"This Royal Dark faction sounds like a separatist movement to me," Michael remarked from his seat on a chaise lounge in the room he and Selene shared on their visits.
"Agreed," Selene replied. "This faction is threatening to cause a second race war. Raze has been more than patient. I wouldn't be surprised if the younger Lycans are champing at the bit for a chance to fight these Vampires. Raze will have to give into pressure or risk losing control eventually. I'd hate to see all of our hard work undone." Her tone was surprisingly subdued. Selene had always seemed to know what to do. Indeed, it was she that had taught him to survive in his critical first moments as an immortal. Her obvious lack of an answer was rather unnerving. She was pacing irritably back and forth, hand resting on a loaded gun.
"We'll be of no use just pacing and wondering, Love. Better for us to try and rest. We'll think more clearly after we sleep. I'll go check on Elise." Selene nodded absently.
Michael found both of his children sitting in Elise's room. Elise was lying with her head in Eric's lap. They were conversing in rather low tones. Afraid to intrude, Michael left them to their own devices and returned to Selene. "I was extremely worried for you, Elise. More than anything, I thought they'd find you dead somewhere. You're the hope of our entire family, you know."
"But why?" Elise challenged. "Mum is always lecturing and closing doors. Dad is too jovial all the time. It's like all of you are hiding something from me. I'm not a baby anymore. I know how to use a weapon, tie my own shoes, and everything. All the restrictions placed on me only make me wonder even more. What's so scary about knowing who we are?"
"Have you ever seen a Lycan like Raze or Kaman shift form? Or a Vampire like Xanatos go crazed with lust for blood?"
"No," Elise admitted.
"If you can imagine every muscle in your body ripping as it expands to double the size, feel your ribs rip away from your organs, and your entire face stretch to make room for your enlarging canines, you get only a small idea of what it's like to be a Lycan. If you could feel your need for blood take all reason and memory of who you were and dash it on the rocks until all you can feel is the hunger pains, you have some semblance of what it must be like to be a Vampire." Elise could see the intense pain in her brother's eyes.
"Tell me the truth, Eric. I need to know. Tell me about Mum and Dad." As Eric went into the truth about what he knew, Elise grew more and more sobered by the world she had just walked into. The way her brother described the race wars and the meeting between her mother and father made her feel extremely ashamed of her earlier actions indeed. When Eric got to the part where she was born, he went into deeper explanation, telling her about how her parents had hoped to give her a normal life until she came of age at twenty-one, at which point the decision would have been up to her as to what she wanted to do. She had, unfortunately, foiled her parents' plans to protect her from the Underworld, and although she felt the thrill of learning the secrets, she managed to feel slight remorse for the blissful unawareness she had before she'd become a target of terrorist attack.
"You can understand now why you became a natural target. You really were the hope of our family, the closest of us to knowing a normal life. If something were to happen to you, I think the entire family would be thrown out of balance. Mum's only severe because she doesn't want to see you hurt. She has a different way of handling her emotions than Dad. You'll have to learn to forgive her." Elise nodded slowly. She wondered if she was ready to know what she would undoubtedly learn while sitting in on Council sessions, but did not voice this thought aloud.
"I didn't mean to be the cause of a serious problem," Elise said quietly.
"You truly had nothing to do with it. You just happen to be my sister. However, you can understand now why running off like you did was a bad idea." Elise felt numb inside. More and more, she began to long for the semi-normal life she had led up until a few days past. There was something about Eric that had changed to her, made her wonder what sort of beast lurked below the surface waiting to come out. Like her mother, Eric looked more like a feral beast than a man. Elise wondered if the same things would happen to her. Fear of the beast she might become filled her nightmares when she finally drifted off into a fitful sleep.