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The Lone Wolf

Considering the challenges of the past century, Amelia supposed that she should be feeling frustrated at this turn of events. She had been anticipating the chance to actually get some rest after the chaos of the last hundred years, as human technology advanced to a level where they become dangerously destructive and medical technology required several adjustments to be made to conceal their own natures from other parties.

As it was, she hadn't even arrived back in Budapest before she found herself faced with the unexpected warnings of Selene and Kahn and the warnings of treachery within the coven itself. The protocol to delay an Awakening had rarely been invoked, but all relevant parties agreed that the current situation made it more important to keep Amelia in action rather than risk even the temporary delay that would be caused if Marcus took power as planned.

Amelia wasn't ready to acknowledge that there was a deeper reason for her concerns in that regard, but for the moment the priority was to take advantage of the opportunity presented to end the war. She wasn't sure if it was overstretching even her authority as an Elder to make plans to end a conflict that had defined the vampire species for the better part of a thousand years, but if Kraven could plan to end the conflict for his own benefit she didn't think it was unreasonable to explore her own end.

The thing that she intended to keep quiet was the implications of Singe's claims regarding Michael Corvin's genetic potential. Assuming that they could intercept Lucian before he could actually transform himself into a hybrid, Selene had expressed confidence that Corvin wouldn't be interesting in that kind of power on his own. Amelia might not have met Corvin herself, but she chose to have faith in Selene's interpretation of him unless she knew otherwise.

As she and Selene reached the mansion, Amelia had to admit that it had been pleasant to get back into the field for a while. She had enjoyed the challenge of using her tactical skills in a business environment for most of the last century, but there was something satisfying about dealing with adversaries in direct combat, rather than making complex deals and negotiations in a boardroom. She had even enjoyed travelling in a personal car rather than with an entourage; the Elders might demand security and protection, but she, Viktor and Marcus were so strong they weren't exactly in danger if they went out on their own, and in this case Amelia had been accompanied anyway.

"My lady," Kahn said, the Death Dealer commander already at the door as Selene and Amelia got out of the car, a small group of other vampires behind him.

"Kahn," Amelia nodded at the younger vampire, before she opened the back door and led out the still-bleeding Singe. "Take this lycan to the dungeons, treat the worst of his wounds, and have someone clean the seats of this car."

"Of course," Kahn said, handing the injured lycan off to one of the guards.

"And do nothing further to him," Amelia added as she noticed the vampire start to tighten his grip on Singe's shoulder. "For the moment, we shall shortly require his services as a guide; his fate will be decided later."

She wasn't going to outright declare peace until she at least had a chance to talk with Lucian, but if such a goal was possible she wouldn't achieve it by hurting a prisoner who'd provided useful information.

"Where is… the other lycan?" Kahn said, looking cautiously between Amelia and Selene.

"Captured by our opponents," Selene said, fixing Kahn with a particularly intense stare. "Where is Kraven?"

"…Escaped."

"Escaped?" Amelia repeated, now directing her own firm stare at Kahn. "He escaped?"

"I can assure you it wasn't on my watch; some of Kraven's forces from the train assault got back to the mansion before any of my own forces did and managed to evacuate Kraven and his remaining men before I could order their arrests," Kahn said, tone defensive even as he looked respectfully at Amelia. "I've dispatched a few Death Dealers to trace their route, but based on what we've found so far, coupled with Selene's earlier observations…"

"He's going to Lucian," Selene finished.

"Which makes it all the more imperative that we get down there immediately," Amelia said, looking down at her elegant dress in frustration. "Tell your men to prepare while I change."

"You intend to lead us, my lady?" Kahn looked at her in surprise. "But the Awakening-"

"Has been suspended due to an active ongoing crisis; we cannot afford to leave the coven vulnerable during the transition of power," Amelia cut him off, before she looked at Kahn in a reassuring manner. "Your dedication to duty is admirable, but sometimes we must allow ourselves to be flexible to deal with matters as they arise."

"Of course, my lady," Kahn nodded in understanding before his expression shifted into a brief smile. "It… will be a pleasure to be alongside you and your men on this assignment."

"The pleasure is all ours, I assure you," Amelia smiled back at Kahn before her expression became more solemn. "Make sure that the Council are secure and protected by some of your most skilled men, and then have your most trusted men ready to join Selene and I."

