Disclaimer: see chapter 13
A/N: Okay, this one is a bit on the shorter side, but it has got some fun stuff in it. I am almost totally sure as to exactly where I want this story to go. This means hopefully more frequent and longer chapters. Anyway, please read the following chapter and enjoy.
Chapter 15: Not as Easy as Last Time
Felicite wandered through the halls of the mansion searching for her friend Serina. She had been spending less time with the vampire princess lately due to her relation with Trevor. But Serina was still her friend, and if she was going to find a way for peace, Serina's cooperation would be a help.
She finally found her in the Tojo talking to Trevor's assistant Paula. "Make sure to see Marcus before leaving, he has special instructions for you," she explained as Felicite walked up.
"Hey Serina," Felicite said. The vampiress turned, the look on her face was unable to mask her surprise.
"Felicite!" she squealed, telling of her young and immature nature. "I have not seen you in so long. What's up? I'm guess good things with you and Trevor if the rumors are to be believed."
"Well, yeah, but can we talk?"
"Yeah, I just finished all of the tasks Marcus gave me. Let's go. My room?"
"Sure," Felicite answered glad that she wouldn't have to wait any longer before getting this off her chest. They went to the lavish living quarters of the future elder, sitting as they used too, when they spent so much time together. Felicite was going to miss her friendship if this went badly.
"So what's on your mind?" Serina inquired as she joined her friend in her lavish canopy bed.
"I need to tell you something, that you may not react well to, but please believe me when I say that this will not hurt the coven, it might even be good," she opened.
"Okay," she answered wearily.
"I need you to promise that you will allow me to finish before you try to kill me, or run and tell Marcus. Trevor knows and has excepted it, is even a little excited," she continued.
"I don't understand," Serina said, looking as confused as she sounded.
"I just need you to promise, think it over, really process it before you freak," Felicite rephrased.
"Alright. What's going on?"
"For the last eight or so months…I never lost contact with Selene and Michael," she admitted.
"What!"
"You promised not to freak. Let me explain," Felicite insisted.
"What is there to explain, you are a traitor like they thought," Serina hissed, at this point standing and glaring at the vampire that she had considered a friend for eight months.
"Please, try to understand. After the battle, Michael and Selene found me. Although Selene had killed Viktor, she did not want to destroy the rest of the vampires; she wanted peace, this war that had consumed her for two hundred years to stop. So they had a plan, they would hide, and try to find a way to end the war, something to stop the battles, to help heal the wounds. But Selene would not have me running, she did not want that for me, so she sent me back. We have used the contact to minimize interaction between the species until this information can be found, nothing more. The lycans know nothing of what we are doing as the vampires know nothing of whatthey are doing."
"How do you know that Selene could be trusted like that? How do you know she didn't tell the lycans of what you told her?" Serina asked, acid in her tone.
"Because I did not tell her anything. Nothing more than where we have gotten word of their activity, that is why the activity ends before we can really look into it," Felicite insisted.
"Why? I thought you hated the lycans, they killed your family?"
"Selene and Michael are my family. I am not thrilled with their kind still, but holding a grudge is not going to dome any good. Both sides have lost family, friends, but that doesn't mean this war should go on forever," Felicite said.
"I…I just…how can you trust them, a traitor and a lycan?"
"Michael is my cousin, I know him, I remember him. Don't you understand, I can't remember anything before my turning, but I remember him. I remember how much I trusted and loved him, and Selene is not a traitor, she was betrayed, lied to. For two hundred years she hunted lycans to avenge her family, but they had not killed them. Viktor had. That is why she killed him. I did tell anyone, cause digging into the past is forbidden, and the only other way to have known was to have been with them during the battle, and that would have gotten me killed. I know this is a lot to take in, but wait to say anything. Come with Trevor and I when I meet Michael again, come with me, talk to him. He will help you understand. We don't want to destroy the vampires or the lycans, we just want peace," Felicite explained, her eyes pleading.
"I don't know. If you lied to me about all of this, what is to say you are not lying now?" she accused.
