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

Feedback: Always appreciated.

AN: To confirm, Michael is talking to Lucian here, but obviously he doesn't know Lucian's name and there was never a suitable moment for Lucian to introduce himself.

The Lone Wolf

As Michael stirred himself back into consciousness, he allowed himself a moment to wonder if he was in the middle of some kind of warped dream, until he felt the straps around his wrists and legs and realised what must have happened to him. Glancing around confirmed that he was currently being held in what he could only think of as the equivalent of some back-alley criminal's unofficial medical clinic, the kind of thing used by people who couldn't go to official hospitals for some reason or other.

In other words, Michael thought with grim terror, I've been caught by the werewolves.

It might be a leap when nobody had even spoken to him yet, but he doubted that normal criminals would have even had the nerve to get involved when they saw even one giant wolf attacking that safehouse, and he was fairly sure he remembered seeing another one before Selene told him to get out. He couldn't quite remember what had happened in the next couple of minutes, but it was obvious that things hadn't gone well for him…

It was only when a familiar face walked into the room that Michael began to appreciate the extent of the trouble he was currently in. He'd only briefly met this man before, but when that confrontation had been the catalyst for his first deliberate transformation to date, it wasn't the kind of moment that he'd easily forget.

"Ah, you're awake," the lycan said politely to him, a nonchalance to his manner that left Michael feeling even more frustrated. "I apologise in advance if you're feeling a bit groggy; given your reaction in our last meeting, it was thought best to give you an enzyme to stop the change-"

"My 'reaction'?" Michael repeated, fighting through his confusion to look at the lycan in outrage. "You mean… when you acted as though your side eating people… eating kids… was just something that happened…?"

"That… came out wrong, and I regret it," the lycan said; to his credit, he actually did appear ashamed as he looked at Michael. "If lycans were responsible for the deaths of Selene's family before she joined the Death Dealers, I can assure you I always shared the vampires' opinions regarding attacking humans. I began work on essentially weaning them of that particular hunger as soon as I assumed leadership of a pack and did my best to make that policy large-scale, but as you can imagine, it takes time to abandon such an… ingrained habit-"

"OK, so you didn't let them keep feeding like that; doesn't change the fact that your people did that in the first place," Michael spat, relieved to find his mind becoming clearer as he spoke. He still didn't feel physically focused enough to change, but at least he could think clearly enough to come up with an argument.

"They are your people now, too-"

"No," Michael said firmly. "I was just scratched because some other wolf tried to bite me in its death throes and killed the woman I loved in the same accident; I'm not one of you."

"If you think that the vampires would see it that way, you're mistaken," the man said. "You may be associating with Selene for now-"

"She's actually been helping me cope with this shit, which is more than any of you might have done for me," Michael retorted. "If that wolf had survived the accident, I'd have just been dragged off and forced to take part in this particular war just because of who bit me, right?"

"The vampires would have just killed you-"

"I've spent the last few months being kept safe by a vampire, and a lycan was the one who ruined my life," Michael countered. "Seriously, do any of you even remember why you're doing this? Do two entire species have nothing better to do then try and kill each other?"

"Believe me, Michael, I know exactly what started this war," the lycan said, glaring at him even as he walked over to stick a needle in Michael's arm and withdraw a new blood sample. "That is why I'm relying on you to help me finish it."

"Me?" Michael repeated, anger replaced by confusion at this sudden shift in the conversation. "How am I meant to do anything here? If you think I'm going to help you-!"

"I have no intention of forcing you to do anything yourself, but your family history is of particular relevance to me," the lycan said with a smile, stepping back as he held up the syringe full of blood. "Are you aware that you are the last known descendant of the original immortal?"

"Excuse me?"

"For what it's worth, I doubt that even your 'dear' Selene is aware of that, considering how much work Viktor put into hiding the truth about our origins, but the facts don't lie," the lycan affirmed (Michael wasn't going to over-analyse the implications of the way he'd referred to Selene; right now it was more important to keep track of his story). "Your blood contains a very unique genetic quirk that will allow us to harness the kind of power no other being on the planet has ever achieved… and I will finally be able to avenge her."

"Her?" Michael latched on to that comment, looking at the lycan with new incredulity as the implications of that last statement sunk in. "Has this seriously been all about the fact that the vampires killed your… wife?"

"This is about how the vampires are such heartless monsters that their leader killed his own daughter because she fell in love with me!"

