CHAPTER 4: CONFUSIONS

•

He was tired after what had happened, fortunately Selene didn't lose much blood and the bad alimentation and the fatigue of the last days contributed to her passing out. Not that I'm looking for excuses; he knew that because of him all that happened, if he hadn't tried to hurt...her friend? She wouldn't be right now recovering. He just wanted Selene's well being, after all, how could he trust in the person that shot at them and fought with Selene?
He noted a few hours ago that her recovering was taking time and as more time passed by more concerned he became about her health. He was a doctor, a human's doctor, he didn't know how the body of a vampire worked, but he came to believe that she would recover very quick, looking at her arm he saw that it was healing very slow and her back... Well, he couldn't saw it, but her arm was a good signal.
Between his preoccupation, that he barely could see, the heat, the smell of her blood on her suit, that it wasn't even midday and his position, he was becoming more nervous and anxious so he began to hit gently with his fingers the wood at his side and move his left leg side to side in sporadic moments, the last, a reflex he had since he was a child and apparently bothered everyone that were close to him. At least I'm not claustrophobic, he thought trying to animate himself. Not that he complained of his position, he imagined how they would be seen by a stranger, lying together like this, in a position that it was ironically corny but very comfortable.

He slept the first hours of the morning, he was calmed then, after all, she had opened her eyes for just a second but it was enough to see her blue eyes, her vampire eyes. But now he barely could sleep because of his preoccupation, sometimes he thought that she was colder or paler than 'normal' or that she was whispering something, or moving but always were things of his imagination. The last time she moved were hours ago, for a moment he thought that she had been awakening but the position she put herself, let him know that she was still unconscious. He really hoped she didn't think that he was trying something... If she wakes, the pessimistic side of him added. No, I'm not going to think in that way, she is the only I have and if she... Enough! He thought shaking his head. She will wake up and the first thing she will do is move over, then she totally will ignore him, not without first give him one of her glares and then they will spend the following hours without talking, as a custom...
He'd like to sleep while they wait for the night to come, he was weak and exhausted, then the next days or maybe years of their lives will be decided, that let him with doubts... Not even she knew with certainty where they were going, not knew with what kind of peo- vampires, he corrected himself, they would meet, if we are accepted, then what? What if we don't? He was sure she already had plans for every outcome. He felt her move even closer to him but was not sure if she really moved or if it was another of his illusions, so he immediately stayed still trying to sense some movement coming from her, or a change in their surroundings, but nothing, apparently it was just my imagination...

Having nothing more to do, he began to mortify himself again with the situation he was into and the turmoil he was living.
What about the lycans? If the vampires found them, certainly the lycans will do it too, of one thing he was sure... Selene would not doubt a second in filling them with silver, after all they were 'the worst kind of animal of all' she hadn't denied that, in fact, she had very much approved the comment, and in some weird way it had hurt him, after all he was part lycan, but deep down he thought the same as her.
When he was in the lycan's den he saw the lack of sanitation, the way they behaved, how they treated each other, they were savage even with themselves, didn't use their common sense, not even in the most important for them. But he didn't know the vampires either he just 'knew' Selene and for what he had seen of her and her kind, they were the contrary to the lycans, at least they were cleaner, they had money, they were somehow better in a superficial way, they always thought in war...well, only the Death Dealers, their alimentary habits were different than the lycans...the majority only drank cloned blood, although he suspected that not everybody followed the rules, at least he deduced that the ones that didn't follow the rules were lesser than the lycans.

But both vampires and lycans had something in common... They hated him and they would do anything to kill him, now her too... Wouldn't be ironic if they made a truce just to kill them?

But in a deeper way he agreed in part with Lucian, he knew the lengths a person could go just for love. Lucian had the correct reasons, but he didn't care to pass over humans and even his own kind, Lucian was interested just in the revenge. Michael had not doubt what they did with the 'other candidates' that didn't have the same blood type as him.
And the vampires... Well, they proved to be liars and manipulators, at least Viktor...and the guy who was in league with Lucian... The others that weren't Death Dealers, or were in charge of the big houses didn't care about the war they were just concerned to maintain a social status between their kind. The only other vampire he knew was Selene's friend and he wasn't sure what to think about her... For what he saw and heard Selene and she were friends, both were sired for Viktor and she helped Selene, although letting very clear that it was the last time she did something good for Selene.
Anyway, he only had Selene and he hadn't a reason to doubt of her, if someone has doubts is her... Suddenly he felt her tense, so she did move a moment ago, he thought as a relieved sigh left his mouth.

