Disclaimer: Everything you recognise from the film series isn't mine.

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The Lone Wolf

Selene was prepared for a race towards Michael's apartment to intercept the lycan attack when she left the room, but at the same time she wasn't entirely surprised to hear what was clearly another lycan strike force climbing the outside of the building. Whoever was after Michael, the lycans probably knew his home address from his personal records, but it wouldn't have been hard for them to follow him here if they were keeping him under close observation.

And they'd certainly be paying attention if Raze noticed what he did to Trix… Selene reflected, cursing as she recalled Michael throwing off his would-be abductor at the station. She would never blame Michael for defending himself, but demonstrating enhanced strength to a lycan would have made him more interesting to them even if they didn't realise what he was straight away.

Still, at least the safehouse apartment would be secure against any direct attacks, and the deserted building meant she wouldn't have to worry about collateral damage while she was dealing with this new threat. She suddenly found herself regretting that the other apartments would give the building a vulnerability to focus on, but it would have been far too much to ask Kahn to upgrade the entire building when it was easier to protect the safehouse apartment on its own.

As it was, Michael would be secure against direct attacks for a time, but the rest of the building would be easier to penetrate, and from there it was only a matter of time until they got to him. Her best strategy right now was to fight off the first wave of lycans and then get Michael somewhere else to plan her next move. She paused to confirm what her ears were telling her and then ran towards the roof of the building, relieved to see that the upper levels were at least strong enough to resist the first attack. There was definitely something walking around on the roof above her, but if the lycan attacker could have entered through a window he would have done so already. With the more obvious entrances secured, the lycan's only way in would be through the door to the building's roof, which meant that she still had a chance so long as she could hold that door for the next few minutes…

She made her way to the foot of the relevant stairs just in time to look up and see the first dent form on the door at the top of the steps. Pulling out her Berettas, she forced herself to wait until the door was literally punched off its hinges, subsequently leaping over the flying door and firing at the lycan on the other side before it had time to register her presence. The first few bullets were just enough to hold the lycan at bay, but the surprise of the shots gave Selene the chance to get up close and fire a further series of rapid rounds directly into the wolf's skull. The wolf let out a strangled, gargling yell of pain from the attack, staggering away from the door, before Selene finally got up close and struck its chin with such force that the head was forced back and the neck cracked.

It was a risk, but when she had started training in hand-to-hand long before guns became a practical weapon, Selene liked to get up-close when making the kill when she could afford to do so. The bullets and the broken neck together might be overkill, but it was the best way to ensure that lycans stayed down for good in her experience-

The sound of another snarl from the edge of the roof was enough of a cue for Selene to turn and run for the source of the sound, looking down over the edge just in time to see another lycan coming up the side of the building. Not letting herself think about it, she kicked out at the nearest large claw as it reached the top of the building, the loss of contact sending the lycan falling backwards even before Selene pulled out her gun and fired another bullet at the falling lycan's head. She couldn't guarantee if she'd scored a direct hit, but she was satisfied that she'd made enough of an impact to leave the lycan off-balance so that it couldn't land 'safely'.

When she saw the lycan hit the ground in a sprawling manner that even an amateur could tell would at least cause serious injuries if not be outright fatal, Selene nodded in grim satisfaction at another threat eliminated. A quick check around was enough to confirm that there were no further lycans on the roof at the moment, but her good mood ended when she heard a snarl followed by a yell of pain from the side of the building where the main entrance was located.

MICHAEL!

Lucian didn't like to admit it, but when he'd first heard Raze's report of the events on the subway station, he'd assumed that his second had made a mistake.

The notion that the vampires had intercepted their efforts wasn't a total surprise- he was fully aware that Kraven's influence over the coven wasn't as total as he believed it was- but the idea of a Death Dealer showing concern for a random human…

He knew that the vampires maintained some human contacts to conduct business on their behalf, but if Michael Corvin had any such professional contacts they would have been brought to his attention during their initial background research. He also recognised that there were at least some vampires out there who did more than just go along with the vampire's official position of protecting humans from lycans because they genuinely believed in the principle of the thing, but Raze's description had suggested that there was a more personal connection than just a generic desire to prevent collateral damage.

Sending a group of lycans to Michael Corvin's official apartment had been the obvious step to take, but something about the situation had prompted Lucian to make his own personal arrangements as well. While Pierce and Taylor confirmed what Michael had done at the hospital that day, Lucian had led a few of his troops to a position where they could more discreetly watch the hospital to wait for Corvin to leave on his own. Even Lucian wasn't sure what he had expected, given the implications of Raze's own observations, but he had held his troops back as Corvin left the hospital. His interest was further piqued when Corvin travelled, not to his apartment building, but to an apparently abandoned apartment block in a different part of the city.

