Title: Underworld Slayer Part 6 - Haunted
Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka the Evil Author
EMail Address: EvilAuthor@aol.com
Spoilers: Anything goes
Summary: BTVS/Underworld crossover. Los Angeles has been a haven for those fleeing the vampire/lycan blood feud. That was until two new refugees arrived.
Disclaimer: Characters and concepts belong to their owners who I'm too lazy to list.
Author's Note: I like this episodic format. And lots of people seem to agree.
Viktor was dead.
After all this time, Marcus still had trouble at times wrapping his mind around the concept. His fellow Elder was dead. They were vampires. They were supposed to live for eternity, amusing themselves with their little games while the youngsters jockeyed for their favor. But now.
Viktor was dead.
They had worked out a grand plan, combining their covens not by conquest, but by compromise. They would rule in turn, one by one. One would be awake while the others got much needed rest. Between their combined numbers and the ability to always have an Elder awake to direct their strength, the vampire covens and Elders who had NOT joined them could only bow their collective heads in submission. They were the superpower of the vampire world.
Viktor was dead.
Although the stories Marcus had heard were confused and contradictory, he had managed to pick out gets of truth from the dross of wild rumors. Viktor had fallen victim to the war he had started so long ago with their ancient guard dogs. The war with the lycans had begun over a breach of caste separation, when the lycan Lucian had fathered a child with Sonja, Viktor's daughter. It had always been Viktor's war. Marcus had always been annoyed that he had to fight their rebellious slaves. But Viktor was his peer and so had Marcus' support. Now, Marcus no longer had to fight this war anymore. After all.
Viktor was dead.
Marcus' fellow Elder died in mortal combat fighting the abomination that the lycan Lucian had created. Though newly made, the untrained whelp had managed to fight an Elder vampire to a standstill. But Lucian's creation had not delivered the killing blow. Oh no, the killing blow had been delivered by Viktor's replacement for Sonja, the Death Dealer Selene.
Viktor was dead.
For that, Marcus would make Selene pay dearly.
***
"Home sweet home," Michael announced, opening the door to their new apartment. He waved Selene forward with a courteous bow. "Ladies first."
"Thank you, kind sir," Selene replied formally as she stepped past him, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Michael's impromptu show of chivalry amused her. While Selene had been recovering from her excursion into the Scourge's dimension for a couple days, Michael had gone apartment hunting.
"I hope you like the place," Michael said as Selene looked around. "It's no mansion but."
"Shh. It's wonderful, Michael," Selene told him, placing a finger on his lips. True, the apartment was smaller than what Selene was used to. But neither of them had any intention of housing a vampire coven or a pack of lycans. With just the two of them, the tastefully decorated apartment had plenty of room. They embraced each other. "Thank you."
Their lips met passionately. A cold breeze momentarily wafted over them. Michael drew back.
"Whoa, I think we might want a little privacy," he chuckled quietly. He reached back with one hand to close the open front door. The other kept Selene intimately close. Once done, they got even closer.
***
Marcus was pulled from his thoughts. One of the youngsters had entered his throne room, his entreance alone a clamor for attention. No one else was present for the simple reason that Marcus had desired to be alone.
Marcus opened his eyes and looked down upon Kahn, the leader of his Death Dealers. Kahn alone had actually witnessed Viktor's death. He had claimed that he had been too far away to stop Selene in time, had not even imagined that she would deliberately take her lord's life. Marcus was suspicious of this story, keeping close watch on Kahn. If Viktor's most loyal follower could turn on him, why not Kahn whose only loyalty to Marcus was out of duty?
"You have news?" Marcus rasped.
"Yes, milord," Kahn answered crisply. Marcus knew he intimidated the younger vampire. Kahn hid it well, but Marcus could detect an undercurrent of fear in his voice and mannerism. That was as it should be. "We have received replies from almost all of the unaligned covens, milord. They report that neither Selene nor Michael Corvin have been seen in their territories. They also promise to keep a lookout for them."
"You said 'almost all' of the unaligned covens have replied," Marcus said slowly. "Who dares defy us?"
"The Order of Aurelius, milord," Kahn replied promptly.
"Heinrich," Marcus hissed in fury. Led by the mad Elder Heinrich, the Order of Aurelius was an apocalyptic cult that was dedicated to bringing back the Old Ones. Even though the Order had produced some of the most vicious Death Dealers for the war over the centuries, their religious mania had caused Marcus no end of trouble. "He dares defy us?"
