A/N: I would like to start off by saying that if you haven't read the novelization of Underworld, you should. It's hysterical! However, it is not very exact when it comes to being correct in its dates. For starters, it says on the back the war has been raging for more than nine hundred years, and yet Lucian says that he and Sonja were in love in the fourteenth century, which is only six hundred years ago, and also during Marcus's reign. Just wanted to point that out. So I came up with a timeline of my own that fits all the details given in the movie and the book, and makes sense. Sonja was killed in the year 1227, during Viktor's reign. She was 259 at the time. 182 years later, during the Battle of the Alps in 1409, Lucian was "killed" by Kraven. Selene was turned in the year 1542 at the age of 22. Erika was turned in 1584 at the age of 19. That was all during Viktor's reign. I did another timeline of what has happened in the three manors (Ordoghaz/vampire manor, the lycan manor, and the renegade manor, which is not yet named) and I found that I have been somewhat lacking in lycan stuff. I am 55 days after Viktor's death in Ordoghaz, but in the lycan manor, it has only been nine days. So, I am going to try and catch the lycans up to the rest of the world in this chapter and the next one. I was going to do it all in this chapter, but I happened upon a great cliffy that I just had to use. So, without further ado, I give: CHAPTER 4! (By the way, I apologize in advance for the fight scenes. I'm really bad at writing them.) I'm too lazy to do a disclaimer, so if you're just dying to read one, refer to a previous chapter.
Chapter 4: A Pregnant Spy and A Battle
"She's what!" Xavier asked, incredulous.
"Pregnant," Kestral repeated.
"How is that possible?"
"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much," Kestral teased, grinning, and knowing she was embarrassing her younger commander.
"That is not what I meant, Kestral, and well you know it!" Xavier's face was a brilliant shade of crimson.
"I'm not entirely sure; she wasn't very coherent when she called. A little shocked, I think. But I did gather that she gets a few days—or nights, rather—off next month. She'll come here then. I'm sure she'll explain everything."
"This has got to be some kind of a joke," Xavier moaned, head in his hands.
"I don't see what's so bad about it," Kestral said reasonably.
"Think about it Kes. She's a spy. A pregnant spy. Spies are supposed to be unobtrusive. Is there anything less unobtrusive than a pregnant spy? Oh, bloody hell," he added as the laptop on his desk began beeping incessantly. "What do you want?" The question, delivered in a moan, was directed at the computer.
"It's out of battery," Kestral informed him.
"Damn," Xavier muttered, looking around for the chord.
"By your left foot," Kestral said helpfully. Xavier's head disappeared beneath the desk as he dived for it. He came up, triumphantly holding the chord in one hand just as the laptop gave one last loud and protesting beep before the screen went black.
Xavier gave a shout of frustration and collapsed backward into his chair, running his fingers through his thick dark hair.
"I told them I needed a new computer. I told them the battery was crap. I told them...Why me? Why do theses things always happen to me!"
"Xavier, calm down. Everything will be fine; just calm down!"
"I need a vacation," he moaned.
"Erika, I have a present for you," Marcus said to her one morning a week after Selene's arrival and a month after the banquet. They were in their chambers, preparing to sleep though the daylight hours.
He held out a little wrapped packaged. Erika took it and took off the paper that enclosed it, looking at Marcus speculatively, wondering what it could be. Under the paper there was a little box that looked like a jewelry box. And beneath the lid...
"Oh!" Erika exclaimed. "It's beautiful!"
Inside the box was a necklace very similar to Lucian's. It was crest shaped and adorned with an impossibly intricate Celtic design, with a dark sapphire in the center in the shape of an M. M for Marcus.
Marcus lifted it out of the box and undid the clasp. Erika turned and held her hair out of his way as he fastened it around her neck.
