Author's note: Well, originally this was going to be the last chapter before the epilogue. But then, I reached the very end of page five, and figured, it's taken me so long to update, I'll go ahead and break it up. Why? Because this is just barely halfway through what would be the last chapter if I didn't break it up. So, here is the next to last actual chapter. We have one last obstacle to go through before finally reaching peace between the races, but it'll be taken care of by the end of the next chapter. Well, hope everyone enjoys, and hopefully I pulled this off in a plausible, believable way. Thanks SO VERY much for all the feedback, but I am of course going to ask for more. Shameless, I know, but I'm an addict.
A/N 2: Also, I am going to re-upload chapter sixteen, it doesn't want to come up for some reason. But I will try to fix the problem.
Disclaimer: As before, I own nothing in this, except for the few characters that are never mentioned in Underworld the movie, the script, the novelization, or the comics. The characters Alexis, Dominique, and Marcus are simply my own versions of characters seen/mentioned in the movie/book. Please do not sue me. Savvy?
CHAPTER 24: CLOUDED JUDGMENT
Lucian entered the throne room, his eyes immediately searching for Sonja. He saw her, near the wall, kneeling beside Radu's corpse. He strode over to her, embracing her and kissing her fiercely. He held her tightly, almost afraid of letting her go.
It was over, for the most part. He and Marcus were planning on declaring peace at last, a truce that would be kept until he and Marcus were dead and buried. All the vampires that had sided with Anya and had not escaped or been killed would be sentenced tomorrow, and then the treaty would be made.
Lucian still did not know how he was going to be able to let it all go.
"I love you," he whispered, still holding her, oblivious to everything else.
"I love you too," she replied shakily. "Is it over?"
He broke away from her finally, meeting her eyes. "Yes," he nodded. "It is." He looked around, taking in all the bodies lying around. "How many did we loose?" he asked her.
Sonja sighed. "Several, including Zahra," she told him, nodding in confirmation when he looked back down at her. "Xander and Avery are with her body. All the corpses of lycans and Death Dealers loyal to Marcus are being laid over there," she told him, pointing to where many bodies lay on the right side of the throne.
"Good. We will bury them come tomorrow night most likely." Lucian kissed her forehead, then walked over to Xander, Avery, Adam, and a female Death Dealer where they stood, staring at the corpses. Not far away, Kahn was directing a group of Death Dealers to go and make certain none of the vampires loyal to Anya were anywhere near the mansion.
Erika stood near the entrance, awaiting Marcus. Lucian turned from her. Marcus had gone off to find someone, so she would be waiting for a little while longer.
Lucian then realized something. Turning to Sonja, he asked her, "Where are Selene and Michael?"
"You didn't meet up with them?" she asked. When he shook his head, her expression turned thoughtful. "I don't know, they went to look for you and Marcus."
"Well, Marcus and I came back a different way than the way we had left. And Marcus went to go speak with someone else before coming back here," Lucian informed her. "I suppose they'll be back soon enough. As will Marcus."
Brian buttoned up his shirt, his wound taken care of as best Dom could do. He watched as she cleaned up the mess, putting away the medical supplies and throwing away the trash. He wondered how old she actually was, who her sire was. He was awfully curious.
Of course, that might not be such a good thing. Besides, he didn't have time to get involved really. He was dead where he stood. Marcus was not going to take anything into account, except the fact that Brian had, well, accosted Erika. And that was putting it gently and politely.
But there was something about Dominique, something he found even more intriguing than Erika. He thought it might have been her attitude, the way she argued at everything. The way she had shown concern for his wound by fussing at him, or maybe just the way her dark hair fell over her eyes when she tilted her head a certain way.
All the more reason he should not have warmed up to her. He was beginning to truly like someone, and he would not get any chance to see it through.
"Brian," came a familiar, and quite terrifying voice from the doorway. Both Brian and Dominique turned to see Lord Marcus standing there, back in natural form, his eyes fixed on Brian.
Standing to attention, Brian responded. "Yes, my lord?"
The Elder stepped closer, but still kept his distance. His hands were held behind his back, and Brian had the feeling that Lord Marcus was resisting the urge to strangle him right there. "You, approached my consort with intent to seduce, you forced yourself upon her by kissing her, which leads me to believe you were attempting to rape her, should seduction not work." The Elder swallowed, visibly seething. "You helped Anya, betrayed me and the laws. While you did help us in the end, I feel that does not fulfill your debt or remove your crimes."
Brian felt his heartbeat speed up, his blood racing in his own ears. He could feel Dominique's icy glare, could see her cold, blue eyes glowering at him in shock and anger at his side. He felt fear try to overtake him, but he stood his ground, listening to the Elder.
