Michael helped Frost to his feet. As they turned around they got an unexpected surprise. Though he couldn't quite make out the figure, he could sense the immense power radiating from it. Its scent had the unmistakable mix of lycan and vampire. It was Marcus.

Marcus jumped down from the roof top he was perched upon just seconds ago. He landed soundlessly on his feet in front of Michael and Frost. He was wearing black boots, black pants, a black silk shirt, and the traditional Elder's crimson leather trench coat. He walked up to the barely standing Michael and Frost, clapping his hands.

" Well done you two. But I must say, I expected more from you Michael."

Frost let a growl escape his throat as he lunged at Marcus.

" Frost no!" Michael yelled, but it was too late.

Marcus had Frost by his throat and stared into the lycan's eyes with his impenetrable glare. " I should just kill you right now."

Frost stared back at Marcus rebelliously. If he was going down, he was going down fighting, loyal to the pack, and Michael, until the end.

But Marcus merely smirked and threw Frost, with great force, across the building so that he fell down into the alleyway below, and from the sound that followed, Michael guessed he crashed into a dumpster. This infuriated Michael but he restrained himself from attacking Marcus.

" What do you want from me, Marcus?"

" So you do know me?"

" I know what Selene and the other lycans have told me."

" Hmm, filled the gaps have they?"

" Some, but not all. What are you getting at?"

Marcus chuckled. " Look Michael, I did not come here to fight so you can stand down."

Michael snorted. " You have a damn could way of showing it!" he said as he glanced back to the alley were Frost had been thrown.

" That lycan needed to learn some manners. Anyway, think about it Michael. Why would six of the lesser experienced Death Dealers be sitting on the same building at the same time?"

" Cause they're pansy's?"

Marcus looked amused. " I set a test for you my friend. And you passed with flying colors."

" What are you talking about?" Michael asked defensively.

" I wanted to test your hybrid powers. I wanted to see what I was up against. I expected more, but I suppose because of such weak bloodlines going into you…"

" Selene is not weak! She's the strongest vampire I know! Stronger than Viktor, stronger than you…"

Marcus looked amused. " Funny, you knew I was talking about Selene. That one does have some fire in her, so I'm told. A real spark, an edgy flare some would call it. But, you know that what she's doing right now, she's doing because she's confused right? She doesn't love you, she's just lost and vulnerable."

" That's a lie!"

" Is it now?"

Michael had had enough. He launched himself, still in hybrid form, at Marcus with all the force he could muster. This must have taken Marcus by surprise because he flew backwards. He was still on the ground when Michael ran over and pinned him down. But Marcus fought back. He kneed Michael in the abdomen and let off a strong punch that hit Michael squarely in the jaw.

" She doesn't love you, and she never will! She's not able to love, it's not in her system!" Marcus yelled. He kicked Michael in the stomach and now he was the one on his feet first, holding Michael down, which wasn't hard. Michael was so tired, and this added pain was making it worse. It seemed like her wouldn't make it through…

But suddenly, a shot rang out from nowhere, and a UV bullet hit Marcus right in his heart. Three more hit him, one in the leg, one in the shoulder, and one in the gut. Marcus belted out a yell that was too high for human ears to pick up. Then he screeched. He whirled around in a circle, trying to figure out where the shots came from.

Suddenly, a dark figure jumped down from a building and landed in the shadows. Another gunshot rang out, and this one landed just a centimeter away from Marcus's lung.

Out of the shadows, gun in hand, walked Selene. She had watched the whole thing, and started firing when Marcus said that she didn't love Michael, because somewhere deep inside of her, somewhere hidden deep inside the darkness, she knew that wasn't true.

The bullets became too much for Marcus. He did as much as he could to try and contain the UV rays. They only affected half of his system, half was a half more than he was willing to risk in his still weakened state. He knew this was a bad idea and regretted it instantly, but he pushed a button on a clip on his belt, and a blue light turned on, just above the button.

" A tracer." Selene mumbled to herself. She kept her gun up and ready to fire.

Marcus stumbled over to Michael, his hands up, begging Selene not to shoot. He looked down at Michael, who was only half conscious. " You and I will be in the final battle together Michael. Watch your power, for it may grow to strong for even you to handle. When the final battle actually does begin, it is still left unsaid in the prophecy's which side you will be on. Think about that. We will meet again soon." And with that, Marcus fled to the side of the building and jumped off.