"Actually, milord, we're not even sure the Order has received our message," Kahn confessed. "Contact with the Aurellians has been few and far between in the past century. The last message we have from them was almost a decade ago, something about a harvest and that 'the Master is rising'."
"Do you even know where they are?" Marcus asked dangerously. It was a good question. The Order was known to be nomadic at times, preaching their twisted religion to any vampire who would listen. They would also occasionally go on rampages that made Viktor's indulgences look insignificant in comparison.
"We think they're in the city of Los Angeles," Kahn answered.
Marcus had never heard of Los Angeles. It must be a city that had come to prominence while he had slept. He filed the name away in his mind for later reference.
"Then perhaps it is time to remind the Order of their place," Marcus mused aloud. "We will send an emissary to them. A guard detail must be assigned. Yes?"
"Of course, milord."
"Yes, many guards," Marcus murmured. "Many, many guards, all of them heavily armed."
***
Selene woke up to the smell of blood.
Opening her eyes, she saw that she and Michael were in bed. Light filtered in around drawn curtains, showing that it was still daylight out even if the window itself was out of direct sunlight. Both she and Michael had trays with built in stands carefully straddling their legs. Michael's tray had a plate of steaming ground meat and a glass of water on it. Selene's tray only had a single glass of a dark red liquid with a plastic straw in it.
Michael was awake and sitting up.
"Afternoon," Selene murmured, sitting up next to him.
"Hey," Michael said absently.
Selene picked up her warm glass and took a sip through the straw. The blood was beef, a flavor she had become familiar with since coming to Los Angeles. It had a burnt flavor that Selene had come to recognize as the result of having been in a microwave. She leaned lovingly against Michael.
"Breakfast in bed. You really know how to spoil a girl," she told him. Selene noticed that Michael was picking at his own food. She frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"I didn't make breakfast," Michael told her.
"Oh. Do we have a servant preparing our meals then?" Selene asked, taking another sip from her glass. "I suppose I should meet him or her." Selene thought about some of the people she had met in this city and added, "Or it."
"No, it's just us here. Or it should be just us," Michael replied, setting his tray aside. "I have no idea where breakfast came from."
Paranoia that had been finely honed while on the run kicked into high gear. Selene quickly set her own tray aside. The couple both jumped out of bed, still stark naked. Selene quickly located her guns on a dresser next to their neatly folded clothes.
"Okay, now I'm sure we left those on the floor between here and the front door," Michael whispered, staring at their clothing.
Selene nodded agreement. "I think I hear voices from the living room," she whispered back.
The two exploded from the bedroom. Selene rolled and came up, sweeping the living room with her guns. Michael came behind her. Again, they were the only ones present. The voices were coming from the television that Selene was absolutely certain had been turned off when she and Michael had gone to bed. The news was on and the volume turned down.
Now that she was this close, Selene could make out what the anchorwoman was saying. ".massacre in the Toronto nightclub named the Raven. Police are not releasing details at this time except that the suspect is still at large. Rumor has it that a single woman."
"Kitchen and bathroom are clear," Michael announced loudly, startling Selene. "There's nobody here but us. I can't even smell anyone else having been here." He glanced at Selene. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing that involves us," Selene replied, shaking her head. Selene had more immediate worries than an attack on a vampire bar thousands of miles away. Relaxing. she lowered her guns and stood up. Selene looked down at herself and sighed. "I suppose we better get dressed."
"I dunno," Michael said, grinning as he studied her up and down. "I kinda like the view."
"Oh, you," Selene replied smiling, swatting him lightly on the shoulder. "You might recall you're meeting the leader of the local lycans tonight? You wouldn't want to arrive naked."
"I dunno," Michael said mock innocently. "Given some of the things you've said about." His voice trailed off, his eyes going wide as they stared at something behind Selene.
Reacting instantly, Selene spun around and brought her guns up. She found herself aiming them at hers and Michael's neatly folded clothing. They were gently floating out of the bedroom at the vampire.
***
"I'm going to Los Angeles?" Erika said in disbelief. "But why me?"
"Hey, Marcus picked you," Kahn replied, shrugging. He eyed the other vampire disdainfully. "You wanted to be noticed by Marcus. He noticed. Why are you complaining?"
Erika was a social climber. Kahn was of two minds about her. The part of him that was a warrior considered her a waste of space. Erika existed only to promote one thing: herself. She lusted after whoever was the most powerful person around. Once, that had been Kraven, but he had turned out to be a traitor, Now it was Marcus, though the Elder was at most amused by her attempts.
