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January 15

"Selene, my child, I have made up my mind." I felt my breath caught in my throat while I waited for Viktor's verdict. It was this moment when my future for the rest of eternity would completely change. I tried to be patient, sitting still on the edge of my bed.

Viktor, much to my annoyance, was dawdling on telling me his verdict. He obviously knew that I was excited. He smiled lightly and sat nest to me, putting his arm loosely around my waist, pulling me onto a sitting position on his lap, as if I was a little girl. I tucked my long legs in and wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug, mock glaring the whole while.

"And the verdict is…" I prompted.

"Yes. You may join the high and prodigious ranks of the Death Dealers."

I was so happy at that moment that I felt like I would burst on the inside. Outside, I remained calm and quiet, with a faint shadow of a smile on my face to show I was pleased. "Thank you," I said, laying my head on his shoulder. "This really means a lot to me, that I will finally be able to avenge my family's wrongful deaths. I will make the lycans pay for what they did."

Viktor sat silently for a while, gently stroking my hair. "Yes. You will be able to. You have much to do before you will be able to go out on a hunt though and be able to kill lycans."

I looked up sharply, banging my head against his chin. I glared at him, barely blinking, my anger getting a hold of me. "And why not? Am I not good enough? Is it because I'm a female?" I asked harshly, hissing slightly. "I have trained harder then anyone else these past months."

Viktor's normally blue eyes took on a deep, cold blue, signifying his anger. "Do not speak to me in that way!" he told me, his voice colder then his eyes. Any other vampire probably would have immediately apologized and run away, screaming in terror at the look on his face, but I wouldn't back down. I did realize that my behavior was rude, and I apologized immediately. Viktor relaxed. "Most Death Dealers start out small. Cleaning and caring for weapons, which you did, training as much as they can, which you did, and guard duty, which you will do. You'll start out by watching over the crypt. If all goes well, you'll progress to a high level, guarding something more important. Then you will go on stake-out duty. That is much more dangerous. You might then have a chance to kill lycans if they attack."

I nodded stiffly, accepting his judgment. He touched me once more on my head. "Get some sleep Selene. You will have a busy day tomorrow. I will tell you all you need to know." With those words he left me to try to sleep.

the very next night, Jan 16

I woke up early the next night, excitement flooding through my veins. I got ready, dressing and washing and picked up a book I had lying on a table, waiting for the rest of the house to wake up.

Presently I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to see Kahn standing there, holding two goblets of warmed blood. "Good blood today! Fresh from the sheep pen!" he greeted me with a smile. I accepted the goblet offered and invited him inside.

"Are you sure its fresh?" I asked, teasing him. The coven had been complaining lately at the stale blood that was available. I didn't mind if the blood was old. I didn't like drinking it, but was careful to never let it show. A vampire who didn't like blood…unheard of.

I took a sip. It was fresh. Kahn grinned good-naturedly at me. "Kraven told me the good news! Congratulations on joining our ranks."

"Thank you," I said, smiling a little myself. It was nice to have someone believe in me. I liked Kahn as a friend. He was someone that you knew you could trust. We sat talking for a while until it was time to go up to the dojo.

There we met Kraven. He offered me a kind sneer as Kahn and I went over to the weapons rack. We were to sharpen, polish, and sort the rest of the weapons. Kraven came over to where we were sitting. "I'm to tell you your duties." I looked up.

"You? But Viktor said..."

"I know what Viktor said," Kraven told me, cutting me off. "But he had to leave for a meeting at Marcus' coven. There was a vampire who killed many humans for sport and blood and the Viktor and the council was called to England." I nodded coldly, less then thrilled. Kraven settled back, dismissing Kahn. He eyed me appraisingly.

"You do know, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be becoming a Death Dealer." I gazed at him, face showing no emotion to betray the fact I had eavesdropped.

"Is that so?" I asked, politely calm.

"Yes."

"Then I am grateful."

"As you should be."

"You need to tell me something…" I cut to the chase, annoyed with him.