Under other circumstances Lucian would like to believe he would have been patient and spent more time gathering data before he decided to act, but any thought of patience had been forgotten when the distinctive form of Selene appeared outside the apartment. Lucian knew who she was for various reasons already, ranging from reports of her skill in the field to Kraven's occasional frustrated rants about how she didn't 'appreciate the honour' he was willing to grant her, but none of those tales had indicated that she would drop in on a human for a friendly talk. He had done his best to wait a few more minutes to try and get a feel for what was going on in that building, but once he was satisfied that none of his associates could hear any sign of anything more interesting than two figures talking (and they weren't even sure about that), he gave the signal for the team to move in.

As dangerous as Selene was according to her reputation, one vampire couldn't be that much of a threat to a group of lycans if they had a suitable plan of attack…

The sound of a thud from around the corner that could only be a falling lycan forced Lucian to quickly re-evaluate that opinion. What had started as just a matter of satisfying his curiosity suddenly became an urgent need to have followed up on this particular lead himself. He couldn't imagine how a man like Michael Corvin could have come to the attention of a vampire with Selene's reputation, but this scenario definitely merited more attention than their usual test subjects. When the young American appeared at the door of the building, looking anxiously behind himself, Lucian didn't even wait to introduce himself as he lunged forwards and bit down into the side of Michael's neck.

It had been so long since the last time he had been forced to fight one of his own kind that it took him a moment to register the presence of that distinct tang that all lycans possessed. It was so subtly different from the taste of vampire blood that a younger lycan might have failed to notice the difference, but Lucian had fought enough lycans while establishing his authority to recognise the taste when he was actively looking for a reason to be suspicious-

It was only when he felt the blow against his ribs and found himself staggering away from Michael that Lucian fully registered the implications of his discovery. He'd attacked the young man assuming that he could just guarantee taking a sample of Michael's blood and then work on securing the target for Singe's research, but the fact that Michael was already a lycan made things more difficult. The blow was only able to force Lucian off Michael for the simple reason that he hadn't been expecting it, but when he regained his focus to find the young American glaring in his direction, Lucian knew that this was going to be a difficult confrontation.

"Michael-" he began.

"You're a lycan, right?" Michael Corvin spat bitterly at him, his body tensed in a manner that made it clear he was ready to fight. There was no sign that Michael had anything more than an amateur knowledge of combat, but the fact that he knew what Lucian was and was preparing for a confrontation set off several potential warning signs in Lucian's mind.

"I take it that you have… prior acquaintance with our kind?" Lucian replied cautiously, even as his mind raced to try and find the best way to deal with this. The preferred option would obviously be to talk Michael into coming with him on his own, but if that wasn't an option, he at least needed to get access to a blood sample…

"Could say that," Michael said, a bitter edge to his voice as he raised one arm, pulling his sleeve back just enough to reveal the deep scratch on it. "One of your lot did this to me after he caused the crash that killed my fiancé."

"I see," Lucian said with a brief nod. From what he recalled of Michael's personal records, his fiancé had died in Europe, so he couldn't have known that particular lycan anyway, but there was no point bringing such a detail up in this context. "You… have my condolences."

"Save it," Michael countered as he shifted into what Lucian could only think of as an imitation of a combat stance, as though he'd only seen people fight in films. "He already ruined my life; I'm not going to help your side do the same thing to anyone else."

"Do you really believe that the vampire has told you the truth about this war?" Lucian asked, tensing himself for battle even as he tried to avoid anything that might give the impression he wanted to threaten Michael. "She has trained for centuries to kill us-"

"After your kind killed her entire family just because… what, someone wanted a snack?" Michael countered. "You eat children and I'm meant to feel sorry for you?"

