Disclaimer: Lucian is not mine. I might wish he were, but he's not. Pity, that. I'll return him in better condition than I borrowed him, I promise. Elisa, her bodyguards, her employer, and various lycans who show up are mine.
Rating: PG13 at the moment, for some violence and overall darkness of the story. I will announce it if I change the rating, and post warnings if things get interesting.
Categories: Drama, Angst
Summary: Elisa Maloryn is a young scientist with a passion for the supernatural stemming from years of dreams she could never quite understand. When she meets Lucian while investigating a vampire and lycan sighting, she recognizes the face that has haunted her since she was a teenager, and wants to find out who he is, and what he might know about her dreams. In a story of instinct, lust, and betrayal, the two come together, and find that some dreams are never meant to become reality.
Author's Note: I am revising the story, and redoing the plot line somewhat. I hope it makes things clearer, and that it makes for a better story. Please, use the review button, and let me know what you think of the updated story. I will try to have chapters out once a month, give or take a week.
Chapter 1 - Bodies Among the Rubble
Elisa Maloryn moved slowly, her eyes flickering over the tunnels as she moved to note splashes of silver and glowing blue ultra-violet fluid. There were marks where bodies appeared to have been dragged away, and blood everywhere. Another battlefield, then, with few bodies for her to document and plunder. She frowned, hearing the echo of her steps change, and slipped the flashlight into a belt loop, drawing the two guns she had at her hips. She paused with her back to the wall to let her eyes grow used to the dimmer light before moving forward again, her nerves stretched to catch any sign that the beings that had fought here hadn't left.
The room she emerged in was cavernous, with a filtered light diffusing around the room, though from where it came, she wasn't certain. There was a balcony and stairs along the one wall, and a door below them. A pool of water stood between columns, and she drew a breath at what was floating in the pool. A body, with half its head sliced cleanly from the rest, one vampire-blue eye staring at the ceiling. She stepped into the pool, slowly approaching it, slipping the one gun back into its holster. When she was certain it wasn't going to move, she returned the other gun to its place, and pulled the camera from its place on her harness.
Photos, blood, tissue, bone, marrow, teeth. Fingerprints. Her mind carefully went over the list of things she retrieved from every body. Her focus narrowed to the body in front of her, the camera's clicks echoing slightly in the massive room.
Lucian awoke to the sound of dripping water, and the smell of blood and death. He left his eyes closed for now, taking stock of his body. The silver nitrate no longer burned through his system, but he could feel the damage it had done. Bruises and bullet-holes made their own complaints, and one side was numb from having been pressed against the cold floor for an indeterminate amount of time. He heard no sounds of battle, or indeed, of any living being, only the steady drip of water.
Alone and abandoned in the dark. Injured, but not dead. His thoughts were flavored with a dark humor that suited him at the moment. He slowly pried his eyes open to look around him. Rubble and ruin, and Viktor's body floating in the pool outside, just within his line of sight. Fate's ever-present sense of irony. There hadn't been a hole there before, and he briefly wondered what had caused it as he gathered his strength to try and get to his feet.
Every sinew in his body keened, a wordless wail of agony as Lucian tried to shove himself off the cold concrete floor, falling back to awaken another chorus from his still healing body. His lips contorted in a snarl as again he levered himself up, this time drawing himself into a crouch, one hand reaching blindly out to steady him against the crumbling concrete wall.
He panted, his head hanging, with his chin resting against his chest, waiting for the wave of pain to pass before slowly standing, using the wall for support. Keeping one hand against the wall, he made his way towards the door, where the smells of blood and battle hit him in a solid wave of scent. Vampire blood, lycan blood, a blood scent unfamiliar to him that could only have belonged to one.
The quiet tread of someone walking through the rubble echoed in the room suddenly, and he froze. It could be lycan, searching for survivors, or it could be vampire, doing the same. There was a pause, then the tread resumed, a woman emerging from the tunnels into the cavern. She had a harness with various pockets, and her clothing was mottled in shades of gray. Fatigues, of some sort, meant to fade into the city background.
She carried a gun in a holster at her hip and another in hand, aimed at Viktor's body as she slowly approached it, her feet splashing as she stepped into the pool. After a long moment, she returned it to a holster out of Lucian's line of sight, and reached for something in one of the pockets. She pulled out a camera, and began to take pictures of the body and room around it. What is she doing? Documenting his death?
He turned back to the room, his eyes flicked around in search of a weapon, and finding only his own blade on the floor. Lucian picked it up, the metal scraping against the floor. A glance out the hole put in the wall showed him the woman hadn't looked up, though she was placing the camera back into its pocket, and pulling out a small container. Strange. Does she have a problem hearing? Or am I just seeing more of an incredible bit of luck?
Lucian was able to make his way down the stairs without the woman looking up, and he sniffed the air again. The distinct scent of a human came through and his hackles rose. No human should have been able to make their way down here, not if there were any stragglers from the battle. He shoved away from the wall, treading as quietly as he could as he crept around the pool, his eyes fixed on the woman, trying to keep out of her direct line of sight. Not that she is paying any attention. As if she has someone to watch her back, and keep her safe while she works, he thought, realizing what her actions reminded him of.
Elisa drew off a syringe full of blood, surprised she was able to get so much from the body. It had probably been laying there for most of a day, unless the vampires had been down here just before dawn. The sun was setting as I came down here. I doubt the vampires were here any more recently than last night, sometime in the middle of the night. And if they haven't left, they're doing a good job of keeping away from me. Which wouldn't make sense.
She spared a moment to search for the missing section of the head once she had the samples she needed, freezing when she noticed a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eyes. The soft splash of feet hitting the water made her turn, the guns out of the holsters in the blink of an eye, and aimed at the man at the edge of the pool. He had gotten far too close to her for comfort, and she noticed a blade in his one hand. Not friendly.