Selene instantly ran over to Michael's side, skidding to a stop right next to him. "Michael? Michael can you hear me? Michael look at me. Keep your eyes on me. Don't take your eyes of me for a second or I'll shoot your brains out, you got it?" Selene pleaded, trying to keep Michael focused on her. If he passed out with this much blood lost, he might not wake back up.

" No… problem." He tried a weak attempt at humor.

Selene of course, did not find this amusing one bit. She was more focused on the extent of Michael's injuries, and how in the hell she was going to bring him back to the den? Suddenly there was a groan behind her and in less then a second she whipped around, guns in hand, only to see that it was a broken Frost coming to assistance.

" What happened here?" Selene asked the broken lycan.

" We spotted some vamps and took 'em out. Then Marcus showed up. Threw me and Michael a beating."

Selene put her guns away and turned back to Michael, who was breathing hard now. This reminded her of being back in the first lycan hide out, sitting by Michael's side after Kraven had shot him. Then Selene knew what she had to do. Slowly she bent her neck down and bit Michael on the neck, sucking the silver out of his system.

Frost looked on as Selene tried to make Michael better. The fresh blood tasted so good in her mouth, even though it was tainted by silver. She wanted it. She wanted it more than anything. But she had to pull back. She'd kill him if she didn't. Half reluctantly, she sat back up and wiped the blood away from her mouth with the back of her hand.

" What happened to Marcus?" Frost asked.

" I shot him a couple of times with the UV bullets. I was hoping they'd work better, but Marcus, even in his weakened state, is still very very strong." Selene became depressed by her own words. It would take a lot of power to kill Marcus, and even more to "end" the war. She was just glad that she didn't have to do it alone.

Frost helped Selene carry Michael back to the den. They traveled by the cities maze of underground tunnels. Frost said that he knew one that lead right to Raze's office.

Suddenly Frost became somewhat confused by the vampire at his side. " You know, I'd never think that you would be willing to trust Michael's and your own safety with a lycan." He said as he kept his gaze ahead of him.

Selene looked at Frost, and then to the ground. " A couple of days ago you would have been right."

" Then why now?"

Selene looked at him again. " Let's just say…I had an epiphany."

" Oh?"

" Yes."

But before she could continue, they came to a dead end. Frost walked up to the end of the tunnel and beat his fist into it. Suddenly, a concrete door opened and rolled to the side, revealing a clearing in the tunnel. They walked across it and over to a door. Frost pushed a button to the side of the door and a little keypad popped out. He typed something in and the door unlocked and opened. They walked through and ended up in the back of Raze's office.

Once there, Michael was quickly aided by Raze, who had taken over as the doctor since Singe's death. They still did not know that Selene aided Viktor in Singe's demise. Selene, subconsciously or not, was holding on to Michael's hand for dear life, she wasn't going to let go.

" It's a good thing you got the silver out of his system when you did. Other wise he'd be even more worse off than he is now." Raze said as he tended to Michael's wounds.

" But he's going to be okay right?" she asked, worry clear in her voice.

Raze looked at her. Maybe she really was starting to care. He had never known a vampire, a death dealer at that, to care about anything. But it seemed like she did. He nodded. " He should be fine in a day or so."

" Let's only hope that the vamps didn't track us here." Frost chimed in.

" I don't think they could even if they wanted to. Lucian had that passageway built especially so injured lycans could get back with out being followed." Raze said as he started to bandage up Michael's wounds. He has pulled eight or nine bullets out of Michael and they were sitting on a tray next to him.

Raze turned to Selene. " He needs to rest. Aubrey has asked for you in his office. Let Michael be, he'll be fine soon enough."

Selene got defensive. " I'm not leaving him."

" Selene, please…" Raze asked in that deep voice of his.

But he didn't know just how stubborn she was. " No. I'm not leaving."

But at that moment, Ravyn walked into Raze's office. " Selene? Aubrey wants to see you, c'mon."

Selene sighed. She looked down at Michael, who had passed out. She reluctantly let go of his hand and, to Raze's relief, followed Ravyn out and down to Aubrey's office.

