Chapter Two: Slowly Breaking Through to Daylight

Selene flung herself upright, lungs burning for air. She looked around the room panicked, but her vision was a bit dull. She blinked and like the focus lens on a camera the images cleared. She took a moment to discover her soundings. To her left was a small television. A rocking chair sat gracefully beneath a light and was towered by a rather impressive bookshelf. To her right were the bed bars of Lily's makeshift room. She followed the wall from the bed to reveal a rather small kitchen with all the basics including a kitchen table. Directly in front of her she noticed the open door of what appeared to be the only room in the place, and the bathroom door sat on the wall just to the left of the bedroom. Thankfully, she noted, there were no windows to be found.

Glancing again at the open door she remembered. "Michael." She exhaled and moved to stand up, and was met by excruciating pain from her stomach. Clutching her abdomen she fell back to the couch.

"Oh, I wouldn't try to move too much yet."

A rather tall young woman walked out from the bathroom door and was using a pink towel to dry her ashen colored hair. It was cut short with a layer of bangs surrounding her face. They hung down, away from the rest of the hair, to frame her face. When it was dry Selene was sure it would have been quite pretty, but in its current state however it looked like a mop. Her skin was light, but held a rather tan like quality to it that seemed to match the soft exoticness of her lips. But it was her dark sapphire eyes, burning warmly from beneath their sunken sockets, which caught Selene's attention.

The girl smiled and took a step closer. She was clothed in jeans and a black sweatshirt that hung loosely about her torso. "I'm actually amazed you're even awake at all."

"Who are you?" Selene questioned as she examined the human.

Lily shook her head and lowered the towel. "I'm sorry Selene. I'm Lily. I uh...found you and Michael last night." Lily could feel her heart speed up a bit. The woman made her nervous. She mentally noted that this morning the woman's eyes were now a dark, circling brown. I must have imagined the blue.

"Where is he?" Selene tried to keep the urgency out of her voice.

"Oh, he's alright. He's sleeping in my brother's room. It's nearly 10:00 at night. He woke up this morning, weak but not bleeding. We talked a little bit." She felt the need to start doing something so she moved to the kitchen area to pour herself a glass of orange juice. "Do you want something to drink?"

Selene shook her head, questions swarming her pounding skull. How did they end up here? Who was this girl? And why the hell had Michael talked to this girl without involving her? She erased the last thought. She wasn't jealous was she? She placed her head in her hands. God it hurt. "My mind is a bit foggy." She muttered.

Lily returned with her drink and sat down across from Selene in the rocking chair. "I can imagine. I removed four bullets from your stomach last night."

With the mention of her stomach the pain returned. She gently laid her hands upon it, and realized just how weak she was. She must have lost more blood than she thought. She couldn't remember the time she felt so slow and sluggish, not to mention hungry.

"The strange thing was Michael didn't have any bullets in him just the wounds, and by the time he got here his blood was already starting to clot." Lily watched Selene carefully.

Casually, Selene met Lily's eyes. "I thought you said you talked to Michael already this morning."

"I did, but he told me to ask you."

Selene studied the girl for a moment. Her face held such innocence about it, but her eyes exposed a darker side. This girl had seen and experienced things in her life. It wasn't like Selene to be so quick to tell her secrets, but there was something about the girl, the feel of the room that made her feel...well welcome. She took a deep breath and said, "What do you want to know." There was a hint of challenge in her voice, a touch of threat. Lily knew she should tread lightly.

She sat up in her chair. "Why was somebody shooting at you?"

"We have enemies." Selene said flatly.

"No shit, but why. Who are you guys?"

Selene paused. The girl was direct. Selene liked that. She pursed her lips and glanced towards the kitchen. Upon it were three books entitled, "Vampires: The Occult Truth", "Blood feud: Werewolves and Vampires", and "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer."

She looked directly at Lily. "I see no reason to tell you this. It's unimportant."

Instantly Lily became indignant. "Like hell! I saved both of your lives I think you owe me the fucking courtesy of telling me what the hell is going on."

Selene remained quite and stared.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me fine, there's the door." And she pointed up the stairs that were on the right side of the bedroom door. "However you and your lover boy are both weak and I don't think either one of you will make it very far."

Selene studied the stairs and felt the pain as she imagined trying to climb them. Dammit the girl had a point. She glared at the girl before her and with a relinquishing sigh said, "By the looks of your reading material I would say you already know."

"You're kidding." And her eyes lit up like fire. "I had a hunch, but I can't say I truly believed it. You're fucking with me." She raised an eyebrow.

Selene took a breath. "You've found yourself in the middle of a war."

"Between vampires and werewolves?"

"Lycans we like to call them."

"Holly shit." Lily covered her mouth in amazement. She really didn't know what to make of all of this.

"Michael and I were in a battle last night and as you can tell we lost."

"Michael's a lycan isn't he?"

Again Selene hesitated. "Why do you think that?"

"Because he doesn't have the vampire fangs and he heals differently, faster than you do."

"That's because Michael is a hybrid. Half vampire, half lycan. His canines will show when he changes."

Lily's eyes grew wide. "The book said that such a creation is forbidden."

Selene dropped her eyes, remembering. "It is, it was. It doesn't matter."

Lily could almost feel the hurt when the woman lowered her head. Her heart went out to the immortal, but she chose to ask the question anyways. "Why are you not with the vampires Selene?"

Closing her eyes she summoned the strength to look the girl in the face. "Because I fell in love with a lycan."

