A/N: Short note this time. I'm too tired to write a long one. In case
you're wondering, this chapter is named after the Elton John song called
The Bitch is Back. If you've never heard it before, you should. It's a good
song. Thanks to all those who reviewed. I think I'm going to thank every
single reviewer in my last chapter, so if you want me to thank you, you
better hurry and review!!
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue
~~~
Chapter 11: The Bitch is Back
"So that's it then, isn't it?" Xavier said as he set the pen down. The party was over, and he and Kestral had just finished signing the contract that detailed the agreements of the alliance between the renegades and the lycans.
Raze nodded, putting the pen away and picking up the contract. He glanced at it, making sure that all three signatures were in their proper places. Michael had already signed it before he went to talk to Selene, telling Raze that he would probably be back soon, but if he wasn't, that he was not to be disturbed for any reason other than the manor catching fire.
"Ready to go?" Xavier asked Kestral, obviously anxious to get out of the lycan manor.
"Yeah."
They turned to go, but Xavier stopped and asked Kestral, "Where's Selene? She didn't leave early, did she?"
"Not exactly. Are you ready or not?"
"We can't leave without her."
"Trust me," Kestral said, putting her hands on Xavier shoulders and pushing him out the door, "We can, and, in the best interests of preserving your life, we need to."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that Selene will not be happy if we bother her where she is right now."
"But where is she?"
"Xavier?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up." Kestral's patience was obviously beginning to wear thin.
Xavier obeyed, hearing the irritation in Kestral's voice, but he still wondered where Selene was that she would not like being disturbed. She hadn't even wanted to go. So where was she?
~~~
Michael turned to face Selene, wondering how he could tell her about René.
"Michael? Who is she?" Selene repeated, sitting up in bed, pulling the sheets up to cover herself.
"Well um, you see...it's difficult to explain...um..."
Selene grabbed her clothes from where they lay near the foot of the bed, and quickly dressed herself. Fully clothed, she was able to stand and cross her arms over her chest as she demanded, "What haven't you told me Michael? Who is she?"
Seeing she wasn't going to stop until she got and answer, Michael sighed and said, "René is my wife."
"Your WHAT!" Selene shouted.
"Shhh! She's just downstairs! She's my wife. She left me three years ago for a dentist and I hadn't heard from her since then until she started sending me letters a few weeks after Viktor died. I never answered her letters, and when she called me I hung up on her, and—"
"I can't believe this!" Selene exclaimed, cutting him off. "You're married! Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Because I didn't think it was that important. I mean, I hadn't heard from her in three years."
"Not important!"
"I've been planning on divorcing her!"
"That's great, Michael, it really is. But why is she here?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out, and I'd like you to come with me."
"Why?" Selene demanded.
He stepped forward and gripped her hands, uncrossing her arms. "I told you last night that I loved you, and I don't care who knows it. That includes René. I don't love her anymore; maybe I never did. I love you, and I want her to know, to see that I have moved on. So will you come?"
Selene nodded, and sat down to pull on her shoes. "But I'm taking a gun with me!"
Michael waited as she struggled with the straps of the unfamiliar shoes, then suggested, "Why don't you borrow something of mine?"
Selene stared at him, then shrugged.
~~~
René waited at the bottom of the stairs for the tall black man to return, hopefully with Michael in tow. She wondered why he hadn't answered any of her letters, but she assumed they had gotten lost in the mail. She knew he still loved her. After all, how could he not? She was René, his wife, and he loved her; she knew he did.
The large black man appeared at the top of the stairs. He unnerved her a little. He wore a black trench coat, and no shirt underneath, and carried a big gun. But she assumed he was just a security guard. A really bizarre security guard, but a security guard none the less. Michael seemed to have come up in the world since she had left, living in a big manor, with security guards, and she couldn't wait to begin her life anew with him in the big manor. She wondered how much money he had now.
Michael appeared behind the large black man. He wore black slacks and a white shirt, with the top few buttons unbuttoned, revealing a bit of his chest. René smiled as she saw him. He looked so much more handsome than when they had gone their separate ways. It looked as though he had actually acquired some taste!
Then she saw the woman standing next to him, his arm around her waist, and hers around his. She wore a pair of ill-fitted jeans and a plain dark tee- shirt René recognized as Michael's. How dare that slut wear her husband's clothes! The woman's skin was very pale, looking as though it had never seen the sun, and her hair and eyes were dark, giving her a look of mystical beauty René knew she could never compete with. And in her free hand, she held a gun. The woman seemed very comfortable with the weapon, as though she had held one in her hand from the day she was born. René sincerely hoped the woman was more security, but rather suspected she wasn't.
Michael and the strange woman came down the stairs, preceded by the large black man. When they stood in front of her, René looked resolutely at Michael, never glancing at the strange woman dressed in Michael's clothes.
