Disclaimer: I do not own Underworld or any of it's characters. They belong to the people who created the movie.
Chapter 2-Punishment
Kraven smiled. He absolutely loved it when he could affect someone like this. Her look of disbelief and shock was absolutely priceless. Chuckling to himself, he walked around to the front of the couch and sat down next to her. She still had that shocked expression on her face, but it had toned down some. He laughed, and she finally seemed to recover.
"What are you doing here, Kraven?" she asked, her voice low and dangerous.
"Now, now, Veronika. I really don't think you're in any place to be asking questions, do you? Still, I would like to tell you how much I enjoyed uncovering your little secret."
"Bite me."
"I could do that," he said," But I think that can wait until another time."
"Arrogant as ever, I see," was Veronika's reply.
"Right now, however," Kraven continued, "I would like to dance."
If looks could kill, he'd be ashes. Veronika, not to mention everyone in the coven, knew that Kraven wanted her. After he' first been blown off by Selene, he'd doubled his efforts to get her to become his. Then she'd delivered the ultimate humiliation by choosing the hybrid over him. For months afterwards he'd been in a dark mood, not ignoring even the slightest insult to his pride, being polite and showing respect to Viktor alone. Then, after Veronika had come from Amelia's coven to Viktor's, Kraven's mood had miraculously improved. It hadn't been long before everyone knew that he had transferred his attentions from Selene to Veronika. Nobody had been surprised, either. Veronika was extremely beautiful, and Kraven only went after the best. The fact that she was Amelia's daughter had only helped to encourage his attraction to her. Power and beauty had always been two things that attracted Kraven to a female. Selene had been a classic example.
"I don't really feel like dancing with you."
"Then we might as well leave."
"I'm not going anywhere with you, Kraven."
"You don't seriously think I'm going to let you stay here, do you? You're going to come back to the mansion with me, and you're going to come quietly."
"As I just said, I'm not going anywhere with you," she said, looking at him with disgust.
"Unless you want to face Viktor's wrath alone, without any protection aside from your own pitiful excuses, then you will stand up, walk out of this club with me, and then we'll both get in the car and go back to the mansion. If you do this, then I'll be able to keep you safe," he said. Veronika jus looked at him.
"If not," he continued, "Then I'll be forced to drag you out of here, and you'll face Viktor alone. Now, which do you choose?"
"Let's go," she said after a moment of thought. She didn't relish the thought of giving in to Kraven, but she was more afraid of Viktor's wrath.
"You've made the right choice," he told her.
"Whatever."
To Veronika's dismay, once they were in the car and on their way back to the mansion, Kraven resumed their discussion.
"You know," he began, "You really should be more careful about how frequently you sneak out. Someone might get suspicious and decide to follow you."
She glared at him, "Obviously."
"Don't be angry with me for uncovering your little secret. You should have known better than to go out by yourself to such a populated area. You've been putting the entire coven in danger each time you've gone out. You took quite a chance striking up a conversation with that bartender."
Oh, no! she thought, He knows about Sam! What am I going to do!
"You're lucky he didn't see your fangs and figure out what you were."
She gave a mental sigh of relief, Thank God.
"If he had seen my fangs, he probably would have thought that they were fake. It's not that uncommon for the younger humans to do such things."
"You were still taking an extremely unnecessary risk," he said.
"Spare me the lecture," she replied flatly.
As they drove up to the mansion, Kraven pressed a button on the dashboard, and the gates opened. They pulled up to the front of the enormous building, and Kraven, after walking around to her door, took her arm as she started to get out of the car. She glared at him, but didn't say anything. They walked through the front doors and headed straight for the stairs. After reaching the second floor, they headed for the doors at the end of the hallway. Veronika shivered unintentionally. Those doors were the only thing that separated her from Viktor's office and from Viktor, who was probably waiting for them inside.
"Open the doors," Kraven told the guards, and they obeyed.
They walked into the office and, sure enough, there was Viktor, seated behind his desk, reading what was most likely a letter. He looked up as they approached. When they reached the desk, both of them kneeled and bowed their heads.
"Rise," commanded Viktor.
They did as he said, both of them rising to their feet. Veronika kept her head bowed, her eyes averted so that she was looking at the floor to her right. Kraven, however, raised his head, though he too kept his eyes averted.
"Well?" Viktor asked expectantly.
"My lord," began Kraven, "I have discovered that Veronika has been sneaking out for the past two months to go to a club that is heavily populated by humans."
Viktor looked furious as he turned his gaze upon Veronika, "Is what he says true?"
She kept her gaze lowered as she answered him, "Yes, my lord."
"What were you thinking!" Viktor exploded. Kraven flinched. Veronika quaked.
"My lord, I-"
"How could you be so dense as to do such a careless, foolish thing like this!" he continued, completely ignoring her attempted excuse.
"My lord," interrupted Kraven, "I do not believe that it is entirely her fault."
"What are you talking about?" asked Viktor.
"I think," Kraven replied slowly, "That the reason why Veronika did this was because she was looking for a way to suppress the pain caused by Amelia's death. The grief that it caused for Veronika was, and probably still is, so strong that it drove her to do whatever she could do to get rid of it, without taking time to consider the risk she was taking."
"Is this true, Veronika?"
Veronika didn't answer him. She kept her gaze lowered, partially out of respect for Viktor, but mostly to conceal the fact that she was crying. Amelia had been dead for almost four months now, but the pain it had caused Veronika was still as fresh as it had been the day she had been informed of it. Amelia had, after all, been Veronika's mother, and Veronika had loved her dearly.
"Veronika?" Viktor prompted her.
Veronika just raised her head and looked at him. It was all she could do. Her voice had left her. Viktor saw the tears streaming down her face, and his expression softened immediately.
"Oh, my child," he said, believing Kraven's explanation, "I know that you must still be feeling grief from losing your mother, but recklessly putting yourself and everyone else in danger is not the way to make it go away. It is not what your mother would want you to do."
"Yes, my lord. I swear to you that I will never again do something so foolish. I am sorry." Veronika bowed her head once again.
Viktor walked over to where she stood and, standing in front of her, he lifted her chin so that she was looking him in the eye.
"You are forgiven. Now, please wait outside to doors for a moment."
"Yes, my lord," she said, and exited the room.
After she had gone, Viktor turned to Kraven and said, "I want you to take Veronika with you the next time you and your team go out to search for Selene and the abomination."
"M-my lord?' asked Kraven incredulously."
"I believe that the experience will be beneficial to her."
Of course, my lord," said Kraven, bowing his head respectfully.
"Kraven, I realize that you hesitate to take her with you, but I assure you, she will not be a problem for you. In fact, she might actually be helpful."
"With all due respect, my lord," said Kraven, "I fail to see how she could be of any help."
"Amelia made sure that Veronika was well trained when it came to combat. In truth, Veronika is as qualified to become a death dealer as any of the warriors in this coven."
Kraven was taken aback by this bit of information. He never would have believed that Veronika was capable of becoming a death dealer. She just didn't seem strong enough.
"I also realize," Viktor continued, "That, due to your previous feelings toward Selene, you may not be best suited to continue with this mission."
"My lord, I must respectfully insist that I am still completely able to continue leading the search for Selene."
"I do not want your emotions to get in the way of our success, Kraven. I want Selene back in this coven, and I want the abomination dead."
"I assure you, my lord, that I will bring Selene back and, with her, the hybrid's head."
"Be sure that you do," Viktor said coldly.
"Yes, my lord," said Kraven, bowing his head. He then left the room and, turning to Veronika, who was still waiting outside the doors, said, "Follow me."