Title: Lost

Author: Kora
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Feeds me!

Summary: Viktor thinks over what he lost.

Author's note: I hate the title of this fic. If someone can think of something better let me know. Jess did a Viktor fic this week and now I'm following in her footsteps…I hope she doesn't mind! ;-) Viktor was more fun than I thought he'd be to write too!

Disclaimer: I do not own Viktor, Selene or anything else -they belong to Len and other people richer'n me.

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"One - two - three! Good. Again! One - two - three! Good. Again!" The trainer bellowed as Selene continued to come after him in sets of three, sword held high. Viktor stood with his hands clasped firmly behind his back, stance regal as he watched from the other room. There she was, his turned prize, working so diligently to become a warrior - a Death Dealer.

When he had been in her home, fed on her family and come across her he had originally had no plans in changing her, nay, he had in fact considered adding her blood to his veins, her body to the number among her household.

But he had been stopped - swayed - by her eyes. Deep in them he had seen utter fear but a reliance, a strength. In the scenario of flight versus fight, he saw her as a fighter. And in that he had seen something he had long since forgotten.

Sonja.

Her eyes had held the same strength, the same powerful vitality. He would never forgive himself for having taken that away. He had loved her so. But he had had no choice. Not after what she had done.

How could his beautiful, strong daughter have been so easily swayed? So easily broken? She had had a sick, disgusting weakness for the lesser race - for the lycans. It was filthy, abhorrent - to be touched by an animal, to carry his bastard seed in her womb…

Just the thought of the miserable thing that had been growing inside her…he'd really done a benevolent thing when he thought deeply about it. She had had a cancer, an acid boiling in her center - he had spared her, ended it before it had grown worse…

Yes, it was better what he had done. It was too bad her life had to have been forfeit in the process. And despite what had happened, he still loved her…he forgave her indiscretions, if only he had been there sooner to stop it, to spare her from being taken with an abomination…

He looked to Selene, watched as she began another round with her trainer. Selene's eyes may have brought his lost daughter to mind, but everything else about her was distinctly different. He had made sure of that.

She had not been long changed, only a year or so but she was showing remarkable progress. Soon enough, she would be one of them fully and better still, she would be a fully pledged Death Dealer.

The trainer stepped up quicker and Selene faltered, the sword slashing at her arm. She bit her lip and Viktor felt a frown form. It deepened as the trainer struck again. Selene once more powerless to deflect the blow, her other arm now taking a hit. A sound of pain escaped her throat.

The trainer swept out, swift leg catching her weak ankles, making her collapse to the floor. Another slash, this one grazing her collarbone. She shrieked, her own sword having flown from her fingertips, far from reach. Her eyes were wide and as the fingers of her left hand reached for her discarded sword blade, her right hand raised up as if asking for mercy, as if to hold off her attacker.

Viktor had had enough. He walked briskly into the training room and held up his own hand to sway the trainer. The man stopped and stood away, blade to one side, bowing to the Elder.

Viktor stood above Selene, his form tight, eyes almost white pin-points as he looked down at her accusingly, "Get up."

Selene looked up at him and a gasp escaped her, tiny pink mouth open, so vibrant against her pale, vampiric skin and those eyes of hers stood out like beacons from her long dark lashes. Viktor looked into their depths and saw Sonja yet again. And for the briefest of seconds he saw the same weakness.

It made him furious.

He reached down with a rough hand, clamping it down on her forearm and drawing her to her feet, repeating gruffly, "Get UP!"

She stood before him, wavering slightly, her chest and arms aching from the slight marks the trainer had inflicted. They would heal but they hurt none the less. Viktor scowled and shook her, "You must never show your pain! You must never make a sound when struck! You must never falter, never stop and never, never again am I to see you back down that way, do you understand me?"

She did not reply, lips wavering like flower blossoms trapped in a wind.

"Do you understand me!" he repeated in a hiss.

"Y-yes. Yes." She returned, voice quiet, soft.

"You do, do you?" he sneered, "No, I think not. Selene, you are fighting, training to become a Death Dealer. To become part of a fighting force whose sole purpose is to exterminate every lycan life - do not fool yourself, they are much more devious than you can ever imagine. Stronger, quicker - this trainer is nothing compare to one of those creatures should they turn full-fledged monster. Think of your parents, your sister…your nieces, do you remember them? Do you!"

"Yes." She wailed, voice thin and higher than she would have liked. Viktor came closer, towering over her as his voice rose in volume.

"Think of them when you attack, when you train - think of those little girls with their throats ripped open! Think of it and then look those monsters in the eyes. They did that to you, Selene, they took that away - do you want them to do that to someone else? Do you want them to kill you so you can join your family? Do you not want them avenged? Do you want the lycans to win?"

"NO! NO!" she cried out and shoved Viktor away from her. Her eyes widened at the action, she knew she should not have touched him. To touch an Elder so…

But Viktor merely looked…pleased.

He sighed and his hand reached out again, this time gently as he held her face, brought her eyes to his, looking into them, seeing Sonja there again but seeing not her weakness, instead her shame, her strength, her eagerness to please her father….love…

"Selene, I do this for good reason. You still have some human flaws in you, I understand that, mortal weakness…but you must overcome it. You must become who you are now, who you are meant to be."

"I - I know. I understand." She breathed and a fire blossomed in her gaze, strength returning full force.

Viktor let out a sigh and fought down a smile of approval as he released her. He turned to the trainer, "Begin again. Work just as hard and do not stop. No matter what. Understood?"

The trainer nodded and bowed again. Viktor looked to Selene once more and she nodded as well, steel in place, all softness stripped away. She seemed hardened now, more so than when they had began. Viktor had put that in her and he was proud of it.

He returned to the next room and watched again. This time Selene met the trainer's ferocity. Not stopping, actually managing to get in her own hits. Viktor looked at her and once again thought over Sonja, the daughter he'd lost. Then he thought over Selene, the daughter he'd gained.

He would not have another Sonja on his hands. He would see to that. Selene would be stronger, she would not be foolish enough to fall for a lycan. Her family's death had assured that. Even if it had been Viktor's own hands, and not a werewolves, that her family's blood rested upon.

But it would all be for the best in the end. He knew that. The lycans had taken his daughter so he had in turn taken a daughter. Maybe not a lycan daughter, but someone else's daughter none the less and she would strike out at the lycans, make them pay for his own loss. In a way it was all full circle.

Yes, he thought, Selene would not fail him.