Chapter Two: New Beginnings
Michael felt an odd sense of déjà vu as they moved through the streets of the city, identifying places he was familiar with. It was a disjointed feeling that possessed him, as if that had been some other life altogether. They had only gone at most a month, perhaps a month and a half since last stepping foot here.
Yet it seemed so distant and dreamy – or was that nightmarish?
Getting out of the remote mountain area had taken a majority of that time. Then there was the matter of getting transportation without drawing undue attention to their freakish natures. They had a reputation in the mountains around Budapest and it made nothing short of a miracle to find humans that hadn't heard the name Michael Corvin, or see his face.
He glanced over at Selene, who was clutching at the steering wheel of the rental car and looking as if death was upon her. That was a bad thing, considering what she explained of the exchange after he had lost his grip on this world.
She didn't look any different, no stronger, no more powerful than when he saw her that first time in the subway in that other life. She said that Corvinus had gifted his pure immortal powers to her. Having seen what she accomplished against the hybrid Marcus, the differences became apparent to him. His gaze strayed to the noonday sun shining through the windshield of the car and then back to her again. She wore tight, stylish wraparound sunglasses, realizing that night attuned eyes were still not the best in the daylight, even when tolerance of the radiation was heightened.
"What's our first step?" Michael broke the heavy silence that had enveloped them the moment they had neared the city.
She was so still that Michael was unsure that she had heard his question. Finally her lips pinched together. "None of this is going to be easy."
It wasn't really an answer to the question, but he gave his vampire partner some time to formulate what she was going to say. The pause was against his nature, as always, he wanted the answers now. He reminded himself that an American's sense of urgency didn't often translate to one on the part of the European. Vampire or no – Selene was European.
"I think that we might have an easier time convincing the covens."
He was thinking the opposite of that, "What about the Lycans?"
"That is going to be a bigger problem."
"How's that?
Selene refused to answer the question.
With a frustrated sigh, Michael turned to stare out the front window.
"You're not truly one of them." The answer was so out of time with the conversation, that Michael caught himself merely staring.
"Meaning…they're not going to accept me as a member of the pack?"
"Exactly."
His face heated up, angry that she would think he wouldn't be able to handle them. He knew she struck on a very valid point, but he couldn't help but think about what he had seen those first moments after Viktor's death.
He had been mulling it over ever since.
"Do you remember the night…" he trailed off, still having a hard time talking about how he had been resurrected from death, no longer a human or Lycan, but as something completely different, "Do you remember what happened in the tunnels?"
It was his turn to catch Selene off guard. "What about it?"
She peeled around a corner, delaying Michael's ability to answer, as centrifugal force pushed him into the far door. He really didn't like it when she drove like this.
When the car leveled out and was barreling down the next cross street, Michael picked a little closer to his point. "Do you remember the surviving Lycans' actions?"
"They were scared," she demurred, "They were leaderless, and they feared that the two of us would completely wipe them out."
Michael tilted his head, "Stop thinking like a vampire, Selene. You're no more a vampire than I am a Lycan any more."
"Then what do you take their actions for?"
"Deference," Michael stated.
"You think they revered you?" There was a crooked smile to go with the incredulity in her voice.
She still wasn't getting it.
"Nevermind."
He ran a hand through his unruly brown hair in frustration, and threw himself back in his seat. He loved her, but sometimes she was purposely dense with him. She saw Lycans as second class citizens. Even she remembered them as escaped slaves - animals - no matter what the ancient tomes had revealed to her regarding the past.
Flashes of Lucian's memories flit through his mind unbidden, a jumble of new images that he had yet to decipher, as well as the replay of Lucian's lady love – Sonja – crisping under the sun focused through the rounded skylight. He almost felt the pain as the silver whips laid into Lucian's skin, felt his agony as Sonja perished. He shook his head to free himself of them. The former was a puzzle piece best saved for when their lives weren't in mortal danger. The latter something he need not dwell on.
Selene went on as if not noticing his mood, "We should reach the mansion momentarily. The good thing, the coven will be resting. The bad thing, they're going to be pissed off when they wake up."
Michael sighed, releasing his anger. He had to follow her lead on this; there was no way he was letting her go into her former family's home alone. Despite her recent changes, he was certain that she would be overwhelmed the moment she they knew of her arrival. She was already on the outs with them, coming back in and declaring dominance over their lives was probably not going to go over well.