•

PUM-PUM-PUM PUM-PUM-PUM, that was the first thing she sensed as she began to wake, she felt warm and unconsciously she got closer to that warm that was very comfortable, suddenly a sequence of images passed by her mind.

A fight with an old friend... sadness, anger, hurt, betrayal...
An intense pain in her back...
A pressure and hot feeling immediately follow for a slow healing process...
Two people having a heated discussion...
Someone moaning in pain...
Michael putting her on the floor over her stomach...
The sun beginning to rise...
And utter blackness...

She felt very weak and by experience she knew she had lost a lot of blood, she was dizzy, felt pain in her head and arm, but her back not hurt anymore, and somehow she knew that what she just saw it wasn't a dream, It was what happened after she passed out and the moments when she momentarily recovered conscience.
As she gradually recovered all her senses she recognized that what it was warm was Michael and that she was laying down in her left side with her head in his shoulder, her right arm around his stomach, and her right leg curled and hooked over his. Immediately she tensed, Just my luck, she thought sarcastically knowing that he didn't put her in this position and not liking their situation at the moment, my situation, she corrected herself. At least it looked like he was sleeping and hadn't noticed it. Since when do I care for what he may think? She scolded herself as she tried to change her position.
Then she heard a relieved sigh.

"It looks like you are waking," he whispered to himself and immediately she tried to sit up putting her right hand in his left shoulder and propping herself up. Quickly, anticipating her movements, but carefully to not hurt her even more, he took her wrist in his left hand and removed the other arm of her head and put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Careful you will hurt your self." He whispered softly as she struggled to free herself from him.

After a while of struggling she was more dizzy and seeing that he was stronger than her she stopped, "Fine..." she said and he lost his grip in her right wrist, but he didn't remove his other hand of her shoulder, going back to her previous position, she looked around her trying to know where they were, the only thing she could saw was that they were in a very small place, wood seemed to be the material in which it was constructed, it barely was room for both of them, even less with all the bags, the roof was at least at forty centimeters above her, and it had less of seventy centimeters of width. "You know, contrary to popular myths my kind don't sleep in coffins." She said irritably, trying to ignore the discomfort of being so close to him.

He grinned at that, not point in ask if she is ok, he thought as he saw her reaction, "One more thing I have to remember." He said sarcastically but pleased to find she was ok.

"Where the hell are we?" She asked exasperated and not liking the knowledge, of lack of it, of where she was.

He rolled his eyes, "We are in some kind of canoe, it was the only place that she thought it would be 'safe.'"

"Where is she?" Selene asked concerned, then she remembered someone moaning and gasping in pain and that Fiona was just like her, "Did she try anything against you?" For the first time, Selene raised her head and made visual contact with him.
He was taken aback by her blue eyes, not that he still considered her multicolor-changing-eyes weird, what happened was that in this occasion the look was different than the last time he saw them, maybe it was the tiredness or the lack of blood she had. Knowing that her eyes were electric blue and that that was what it was making him nervous, she changed the color to its normal one. Ignoring his stare, as he seemed amused by the change, she remembered that he was not as inoffensive as he seemed and the way he reacted when Viktor punched her, "Did you...do something to her?" she had her doubts in make that question.

The only thing he could think was in her eyes and making an effort he got out of the trance he was in, "...We had a discussion but nothing more...Just a talk..." knowing that she was concerned for her friend he tried to reassure her, "...not physical violence...or anything of the sorts." he tried to lie, but he was never good at it, that's why he didn't look directly at her.

"Not physical violence?" She asked surprised, knowing Fiona, she at least expected a fight. Suspecting, she tried to get the truth out of him. "Michael?"

