Author's note: Well, I got another chapter done!! I'm very proud to have gotten it done so quickly, especially since Lucian isn't in it. But I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, hopefully you will enjoy it. Not much of an author's note (oh stop cheering), since it's 2 in the morning and I'm tired. Please review and hope ya'll enjoy!! Oh, and HUGE thank you to my reviewers, I'm so glad you like this story!! It's kind of funny though that I got my first flame with it.

A/N2: Also, if anyone has any suggestions for who could match my description of Marcus (preferably with a British accent, or maybe even German or something like that, but not American), please leave them in your review!! I like to have actors with characters in fanfics!!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except for Xander. The name of the family mentioned I took from the model that played Amelia, since she's Hungarian and I really don't know any names from around there. Also, I may have seen the idea with Erika (you'll get it when you read it) somewhere else, but I'm not sure. If you wrote it or said something about it somewhere, please don't take offense!! I obviously liked the idea!! OK, I think that's it. Please don't sue.

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CHAPTER 2: CONFLICTED MEMORIES

Kahn entered Marcus' chamber, which had once been the tomb of the three Elders, quietly. He slowly approached the last Elder only halfway across the room. Dropping to his knees, he waited for Marcus to signal him closer.

The descendant of Corvinus, the first true immortal it was believed, was almost as fearsome as Lord Viktor had been. Though only younger than the fallen Elder by two decades, his youthful appearance made him seem closer to Amelia's apparent age. He appeared to be only in his late thirties, early forties. Shoulder length hair of a golden hue fell in waves and was secured behind his ears. His slender yet muscular frame reached a height of six foot three and his head was held high, though not as high as Viktor's it was said.

Eyes the color of ice stared down at Kahn with a cold, hard stare, imperious and searching. He made a barely perceptible motion with his hand, and Kahn rose to his feet before the Elder. Those frozen blue eyes met Kahn's and immediately Marcus' full mouth turned into a sneered.

"You lost them." It was not a question. "Or is it you never even found them." At Kahn's bowed head, Marcus let out a bitter laugh. "I take it is the latter." He stared at the humbled Death Dealer. "Be thankful Viktor does not see you now. Both covens have become pathetic and you, you who were born into the war, before Lucian's supposed death even, you have allowed the Death Dealers to grow soft!"

Kahn stared at the floor, silently taking in the tongue lashing. He knew Marcus spoke the truth. But how he loathed Kraven. He had tried to explain that their regent leader had slowly degraded them to nothing but watch hounds, but Marcus would not hear it.

And he was right. Kahn could have kept the Death Dealers in better condition. But the seemingly apparent victory, the seeming decline in lycans had cause them to unwisely become lax. He was ashamed, but he would make up for it. He would earn back his honor.

He thought of Selene. The most fervent of the Death Dealers. She had been their driving force for so long, trying her hardest to keep them at a constant vigil. And now, now she had betrayed them sided with the very lycans she had so long sought to destroy. The very race that had played a part in her birth as a vampire. And she was now helping them.

"I grow tired of this game of cat and mouse. Tomorrow, I shall leave Ordoghaz and search for them myself," Marcus announced. "It is time we took control of this situation."

Kahn finally dared to raise his gaze, and to speak to the Elder. "My lord, we have spotted a few rogue lycans during our tracking of Selene," Kahn spoke her name as one would a word they were unsure how to pronounce, "and the hybrid. Do you wish us to track them, or capture them for questioning?"

A strange look passed over Marcus' features at the word questioning, a look that Kahn had noticed whenever the lycans were mentioned to their leader. The old Death Dealer was not sure what to make of it. He had served under Marcus many times, but he had never seen the Elder act as he did now. It was as if he were being secretive, wary.

"My lord, are you all right?" Kahn asked with slight concern.

But the Elder merely waved the question off. "I'm fine. Go, inform the other Death Dealers I shall lead tomorrow night. We leave after as soon as the last rays of the sun are gone."

Kahn bowed. "Yes, My lord." He swiftly turned and exited the chamber. He did not understand, they were not allowed to kill any lycans unless attacked, nor could they bring any in for interrogation. Only hunt, track, follow. Nothing more.

What was Marcus planning? What was it that seemed to plague him so?

***

As soon as Kahn had gone and the doors to the chambers had been closed, Marcus breathed out an unnecessary sigh. Memories played over and over in his mind, causing his brow to furrow as he tried to fight them, force them out of his mind.

The lycan scientist's memories refused, and he felt the lycan's memories of Lucian surface. He was amazed at how loyal the lycan was to his leader, how all of them seemed to be. It was strange, no thought of mutiny, no thought of betrayal. When Lucian's wrath was brought about by failure, they took it with silence. Like a child who had failed a parent when he desperately tried not to.

So unlike his own kind. Or were they his kind any more? His blood was tainted, his loyalties challenged.

And Viktor was ironically at fault. Unwittingly and certainly unwillingly, but still. He had killed Singe. He had back-handed the lycan so hard that his blood poured out like a small flood, stretching out, spreading towards the sleeping Elder's small tomb.

The very creature they had fought so hard to keep from being created, and now Marcus himself, an Elder and peer of Viktor, was one. A second one even. There were two. And he needed to find that hybrid.

Kahn's memories, given in his blood when the Death Dealers had awakened Marcus unaware of the change that had transpired, surfaced and filled him again with hatred of the lycans. But it would not last for long. Singe's memories were much more prevalent. He had the whole life of a turned lycan inside his head. And his hatred had never been as strong as Viktor's.

