***

Pursuit of Purpose

Resurrection

***

Lucian walked down the hall of the mansion towards his room, ignoring the questioning glances of Vlad and Gabriel when they saw his condition. He was bleeding in several spots, including a large gash that ran along his chest and another one that went down his face. Finally reaching his room, he walked inside and threw his coat and shirt down on the bed before walking into the bathroom and looking at himself in the mirror.

The wounds would heal by the next day, but he was concerned with what might happen if he ran into Thaddeus again. Spitting up some blood in the sink, he sighed, and started to undress. He needed another shower.

Well, at least beating up the half-breed made him feel a little better after what Persephone did to him

But it didn't help that much.

***

Thaddeus watched as the sunlight seeped into the room from where he stood in front of the window. Behind him on the bed he heard Eve stir and let out a small whimper when she moved her hand and realized that he was no longer lying next to her. Her eyes opened and lit up when they saw him. Getting out of the bed, and not bothering to cover herself, she walked over and laid her head on his shoulder as she moved one of her small hands up and traced one of his cuts from his fight from the previous fight. Almost instantly he slightly pulled away and tensed up, but after a moment he relaxed; he trusted her.

"So, did you figure out a way to get this Lucian person off our backs," she asked as she moved her hand up to his cheek. He moved his head and kissed the tip of one of her fingers, causing her to let out a small giggle.

After a moment he answered. "Yes, actually, and it's quite simple. You still know where that scroll that I asked you to hide is?" Eve nodded. "Good, go and get it." he paused, and then grabbed her and flung her onto the bed as she laughed. "Well, go and get it, after an hour or so," he whispered with a predatory grin fixed on his face as he climbed into the bed and passionately kissed her.

***

Lucian stepped into the armory to find Gabriel and Cain in the middle of a sparring match, as Vlad and Abel watched; Cain was holding his own against the half-demon, but he was slowly losing his ground. Finally, Gabriel grabbed his leg when he tried to kick him and flung him into the wall. Cain fell to the ground and quickly leapt to his feet. Raising his hand to his jaw he brought it down, revealing his lip was bleeding.

"First blood; you win," Cain stated to Gabriel, who smirked before walking up and shaking Cain's hand. Gabriel turned and looked at Lucian, as did the other three.

"So what happened to you last night," Vlad asked.

"I was attacked by this half-breed named Thaddeus, and…" Lucian trailed off when he noticed the raised eyebrow Gabriel was giving him. "What?"

"You ran into Thaddeus," the half-demon asked. Lucian nodded. "He runs Wolfram and Hart. It's a law firm here in L.A., and since you attacked their boss that means that they might send an assassin or two over."

Lucian paused. "Oh."

Gabriel shrugged. "But, it's alright; almost always the assassins they send over are so goddamn pathetic it's not even…"

A loud, inhuman roar suddenly cut him off, followed by the sound of gunfire. The five looked at each other, and quickly grabbed a few weapons before walking out.

Outside in the hall Cujo was getting batted around by a giant reptilian monster with what looked like dreadlocks. It hit the lycan with an uppercut before turning and backhanding him, sending his body crashing through a wall. Next to him, a more humanoid creature, with small horns and long claws, was attacking the twins. He blocked their blows but was unable to get his own in, as the two kept dematerializing. He finally was able to kick one in the head before slashing the other one in the back.

The large monster grabbed Cujo and opened his mouth wide, preparing to bite down into his body. Lucian let out a snarl before leaping foreword, ignoring the brief pain from his wounds as he transformed into his full hybrid form before slamming both feet into the side of the beast's jaws. The creature threw Cujo to the ground before backing up, snarling in pain. He swiped at Lucian, but the hybrid leapt up and lashed out with his blade as it popped out of his coat sleeve, the weapon tore a deep cut in the creature's face, and it screamed as it brought its hand up to its now bleeding eye.

Gabriel took advantage of its temporary blindness and unsheathing his katana, he leapt foreword and lashed out. A second later, the creature's body, along with its severed head, hit the floor.