"Tomorrow at dawn, you will be judged." Icy blue eyes, eyes that flashed pitch black and then changed back in a blink, stared at him mercilessly. "Make no mistake, your fate is decided. You should be well aware of what your fate will be."
With that, Marcus turned and walked out, most likely searching for Kahn to come with a few other Dealers and escort Brian back to his quarters to await the sunrise.
"You, you, you tried to rape Erika?!" came the first comment from Dominique. "You kissed her? And tried to seduce her? Why?" she hissed at him.
Brian bowed his head, eyes closing as he let Dominique slap him, hard across the cheek. He deserved it, didn't he? He had done all that Marcus had stated, save the rape accusation. He couldn't rape. He would not rape anyone. But he practically had he supposed.
"You are disgusting," Dominique spat at him. "I don't care if it was because Anya told you to, if she was holding something over you or whatever! You could have refused, you could have pretended to go along and then exposed her before anything big happened."
She was right, everything she said was right. And he knew that. He did. He had. But he had been too much of a coward to do anything about it, to act as he should have. He would pay the price for his actions. He would face the consequences and face them with dignity.
Suddenly, Dominique shut up, her mouth closing as she gave him a confused stare. "You aren't arguing with me."
Brian looked up, finally meeting her eyes. "There's nothing to argue." He turned then, walking to the door and leaving her alone in the room. Outside two Death Dealers were approaching, to escort him back to his quarters or wherever Marcus wanted him to stay for the next few hours.
Selene watched as the escorts led Brian away, her brow furrowed as she thought about what this might mean. She was not completely positive, but she had feeling this could stir up trouble. She turned to Michael, expecting him to be calm and possibly confused of what they had just heard.
Instead he was tensed up, his entire body giving reminding her of a bow drawn taught as possible. His fists were clenched tightly, and she saw he was starting to draw blood. Pitch black eyes were focused on the retreating backs of the Death Dealers, and he was panting.
Lucian's memories.
Realization hit Selene as she stared at Michael. He was remembering something from Lucian's past, or perhaps the talk of judgment at dawn had brought him back to the first memory he had ever experienced, bringing back images of another judgment near dawn.
"We have to tell Lucian," he stated, not even taking his eyes away from their focus. "He must know of this now."
Selene nodded. "Let's go, he must be back in the throne room by now," she said softly. She was unsure of how to react to this, to Michael. She was having to deal with so much death and change, perhaps just as much or even more as the night of Viktor's death. She wasn't sure how to handle everything, so she just did what she did best. She grabbed Michael's clenched fist, leading him back to the throne room, acting as if nothing was going on inside her.
Lucian would know what to do about this situation, he could handle it and take it away from herself and Michael. He could take the responsibilities she and Michael had been dealing with, even though they were far from ready to. He was the leader, he was the one she had to trust now.
She could not lead anymore, not when inside she was falling apart at the seams. Michael was breaking all the rules and she was enjoying it. She had lost the one person who had been her guide and her constant, her rock that had truly been nothing more than sand. Now she was left with Michael and Lucian.
She did not know Marcus, she had no idea of who he was, what he was capable of. Lucian, she knew him somewhat, she knew he was a good leader to his people. She knew it was he who had saved Michael and herself from Kraven, and inadvertently from Viktor.
Lucian would know what to do, because he had to.
Erika let out a sigh of relief when Marcus finally entered the throne room, practically tackling him as she ran over to him, embracing him tightly. The bloodied Elder smiled, wrapping his arms around her small waist as well.
"My love, you are uninjured, right?" he asked her softly, pushing her away so he could inspect her himself.
Nodding, Erika pushed away Marcus arms holding her away and embraced him again. "I'm fine, I'm fine. The only blood on me is yours. Or the blood Anya's sprayed on you when you ripped her to shreds." Erika looked up at him questioningly. "You did rip her to shreds, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," Marcus replied, smirking. "Now come, we must see to the dead and finally put an end to all this." Marcus took her hand and led her over to the Death Dealers and lycans still in the room, most either laying all corpses in one corner of the room or observing the morbid procession.
"Several patrols have already resumed their posts, others are rounding everyone up to come and make their loyalties known," Kahn informed Marcus as they neared him and the others.
"Good work. Burn the corpses of those loyal to Anya tonight," he instructed. "The others will have a proper ceremony tomorrow after sunset." He walked over to Lucian as Kahn went to carry out his orders. "It was the best plan we could have come up with."