"What are you doing here René?" he asked.
*Why doesn't he sound happy to see me?*
"I wanted to talk to you Michael, since you never answered any of my letters, and you hung accidentally hung up on me when I called you."
"Accidentally?" Michael snorted, and René thought the woman beside him was smirking, but she was determinedly not looking at her, so she couldn't tell for sure.
"You didn't tell me you hung up on her, Michael," the woman said.
"I didn't? I could have sworn I did." He looked at her and smiled.
"Nope."
"Must have slipped my mind." He grinned at her, and she smiled back. The woman's smile was slightly forced, and René could tell she was a little angry with him, but not very much. René cleared her throat, hoping to force Michael to look back at her, his wife. But he continued to smile at the strange woman and he started to bend his head to kiss her, but she stopped him with a movement so slight, René almost didn't see it.
She cleared her throat again. The two didn't look away from each other.
"Uh, Michael," she said.
"Did you want something René?" He looked at her, but his eyes told her that he would much rather be looking at the other woman, and René began to feel irritated.
"Michael, who is this slut! You are married to me! And I demand, as your wife, that you come here and kiss me!"
The woman brought her gun up, but Michael pushed her hand down.
"Let me handle this, Selene," he said to her. "René, this is my girlfriend Selene. She and I have been going out for almost a year now." *Not strictly true,* he thought. *But close enough!*
René opened her mouth to ask him how he dared to date another woman, but he cut her off.
"I'm sorry if you don't like it René, but I really don't care anymore. You had your chance, and you blew it when you ran off with that dentist. Now, we are in the middle of a little personal crisis, and I would appreciate it if you would leave so we can handle it. When it's been dealt with, I will be talking to a lawyer about a divorce, which I should have done a long time ago. Now, if you'll excuse us?" He started to walk past her, but she put a hand on his arm, and asked, "What sort of personal crisis?"
Michael opened his mouth, but it was Selene who spoke. "If you really want to know," she said sweetly, turning to look directly at René, a smirk tugging at her lips, "Our daughter has been kidnapped and we are on our way to get her back." She smiled at René again, and turned to the big black man behind her.
"Raze, if you would show her out? Thank you."
The large man, Raze, took hold of a protesting René's arm, and dragged her towards the door. He pushed her through the entrance to the large manor and shut the door in her face with a satisfying slam.
~~~
Selene grabbed the banister of the stairway for support as she laughed. She couldn't get her breath and she clutched at her stomach with her free hand.
Michael stared at her as if she had gone insane.
"Um, Selene...are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said between her gasps for breath. "The look on her face when I told her about Ravyn! Priceless. And when Raze shut the door in her face..." She started laughing again.
After a few moments of Selene laughing and Michael staring, Selene suddenly jumped with a little shriek, her hand diving into her pocket.
"What is it?" Michael said, concern prominent in his voice.
"My cell phone," Selene said, brandishing the offending machine. "It's set on vibrate." She opened it and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Selene!" Xavier shouted on the other end. "Where the bloody hell are you?"
"At Farkas Kikötõ," Selene said calmly. "Where did you think?"
"You get your vampiric ass back here! We have a lot to do before the lycans get here."
"Chill Xavier, I'll be there soon." She snapped the phone shut without waiting to hear Xavier's reply. "Who was that?" Michael asked.
"Xavier. He wants me to get my 'vampiric ass' back to the renegade manor. Apparently, we're hosting the pre-storm-the-castle meeting, and Xavier needs me to help set up."
"I'll give you a ride."
~~~
"Nice car," Selene said when she saw his Viper.
"Thanks." Michael pulled out his keys and unlocked the doors before going around to the driver's side.
"I can drive," Selene offered.
"Umm... that's okay," Michael declined, remembering the last time he'd been in a car with Selene in the driver's seat. He thought he could live without another experience like that one. Especially since this car was much nicer than hers had been and there was no telling what she might end up doing to his car.
Selene shrugged. "If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
~~~
Selene stared out the window as they drove in silence. Rain had begun to fall, and Selene found the sound of the drops falling was soothing to her nerves, which were beginning to fray with an anxiety she could never let Michael—or anyone else—see.
A battle was approaching. A battle for her daughter's life.
*If she's still alive,* Selene thought. It had been three days since Ravyn's birth, and Selene had no idea where Marcus had taken her, nor what he was feeding her. She hoped her baby was getting along alright without her mother's milk.
Her heart and mind argues within her. Her heart demanded the death of Marcus, the man who had stolen her child from her. But her mind insisted that if she killed him, she would not get off as easily for Marcus's murder as she had for Viktor's.
She debated it all the way to the renegade manor, never letting Michael see her in turmoil.