"Ah," Lucian said, once again cursing how long it had taken to establish his own rules after he had begun his own campaign. Weaning the lycans off human flesh had been a gradual process to avoid losing some potential followers, but it wasn't a surprise to hear that it had led to at least a few new vampires joining. "Such an event would have been… a tragedy, but you haven't heard our side-"

Michael's response degenerated into a snarl of rage as he lunged towards Lucian, his body already transforming into its lycan state in the face of an apparent threat as one hand practically tore off his shirt and another forced down his trousers just before his waist became too big for his clothes. Lucian only had time to be surprised at Michael's evident power and comparative self-control before he was forced to the ground by the younger lycan. Lucian was old enough that he could at least hold Michael back for a few moments even in his human state, but at the same time he also had enough of a presence of mind to remember what he needed most at this point. Letting enough of his lycan self out to give him a physical boost without giving into the beast's anger, Lucian waited until his mouth had become sufficiently snout-like before he finally bit into Michael's arm. For a moment, all of Lucian's mind was focused on taking in as much of Michael's blood from the wound as he could-

The sound of a gunshot reminded Lucian that he had forgotten about Selene in the middle of his determination to confront Michael, but then he felt something strike him in the back. Falling backwards, he hit the ground with a wince as he felt the familiar burn of silver in his body, the bullet lodged near his spine in a manner that would have been almost immediately fatal for any other lycan.

"Michael!" Lucian heard Selene's voice call out as he lay on the ground, not daring to move in case she attempted to fire somewhere more immediately fatal. "Michael, are you all right? Can you still…?"

As her voice trailed off, Lucian almost couldn't believe it when he realised that the feral lycan who had just been attacking him had not only fallen silent, but actually seemed to be moving towards Selene in a manner that he could only think of as…

Careful?

He more than anyone knew that even young lycans weren't as feral as the vampires liked to claim they were in their propaganda, but it was still hard for a newly-turned lycan to do anything more elaborate than lash out at any potential threat, particularly if the transformation occurred outside of the full moon. Michael Corvin having the strength to attack him like this was actually a welcome clue that he had the genetic code they were looking for, but the idea that Corvin was aware enough in his current state that he at least appeared to consider Selene an ally rather than a threat…

"Do you… you understand me…" Selene said, answering her own question as she seemed to step closer to Michael. Lucian didn't dare to move despite the pain in his back from the silver, but he could swear that he heard what sounded like fingers scratching something.

She's petting him?

Any other lycan who had lived as long as Lucian had would have been disgusted at the idea that any lycan would degrade themselves to become a vampire's servant all over again, but there was something in Michael's manner that made Lucian think there was more to this than another vampire lording their supposed superiority over his kind…

A kick to his side forced Lucian to restrain his instinctive reaction to wince from the pain. The bullet in his back was painful, but if he could just hold out for a few more minutes…

"Come on," Selene said at last, her attention clearly now back to Michael. "This safehouse has been compromised, but maybe I can get you to another one and get you back to human form before someone sees you…"

Once again, what would have angered another of his kind just made Lucian feel amused. If nothing else, there was a definite contrast between the way Viktor would have ordered him about as if he was an animal in either state and Selene actually talking with the transformed Michael as though he was at least worth talking to rather than ordering about. Once he was sure that she was far enough away, Lucian dared to turn his head, allowing him to watch as the leather-clad vampire and the new lycan climbed up another building and began to run along the rooftops. Lucian was even more impressed and intrigued when he took another glance around himself and confirmed that there was no sign of Michael's clothes; Selene must have grabbed them before she and Michael left.

His immediate curiosity satisfied, and now certain that he was alone again, Lucian lifted his body up and took a small glass phial out of an inner pocket in his coat. Relieved that it had survived the brief fight intact, Lucian trickled a few drops of Michael's blood from his mouth into the phial, and then put it off to the side as he focused his own efforts on expelling the silver bullet from his back. It took longer than such a simple wound normally should, but Lucian could justify that as the silver poisoning having more time to spread through his system as he feigned 'death' to ensure Selene didn't do anything more obviously fatal to him.

Once the bullet was out of his body and his legs felt stronger, Lucian stood up, flexing his shoulders as he looked up at the building once again. There was no sense in going to investigate whatever safehouse Selene and Michael had in this place, as he doubted Viktor's protégé would have left any kind of clue. Michael was a possibility as an amateur, but Lucian had a feeling that, despite his greater power as a lycan, Michael was very obviously the 'damsel in distress' in their dynamic, so he was likely just reacting to Selene's own ideas right now.

Still, while he regretted the loss of two lycans in this assault he couldn't ignore the implications of the night's events. Michael must be a relatively young lycan if there'd been nothing in his files to indicate what he had become, but that just made his ability to actually hold his own against Lucian, even if only for a few moments, all the more impressive. Add in how he had changed in response to even an indirect threat against his vampire guardian, and Lucian had a good feeling that Michael might just be what he was looking for in more ways than one.

The question, Lucian mused as he looked at the small phial of blood in his hand, was if this sample would be enough to at least let Singe confirm that Michael held the key to his most personal ambition…