"Trusted?" Kahn looked at her curiously. "What is the mission, my lady?"

"I intend to confront the lycans in their den and confer with Lucian."

Amelia would be lying if she told anyone that she didn't enjoy the shocked expression on Kahn's face at those words. She recognised that Kahn wasn't to blame for how things had unfolded since he and Selene had revealed that Viktor's regent was intending to attack them, and while Selene's association with Michael Corvin would be questioned by some Amelia understood that the Death Dealer had taken all appropriate precautions when bringing the young lycan into the fold. After so long dealing with the complexities of mortal business, it would be refreshing to have something as simple as a raid to look forward to, even if the raid would not end the same way as others.

On the other hand, there was a reason she had requested his most skilled associates for this part of the mission; if things worked out the way she hoped, she had to be sure that nobody was going to do anything impulsive once she made contact with the lycan leader…

Walking to the area set aside for his personal meetings after putting the needle in a medical safe, Lucian wished that he could ignore Michael Corvin's words as easily as he had tried to suggest he would. For a young lycan who had apparently never been in true combat, Corvin had the uncanny ability to make Lucian think about things he'd never allowed himself to consider since Sonja's death.

He would never stop believing that Sonja would want him to avenger her death and punish her father… but as Corvin had pointed out, acting as though every vampire would act the same way as Viktor when presented with all the facts was essentially the same as how so many lycans had been condemned as animals back in the old days. The way Corvin had responded to Selene's presence, even in his transformed state when he couldn't have that much awareness of his true self…

Lucian had never truly had the chance to spend time with Sonja in his lycan form, but he had to wonder if the two of them would have been as close to each other as Selene had been to Corvin. The notion of him being so submissive in that form felt wrong even now, but he had to concede… if any vampire could have made his wolf submit like that, Lucian had a feeling that Sonja would have done so.

Even with more immediate matters to concern himself, he chuckled at the thought that Viktor's attempt to create a 'new' Sonja had been more successful than even he could have anticipated. He wasn't certain if he would trust her with any other lycan life, but her interest in Michael Corvin gave him a tentative hope if he could find the time to pursue such an option later.

Turning his attention to the matter at hand, Lucian walked into the study/storeroom where Kraven was waiting. Lucian noted with some satisfaction that Kraven had only a few followers accompanying him, and Singe in particular was notable by his absence; evidently Kraven had very few people whose loyalty he could count on enough to trust them with his planned coup.

"Are you even aware of how screwed up things have become up there?" Kraven glared at Lucian.

"Patience, Kraven," Lucian said, deciding to remain calm for the moment; it never hurt to make the other side think you knew more than you did. "These are matters to be discussed in private." He raised his voice to address his guards. "Please escort our guests downstairs."

It might be a petty move, but when he had spent so long forced to treat his own kind as animals, there was something satisfying in seeing the vampires forced to acknowledge his own authority. After a brief nod from Kraven, the few vampires left to him followed Lucian's guards out of the room, leaving Kraven along with Lucian.

"I thought we had a deal," the vampire glared at him. "You had your opportunity to get to the Council-"

"And it's my fault that a couple of vampires became aware of our intentions?" Lucian cut him off. He was aware that part of the problem was that Raze and Trix had used the ultraviolet bullets before the big push, but if Kraven had the influence that he claimed he would have been able to deal with those issues at his end before they reached this point.

"The point," Kraven glared at Lucian, "is that the old plan just can't work now; Soren was interrupted before he could deal with Amelia, which means that we now have no way to take control."

"There are still options," Lucian said, satisfied that he still had some control over what was to come. "Believe me, I am fully aware that we need more than standard methods to deal with Elders; if it was easy to dispatch Viktor, you would have done it yourself centuries ago."

Kraven glared at Lucian at that point, but Lucian knew that he had made his point. Even if Kraven had managed to find a way into the Elders' chamber to deal with the sleeping Elders, he would never have made it out alive, and in any case killing the Elders in their sleep wasn't enough. If this war was going to end, it would end when Lucian had made his own power clear to his opponents and exposed Viktor for the fraud that he was…

A faint sound broke Lucian's train of thought, and he cursed as he realised what it was. It had been a long time since he had been close to any sort of explosion, but even in hiding, it had been impossible to completely avoid some of the bombs dropped during the humans' Second World War no matter how much he kept moving around Europe.