"This marks you as my consort," he told her. "It will allow you to go wherever you like in Ordoghaz." She faced him, smiling so happily that he had to kiss her. She melted in his embrace, a sweet happiness racing from his lips through her entire body. The kiss deepened, his tongue engaging hers in amorous combat. Her hands slipped under his shirt, feeling the lean muscle beneath his skin. He growled with pleasure and his mouth fell from her lips to her neck where his fangs scraped against her jugular, never breaking the skin.
This was so wonderful, Erika thought. She would miss it when it was over. Her experiences with Kraven had taught her that a man in power would not stay amused by a mere servant girl. She was still a little awed by the fact that Marcus, the oldest and undisputedly the most powerful of all the vampyres now that Viktor was dead, had chosen her to be his consort, no matter how long it lasted.
They were on the bed now, Erika realized as she felt Marcus's soft sheets beneath her now bare back. how they had gotten there, she didn't really know. Or care.
Marcus propped himself up on his elbow, watching Erika. She was so beautiful asleep. Her blond hair was spread out on the pillow almost like a hallo, framing her pale face. Her dark eyelashes contrasted sharply with her fair skin. His pendant hung around her neck, invisible under the covers, but the chain lay on her neck, the gold sparkling faintly in the dim light, a smile touched her lips as she turned in her sleep, caught in a dream. Her golden hair tumbled across her face. Gently, he brushed it away, and she woke at his soft touch.
"Sleep well?" he asked. Erika smiled and nodded. She had had the most wonderful dream. She had dreamt that Marcus had made her his consort. She stretched a little and felt something shift around her neck. Looking down she saw the pendant from her dream.
It wasn't a dream, she realized happily. She slipped her arms around Marcus's neck, pressing her lips to his. The passion rose quickly, as it always did. His lips wandered from hers, tracing the path to her neck with his mouth. As his fangs grazed her jugular, she sensed that he wanted to bite her.
"You can, you know," she whispered huskily. In all the times they had made love, they had never shared blood, something Erika longed to do. His eyes changed from hazel to a crystalline shade of blue as his already abnormally sharp canines elongated into vampiric fangs. She tilted her head back, baring her throat for him. After glancing at her one more time to be sure this was all right, he sank his teeth into her creamy skin.
Marcus moaned inwardly as Erika's naturally cool blood flowed into his mouth and down his throat. It had been such a long time since he had drank real blood. The cloned plasma that normally nourished the coven was tasteless in comparison to the tangy, metallic liquid that now coursed down his throat.
After a few minutes, he forced himself to remember that he mustn't drink all of his consort's blood and pulled away, licking blood from his lips. When he looked at Erika, her lips were parted and her eyes were closed. When she felt that he was done, she opened her eyes, now an icy blue. Marcus titled his head, silently telling her that she could feast upon his blood, if she wished.
She accepted his invitation, piercing his skin with her sharp fangs. Erika had never turned a human, nor sampled any of her fellow vampires' blood, and was extremely surprised by the delicious taste of the Elder's blood that filled her mouth and swamped her sense. She drank greedily for a few moments, before pulling her mouth away, embarrassed to be drinking the blood of an Elder.
They resumed kissing, licking the remaining blood from each other's lips and mouth. Hands roamed, exploring familiar territory, and Erika hoped fervently that Marcus's interest in her would last longer than Kraven's.
Michael walked down the stairs for his meeting with Raze. It had been a week since Viktor's death, and though he went out every night looking for Selene, he could not pick up her scent anywhere. It was as though she had vanished from the face of the earth.
He wished he could find her. Though he had known her for only three days before she left, he missed her terribly, much more than he had ever missed René.
He opened the door to the study where he was to meet Raze.
"Michael," Raze said when his young leader walked in. "How was last night?"
"Futile, as always," Michael replied with a sigh. He had returned to Frarkas Kikötõ, the lycan manor, long after midnight to collapse into bed and have his sleep haunted by the same terrifying dream that he could never remember.
"Did you ever consider that maybe there's a reason for that?" Raze asked pointedly.
Michael opened his mouth to reply hotly, then the implications of what Raze said sank in.
"What are you implying?" he asked suspiciously. He and Raze disagreed strongly on the subject of Selene.
