Selene kicked Raze in his "manlier parts", and he flew away with a grunt. He landed far away, and he struggled to get up.

Then all hell broke loose. One Death Dealer had a knife and tried to stab Selene in her jugular, but Selene grabbed the vampire's wrist and snapped it with a satisfying crack. She punched that vampire, and shoved him into another one behind him. She leapt onto the table, gaining the high ground. She kicked one Death Dealer, snapping his head back, but another one pulled Selene's leg out from under her, and another Death Dealer pushed the table forward, so Selene fell on the ground.

All the Death Dealers pulled out their guns, aiming them at Selene. She got back up, and they all took aim. She jumped high into the air, and grabbed onto the ceiling, which was in shadow, allowing her to blend in. They all shot, more guesswork than anything, and they all missed, as Selene crawled around the ceiling. One Death Dealer hurled a knife at her, which struck her in her side. Selene grabbed a beam that supported some of the ceiling, and pulled it down with her.

Sunlight filled most of the building now, but there was still a large area of shade. About half the Death Dealers were dead now, half of that half still armed with guns. They all aimed at her again, and began to shoot. Selene dodged the shots with supernatural speed that surpassed that of these measly vampires. She got to one of the vampires that were shooting, and broke his arm, then the other one, and his gun fell to the floor. Selene swiftly picked it up and shot that vampire, as well as one other one before Raze came up and grabbed her by the throat, making her drop the gun.

Dammit, now I'm at their mercy, she thought. Not if I can help it, another part of her thought vehemently. She brought her arms in front of her, and pushed Raze as hard as she could. She punched him so he fell on the floor, then instinct told her that there was a vampire about to shoot her from behind. She ducked, and tripped this vampire, and used his own gun to blow his head off.

Three more Death Dealers left.

She finally took the time to pull the knife from her side, and flung it into the head of another Death Dealer. One of the two that were remaining shot her three times in the back, and Selene fell down to the floor. His gun clicked empty, but the other one took the opportunity to withdraw a knife and stab Selene in the back.

She started to black out, but fought it. I am not going down like this, she decided fierily.

She got up, her eyes now a glowing, icy and furious. She gnashed her fangs, and grabbed the head of the one who'd stabbed her in her moment of weakness and threw him into the wall.

She took the knife out of her back, and slashed the throat of the other vampire. While he was dying, he dug his finger into the wound she had on her side. Selene groaned in pain, and snapped his neck as he died.

That just left one vampire and Raze.

She began to turn around, but the vampire flung a grenade at Selene's feet. Automatically, she leapt backwards, but the grenade exploded on impact. She rolled backwards, in spite of the oncoming heat that rushed toward her. She hit the wall, and had no idea what to do as gravel, shards of metal and wood, and fire, accelerated by the wood, came at her.

And then it all went black.

Michael made a left turn. He smiled. I can't believe Selene didn't hide this meeting from me, he thought. Even better, she had, in some way, conveyed her feelings for him. He was so proud of her.

So when he heard a huge explosion up ahead, his heart leapt into his throat and almost came out of his mouth. Oh, please, don't let that have been in—

Fuck! The explosion not only came from the warehouse that he was heading for, but it caused the warehouse to collapse into a pile of ruble. Michael sped up, just in time to see a male vampire combust in sunlight. What the…?

He couldn't see Selene anywhere, but he did see a large, black man – Raze? – stare at the now dead vampire's ashes with an apathetic, nonchalant look. He looked up and saw Michael.

Michael jumped out of the car, and grabbed the big Lycan – he could tell because of the scent – and dug his nails painfully into the Lycan's flesh. "Who are you?" he demanded.

The large man grinned at him. "Raze," a deep, loud voice erupted from the depths of this man's throat.

Michael pressed the grinning man into the wall harder, and asked, "Where's Selene?"

"You're probably stepping on her," Raze said, still grinning, sharp teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

Michael immediately released Raze, and Raze ran off, thinking better of taking on Michael. Michael began searching through the wreckage. He search for what felt like hours and hours, but had only been a few minutes.

"Selene!" he called. "If you can hear me, let me know!"

It was then that he heard some shifting of wood. "Here," a soft, weak voice croaked.

Please let her be okay, Michael thought. Please, please…

He stumbled over to where he had heard the voice, and saw Selene's hand, partially burnt. He quickly began to move the rubble away from her, and eventually freed her. He sat her against him, listening to her breathing sounds. They were a bit jagged, but other than that, her pulse and breath sounds were fine. Now it's time to look at the rest of her, Michael thought.

She was shaking, and Selene wasn't talking. She tried to a few times, but the shock, plus some of the injuries kept her from being able to form words all the way. She was holding her side in pain.

"Let me see," Michael said soothingly. Selene removed her hand slowly, showing not only a knife wound from before, but a large metal shard embedded into her flesh. Her back had some minor cuts, a knife wound, and three gunshot wounds. Her leg was also bleeding, her right arm broken. "At least your hand didn't break again this time," Michael joked. Selene smiled in spite of the pain she was in. Not only did she have all the previously mentioned wounds, but she had minor burns.

"I've stopped the bleeding," Michael said, holding her tight enough for comfort, but loosely enough to avoid hurting her. "But your other wounds will have to wait until we get back to Nueva Esperanza. Like that," he said, indicating her side and back wounds.

He got up, and picked her up with him, supporting her neck and back. He looked into her eyes, unable to tell what went on beyond those radiant orbs.

"Michael," she croaked. "I…" she almost said it, but she coughed. "Thank you."

Michael smiled, and gave her a quick peck on her forehead. "It's nothing," he said. Something occurred to him. "How many were there?" He had seen one Death Dealer, and he knew from experience that usually where there was one, there were many more.

Michael began to carry her back to their car. "Twelve."

"Twelve?!" Michael almost dropped Selene. Twelve?! Holy shit, that's a lot!

Selene nodded in his arms. She tried to smile, but it didn't quite form all the way. She snuggled up to him for comfort.

He got to the car, and placed her into the passenger seat. He was going to put on a seat belt, but it would have rubbed against her wounds, so he decided not to. He gave her a kiss, and she kissed him back.

He began the drive back, and along the way she fell asleep. At first, Michael feared something was wrong with her, but he checked on her and she was fine – just napping.

Michael smiled, holding her hand as she slept. But as he drove, he could tell that something bothered Selene while she slept. At first, she kind of shifted around a lot in her sleep, which was kind of normal for Selene, but then her hand jerked away from Michael. Soon, her face contorted in pain and her teeth became fangs.

Something is very wrong, Michael realized.

But what could it be?