CHAPTER TWO: SOMEONE FROM THE PAST

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He had doubted to tell her but decided it was best if she knew it, "I feel sick."

"How sick do you feel?" she asked, concerned.

"It doesn't hurt like the first time, but still..." he couldn't continue because of the pain.

"It is because of the full moon...Try to control it."

"I... I know, don't worry. I'll do it. Uhm, you'd better hit the gas pedal. In less than an hour it will sunrise and we have not seen a single thing for hours." With all the pain he was suffering, he was more concerned for her than for himself.

"I know, take this," She handed him the bottle of blood, "drink it." to him it sounded like an order, he began to drink. After a while she asked him, "How do you feel? Is the pain less now?"

"I feel much better now, but I doubt that it has to do with the blood." He looked for the moon but at the time it wasn't visible, "We have to do something it is dawning..." he knew she was even more concerned than him, "Stop the car."

"What? We have to find some plac –" She asked worried.

"Stop the car!" He could see the doubt in her eyes so he tried to explain it to her, "You have to get in the trunk, is the only option if you want to survive." She sighed as she thought about it, then accepted and slowed down.

As they got out of the car she gave him a gun, "Take this."

"I don't know how to handle one of these." Surprised, he said looking at the gun in his hands.

"It's just for precaution." She was nervously glancing at the sky but then looked back at him, understanding what he was probably feeling she added, "Trust in your instincts," then she took the gun back and showed him how to put and remove the safety and the ammo, "you are very strong Michael, but you don't know how to fight." at her last movements she looked at his face and extended the gun for him, "Don't hesitate." He nodded as he uneasily tucked it into his waistband.

She looked nervously at the sky again and he spoke, "I will stop at the first safe place I see, don't worry." Remembering that he had brought a blanket with him he went for it.

At see him walking away she got inside the trunk and closed it but instead of feel the motor been turned on she saw how the door of the trunk was opened again, "What are you doing? We don't have time for this!" She was angry and concerned, then, frowning, she noticed the blanket in his hands.

"It's very thick and black so I thought it might protect you more." She kept staring at him but then she let a barely visible smirk show as she accepted it and that made him smile openly knowing that his gesture hadn't been dismissed. God, she is beautiful. "You'll be fine, I will make sure of that." she stared at him as he closed the trunk.

As he got back in the car, he wished that he won't have to use the gun or fight with lycans, at least not for the moment... He'll have to learn how to fight, like Selene told him, the strength wasn't all, he had to be ready for the inevitable moment when they had to fight against the death dealers and against... The lycans...? Would they fight him for what he did? No, that couldn't be, they followed Lucian and he was united with a vampire, true, that brought a war, but still... "We are just two people against an army" He sighed as he wished that the renegades will help them.

And what about my family? What am I going to tell them? He knew they barely spoke but he guessed he'll have to tell them something, but what? He couldn't say the truth. What about my mom? She wanted to come and visit him and now... He'll have to call her, tell her a lie that he knew she'll believe, and then he'll hope for this war to finish before his family get too old, and of course, that Selene and he get out of this alive.
Alive... He was dead since what happened to Samantha, but that was in an emotionally way. He alienated of everyone and everything that reminded him of her and that's why he left the States. He came to Budapest and followed a routine of work, feeding, work, and sleep, he was numb inside. All that didn't help him to reduce the pain; he always remembered Sam when someone badly hurt arrived at the hospital.

Then he met Selene and with her this 'underworld', he didn't know what would have been of him without her, "probably he would have died at her hands, Viktor's or another death dealer's." He whispered to himself.
Along the way he saw several farms but all were inhabited, two hours after he put Selene in the trunk, he saw a sign for a motel and immediately he made the turn. Anything was better than nothing.

The small motel was very convenient; each room seemed to have its own garage, "I just hope they be covered." he went to the receptionist.

"Good morning handsome, what can I do for you?" A beautiful girl asked.

"I need a room."

"That's why people tend to come here." she told him smiling.

"Yeah... Are all the garages totally covered?"

"No, they need natural light and all that," She said flirting and letting him see her cleavage, "do you want the room?"

"Uhm, I... I... yes I want a room." He finally answered looking back at her face.

"Here, room 7," she gave him the key and then added suggestively, "if you need something else just call me."

"Ok, thanks." he nodded and then went back to the car. How I'm going to get Selene out of the trunk? He asked himself.