"Nothing; I just think that maybe the reason you can't find her is because she doesn't want to be found."
"What do you mean?"
"The night she left," Raze said, almost hesitantly, "I ran into her on her way out." He really didn't want to tell Michael this, but he needed to get his leader's attention focused on the lycans and not on that vampire bitch. "She asked me to make sure you stayed with us, instead of following her. She left for a reason, Michael, and she doesn't want you with her, wherever she's gone. We need you to concentrate on the lycans, not on her." Raze was blunt with his young and inexperienced commander. "The war is far from over, Michael, and we need you alert, and on our side." Michael nodded and sank into an armchair.
"I'm sorry, Raze, it's just...I don't understand why she left. And seeing as it's the second time that a woman has left me, I'm starting to wonder if maybe there's something wrong with me." Raze said nothing, just raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Michael glanced at him and proceeded to explain about René.
"Marcus," Erika said. They were still in bed, and dusk was not far off.
"Hmm?"
"You never told me about Viktor."
"Huh?"
"Remember, before the banquet you started to tell me about someone Viktor killed because of his hatred of the lycans." Marcus looked at her, surprised she had remembered, and wishing she hadn't.
"Oh, it wasn't anyone important."
"Don't avoid the question Marcus. Who did he kill?"
Marcus sighed heavily. He really didn't want to tell his new consort about that part of his life, but he knew if he didn't tell, she would get someone else to.
"His daughter. Sonja." By this point, Marcus was out of bed and looking for his clothes.
"His daughter?" she squeaked in surprise. "Why?"
"She was pregnant with that dog Lucian's child. Viktor feared a hybrid, so he had her burned alive."
Erika said nothing for several minutes, trying to comprehend it.
"You loved her, didn't you?" came her voice from the bed. Her words were whispered, almost too quietly for him to hear.
Marcus froze in the middle of buttoning his shirt. How had she known? How had she guessed? He quickly resumed buttoning, and when he had finished, he turned to her.
"Yes."
"Is that why you hate Viktor so much? Why you let Selene back into the manor, even though she killed an Elder? Because of Sonja? Because he killed her and Selene killed him?"
"Yes. But now that I have you, it doesn't matter anymore." He bent and kissed her forehead. "I have to go; I have a meeting with the Death Dealers in a few minutes but I'll see you in the morning." He walked out the door, blowing her a kiss before he shut it, leaving her with much to think about.
Michael followed Raze into the empty subway station. They were on the hunt, and the smell of their prey was strong. They had been tracking the Death Dealers for about an hour, and had finally caught up. Michael was anxious for the battle to begin. He couldn't wait to try out his hybrid form again, and relieve some of his stress and tension by doing some major Death Dealer ass-kicking.
"They're in here," Raze said, his deep voice reverberating off the walls of the empty subway station. Michael looked around, trying to see the vampires he knew were hiding somewhere, and realized with a shock that it was the same subway station where he's first seen Selene. He felt a pang of loss as he remembered, wishing she was there with him.
He glanced at Raze and saw that the big black lycan was already halfway through the change. Michael followed his example, and took off his shirt and threw himself into the change, half dreading it, remembering the pain that had accompanied his first change.
But this time there was no pain as his skin darkened and his bones began to reconfigure themselves. His eyes changed, becoming the pitch-black of a hybrid, and his vision altering to the colorless world of the wolf.
The transformation complete, he sniffed the air for any hint of his prey. There was one behind the pillar not 10 feet in front of him. He lunged towards the vampire and was met with three bullets slamming into his chest. Thanks to Selene's bite, the silver nitrate bullets didn't do any permanent damage, but they did hurt. He slashed at the hand holding the Death Dealer's gun and sent it spinning to the floor.
The Death Dealer's eyes followed it, a look of terror on his face as his only weapon was torn from his grasp.
Michael took advantage of the Dealer's inattention and slashed him across the chest with his sharp claws, cutting through the vampire's leathers and into his skin.
