Author's note: I'm nearing one hundred reviews!!! I'm so excited, I've only gotten over a hundred reviews on one story, and that was at twenty-something chapters with just 108, I think. So, I must thank all of you so very, very much!!! The reviews have really helped, and will keep on helping me if I keep getting them. Yes, I know, shameless attempt at being subtle and hinting for more reviews. I'm an addict, and reviews are more addictive than drugs, I'm certain. Now, Michael, Selene, and that pack aren't in this chapter, but they will be back. And will probably meet up with Lucian next chapter. Anyway, hope ya'll enjoy and please review!!!
A/N2: BTW, the Kraven of Leicester title is from the novelization, likewise with the Battle of the Alps, the fight in which Lucian was supposedly killed. I did not come up with that stuff. Also, according to my calculations and all the knowledge I've gathered about Underworld and the chain, Marcus was ruling when Lucian was "killed" by Kraven. Just wanted to state that, clear up any confusion about Marcus' comments on that part.
Disclaimer: I own any characters that did not appear in the novelization, the script, or the movie. Everything else belongs to Sony, Len Wiseman, Kevin Grevioux, Danny McBride, and anyone else with legal claim and copyrights of Underworld. Please, don't sue me. Don't be like White Wolf. I'm making no money of this anyway. Oh, and could I please just take care of Lucian until you need him for the sequel? He needs to be in the sequel, BTW. And Stephen Billington needs to play Marcus. And he needs to end up with Erika. Just thought you should know that, Len and Kevin and Danny and Sony.
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CHAPTER 8: JUDGMENT PASSED
Kraven tried not to groan as he was dragged into the large room where the Elders had once slept. Marcus sat on the stone throne-like chair, clothed in his Elder robes. Bowing his head, Kraven noticed a few of the oldest vampires and many Death Dealers on each side of the room. He was slightly surprised and angered to see Erika among them.
He would have loved to throttle her at that moment. Stupid whore, betraying him to Marcus. But he couldn't move if he tried to, the Death Dealers held him in an iron grip as they pushed him to the ground and chained him to the cold floor.
"Before us is the traitor and one time regent, Kraven of Leicester," Marcus announced, his voice and expression cold and unmoving, "who betrayed us to the lycans nearly six hundred years ago when he made a pact with Lucian the night of the Battle of the Alps. The only vampire to return from the battle, he brought with him the branded scrap of Lucian's skin. He claimed to have take it from the lycan leader after killing him." Marcus glowered down at Kraven. "Instead, he and Lucian made a deal, to wait until the right moment and kill the council and Elders."
Murmurs and whispers echoed through the room as all stared down at Kraven, their eyes the pale tell-tale mark of their race.
"SILENCE!" Marcus shouted, his voice loud and commanding. All hushed immediately, their heads bowing in shame. His cold eyes flashed white for a moment before closing and his lowered his head slightly, bringing a hand up to rub his temple.
"My Lord, are you unwell?" Kahn asked, starting to approach, while Kraven tried to hide a satisfied smile at the pain the Elder was apparently feeling.
Rage and humiliation surged in him as he kneeled in front of so many of the coven. And to think, all of this because of Selene, Lucian and Michael Corvin. But Marcus would be more merciful than Viktor, though it was nearly impossible for Kraven to truly believe that the oldest of their kind had been killed by Selene and her disgusting lycan.
Marcus waved Kahn off, rising again to sit up ominously in his throne. "I still remember the night you returned, holding the bleeding scrap of skin. I still remember the lies you told, and the deaths we suffered that night," Marcus hissed, rage in his eyes. "Kraven of Leicester, you are hereby condemned to die by sunlight. Tomorrow at sunrise, you will be executed," the Elder announced what all knew would come. He looked at Kahn. "Take him away."
Kraven felt the urge to struggle with the Death Dealers as they unchained him and began to drag him out of the room. But he remained still, letting the warriors lead him away. He knew what to expect at sunrise. He had been present at Sonja's death, the only vampire to have been executed, at least by that manner, in over his seven hundred years as a member of Viktor's coven.
Sonja. The reason this whole bloody struggle had ever started. All because she fell for a mangy lycan, Lucian. And Selene, Viktor's replacement for the daughter had killed, had followed in her predecessor's footsteps.
***
Her arms ached and her wrists burned, but the only thing Sonja was aware of was the merciless whipping Lucian was enduring before her. Tears, streaked down her cheeks, crimson flowing down ivory skin.
His cries of pain filled the room, echoing off the stone walls. She struggled against her bonds, calling for Soren to stop, pleading with her father to have mercy. But the lashes kept coming, making her beloved writhe unwillingly in pain. He managed a glance at her between lashes, his eyes meeting hers for one brief, bittersweet moment before the whip came crashing down on his back yet again, shattering the heartfelt stare.