The part of Khan that was exclusively male thought Erika was one hot babe.
"Okay, okay, I can do this," Erika said. She seemed to be trying to convince herself more that Kahn. "I can be Marcus' emissary. I'll make Marcus proud of me." She looked up at Kahn. "So what do we know about the vampires of Los Angeles?"
"They're ruled by the Order of Aurelius," Khan said simply.
"Okay, the Order of." Erika froze. "The Order of Aurelius? You mean the 'kill each other on a whim', 'bury their own fledglings alive', and 'in love with pain and torture' Order of Aurelius?"
"Yup."
"Oh, God, I'm going to die," Erika moaned.
"If we're lucky," Khan said.
Erika stared disbelievingly at Khan.
Khan shrugged. "They might decide on the pain and torture first."
***
"Scooby Central, this is Janine speaking. How may I help you?"
"This is Michael Corvin," Michael said. After dressing and finishing their breakfast, they had decided to call the experts on strange. "My girlfriend and I have moved into a new apartment. There's something. odd going on here."
"Please state your address and the nature of your problem, please," Janine said brightly.
Michael told her their address. "The nature of our problem?" Michael looked over at Selene. She was intently watching the dishes clean themselves. "Well, the house cleaning seems to be taking care of itself."
"Oh, here it is," Janine said cheerfully. "Your residence is already marked in our files. Oh dear."
"What? What is it?"
"The previous tenant was a Scooby," Janine told Michael. "Oh, and your place is haunted."
"We're being haunted by the ghost of a Scooby?" Michael said, almost shouting. Selene's head whipped around to stare at him.
"Oh, my bad. The Scooby in question is in a coma, not dead," Janine explained. "The ghost isn't her. He was her roommate. He's a friendly spook named Dennis Pearson. No need to worry."
"A ghost."
"Yes," Janine said. "A quantum-psychic phenomenon where a sentient mental pattern has been transferred into a normally inert object after the cessation of normal body functions." What followed was a jargon-laden lecture that Michael only half understood.
"What is it?" Selene asked when Michael hung up.
Michael gave repeated what Janine had told him. When he finished, Selene grabbed Michael by his collar and pulled him close, but not in a friendly way.
"You got us a haunted apartment?" she growled.
"It's rent controlled and the rates were really good," Michael replied feebly.
Author: Nopporn Wongrassamee aka the Evil Author
EMail Address: EvilAuthor@aol.com
Spoilers: Anything goes
Summary: BTVS/Underworld crossover. Los Angeles has been a haven for those fleeing the vampire/lycan blood feud. That was until two new refugees arrived.
Disclaimer: Characters and concepts belong to their owners who I'm too lazy to list.
Author's Note: I like this episodic format. And lots of people seem to agree.
Viktor was dead.
After all this time, Marcus still had trouble at times wrapping his mind around the concept. His fellow Elder was dead. They were vampires. They were supposed to live for eternity, amusing themselves with their little games while the youngsters jockeyed for their favor. But now.
Viktor was dead.
They had worked out a grand plan, combining their covens not by conquest, but by compromise. They would rule in turn, one by one. One would be awake while the others got much needed rest. Between their combined numbers and the ability to always have an Elder awake to direct their strength, the vampire covens and Elders who had NOT joined them could only bow their collective heads in submission. They were the superpower of the vampire world.
Viktor was dead.
Although the stories Marcus had heard were confused and contradictory, he had managed to pick out gets of truth from the dross of wild rumors. Viktor had fallen victim to the war he had started so long ago with their ancient guard dogs. The war with the lycans had begun over a breach of caste separation, when the lycan Lucian had fathered a child with Sonja, Viktor's daughter. It had always been Viktor's war. Marcus had always been annoyed that he had to fight their rebellious slaves. But Viktor was his peer and so had Marcus' support. Now, Marcus no longer had to fight this war anymore. After all.
Viktor was dead.
Marcus' fellow Elder died in mortal combat fighting the abomination that the lycan Lucian had created. Though newly made, the untrained whelp had managed to fight an Elder vampire to a standstill. But Lucian's creation had not delivered the killing blow. Oh no, the killing blow had been delivered by Viktor's replacement for Sonja, the Death Dealer Selene.
Viktor was dead.
For that, Marcus would make Selene pay dearly.
***
"Home sweet home," Michael announced, opening the door to their new apartment. He waved Selene forward with a courteous bow. "Ladies first."
"Thank you, kind sir," Selene replied formally as she stepped past him, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Michael's impromptu show of chivalry amused her. While Selene had been recovering from her excursion into the Scourge's dimension for a couple days, Michael had gone apartment hunting.
