Chapter Two.
"This is a waste of time." Michael declared angrily and threw the riffle on the ground. The marble statue stood firm, only a few bullet holes imbedded in its earlobe. Behind the statue the wall was riddled with holes.
Selene examined the statue quietly. Her eyes told him nothing, but her body language spoke loudly. She was also growing tired of the training session. "It takes time, Michael." She assured him.
"We don't have time." He pointed out using his shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead. The basement of the mansion had been converted into an armoury. Walls where lined with guns, knives and other weapons. In the corner of the room, two rooms with bars where used as cells. "You said so yourself."
"Well you didn't expect to turn into a death dealer overnight did you?" Selene asked critically. She started putting away some of the knives they had been using to teach Michael to aim.
"A death dealer?" Michael asked confused. "I thought this was just to teach me how to survive? I didn't sigh up for killer classes."
"I beg your pardon?" Selene snapped turning around to face him. "What did you think I was going to teach you… how to hug the Lycans to death? Be realistic Michael."
"I am." Michael shouted. Before he could say another word pain gripped his stomach and he doubled over. His skin rippled and stretched as his Hybrid form started to take control. He moaned and fell onto his hands and knees gripping his ribs in agony. "No." He grunted as bones insides his rib cage cracked and made way for his new form.
"Control your emotions." Selene barked from beside him. "You have to clear your mind like I taught you."
"Gah.." He gurgled and lifted his head up to face Selene as he desperately fought to gain control of his body. Pins and needles felt like they where running ramped through his body. He nearly collapsed from the effort. Slowly his eyes returned to their normal colour and he panted with the effort as his knee's bucked.
"Look at me Michael." Selene pulled his face to hers. "Concentrate. You can do this." She let go of his head as he shook it in protest. "Michael, I know you can do it."
He looked up at her and saw her crouching beside him. Her hand rested on his shoulder and he felt calm sweep through his body. Her touch was like a refreshing cool drink. His hand covered her own and he sat back on his heels, his skin slowly turning back into smooth flesh. Falling onto the floor in a heap he panted, trying to control his breathing.
"Are you alright?" She asked him concerned.
Michael grunted in response. Leaving him to gather his energy she started cleaning her weapons. So intent on her thoughts and her gun she didn't hear him get up or come to stand behind her. "You don't think I can do this do you?"
Selene dropped her gun on the table. Embarrassed she had been startled she picked it up briskly. Turning to Michael she felt a pang of sadness when she saw his face. Looking as lost as the day she had rescued him from Lucian, he was staring at the floor. "You managed to survive incredible odds so far."
"I've been lucky." He replied miserably. "And you where there."
Selene touched his cheek tenderly, her mind racing. His eyes stared at her as if trying to gage what she could possibly be thinking.
He started to tilt his head towards her and Selene was sure that her heart was beating so loudly that he could hear it. She felt herself being tugged forward and licked her lips in anticipation. His face was inches away from her own and she could smell the musky scent that was purely Michael emanating from his body. Her body responded on it's own accord and she was helpless to stop herself from crushing his lips with her own.
His hands wound around her petite frame and pulled her closer. Selene was overcome by the emotion that surged through her. Memories of their night together flooded her brain and she couldn't help but let out a small whimper when he pushed open her mouth wider and began to stroke her tongue with his own. His taste was intoxicating, unlike anything she had tasted before. Each kiss made her hungry for more.
Michael responded with just as much hunger and pushed her up against the work bench in the middle of the room. She grunted as she hit it, but only pulled him closer. His hands slid over her back and she arched into him as his hands clenched her ass.
He leant against her heavily and she felt his desire pinned between her legs. She had never felt so much passion in her life and she wanted nothing more than to push him to the ground and strip him bare. But she knew that now was not the right time. There was so much at stake right now and they had no time for indulgence.
She pulled away regretfully and he pouted, panting from their kisses. She leaned her forehead against his own as she tried to regain her composure. "Michael we can't." She told him quietly.
"Why not?" He asked opening his eyes and looking at her. He ran a hand over her shoulder and down her arms gently. "I want you." He told her, his eyes dark with passion.
"You know why we can't." She pleaded and had to push him away. He frowned and wiped sweat from his brow. Selene was already heading towards the staircase. He grabbed her by the hand.
"Selene." She looked up at him expectantly. "Why do you keep pushing me away?"
"I'm not." She told him sadly. "But we have things that are more important right now."
"Like what?" Michael argued.
"Like keeping us alive."
"When is it going to end though? When will it be ok?" Selene seemed stunned by the question and he watched as her eyes begin to turn artic blue.
"I don't know." She answered truthfully and fled the basement.
"What part of 'Death Dealer' are you having trouble with Michael?" Selene spat casting him a cold look. They had been arguing for the last twenty minutes about whether they should attack the weakened Vampire Coven in Transylvania while it was still leaderless. The Transylvanian coven had previously been ruled by Marcus and the coven was sure to be out for revenge once the news spread.
Michael wanted to lay low but Selene was adamant they couldn't run forever. Not one to be idle and wait for the war to come to them, she wanted to attack it head on and get it over with. "Was it 'Death' or 'Dealer'?" Not giving him a chance to reply she stormed out of the room, her coat flapping in her wake.
Michael watched her leave. Part of him wanted to turn around and walk right out of the mansion they had retreated to and never turn around again. A deeper, cold part of him wanted to grab her by the neck and push her against the wall until she complied to his point of view. He was tired of taking orders from her.