"Father, stop this, please!" Sonja cried, but her father never even glanced at her, his face cold and hard, his pale blue eyes glowering down at Lucian. "How can you do this?" she demanded, anger and sorrow flooding her being. She could not understand how he could do this to her and her beloved. And their child, his grandchild, no matter what it was.
Another scream from Lucian grabbed her attention and she turned to see him finally collapse onto the cold, stone floor. They had broken him, at last they had succeeded in breaking her lycan guardian.
She gazed down at her lover, her eyes stinging with new tears at seeing him in this broken, bleeding state, she turned to watch her father turn and walk out wordlessly. She sent him a hateful glare.
Are you satisfied now? Is seeing him broken what you wanted? No, I don't think you could be satisfied with that, she thought balefully, the cruelly cold and blank faces of the council barely acknowledging her. They followed her father out, and she turned to look at her suffering lover.
A creaking sound took her attention away from Lucian, and she stared up in horror, knowing full well what was happening. She looked once more at Lucian, her eyes filled with despair.
I don't regret a thing, she thought, wishing she could tell him as he managed to lift himself up and look at her. She felt the sun's fatal rays hit her skin, burning her. She screamed in agony, sorrow, rage, and mourning.
It was not just she they were killing, but her unborn child. And she knew they would want Lucian as well.
As she felt her skin burn and melt, one last scream filled the room and her lover's voice was the last thing she heard.
"SONJA!!!"
***
"No!" Leila cried out, nearly screaming. Looked down at her arms, touching her skin. The burning sensation still lingered. Breathing labored, heart pounding, she closed her eyes in relief when she was certain she wasn't on fire.
Shaking, she rubbed her arms, suddenly cold. Pulling her cover up tighter around herself, she sat back against the headboard of her bed, the dream (memory) still vivid in her mind. Which was odd, because they had never stayed with her once she woke. They had always quickly faded. But this one was clear as day and confusing as hell.
She dreamt she was a vampire? And her lover, Lucian, was a werewolf?
Lycan.
It was insane, she was insane it seemed. She felt as though she was losing her mind, having all these crazy dreams and visions. This whole life playing out inside her mind as if memories long forgotten, a life not her own and yet hers being relived as she slept.
A long sigh escaped her as she tried to block out the screams of this Sonja's lover, tried to forget the smell of his blood and the sight of his broken body. But they were still so clear, so fresh. As if they had just happened.
With a sigh, Leila got out of her bed and headed for the kitchen. Her bare feet tapping on the cold tile floor of the small room, she went to the fridge and got out the milk. She needed something to drink, her throat felt incredibly dry.
Probably from that scream I let out, hope I didn't upset the neighbors, she thought, worried she'd get complaints. But she shrugged, if they did, they did and she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to go and get some peaceful, dreamless sleep.
Sleep without a werewolf lover named Lucian, with haunting, gray eyes. Familiar eyes. Like those she had seen briefly in the airport. She thought about Lucian, his face. It resembled the face of that man at the airport, from what she could remember. But that day was hazy, so much had happened. And it was actually night, wasn't it?
I'm losing my bloody mind.
***
Anya smirked as she watched the Death Dealers lead Kraven out of the room. He probably thought he was finished, no way of weaseling his way out of execution. Fortunately for him, she needed the dirty little secrets only he knew. As the others left the room, bowing their heads to Marcus first, she threw that servant whore a malevolent glare, disgusted at the ring on her finger that had the Marcus' emblem on it, before striding out, trailing behind the Death Dealers.
Taking care not to be noticed, she watched as the Dealers took Kraven to a room in a more deserted part of the mansion. As soon, as they had gone, leaving one to guard the door, she grinned slyly. Time to get to work. She was not about to lose her chance at power to a mere servant that wasn't even a hundred.
Slowly striding towards the Dealer guarding the door to Kraven. "Hello, is this where they're keeping the traitor?" she asked seductively. The Dealer looked at her, unsure of what she wanted. She winked at him, then reached up and slammed her palm against his throat. She then hit him in the back of the neck, effectively knocking him unconscious.
But not for long. Though that trick did work on vampires, it didn't last as long as it would on a human. She had to hurry for this to work.
***
Erika stayed behind, watching as Marcus rubbed his temples, his brow furrowed. Once everyone had left, she slowly approached him, her heels clicking on the stone floor. She knew Marcus was aware of her presence, though he didn't acknowledge her yet.
"What troubles you, my Lord?" she asked upon nearing him, reaching out to lay a hand on his shoulder. "Are you in pain?"
Marcus shook his head. "No, I am just weary of this war, and of the fact that I must now rule without slumber," he replied, trying to reassure her, but his tone did not convince her. He kept his eyes closed, never meeting her own which she found quite peculiar.