"I came clean with you! What more do you need to know?"
"Felicite, we were friends and yet now, after eight months you come clean and you expect me to just except it? I want to believe you but there have been rumors forever that you were not loyal to the coven only Selene, that you could not be trusted, that in the end you would betray us as Selene had. Before I did not believe them, I defended you against such rumors, but now I am not so sure that was what I should have done. You have betrayed us, you turned us over to them," Serina said, voice almost cracking from her upset.
"You need to believe me, I have not given us to the lycans, what they know they knew before any of this happened. You have to understand I did this to end the war, stop the blood shed," Felicite insisted.
"I need to think this over," Serina decided, putting her hand to her hurting head.
"You won't tell Marcus, at least for a little while longer, right?" nothing but pure fear in Felicite's voice.
"Why? You afraid he'll kill you? 'Cause he probably would," Serina inquired.
"No, I just worry he will find them, and then we'll loose…" Felicite trailed off.
"What are you afraid of loosing?" Serina asked, wondering what would spook Felicite like that.
"The baby," she admitted.
"You're pregnant!"
"No, not me, Selene," she clarified.
"What!"
"She's seven months pregnant. I couldn't live with myself if Marcus found them and killed her and the baby," Felicite admitted.
"Oh, well that changes things a bit. As much as I don't like the lycans, or even the thought of there being hybrids, I wouldn't want a child killed so young, only because their mother screwed up, or because of what it is. I promise, I will not tell, yet. I want proof, and I do want to meet this Michael. He is the father right?"
"Yeah," Felicite said, almost in tears at her promise not to say anything to Marcus. Although she may have lost a friend, she may have saved the lives of many lycans, vampires and even hybrids.
Erika nervously approached the elder's office. Once before she had tried to gain power by telling of what others had done wrong, and it had back fired miserably. But this time, she hoped Marcus would not betray her as Kraven had. Erika wondered what had happened to him. Before their leaving, the knowledge of what Kraven had done was spread by the death dealers. She assumed he had been killed, but maybe he had survived, just too smart not to return to the coven after the battle.
She pushed the thoughts aside, having a mission to complete. Knocking on the enormous doors before her, she waited for an answer, which came with little delay. "Come," was all that was said. She obeyed the orders and entered the room, eyes down cast. She gave a quick curtsy, but still did not look up. "What is it that you need servant?"
"I come with information, about Trevor's beloved Felicite," she tempted.
"What do you know, that you believe I do not?"
"That she has been sneaking out of the mansion with one of the forbidden books, every two weeks or so," she said.
"Do you know who she is meeting?"
"Specifically no, but I found a note in the book that was in her car and it was from Selene," Erika stated, obviously very pleased with herself.
"Do you have it?" he elder asked excitedly.
"No, Trevor does. He is supposedly dealing with her, but I fear his feelings for her will taint his decisions. He may not take the appropriate actions," she explained.
"For now, perhaps, we should allow him to behave, inappropriately," Marcus stated.
"My lord?" she questioned, looking up finally.
"Let her lead him, and in turn us, to Selene and Michael. And if our Intel is correct, that will lead us to the lycans as well. From there we can deal with the problem accordingly, the lycans, the hybrid, and the traitors, all of them," Marcus schemed.
"As you wish, my lord," Erika said, curtsying again, and beginning to back out of the door.
"Wait," he said standing. She immediately stopped moving. "What is your name?"
"Erika," she answered, ecstatic at his question, but trying to stay calm.
"I will remember you when this war ends, Erika," he said. "Now go and tell Elena to keep tabs on where Trevor or Felicite go, especially if they go somewhere together. But be sure to tell her to do it without their knowledge. If they know that we are suspicious they will lie low, wait for too long. We need to know soon where the lycan hide out is," Marcus instructed.
"Yes my lord," she responded, curtsying for a final time scurrying away to do as her lord commanded.
Dum Dum Dum. Okay, hope you liked it and PLEASE review. You should do it because it is nice and fun and good for you and me, so if you review, everybody wins.