Disclaimer: I don't own Underworld or anything publicly recognizable. Only the plot and the characters I created.
Watch Yourself
Chapter Nineteen
Vibrant electric blue eyes glared at the monitors displaying the video feed from the many cameras that kept watch over the manor property both day and night. The cameras provided several different angles from around Alvóház. Some looked off in the direction of the forest while others were trained on the outside doors of the manor.
One camera in particular was the main focus at the moment. It was the one that panned over the front of the manor and peered out into the forest not far off. The feed was crisp and clear but it had nothing on the sharp sight of a vampire.
Selene had moved to the armory soon after she had come to the same conclusion as Tanis. Once she started to look at all of the camera feeds, one in particular had caught her eye. There was movement in the trees but she wasn't sure, the cameras didn't provide very much detail from the darkness beyond. The historian had so desperately wanted to smoke to relive some of his anxiety over what may come but couldn't open one of the windows without killing Erazebet. Selene had easily remedied that by sending him out to stand just outside the front doors. She also sent him out there to look beyond the trees.
An hour later, he returned inside, reporting that he had spotted Dominic in the tree line hiding.
Selene scowled at the monitors again. She so desperately wished that the lycan would step out from the shadows that the trees provided him and make the first move. Once he did, it would all end and everything would go back to the way it was long before Erazebet was taken.
The life she and Michael lived with their children wasn't normal or perfect by anyone's standards, but it was fine despite the random lycan attacks in and around Budapest or the occasional plea for help or sanctuary by other vampires. They were a close knit family and all very protective of one another. But Selene was the most protective of them all.
If a threat so much as came after a member of her family, she would stomp it out and remove it from the world to ensure that it would never rob her of someone she cared for.
On more than one occasion David had told her that the great lengths that she would go to shield someone in their family startled him. Every time Selene would merely give him a bittersweet smile, thinking of the first family she had lost to Viktor, and tell him that he would do the same if given the opportunity.
The fierce determination Selene carried with her had reaffirmed when Adam was born seven years before. When she had held him in his arms as a newborn and lovingly gazed into the same hybrid eyes of his sister, Selene knew that she would fight even harder to keep the life she and Michael had built.
The obvious fear of losing someone she loved did not sit well with the Death Dealer.
And this was no exception.
Tanis walked to the back of the armory, the lingering smell of cigarette smoke stuck to his clothes, and stood beside Selene. He looked up at the monitors with her in silence.
"What do you want?"
He looked over at her and licked at his fangs in his mouth nervously. Perhaps now wasn't the best time, but if he didn't tell her she would go out there blind.
"You should know something. About Dominic I mean," he stammered out.
She looked away from the monitors long enough to glance at him but otherwise said nothing.
"When Dominic transforms from man to beast on nights when the moon is at its fullest, like tonight, he becomes a senseless, bloodthirsty monster and kills everything within sight," he started.
"Don't they all?"
Tanis gave a shaky laugh and lightly shook his head. She didn't understand. "In his lycan form, Dominic is twice as big as a normal one during the full moon and has no control over what he is doing. I've seen him during full moons, Selene; he'll kill everything within sight and won't stop. Once he turns tonight he will be able to get over the fence and find a way inside."
He met her gaze and shrunk away in fear. Her eyes were ice cold and held a dark fury in their electric blue irises. Slowly, Tanis began to back away out of the armory and away from the Death Dealer. Once he reached the door he quickly rushed down the hall. He smacked into Michael in his haste but did not stop to apologize.
Michael stared after the quickly retreating figure of Andreas Tanis in bemusement before deciding that he didn't want to know. He continued toward the armory until he stood in the doorway watching his lover. Selene had equipped herself with identical pistols and was grabbing extra clips from the shelves.
He watched her for a moment longer before stepping into the armory. "Selene," he murmured softly, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder.
She paused at his touch, her breathing shallow. "Don't try to stop me, Michael."
"I wasn't going to," he whispered, pressing his chest against her back and wrapping his arms tight around her waist. They were both scared, but if they got their emotions in the way now it wouldn't do them any good to finish what had started what seemed like a lifetime ago. "Just be careful."
Selene nodded in agreement, relaxing into his embrace.