"I hope you like the place," Michael said as Selene looked around. "It's no mansion but."
"Shh. It's wonderful, Michael," Selene told him, placing a finger on his lips. True, the apartment was smaller than what Selene was used to. But neither of them had any intention of housing a vampire coven or a pack of lycans. With just the two of them, the tastefully decorated apartment had plenty of room. They embraced each other. "Thank you."
Their lips met passionately. A cold breeze momentarily wafted over them. Michael drew back.
"Whoa, I think we might want a little privacy," he chuckled quietly. He reached back with one hand to close the open front door. The other kept Selene intimately close. Once done, they got even closer.
***
Marcus was pulled from his thoughts. One of the youngsters had entered his throne room, his entreance alone a clamor for attention. No one else was present for the simple reason that Marcus had desired to be alone.
Marcus opened his eyes and looked down upon Kahn, the leader of his Death Dealers. Kahn alone had actually witnessed Viktor's death. He had claimed that he had been too far away to stop Selene in time, had not even imagined that she would deliberately take her lord's life. Marcus was suspicious of this story, keeping close watch on Kahn. If Viktor's most loyal follower could turn on him, why not Kahn whose only loyalty to Marcus was out of duty?
"You have news?" Marcus rasped.
"Yes, milord," Kahn answered crisply. Marcus knew he intimidated the younger vampire. Kahn hid it well, but Marcus could detect an undercurrent of fear in his voice and mannerism. That was as it should be. "We have received replies from almost all of the unaligned covens, milord. They report that neither Selene nor Michael Corvin have been seen in their territories. They also promise to keep a lookout for them."
"You said 'almost all' of the unaligned covens have replied," Marcus said slowly. "Who dares defy us?"
"The Order of Aurelius, milord," Kahn replied promptly.
"Heinrich," Marcus hissed in fury. Led by the mad Elder Heinrich, the Order of Aurelius was an apocalyptic cult that was dedicated to bringing back the Old Ones. Even though the Order had produced some of the most vicious Death Dealers for the war over the centuries, their religious mania had caused Marcus no end of trouble. "He dares defy us?"
"Actually, milord, we're not even sure the Order has received our message," Kahn confessed. "Contact with the Aurellians has been few and far between in the past century. The last message we have from them was almost a decade ago, something about a harvest and that 'the Master is rising'."
"Do you even know where they are?" Marcus asked dangerously. It was a good question. The Order was known to be nomadic at times, preaching their twisted religion to any vampire who would listen. They would also occasionally go on rampages that made Viktor's indulgences look insignificant in comparison.
"We think they're in the city of Los Angeles," Kahn answered.
Marcus had never heard of Los Angeles. It must be a city that had come to prominence while he had slept. He filed the name away in his mind for later reference.
"Then perhaps it is time to remind the Order of their place," Marcus mused aloud. "We will send an emissary to them. A guard detail must be assigned. Yes?"
"Of course, milord."
"Yes, many guards," Marcus murmured. "Many, many guards, all of them heavily armed."
***
Selene woke up to the smell of blood.
Opening her eyes, she saw that she and Michael were in bed. Light filtered in around drawn curtains, showing that it was still daylight out even if the window itself was out of direct sunlight. Both she and Michael had trays with built in stands carefully straddling their legs. Michael's tray had a plate of steaming ground meat and a glass of water on it. Selene's tray only had a single glass of a dark red liquid with a plastic straw in it.
Michael was awake and sitting up.
"Afternoon," Selene murmured, sitting up next to him.
"Hey," Michael said absently.
Selene picked up her warm glass and took a sip through the straw. The blood was beef, a flavor she had become familiar with since coming to Los Angeles. It had a burnt flavor that Selene had come to recognize as the result of having been in a microwave. She leaned lovingly against Michael.
"Breakfast in bed. You really know how to spoil a girl," she told him. Selene noticed that Michael was picking at his own food. She frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"I didn't make breakfast," Michael told her.
"Oh. Do we have a servant preparing our meals then?" Selene asked, taking another sip from her glass. "I suppose I should meet him or her." Selene thought about some of the people she had met in this city and added, "Or it."
"No, it's just us here. Or it should be just us," Michael replied, setting his tray aside. "I have no idea where breakfast came from."
Paranoia that had been finely honed while on the run kicked into high gear. Selene quickly set her own tray aside. The couple both jumped out of bed, still stark naked. Selene quickly located her guns on a dresser next to their neatly folded clothes.
