Chapter Eight: To the Rescue?
Selene was quick about getting replacements for her empty clips, and, not bothering to slow down, she headed back downstairs. She was nearly to the lobby again when Kahn caught up to her.
She chambered rounds into each before slipping them into their holsters. In the next step she spun to confront the other vampire. He stopped before he invaded the inches of space between them. His look was determined and without glancing at it he chambered his own weapon.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"You t'ink I am just going to let you walk back into the den on your own?"
"That was the plan, yes."
"I don't care what power Corvinus gave you, you're not strong enough to take on even the dregs of that pack."
"Watch me. You're not going, Kahn. I thought you were dead once already, I'll not risk that happening again."
"A'm a Death Dealer just like you are, Selene, I know the risks."
She slanted a hip. "Honestly Kahn, this is a personal issue. I don't expect you to risk you life and your reputation for me. I'm not in the lead yet."
"I'd rather have you in charge than Erika."
He fell silent, shifting feet. "I'd be careful…she's got a taste for power. She's gonna be a problem for you if you're not careful."
"I know exactly what Erika is about. I most certainly ready for anything she has planned."
"I wouldn' underestimate her."
"I'm not. But right now, I have to get Michael away from the den."
"Is he truly worth all this?"
"He is to me."
Kahn considered her for a while, crossing his arms.
"I'm going."
"You're not."
"You're losing time Selene, you can either take me or I follow you. I know where you're going as well as you do."
She sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine. Just remember to follow my lead."
"Always love."
The drive over to the closest entrance was completed in silence between the two Death Dealers. For Selene the time was spent pondering Kahn's words. The warning about Erika's vie for power was vexing. She always knew the blonde was power hungry, but she had always struck Selene as a hanger-on. She seemed to gravitate to any vampire who was higher up the chain than the last. Never would Selene have dreamed that she wished to be the one with all the power. Kraven had been one in a long line of power plays for Erika. Selene had even seen her blatant attempts to win some affection from Viktor.
What would she do if what Kahn said was true?. Would she have the fortitude to dispatch resistant coven members if this struggle for leadership came to that?
She released those thoughts like white doves into the sky, centering once more on the here and now, not the possible future. She whipped the car into a slot at the curb and was out of the car before the engine had fully died.
Kahn joined her in short order, readying his weapon and looking at her intently, "So wha's the plan?"
"Stay close, stay silent. I don't want confrontation unless the Lycans start it."
"Tha's against my nature and you know it."
"And mine, but we are trying to rescue Michael, not start another battle in the war. We're trying to find a peaceful solution to all this."
"You sound as if your hybrid friend had a reason to run from the mansion."
"I don't like it when you're so astute about my personal life Kahn."
He smiled at her, "I've known you too long."
She snorted, "I think he ran to the Lycans intentionally."
"To what end?"
"At a guess?"
He raised one brow over his glasses.
"He wanted to prove he could win their faction over. He and I…disagreed on how best to approach this vexing little problem. There was something in his eyes at the mansion, something he couldn't tell me, as the Lycans attacked. The Death Dealers reacted exactly as expected for his move – and I think he knew they would. I think he wanted them to. They solidified his 'persecuted' status to that band of Lycans."
"So you think he's still alive then?"
"I'm not sure anything can actually kill him, Kahn."
"Whadda ya' mean, Selene." He looked confused on this point.
She sighed.
"I made Michael what he is. He's Corvinus' heir." To his incredulous look she said, "The stories were true; Michael is one of the human descendants of the line. Lucian bit him first, as a way to return him to the Lycan fold. Kraven – shot him with the silver nitrate rounds that you created. He was dying, and I didn't know how to save him."
"You really love the bloke don't you?" Kahn's face scrunched up.
She didn't answer, but she could feel the tears welling in her eyes at the memory of that night. "I am the one who bit him, who combined the vampire virus with his already burgeoning Lycan strain. Instead of killing him, the virus changed, perfectly balancing the two strains in something completely new. Since that time I watched him die at Marcus' hands, and...I watched him come back to life. I'm beginning to wonder if he is invincible."
"And what does that mean for you then? I mean, you said Corvinus' blood runs in your veins now."
"I…I don't know yet, Kahn."
Heavy silence fell between them, and Selene looked to the shadowy dank grate that she planned to use as an entrance to the Underworld.
"It'll be a miracle if we make it in and out without being detected, love."
"I know, but we need to keep the mayhem to a minimum. As I said, we're trying to stop the war, keep that in mind."
"Right."
Selene drew both of her weapons, allowing her arms to fall to her side as she turned away from her partner. She stepped up to the grating that kept unwanted visitors out of the sewers under the ancient city. Though the two were silent, they had played this war game too many times. Kahn knew her every move, and followed through with an equally predicted reaction. In this case he moved past her, pulling the grate up and clearing the tunnel below them.
He stepped back and nodded, lifting his barrel until it was pointed in a safe direction. She returned the acknowledgement, lowering herself into the hold and dropping to the tunnel floor. She cleared the landing area, pressing herself against the wall of the cul-de-sac until she heard Kahn land a moment later. She twitched her head forward, and Kahn slipped past her, weapon shouldered and sweeping the shadowy areas of cubbys and other possible hiding places for Lycan soldiers. He paused and waved her forward. She spun backpedaling as she covered their rear.