The two lovers stayed like that for a few minutes longer before separating and sharing one last kiss. Michael took over Selene's post at the monitors while she made her way out of the manor.
OOOOOO
"What's Mom going to do? Tanis told me what happens when Dominic makes the change."
Michael glanced over his shoulder at his daughter as she made her way into the armory. He stared at her in confusion.
"What do you mean? What did he say?"
Eve sighed heavily and sat down in the chair next to him. "Tanis said that he becomes this like…super monster lycan creature at the full moon. That it had something to do with his DNA, a genetic abnormality that makes him like that along with the lycanthropy. He also told me that he becomes a savage beast that kills everything in his path."
"And she's out there alone?" Michael made to leave but paused at Eve's next words.
"I don't suggest going out there, Dad. Mom all but bit David's head off when he suggested going out there with her. Imagine how angry she would be if you went out there."
She was right. But still, Selene shouldn't be out there alone.
She should never do anything alone.
He should have gone out there with her in the first place.
OOOOOO
Selene stuck to the shadows as she carefully made her way around the perimeter of the manor. One wrong move and everything would go downhill from there.
She edged her way to the side of the manor and paused for a moment before sprinting across the lawn and jumping over the fence making sure not to touch the metal. Selene landed with a barely audible thud on the other side and quickly sprinted toward the cover of the trees.
The Death Dealer stealthily made her way deeper into the forest surrounding the manor before walking parallel to the tree line. She was alone and the only sounds that accompanied her were those of the night. Small nocturnal creatures scurried through the forest and gave her a wide berth. They were aware that something dangerous lurked nearby.
The sound of a branch snapping touched Selene's ears and she paused, listening.
A beat passed and she heard it again.
Her hand slid back to rest on her pistol. She silently counted to five and quickly spun on her heel, her gun raised.
Michael came to an abrupt stop and raised his hands in front of him. He stared wide eyed at Selene and the gun that was pointed at him.
He was expecting that but having a gun pointed in his face was never a pleasant experience.
Selene scowled at him and reholstered her gun. "Michael," she hissed coldly. She wasn't surprised that he had joined her. It was simply to be expected that he wouldn't sit around while she went on what he would call a suicide mission. But he shouldn't have snuck up behind her.
"Sorry," he whispered back. She rolled her eyes at him and started back on her path with him close on her heels.
A few minutes later Selene and Michael came to a stop beneath what looked like a large metal cage with heavy steel bars that swung high above their heads. The thing was designed to be a trap, to have the wild beast lured beneath the cage and have it drop at the right moment.
Michael had never understood Tanis' insistence to have a large cage hang randomly in the the rafters of the trees surrounding the property until now. Perhaps Tanis' odd demands and fears had some merit to them after all.
"Come on," Selene urged, continuing passed the cage. "We don't have much time." She glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky. The full moon was quickly rising and soon it would be at its highest peak and it would be too late.
The two lovers moved quickly and quietly through the trees barely making a sound. They crept a few feet forward until Selene suddenly shot her arm out. Michael paused behind her and looked around them, unsure of what it was that made her stop. He searched with keen eyes before spotting the shape of a man slowly moving through the trees ahead of them.
Suddenly the man paused and threw his head back and let out a gut wrenching howl that pierced the air. Selene and Michael watched in horror as Dominic violently dropped down to the ground on all fours and ripped his clothes from his body as they heard the bones of his body crack and brake. He grew and grew before their very eyes and thick dark, pitch black fur sprouted on every available surface of his body. His face grew and elongated until the long muzzle of a wolf form, complete with long sharp teeth.
All was still after that.
Selene slowly reached back to grip her gun and watched as Dominic stood up, towering over nine feet tall, and sniffed at the air. A beat passed and then he was suddenly bounding after them. She quickly drew both of her pistols and shot round after round at the beast. They flew through the air and hit him in the chest, barely making him flinch. He roared in anger and continued after them.
She turned and ran, silently cursing the full moon for turning him into that retched beast.
So I'm back! I don't know for how long but as you're reading this I am hopefully working on the next chapter. But it won't be as long a wait as the last one, maybe.
Thanks for reading :)