Disclaimer: I do not own Underworld, or any of the associated characters.

Summary: See previous chapters.

LUCIAN

The first time I saw Sonja, she was a little girl a few years younger than myself.

She was still human, as Viktor knew that no one would take a child seriously, even a child claimed as his own, and was determined for her to reach adulthood before turning her.

Perhaps that was why I did not immediately reject her as beyond me. Vampire and Werewolf both had once been human, and that made us equals, of a sort, if you discounted the social situation that, even then, I was of a mind to one day change.

Viktor did not mind us interacting as we grew, perhaps seeing me as a protector for the most precious thing in his world, when she was absent from his side.

As the only two children in the castle, perhaps it was only natural that we became close. A shared loneliness, myself for being a Lycan, Sonja because no one wished to trifle with Viktor's beloved daughter, brought us closer. We understood each other, were each other's sole confidant, and our close friendship gradually transformed into love.

It hurt her, that we had to keep it secret.

There were many times that I almost gave us away by accident, when I could not help but watch her, meet her eyes for moments too long for it to be mere respect. When I broke my chains and instinctively leaped to protect her when she was in danger, though Viktor was willing to dismiss that as proof that I was loyal, that his plan of Lycans guarding Vampires was a sound one.

Sonja was a horrible liar, and it was obvious that she was hiding something when she tried to make excuses for her absence when we had been meeting in secret.

It was that incapability for deception that was our ruin. Viktor suspected that she knew something of my escape, and took her blood to see the truth. He saw that she knew I had made a spare key, but more than that, he saw that we were in love, were lovers, which was something that he could not bear.

All right, I admit that there were better ways that he could have found out, but still.

Sonja was so concerned for my safety after I escaped that a child could have seen through her attempt at calm rationality. Viktor certainly did, and saw the truth in her blood. He was not pleased, though I think that perhaps he only wanted punishment, or abortion of the child – my child – that she carried, but not death, for his daughter.

Whatever I might think of Viktor personally, Sonja was the center of his world, and if he protested the risks she took as a Death Dealer, he would hardly push for her execution. I don't imagine that stopped him from cheerfully ordering my own, and he didn't sound at all reluctant to order me whipped to the bone with the most brutal whip they could find, but he would never have wished her death.

Yet in the end, he was the one to give the command for Sonja, the woman we both loved, to die.

He knew that she carried his grandchild. He knew that the only crime she had committed was that of loving me. Surely he knew some kind of escape route for Sonja and I, or even just Sonja, to disappear before the Council could vote.

I will never forgive him for allowing it to come to pass.

I saw the terror on Sonja's face at her impending doom, and strained to reach her, but the chains held me back. I begged her to look at me, in the hopes that it would give her something else to focus on. She tore her eyes from the opening skylight, fixing her gaze on me. A single strand of hair fell over her face, and I longed to brush it away.

There was nothing I could do to save either of us.

I could only tell her that I loved her, and try to ignore how useless it sounded. Sonja managed to smile one last time. A smile that encompassed all the love she felt, all the dreams, and a prayer that I would manage to continue without her. She whispered that she loved me, saying goodbye, moments before the sun hit, and she could not restrain a scream of agony.

My own screams echoed only seconds later, forced to watch as she burned, to stare at the charred corpse that was all that was left of my love. My cries of grief that I was left to face a life where she was not there.

The sorrow swiftly turned to anger, hatred for the one whom I viewed as ultimately responsible for this fathomless loss.

Viktor.

No matter what it took, no matter what lengths I had to go to, I would kill him.

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A/N: Well, this is the third and last part of this fic, so feel free to review and tell me what you think, as this was my first Underworld fic. I wrote a happier one in the meantime, entitled 'Two Races, One Destiny'. Hopefully it isn't too terrible.

Thanks, Nat.