She stormed in with Ravyn pulling up the rear. " This better be good."

Aubrey looked up at her. " A pleasure to see you too, Selene. But a simple hello does just fine as well."

Selene took a deep breath. " Sorry, I'm just stressed."

" As you should be. I understand we had a run-in with Marcus tonight?"

" Yeah, while the you guys were bringing the stuff back here, Frost and Michael got attacked."

" So that's why they took so long…"

" Yeah. But there's one thing I'm confused by…"

Aubrey raised an eyebrow. " Oh?"

" If Marcus knows that Michael is the key to helping the lycans. He knows that we need Michael as much as Michael needs us. He even had Michael pinned to the ground, why didn't he just kill him then? He had his chance, but he waited. He could have done it so fast but he didn't. I've never actually met Marcus before tonight but I know that he probably wouldn't have let Michael live…unless he had an ulterior motive…" Selene puzzled. She was practically wearing a divot in Aubrey's floor as she paced.

" That could possibly be true, but until we know for sure, I say we lay low for awhile. Until we become more organized, I think we should move the pack."

Selene stopped dead and turned to face Aubrey. " What?"

" Obviously we'll wait until Michael is well enough to travel, and I will ask him, but I just wanted to see what you thought first."

" You think we aren't safe here?" Selene asked.

" Well, I think it would be safer if we moved, secretly though. I don't think the pack is safe in the city. There's another den on the out skirts of town. We'll move them there until it is safe to return. Tonight's battle was way to close to this den for comfort. I want to move the pack just to be safe."

Selene nodded. " But we have to make sure we're not followed. It must be done with the utmost secrecy, or else we might be sending them all into a death trap. I have an idea. When Michael is well, he and I will go scout out this new den. If it's safe, we'll move the pack in small group's, so as not to attract attention."

" Perfect." Aubrey smiled.

" Send out two or three lycans tonight to go along the city's perimeter. Ask them to seek out any place's where the vampire's are keeping vigil. But don't let them attack the vampires. We must not be seen. Ask them to locate the surveillance vampires, and then tell me where they are. We have to avoid them at all costs. If we're seen then Marcus will know where we are in less than a second."

Aubrey stood up straight and gave her a phony salute. " Yes ma'am!"

Selene caught the joke. " At ease, now go."

Aubrey smirked and winked before leaving his office. Selene followed him out. She wanted to go see Michael, but knew she'd probably get kicked out. She would have gone into the common room, but she was starting to get a headache. Out of idea's, she slid into the cafeteria to get some blood. She got a cup, and then headed back to her room. She got walked up the stairs and found Aubrey about to knock on her door.

" Aubrey? What are you doing here? I thought you were getting the lycans together?" she asked.

" I did, but then I figured I should send Ravyn out too. I thought she'd be in your room."

Selene opened the door and found Ravyn watching TV. " Hey Ravyn, Aubrey was looking for you." She said.

" He was?"

" Yeah," Said Aubrey from the doorway. " I need you to do something for me."

Ravyn got up and went with Aubrey, leaving Selene alone. She sighed, sipping her blood. She had nothing else to do but sleep, so she did. She finished her blood and lay down in the bed. She was alone for the first time in weeks, and she didn't like it. She didn't like the fact that Michael wasn't right next to her. She didn't like the fact that she couldn't fall asleep to the sound of his soft breathing. She didn't like that she couldn't feel the heat from his body right next to her. She sighed and got up. She walked out of the room, down the stairs and through the hallways, eventually finding herself at Raze's door. She knocked quietly.

Raze opened and looked at her. Before she could say anything, he stepped aside.

Selene walked over to the cot that Michael was placed on. With his shirt gone, his wounds were visible all over his torso. He hadn't moved since the last time she saw him.

Selene pulled up a chair next to his bed. Raze had gone in search of food, and it was just her and Michael. She took his hand in both of hers, glad to feel his warmth. It was quite seducing, really. When you've felt nothing but the cold for so long, and are now finally feeling the warmth, it was intoxicating. Selene carefully made it so the back of his hand was resting against her cheek, as she held it there. She closed her eyes, the sleep finally taking over her. She laid her head to rest on a small portion of Michael's cot, his hand still in hers.