He wasn't bred into a life of fighting. She was. A month ago he had been a young man battling a broken heart after his fiancé had been killed in a car accident and now – he was the most powerful hybrid in the world. His attachment to his human life was irritating Selene. She continued to call it a 'weakness'.
He felt his blood pumping in his fists and he fought the desire to change into his hybrid state. He was finding it harder now when he was angry to not give into the beast itching to get out from underneath his skin. "Selene!"
She didn't answer, but he could hear she had stopped storming down the hallway. Physically shaking off the anger, he headed down the hallway after her. She had her back to him. Her face tilted waiting for him to speak.
"I just… Is it really necessary?" His voice came across more callously than he liked. She flinched.
"I don't have to explain myself to you!" She snapped, her eyes where ice cold and he knew he had made a mistake in trying to discuss what they should do next. Selene wanted to go and fight. That much was clear, but part of him wondered whether it was for battle strategy or simply revenge for what Victor, the now dead Vampire elder, had done to her.
"I just think there must be a better way." Michael pleaded crossing his arms over his chest. She whirled around to look at him and he tried to ignore the part of him that noticed how beautiful she looked when her eyes where that cold shade of blue. "Why do you have to fight everything?"
"This is who I am. If you don't like it… leave." Her threat was clear and her tone was equally as icy as her eyes.
"You know I can't." He said through gritted teeth. 'She is so damn stubborn!' Michael thought trying to keep his anger inside. "And it's not who you are… you where human once."
Her head bobbed and he thought he made out a snort. Her face was pulled into a mocking stare. "A long time ago, yes, I was human." She admitted. "A stupid, young, naive woman whose only dream of a future consisted of a fat husband and many children." She stood tall and straightened her shoulders. Michael knew there was no point arguing any more tonight. "And then I woke up."
He balked at her statement. "You woke up! You call this being awake?" He raised his arms and waved them around the dark hallway. "This is not living! This is an existence. A means to an end. What is the point of being immortal if you hide from the world?"
"I am not the one who is hiding." Selene replied indignantly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, Michael, that you think you can go back to being human again and return to your mortal life." Selene explained. "You can never go back."
Michael refused to believe it. He refused to believe that his life was now out of his control. "I never asked you to bite me."
"You where dying!" She exclaimed, her eyes flashed and she ducked her head so that her raven hair covered most of her features. This action always frustrated Michael because it meant that she was trying to hide her emotions from him.
"I would rather have died than be a monster." He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
Her head snapped up and she stared at him for a long time. He knew with every fibre of his being that he had hurt her. Selene's eyes sunk back into their hazel colour and she whirled on her heel and stormed back to her room.
His ears where ringing as the blood began to pump harder and faster in his veins again. Without a second thought he changed into his hybrid state and he bolted down the hallway.
He couldn't hear any more. His heartbeat thumped loudly in his ears and he ran to escape his conscious. With break neck speed he tossed his body from the open window and landed with graceful ease onto the ground.
He paused, still not used to the ability to jump four stories from a building and not even hit the ground with more than a light thump. Michael glanced up at the house once more before running to the shelter of the trees. Their shadows welcomed him as he leapt clear of a fallen tree.
He ignored the hairs on the back of his neck that told him she was watching him from the window. He hated her. He hated this whole stupid immortal world. He wanted out. He didn't want to know about 'blood feuds' and 'hybrids'. He just wanted to be Michael again.
Yet even as he reached the perimeter fence without so much as a sweat he couldn't deny the shiver of pleasure he felt when he ran through the trees. For all its pain and agony and frustration, the hybrid ability to sprint through the forest at incrediable speed was intoxicating. Before the change he could only last a couple of minutes at a full sprint. Now he felt like he could run forever.
He cooled the balls of his feet in the stream near by before taking off again and bounding up the hill. The constant movement of his muscles gave him a good release of energy and it felt so good after being cramped in the car.
Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled, long and piercing. It sung it's presence like a melody in his ear and he crouched by a tree and returned the call. His lungs where swept clean by the cool early morning air and he howled again.
Feeling stupid for his very unhuman like display he pulled his head down. 'Maybe Selene is right' He thought staring down at his exposed claws. 'Maybe I am holding on to going back to my old life. Maybe this is better..?' He looked up at the sky. The moon was already beginning to make its decline into the hills. It would be morning in only a couple of hours.
He knew he should head back to the mansion. The longer he stayed away he knew it would only anger her and prove her point. Slowly he started the journey back.
As he walked slowly he studied his surroundings. He did not want to leave this place tomorrow. It was peaceful with its snow tipped mountains and dense green forests. It was so different from his sprawling suburban life back home in America.
He decided he liked it here and wanted to one day, when the war was over, come back and set up a home here. He smiled. He knew Selene would balk at the idea. She would be happier if he suggested they live in an armoury. He shook his head at the picture and was so intent of his fantasy that he barely registered the shadow creeping towards him.
A blur of silver shot passed his eyes. He looked down as a red-hot piercing sensation filled his chest. Pulling out the dart he looked up at who had hit him and nearly fell back again.
"Hello again, Handsome."
Erika stood, hands on hips, her fangs glinting in the moonlight. She pressed her blood red lips together and winked at him.
"Fancy a rest?"
"What?" He asked confused. Her vision swam before him and he coughed. Suddenly his body felt like it weighed a thousand tones and he found himself sliding to his knees. Spots danced over his eyes and the doctor in him told him this wasn't a good sign.
"I promise I won't bite… much." She grinned, bending over towards him as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"No… wait!" He grunted and his world went dark.