Author's Note: There is some French dialogue in this chapter from the Merovingian, but I used a translator since I'm not very good at French. I'll say what the translation is of the sentences in French after the sentence.

***

Pursuit of Purpose

It's about Choice

***

Lucian's eyes slowly opened. The first thing that he realized was that he was tied up. The second thing was that he was no longer on the rooftop; rather, he was inside a house, or a mansion, from the look of it, he thought, as he looked around the large room he was in.

Then his eyes fell upon Vlad, one of the attackers from the rooftop, and his face darkened. He pulled at his bonds, and to his surprise they were just rope, and could easily be broken. He ripped free of the bonds and lunged at the vampire.

"Now, there is no need for that at the moment," a voice with a French accent said, drawing Lucian and Vlad's attention away from each other as they looked at the door where a man in his early forties entered the room. He nodded to Vlad, who sent a look at Lucian before standing and walking out of the room. Once the Lucian and the newcomer were alone, the man walked over to a chair and sat down. "Please, sit." he requested. Lucian paused, still unsure about what was going on, but finally sat down. The newcomer smiled. "Good," he said, clasping his hands together.

Lucian looked at him for a moment before realization dawned inside him. "You're the Merovingian," he stated. The Frenchman nodded in response. "I would like to say that it's a pleasure meeting you, but…"

"No, no, no," the Merovingian said suddenly, cutting the hybrid off. "Le plaisir est le mien. (the pleasure is mine)" he finished, noticing Lucian as he raised an eyebrow, causing him to let out a little laugh. "I love the French language. I've sampled every language, but French is my favorite; fantastic language, especially to curse in." As he said the last part he trailed off and started speaking in French again, and the hybrid could tell he was cursing in it. Finally he stopped and with a smug expression, said, "It's like wiping your ass with silk. I love it."

"What do you want with me," Lucian asked finally.

The Merovingian raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say I wanted you for anything. This is about choice; I choose to bring you here and listen to what I have to say. I've heard a lot about you Lucian." he stood and walked around the room. "You are one of the oldest lycans to live, surviving one of the most brutal wars to live, et conduit par l'amour. (led by love)"

Lucian lowered his head for a moment. "You…know about her," he said after a moment; it wasn't a question.

The Merovingian nodded. "Yes. I am sorry about what had happened to her, so sad. But, as I said, everything is about choice, and she made her choice when she fell in love with you."

Lucian stood up out of his chair, letting out a small growl. From the way he said, it seemed to Lucian that the Merovingian was saying that she chose to be killed. A part of the hybrid wanted to pounce on him and rip his throat out, but he remained calm.  "Alright, so it is about choice. And I am choosing to leave here right now, and to kill you if I ever see your face again." As he finished he turned and started to walk to the exit.

"Yes, it is about choice, but it's also about something else," the Merovingian replied. Lucian stopped at the door and turned to face him.

"And what would that be?" Lucian asked.

"Purpose." When Lucian raised an eyebrow the Merovingian continued. "Practically everything has a purpose; otherwise there is no real reason for it to exist."

Lucian nodded. "So what is your point," he asked. The Merovingian smiled.

"What is your purpose? As I said I've heard a lot about you, and I have wondered just what exactly your purpose is now. The war has ended, and you have helped your species survive it. You also killed the vampire known as Viktor, responsible for Sonja's demise, avenging her death. So now, what is your purpose?"

Lucian opened his mouth to speak, and then shut it. The Merovingian, even though Lucian didn't want to admit it, was right. Lucian had two main purposes, which were carried out from the war: to ensure the survival of his species, and to avenge the death of his beloved.

"So what do you want?" Lucian asked after a moment. The Merovingian smiled.

***

A pair of icy blue eyes gazed out at the night sky from inside the office that he was standing in. He liked to do this, just stare out at the night sky. He thought it was rather beautiful at times.

The door behind him opened, and a man in his late twenties came in, and along with him the sounds of yelling and screaming down below. "Thaddeus, we have a problem downstairs."

Thaddeus turned and looked at the man. Thaddeus was tall, with dark brown, slightly curly hair and an aura of menace that seemed to float around him at all times. He wore a casual looking suit with a black coat. He sighed. "What is it?"

"A polgara demon got loose. It's killed a few people already," the man quickly explained. Thaddeus rolled his eyes before following the man out of the room and down a hall before reaching the second floor of the main lobby, where the chaos was happening down below. There, a six foot tall green skinned demon was throwing people around the room left and right. A large spike shot out of his left arm and he stabbed it into another person's chest.