Inside the garage he saw that there was not much light, but he supposed that it was enough to harm her. He went to the room and closed all the windows and the curtains, when the room was dark enough he walked to the car. "Selene." he called her but it seemed like she was asleep. "Selene" He repeated this time knocking gently on the trunk, nothing happened, at that he got nervous, what if something bad happened to her? As soon as he thought that a hit sound inside the car was heard, "Selene, are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Why didn't you open the trunk?" Her voice was annoyed and muffled.

"Because we are in a garage, there's not much light but I think that it might hurt you. The room is dark and it's at seven feet of you. Selene I... I'm not sure what to do."

Silence. After a long time he heard her say, "Bring me the sheets of the bed or something big, let me know when you are going to open the trunk... then I will need you to guide me to the room, do you understand?" To him it didn't sound like she was asking for help it sounded like an order.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand" He said as he went to search for the things she had asked him. When he got what he was looking for, he returned to the car. "Tell me when you are ready." He waited for a while and then he heard her kicking the trunk, "Ok, here." He said as he threw the bed sheets by a slot, then as quickly as he opened the trunk he closed it.
Almost five minutes later he heard her kicking again, so he opened the trunk and saw that she had covered entirely with the sheets and on top, his blanket. She tried to get out so he immediately took her arm to let her know he was going to help her, she accepted it using his shoulder as support. Noticing that this could take time that they couldn't afford and that if she walked with all that she could fall, or worst the sheets and the blanket would fall, he immediately put his arm in the back of her knees and the other in her back, then he lifted her.

"What are you doing?" She asked surprised but not resisting, she slid her hand from his shoulder to his neck to get a better support, "You can put me down now." she said when she felt he had got her out of the trunk but he didn't answer, instead he kept on walking towards the room.

"You are safe now," he uttered as he put her over the bed, then he went to the car to retrieve their things.

When he got in again he couldn't help his comment and the smirk that came with it, "First, with the sheets, you looked like an absurd ghost, now, with the blanket, you look like a mummy..." When she finished unrolling the sheet off her head he could see the scowl she was wearing and the look of annoyance. He felt a chill run from his neck to his back, why was she angry? Because of the comment or because he didn't follow her order? He didn't want to ask. Will she get angrier if he tries to help her to remove the rest of the sheets? Somehow he knew the answer to that, so instead of ask, he searched for the last two bottles of blood. "Are you hungry?" He asked her giving her the last bottle of blood.

He drank his blood as he studied his surroundings. The room was bigger than the room he had found her the day before. It had a little kitchen in the corner, a big bathroom in front of a couch and between was an enormous bed... And on top of it, in the ceiling, a mirror. His eyes almost got out of their sockets; of course, he looked at Selene to watch her reaction, if there was one. She looked a little startled but then she looked at him lifting a brow, saying without speak 'pervert', so he immediately defended himself, "I didn't know that was there." He supposed she believed him by the stupid face he did when he saw the mirror. Shrugging, he sat on the couch to finish the bottle of blood and he saw her taking her coat off, giving him a glance of her body.

"I will take a shower." she said as she walked to the bathroom and he noticed he needed one too.

As he sat in the couch he began to think about her... She was one of the most beautiful girls he had seen, if not the most, that's why he stared at her in the subway and every chance he had. Like the day before when she had been asleep. He still didn't know how she didn't wake up; he guessed she was very tired, probably as much as he was at the moment.
He didn't know how he felt about her, she was attractive, strong, she fought for what she believed, she had everything that he liked in a girl but she also had bad things, like the danger she was exposed, her coldness, she didn't show her feelings, wasn't communicative... maybe those two were the worst things of all.
He trusted her, he needed her, he cared for her and he, sometimes unconsciously, showed it. But he didn't know how or what she felt about him. First she helped him, then she told him she did it because she wanted to know what Lucian wanted, after that she told him her past and then kissed him, then she saved him twice, so after all that, he thought she cared at least a bit for him, but no, when they were in the sewers she told him she had killed Viktor because of what he had done to her family and the promise to herself and to them that she would revenge, just than in her case the person she loved and trusted above all the things was the one who fucked up her live, and just now she knew it.

