"That was
my family in there, and I left them to die.
Lucian would have ripped me apart if he'd seen what happened in
there. I thought we were prepared," Raze
growled in his unusual voice. Selene had found a new
hiding spot, an old bomb shelter with steel doors. She was busily helping him dig out the rest
of the rounds he had taken to his body. "I
have to go back!"
"You'll be of no use to them
if you're caught as well," Selene answered
calmly. "I swear it, Raze,
I'll help you get them out of that lab."
The old, flickering light illuminated shelves loaded with antiquated
foodstuffs and cobwebs that decorated the corners like dusty bits of lace. The eerie, blue glow of it did little to calm
Selene's nerves.
Now that she had been discovered, she was no longer safe. Not that she had ever been safe since she had
killed Viktor. Life had been a constant
trial, always looking over her shoulder out of fear for being followed. She shrugged the worries of her past to the
side and focused on the task at hand. "We'll
have to find a new den. Start over
again. We'll think up better, stronger
ways of dealing with the Vampires. When
Michael gets here, we'll have him to help."
"If Michael is even alive," he replied, playing on Selene's biggest fear.
"He's alive, Raze. I know it. Listen, the Death Dealers will be busy taking all of those Lycans back to the mansion for testing. I'll use the time to scour the city. If he's here, I'll find him. In the meantime, hold onto this," she said, dropping the thick, leather-bound manuscript in his lap. Her neat handwriting curled across the page. "You'll have time to regenerate while I'm away. I'll see if I can't find a computer while I'm out and find us a better place to hide." She didn't wait for an answer. Her booted feet made no noise as she ascended the stairs to the door. "I'll knock in the same way you were knocking before. Don't open this door for anyone else." She slammed the huge, steel door behind herself, listening for Raze's movement. When she was certain he had bolted it, she checked her weapons and started at the most obvious place she could think of; Michael's apartment.
She avoided the old haven like the plague, fearful of getting herself caught. Something inside was adamant that Michael was nearby, and Selene found her feet moving of their own volition. Piecing together what she had learned from Raze, she racked her brains for some sort of solution to the problem of the test-subject Lycans. Fifty years ago she wouldn't have blinked when they bled a Lycan dry. In fact, she'd most likely have been the one to bring the test subjects in. Where Michael's apartment building had once stood, there was a new development of flats with copycat yards and wrought-iron fences. It was yet another reminder of how much the world had changed. Her next instinct took her toward the old hospital, where Michael had been serving his internship when he was first sought out by Lucian. Cars passed her without so much as a second thought, and a light rain began to fall, punctuated by flashes of lightning. The sound of thunder led her hand to stray to her gun. The hospital had closed, falling into disrepair. It was a vacant space, a perfect place for Michael to hide. She decided after staring at it for a long moment to approach the emergency room doors and pry them open with her slender fingers. Ever cautious, she drew her weapon and pressed her back against the wall, and after a look around, closed the doors. White cloth covered most of the abandoned furniture, looking pale and ghostly in the natural light. Selene turned on her flashlight, illuminating the dusty floors and lighting her way. The search of the first floor proved fruitless, so she opened the fire escape doors and began the ascent to the next floor. The elevators had long since been shut off and taken down, leaving empty shafts. A creaking from above led her to cock her weapon. She clicked off her light, leaving the stairwell in total darkness. Her night vision slowly took over, allowing her to make out shadows. She pressed back against the outer wall, walking up the stairs sideways. A groaning of old metal protesting overhead made her even more nervous. She took the stairs more quickly now, trying to get level with her potential target for a cleaner shot, if the need arose. Her eyes became unfocused, and she lost her clear mind. She was so engrossed in finding her way that she screamed aloud as she brushed into something alive. Alive and breathing. The brilliant glow of a flashlight blinded her eyes. "Holy shit, Selene! You scared me!" Selene drew back from the light, blinking stars from her eyes, gun still trained on her unseen visitor. A man's figure slowly came into focus, broad-shouldered and narrow in the waist. His long hair fell across his shoulders, which were draped with blue cloth.
"Michael? Is that you?" The flashlight clattered to the floor, forgotten. His brilliant blue eyes met her amber-brown ones, and neither one seemed able to move. "I thought you were dead," she whispered, finally breaking the silence.
"Likewise," he returned softly. He reached out, his hand circling her waist, pulling her closer until their lips met, hunger and desire clear as their bodies pressed together.
As soon it had come, that flash of pleasure was gone. Selene opened her eyes. She was standing alone in the staircase, and Michael was nowhere to be seen. Dazed from the realness of it all, she sank onto her knees and held her head in her hands. She had never had such a real vision of him before in her life, and it frightened her no end. She wondered to herself if the vision had been a passing fancy, or a picture of the future. Sighing, she pulled herself together and left the way she had come, leaving behind her regrets. If Michael was gone too much longer, Selene was liable to lose it altogether.