Chapter 5: New York
Selene stepped into cold, heavy rain, looking up at the Statue of Liberty. Selene had half a mind to grab her gun and shoot something. Lucian raised his head into the downpour, his eyes closed, his mouth slowly exhaling, like a howl. Raze actually did howl, his musculature popping with the sound of shifting bones. He stopped, bone forming back to human, however his eyes were Lycan. Michael twitched constantly, uncomfortable.
"Lucian. Trade me coats, man." He said. Lucian removed his fur and leather duster and traded it for Michael's cotton hoodie. Selene looked a Lucian, examining the look of a hoodie on his shoulders. It was not his look. Michael managed to retain a form of badass-ness in the duster, tying his short hair back into a very small ponytail, but leaving his bangs down. Selene couldn't help but notice his chin had developed a very rugged shadow to it.
Selene frowned, somewhat embarrassed, when she remembered she hadn't shaved in a few days. Michael had noticed her gaze, and was staring back. Selene gave a weak smile and looked back at the monument.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Lucian asked.
"I've seen it."
"I first saw it in 1945, coming back from World War II."
"What? World War II?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Where the bloody hell did you think I recruited Singe? Africa? No offense, Raze. Now, what's our plan of action?"
Selene realized she didn't even know where a coven was, or if she could convince one to allow her entry. And Michael wouldn't help. Blood red eyes suddenly flashed in her mind. It was like William's prison, she didn't know what it was, or who, but it just was.
'Child. Calm your thoughts.' Selene jolted back to reality as a leather clad giant stalked toward them. Selene could tell he was carrying a weapon, probably a pistol, but she couldn't tell what kind. He stopped exactly five feet from her.
"I am Straus." He said, in a voice that could've made Raze sound high-voiced. There was an underlying growl to it, nearly crocodilian. "I've come from Grimoire Corvinus to take you to the lair."
Michael and Selene shared a look with a silent (and mutual) groan. Not another Corvinus!
"You're Lycan." Lucian said.
"Hardly. I have both Lycan and Vampire parents."
"Hybrid?" Selene said, "There's never been a hybrid before Michael!"
"So says your dictator." Straus replied.
Selene looked back at Michael, who was giving her an odd, reprimanding look. "Point made and understood." She spat, convinced. Michael smiled coolly, to which Selene answered with a coy, 'you're getting it later' smile.
Straus turned swiftly and began walking towards a Hummer limo, beside which stood a man even larger, probably capable of tossing the car in a fast ball. Selene paused a moment to gape at the Hummer, letting Michael pas her by, before she began moving again. Michael naturally beat her to the door and opened it.
"Ladies first."
"Shouldn't you have gotten in then?" Selene snarled. Michael paused, pretending to be annoyed, then smiled again.
"You were on the bottom, weren't you?"
"I'm going to shoot you later!" Selene growled, eyes turning just barely off-white, with small black pupils. Michael's eyes flashed briefly black, which meant 'I'm still stronger than you.' Selene rolled her eyes and proceeded into the limo, leaving Lucian staring with way too much white in his eyes. Raze was just staring with a somewhat-mortified look on his face.
"Let's never get mates." Lucian said, then walked very, very slowly towards the car.
&&&
"Grim is very old. I don't even know if Alexander is older than he is. In fact, I doubt it. Grim went to America a long time before Alexander came to power." Straus informed. "He was bitten by rattlesnake, and the poison activated his Corvinus strain. He was only rendered immortal, not a vampire, or Lycan. But he developed the ability to consume new poisons and add them to his DNA, becoming stronger each time. Plagues that had swept through Europe were like trickles of water in his presence. The Black Death was stopped here, in America, long before its terror stopped in Europe. Along the way, he encountered my Lycan ancestors, and discovered the animal-emulating properties of the strain. After that he took a new form."
He paused, waiting for someone to guess. "He drank the blood of a Komodo Dragon. Became a Demon. His bites where millions times deadlier than ten Komodo."
"The diseases." Michael muttered.
"Aye. His fangs are venomous. Every thing in his mouth is venomous. Along the way he mixed the other strains into his, gaining a few weaknesses, but his hide is so tough, no one can exploit them. Most of the coven have resistances to his plague. He's had to bite me personally a few times, though."
"Komodos. Vicious. I've never killed one on my own." Lucian reported.
Selene couldn't help but stare. Grimoire sounded worse than Marcus!
Straus sent Michael and Selene to the throne room, taking Lucian and Raze to meet the alpha of the Lycans. Selene stood before the massive stone doors and instantly felt weaker than she ever had. She and Michael wouldn't last ten seconds against this creature.
Michael sensed her discomfort and took her hand in his. She squeezed it, and instantly felt better. Michael reassured her. She sidestepped closer to Michael and put an arm around him. The stone doors opened to reveal a perfectly human looking man.
"Please, step closer, child, I'm not one to fear. I'm rather lazy during the winter, actually. I smell my nephew's blood in your veins, so you are most definitely welcome. And the Lycan smells like my family as well, I'm presuming you are one of my distant descendants." He said in a perfect American accent. Which meant no accent whatsoever.
"I'm Selene. This is Michael Corvin." Selene said, not removing her arm from Michael's waist. If anything she snuggled closer, appreciating Michael's body heat, which, being a Lycan-dominant Hybrid, was abnormally high.
"Corvin? Use your ancestral name, boy." Grim spat, humorously. Selene stared, taking in Grim's appearance. He was a tall man, with electric blue eyes, a long mane of black hair, wearing thick robes of cowhide. He didn't look dangerous.
Grim's face suddenly became serious. "Leave us, Michael. I must talk with Selene, a conversation involving vampire matters." He said. His voice had no threatening tones in it. Michael traded a glance with Selene, than backed out of the room. The stone doors closed.
"Come closer." Selene stepped to the bottom stair of the massive stone throne. "You are pregnant with his child, yes? Care must be taken. I see into your mind, child, an ability I reveal only to those whom I trust like my own blood. Don't abuse that trust, or both of you will die. You will birth the first pure Hybrid. Not Vampiric, not Lycan, but a pure mixture of the bloodlines, a pure son of the Corvus. He will be stronger than even I; a god amongst Vampires and Lycans. Why you will require care is that the baby will draw on your own blood while in your womb. It's entirely possible you won't survive. I have a solution to this problem, but it will be dangerous, and painful."
Selene was speechless.
"I'm going to give you a powerful disease that can kill a vampire in ten seconds without an antidote. How it works is, you have to change it within your womb. Every vampire has the ability to control their body to a hair. But you cannot control this ability, so you must be trained. We will begin tomorrow night. The sun is rising, and I must rest. Do not tell Michael until you are ready to change the disease, and I will tell you when that happens. For now, roam freely." He waved her away. Selene turned back to the doors, which wee already opening. Behind her, Grim stood with a groan, heading in the back of the chamber.
Selene looked back to the Elder. "Do you think I will be a good mother?"
Grim turned back to her. "We will see when that fate fulfills itself."
That's chapter something or other. (No, I don't' keep track, 'tis tedious.) So how was it? Changing a disease was something I got from Dune, and just sprung up in my head at the time. But Corvinus was able to change a disease, too, so I guess it works. But I'll get into that later. Like, two chapters later.