But then, he had never had a child of his own.

***

Leila Deneuve rubbed her eyes as she looked over the file for one of her patient. She sighed. Leukemia, that's what she had been afraid of. She would have to break the news tomorrow, and she dreaded it. The family would be devastated, after all the boy was barely fifteen.

"Leila, what are you still doing here?" Dr. Adam Lockwood asked from the doorway of her office. The dark-haired American gave her a reprimanding look. "You should go home, get some sleep," he instructed.

A half-smile crossed her features briefly. "I'm fixing to. But the test results for the Gorog boy came in and I had to see what they said."

"And?"

"Leukemia. Like I thought. I have to tell them tomorrow, they're coming back in at nine," she told Adam. Looking up from the papers, she smiled wanly. "Don't worry, I'll get some sleep soon."

He nodded. "Good, you don't need to push yourself. Remember, lack of sleep can mean fatal errors in judgment. And the plane ride had to be tiring. Jet lag, that could be bad." He shot her a mock-warning glare and walked off, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

At the mention of her flight, her mind had wandered back to the airport. To that stranger, the man with the haunted stare. His eyes, they had been so sad and hopeful, as if he recognized her, as if he were looking at a precious treasure believed lost. She couldn't remember what he looked like really, she had been too far away to get a good look. That might have been a good thing. But his gaze, it had held no threat.

"Ok, I am way too tired," she stated and rose from her chair. She needed a hot shower and a long nap. Then she could think straight and wouldn't start to have romantic delusions about strange men in airports.

That seemed eerily familiar.

***

Erika stood gazing out the window as the sky began to grow light. Soon it would be sunrise and the windows would close, keeping the harmful UV rays locked out. The dew-kissed grass was beginning to shimmer from the first rays. With a sigh, she turned away as the blinds shut.

Only to come face to face with Marcus, the last of the Elders.

A gasp escaped her and she hastily bowed in respect as she recovered from her startle. "My lord, I did not hear you approach."

"That is good, I'm glad I can sneak upon a vampire still," he replied warmly. "Rise, you need not hide those lovely blue eyes from me," he stated, and a cold hand lifted her chin up to meet his gaze. "Erika, that is your name, correct?"

"Yes, My lord," she whispered in affirmation. "It is."

Marcus stepped forward, but his other hand swiftly grasped her shoulder lightly, keeping her from backing away. The first hand traveled to her neck. "Do not be afraid, dear child." A smile, white fangs showing against full lips. "I would not have you bow in my presence any more, am I understood?"

Erika stared up at his ice-blue eyes. "Yes, My lord."

"Good," he stated simply. He gently stroked her jawbone before letting her go and walking past her, his arm brushing against her own.

The young vampire stared after him, her gaze locked on the Elder as he strode down the hallway.

Forget Kraven!

***

The lycans, male and female, looked up when they heard their leader and his mate approach. Or at least they assumed she was his mate. Sometimes they were not so sure. But they knew the pair cared deeply, more than either would ever admit probably.

The ex-Death Dealer followed behind Michael, in hybrid form, both carrying supplies. Michael swiftly changed back into human form and called to one of the males.

"Xander, I need you to come to the lab please," he instructed and the lycan readily complied, rising from his seat at a small table where a few lycans were feeding.

Xander, or Alexander, was a tall yet lean male of Michael's height, with shaggy, dark brown hair that came a little below his ears. His brown eyes were large and round, and he walked with a slight hunch. He had been close to Trix, and was therefore wary of Selene. But he was loyal to Michael and would not dare hurt the vampire.

He had seen what the hybrid could do. And the ex-Death Dealer.

"I need you to help me set it up to be ready whenever we need it," Michael informed him. "I don't now how long the vampires will stay so lax, and therefore we must be prepared for the worst at all times."

"Yes, of course," Xander agreed. "Do you want me to get Zahra?"

Michael nodded. "Yes, please."

Xander walked off quickly, in search of the female lycan. The one thing about their new leader: he said please too much. But in time, he would learn. Xander could swear that Michael was just like Lucian sometimes. It was frightening almost.

***

"You shouldn't say please so much, you're their leader," Selene stated as she emptied her bag of supplies and began putting them in their proper place in the lab. "You must show that you are in command, we don't need a power struggle."

"There won't be one," Michael replied in a voice so similar to another's. "The lycans are not the type to rebel against each other." The unspoken implication hit Selene like a blow from her fallen sire. "We are loyal to each other. Family, and we do not hurt our own family."

Selene faced him, her eyes blue in anger at the venom with which he spoke. She closed them, bit back her anger and slowly approached her hybrid.

"Michael, you have to fight him, you can't let him take control," she told him. "Lucian is dead. You are not Lucian, you are Michael Corvin. A hybrid and descendant of Alexander Corvinus. The bearer of Lucian's memories, the new leader of the lycans. You are not Lucian himself." Her voice was firm and seemed to bring Michael back in control of himself, forcing another's centuries old hatred back down.

"I'm sorry, it's just," he began, shaking his head. "I have all his thought and memories, his pain. Every time I look at you, a part of me sees her."

Selene looked away at the mention of Sonja. It was strange. She felt as though she were fighting the ghost of a woman Michael had never even met. She felt more threatened by Lucian's memories of Sonja then she did of Michael's memories of his late wife.

"I know, I hear you, when you sleep. Just remember, we are fighting to keep Lucian's death from being in vain. But you cannot let him take control of you." She stared up into Michael's eyes. "Please."