"Yes. As a Death Dealer, you will have much more responsibility." No kidding. "You will be respected though. Tomorrow, come down here at 6 pm and look for Soren. He'll tell you where to go." Great. Soren. I did not trust Soren. He was too close to Kraven. I nodded. "Tomorrow, you'll be watching over the crypt with Duncan. He's new to this, but will be able to tell you what to do."

"Of course," I said, a wide-eyed innocent expression on my face, reflecting my insolence. Kraven reached up to my face, fingering my hair. I stiffened at his closeness. "Please keep your distance Kraven," I warned, "or else."

"Or else what? You'll tell Viktor?" He sneered at me, then matured, the twisted smile dropping off his face. "I truly am sorry that you don't like me Selene. If you don't mind, I just want to tell you that you are the most beautiful vampire I have ever seen." I narrowed my eyes. He wanted something.

He obviously knew what I was thinking. "Selene, you are beautiful, even if you don't see it. I love you calm delicateness, under layered with a fierce determination and rock hard faith in what you believe in."

"Perhaps you only love what is close to me," I suggested.

"No. I love you for you." Kraven knew I was talking about power, Viktor's power. Kraven was power hungry and everyone knew it. I just gazed at him impassively.

He reached out to touch my hair again. I let out a slight hiss to show I wasn't pleased with his actions. He took no notice of my warning and continued fingering my hair. "It must go."

His words startled me. "Pardon?"

"Your hair Selene. It's too long. It's too easy to grab and get a hold of. It's also a obstruction. It it's windy outside, it'll blow into your eyes. If it's shorter, you won't have to waste time pulling it back."

I swallowed. I loved my hair. My mother believed that hair was a woman's pride and joy. I had thick, shiny, black hair that reached down past my waist. While fight and training, I had always twisted it up into a bun on top of my head. I pulled the bands out of my hair and let it tumble down to its full length. I picked up a lock and held it in my hands.

"If it must go," I murmured, steeling myself. Kraven nodded, somewhat empathetically.

"If I had hair as nice as yours I wouldn't want to cut if off either." That made me mad, for some reason. "Come on."

I followed him, wondering where we were going. He led me to my room and sent me in. "Wet your hair down and comb it out. Kahn will be in to cut it." I winced but obeyed him. After I slammed the door in his face, feeling satisfied at the muffled cry of pain coming from the other side, I slid down the door until I was crouching. My hair. I had to cut it off. I took it and piled it on my lap, burying my face in it, memorizing its every last detail.

I went into the bathroom and plunged my head fully into a basin I had sitting there. I kept it under for a few seconds then flung my head back, my soaking hair spraying water every which way. I faced the mirror, slowing parting my hair down the center of my head. Then I proceeded to comb it smooth, working at the knots until they became untangled. I answered Kahn's knock, trying to ignore the sharp knife he had in his hand.

"Kraven told me to come up here."

"Yes."

"Why?"

I raised my eyebrow up slightly. "To cut my hair shorter…"

"Ahhh, so that was it. He didn't want to do the dirty deed himself." I stared at the knife. Kahn was closely examining my hair. "Have you ever cut it before?" he asked, whistling.

"No. I had dead and split ends trimmed off before but I've let it grow naturally."

"Well, we won't need to cut it all off. Just most of it. Up to…about your shoulders."

I invited him into the bathroom and swept my hair up, trying to imagine myself with short hair. He turned me away from the mirror and combed out a section of my hair. Holding it taunt, he swiftly brought the blade of his knife across, cutting off a hank of my pride and joy. It seemed to take forever for the piece to fall to the floor, making a slight swishing sound as it fell.

I swallowed and steeled myself for the next cut. As more and more of my hair fell away, I had a sudden memory of my mother's reaction to when my sister had cut her hair off. My mother, shocked, had fainted. I wondered what she would say if she could see me now. But the thought of her face and her reaction made me remember the lycans. Being able to get revenge on them would be worth getting my hair chopped off.