Lucian remained silent, his eyes fixed on the bodies of fallen vampires and lycans. Sonja briefly glanced at Marcus, her eyes telling him not to expect anything from the lycan hybrid at the moment besides silence. Marcus nodded. If Lucian noticed the exchange, he made no acknowledgement.
"Kahn," Marcus called out, "alert me when all the prisoners have been rounded up. Allow the lycans to rest here if they wish to. Upon sunrise, bring the prisoners back here. They will face judgment then," he stated. He ignored the brief glance Lucian sent him at the word judgment. "Until then, Erika and I will be in my chambers." He turned to Sonja. "You both should rest as well."
The female hybrid nodded, her eyes fixed on Lucian as he stood beside her, his hand holding hers but otherwise showing no signs of awareness of anything but the bodies of fallen immortals. She sighed, and leaned against him as Marcus and Erika walked away.
"Do you think we should leave them?" Erika asked as Marcus led her back to their chambers.
Marcus shook his head. "They'll be fine. I want you to feed and rest though," he told her firmly. "Lucian, even though he didn't seem like it just then, will be able to be a leader should they need one before I must go back at sunrise."
Erika glared up at him. "I'm going with you," she declared. "I don't care if you don't want me there for whatever reason, Marcus. I want to be there when you do this."
Marcus sighed, but decided to wait until they reached their quarters before trying to convince Erika to listen to him. He knew she would protest against his decision with Brian, but he was not going to go soft just because the Death Dealer turned against Anya in the end.
Dominique sat on the counter Brian had been sitting on a few minutes earlier. Before Lord Marcus had come and told them of Brian's fate. Because Brian and she both knew what his fate would be. The Elder had made it clear without even saying the specifics.
And here she was. Trying to figure out why she was so effected. Brian was a jerk though he could be a gentleman for a few seconds sometimes. He had betrayed the coven though he had ended up helping them defeat Anya. He had kissed Erika, attempting to seduce her. Possibly rape her. But he had then saved her.
He had saved Erika, and herself. And he had kissed her. And had not pushed her for anything else. Still, why was she so upset?
Because she liked him. Because she knew he did not deserve to die. Because she knew there was something going on between herself and Brian. But there was nothing she could do.
Erika though, she might could do something.
Erika entered the large bedroom, her arms folding. She turned to face Marcus as he closed the door. She knew he was going to order her to stay here. She wouldn't let him.
"I am going with you, I will be present for the judgment, and you are not going to make me stay here," she declared firmly. She backed away when he approached, refusing to let him kiss her into a daze and make her agreeable to whatever he ordered of her.
Marcus sighed. "Erika, please. I cannot afford for us to argue or fight in front of the others. Which I am certain you will do for some sentences," he explained.
Erika stared at him, confused. Why would she have any problem with the fate of those loyal to the queen bitch traitor? She was not close to any of them, nor was she against execution really. So why would she quarrel with Marcus in front of an audience over a sentence?
"Marcus, I have no reason to," she whispered, almost reaching out to him. But she knew he would take the opening and pounce. She couldn't let him. Not this time.
"I know you wish to be there, I can understand," he replied softly, his eyes pleading with her to back down. Then he stood up perfectly straight, still and towering. Expression stoic and eyes cold. "But I am still an Elder, and I will see this sentence out. I know you would have me take pity, but though I love you, I have not gone soft or weak."
Erika glowered. "Nobody has accused you of that, Marcus. Nobody thinks it. Not even Anya. She feared you and hated you, and knew she had to get rid of us both to take over." Erika walked up to him, her finger pointing at him accusingly. "And you know what, you remind me of someone right now with that "I am the supreme Elder" attitude and stance. Viktor. And I only saw him once. Well twice, I saw him when he led the Death Dealers from the mansion."
Marcus' eyes wavered at her words. Even he did not want to be likened to Viktor, not now. Something flashed in his eyes and for a moment it looked like Erika had won. But then he once again turned cold.
"Brian will be punished and it will be execution by sunlight and you will not change my mind. I am still the Elder, I will not be lenient just because he betrayed Anya and helped us." He walked away, looking out the window, back towards her. "He did it only to save his own hide."
Erika closed her eyes. Brian, of course. She should have realized that. She clenched her fists. Marcus was letting this get personal, emotions clouding judgment. "He did it because he knew what he had done was wrong. Because he was tired of letting Anya blackmail him. "Marcus, he did not rape me, he did not even follow me, and he saved my life! He could have left me and you would have never know he was nearby."
Marcus turned, eyes flashing black. "He could have raped you had you not kicked him! He could have and nobody was there to stop it," he shouted back. His eyes softened and he came near her, his hands holding her shoulders gently. "He could have raped you, and I would not have been able to stop it," he whispered.