One of the twins lashed out with a kick, stunning the other assassin as the other twin raised his razor to slit its throat.

"Wait!" Lucian yelled, and the twins looked up as he walked over to them. "He might have some useful information."

***

Thaddeus walked down into a long dark hallway, before stopping in front of a large door. Opening it he stepped inside the room, which was filled with several things, including several boxes. He walked across the room, finally opening a large box that had the letter S written on it. Opening it he looked inside, smiling when he saw that there was a smaller box inside. Reaching in, he took it out.

He walked out of the room and out in the hall was the same man who had informed him earlier about the escaped Polgara demon. Thaddeus looked at him as he raised the box.

"Now, you're sure that this is who you say it is," he asked, his tone of voice telling the young man what would happen to him if it in fact wasn't, but the man shook his head 'yes', and Thaddeus smiled. "Good."

As he started to walk down the hall again he saw Eve as she quickly ran up to him. From behind her back she produced a scroll, which she handed to him. Taking it, Thaddeus smiled. "The scroll of Aberjian." he looked at Eve and ran a hand across her face. "Good job," he said to her before walking down the hall, the two mortals following behind.

***

The group was now standing inside the Merovingian's office; he in turn was sitting at his desk and watched the group. Lucian was in front of the desk, holding the humanoid assassin by the throat.

"Ok, so this man," the Merovingian began, motioning to Lucian. "Attacked Thaddeus last night and he sent you two to kill him."

To his surprise, the assassin shook his head 'no'. "Not exactly," he replied. "Thaddeus is preparing a ritual, and he doesn't want you people to interfere."

"What kind of ritual," Vlad asked.

The assassin shrugged. "I don't know," he said before Lucian squeezed his throat, cutting off his air supply, and causing him to struggle. After a moment of coughing, the assassin caught his breath as Lucian loosened his grip. "Alright! It's a ritual to bring back a vampire with the scroll of Aberjian."

Everyone's eyes widened, including Lucian's. He had heard of that scroll. The question however, was why would Thaddeus want to bring a vampire back to life, considering how powerful he was.

However, as he thought about this, the assassin suddenly stomped down on Lucian's foot; the hybrid grunted as the hitman quickly pushed away and leapt for the closest window. Before anyone could react, he was gone.

The Merovingian sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I want you to go there, but wait until night, since he'll probably be expecting us in the day."

***

Thaddeus watched as the large box was rolled into the room. It was a large wooden box, with several holes with steel bars. It had been pulled into the room by several vampires. Eve was with him as well, and to Thaddeus' right stood a large man, or what looked like a man in appearance anyway, dressed all in black. He held a rather nasty looking scythe in his hand. The handle and blade were shorter than one would normally expect, but it was still lethal looking.

Thaddeus walked up to the box and opened the top. Opening the small box he held in his hand he dumped its contents, which was nothing but a pile of ashes, into the large crate.

When everyone was in place Thaddeus opened the scroll and started reading the text inside. For a moment nothing happened. Then, wind could suddenly be felt inside the room, and everyone looked around curiously. As Thaddeus continued, a faint blue light appeared inside the box. Then, electricity crackled. Finally, as Thaddeus neared the end, the bolts of electricity shot out, enveloping the vampires and turning them into dust. The electricity shot back into the crate before exploding outward in a shock wave.

Thaddeus smirked. "It's done," he stated before walking over and throwing off the lid of the crate. He looked inside, and smiled at what he saw.

Inside the crate was a young woman, who appeared to be in her twenties or so. She had blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She was also nude, and shaking, as she appeared to be visibly disturbed. She looked up at Thaddeus, and backed up into the corner of the crate even more, which just made Thaddeus' grin widen.

"…who…who are you," she asked with a small voice after a moment.

"Who I am is not important," he replied. "What is important is who you are, and how you are going to help me."

And then, as he finished the sentence, he said her name.

"Sonja."