"...Well, maybe not too much...just the necessary for her to enter in reason... But nothing serious, she is well." He said looking back at her and with a nod she told him to continue, "After you passed out, she somehow stopped the hemorrhage, then cleaned it and gave you the blood we had bought. Then she told me that she would let me go for this time, but in change you would have to stay with her and then she would go to Ordoghaz. With you. As you can see, I didn't accept but she took it bad and tried to fight with me so I defended, we fought and I don't know why she let us go. She told me that I had to find a place where you could rest because we couldn't stay where we were, so she told me of this place, we are at three or four kilometers of the industrial zone, in a old hovel that it had a roof in a very bad state, outside there was a canoe but I brought it inside, and here we are."

"So you didn't hurt her much...and she let you go?" He nodded, "That's not her..." Selene said more to herself than to him and breaking their visual contact, not wanting to think that that was the proof, that he was not going to betray her...yet.

"Yeah, I had the impression that she was more like you..." That was a slip of the tongue, Michael thought as the last words let his mouth, that comment made her look back at him, the look on her face he couldn't decipher, she had never had that look on her face, well, at least not in my presence. It could de that maybe, just maybe he had irritated her more than in all the other occasions, probably he was in trouble. Why did I have to put her guns back in her holsters? He looked at her guns, then at the closest object to them, her leg. All conscious thought stopped. He had the sudden impulse of put his left hand over the leg that was hooked between his and kneaded it softly, they would kiss, then he imagined his hand running toward her backside, she had a really good one. He wanted to– She sighed. His heart jumped as he was brought to his reality, a good one, but possibly, not good enough. He gulped and slowly stared at her body as he ran his eyes towards hers. Did she discover about what I was thinking? He didn't think so. What were we talking about? He thought a little distressed as he stared at her blank eyes, he had been nervous before and he was it now, even more. "Um," he cleaned his throat, "not that you are a bad person...or vampire...or she..." He mumbled as he avoided her eyes and looked intently at a spot in the canoes' roof, his heart was still beating fast. "It's not like I know you too much, you know, but in this short time I had learned a couple of things, good things...about you and those are that... You don't let other people persuade you of what you believe, you are strong both of character and physically, you are stubborn as hell, you love guns... you ca-"

For the first time Selene paid attention at Michael's behavior, he sometimes was haughty with her, mostly when he was angry and when he didn't know what was going on, but now, with just a look he was nervous. He looked at her guns. Then she noted that he was breathing harder. What is going on? Is something wrong with him? Something they don't know about his new state? She waited and nothing. Worriedly, she let her breath out, this is not the best of the moments to lose control, Michael. Abruptly, she saw him recovering, at least he seemed to be back with her. Then, as he roamed her body with his glance she felt it. She felt the sensation of something very warm being dropped into her stomach and quickly expanding for all her body. She was more than sure that her body temperature had risen, or as much as a vampire's body temperature could rise anyway. She didn't know what had happened with him but knew exactly what had crossed her mind, as he stared at her eyes for a second she felt really uncomfortable. He said something and then avoided her eyes. She was glad for that, then, quickly, decided to ignore what had just happened. She noticed that he was moving his leg, since she had woken, and that she still had hers between his, with dissimulate and annoyance with herself, she removed her leg and deviated the conversation where it should be, after all, he was rambling. "We were not talking about me." she interrupted him.

That took him by surprise, he was glad for it, she mustn't have known the path his thoughts had taken seconds before. He had expected, at least, a scold and she looking at him with scorn, and the most, she beating the crap out of him, he knew she could do it, even if she wasn't fully recovered... "She told me that she'd go to Ordoghaz and say that we ran away, not without a fight, of course... She gave you her coat and told me to tell you that now she doesn't owe you anything, and that the next time, she won't doubt in finish what you started. And she hopes neither you."