Lily didn't move. Considering all that she had read, she knew that this was treason, and that Selene must have suffered greatly for it. She's brave. Lily thought. Like Christopher.

"I'm sorry to be so prying. I just wanted to understand what was going on."

"It's alright. I wouldn't have told you if I didn't think you deserved to know, but if you don't mind I'd like to go see Michael now."

"Sure, he's asleep in there." She pointed to the door once again. "He stayed up all day with you. I never saw him leave your side."

She said nothing, and slowly rose to walk towards the room, but stopped short of the door. "Just one question...Lily."

Lily turned. "What's that?"

"How did you ever get the notion that we were immortal?"

She grinned and hinted towards her bookshelf, which Selene had noticed, was full of the great science fiction and fantasy writers. "I'm a big fantasy buff, and my brother always said to never doubt anything."

Selene nodded and entered the room.

Lily watched her leave, then grabbed her bag off the nightstand and headed up the stairs. She had an errand to run.

Selene shut the door as quietly as she could. She stood there a moment, quietly watching Michael. She liked the way his hair fell over his eyes, and the kind of eternally damp look it always had. He held his arm above his head and his mouth was slightly open. She sat down on the edge of the bed and fought the urge to brush the hair from his eyes. Her eyes moved down his body, and her mouth went dry as they came to rest up his rather toned torso. Chalk up one up for the lycans, for they certainly have nice abdominal muscles. Scared of where that line of thought might take her she quickly moved back up to his face. She could see the bandage that circumvented his head. There was a small blood mark in the center. Realizing she was losing herself she moved to get up, but a hand shout out and gently placed itself upon hers.

"Please don't go. I sleep better when you're near."

He had turned over on his side, but had kept his eyes closed. Still she could feel him looking at her. She made no move to pull away, just merely stared at him.

Enclosing her hand and slightly pulling on it he said, "Come lay with me."

"Michael." His name was released as a plea. She couldn't get near him.

He pulled her a bit closer and gently pressed his hand on her back. "You make the nightmares go away." His golden brown eyes stared directly into hers. Without words she lay down beside him, still holding his hand. He brought her hand to his lips and inched closer till he nuzzled her neck. He loved to breathe in the scent of her. It was soothing to him.

"Michael." Selene spoke softly.

Pulled back from the depths of sleep he mumbled. "Hum."

"Why did you stay awake all day?"

"I wanted to keep an eye on you. Make sure you were safe." He was talking to her neck, with eyes closed and a peaceful look on his face.

Selene squeezed his hand a bit tighter. "I didn't ask you to protect me. I don't need..."

"I know you don't Selene, but I find myself compelled to look out for you."

Selene steadied herself before asking her next question. "Why?"

Opening his eyes now, he rose up on his elbow to look her in the eyes. "Lucien told me the lycans were once the daylight guardians of the vampires. You just happen to be the only vampire I care about, so I feel 'compelled' to keep you safe." Then with the utter most gentleness he reached up and ran his finger across her forehead and down her cheek. "It's what people do when they care for someone."

"We're not normal..."

Before she could finish, Michael leaned down and covered her lips with his. He didn't push entry, merely kept them there for a moment, patiently waiting. He pulled away just enough to look her in the eye. "We're still people Selene. We're still allowed to feel emotions." He leaned down again, but stopped when he was a mere inch from her face. She could feel his breath against her lips and her heart began to beat faster. Giving into the tension she closed the distance and kissed him firmly. She pressed against his lips with her tongue and surprised to find him open for her. She began to explore the inside of his mouth, as she did so she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her.

Michael's head was spinning. He hadn't expected her to open like a flower for him, but something seemed to have been let down inside her. This was the most emotion he'd ever seen from her, and he liked it to no end. She flooded his senses, making him feel instantly drunk. He let her set the pace, but if truth be told his mind had gone so blank he no longer knew which way was up or down, but before he knew it, and definitely way before he wanted it to be, the moment ended.

Selene pulled away, keeping her eyes closed for a second longer. Her lips felt numb. Finally opening her eyes she saw the corner of his lips curve into the tiniest smile. Kissing her forehead he laid back down beside her this time wrapping his arms completely around her and pulling her close. It took her a moment to adjust to behind held, to the warmth it brought to her forever cold skin. She discovered that she liked it.

"Goodnight Michael." But he had already fallen asleep.

- - -

Well there is. Hope you guys liked. Interesting things are on the horizon so stick around, and let me know what you think.

Sweet Taloa: Thank you very much for your kind review. It is a bit of a different turn on the whole Underworld stories, but I figured it might be fun to add some new characters and spice things up a bit. Glad your enjoying it.

Wendy Dale Smith: Ah yes, this vampire stuff does tend to turn one a bit morbid doesn't it? But even more disturbing...Kate Beckinsale has a kid?? I have to say that the coincidence of the names was completely unintentional. I was never really a Kate fan until this movie (because her performance was amazing) and so I really don't know anything about her. That is creepy though! Almost makes me want to change the name, but I really like the name Lily. In fact the girl in my other fic is named Lilianna or Lily for short. I apologize for the creepiness, but thanks for reviewing!

Morrgaine: Thanks for your comments! I do promise to explain who, what, where, when, and why of Lily in the next few chapters. Keep reading and enjoy.

AquariousF5: I'm glad your enjoying it. Nothing makes an author want to post faster than praises. So, in lew of your request, here is the next chapter.