, I heard Viktor's voice float up from the battle.

"Time to die!" At that, Selene, not yet noticing my presence or that there were two syringes close to Lucian's prone form, jumped up and joined the fight. I stumbled into the room and bit back a cry of pain as I felt the bones in my arms, legs and spine elongate. My face began to bulge forward in growing bone and muscle and it became more as a traditional Lycan than human, with long canines and a powerful jaw. Then my muzzle receded back significantly, but still remained slightly distended. It allowed for a significantly larger-than-human bite radius. While my hands were still relatively human, I pulled Lucian's body flat to the floor and did a few chest compressions after I pulled the syringes out. I prayed that this would circulate through his body faster with my help. I wanted this to work so badly, I could practically taste it.

Below, I could hear the battle was close to its end. The bones and muscles in my chest returned to a semblance of human, though they were more prominent. The muscles on my back also grew and remained that size. I had an inkling that my transformation was complete when power and strength flowed through me. My fingers were elongated slightly with razor sharp claws at the end. I felt a bony ridge on forehead, though just between my eyes. There was the start of a bony, muscular ridge on my nose.

I let my transformation go back to human as I reached out to Lucian, not wanting to accidentally cut his flesh. He still hadn't moved and I began to despair that I'd been too late. I felt my heart twist and behind me, I heard a gun cocking. I glanced over my shoulder and spotted both Selene and Michael.

"I've made myself a hybrid," I spoke, though my voice was hoarse. "I did it because he wanted me to; he wanted to save me." I gestured to my lover's body. He wasn't moving and it was my fault he was dead. I felt sick to my stomach.

"I don't care," Selene replied and was about to shoot when Michael put his hand on hers and lowered it. She looked at him incredulously.

"She's heartbroken, Selene. Let her be." He was kinder than I deserved. I caressed Lucian's cheek and licked my lips, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. His arm twitched and Selene cocked the gun again, this time pointing at Lucian.

"What the hell?" she muttered. I felt a ray of hope and covered his body with mine.

"No! Leave him!" I cried. His flesh was turning black and he began gasping and writhing on the floor. His eyes opened and trained on me as the starburst of blue on his irises were consumed until completely black. My eyes must have done the same, I reasoned. Once his change was complete, he leapt to his feet and was in a position to attack. Both Michael and I shifted to our hybrid forms. I placed a hand on his chest and he looked at me for a moment with ferial eyes before he relaxed back to a more human appearance.

"You? And me?" he questioned quietly. I nodded. His eyes shifted back and forth from Michael and Selene.

"And the Carrier. This vampire, Selene, killed Viktor." He seemed to stand up straighter at that, obviously feeling a modicum of respect for her now.

"We must leave quickly then, before more Death Dealers come to finish what he started," he said quickly. "Where is Raze?"

I lowered my eyes before telling him. "I think he's dead. He went on a rampage, after we found you, against at least one vampire and killed it that I know of. I heard him attack another and I think it was Viktor. He wouldn't have survived to stand against Michael if Raze had won."

Lucian's face twisted in pain at the loss of his oldest friend.

"We cannot stay here. Kraven may be on his way back to the mansion and he'll be trying to kill Marcus in his sleep," Selene broke in. She looked torn on what she should do.

"Might I suggest that we just leave together for now? Michael, Lucian and I are all hybrids. There will be those who will hunt us down just for being what we are. It would make sense of we stayed together for the time being. We would have a better chance if we are in numbers. I can tell you that there will be those of our kind that will not accept a blending either," I responded. We were cold to one another for good reason. Her kind had hunted mine down for centuries. It made sense that, even though we were not responsible for the destruction of her human family, that she would still bear that ingrained hatred for us. She'd spent too long hating our kind to change.

She gave a curt nod and, after grabbing several empty syringes from Singe's drawer, Lucian and I followed the couple out of the Den. When I found a moment, I intended on examining a sample of my blood or Lucians. Or Michael's, if he consented. Most of our kind had been killed and those that were still alive had already scattered when they saw Michael. They knew that was what Lucian had been working for and were not going to destroy what had been the goal of their leader been for so long.

We followed Michael and Selene at a distance. It was an unspoken truce that we had made and we didn't want to get the Death Dealer riled up, nor did we want to upset the only other member of our newly born species. She led us out of the city and into the forest. It wasn't long before we were in front of what appeared at first to be a small mine. She opened a hidden panel, tapped in a code and scanned her fingerprint to open the steel door. Inside the base, it was dark inside and she used a flashlight to see as we descended the stairs.

"Perfect," she muttered. As the light bounced around the room, it flashed over a Lycan on the other side of the room and Selene reacted instantly by opening fire. I had no such fear of my brethren but growled in response to the gunfire. Selene flipped switches at a console nearby and it revealed a grotesque image that had Lucian and me bearing our teeth. I noticed that Michael's visage matched our own, though I suspected that his reasons were different than ours.