She doubted for a second and then rested her head in his shoulder, that was the only thing she could do if she wanted to avoid his glances. "I will not." She said knowing the veracity of her comment, but also knowing that if Fiona wanted, she'd find the truth, somehow she would do it, after all, Fiona was more stubborn than her.
Recalling the things that occurred a few hours before, Selene remembered Michael being shot with the new bullets and him telling her that he had a fight with Fiona. Michael could be stronger than Fiona, but even like that, he hadn't developed all his capacities and Fiona always had been very malicious with her enemies. After a couple of seconds of an intern battle with herself, she asked him, "Did you remove the bullets?"

Michael was still thinking in his fantasy of moments before, in a more serious way, I'd better don't have a dream about that. That would be very embarrassing. "Sorry? I don't..." He said without avoid to do what he did next.

"When they shot you," She stopped when she felt Michael's hand leaving her shoulder and running by her side until he stopped it in her stomach, "...did you remove the splinters out of your body before you began to heal?"

He felt her shivering, and knowing why, he couldn't avoid to smile, "Yeah, I did. That was painful. And have your friend hurting me didn't help..." Feeling the delight in his voice, she decided to tell him to stop it if he continued with his stupid games, but then he seemed deep in thought, "Why those bullets didn't hurt me more than when... When I was shot by those death dealers?" He knew she recognized what he was going to say, than when Viktor's guys shot me.

"The first ones were just silver bullets, but the ones of last night were bullets filled with a special combination of UV and silver liquid, specially designed to kill you..."

Weirdly, Michael smirked, "Well, it didn't work." Selene found amusing his reaction, maybe he is beginning to get used to his new life, that is good. Suddenly, Michael remembered, "You were shot too... And the UV, like the sun?" he asked worried and looking at her arm, "That's not a myth right? The UV and vampires..." she shook her head, at the same time confused as to why he seemed to worry for her. A regret look passed by his face, "They could have killed you..." he said as he began to examine the burn area, having great care of not hurt her.

"The bullet just grazed me and I doubt the quantity of UV present in that bullet could kill me..." Following his line of vision she saw the bullet wound and the fingers close to it. Even that hurts, she grimaced as his fingers got too close, but you don't need to know that.

"Still, we have to do something to protect you the-"

"We have to rest." She declared interrupting him, reluctantly he nodded and after a couple of minutes he was fast asleep, and then she followed him.

When she woke again she felt that in less than an hour it will be dusking and she couldn't wait to get out of there and put some space between her and Michael, he made her feel... Certainly she felt uncomfortable but at the same time safe because she knew he wouldn't try anything against her, that's why she was beginning to trust him, against all her wishes she was trusting him again, a deep scowl appeared on her face as the confused thoughts and emotions went through her mind. It wasn't like she didn't trust him before they ran away. When her eyes met his without want it in the subway station, she wouldn't have given it importance, but she saw reflected in his eyes the same feelings she had been having since Viktor turned her and she couldn't ignore it, then when she noticed that she was staring, she turned and as fast as her curiosity for the human had came it had left her, because for her the most important was the war and not some weak human that she certainly wouldn't see again.
Michael won her trust when she woke and found out that he had saved her from drowning, after the bad things she had done to him. When she heard that he was a lycan, a big part of that trust was gone because she knew that when the time were right he would kill her, if she didn't do it first, there was when she began to feel confused because she wanted to know why Lucian wanted him and at the same time she wanted to help him, she knew that he was an innocent that was caught in the middle of the war... Then a decision was taken; she was going to do the last thing for him, she was going to help him escape Viktor and from then he would have to take care of himself. What she didn't expected was the worry and angst she felt when Kraven shot at him, and looking at his agonizing eyes she understood that she was beginning to care for him. In that moment, deep in her mind, she thought that maybe it was better to end it that way, he wasn't going to suffer more.

