Selene barged into Marcus office the next night with a serious, I mean business expression chiselled in her face, she sat down in the chair opposite him and crossed her arms and legs then stared at him, he stared back.
"Your the one who barged in here, are going to tell me why?"
"I have an idea to defeat Cyrus, but I need to know how many and how much arms we have"
"You don't plan on doing what you did last time do you?"
"No, face him, in one last battle in a secluded area away from everyone else"
"That's madness, and would take a massive force"
"I know, but if we have a fire power we stand a chance"
"We don't know what these evolved Vampyre's are capable of or what there weakness is" He explained, she was about to suggest an idea when he cut her off
"However, I like the idea of it, it finishes the way it started, Vamcan verse the evolved Vampyre and Lycan, its no doubt Jarad would join Cyrus. Fire power we have yes, and something else" he was inspired by her willingness to fight. He stood up
"Follow me, I have something to show you" without question she followed him silently though the halls to a underground base at the furthest most derelict part of the huge castle, that seemed more vacant and run down then every where else. Marcus knocked on a old rusty door to have a guard slide the spy hold open, see him then shut it again unlocking the door, giving it a pull creaking it open for them.
"Get them ready for show, all of them" the guard bowed then disappeared down a pitch black stone tunnel, she watched him, not because he ran funny, but is scent was hybrid, she had a feeling she knew what lay beneath the castle. Marcus closed the door, then lead Selene down the tunnel thought the dark. It annoyed him that Kraven's scent was all over her, but he had admitted defeat, she did not chose him, he had to accept it. The seemed to walk downward further and further into the dark below, she wasn't threatened in anyway of being alone with him in an unknown place, she was more interested in what was at the end of the tunnel. Her ears burned at anything she could hear, apart from their footsteps and his heavy relaxed breathing. they finally came to a small room lit dimly by a few solo light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and three computer monitors. They where greeted with three men and two women, who stood in a row, they all bowed when they arrived. She could tell they where all Hybrid, this was his force?
"Selene, these are the captains" he explained almost as if he had read her thoughts. The hybrid that greeted them at the main door, came from a small hole behind the row of captains.
"They are ready Sir"
"Good"
Selene's mind dwelled on the possibility of how many hybrid's there really where. She remained silent following Marcus thought the hole in the wall, she was small enough to not even bother to duck going through. Marcus opened the door and stepped into a massive brightly lit base, Selene shielded her eyes from the light for a moment, what she saw next she was not prepared for.
Two maybe three hundred soldiers stood standing in line formations, they where all hybrid wearing the same dark blue almost black uniforms with Marcus's yellow and gold crest, on the back shoulders and front. Selene couldn't help but let her mouth drop,
"How many, and how is this possible?!" She was baffled
"Two hundred and eighty three soldiers to be exact, all fully trained, we should have three hundred
in a week or so the last group is being trained as we speak"
"Where did they all come from?"
"Hospitals, homeless on the streets, a promise of power, immortality, a home, food, and good pay can be persuasive, in return for loyalty and discipline, two those who roamed the streets homeless and starving, and those dieing of a deadly disease in the hospitals, we search high and low for them, some had nothing else to live for, they where alone"
She stared at them all they all where so different, and looked like normal humans, their hybrid powers hidden.
"How could you bite so many and how long?"
"I started after Erika turned, I didn't bite them they where injected with my blood that was drawn twice a day"
She had to admit it was clever
"And they where all willing?"
"Yes, we left them alone if they said no and looked for someone else"
"This is unbelievable"
"Believe it no one not even Kraven knew about this, only I. Of corse they are not as powerful as Erika, Kraven or I, we where Vampyre first, but they are still stronger than a Lycan and maybe the equivalent to the evolved Vampyre, but I am unsure how strong one would become"
She listened walked among them, they where all fit, the virus had toned them made them well, strong and fit. She noticed beyond the rows of hybrids who stood quietly there was various doors to sleeping quarters, dojo's, ranges, armouries, and the one that took her attention the most was a hanger bay.
"What's in the hanger?"
"Metal flying machines call called Halichopers I think it is, three of the people we transformed know or have flown one" he tried his best to try to remember the term helicopter Selene mused at how she was reminded at the little things that reminded her he had allot to catch up on in this modern world, he still caught onto everything pretty quickly.
"Helicopters?"
"Are, yes they fly well, we can attach weapons and attack from the air"
"There is no point in bullets, neither silver or UV liquid affects either of us, any bullets will not kill either, are they fully trained in sword combat?"
"I already thought of that, yes they are, and armour is made for them also"
Selene knew there may be hundreds of hybrids there, but Cyrus will bring all Vampyre's from all the three covens in Europe, there will still be more death dealers. But she felt more at ease they now had one hell of a fighting chance with this firepower.
"Bullets can still slow and wound the Vampyre's making the kill easier, plus we still have at least a hundred human guards who are well trained we can use them as snipers" He could see from the look on her face she almost was smiling, reeling in the thought of Cyrus falling she was impressed by the sheer force this army would have.
"We should discuss the corse of action over lunch" Marcus led her and the five captains to the base's headquarters, where they sat and waited for the food to arrive. Initially Selene did not require to eat food anymore it had little nutritional value to her, but since she was pregnant and still breast feeding from time to time she still ate, the food in this time was much more interesting and tastier then food when she was human, so she ate for the pleasure of it.
"Why are you planning with just me and not the others"
"Don't you see?, they follow everything you do, you run, they run, you hide, they hide, you fight, they fight, you are their leader, their queen, they will always follow you, not me. You are a born leader, hell you could stand on your head singing and they would copy. I however..." he sighed not even bothering to go into it.
There was a moments silence as the food was served up by younger recruits.