The Dealer tried to jump back and dodge the hybrid's next blow, but Michael had anticipated him and moved forward, slashed with claws again, this time at the vampire's face. The Dealer threw a wild punch at Michael, which he easily dodged, and then leaped back trying to dodge the blow he thought was coming. But Michael had seen how close the vampire had come to the edge of the tracks, and feinted to one side, causing the vampire to fall off the platform and into the tracks. As he scrambled to his feet, angrily hissing and showing his fangs, a train whistle could be heard. The pale undead whirled and saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
"Fuck," he swore, trying to scramble back up onto the platform. But he couldn't get up before the metro slammed into him, making a wet crunching noise as his body was crushed beneath the tracks. The human in Michael was sickened by the noise and his stomach reeled, but in his hybrid form the human was not in control.
Michael glanced at Raze, and saw that the more experienced lycan had already dispatched two other Death Dealers and was now feasting on one of them. Michael approached cautiously. His prey had been smashed to bits by the train, and he wanted to share the meal, but knew that lycans might be more territorial in wolfen form than in human form. But Raze did not even look up from his meal as Michael approached. The hybrid dipped his head and began to tear off bits of flesh to devour.
Just before they reached Farkas Kikötõ, Michael, who'd spent the walk back contemplating what he'd just done, was struck by a wave of nausea.
I just ate a vampire, he thought, and ran over to retch behind a tree.
Michael woke with the now-familiar dry throat and sweaty skin that nearly always accompanied the dream.
20 damn nights now, he thought, swinging his legs out of bed and stretching. Every night since Viktor's death he had had the dream.
You'd think I'd remember the stupid thing.
He showered and dressed, and was about to head down stairs for his morning meeting with Raze when a knock sounded on his door.
"Come in," he called from the bathroom, where he was inspecting his damp brown hair and wondering if he should cut it.
A serving girl opened the door. "A letter for you, master."
"A letter?" Michael's heart leapt; maybe it was from Selene. He wondered what her handwriting looked like. But when he took the envelope from the girl, the writing he saw was not the unfamiliar style that may or may not have been Selene's, but the all-too-familiar flowing script of René.
Michael sat in the driver's seat of a silver Viper, the wind streaming in through the open windows, ruffling his long hair. It had been five days since he had received René's letter and it was nearly midnight. There were probably vampires all over the place, but Michael did not particularly care. He needed to clear his head.
He was over René; there was no doubt about that. But what they had had together had been wonderful and he did miss it. And then there was Selene. He definitely wanted to have that with the icy vampiress, but how long could he wait for her? René wanted him to take her back, according to her letter. Could he really give up any chance he might yet have with the pale, beautiful, immortal, British vampiress that was Selene to go back to his needy American wife?
Chapter 4: A Pregnant Spy and A Battle
"She's what!" Xavier asked, incredulous.
"Pregnant," Kestral repeated.
"How is that possible?"
"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much," Kestral teased, grinning, and knowing she was embarrassing her younger commander.
"That is not what I meant, Kestral, and well you know it!" Xavier's face was a brilliant shade of crimson.
"I'm not entirely sure; she wasn't very coherent when she called. A little shocked, I think. But I did gather that she gets a few days—or nights, rather—off next month. She'll come here then. I'm sure she'll explain everything."
"This has got to be some kind of a joke," Xavier moaned, head in his hands.
"I don't see what's so bad about it," Kestral said reasonably.
"Think about it Kes. She's a spy. A pregnant spy. Spies are supposed to be unobtrusive. Is there anything less unobtrusive than a pregnant spy? Oh, bloody hell," he added as the laptop on his desk began beeping incessantly. "What do you want?" The question, delivered in a moan, was directed at the computer.
"It's out of battery," Kestral informed him.
"Damn," Xavier muttered, looking around for the chord.
"By your left foot," Kestral said helpfully. Xavier's head disappeared beneath the desk as he dived for it. He came up, triumphantly holding the chord in one hand just as the laptop gave one last loud and protesting beep before the screen went black.
