"So…this prophecy is talking about me?" Michael asked.

Aubrey shrugged. "Unless there's another hybrid out there that's a messiah to the lycans."

"So we're positive the prophecy isn't talking about Marcus?"

Selene shook her head. "It isn't likely. The prophecy says the messiah to the lycans. To the lycans, Marcus is more like a pariah to us, rather than our savior."

Aubrey smiled to himself at Selene's use of the terms "us" and "our." He was glad to see that she had finally grouped herself in with the lycans, and that they were no longer "them" or "their."

Michael narrowed his eyes. He took the book gently from Selene's hands, to make sure it wouldn't fall apart. He looked down at the writing, not that the foreign lettering made much sense to him anyway. "What's this about "the earth will shake and fire will fall from the sky"?"

Selene shrugged. "Not sure. But at least now we'll now that the epic moment is upon us when it happens."

Again Michael looked down to the book. Then he handed it back over to Selene. "I don't suppose it says anything about who wins, does it?"

She shook her head. "They rarely do. Unless it is fated that one side wins and the other falls, it's really up us. Prophets usually don't take such big risks as to say how the event in question will turn out. Present events change the future."

There was a long silence, with Michael processing all this new information. Never in his wildest dreams could he have ever imagined he'd be here, like this today. He never even thought about vampires and werewolves when he was a kid. But now that he thought back on it, he always remembered himself looking up to the moon. He wondered why he was here now. What on this earth had possessed him to risk his entire life for these strangers who hardly knew him, for this new reality he could have kept on living without. He closed his eyes and tried to think. Why am I here? Icy blue eyes flashed across his memory. Icy blue eyes, ivory white skin, raven black hair, ah yes, now he remembered. He opened his eyes and looked at Selene. She was why he was here. He gave up everything in his life, everything he knew, for this woman who had captured his heart with one glance in a subway station. He would die for her. He was here because he loved her.

And she loves me.

And suddenly he thought about the future. If they both survived this, they could go on and have a life together. They might even be able to have a family one-day. If they both got through this, they could be happy, together. And that was worth everything Michael had to offer.

He took a deep breath and straightened up. "Okay. So what if we amend Aubrey's attack plan? We'll being in more lycans. If Marcus is too scared to come to us, we'll bring the fight to him. Or better yet, we can have him and his forces meet on neutral ground, while we sneak into the mansion and get the pendants. We'll go to the battlefield and take Marcus and the covenant down. Then, any vampire who can't handle a hybrid as their ruler will be taken as a prisoner. Any other suggestions?"

No answers came from the group.

Michael nodded. "Now only it was as simple as it sounded." He shook his head. "Okay Aubrey, is there anywhere left that will give us extra forces?"

"I'm going to assume that Marcus has called in the other two covens by now. They'll have at least 50,000 vampires fighting for them." Selene chimed in.

Aubrey scanned his brain for a moment before nodding. "I've got friends in high places. I'll send a call over to England, Ireland, Russia, and America. But keep in mind you'll be dealing with a lot of different personalities, Mike."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "How different?"

"Well, each region has got a different kind of lycan that adapted to it. English lycans are very small and lean and compared to a normal lycan, they're easier to take done in their lupine form. They'll probably do the majority of the gun handling for us. Ireland, being the land of the wolf, has lycans equipped for every situation. They can handle a gun as well as change and take someone down in lupine form. Russian lycans are brutes. They're more up there on the strength and brutish side of things, very compact and muscular wolves. American lycans are probably best known for their brains rather than brawn. They make up in smarts what they lack in muscle. They are probably the most strategic out of all of us. They get kind of annoyed with the Russian lycans. None of them really like the English wolves because they prefer their human forms, and they all kind of envy the Irish lycans because they seem to have all of the good traits. And the Irish wolves are kind of on a standoff with the English ones because of the civil war thing."

Michael sighed. It must have been the hundredth one tonight. "Well hopefully they'll unite under a common cause. Contact their leaders and tell them I need to talk to them."

Aubrey nodded. "Right on it, boss." He walked out of the room, Ravyn following him.

Raze looked to Michael. He nodded, then bowed his head to Selene, and then walked out.

Michael fell back down into his chair, his head falling into his hands.

Selene smiled tiredly at him. She kneeled down and placed her hand on his back. "Hey," she said with softness in her voice that even surprised her. "You okay?"

Michael picked his head up and looked at her. He smiled at her newfound caring and nodded his head. "Yeah. It's just… this gets a little overwhelming sometimes when I stop and think about it.

She nodded her head. "It was like that for me too. Those first couple of months after I was changed I couldn't believe what was happening to me, what I had become. It seemed so new and it terrified me. I saw things I could before only think about in my wildest dreams. But you should see how these lycans react to you Michael. They love you for trying to save them. Whether you can grasp it now or not, you really are their hero."

He nodded taking her words in.

Selene gave him a small smile. "You're my hero too."

He narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

"I've been thinking about it recently, what with everything that's been happening. I realized that I feel more like myself when I'm with you than when I'm with me. If you hadn't been here for me Michael, I would be dead by now. Before I was just a machine for destroying. When I'm with you, I realize that I'm more than that. I'm a woman. I was on a path for self-destruction, and then I met you. You showed me the truth about everything. You saved me. You're my hero, Michael." Selene's eyes welled up a little bit. Michael smiled at her. He pulled her to him and held her protectively in his arms. It was nice to feel needed.

They held each other in a comfortable embrace for a while, before Michael noticed that she felt different. He tore himself far enough away so he could look at her face.

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You…I don't know…I guess, you feel different. You're warmer. You look flushed. Are you alright?" Michael had grown accustomed to Selene's deathly cold skin. This new warmth, while being a pleasant surprise, had him a little alarmed.

She shrugged. "I've been getting head rushes and heat flashes for the past couple of days. I don't know what it is…"

"Maybe you're coming down with something?"

"Vampires don't get sick, Michael. It's physically impossible."

"Having a vampire-lycan hybrid is physically impossible. But I'm here aren't I?"

Selene looked at him. Point taken.

"Maybe you should have Raze take some of your blood to check out?"

"I'm fine Michael. It's just a little spell."

"Vampires don't get sick, Selene. It's physically impossible." He quoted, smirking.

Selene slapped him on the arm playfully.

He smiled, but then turned slightly more serious. "Please just have Raze check it out? For me?"

Selene sighed and rested her head on Michael's shoulder. "Okay, okay, if it will make you feel better."

He smiled again, resting his chin on her head. "It will, thank you."

Aubrey slammed the phone down on his desk. "We got England, Russia, and America."

Michael stopped his pacing and faced Aubrey, nodding his head. "That's good, what about Ireland?"

Aubrey shrugged. "They're still iffy about coming. They're not certain they want to take part in this."

Michael shook his head. "But we need them. We can't possibly have enough without them."

"I know that Michael, but Connor is wary about relinquishing his rule to someone he's never even met."

"Connor, that's the leader?"

Aubrey nodded.

Michael sighed. "Get back into contact with him. Tell him our situation, guilt him into it, I don't care. If he still refuses let me talk to him. Got it?"

Aubrey nodded and picked the phone back up again.

Michael walked out of the office and walked through the common room in search of Selene. He was pointed in direction to the room where the children took to hanging out. He scanned the place and saw her standing by the wall watching the kids play pretend games with each other. She seemed to be watching Damian out of all of them. A smile crept across his face. She really took to that little kid.

He walked over to where she stood. "Hey."

She didn't take her eyes off of Damian. "This is really it isn't it?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"This war is really happening now isn't it? Once the other lycans come here we're going to go to war with Marcus for the last time, and there won't be any turning back. Either we win and start to rebuild the Underworld, or we loose everything and Marcus rises to power to ultimately destroy both worlds. What if it doesn't work out like we would hope, Michael? What if he wins? What if these kids never have a future to look forward to?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know Selene. I mean, I wish I could say that this will all turn out the way we want it to, but I can't. But I can say that I will fight for this with everything I have inside of me."

Selene bowed her head and closed her eyes. "But that's not all. What if…" She took a deep breath to steady herself. She thought it over in her mind, and then shook her head. She gave a weak smile. "Never mind…"

Michael dipped his head to try and make eye contact. "What?"

She shook her head again. "Never mind. It's just…it's nothing."

Selene drew her eyes back over to Damian. He was in a sparing match with another kid a few years older than him, who was also bigger and stronger. But Damian was using his smaller size to his advantage. He weaved in and out of the older lycan's legs, making him frustrated and angry. While he was getting angry, he was also making mistakes. He was exposing his back to Damian, showing off his weaker points. In and instant of weakness, Damian had him pinned to the ground. He arched his neck and let out a low growl of victory, showing off his pearly white elongated canines. The color of his iris's changed from a deep brown to an unearthly cobalt blue and the muscles shifted beneath his skin. But just as fast as it had come, the moment passed, and he was Damian again. He got to his feet, and then helped the other boy to his feet. Damian patted his shoulder. The other lycan children watched in awe. They knew it as well as did Michael and Selene. They had just seen a glimpse of a future alpha.

"He's going to be great someday…" Michael mused as the children went back to their playing. He turned back to Selene. "Let's give him that chance, huh?"

Selene smiled and nodded. Here we go.

Michael rubbed his temples while he was sitting at his desk. Connor was not giving in easily.

"Connor please. You have to understand that this battle means the difference between a world of free lycans and dead ones." He tried to reason.

"Yes, Michael, I understand that. But this pack trusts me; they put their faith in me. I can't just hand over their lives on a silver platter to a leader they've never even known existed. I have a responsibility to them. I can't just send them off to be killed by the vampires. I've finally got this place under control. I can't ruin that with such an uncertainty as this poorly planned attack." Came the throaty voice of the Irish lycan leader over the speakerphone. His Irish accent was thick enough so that you could tell right off the bat that he was Irish, but not so thick that it was a challenge to understand what he was saying.