"If we are to battle, we would need a secluded place, somewhere they wont draw any attention to the human eye, but it also needs to be a place which both sides agree upon, or he wont come"
"Oh he would come, Cyrus may be clever in some aspects but he is incredibly stupid in others, he also has the problem not being able to turn down a fight no matter where, he'd gladly walk himself into a trap if he could challenge his enemy, he proved that stupidity the day you had Kain"
The captains looked at each other, they knew that Selene was Kain's mother, they didn't realise until now it was the woman sitting across from them. The captains where more interested with Selene, Marcus had told them about her, the first Vampyre to bite and change, creating the first hybrid, and of how she slew the 'Evil' powerful Vampyre lord.
"Either was we have a strong enough force for a decent battle, fair amount of soldiers"
"What if there are Lycans?, we would be out numbered" Selene debated arrogance in power or numbers was a downfall in war.
"We don't know for sure, that they will join forces, we will prepare for them just in case"
"Then we would need more, we don't have time to create more, we would need a tactic to out smart them some how"
"You are forgetting Vampyre's not the Lycans are evolved, and the humans can easily deal to them with guns with the silver nitrate, plus we can use trample damage"
"Trample damage" She raised a brow curious. The captains remained silent while the two discussed.
"Cavalry"
"Horses?, this is the modern day world"
"Yes, but we are using combat weapons Cyrus will know for a fact bullets have no effect on us, no matter what they are made out of, its the modern day but an ancient battle"
"Half our soldiers are trained in riding" One of the captains explained reassuring her
"I made sure of it, we could lead the main soldiers in on foot, then somehow come in on cavalry to the side, from behind, or which is effective its an old common trick but Cyrus wont expect it, he will think modern forgetting the trample force a hundred horses can do"
Selene smirked it was clever, Kraven was right about Marcus, if any little fault was in the plan he would have another to back it up or fix it, and this army was more than a trick he hid up his sleeve, if he had this one what else did he have.
"The war ends the same way it starts..."
"If we succeed"
"There is a good chance we will, all we have to do is get him to agree on the area, draw him out, and I will end his, and his sisters careless rein" Selene swore she saw a glint of satisfaction at the thought
"I will end their rein, their death will be at my hands, especially her..."
"That's you right to have, but if anything happens that goes against you, I will intervene"
"Suit yourself"
"Anything you disagree with?" Marcus asked each captain none of them disagreed, they knew he knew his enemies he would lead them to success. They ate in silence, Marcus from time to time watching Selene who's eyes where twitching to a light blub from the next room, a realisation overwhelmed him,
"Captain, you have a light on you" Marcus asked, signalling his hand meaning a torch not a lighter. Selene didn't pay much attention since the question was not at her, she was more occupied with her cut of hot tea. The captain handed Marcus the torch, Marcus looked at it for a moment turning it on it was farley bright. Selene glimpsed up but ignored it, she thought he was just musing himself on a modern item. Marcus flicked it off then turned to Selene, who was looking down, at the teaspoon
"Selene" he asked quickly, she shot her head up as she looked at him he shone the bright torch right into her eyes. She hissed at him her eyes quickly turning blue, her hand flew up to shield her eyes from the bright light that stung her eyes. The captains sat back in fear they'd never meet a full blood Vampyre let alone hear one hiss, and Selene had one hell of a hiss that would frighten anyone. He turned the torch off to have her glare a look of merely a thousand poison darts, she yelled loudly at him
"What the hell are you bloody playing at!"
"I just discovered the evolved Vampyre's weakness"
"What?!" she yelled still scrunching her eyes open and closed all she could see is white dots.
"This" he held up the torches
"Where going to go out an defeat them with a torch what are we going to do throw the batteries at them?" she sarcastically snarled rubbing her eyes
"No, bright light, even though they can go out in sunlight they wont be used to it, it took me months before I could open my eyes out in the sun, we can use a bright light behind us making it harder for them to see, they will not be able to see us, it may even burn their eyes"
"And you had to test it on me!" she snarled at him again
"Sorry I was exited to see if it would work, it just hit me suddenly"
"Something else is going to hit you in a minute" She grumbled returning to drinking her tea.
"What if it is day?"
"It wont, he will want every one of his fighters out on the field, he will not be able to turn them all, there will still be few who will be vulnerable"
"Like me"
"Yes... I could change you..."
"...no it's fine" She wasn't sure why she didn't want to be bitten, till this night, she could still feel Viktor's teeth in her neck. Marcus respected her answer and did not ask why
"I was thinking of somehow luring Amos and Cyrus out for you to take your own back"
"I can get them in the battle"
"You want to go in?"
"Yes, I will fight, I can weald a sword, I was born in a time they still used them"
"Well after Viktor that's pretty obvious, I just thought you wouldn't want to take the chance of your son losing his mother, you are the only family he has"
"I know but if I fight I know I can try and give him a peaceful future"
"Well then all that needs to be done is to contact Cyrus"
They finished up, and he walked her back up though the dark tunnel,
"It would be best if only you and I knew about the base, I don't want anything going around the castle"
He walked close to Selene, his shoulder rubbing against hers he did it just to piss Kraven off, he didn't know why he did such a immature act, it just seemed fitting at the time, Kraven would pick up his scent on her. And he did. The first thing Kraven did was rub up against her affectingly, cuddling her, and kissing her neck on the side Marcus had brushed against her shoulder, she was about to ask what he was doing when she realised, he was doing what came natural as her being his newly fond mate, another males scent was threatening to him, his fist instinct is to replace it with his own. She had never really thought about it until now, the way he nuzzled her neck leaving his scent on her strong, he had marked her without biting her. She wouldn't say it but they where mates.