When Kraven told her the truth about the death of her family she didn't believe him, why would she trust in him when she had just learned the lengths he would go to obtain what he wanted? But the uncertainty was implanted because it was a possibility.
Confusion, rage, hurt, regret and helpness were the emotions that made her act the way she did, and as soon as Viktor separated her from Michael she faced the reality of her actions and knew that if Michael survived her bite he certainly wouldn't survive the rage of Viktor, then he tried to manipulate her again but when she told him that she knew the truth, he had not other option that confirm her biggest fear, with that all her world came down again.
She firmed her death's sentence when she reclaimed everything he had done with her and his own daughter, she was dumbfounded and hurt and, in the moment, she didn't care for anything that wasn't his betrayal, but after a while she remembered the oath of revenge she did to her family and a blind rage consumed her, she would revenge even if it was the last thing she'd do. Making her mind she knew that Michael and her would have more possibilities to survive Viktor if they fought him together, so she immediately freed Michael from the death dealers and knew his concern for her when he threw himself at Viktor, and if he was going to help her, she would do the same for him...

There was a part of her that felt and still feels regret and guilt, because she used Michael to prove that the lycans were plotting something, and then to deliver her revenge, she felt bad because she didn't do anything to help him in the first instants of his struggle with Viktor, and somehow that became the reason of why she let him with the lycans, that and don't want to be near anybody, she didn't want to trust and care for anybody ever again, she would be better alone and he certainly would be better with the lycans than with her... At least they were more and they would hear him, after all, he was what Lucian had wanted to become. She didn't pay attention to his protests and gave him her back, ignoring him and letting him where he was... She had taken her decision, an egoistic decision; the last thing she needed it was to care for him.
Then it was the problem with the coven, although she never felt that she belonged in that house, they were still her kind, but they wouldn't care to know that she killed Viktor because in 'her eyes' he was the bad guy, and knowing that her absolution demanded sacrifice she did the only thing she could, she ran away...

Why she let him come with her it wasn't a mysterious anymore, it was the pity and responsibility she felt for him, without forget the remorse for abandon him, after all, if the lycans didn't accepted him he would be alone, but he wouldn't endure the war even if he was one of the stronger beings left... Even he knew that.
After the biggest blow that life gave her, she came to a conclusion: 'If you don't fond with anyone, you would not suffer when they leave you.' This had proved to be her philosophy during her life as vampire and as the time passed she never got too close to anyone, though there were some transgressions known as Viktor and some death dealers. But she never regretted her decision, why someone would want to feel pain and desperation was beyond her mind, so every time someone tried to get close to her, she ignored them.

But her emotions were in tumults again, had she unconsciously changed her mind in these last days?

What does Michael have that makes him different? Was the question she had been asking herself since she woke in the bridge, and she was not at ease with the answer; he still was human, he behaved, acted and cared like a human. He trusted her, which sadly was one of the things that leaded to caring, he defended her, he got concerned, and for this she was beginning to look at him different, he was winning back her trust after all the things he did.
If she hadn't trust him, she'd never have let him come with her, even less sleep in the same bed with her. She couldn't avoid to think in Kraven, if she had been in the same circumstances with him, she'd have been instantly wary of his intentions, she probably also would have had to evade him until he was 'tired of her games' ...As if she ever had provoked him... She just hoped that some lycan or dealer had killed him in the worst way possible before he could escape, but being realistic, she knew she was hoping too much...
The thing was that with Michael everything was different; she did feel embarrassment when she saw the mirror but at the same time she wanted to make fun of him, but that was a step that for her safety she wasn't going to take, what happened minutes before was...just a physical reaction, nothing more. Trying not to keep in that line of thought she focused in the things that annoyed her, how he got in her nerves, how he didn't follow her orders, why he always questioned her actions... Why do I always end thinking on him? Always ended in some weird situation or position with him, or he doing something that made her more confused...
The only thing she was sure was that she was trusting him because he hadn't lost his humanity and innocence...yet, but he will lose them, a tinny voice in her head told her, she shook her head deleting that though, she also knew he was not like her or the vampires, even less like the lycans, she knew that he will fight, that he will try to retain them and maybe he could make it.

With all the thinking she had done in the last days, she had arrived at a conclusion corresponding Michael, he brought back the things she was against to, emotions and memories of what it was to be human and that she didn't want and needed to revive, that was why she couldn't care more for him, she had to stop it when she could, she won't wait until it be too late, if she let him get closer, she'll be vulnerable in every possible way and that was the last thing she wanted...
Suddenly Michael's voice broke through her internal battles.