"How are you going to convince them?"
She paused again, and then turned her dark brown eyes, hidden by the sunglasses toward him, "I don't know."
Selene sat frozen at the gates, her white hands nearly blue from her death grip on the steering wheel. Her mouth was slightly agape at the sight that greeted them up on their return to the mansion. The setting sun outlined the sharp teeth of broken walls and illuminated the ash color that tainted the remaining pieces of a once proud building.
"Holy shit," Michael uttered. "What happened?"
"I don't know," She snapped.
Michael threw up his hands defensively; the ice blue eyes regarding him were as sharp as diamonds.
"Do you think they are still here?"
She peered at the icon of a rearing horse in the center of the steering wheel, more civil in her tone. "I don't know."
Her face was once again masked in that carefully cultured indifference when she turned her gaze towards the ruin of her one time home.
"Let's find out."
She leapt from her seat, plugging her code into the access panel at the gate, and Michael wondered how she could possibly consider that they would have left the code unchanged. He was surprised when the gates clicked and swung with an audible creak inward.
They were soon pulling to a stop at the remnants of the front door. The guard dogs by that point had discovered their intrusion. The large rotweilers snapped and snarled at the doors of the car, latching onto the handles with enough strength that they started to bend.
"They're still here…they would have taken the guardians with them otherwise."
"How would they survive the inferno?" Michael looked as Selene.
"You'll see."
Her gaze was now for the large canines circling the vehicle searching for a way in.
"It's your turn." She shrugged, speaking of the dogs.
He nodded and with little thought shifted to a form the creatures might better understand and respect. He didn't take chances however, waiting until the one beast backed up for another lunge, and then flung the door wide. He caught the creature square in the muzzle, the creature's short yelp illustrating the impact's force, before the dog went limp.
He was free like a shot, closing the door in his wake and bracing himself for the other dog whom he could hear rounding the body of the vehicle. As the Rottweiler rounded the front fender, Michael crouched, snarling at the creature, claws outstretched claws. His posturing didn't slow the dog and the heavy animal leapt at him. Michael sidestepped, slashing as the dog went by and crimson droplets painted the side of the silver gray car.
The animal struggled to get up, to come after him again, but Michael mercifully ended the creature's life. When the fighting had stilled, Selene got out of the vehicle, and they both turned toward the sound of more guardians headed for them.
Selene was calm as she turned toward Michael, "Okay, my turn."
She didn't approach the folded door, looking with disdain on the sooty remains. She moved to the left, toward a brick section of wall that still stood. Her hands trailed along the bricks and stones; her eyes shuttered to near non existence as she searched. She stepped forward once again, paused, and then stepped back, turning toward the wall. To Michael it looked like any other section of the wall. Selene knew something though because her hands flew over the stones in a pattern he didn't quite catch. There was a sound of stone on stone and then an opening blackness appeared before them. The angling sun illuminated a long steep stairwell that led down into the depths of the hill underneath the dead structure.
"Come on," she nodded toward the opening and then started down the stairs.
Michael wondered about the meaning and purpose of such a rabbit hole, but was unable to communicate his curiosity, so he merely kept his eyes peeled and his senses sharp. He had found early on that his vocal chords weren't adapted for speech in this form, a kickback from Lucian's Lycan heritage, the form he was infected with first. Michael trailed in Selene's wake, wary and tense; his heightened senses were inundated in musty scents similar to, but stronger than the one Selene emitted; the smell of long vampire occupation.
Sounds could be heard, further into the tunnels, quite distant from their approach to the caverns. He was able to make out slides on weapons being drawn, and Michael found himself glad that he hadn't bothered to shift back to his human appearance. He was sure there would be no love lost on him.
Selene still exuded calm; he couldn't even smell fear on her. The tunnel ended at a darkened door, and once again Selene deactivated the security and let them out into a well lit and marble lined hall. There were scars from the fire above, even down here. The doors to their right led into a darkened antechamber nearly as big as a house, the glass cracked and tumbled creating the effect of sharp rending teeth. The control booth to their left was dark and gutted by fire, and the electronics that had been there were nothing but slag and wires.
The sounds grew louder from the other side of the glass. Selene pushed on Michael's shoulder.
"In – get into the tomb." She instructed.