The Lycan was held up by various chains and tethers. In front of it was a table of various instruments and knives. Selene crossed the room with a casual gait, barely glancing up at the dead creature.

"This thing's been dead for weeks," she assured us.

"I thought Lycans went back to their human form when they die," Michael stated.

"They do. This one's been given a serum to stop regression, so it can be studied."

"How can you tell?" he asked. She reached forward and grabbed the tag that hung from the corpse and showed it to him. I remained on the other side of the room, sickened by the display her kind had made of mine.

"And you call us barbaric?" I asked with narrowed eyes. She glared back at me and fingered the semi-automatic at her side.

"I just killed them. I never paid too much attention to their anatomy," she replied.

"How long can we stay here?" Lucian broke in, glancing curiously around and snooping through whatever laid about. She gave him a dirty look. She really didn't like him, I could tell.

"Not long. These safe houses are all linked together on one mainframe, with motion sensors revealing which ones are active. Someone could have picked us up already," she stated as she tapped a few keys on the keyboard of a computer, examined the screen and then grabbed a duffle bag as she walked to a firearm locker. She began stuffing in guns, shotguns, ammunition and commercial grade glow sticks.

"There's only about an hour left of daylight. Will you be able to make it back to the mansion before then?" Michael asked as he read the display on the computer screen declaring how long until the sun would brighten the horizon.

"Just."

"Okay, let's get what we need and go," he said as he began to help her pile in the supplies.

"No. I'm going alone," she stated, stopping her motions. She zipped up the bag and continued, "If I can plead my case, there's a chance you'll be granted sanctuary. Right now, you'll be killed on sight. I'm not prepared to risk it."

"And what of us? Will Marcus call a ceasefire or will we have to plead our case too?" Lucian questioned from his place a few paces away, examining a cabinet that contained various silver-coated devices that were likely used to torture our people. His eyes were hard on the vampire and even sent a chill through me.

"Who knows? He is the only remaining Elder. He may be willing to end the war once he discovers the truth of how it began. Marcus was considered to be very reasonable by others in our Coven," she retorted with irritation.

"What if Kraven still has his men with him? I won't let you go alone," Michael declared.

"You're not as strong as you might think," Selene gave him a gentler look than I'd seen from her in the last few hours.

"What?"

"You're unique. All three of you are unique. There's never been a hybrid before. However ambivalent you are about it, the truth is your powers could be limitless. You depend on blood. You need to feed. Without it, you'll be growing weaker by the second, use the time for that." She pulled out a bag from the fridge and handed it to him. He took it but looked like he didn't even want to see it.

"Jesus Christ. What if I don't? What if I can't?" the last part he whispered. I decided to step in to answer this question but the vampire beat me to it.

"Normal food could be lethal. If you don't anticipate your cravings, you will attack humans. Believe me, you don't want that on your conscience."

The kind of felt sorry for him. He looked truly torn. When I had first been turned by Lucian, I'd still been able to eat normal food. I just had to adjust to eating raw meats from time to time to satiate my hunger for it. Eating Bambi or Thumper was a difficult concept to grasp at first but now, I could hunt for a small den of bunnies and not feel bad about chowing down on their cute little bodies. Last time I'd done that was several months ago and I'd made a pair of 'bunny slippers' out of them when I was done. They were probably the most comfortable fur slippers I'd ever had. I even got a taxidermist to preserve the ears in such a way that they remained floppy and attached them just above the toes.

Michael looked to us, "Could we have a little bit of privacy for a moment?"

I nodded and headed for the ramp that would lead us to the outside entrance. Lucian was reluctant to follow, a scowl firmly planted his lips. I could tell that being in the presence of so many devices that had been used to torture and kill our kind just enraged him.

"Such depravity down there and they call us monsters," he spoke furiously to me as we reached a point we were sure that we wouldn't be heard. I nodded grimly. I agreed, completely, but I was focused on deciding on our next move for now. Two Elder vampires were dead and when the third rose, he would either want to broker a peace between vampires and Lycans or he would go on the warpath and demand to snuff us all out.

"I know. It disgusts me, too. We need to plan our next move. We came here to protect each other and to protect Michael. He's still the key to changing our brothers and sisters into Hybrids, yes?" I questioned softly. Lucian focused on me and nodded with grim determination before his face softened. His hands came up to my shoulders and my face. He ran his thumb over my cheek tenderly.

"I thought I was going to lose you," he said softly. I smiled at him and cupped his cheek in return.

"I thought I did lose you," I responded earnestly. "I'm glad I didn't. I don't know what I would have done if I would have had to leave you there."