He knew that she had been betrayed recently and that for her it'll be difficult to trust in someone, let alone in a lycan, the only fact that she left him, that she didn't want him with her was enough... For her, he wasn't more than a lycan... And yet...sometimes she showed her concern for him, like when she was helping him to escape before she knew the truth about Viktor, when Kraven shot him he saw her worry, today, when he was sick, she was concerned again... And why always that I get too close to her she becomes defensive? He did put her nervous when he carried her to the bed, he could feel it, and when she looked at the mirror, he could see her embarrassment and amuse.
"I just don't understand women," he whispered to himself and suddenly he found a curious look in her face, she heard him. He was so concentrated in his thoughts that he didn't notice that she got out of the bathroom. He became attentive and waited to see what she would say. but it seemed she was going to ignore it because she began to drink her bottle of blood.
He got some clothes he had brought with him and went to the shower, as he went to close the bathroom's door he noticed that she was still wearing the same suit, it looked like she never removed it. "Selene," he said and she looked up, questioning him with her eyes, "if you want, you can use one of my shirts and pants to sleep in." He said showing her with his hand where his suitcase were.

"Thanks" was what she answered. It didn't even cross his mind that she'd wear them, he nodded and closed the door. He was so tired; he hadn't sleep in three days. He knew that as soon as he lay down in the couch he'll be fast asleep. The next months, or maybe years will be very exhaustive, he had to learn how to fight with guns and hand to hand combat, he had to learn how to defend himself without help...
Fifteen minutes later he got out of the bathroom and noticed Selene asleep in the bed, so he went to fix his bag knowing that as soon as she woke, that he knew it will be before he does it, they'll be leaving. As he packed his items he noticed that something was missing, he searched for a confirmation but Selene had a blanket that covered her from toes to neck, then he saw her clothes, folded neatly on a chair.

"God, this thing is uncomfortable." He whispered to himself, now the bed looked even more appealing than before. The couch was very narrow, its material was so thick that he was sweating, his back was in pain and every time he moved, something cracked and very LOUD.
Would Selene go angry if she wakes with him by her side? Oh... That already happened. He knew she needed some privacy, she was used to be alone and now she always was with him, let her sleep alone was the only thing he could do to respect the little privacy she still had. He turned again and this time the squeak was louder, that thing was going to break really soon. So, he decided to sleep on the floor, at least it looked more comfortable than the place he currently was. When he stood up the couch cracked louder than before, he walked to an empty part and put some sheets on the floor.

"Michael," he heard her voice as he lay on the floor, "what's all that noise that you are making?" Her voice sounded asleep, tired and annoyed, all at the same time.

"The couch is very uncomfortable, I'm going to sleep in the floor" He said looking at her.

She nodded and looked thoughtful, then she whispered something that made him very happy, "You can sleep here if you want, the bed is big enough..."

"Are you sure? I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

She seemed to doubt for a couple of seconds. "I'm sure, but if you don't wan-"

He interrupted her, "No, no, no, I want to sleep in the bed." Quickly he stood up and climbed to the bed. She was in one side and he was in the other, with her back towards him, as he fell asleep he could feel her discomfort.

He woke with the feeling of being watched, but he was still a little asleep; he didn't feel tired, there was no sound meaning that Selene had not woke up yet. She was still here, he could feel her. As he entirely but slowly woke he kept having the feeling that someone was observing him, so he sharpened his senses to know if someone else was in the room or very close but the only thing he felt was her, he opened his eyes and found himself looking directly at her eyes.
She looked astonished, she knew he had caught her staring, "Get ready, we have to go." She said as she stood up and he could see that his shirt was long enough to cover her thighs, but not long enough to cover her legs. He stared. And followed with his look as she went to the table for her clothes and then to the bathroom, twenty minutes later she was out.
As he showered he asked himself what they will do if the renegades didn't accept them. When he came back to the room he saw that everything was ready so they took off.

On the way they stopped for blood and some useful items in a little town, they also left the car that Selene had stolen the night before and stole another one, and she drove like crazy, as always, for almost eight hours. Then they began to walk with her saying that they still were far from the place they should be. At the moment they were walking by a lonely alley in the Industrial zone, suddenly he felt that someone was watching them and he looked at Selene and saw she had noticed it too, then the smell hit him... "Vampires, there are at least three." She nodded and put her guns out and indicated him that he should take his too.
They began to walk faster, they knew that the bullets they had didn't work with her kind, he saw four shadows jumping from the roof of a high building. Michael couldn't see their faces, just their shiny eyes as they came closer to them. They'll have to fight.

"Selene" said one of them, "I thought everything was a lie." the vampire that spoke looked at him as she got closer and he could see the mix of sadness, hurt, anger and hate emanating from her, then he looked to Selene and regret, shame and anger were the emotions in her eyes. "How could you do it?"

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