Michael saw Selene slip on her stony, unreadable Death Dealer expression, and knew what she was thinking about. The same thoughts raged in his mind. What if they couldn't get Ravyn back? Would he lose his daughter before he even saw her?
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue
~~~
Chapter 11: The Bitch is Back
"So that's it then, isn't it?" Xavier said as he set the pen down. The party was over, and he and Kestral had just finished signing the contract that detailed the agreements of the alliance between the renegades and the lycans.
Raze nodded, putting the pen away and picking up the contract. He glanced at it, making sure that all three signatures were in their proper places. Michael had already signed it before he went to talk to Selene, telling Raze that he would probably be back soon, but if he wasn't, that he was not to be disturbed for any reason other than the manor catching fire.
"Ready to go?" Xavier asked Kestral, obviously anxious to get out of the lycan manor.
"Yeah."
They turned to go, but Xavier stopped and asked Kestral, "Where's Selene? She didn't leave early, did she?"
"Not exactly. Are you ready or not?"
"We can't leave without her."
"Trust me," Kestral said, putting her hands on Xavier shoulders and pushing him out the door, "We can, and, in the best interests of preserving your life, we need to."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that Selene will not be happy if we bother her where she is right now."
"But where is she?"
"Xavier?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up." Kestral's patience was obviously beginning to wear thin.
Xavier obeyed, hearing the irritation in Kestral's voice, but he still wondered where Selene was that she would not like being disturbed. She hadn't even wanted to go. So where was she?
~~~
Michael turned to face Selene, wondering how he could tell her about René.
"Michael? Who is she?" Selene repeated, sitting up in bed, pulling the sheets up to cover herself.
"Well um, you see...it's difficult to explain...um..."
Selene grabbed her clothes from where they lay near the foot of the bed, and quickly dressed herself. Fully clothed, she was able to stand and cross her arms over her chest as she demanded, "What haven't you told me Michael? Who is she?"
Seeing she wasn't going to stop until she got and answer, Michael sighed and said, "René is my wife."
"Your WHAT!" Selene shouted.
"Shhh! She's just downstairs! She's my wife. She left me three years ago for a dentist and I hadn't heard from her since then until she started sending me letters a few weeks after Viktor died. I never answered her letters, and when she called me I hung up on her, and—"
"I can't believe this!" Selene exclaimed, cutting him off. "You're married! Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Because I didn't think it was that important. I mean, I hadn't heard from her in three years."
"Not important!"
"I've been planning on divorcing her!"
"That's great, Michael, it really is. But why is she here?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out, and I'd like you to come with me."
"Why?" Selene demanded.
He stepped forward and gripped her hands, uncrossing her arms. "I told you last night that I loved you, and I don't care who knows it. That includes René. I don't love her anymore; maybe I never did. I love you, and I want her to know, to see that I have moved on. So will you come?"
Selene nodded, and sat down to pull on her shoes. "But I'm taking a gun with me!"
Michael waited as she struggled with the straps of the unfamiliar shoes, then suggested, "Why don't you borrow something of mine?"
Selene stared at him, then shrugged.
~~~
René waited at the bottom of the stairs for the tall black man to return, hopefully with Michael in tow. She wondered why he hadn't answered any of her letters, but she assumed they had gotten lost in the mail. She knew he still loved her. After all, how could he not? She was René, his wife, and he loved her; she knew he did.
The large black man appeared at the top of the stairs. He unnerved her a little. He wore a black trench coat, and no shirt underneath, and carried a big gun. But she assumed he was just a security guard. A really bizarre security guard, but a security guard none the less. Michael seemed to have come up in the world since she had left, living in a big manor, with security guards, and she couldn't wait to begin her life anew with him in the big manor. She wondered how much money he had now.
Michael appeared behind the large black man. He wore black slacks and a white shirt, with the top few buttons unbuttoned, revealing a bit of his chest. René smiled as she saw him. He looked so much more handsome than when they had gone their separate ways. It looked as though he had actually acquired some taste!
Then she saw the woman standing next to him, his arm around her waist, and hers around his. She wore a pair of ill-fitted jeans and a plain dark tee- shirt René recognized as Michael's. How dare that slut wear her husband's clothes! The woman's skin was very pale, looking as though it had never seen the sun, and her hair and eyes were dark, giving her a look of mystical beauty René knew she could never compete with. And in her free hand, she held a gun. The woman seemed very comfortable with the weapon, as though she had held one in her hand from the day she was born. René sincerely hoped the woman was more security, but rather suspected she wasn't.
Michael and the strange woman came down the stairs, preceded by the large black man. When they stood in front of her, René looked resolutely at Michael, never glancing at the strange woman dressed in Michael's clothes.
"What are you doing here René?" he asked.
