Viktor was dead.
Amelia was dead.
Lucian was dead.
The Manor was in an uproar and with the council assassinated, the Death Dealers were left to try and sustain a vague semblance of order. But Death Dealers were warriors, not peace keepers or politicians. And to make Aurelia's job just that little bit harder, Marcus had gone mysteriously missing from his tomb.
With most of Kahn's top team missing, including Selene, and that slime ball, Kraven and his cohorts revealed as traitors, Aurelia was the highest ranking Death Dealer left, and she wasn't enjoying this new job. By nature, Aurelia was a solitary creature. The majority of the missions that Kahn and Trix used to send her on were solo operations, two-man at the most, so this newly acquired authority was admittedly a little daunting. But Aurelia would have to adjust. In fact, they all would.
The vampire world was crumbling, the Elder's empire in shambles. But it wasn't just the vampires suffering, Aurelia was aware. The surprisingly large den of Lycans that Lucian had left behind was also in ruins since both the pack leader and his lieutenant, Raze, were both dead.
Aurelia had managed to keep the news of Marcus's missing body quiet and out of the Manor's active rumour mill. The last thing the grieving covens needed was to discover that their one last hope was missing in action.
Shockingly, all this mayhem and disarray had only come about in the last twenty-four hours.
A pair of sniffling vampire women wandered past the entrance to the armoury, wailing about how much they missed Viktor. Aurelia rolled her eyes. Those particular women were Kraven's daughters and they were less than fifty years old. They had most likely never met Viktor.
"Fools," Aurelia muttered, pulling apart and reassembling a modified AK-47 for the third time in fifteen minutes.
"Who're fools?"
Aurelia glanced up to see Erika's blonde head poking into the gun cage. The brunette didn't answer, but instead asked "Why are you here?" as she jammed a firing pin back into place.
"I was looking for some fun. Since that Lycan spilled the beans about Kraven being a conspirator and all his dastardly plotting, he became considerably less attractive, and, well, now he's gone and there's no one else to play with. Plus, it's so terrible up there, what with all the crying and the mourning and everything so I took a chance on the idea that there's always something interesting happening down here." Erika remained emotionless and completely self-centred throughout her whole rant. Aurelia felt a smirk twitch her lips.
"And here we were thinking you were fawning over Kraven because you actually liked him." The little blonde looked scandalized.
"You don't think I wanted him do you?" Erika pulled a face. "No, being with Kraven was all about power. Think about the amount of social status gained by being on his arm."
Aurelia slammed the ammunition magazine into the rifle and aimed at some far-off point behind Erika's head while she checked the scopes. "Power…" she mused, "it seems everyone in this house is after it."
It had been almost a full day. The rain still hadn't stopped and since it had gotten dark, they'd barely stopped. In fact, the longest break they'd taken since sunset was the brief pause to nab some fresh clothes for Michael, who was left half naked after his brawl with Viktor. Selene was itching to get out of the city.
By now, Marcus had surely been awoken by one of the senior coven leaders and he would be angry, wanting revenge for Amelia's and Viktor's murders. It was Viktor's death that Selene was most disturbed about. The death that she'd brought about with her own hand and his sword. She played the entire scene over and over in her mind as she strode up the streets of Budapest with Michael left trailing behind.
"Selene," Michael's voice cut through the mental motion picture in her head just as Selene was picking up Viktor's discarded sword. She paused mid-stride. He'd been trying to get her attention for the last block.
"It'll be light soon. We have to find somewhere to stay," he said in that soft, reasonable voice that only a doctor could manage to use without sounding like a moron. He took her elbow gently. "People are beginning to stare."
A group of men in janitor's uniforms who were obviously coming off the night shift were gazing at them cautiously. Selene realised they must have been a sight to see, both all dusty and sporadically spattered with blood that was both their own and from sources unknown. She nodded to Michael and they began walking again.
"Come quickly, I know a place where we should be able to shelter for a little bit, at least until tomorrow night." The pair moved away from the curious stares of the cleaners and moved up the street, passing the entrance to the South Terminal. Michael gave an almost laugh. The station was riddled with bullet holes and wrapped in police tape.
"Seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it?" At this comment, Selene couldn't help a wry smile.
"We're going up there," she stated, pointing to the tall building above them. The same towering structure from which Selene had perched only a few nights previously while stalking the Lycans. Directly across the street was where Rigel had sat, taking the pictures that would ultimately lead her to Michael.
There was a room, like a storeroom at the top of the tower that had no windows. Inside were only a few scattered maintenance supplies, so there was enough room for the vampire and the hybrid to settle in for the daylight hours.
Right around dawn, the rain cleared, and the sky turned grey with the promise of the coming sunlight. Right around dawn, the door to Selene and Michael's little sanctuary was flung open. Selene was on her feet in an instant, with her gun pointed squarely at the intruder's head. Michael was crouched on the floor, ready to attack, his eyes already- and probably unconsciously- going black. The intruder groaned and Selene gasped. Nathaniel staggered into the room and slumped to the floor. Even Michael paused at the sight of the Death Dealer, recognising him from the gunfight at the train station.
"You're supposed to be dead!" Selene exclaimed, sitting Nathaniel up and closing the door. The tall vampire chuckled wearily.
"So are you," he retorted, grunting in obvious pain. Selene winced for him. Nathaniel's eyes travelled to Michael. "You're the one they were following," he said. No one asked who he meant; they knew he was talking about the Lycans. "What the hell did they do to you?" he asked. After years of experience as a Lycan hunter, Nathaniel had learned to pick the signs of a werewolf at a hundred paces, but he obviously couldn't place the signs Michael was showing.
"He's a hybrid, Nathaniel," Selene said quietly. "One of those abominations Viktor used to preach about." She didn't tip-toe around the subject. It was something that everyone was going to have to deal with at one point or another. Nathaniel, surprisingly, didn't seem the least bit taken aback.
"Viktor's dead too. I know. I'd only just come around when I ran into what was left of Kahn and his team in the sewers. They filled me in on what had happened. They were all retreating back to the Mansion after some huge fire fight. You know, I'll never know why it is that Raze didn't actually kill me," he mused over this for a moment. "Point is that Kahn told me all he knew before we got separated."
"Separated how?" Michael piped up curiously. Nathaniel, in spite of the fact that he was having trouble breathing by now, managed a chuckle.
"Not sure, but we somehow got stuck between a train and a group of angry Lycans." Selene was amazed at how her fellow Death Dealer kept his sense of humour, even in situations as dire as this. "Anyway," he was continuing, "I got out but there wasn't enough time for me to get back to the manor before dawn and there isn't a chance of getting me back into those sewers any time soon, so I thought I'd hide up here somewhere. Good thing too, huh?" Nathaniel chuckled again, before slipping into unconsciousness. Selene moved the tall man so that he was leaning against the wall of the storeroom. There wasn't much they could do for him now. Either he'd heal like most vampires would, or he would die. Selene considered this as she settled the slumbering vampire.
"We'll sleep in shifts. Three hours each. I'll go first," she said, sitting herself on the bench, away from the crack of sunlight that was growing under the door. Michael nodded, knowing she was right and slid down the wall to sit in the corner.
"Wake me soon, alright," he insisted before allowing exhaustion to push him into blackness.
Well, that's the first chapter, please review!
I couldn't resist bringing back Nathaniel, he's such a spunk!
I could use a little help with Betaing this, so please email me if you're interested in giving me a hand. Ta!
Keep it real
Andúnië