"It's not poorly planned. I understand you have a responsibility to your own pack but you also have a responsibility to every other lycan in this world, you have a responsibility to Aubrey, and I know that you aren't familiar with this, but like it or not you have a responsibility to me. Now I am asking you to help us take down this threat once and for all. We could loose this whole thing because you refused to help. I know that you would do this for Lucian. Please, help me honor his memory. We can do this. We can win this, but not without your help. Please Connor, help me save these people."

There was silence across the line for a long moment. Then, "How is it Michael, that in a matter of such a short time, you have come to love these people as your own?"

Michael was taken off guard by the question, but he answered with honesty. "These people are my own people, and I will fight to the death to make sure that they can have their lives back. It's not a matter of me adopting a new life, but this is the life I was destined for. I can't go back to the way I was, and quite frankly, I don't want to. And now these people need me and I'm here to answer their call. You say that you have a responsibility to your pack, but where are you when your own people need your help? You can't just sit by and pretend this isn't happening. Now, we're going to do this with or without you. With could bring us to victory even easier. With could bring a great future even closer to the present. Without…well, without could be the fall of the lycans. That's your choice. Thank you for giving us your time, Connor. Goodbye."

Michael pressed the 'end' button on the cradle and sighed to himself. He got out of his chair and walked out into Aubrey's new office, where he, Ravyn, Selene, and Raze waited expectantly.

Michael gave them a shrug. "So here's what we've got so far. Russia, America, and England have agreed on an alliance with each other to help us out. That give us, what, about half of the lycans we need?"

At Aubrey's nod, Michael continued. "We're going to spring an attack with a few hundred lycans onto the mansion. Once the vampires go onto attack, we're going to draw their forces away from the mansion onto neutral ground and raise all hell. Guerilla warfare. We're going to use anything we have on them. We'll spring attack everywhere, hiding in the trees on the hills. We're going to lead them to where the rest of our forces will be waiting. We'll set it up so that the vampires will be fighting uphill and all we'll have to do is run down the hill knocking them down like bowling pins. While that's going on, Me, Jared, and you three will be making our way to the mansion. We'll break in with as little noise as possible. It won't take Marcus long to realize we're not at the battlefield. Breaking into the crypt will take some work and our presence will probably be noticed by then. After we break in, we only have so long before they catch us. We'll put the pendants together and hope that it all works."

There was an uneasy silence. The likelihood that this was all going to go according to plan was very low.

Aubrey cleared his throat. "Russia and England will be here tomorrow, America will be here the day after."

Michael nodded. "Okay. So basically we have two days until this all goes down?"

"Basically."

"Okay. So let's go out and talk to what's left of this pack. We'll tell them what's going on and give them the choice to stay or not."

The lycans were finally quiet as they watched their leader standing on a ledge before them. Michael cleared his throat. He had never really been one fore speeches. Before all this, he was very anti-social. But when he needed it, words came to him like magic. It only happened when he was speaking from the heart.

"Well, everybody. The time is finally coming closer. I'm not going to give you my final words. I'll save that for when we actually go into battle. For these past two days we have been getting together to ask for reinforcements. As we speak right now, Russian, American, English, and maybe even Irish lycans are moving over here to help us with this war." He went on to explain the run-through of what was to happen in two days time. The pack before them seemed stunned, but there were no objections yet. Michael took a breath. "So that gives us two days of grace time. Two days to do whatever we like before we go to this war. I'm not going to tell you what to do with this time. I just ask that by sunset of the second day, all those here who wish to fight Marcus and the vampires to get their lives, revenge, redemption, or what have you back, be here and march to the hill with us. Thank you."

Michael stepped down and left the lycans to their thoughts.

Aubrey walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Ravyn and I are staying here. As is Raze and Jared. We're not leaving."

Michael smiled at him. "Good to hear. Have you seen Selene?"

Aubrey nodded. "Yeah, I think she and Ravyn were heading to your room with Damian. That kid's really got the makings of a great leader, you know. I know I've said that before, but I just can't help but say it again. He reminds me of me when I was younger."

Michael smiled. He patted Aubrey's shoulder before walking away to the room he and Selene now shared. He came up on it and heard happy giggling from inside. He knocked out of respect.

"Password!" came a young voice, most likely Damian.

Michael smiled, remembering the one from before. "New England Clam Chowder."

"Red or white?" came Ravyn's voice.

"Red."

"Enter!"

The door opened and Michael walked in. He shook his head. "It's kind of sad that I have to say a password to get into my own room isn't it?"

Damian ran up and hugged Michael. "Michael, do I get to come with you to fight?"

Michael looked at Selene, who shrugged. He looked down at the eager young lycan. "I don't think so Damian, not this time."

The disappointment on Damian's face was evident. Michael kneeled down and looked the boy in the face. "But you have an equally important job. Damian."

The excitement was back again. "Really? What!"

"You get to look after the other kids here in the den. You have to keep them safe for me, okay?"

"Okay Michael!"

Ravyn smiled and took the kid by the hand. "Why don't you and I go down and scar Aubrey out of his wits?"

"Okay! Bye Selene, bye Michael!"

"Bye." Selene and Michael said in unison.

When he was gone, they turned to each other. "So…" Michael sighed.

"So." Selene replied.