Xavier gave a shout of frustration and collapsed backward into his chair, running his fingers through his thick dark hair.
"I told them I needed a new computer. I told them the battery was crap. I told them...Why me? Why do theses things always happen to me!"
"Xavier, calm down. Everything will be fine; just calm down!"
"I need a vacation," he moaned.
"Erika, I have a present for you," Marcus said to her one morning a week after Selene's arrival and a month after the banquet. They were in their chambers, preparing to sleep though the daylight hours.
He held out a little wrapped packaged. Erika took it and took off the paper that enclosed it, looking at Marcus speculatively, wondering what it could be. Under the paper there was a little box that looked like a jewelry box. And beneath the lid...
"Oh!" Erika exclaimed. "It's beautiful!"
Inside the box was a necklace very similar to Lucian's. It was crest shaped and adorned with an impossibly intricate Celtic design, with a dark sapphire in the center in the shape of an M. M for Marcus.
Marcus lifted it out of the box and undid the clasp. Erika turned and held her hair out of his way as he fastened it around her neck.
"This marks you as my consort," he told her. "It will allow you to go wherever you like in Ordoghaz." She faced him, smiling so happily that he had to kiss her. She melted in his embrace, a sweet happiness racing from his lips through her entire body. The kiss deepened, his tongue engaging hers in amorous combat. Her hands slipped under his shirt, feeling the lean muscle beneath his skin. He growled with pleasure and his mouth fell from her lips to her neck where his fangs scraped against her jugular, never breaking the skin.
This was so wonderful, Erika thought. She would miss it when it was over. Her experiences with Kraven had taught her that a man in power would not stay amused by a mere servant girl. She was still a little awed by the fact that Marcus, the oldest and undisputedly the most powerful of all the vampyres now that Viktor was dead, had chosen her to be his consort, no matter how long it lasted.
They were on the bed now, Erika realized as she felt Marcus's soft sheets beneath her now bare back. how they had gotten there, she didn't really know. Or care.
Marcus propped himself up on his elbow, watching Erika. She was so beautiful asleep. Her blond hair was spread out on the pillow almost like a hallo, framing her pale face. Her dark eyelashes contrasted sharply with her fair skin. His pendant hung around her neck, invisible under the covers, but the chain lay on her neck, the gold sparkling faintly in the dim light, a smile touched her lips as she turned in her sleep, caught in a dream. Her golden hair tumbled across her face. Gently, he brushed it away, and she woke at his soft touch.
"Sleep well?" he asked. Erika smiled and nodded. She had had the most wonderful dream. She had dreamt that Marcus had made her his consort. She stretched a little and felt something shift around her neck. Looking down she saw the pendant from her dream.
It wasn't a dream, she realized happily. She slipped her arms around Marcus's neck, pressing her lips to his. The passion rose quickly, as it always did. His lips wandered from hers, tracing the path to her neck with his mouth. As his fangs grazed her jugular, she sensed that he wanted to bite her.
"You can, you know," she whispered huskily. In all the times they had made love, they had never shared blood, something Erika longed to do. His eyes changed from hazel to a crystalline shade of blue as his already abnormally sharp canines elongated into vampiric fangs. She tilted her head back, baring her throat for him. After glancing at her one more time to be sure this was all right, he sank his teeth into her creamy skin.
Marcus moaned inwardly as Erika's naturally cool blood flowed into his mouth and down his throat. It had been such a long time since he had drank real blood. The cloned plasma that normally nourished the coven was tasteless in comparison to the tangy, metallic liquid that now coursed down his throat.
After a few minutes, he forced himself to remember that he mustn't drink all of his consort's blood and pulled away, licking blood from his lips. When he looked at Erika, her lips were parted and her eyes were closed. When she felt that he was done, she opened her eyes, now an icy blue. Marcus titled his head, silently telling her that she could feast upon his blood, if she wished.