Thaddeus leapt down from the balcony and moved towards the polgara, who turned around and faced off against him. A second spike shot out of his right arm and he attacked, the spikes flashing in the light as he tried to hit Thaddeus, who dodged every strike aimed for him.

Finally, Thaddeus caught his right arm with one hand and raised his second with the other, as long claws sprouted. He plunged his hand down, and it entered the polgara's chest. The demon slightly convulsed, but before it could react, Thaddeus ripped the spike from the polgara's right arm before stabbing it into the demon's head.

As the demon's corpse collapsed to the ground, Thaddeus held up his hand, which dripped with black blood from the heart that he now held. Crushing the organ he tossed it aside.

"Ok, who let the demon out?" he asked aloud. After a moment, one person nervously stepped foreword. Thaddeus eyed him as he walked up to him. "It was you?" The man nodded, and Thaddeus let out a little chuckle…

…a second later, the man who had confessed fell to the floor, with the entire front half of his face caved inward. Blood poured from the wound as Thaddeus turned and looked at the shocked faces of the others in the lobby.

"I CAN'T WORK WITH THAT KIND OF STUPIDITY!" he roared before looking down at the corpses that lay strewn across the floor. "Get these out of here," he ordered the nearest person before walking up the steps.

He walked back into the office he had been in and groaned, running a hand through his hand. He sometimes hated running this place. Humans were so incredibly stupid, their only good point being that there more than enough for replacements.

As he stared out the window, he felt a pair of slender arms wrap around his waist, and he smiled. At least he had something to cheer him up. "Eve," he murmured, reaching down and gliding one of his hands across her soft skin, eliciting a sigh from her. He turned around and wrapped his arms around Eve's small frame, running a hand through her dark blonde hair. She smiled at him.

"I thought it was good that you did that. Those people need to realize that you won't take any crap like that," she whispered, as she leaned up and gently kissed his lips. She pulled away, and Thaddeus growled in protest. But then, he walked over to the door after grabbing a peace of paper, writing something on it, and taping it to the outside of the door.

Turning back to her, Thaddeus smiled as Eve reached up and unzipped the back of her dress, causing it to fall to the floor in a pile, her bare feet stepping out of it as she walked over to him. "Like what you see?" she asked seductively as she finished getting undressed.

Thaddeus grinned. "Of course," he responded before capturing her mouth with his, even as his hands traveled down the smooth skin of her naked body, pleased at hearing her moan into his mouth, urging him on.

The note that Thaddeus had left on the door was a fairly simple one: Stay out or you will lose your spinal cord.

***

Lucian walked through the halls of the large mansion. He thought it was quite impressive. The Mervingian had asked that he joined him for the time being, since he thought Lucian had no purpose now that the war was over. Lucian decided to go along with this, for the time being anyway.

As he rounded a corner he stopped and stared at the woman who was walking towards him. She appeared to be in her early thirties, with black hair and brown eyes. She was gorgeous, and wore a white dress.

Lucian raised an eyebrow. "So you must be Persephone, his wife." She nodded.

"And you are Lucian, he told me about you," she replied as she walked up to him. When she reached him she placed a hand on his chest for a moment, before traveling up to the pendant wrapped around his neck. She gazed at it, and then removed her hand from his chest, and then she moved it up to his cheek. At this point Lucian took a step back, looking at her with curiosity.

"What are you doing," he asked, and she looked at him with a longing expression.

"I…I want to kiss me, as if you were kissing her," she said after a moment. Lucian knew instantly who she was talking about.

"Why," he asked.

"You love her. I can sense it. I used to be able to feel love, and I want to again. All I'm asking for is a sample,"

Lucian raised an eyebrow. "What about your husband?"

At this, Persephone practically snorted. "What, that pompous prick? He doesn't respect me, not the way he used to. He used to be so different. I wish I knew what happened to him." She moved closer to Lucian. "Just a sample, that's all."

Before she could continue however, Vlad appeared in the hall behind her. "Lucian, the Merovingian is looking for you," he stated as he walked down towards the hybrid, grabbing his arm and practically dragging him down the hall he was pulling him so hard. Finally, after letting go of his arm, he leaned over and whispered. "And don't mind Persephone; she does this all the time, because the Merovingian goes behind her back and cheats on her every once in a while."

Lucian nodded, slightly confused about their relationship.