He allowed her pressing palm to slide him toward her objective, leaping through the destroyed glass. Selene headed across the floor as Michael paused just inside, peering through the snarling maw to take in once more the amount of destruction.
He wanted to ask her if it was wise to do this. His assessment told him this was a trap that had little hope of being escaped.
Michael found his thoughts straying, even as danger drew closer.
After fighting Marcus, and figuring out that he was a hybrid as well, Michael began to wonder about the differences between their appearance and abilities. He questioned whether they could be attributed to which viral strain invaded their bodies first, how far the change progressed, and the interaction between the strains. Michael knew he appeared and even smelled Lycan. Marcus on the other hand, assumed a form that was more bat-like than that of a typical vampire and had the same strength and adaptability.
Further analysis of hybrid differences was cut short as the thunder of feet echoed down the immaculate hall.
Michael backed away from the glass, glancing back only to avoid the gaping hole in the floor. He didn't have time to look at it, but at a glance it looked as if something had burst forth from it.
"Get in the shadows, Michael."
He shook his head.
"They are less likely to shoot if you are out of sight."
He snarled at her, his only way of conveying his thoughts on the idea.
She laid a hand on his chest, "Please."
He looked down at the contact before looking back into her eyes. Michael laid a hand onto hers, before frowning and nodding. He backed away from her, concealing himself in the folds of one of the curtains - not so far back that he would be hindered if he needed to come to Selene's aid.
He could hear the feet getting closer, and watched as Selene gathered herself together, ready to face whatever this exchange might bring.
"Selene?" floated to Michael's ear, an accented voice that sounded confused and relieved at the same time.
"Hello Kahn," Selene sounded weary instead of relieved; "I thought you had been killed."
"The rumors of my death were overrated."
"Ah, I see. Are the others here as well?"
His next words relayed exhaustion, "The coven has moved, Selene, you see wha's become of the house. We're here just to ensure that anything salvageable gets moved."
There was a weighty silence, only punctuated by creaking leather and clacking weapons in anxious hands.
"What are you doin' back here, girl? Don't you know there's a price on your head?"
"Marcus is dead," she announced.
"So we've heard. How is it you found out?"
"I killed him."
Michael heard guns come up, and barely suppressed a snarl. He was looking to Selene for cues, and she gave him none that said she was out of control of the situation.
"He had proven that his interests no longer matched those of the coven, Kahn."
"And how do you figure that?"
"He was trying to release William."
Silence followed the statement, the ancient house creaking in an effort to fill it.
"William is a legend; there is no proof of his existence."
"There is proof, I have seen it, in writing and in the flesh. Marcus was Corvinus' son, the first vampire. William was just as real as Marcus - just as real as Corvinus himself."
Another silence punctuated the room.
Selene went on while she had their attention, "Marcus found out about Kraven's treachery through the Lycan blood spilled in this very room, by the memories the Lycan harbored. He also discovered that the key to freeing his brother rested with Lucian, and upon his death – with Michael."
Michael took his cue, stepping out of the shadows and stopping his advance just behind and not quite next to Selene.
"You brought that abomination back here?"
Michael snarled at him, but Selene restrained further action with a motion.
"Marcus did free William, and intended as brothers to rule over this world. You know what the legends say about William?"
She went on when no one would speak up, "They said that William's virus, ancient as it was, turned all who were exposed to it, and those converted were never able to return to their human form."
She glared at Kahn. "I couldn't allow that to happen. Corvinus tried to stop his son - his reward was death."
"What does all this have to do with your return?"
"I want the war to stop, Kahn. We need to stop it; there is no further point to it."
"She's tainted," one of the soldiers said, and Michael rolled his shoulders forward in preparation of a fight.
"I'm purified," she countered the accusation. "Corvinus, before his death, honored me - changed me."
"What do you mean?"
"How do you think I got into the mansion, Kahn?"
His features flattened out as the realization struck him that it was still daylight outside, no matter that it was moving on towards sunset.
"Do you see any marks of the sun on my skin? He has cured me."
"What are you proposing?"
"I'm taking leadership of the coven, Kahn."
Before any of them could protest, the sound of snarls and growls sounded from the same end of the hall that the vampires had come from. One of the vampires shouted in alarm.
"Lycans! We're under attack!"
Selene looked to the vampires and then to Michael.
Shit, Michael thought, wishing he could say blaspheme out loud.