"Selene?..." He stared at her, he looked sleepy and relieved, "...How is your back? Is it healed now?" he asked trying to look at her back but he couldn't. What a surprise, she thought as she looked at it seeing that it was almost healed. Michael was amazed to that kind of heal. He hadn't known what to expect, at least he expected a scar, but she didn't have anything, it was as if he hadn't scratched her.
"I'm fine! If you keep moving you might lift the canoe and then the sun will enter!" she said, pushing him away from her and ignoring the ache in her arm. Looking back at her, he nodded and went back to his old position expecting her to do the same but she lifted her head and taking the hint he removed the arm she had been using like a pillow completely from her, then she carefully adjusted the bags at their feet, making enough space for her to lay flat in her back. Staring at the ceiling, she crossed her arms over her chest in frustration, and forced her eyes shut again, glad to have some little space between them.

He was surprised by her actions, it wasn't like he hadn't expected it, to say the truth, what had surprised him was that she hadn't pushed him away when she woke for the first time; instead she was in the same position all afternoon... Maybe she was comfortable until she felt me move, he thought skeptically. By the corner of his eye he saw that she was going to turn her back to him and with a comment he stopped her, "I just wanted to know if you were alright, you didn't move in all afternoon and I thought that something could have been wrong with you..." He said sincerely and looking at her.

"I'm fine." She replied coldly but not returning his glance.

He sighed uncomfortable, "Look, I'm sorry for what I did. I didn't want to hurt you, but when I saw you in the way I couldn't stop myself, it was too late..." He felt guilty; his voice carried the feeling with it.

It wasn't like she doubted of him, but looking at his eyes she knew that what he had just said it was true. Not liking the situation she answered uncaring, "I know you didn't do it on purpose, so don't worry, just... next time pay more attention..."

"Next time I will do it right... I will protect you..."

"I can take care of my self." She gave him a warning glare, she was not defenseless; she was a death dealer and had survived without him all this time, she didn't need him back then and she definitely didn't need him now.

"Yeah, I noted that yesterday..." Bitterly and angry by her attitude he murmured to himself.

"What occurred yesterday was an unusual circumstance, that doesn't concern you." she said as her eyes flashed dangerously at him, loosing the little patience she had, and maybe in that way beginning to put a barrier between them, "And here's an advice: next time don't interfere in my business..."

"Don't interfere in your business? What the hell are you talking about? She was going to shoot at you with some drug!" He yelled at her, "What did you want me to do? Let you there for her to do with you whatever she wanted?"

"You didn't have to do anything! I would have found a way to get away, as I always do..." She glared and yelled back at him.

"I don't doubt you would..." He said sincerely but with irritation still present in his voice, "But... She might be your friend, but she was furious..." He tried to control himself, "And why didn't you –"

"You don't know me or her...and just because you are with me it doesn't mean that I have to explain my actions to you..." she snarled with a mix of indignation and anger.

"No, you don't, but it would be better if you do it..." He mumbled waiting in vain for an answer that never came and that made him more irritated, "And why are you trying to fight me? It is because for my careless, isn't it? I know, I know that if I hadn't try to help you in that instant I wouldn't have hurt you, but I would have hurt her at the moment she'd have tried to harm you, and from my perspective, that is something I'm more than sure you wouldn't forgive me... So there's no way I can win this discussion."

He had a point there but she was not going to give in, "This isn't about win anything! You are not ready to fight, believe me, if you are not dead is because you are lucky those death dealers of last night were rookies that didn't know how to fight, let alone how to shoot. And Fiona missed her shot but I'm sure she didn't lose other opportunities. Am I right?" The look in his face and the silence confirmed the answer, "My point is, just because you are as strong and fast as Viktor it doesn't mean that you can be careless with–"

"I know, I know, you have said that a million times..." He said tired of this fight.

She breathed deeply and waited a couple of seconds to continue, "I know your intentions were good, but you can't let yourself carry for the feelings of the moment, that is a mistake that may cost your life and the life of the people that be with you in that instant." She said calmer now.