Her eyes flicked over him, settling on his face after assessing what she could of his state. There were several bullet holes, the clothing around them stained with silver, and she could smell the tang of blood from where she stood. A faint shadow of silver gave his face an eery look, and she suppressed a shudder, her black eyes locking with his hazel. I've seen those eyes before. I've seen him before. But where?
She replaced the one gun in its holster again, holding the aim of the other steady. "Who are you?" she asked, keeping her voice as even as her aim. He said nothing, taking a step closer, and she took up the slack on the trigger, not moving in the murky water. Her footing was unsteady at best, and she didn't want to find the footing behind her was worse. "Your name, sir."
"Lucian." His voice was rough and horse, as if it hadn't been used for a while, but it sounded familiar. I don't know anyone named, Lucian. So why does his voice sound familiar? Why does he look familiar?
He continued to watch her, and she wondered why he hadn't struck yet. He was close enough that killing her shouldn't have been a problem for him, if he was a lycan. And the blade was smeared with blood, making it clear it was perfectly capable of slicing through flesh.
Lucian remained still, watching the woman warily. She held the gun steady, the other one already returned to its holster. Her eyes had flickered over him when she'd turned, coming to rest holding his gaze, and he'd thought he'd seen a flicker of recognition before the ebony orbs were shuttered, showing nothing but himself mirrored in them. He could feel the weakness washing through his limbs, and cursed Kraven again for his current predicament.
"What is your name?" Her voice was a low alto, with a hint of clipped accent, steady as the gun aimed for his heart. He took a step closer, pulling on what strength he had, intent on getting rid of her, and she took up the slack on the trigger. Lucian froze once more, not wanting to risk getting shot again. He didn't know what ammunition she carried. And I have no intention of seeing if the luck I've found will hold.
"Your name sir." There was an edge of honed wariness to her tone now, and her gaze flickered briefly to the blade in his one hand.
With a mental growl, Lucian replied with his name, trying to find the strength and speed he'd come to expect from his body. His voice sounded scratchy from disuse, and he found as he tried to move again that his body wasn't going to take this anymore. He blinked away the darkness that had covered his sight for a moment, staring up at the ceiling as water soaked into his clothing.
There was an oath from the woman, and the sound of splashing water. A worried face peered down at him, the woman kneeling next to him. Her foot was firmly on his blade, as he discovered when he tried to bring it up to strike at her.
"You're not going to use that, sir." She frowned, reaching back to pull out the flashlight he'd seen hanging from her belt earlier, and flashed it briefly into his eyes. He growled, baring his teeth at her, which got him a gun to the temple. "Don't tempt me." The flashlight had hit the water with a splash when she'd reached for the gun, its light shining eerily from beneath the surface.
He subsided, though his temper seethed beneath the surface, his irritation at his body and the woman both. She slid her arms under his shoulders, hauling him towards the edge of the pool where she could prop him against the crumbling cement. From the harness - or rather, jacket, as he noticed now - she produced rolls of gauze, bandaging the wounds she could find, before reaching into another pocket, and holding out a pair of capsules.
"Pain killers. Industrial strength." She watched him as he took them, gulping them down. "I thought lycans were allergic to silver."
"We are." He shrugged, his hazel eyes locking with her black. "Who are you? And what is a human doing down here?"
Elisa pulled out a pair of the industrial-strength pain-killers she carried out as she sat back on her heels, holding them out as she watched Lucian, telling him what they were when she saw the wary look in his eyes. She continued to watch him a moment before she spoke. "I thought lycans were allergic to silver."
His hazel eyes fixed on hers, a shadow of pain crossing his expression when he shrugged. "We are." He paused for a moment. "Who are you, and what is a human doing down here?"
"Doctor Maloryn." Elisa chose to ignore the second part of his question, standing and offering her hand. "I don't know how safe it'll stay down here. You have someplace else to stay?"
Lucian didn't reply, ignoring her offered hand to get up on his own. Elisa took a step back, watching him a moment, before reaching down, and finding the blade he'd been carrying beneath the water, and tossing it as far away from them as she could. There was a growl from the lycan, and her hand dropped to her gun again. He glared at her for a long moment, but didn't move towards her.
Waving a hand towards the tunnel she'd come from, she gave him a slight smile. "After you." I'm not about to leave you at my back, mister. I don't trust you that much. She watched Lucian as he walked slowly, frowning slightly. I shouldn't trust him at all.
The lycan stumbled, and she darted forward, slipping her shoulder under his, instinctively stabilizing him. He gave her a startled look, and she froze, realizing what she'd done. Oh, brilliant, Elisa. Put yourself where he can hurt you. Gabe is going to have a fit if he hears about this.
She pulled away when she was sure he could stand on his own, and waved for him to continue, the two winding their way up to the street. It was strangely silent, with fewer people than Elisa expected out and about. She frowned, hurrying Lucian along, heading for her car. She didn't like the silence, or the sensation that there was something out there that didn't like her. Slipping her bodyguards suddenly seemed even less of a good idea than it had when she'd encountered Lucian.
Speaking of which... Elisa turned to ask him something, and gave a growl of her own when she discovered he was slumped on the sidewalk next to her car, from all apearences passed out. Appearences can be deceiving, but I have a bad feeling he's not faking this.
With a sigh, she pulled out her keys, unlocking the back door, taking several minutes to get the unconscious lycan into the car. Sliding into the driver's seat, she took a winding route back to the apartment she shared with her bodyguards, wincing when she saw Alex leaning against the wall of the underground parking garage. At least it isn't Gabe.