"Okay, now I'm sure we left those on the floor between here and the front door," Michael whispered, staring at their clothing.
Selene nodded agreement. "I think I hear voices from the living room," she whispered back.
The two exploded from the bedroom. Selene rolled and came up, sweeping the living room with her guns. Michael came behind her. Again, they were the only ones present. The voices were coming from the television that Selene was absolutely certain had been turned off when she and Michael had gone to bed. The news was on and the volume turned down.
Now that she was this close, Selene could make out what the anchorwoman was saying. ".massacre in the Toronto nightclub named the Raven. Police are not releasing details at this time except that the suspect is still at large. Rumor has it that a single woman."
"Kitchen and bathroom are clear," Michael announced loudly, startling Selene. "There's nobody here but us. I can't even smell anyone else having been here." He glanced at Selene. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing that involves us," Selene replied, shaking her head. Selene had more immediate worries than an attack on a vampire bar thousands of miles away. Relaxing. she lowered her guns and stood up. Selene looked down at herself and sighed. "I suppose we better get dressed."
"I dunno," Michael said, grinning as he studied her up and down. "I kinda like the view."
"Oh, you," Selene replied smiling, swatting him lightly on the shoulder. "You might recall you're meeting the leader of the local lycans tonight? You wouldn't want to arrive naked."
"I dunno," Michael said mock innocently. "Given some of the things you've said about." His voice trailed off, his eyes going wide as they stared at something behind Selene.
Reacting instantly, Selene spun around and brought her guns up. She found herself aiming them at hers and Michael's neatly folded clothing. They were gently floating out of the bedroom at the vampire.
***
"I'm going to Los Angeles?" Erika said in disbelief. "But why me?"
"Hey, Marcus picked you," Kahn replied, shrugging. He eyed the other vampire disdainfully. "You wanted to be noticed by Marcus. He noticed. Why are you complaining?"
Erika was a social climber. Kahn was of two minds about her. The part of him that was a warrior considered her a waste of space. Erika existed only to promote one thing: herself. She lusted after whoever was the most powerful person around. Once, that had been Kraven, but he had turned out to be a traitor, Now it was Marcus, though the Elder was at most amused by her attempts.
The part of Khan that was exclusively male thought Erika was one hot babe.
"Okay, okay, I can do this," Erika said. She seemed to be trying to convince herself more that Kahn. "I can be Marcus' emissary. I'll make Marcus proud of me." She looked up at Kahn. "So what do we know about the vampires of Los Angeles?"
"They're ruled by the Order of Aurelius," Khan said simply.
"Okay, the Order of." Erika froze. "The Order of Aurelius? You mean the 'kill each other on a whim', 'bury their own fledglings alive', and 'in love with pain and torture' Order of Aurelius?"
"Yup."
"Oh, God, I'm going to die," Erika moaned.
"If we're lucky," Khan said.
Erika stared disbelievingly at Khan.
Khan shrugged. "They might decide on the pain and torture first."
***
"Scooby Central, this is Janine speaking. How may I help you?"
"This is Michael Corvin," Michael said. After dressing and finishing their breakfast, they had decided to call the experts on strange. "My girlfriend and I have moved into a new apartment. There's something. odd going on here."
"Please state your address and the nature of your problem, please," Janine said brightly.
Michael told her their address. "The nature of our problem?" Michael looked over at Selene. She was intently watching the dishes clean themselves. "Well, the house cleaning seems to be taking care of itself."
"Oh, here it is," Janine said cheerfully. "Your residence is already marked in our files. Oh dear."
"What? What is it?"
"The previous tenant was a Scooby," Janine told Michael. "Oh, and your place is haunted."
"We're being haunted by the ghost of a Scooby?" Michael said, almost shouting. Selene's head whipped around to stare at him.
"Oh, my bad. The Scooby in question is in a coma, not dead," Janine explained. "The ghost isn't her. He was her roommate. He's a friendly spook named Dennis Pearson. No need to worry."
"A ghost."
"Yes," Janine said. "A quantum-psychic phenomenon where a sentient mental pattern has been transferred into a normally inert object after the cessation of normal body functions." What followed was a jargon-laden lecture that Michael only half understood.
"What is it?" Selene asked when Michael hung up.
Michael gave repeated what Janine had told him. When he finished, Selene grabbed Michael by his collar and pulled him close, but not in a friendly way.
"You got us a haunted apartment?" she growled.
"It's rent controlled and the rates were really good," Michael replied feebly.