Selene plastered herself against the wall opposite Kahn and they shared a knowing look. They had both missed this; they had always worked well together.
Her anxiety rose as their slow progress brought them closer to the section of tunnels that she had run into the Lycan hordes last. She wasn't sure what she was going to find here. Her bravado, and the idea that Michael had done all this to her on purpose, did nothing to calm her fear that he might be lying in a heap someplace bleeding his life out on the slime covered stones. She drew a breath, refusing to believe that Michael could be so easily dispatched as that.
She strained her ears as she listened for the snarls and howling, or even just voices that tipped her off to the pack Lucian had done an astounding job of hiding from the vampires. Selene heard nothing…not even a whisper of a sentry carried to her ears.
Where were they?
"They're not here," Kahn breathed in her ear.
"I know," Selene managed to snap without raising her voice above his quiet uttering.
"It makes sense. This was the site of a major battle. They would be unwise to linger here."
"But there were no reports of exodus either. They have to be down here somewhere."
"Aye, I agree. But we're going to have to do a little bit more reconnoiter if we expect to pick up their trail."
"So much for this being 'easy.'"
"Easy bores you, Selene."
"Valid point."
She regarded him with a smile. "Shall we?"
"Let's."
They were on the move again, their progress quick and silent as the grave. Selene gave over to that sense in her. That is, the same feeling came over her as the last time she was here. Something that infallibly led her to Michael where he was trapped strapped to a gurney and threatened with a Lycan warrior. That electric connection between them, from that very first meeting in the Subway tunnels, was still working.
They moved through the byways, gutters, and drain wells. Selene's sense was proved valid once more as she began hearing muttered voices, strangely distorted on the curved walls cutting them off from all contact with the surface.
She signaled her vampire partner for caution as she stalked further toward the source of those voices. As their proximity closed, the murmurs were joined by louder, more raucous auditory coming from further along. The two of them froze as a pained scream echoed over their heads. Selene swallowed, praying that wasn't Michael's voice she was hearing. The sound lingered, morphing into something more animalistic, until a wolf's howl resounded in the tunnel.
Selene motioned them forward, a part of her rethinking the advisability of her plan. Another was anxious to catch a glimpse of the human turned Lycan turned hybrid. She was somehow sure that he was in danger.
The two of them hugged the closest wall, the inside of the curve, in order to make detection harder for any sentries looking for intruders. Their caution saved them nothing.
A growl, one that barely carried over the dying sound of the creature's scream, was their only warning that they weren't alone.
The form leapt from the surrounding blackness, and the Death Dealers reacted in unison. Guns cut staccato in the sudden stillness, and the Lycan went down.
An alarm went out, "Death Dealers! Death dealers in the tunnels!"
"Shit," Selene swore under her breath, bringing both guns up aimed the direction she had heard the alarm.
Kahn was pressed to her back, covering the rear, which seemed to have sprouted Lycans from the cracks.
It wasn't long before they were surrounded. The cacophony of snarls and growls, howls and snapping was deafening. Selene tried to cover her half of the circle in forced slow sweeps of her automatic pistols. She wanted to shout her purpose here, but knew that it would do no good at all. There was no love lost between these Weres and her kind.
The circle closed, the Lycans uncaring of her gun, knowing that their numbers were more than hers, even if a few went down, there would be dozens to take their place.
"I'm all for ideas, love." Kahn sounded shaken.
"Fresh out."
A roar split through the already loud crowd around the two. It silenced the Lycan horde and startled Selene. She kept her guns up as she noted movement at the edge of the crowd closest the tunnel. Bodies parted and a blue skinned creature stiffly walked between the living walls, glaring at them as he went. He looked up as he closed the distance, slipping his skin until Michael resumed his human appearance.
"Whoa," Kahn whispered.
Selene was too elated to acknowledge Kahn's surprise.
"Selene," Michael breathed, clearing the space between them and cupping her pale face in his large warm hands. He didn't give her time to respond, smothering whatever she had been about to say in a passionate kiss.
She melted, remembering every reason why she had fallen for this man. Her arms, guns still in hand, encircled his back, returning his greeting with emotion equally as ardent.
After long moments they broke off, Selene remembering that they three were surrounded by Lycans. Her gaze slipped over his shoulder, surprised to find a woman standing along the inside edge of the loose circle. Her hair was long, wild and dark, and the golden hue of her eyes gave her an otherworldly look Selene had never seen.
A female Lycan?
The emotion on that other woman's face confused Selene, a mix of disappointment, anger, and regret filling up each corner of her smooth and beautiful features.
Then she started to shift.
"Michael?"
The hybrid spun, seeing what was going on, and he cut her off before the now fully transformed Lycan female could step forward.
"Seneca what are you doing?" There was a frantic note to his voice.
The golden eyes were hot on him, towering over him by a good two heads. She, like Michael in his other state, said nothing aloud. Some conversation must have passed between them, because the emotions on Michael's face ran a gambit. Finally his shoulders slouched and he met Selene's eyes.
He stepped back over to her, "I've made a mistake. Give me your weapons."
"What? Why?"
"You've claimed something that is rightfully hers." He nodded toward the silver furred Lycan. The look in his eyes was apologetic.
Selene was unable to help the shock on her face, "What?"
"You have to fight Seneca for the right to be Alpha Female of the pack."
Selene could only blink rapidly, unable to comprehend what Michael must have done here in so little time.