She accepted his invitation, piercing his skin with her sharp fangs. Erika had never turned a human, nor sampled any of her fellow vampires' blood, and was extremely surprised by the delicious taste of the Elder's blood that filled her mouth and swamped her sense. She drank greedily for a few moments, before pulling her mouth away, embarrassed to be drinking the blood of an Elder.
They resumed kissing, licking the remaining blood from each other's lips and mouth. Hands roamed, exploring familiar territory, and Erika hoped fervently that Marcus's interest in her would last longer than Kraven's.
Michael walked down the stairs for his meeting with Raze. It had been a week since Viktor's death, and though he went out every night looking for Selene, he could not pick up her scent anywhere. It was as though she had vanished from the face of the earth.
He wished he could find her. Though he had known her for only three days before she left, he missed her terribly, much more than he had ever missed René.
He opened the door to the study where he was to meet Raze.
"Michael," Raze said when his young leader walked in. "How was last night?"
"Futile, as always," Michael replied with a sigh. He had returned to Frarkas Kikötõ, the lycan manor, long after midnight to collapse into bed and have his sleep haunted by the same terrifying dream that he could never remember.
"Did you ever consider that maybe there's a reason for that?" Raze asked pointedly.
Michael opened his mouth to reply hotly, then the implications of what Raze said sank in.
"What are you implying?" he asked suspiciously. He and Raze disagreed strongly on the subject of Selene.
"Nothing; I just think that maybe the reason you can't find her is because she doesn't want to be found."
"What do you mean?"
"The night she left," Raze said, almost hesitantly, "I ran into her on her way out." He really didn't want to tell Michael this, but he needed to get his leader's attention focused on the lycans and not on that vampire bitch. "She asked me to make sure you stayed with us, instead of following her. She left for a reason, Michael, and she doesn't want you with her, wherever she's gone. We need you to concentrate on the lycans, not on her." Raze was blunt with his young and inexperienced commander. "The war is far from over, Michael, and we need you alert, and on our side." Michael nodded and sank into an armchair.
"I'm sorry, Raze, it's just...I don't understand why she left. And seeing as it's the second time that a woman has left me, I'm starting to wonder if maybe there's something wrong with me." Raze said nothing, just raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Michael glanced at him and proceeded to explain about René.
"Marcus," Erika said. They were still in bed, and dusk was not far off.
"Hmm?"
"You never told me about Viktor."
"Huh?"
"Remember, before the banquet you started to tell me about someone Viktor killed because of his hatred of the lycans." Marcus looked at her, surprised she had remembered, and wishing she hadn't.
"Oh, it wasn't anyone important."
"Don't avoid the question Marcus. Who did he kill?"
Marcus sighed heavily. He really didn't want to tell his new consort about that part of his life, but he knew if he didn't tell, she would get someone else to.
"His daughter. Sonja." By this point, Marcus was out of bed and looking for his clothes.
"His daughter?" she squeaked in surprise. "Why?"
"She was pregnant with that dog Lucian's child. Viktor feared a hybrid, so he had her burned alive."
Erika said nothing for several minutes, trying to comprehend it.
"You loved her, didn't you?" came her voice from the bed. Her words were whispered, almost too quietly for him to hear.
Marcus froze in the middle of buttoning his shirt. How had she known? How had she guessed? He quickly resumed buttoning, and when he had finished, he turned to her.
"Yes."
"Is that why you hate Viktor so much? Why you let Selene back into the manor, even though she killed an Elder? Because of Sonja? Because he killed her and Selene killed him?"
"Yes. But now that I have you, it doesn't matter anymore." He bent and kissed her forehead. "I have to go; I have a meeting with the Death Dealers in a few minutes but I'll see you in the morning." He walked out the door, blowing her a kiss before he shut it, leaving her with much to think about.
Michael followed Raze into the empty subway station. They were on the hunt, and the smell of their prey was strong. They had been tracking the Death Dealers for about an hour, and had finally caught up. Michael was anxious for the battle to begin. He couldn't wait to try out his hybrid form again, and relieve some of his stress and tension by doing some major Death Dealer ass-kicking.
