CHAPTER 36: Whispers
Budapest
Silence reigned after Marius' outburst. Kraven wisely kept quiet, waiting for Marius to recover from his ill humor. With a quick glance to his right, he saw that Mikhail seemed as angry as his father; but his anger was better contained. Instead of lashing out, his rage was stamped across the face of the proud, young vampire. Their anger and grief were tangible, giving him hope that they would greatly appreciate the information he could impart.
His patience paid off, for Marius was soon turning his attention back to the situation at hand. With a sardonic smile, Marius put forth the question Kraven was waiting to hear. "Can you be of any assistance to us in our endeavor?"
It was time to play his cards. "Possibly," Kraven answered cryptically.
The younger Corvinkus obviously felt this was not an appropriate response. With an immense amount of strength, he backhanded Kraven, sending him flying across the room and into the wall, chair and all. The good news was that he was no longer secured to the wooden frame, the bad news was it hurt like hell. The force of the collision had aggravated the wounds he had already received, and he was close to losing consciousness.
Mikhail came striding angrily across the room to collect him. He grabbed Kraven and dragged his broken body over to the desk, dumping him unceremoniously onto the floor. "You will find my soon suffers no disrespect directed towards me," Marius advised him.
"I will try to remember that," Kraven responded evenly, blood flowing freely from his mouth. With a sigh, he forced himself to his feet, while using the sleeve of his torn shirt to clean away the offending liquid. "But if I am to help you," Kraven began pausing as he winced in pain, "It would seem that I could better serve you were I to remain conscious."
With a harsh bark of laughter, Marius stood and walked over to where Kraven wavered on his feet. "Brave words coming from a man in your position, betrayer," he prompted the defeated vampire in a voice laced with steel.
Kraven reminded himself that no matter how frivolous and handsome Marius appeared on the surface, underneath lurked a man with immense power, vast intelligence, and a level of cruelty rarely seen, even amongst their own kind. He was not to be underestimated, for any reason. With a grimace of distaste, he chose to pander to Marius' ego, hoping to buy himself a little more time. "I meant no disrespect, my lord," he said, uttering the last two words with a bowed head. "I have some information that I believe could be of some assistance to you. But I am realistic enough to know that once I speak of this knowledge, you will require proof before you decide as to whether or not you can use it."
With a thoughtful expression on his face, Marius walked around Kraven, noting the man had yet to raise his head. Kraven had addressed him as my lord and showed deference to him while addressing him this time around; a situation he could quickly become used to. Markus would be naming two more Elders to replace the seats vacated by Viktor and Amelia when they were killed. Perhaps, if he were able to bring in Lucian alive, his brother would see this as proof that he was strong enough to occupy one of those positions.
Marius stopped his pacing, coming to stand directly in front of Kraven. Speaking to him to him in a clipped, impatient voice he said, "You are speaking vaguely and avoiding the question. Can you or can you not be of any use to me in this endeavor?"
Kraven raised his eyes and looking directly at Marius confidently replied, "Yes. I can give you the one thing that would bring Lucian to his knees before you."
Marius leaned into Kraven, whispering fervently in his ear, "And this would be?"
Kraven had flinched when Marius spoke, his voice chilling him to the bone. But when Marius showed no sign of pulling back, he chose to respond to his question in the same manner it was posed. He dropped his own voice to a mere whisper, and replied with a one word answer, "Sonja."