"And you? It doesn't seem to me that you follow this 'rule'." He said without thinking and immediately flinching, knowing that it could be taken by her as a low blow.

"It's the only way I know how to fight..." She said without noticing it and scowling "...and it has worked for me in these two hundred years... I'm still alive, don't I?"

The disappointed with she said that it didn't pass unnoticed to Michael, not wanting to make her feel worst, not that she ever would let me see her sad, he tried to change the conversation, he asked for something he had noted a few hours before, "Why I don't have your memories? When Lucian bit me I had his in less than a day and with you I have nothing. Are the vampires able to control their memories? Did you control them to not transfer them to me?"

She just realized that she didn't have his memories either; maybe it was because when she bit him he was a lycan? "I thought that you had spoken with the lycans..."

She looked at him like she had noted something. He couldn't believe she still had doubts about him, "Yeah, about the lycans, if I mentioned something about the vampires it was like throw wood at a fire, the only thing they talked about the vampires were how to dismember them painful, how to kill them and that type of things..."

She sighed and nodded, fine. "Well, vampires and lycans are very different watching it since that perspective; in the case of the vampires the one who gets the memories is the one who drinks the blood."

"So you have my memories?" He asked, disappointment showing in his eyes and voice as he leaned in his right side; he wanted to know her more, know what she hide from him, know if she hated him for be a lycan, know how she felt for them now that she knew the truth of the war...

"I guess that it's not good to be on the other side, the side that gives the memories." She said at seen the disappointment in his reaction to her comment.

She confused the reason of why he was disappointed, which he was glad for, he didn't think she would like to know the true reason, "So, what of my memories do you have?" He asked wanting to know.

"I don't have your memories, I –"

"But, you just said that you got them, you bit me, that means you have them." He interrupted her.

"I never said I got them. I don't know why I don't have them, maybe it was because you were a lycan when I bit you. I don't know... I never heard of a vampire drinking of a lycan that was–" She cleared her throat, "is forbidden."

So she knows as much as I do about this topic, "So...from whom the vampires drink?" He asked, suspecting that the answer wasn't going to like him and knowing that in the current moment she was touched to talk about it.

"Well, from other vampires and some human donors. Feeding without consent of a human is punished, the majority of the vampires don't do it..." she paused for a second trying to make the lump in her throat go, "...but there are exceptions..."

He nodded knowing she was uncomfortable talking about that, so he decided to change the topic again, just a little, "Why would a vampire bite another vampire?"

"Why all those questions?" She asked almost defensively.

"I'm sorry for want to know in what I am involved..." He answered with the same defensive tone.

For a moment she remembered when she did the same questions to Viktor, and even more, and he answered them with all his patience, shaking her head not wanting to think in him she answered him, "There are several answers to that question, usually it's purely sexual, others do it like some kind of bond and rarely it's to survive." She said dismissing him.

He nodded knowing she won't answer more of these questions, suddenly he felt a chill that roamed his body, "Did you feel that too?"

"Feel what?" She asked not knowing what he was talking about.

"The chill, every dusk." He explained her.

"No, I just know when it's dark. You are still adjusting to your new physiology, Michael, soon you will not feel it." She looked at her clock, just to be sure.

"Can we get out now?" He asked very anxious.

"Yes." She began to lift the canoe, he was going to help her when he noted that they were already at the opening, he immediately sat and massaged his neck, after all, he was in the same position for almost twelve hours. He saw her checking their ammunition and that she was looking around her trying to know where they were, "We are far away from civilization... Do you remember what way you took?" She asked looking at him, she saw him standing up and beginning to circle their surroundings, searching for something.

"That way," He indicated with his arm, at her curious look he added, "these are the branches I broke as I walked."

"Are you ready?" She asked as she zipped the bag with the guns. He nodded and she saw him extending his hand to help her to stand up, but she ignored it and stood by her own.

"Actually, I have to go to...um, the bathroom." He didn't know how she would take that, she could be in a hurry, who knew?

"Don't make me wait..." She said looking around her.