"They're in here," Raze said, his deep voice reverberating off the walls of the empty subway station. Michael looked around, trying to see the vampires he knew were hiding somewhere, and realized with a shock that it was the same subway station where he's first seen Selene. He felt a pang of loss as he remembered, wishing she was there with him.
He glanced at Raze and saw that the big black lycan was already halfway through the change. Michael followed his example, and took off his shirt and threw himself into the change, half dreading it, remembering the pain that had accompanied his first change.
But this time there was no pain as his skin darkened and his bones began to reconfigure themselves. His eyes changed, becoming the pitch-black of a hybrid, and his vision altering to the colorless world of the wolf.
The transformation complete, he sniffed the air for any hint of his prey. There was one behind the pillar not 10 feet in front of him. He lunged towards the vampire and was met with three bullets slamming into his chest. Thanks to Selene's bite, the silver nitrate bullets didn't do any permanent damage, but they did hurt. He slashed at the hand holding the Death Dealer's gun and sent it spinning to the floor.
The Death Dealer's eyes followed it, a look of terror on his face as his only weapon was torn from his grasp.
Michael took advantage of the Dealer's inattention and slashed him across the chest with his sharp claws, cutting through the vampire's leathers and into his skin.
The Dealer tried to jump back and dodge the hybrid's next blow, but Michael had anticipated him and moved forward, slashed with claws again, this time at the vampire's face. The Dealer threw a wild punch at Michael, which he easily dodged, and then leaped back trying to dodge the blow he thought was coming. But Michael had seen how close the vampire had come to the edge of the tracks, and feinted to one side, causing the vampire to fall off the platform and into the tracks. As he scrambled to his feet, angrily hissing and showing his fangs, a train whistle could be heard. The pale undead whirled and saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
"Fuck," he swore, trying to scramble back up onto the platform. But he couldn't get up before the metro slammed into him, making a wet crunching noise as his body was crushed beneath the tracks. The human in Michael was sickened by the noise and his stomach reeled, but in his hybrid form the human was not in control.
Michael glanced at Raze, and saw that the more experienced lycan had already dispatched two other Death Dealers and was now feasting on one of them. Michael approached cautiously. His prey had been smashed to bits by the train, and he wanted to share the meal, but knew that lycans might be more territorial in wolfen form than in human form. But Raze did not even look up from his meal as Michael approached. The hybrid dipped his head and began to tear off bits of flesh to devour.
Just before they reached Farkas Kikötõ, Michael, who'd spent the walk back contemplating what he'd just done, was struck by a wave of nausea.
I just ate a vampire, he thought, and ran over to retch behind a tree.
Michael woke with the now-familiar dry throat and sweaty skin that nearly always accompanied the dream.
20 damn nights now, he thought, swinging his legs out of bed and stretching. Every night since Viktor's death he had had the dream.
You'd think I'd remember the stupid thing.
He showered and dressed, and was about to head down stairs for his morning meeting with Raze when a knock sounded on his door.
"Come in," he called from the bathroom, where he was inspecting his damp brown hair and wondering if he should cut it.
A serving girl opened the door. "A letter for you, master."
"A letter?" Michael's heart leapt; maybe it was from Selene. He wondered what her handwriting looked like. But when he took the envelope from the girl, the writing he saw was not the unfamiliar style that may or may not have been Selene's, but the all-too-familiar flowing script of René.
Michael sat in the driver's seat of a silver Viper, the wind streaming in through the open windows, ruffling his long hair. It had been five days since he had received René's letter and it was nearly midnight. There were probably vampires all over the place, but Michael did not particularly care. He needed to clear his head.
He was over René; there was no doubt about that. But what they had had together had been wonderful and he did miss it. And then there was Selene. He definitely wanted to have that with the icy vampiress, but how long could he wait for her? René wanted him to take her back, according to her letter. Could he really give up any chance he might yet have with the pale, beautiful, immortal, British vampiress that was Selene to go back to his needy American wife?