She reached over and turned his face towards her and his eyes flew open. She gasped, but did not back off, staring in surprise at him.
No longer were his eyes a pale blue, instead they were completely black. Almost like a lycans'.
"What has happened to you?" she asked him, kneeling beside his throne. He turned away for a moment and when he met her gaze again, his eyes were once more the color of ice.
Marcus sighed and stood, walking over to where he had once slept. "The lycan's blood, it just poured over here, Viktor had carelessly left the corpse. I did not think Viktor would forget something so important, he knew of the possibility, Singe told him."
Erika's brow furrowed at the name. Who was Singe? And what was Marcus talking about, being a possibility? She remained silent though, as Marcus would undoubtedly explain as he went on.
"But I suppose with everything that had happened, everything that was going on and coming to pass, he was overwhelmed. Even what took place that night would tire the most powerful of our kind, I have no doubt. It was the lycan's blood that awakened me, not Kahn's," he tried to explain, though Erika still did not understand just what he meant. "Because of my heritage, because I am of the Corvinus bloodline, it changed me, mutated me." He turned to face her, his expression torn. "I am a hybrid, a crossbreed now. Lycan blood now runs through my veins." He paused, closing his again as if in pain. "I have his memories inside my head."
Erika stood and timidly approached the Elder. She was still quite confused of how this was possible and whose blood he had received, but she now understood what had him so tense.
"I will keep your secret," she told him, placing her hand on his chest. "I will keep all of your secrets, just don't hide them from me anymore, please," she pleaded.
Marcus smiled down at her, lifting a hand to stroke her cheek. "I do not think you will have to worry about that." He sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. "I am so weary of his thoughts in my head, these strange visions and memories so alien to my mind."
Erika moved her hand to his neck, wrapping the other one around as well. "We still have plenty of time before sunrise. And I could probably think of ways to take your mind off these foreign memories." She smiled up at Marcus.
He grinned, wolfishly, and took her into his embrace. "Oh, do you? I'm all yours, and all for distracting myself from these thoughts," he told her, pressing his lips against hers then lifting his head. His eyes were now teasing, his posture again relaxed.
Erika grinned. "Then I shall do my best to make you forget all of that," she promised.
"You, my consort, can make me forget simply by touching me it seems," Marcus replied. "Now come, I wish to spend this night with you and only you, before the sunrise and Kraven's execution."
Erika nodded and eagerly let Marcus lead her out of the room, following him to their rooms.
***
Lucian sighed as he watched the lycans busied themselves with preparing to leave for Hungary. At sunrise, they would leave for the airports, two different ones. They had already dived into groups, to keep from the confusion of having to split up at the airports.
He wondered how Michael and Selene were fairing, if Marcus had located them yet or not. He doubted it, Selene would make sure of it although he was certain Michael was becoming a capable leader. But Lucian had been alpha too long and could not help worrying about his pack, his fellow lycan brothers and sisters.
And he longed to feel the comforting metal against his skin again. But he would have to wait another day. Soon, though, soon they would be back in his native country, walking the familiar streets of Budapest. Soon he would again see the familiar ruins of his first fortress.
He walked off to find Erik and make sure everything was on schedule. It would be good to get back and be able to personally make sure Michael, Selene, and the pack were well and unharmed. They had now become his reason to keep on fighting. Viktor was dead, and justice had been brought about. Now he simply had to ensure his species' survival.
And what would become of him after the war was finally, truly over? What would he do? Six hundred years of his life spent for only one purpose, to fight, to survive, to take his vengeance and make sure his kind did not fall into extinction. He hardly knew anything else any more.
As the years had passed, he had thought less and less of what would happen to him once the war was over. Even that night, when he felt he was close to bringing the brutal rivalry to its end, he had so many things to take care of, to think about. Becoming the hybrid, dealing with Kraven - who would put that one traitor from the American's Revolutionary War to shame -, to having Viktor and his Death Dealer storm the subterranean fortress.
But now, now it seemed that he had too much free time with nothing to do on his hands. Too much time to spend thinking about life after the war. About his life afterwards.
It didn't matter. Not now at least. He would face life without the war when it finally ended. If he lived.
***
Kraven heard the door of his bleak room unlock and open. He looked up and saw a familiar, beautiful, and not particularly welcome face.
"Anya," he stated, his expression confused by her sudden appearance. "What are you doing here, with a traitor no less?" he asked dryly. Anya was old, nearly as old as Amelia had been. And just as ruthless, sneaky, and power-hungry as he was.
"Why, I think it's quite obvious. I'm setting you loose," she told him, a snakelike grin forming over her features. "I think we can both help each other out, and at least this time you won't be dealing with a filthy dog."
Kraven smiled. Perhaps she wasn't as bad as he had always believed. "What do you need me to do?"