As he went to 'the bathroom' he only hoped that she'd be there when he came back. After do his needs he came out and followed his path discovering that she was not there anymore, but he could feel her close. So he sat again, close to his bag and extracted a water bottle and began to drink from it, after a while he heard her coming closer, "Do you want?" he offered her the bottle.

"I don't need it." She said putting Fiona's coat on, "We have to hurry; I want to get there today." She said knowing that the dealers and the lycans could be waiting for them.

"Ok." He stood up and lifted the bags but she took one, knowing that it was better not to discuss with her he didn't say anything.

•

When they arrived to the 'civilization' again they note that something was going on because there were a big crowd, as they made their way through the people they learned that some musical group was going to play that night. The perfect conditions for lycans to be roaming about, Selene thought as she reached for her guns, she had to be ready. "Selene..." she looked over her shoulder at Michael, asking him what he wanted with her look "There's a deli over there, we should get some blood."

She thought about it and recognized he was right, she was hungry and didn't doubt he was too... "You should buy some meat, we don't know if you can survive just of water and blood." she said as she was going to give him some money but he shook his head.

"No, its ok, I have money." He said as he began to walk towards a cheap restaurant.

She asked for the blood and, as she waited, the salesman made her a lot of questions and kept hitting on her but she ignored him. When Michael got back, they got the blood and went into a lonely alley, as they made their way they received funny looks and some whistles, knowing the meaning of these they ignored them and kept on walking.
She drank the blood as Michael kept asking her questions about her alimentary habits.

When they were done, her plans were to go back to the industrial zone, walking. When suddenly they saw a big sign of a garage, she rapidly took a decision, and began to walk towards it. Looking at Michael she knew he didn't like the idea.
When they arrived to the garage Selene shot at the cameras around them, and then they noticed that the place was well stocked with several cars and motorbikes all sporty, Michael gawked at some personalized cars and he couldn't avoid to look at them closer, there were some Hummers H2, Navigators, Escalades, but what called his attention was the work of paint and graphics of a Mazda RX-8, and the Eclipse and 3000GT. He couldn't avoid touching them, he always had been a fanatic of cars, he tried to look at the interior but the polarized glass didn't let him, he felt discouraged.

When Selene looked back at him she noticed him downcast, "Why are you acting like an idiot?" She asked him.

"No reason." He answered very quickly, detaching himself from the cars, and looking at her, he immediately noted what she was watching. "No, no, no, no." He said shaking his head, "We can take a car. Let's take a car. A car it's safer. A lot safer."

She smirked at him seeing his scared face, "With all that traffic and people?" She was amused by his reaction, "We never will get there..."

"Then, you said it before, it is better to walk." He said knowing that he had no other option to get in one of those damned motorbikes, but he didn't lose anything trying to convince her.

"Oh, please, of what are you scared?" She asked trying to sound angry but failing.

"Of you! If you drive a bike like you drive a car then we are in deep problems..." She stared at him, he continued, "Do you even know how to handle one of those bikes?" She gave him a mischievously look that made her look arrogant, "Of course... Is there something you don't know how to do?" He asked as she began to walk towards a bike.

"Lots. I suppose." She said as he caught up with her.

It seemed like she already had picked one, a blue Ninja ZX12R, "And how are you going to turn it on? This is not like hotwire a car, you know."

"It can't be that different." She said as she crouched and opened a compartment in the bike, and in less than a minute the bike was on. She climbed up and Michael couldn't avoid noticing that that was the most alluring position he had seen her. Almost lying over her stomach, straddling the bike and with her hair in her face... Suddenly Selene became aware of two things; the first was Michael's gaze on her and the look he had sent a chill down her spine, and the second was his hair falling forward into his face and that some whiskers were now present, to her that made him even more handsome. Knowing that in this occasion she knew what he was thinking, his face turned red, even a common person in the moonlight could notice it.
"Well?" Selene asked, glaring and returning to her usual distant and uncaring tone. Michael not knowing what to do just nodded and as soon as he climbed the bike, she sped up, by reflex he put his arms around Selene's waist trying to not fall by the acceleration force and when Selene felt Michael's arms around her she couldn't help to think that maybe he was right... A car would have been better.

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