"All right." Kahn's voice woke me out of my reverie. He brushed my ran my brush through my hair to get rid of any clinging hairs and whirled me around to look in the mirror.

I gaped at my reflection. My hair was not bad looking, just short. It was still wet. It was just long enough to brush my shoulders. My head felt light without the normal weight. Kahn's smiled shined next to my reflection. "I did a good job. If I was still human, I could make a fortune being a barber!" I glared at him and tried to hit him. He easily dodged and ducked out of the door way. "Sleep well," he called back to me as he slammed my door behind him. I changed into my night gown after sweeping up the floor. I grabbed several long chunks of my hair and hid them in my dresser to keep with me.

I sat on the edge of my bed, feeling miserable. I missed my hair and wanted it back. I heard a knock on my door, and thinking it was Viktor coming to see my haircut, invited the person in. As Kraven slipped through the door, I suddenly remembered that Viktor was in England, leaving me alone with Kraven.

He secured the door and crossed over to my bed, sitting down beside me. He too gazed at my hair. "Kahn did a good job cutting it," he acknowledged.

"Why are you here Kraven?"

"I wanted to see your hair cut."

I grabbed my hair. "It's horrible."

Kraven chuckled. "No, you just need time to adjust to it. I still think you are beautiful."

Despite my self, I blushed faintly. Kraven smiled lightly at me. He leaned in closer, looking deep into my eyes. "You will always be beautiful Selene. I want you." And suddenly I realized what big trouble I was in. I was alone in a room with Kraven and only a night gown and my underwear to guard my virginity, and Viktor gone. Before I could move, Kraven leaned in, pushing his lips against mine.

I opened my mouth to cry for help, my plea muffled by Kraven's tongue slipping into my mouth. It felt disgusting and dirty. I reached up and tried to push him off but he pinned my arms to the bed, still kissing my hard enough to bruise. Still undaunted, I tried to bring my knee up to hit him in his groin. Predicting my behavior, he moved over to the side, out of range. Pouncing, he straddled my thighs, securing my legs. Breaking off of the kiss he paused to sneer at me.

"I want you Selene, and I know you want me."

"No," I cried, yelling into the hand he placed over my mouth. I elongated my fangs and pierced the pad of his hand.

"Fine," he said harshly. "So be it." He yanked a piece of cord out of his pocket and wound it around my hands and tied it to the bed post. He leaned over me, his warm breath smothering my flesh. He straddled my legs again, and reaching up, removed his shirt. He leaned down and yanked my nightgown up and over my head, resting it with one strap hooked over the bed post. There was no way I was going to be able to get it down with my hand tied.

His hands cupped my breasts, softly kneading them. My cry of disgust was once again swallowed up his mouth over mine. I could feel the bulge of his erection pressing against my legs. His hands slid down, feeling my stomach and circling my waist. I bit his tongue hard, blood filling my mouth. He jerked his head away, glaring at the interruption. Pulling out a strip of cloth, he jammed it into my mouth and fixed it in a knot around the back of my head. He had obviously come prepared.

Trailing a line of kisses down my torso, he began licking at my belly button. He brought his head up once more and began kissing my breast, circling my nipple with his tongue and nipping at it. I gasped at this, not believing he would actually do this. He looked up at me, his eyes filled with lust. "Do you know how lucky you are Selene?" he asked, his voice low and husky. "Many vampires would give everything they had to be at my side."

I tried to speak, but the gag sufficiently stopped me from speaking. "Shhh," Kraven said, leaning in. "I know, you don't have to say anything." He began kissing my breast again, and bit it, right below the nipple. As he sucked, I started thrashing around, but to no avail. Kraven stripped off his pants, his underwear uncomfortably tight looking. He soon disposed of that too. He loomed over me, fully naked. I was terrified. His hands circled my waist again and cupped my bottom painfully. He reached up and slowly pulled my underwear down. When I as fully naked too, he positioned himself on top of me and prepared to enter. At this time, I managed to finally bite through my mouth restraint. I screamed for help. Kraven startled, clamped his hand against my mouth, but it was too late.

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