Erika reached up, stroking his cheek. "But he did not. I got away and he did not try anything after I ran." She kissed the tense hybrid's cheek. "Marcus, you can't always be there for me. As you said, you are still the Elder, still the ruler of the vampires. There are going to be plenty of times when you can't be there to protect me. Please, do not punish Brian just because you weren't there," she begged.
Marcus stared down at her for a moment before pulling away. "I made my decision. I will not break in it."
Erika felt like screaming. It was beyond her why he was being so stubborn. "He did not hurt me, he helped us, saved me!" She paused. "Wait a minute. This is because he saved me isn't it? Because the one that could have raped me when you weren't there saved me when you weren't there again, isn't it?" she accused, coming over to him. "Marcus, will you please set aside this stupid pride of yours!!"
Marcus glared at her, eyes darkening, but she ignored. He was going to hear her out and she was not going to be intimidated.
"Let him live, punish him but not by death. You do this, and you know it will cause problems. You do this, Marcus," she whispered determinedly, "and you will live to regret it."
"I have made my decision. I cannot let you rule me, not in everything," he stated, less stoically this time."
Erika stared at him, hurt. "You once told me you could never refuse me. You have told me you loved me. And you have shown you can be a just, wise leader. I am not trying to rule you, nor trying to rule the coven through you! I just want you to show mercy when it is deserved."
Marcus turned away, his eyes blank. He was set in his decision, as he said. He had heard her, but he refused to listen.
"Fine," Erika declared. "You want to act like Viktor, fine with me. You want to damn Brian to hell, have it your way! You want to throw away this shot at peace, go ahead! Because let me tell you, Lucian and the lycans are not going to go along with this. You know it, and even I know it. But if you have to heal your male pride and prove you can be a jackass Elder, then do it." Storming off, Erika opened the door, and looked at the hybrid Elder's back. "But you can do all of this alone, because I will not stand by your side and let this be."
Slamming the door, Erika walked off, heading for the throne room. She had to find the one person that would have any shot at keeping Marcus from making probably the worst mistake of his life. She rounded a corner only to see Dominique coming towards her.
"Erika! I'm so glad I found you," she exclaimed, rushing forward. "You have to help me, it's about Brian."
"I know, Dom. I know. And I'm going to help."
Lucian stared at the corpses. So many. Too many. And yet, it was hopefully the last time he would have to see the bodies of fallen warriors, fighting for peace. It looked like now they had finally found that peace.
Freedom, peace, it always came with a cost. Sometimes he wondered if that cost was too high. But he knew it wasn't. Not even freedom came for free. To gain something precious and important, you had to give something precious and something important. You had to loose loved ones and give up desires. You had to make sacrifices.
The hybrid looked down at his mate, her head resting on his shoulder. He finally allowed a smile as he stared at her. He had lost so much, they all had. But in the end, it had all been worth it he supposed. He had her back now.
He closed his eyes, remembering Radu's last words. He remembered when he had felt the same way. He still did, but he also knew he could find a life with Sonja now. He had her with him, and she was his life. Radu was at peace, free in his own way. Lucian would just have to take solace in that.
Sonja glanced up at him, sensing his gaze. She smiled softly, reassuringly, up at him, her green eyes weary but warm. She kept silent still though, both of them did. Sometimes silence was better. Sometimes it was easier not to talk about the pain and the sorrow, and just let it mend.
The vampires and lycans regarded each other warily, but none had spoken or made any move to start trouble. They grieved loved ones and rejoiced for the victory in silence as well. The ancient rivalry would take time to fade, but they were trying to help it wane swiftly as best they could.
What would it be like now? What would they do? Would they try to live normal lives, perhaps even among the humans? Would some of the lycans revert back to the feral, bestial way of their ancestors? Would some of the vampires leave and start a coven of their own, one against the peace and equality between the two races? It was a question with thousands of answers, what would happen now. What would they do now. But it would be decided later.
Lucian had been brooding over it far too long already. He needed rest and he needed to grieve his nephew and fallen pack members and he needed to be a leader to his pack right now. The time for such thoughts was later. They could decided after he and Marcus put an end to the war.
"Lucian," he heard Selene call from behind and he, as well as Sonja, turned to see the female vampire and Michael walking towards them. The young hybrid was tense, his eyes black though he had not fully changed again. Selene's expression was grave as usual, but her eyes showed that there was something wrong.
"What is it?" he asked, worried. If Michael and Selene were upset about something, it was not a good thing.
Selene opened her mouth, about to reply, but Michael cut her off, his voice dark.
"There's something you need to know about."