*Why doesn't he sound happy to see me?*
"I wanted to talk to you Michael, since you never answered any of my letters, and you hung accidentally hung up on me when I called you."
"Accidentally?" Michael snorted, and René thought the woman beside him was smirking, but she was determinedly not looking at her, so she couldn't tell for sure.
"You didn't tell me you hung up on her, Michael," the woman said.
"I didn't? I could have sworn I did." He looked at her and smiled.
"Nope."
"Must have slipped my mind." He grinned at her, and she smiled back. The woman's smile was slightly forced, and René could tell she was a little angry with him, but not very much. René cleared her throat, hoping to force Michael to look back at her, his wife. But he continued to smile at the strange woman and he started to bend his head to kiss her, but she stopped him with a movement so slight, René almost didn't see it.
She cleared her throat again. The two didn't look away from each other.
"Uh, Michael," she said.
"Did you want something René?" He looked at her, but his eyes told her that he would much rather be looking at the other woman, and René began to feel irritated.
"Michael, who is this slut! You are married to me! And I demand, as your wife, that you come here and kiss me!"
The woman brought her gun up, but Michael pushed her hand down.
"Let me handle this, Selene," he said to her. "René, this is my girlfriend Selene. She and I have been going out for almost a year now." *Not strictly true,* he thought. *But close enough!*
René opened her mouth to ask him how he dared to date another woman, but he cut her off.
"I'm sorry if you don't like it René, but I really don't care anymore. You had your chance, and you blew it when you ran off with that dentist. Now, we are in the middle of a little personal crisis, and I would appreciate it if you would leave so we can handle it. When it's been dealt with, I will be talking to a lawyer about a divorce, which I should have done a long time ago. Now, if you'll excuse us?" He started to walk past her, but she put a hand on his arm, and asked, "What sort of personal crisis?"
Michael opened his mouth, but it was Selene who spoke. "If you really want to know," she said sweetly, turning to look directly at René, a smirk tugging at her lips, "Our daughter has been kidnapped and we are on our way to get her back." She smiled at René again, and turned to the big black man behind her.
"Raze, if you would show her out? Thank you."
The large man, Raze, took hold of a protesting René's arm, and dragged her towards the door. He pushed her through the entrance to the large manor and shut the door in her face with a satisfying slam.
~~~
Selene grabbed the banister of the stairway for support as she laughed. She couldn't get her breath and she clutched at her stomach with her free hand.
Michael stared at her as if she had gone insane.
"Um, Selene...are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said between her gasps for breath. "The look on her face when I told her about Ravyn! Priceless. And when Raze shut the door in her face..." She started laughing again.
After a few moments of Selene laughing and Michael staring, Selene suddenly jumped with a little shriek, her hand diving into her pocket.
"What is it?" Michael said, concern prominent in his voice.
"My cell phone," Selene said, brandishing the offending machine. "It's set on vibrate." She opened it and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Selene!" Xavier shouted on the other end. "Where the bloody hell are you?"
"At Farkas Kikötõ," Selene said calmly. "Where did you think?"
"You get your vampiric ass back here! We have a lot to do before the lycans get here."
"Chill Xavier, I'll be there soon." She snapped the phone shut without waiting to hear Xavier's reply. "Who was that?" Michael asked.
"Xavier. He wants me to get my 'vampiric ass' back to the renegade manor. Apparently, we're hosting the pre-storm-the-castle meeting, and Xavier needs me to help set up."
"I'll give you a ride."
~~~
"Nice car," Selene said when she saw his Viper.
"Thanks." Michael pulled out his keys and unlocked the doors before going around to the driver's side.
"I can drive," Selene offered.
"Umm... that's okay," Michael declined, remembering the last time he'd been in a car with Selene in the driver's seat. He thought he could live without another experience like that one. Especially since this car was much nicer than hers had been and there was no telling what she might end up doing to his car.
Selene shrugged. "If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
~~~
Selene stared out the window as they drove in silence. Rain had begun to fall, and Selene found the sound of the drops falling was soothing to her nerves, which were beginning to fray with an anxiety she could never let Michael—or anyone else—see.
A battle was approaching. A battle for her daughter's life.
*If she's still alive,* Selene thought. It had been three days since Ravyn's birth, and Selene had no idea where Marcus had taken her, nor what he was feeding her. She hoped her baby was getting along alright without her mother's milk.
Her heart and mind argues within her. Her heart demanded the death of Marcus, the man who had stolen her child from her. But her mind insisted that if she killed him, she would not get off as easily for Marcus's murder as she had for Viktor's.
She debated it all the way to the renegade manor, never letting Michael see her in turmoil.
Michael saw Selene slip on her stony, unreadable Death Dealer expression, and knew what she was thinking about. The same thoughts raged in his mind. What if they couldn't get Ravyn back? Would he lose his daughter before he even saw her?