For over seventy years the peace Michael and I fought so hard to create managed to balance on the edge of a sword, carefully maintained by Xanatos, Raze, Michael, and Eric. I finally managed to enjoy the early years of motherhood in raising Elise, my daughter. She grew into an awkard mix of Michael and myself, and had come to the age where a human child begins to discover herself. At fifteen, Elise was as headstrong as I was, with all the charm of her father and my blatant disregard for authority. It was her love for her brother that kept her going. She made no secret of disliking the life into which she had been born. Though Elise never once showed a single sign of inheriting our blood curse, we protected her from the sun, assigned her a constant bodyguard detail, and educated her in the skills she would need to survive. Michael would have been happier if she hadn't been toting guns at twelve, but I felt the need to protect her the best way I could. To me, it was empowering her by teaching her the skills to take care of herself. At that time it was all merely a precaution. Had I known what was to come, I'd have pushed my daughter even harder...
Elise rolled over and smacked the clock's snooze button for the third time. "Elise Renee Corvin, if you don't get out of bed so your father can drop you off at Miss Haverley's immediately, you won't be going to visit Eric next week!" Elise leapt out of bed. Of all the things she loved in the world, Eric, her older brother, was the greatest love of all.
"Co-ming!" she called, pulling the black, tube neck sweater over her head. Her red-brown hair was cut shoulder-length and straight. It framed her face around the edges. At fifteen, she was defiant and every inch her mother's daughter; stubborn, beautiful, and a dead shot with a gun in her hand. She met her own blue-eyed gaze in the mirror and bent over for her book bag.Her father was standing framed in the doorway, smiling.
"Are you ready, Sweetheart?" Her father's eternally youthful face looked back at her from the reflection.
"What's up with Mum"
"She's heard from Raze again. I'm sure it's extremely important by the way she hasn't left the computer for over two hours. Come on, let's get you to Lynn. She's a busy woman." Elise sighed. Lynn Haverley was the private tutor hired by her brother Eric to get her through schooling in private. Unlike most girls her age, Elise traveled with a bodyguard at all times and attended night lessons. In fact, the whole household lived a reverse schedule from the rest of the world. This was partially because unlike other girls her age, Elise was the daughter of Hybrids, a cross between Lycans and Vampires. And if that wasn't odd enough, her older brother was a full sixty years older than her, but looked twenty-two, and he was the ruler of the entire Underworld, a precariously-balanced union of Vampires and Lycans.
In her present state as daughter of the two beings responsible for the peace between the races of he night, Elise was the primary sufferer of inflated expectations. Every step she took was closely monitored by the entire society, and she couldn't help but hate it.
"Dad, how long will we be staying this time?" Elise asked. She was referring to their visit with Eric, Michael knew. He glanced over at his daughter before opening the driver's-side door and sliding in.
"If I tell you, you can't tell your mother you know," he answered conspiritorially. She nodded her agreement. "There's a big meeting there to decide on how to divide the two factions into smaller pieces so that it is easier to run things. Knowing our kind, it will take a month at least. So naturally, we planned ahead. We're taking two months to visit your brother"
"No way!" Michael just nodded. It was twilight, the last light of day fading from the sky had painted the hillside violet. He stopped in front of Lynn's house, and the car following them stopped as well. The house was ancient, a manor house with well-groomed lawns and stone lions guarding the gateway to the long drive. Gravel ground beneath the tires of their car as Michael inched forward to the door. Kaman, Elise's bodyguard, climbed out and waited for them to say goodbye. Michael leaned across and hugged his daughter, not knowing that this would be a very significant farewell. For as he watched his daughter and her bodyguard enter Lynn's residence, a series of complicated tripwires and gears started a chain reaction. As he was about to pull away, the old manor house exploded in a colossal column of red flame, belching black smoke into the sky.
Elise felt the ground tremble beneath her feet, and the next thing she knew, Kaman was throwing himself over her. The man was a giant, nearly seven feet tall, with muscles standing out on his tanned skin like sculpted iron. When he landed on top of her, she smashed her head into the paving stones on the front porch. The world slowly faded from view, the brilliant orange and crimson shadows replaced by blackness.
Michael reversed the car, cursing angrily as he fought with the hand brake. He flung himself from the vehicle on all fours, hackles raised as he continued forward into the flames, driven wild with concern for his child. He found Kaman, who was dragging her still form away from the ruin. The man was bleeding in numerous places where shrapnel had entered his back through the leather vest he always wore. Michael relieved him of his burden, listening for breath and checking her over. Her wrist was completely shattered, a few ribs cracked or broken. With sudden realization, he clapped Kaman on the shoulder. "Stay here," he ordered. Kaman nodded, cocking his gun. Both men had realized that Lynn was probably still inside. The odds against her living were stacked too high to ignore, but Michael wanted to be certain. The blaze had caught the eye of a neighbor, who had called for a fire crew. Kaman boldly stood guard over the car, moving Elise onto the back seat and standing proud as though uninjured. A firefighter made to question him, but Kaman just shook his head.
Michael moved delicately along the burning floorboards, calling Lynn's name. He finally found her gesturing frantically to him in the lounge, where by a stroke of luck the piano had broken the fall of a smouldering ceiling beam. The seasoned oak crackled white-hot. Michael extracted her from her hiding place and heaved her over his shoulder, side-stepping some falling pitch as he went. The firefighters greeted him at the door, but he shouldered them aside. "I'm a doctor," he coughed, gasping frantically for fresh air. The men moved out of the way as he laid Lynn on the grass well away from the house and examined her. "Just some smoke inhalation. Are you all right?" She nodded, holding her head in her hands. "Come on, we'll take you with us," he said. He helped her into the waiting car, and before anyone could question them, they were off, tires squealing on the pavement. Michael clutched the steering wheel in trembling hands. "Thank you, my friend," he said to Kaman, who grinned crookedly.
"Don't be thanking me yet. I think Miss Selene might have something to say to me about how I didn't check the property"
Michael said nothing in reply. His brain was working furiously. The house had to have been deliberately targeted, and by someone with more than the average human knowledge of the Underworld. With Elise visible in the rearview, Michael felt his blood rising. Someone had chosen Elise as a target. That someone would pay dearly.