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Answer to the riddle: a house

January 13

It has been a long night, and I don't know how much I will be able to write. But I must record this right now. I tracked down the human Leonid Forescu. He was at one of the old bath houses with his girlfriend. I'm afraid I made a long lasting impression. After spying on the was happy couple I decided that I was going to take over the situation. Subtlety has never been my strong point. I completely destroyed half of that room. At the rate I'm going, soon no 'ancient' artifacts will remain.

I picked up my two favorite guns, by twin birettas, and shot bullets in a circle around my person through the glass. As glass showered down, I fell through, shooting and killing the guards closest inside the room. I could hear Leonid's girlfriend screaming. I hit the water and went under, sheaving my guns and pulling out two shruikan, two throwing stars. I threw them at the last two guards as I shot above the water, nearly decapitating in the process. I landed back in the water, at a more shallow end this time.

Blood was spilling into the water all around me and I felt an unmistakable hunger that could only be quenched by human blood. I ignored the urge to dip my fingers in it and taste human blood, my eyes a furious blue at the smell of the luscious salty substance. I waded forcefully towards the couple. Leonid girlfriend was still screaming. I silenced her with several threats. Leonid now knew I was a vampire. I think it was the fangs that gave him the clue…

I asked him if he knew anything about the attack on the rendezvous location with the lycans. He, of course, said he knew nothing. I knew he was lying by the increase of the pulse of liquid fire running through his veins. I pretended to drown him, holding him under the water for a while until he was pleading for mercy, bubbles exploding on the surface of the water. I held him up and let him gasp for air. He told me all I needed eventually, after another drowning attempt. Now, I must find a woman lycan named Lebya. I left quickly, disappearing silently into the night.

I am not too tired to continue on with my account of Kraven and my unfortunate run in with him-

Viktor, I soon found out, had spoken to Kraven in my behalf. I heard many more quiet whispers of 'Viktor's pet'. Kraven had changed his attitude by the time I actually came face to face with him. He was kind, not too pushy like he had been. I was wary, knowing something was up. So I discreetly followed him around, trying to see what he was up to. When he disappeared behind a closed door, I ducked into the doorway and tried to listen. Luckily, the door was thin, and my excellent hearing enabled me to hear what was being discussed in the room. And who was talking. For a fleeting second, I saw myself, leaning against the door of my parents bedroom with my sister behind me. We were trying to eavesdrop on our parents Christmas gift planning. I was too young to know that it was wrong, and my sister never told me different.

When we were caught, my sister forced the blame onto myself, even though it was her idea. She claimed to be trying to get me to do what was right. I was punished. I was sent to bed early and was not allowed to play with my friends or any toys for the rest of the week.

After remembering that, my stomach churned, making me feel guilty for what I was doing. I backed away, until I heard my name mentioned. I jerked my head back to the smooth, cool wood. From what I heard, Viktor was talking with Kraven.

"My Lord," Kraven started smoothly, "as you have requested, I have kept my distance from Selene. I have, instead, chosen to watch her fight and train in the dojo. She is amazingly talented."

"Yes. I know, having watched her myself." He had been watching me? "Why do you bring this up?"

"Lord Viktor, I think Selene is ready to join the ranks of the Death Dealers." I pulled back, swallowing a gasp. Kraven thought I was ready? I felt excited, and felt less angry towards the stupid bureaucrat.

"Are you saying this just so she will be happy with you and feel endeavored towards you?"

Kraven sounded shocked. "No my Lord. I really and truly mean it. I have scheduled a friendly match between her and Kahn later on at three. Please, come and watch her prove herself worthy."

A fight? Between Kahn and myself. I listened again.

"Very well Kraven. I will come and watch." I heard them standing up and I raced away and shot through the doors of the dojo. I walked over to Kahn, who was polishing and sharpening his sword. He nodded friendly to me.