The only blessing of the current turn of events is that he knew he wouldn't have to deal with Viktor. Even if the Elder was scheduled to be revived this night, there would have been no time to properly perform an Awakening after the assassination attempt on Amelia was interrupted. Ignoring Kraven's indignant look at him, Lucian turned and walked out of the room, the metal door once again sealed behind him, leaving his former vampire ally to stew over his fate as Lucian headed for the source of the sound.

He knew that he could expect Raze and others to join him soon enough, but right now he needed to face the immediate threat as soon as possible. He already had Corvin's blood stored safely, but he still needed a sample from a sufficiently strong vampire to complete his own transformation; if he could just acquire a blood sample from one of them, so long as Raze and the others could hold the line he should be able to inject himself…

"Lucian?" a voice called out from around the corner, trembling but still recognisable.

"Singe?" Lucian called out despite himself.

"I… am alive," the scientist's voice said, discomfort in his voice that suggested Singe wasn't well even if he was still conscious. "The Elder… wishes to speak with you."

"And if I come out?"

"You will not be harmed," a female voice said, an air of authority in its words that put Lucian in mind of Sonja when she was commanding Death Dealer patrols. "I swear by the Covenant that if you come before us now, all we shall do is talk; none of my forces will attack unless you do so first."

Lucian wasn't entirely sure if he could trust that kind of offer, but at the same time he had to acknowledge that if the vampires wanted him dead they could have come around the corner and shot him already. Hoping that he wasn't about to make the biggest mistake of his life, he stepped around the corner to see a group of Death Dealers standing at the end of the corridor. His eyes fell on Singe as his long-time scientist stood alongside a dark-skinned bald vampire, but his gaze soon focused on the intimidating presence of the tall woman wearing a long red coat over the usual black leather of the Death Dealers.

"Greetings," the female inclined her head towards Lucian, in a formal manner that reminded Lucian of some of the dinners he'd waited upon for the vampires before his relationship with Sonja was exposed. "I take it that you are not simply a coincidental double of the lycan I knew before?"

"I am not," Lucian replied, tense but cautiously intrigued at this time of events. The vampires might be armed, but in his experience Death Dealers wouldn't bother pretending they wanted to talk if they found a lair. "Lady Amelia, correct?"

"Correct," Amelia nodded at him. "Remind me, when did we meet before you… left our service?"

"It was… only briefly," Lucian acknowledged, straining his memory to recall those early days. "Viktor was responsible for much of my early training, but you… may have looked in on a session or two."

"Yes, I do believe I recall now…" Amelia nodded at him with a sense of polite respect that was already more than anything he had expected to receive from a vampire since Sonja's death.

"Kraven's here?" another vampire said from off to the side. A quick glance confirmed to Lucian that the other female was Selene, with an edge to her manner that reinforced Lucian's private suspicions about her connection to Michael Corvin.

"He is," Lucian nodded at her, before he turned to Amelia. "I assume you came for him?"

"Among other things," Amelia responded politely. "However, my real purpose here is to discuss what you want."

"What I want?"

"Singe has… made certain statements regarding your motivation in instigating this conflict that suggest we do not know as much as we believed we did," Amelia explained, her voice low even as she glanced around at the surrounding vampires. "We… wished to learn more."

"I… see," Lucian said. While he couldn't shake his suspicions at this particular claim, he couldn't ignore the fact that this many vampires could have at least done serious damage to his forces if they had attacked by surprise and advanced, rather than making this comparatively public 'visit' and waiting for him to arrive. "Can you guarantee that my people will not be harmed?"

"Give us Kraven and his followers and your lycans will come to no harm from my people," Amelia said.

"So long as Michael Corvin is also returned unharmed," Selene put in.

"…Agreed," Lycian nodded carefully at the vampires, even as he made a mental note at Selene's impulsive statement; the evidence that Michael Corvin meant more to her than just a tool in the war was starting to pile up.

His priority was still his own victory, but if he could convince other vampires that Viktor was the one responsible for everything…