I watched him for a moment before sitting next to him and pulling some of the other swords towards me. I had learnt a lot since I had become a vampire. Saying that word and associating it with myself still felt weird. With a sigh I picked up a sharpening stone and began to work on the blades of the swords in front of me. Kahn and I chatted amiably about various weapons when Viktor himself entered the dojo and made his way towards us.

We both bowed to him when he stopped in front of us. He pulled out his sword and handed it towards me. "Sharpen this the best you can. You may need it later." I accepted his sword, holding it reverently. We waited, eyes downcast in respect, until he had departed. I pulled Viktor's sword out of its sheath.

It was beautiful. It had a dark ruby on the end of the hilt with the 'V' engraved on it and filled with gold. I started sharpening it, resuming my conversation with Kahn when we were interrupted by Kraven coming over.

"There is friendly match scheduled between both of you. Swords only." Kahn and I both looked up. Kahn looked slightly taken aback that he had no say in the matter and I just gazed coolly at Kraven, who barely glanced at me. "Be ready in a half hour," he told us and left.

I glanced down at the beautiful sword resting on my lap. "So that's why he said I might need this." Kahn just shook his head, muttering about Kraven and his ideas.

"I'm going to pick out a sword." I nodded to Kahn and he departed. I finished polishing Viktor's sword until the razor-sharp blade shone with a bright iridescence, reflecting the light around it. I slid my various knives back into place and stood up, making my way over to the fighting ring, preparing myself mentally for the up coming spar.

Kraven had been waiting for Kahn my the sword stand. "Do not go easy on her Kahn. I am trying to prove to Lord Viktor that she is ready to join our ranks." Kahn looked back steadily at him.

"So this whole ordeal is a set up to judge her?"

"Yes. Push her harder then you have ever done before." Kahn nodded.

"I will."-

Kahn and I stood apart, swords hanging loosely at our sides. I studied his every movement, watching closely for any indication of when he would attack. I watched as he drew a slow breath and brought my sword up to my chest, blocking the sudden stab he sent my way. I parried the blow, and swung my sword at his side, dancing away as he retaliated. The clash of metal on metal filled the air and several vampires came over to watch. I knew Viktor was around but I wasn't sure where.

I blocked another attack, wondering when Kahn would really start to challenge me. He did soon enough, swinging his sword in complicated movements, his blade slicing through the air. With a slight hiss I joined in the fray, twisting and turning and matching blade for blade, attack for attack. I used every position I knew and every defense I had memorized. We continued to weave our pattern of metal around each other. I took a moment to think of what this would look like to a human. We were moving fast, so fast only an immortals eyes would be able to process our movements. I felt my arm grow leaden, and I switched to my other arm, really to start a fresh assault.

We continued fighting for what seemed like hours, though we had probably only gone on for ten minutes. Neither of us could gain the advantage we were so evenly matched. I decided that I would change that. I began choosing my moves more carefully, feinting, and lulling Kahn into an extremely false and dangerous sense of security. I knew that I could beat him; Kahn was training to be weapons master. He would deal with the weapons and go out to hunt, but would spend a lot of time ordering, polishing, categorizing, storing, and practicing with weapons. He had spent so much time lately that he hadn't gotten much time to actually use the weapons. I had been watching him carefully.

I began to slow down slightly, making him think I was tired. He obviously thought so, because he began to try to beat down my defenses. I let a few down, and prepared for my big finale. Kahn hesitated for the slightest second when he saw me grinning wildly, my fangs clearly visible. I had my plan and he had fallen directly into it. One more swipe, and he was mine. Without hesitation, I moved in to make the pass, but didn't expect what was coming next. It hurt a lot.

a/n- Unfortunately, the second movie is not going to be like the sequel book Blood Enemy. Its going to be about Marcus coming out of the crypt and Selene's and Viktor relation…

drean – School has been really busy for me. We had Monday off for President's Day and our teachers have piled on the homework and gave us six tests in four days. Hard tests. Anyways, yes, there will be more between the vampires and Selene and Kraven and Selene. When the cat goes away, the mice come out to play… You'll see next chap! buawah ha ha…

phoenixoftheknight- please review on what you read, not what I eat!