The way the lycan fell silent after that declaration somehow did more to convince Michael that this man's words were sincere than anything else he'd heard so far. It was only when Michael took a moment to process them that he realised the full weight of that statement and the implications that went with it. The mere concept of what he'd just heard would have struck him as bizarre even if he was just dealing with the idea in a film or TV show, never mind when he was faced with the reality of an increasingly twisted situation.

A vampire and a werewolf?

Then again, when he thought about his own feelings for Selene… the way he'd come to look forward to seeing her… the way that she made the worst thing that could have ever happened to anybody somewhat bearable because it was the only way he would have ever met her…

He wasn't sure if he could say that she felt that way about him, and he certainly wasn't expecting anything in turn, but there was something about Selene herself… the way she'd done so much for him and never asked him to really do anything more for her in turn…

"…How did it happen?" he said at last, looking curiously at the lycan. "You and… that vampire, I mean?"

"…We were slaves once," the lycan said, his tone low and solemn as he looked between Michael and the blood sample still in his hands. There was a wistful expression on his face that at least assured Michael he was hearing the truth, even if he had to wonder how such a relationship had come about. "The daylight guardians of the vampires. At the time, I bore them no ill will… even took a vampire for my bride."

"And… her father was their leader?"

"Viktor," the lycan affirmed grimly. "The oldest known vampire… and he killed his own daughter, for no greater crime than loving me."

He shot a glare in Michael's direction that could have meant anything from contempt to amusement, given how often it seemed to change even as Michael looked at it. "And then he went and turned your own vampire to try and be some kind of substitute for her."

"Selene was…?" Michael shook his head for a moment before he collected himself and glared at the older man. "You can't blame her for that; it's not like she knew anything-!"

"And that excuses it?"

"I'm not saying it does… but you can't just kill an entire species because you blame them for one man's actions…"

"After Selene spent centuries blaming our kind for her loss?"

"Because she thought your kind would do that to other families and nobody ever gave her reason to think otherwise!" Michael protested. "Did this Viktor guy have any reason to kill your wife apart from that he didn't like her marrying you?"

"He… objected… to our child," the lycan said after a significant pause, looking away as though it was too painful to see Michael's reaction to that statement.

"Child?" Michael repeated in surprise despite himself, mind racing at the implications (and not for personal reasons). "That's actually possible?"

"We were in love-"

"I didn't mean…" Michael replied, suddenly struck by a need to clarify his choice of words. "Look, I just always thought from the stories that vampires were basically the walking dead, and I never really… I mean, that's not the kind of thing you can just ask someone about…"

"The myths about our kind are… mixed," the lycan nodded at Michael in cautious understanding, at least showing no sign that he was offended at Michael's mistake. "They are correct regarding our weaknesses to sunlight and silver, although pop culture was ironically only correct about the extent of that weakness later. However, despite what some have thought… and as much as they come across as unfeeling… vampires are still biologically alive in the essential details."

"You watch films?"

"It's something to do when we have to stay hidden," the lycan shrugged, a smile on his face that actually made him look slightly embarrassed before he focused his attention back on Michael. "In any case, Sonja and I did conceive a child, and were making plans to leave and spend our lives in secret… but when our relationship was discovered, Viktor had me whipped for several hours and then made me watch as he opened the ceiling to expose her to the sun."

Michael could only look at his captor in silence at that revelation. It wasn't hard to imagine what sunlight might do to a vampire after what he'd seen during the fight at the station, but the idea of watching that happen to Selene…

"I am sorry about that," he said at last, hoping that the older lycan accepted his words. "And I can understand wanting to make this Viktor guy pay for that… but you can't wipe out a whole race because of that."

"Because it's not 'right'?"

"Because if you can justify doing that to the vampires, how is that any different to why Viktor killed her in the first place?"

"HE MADE ME WATCH-!" the lycan roared, moving so fast that he was suddenly right in front of Michael's face, only to be cut off when Michael slammed his forehead into the other's nose to force him back.

"And that was evil, but acting like every other vampire would do that if they had all the facts is just like Viktor deciding we're all nothing but animals," Michael continued, as his adversary reset his broken nose and looked back at Michael. "If you had the chance to talk to a vampire who'd actually be willing to listen to your side… would you do it?"

The lack of response wasn't encouraging at first, but the longer the lycan's apparent leader stood in contemplation, the more Michael began to hope he'd at least made a point. The way his gaze remained fixed on the blood sample he'd taken earlier suggested that he wasn't going to abandon that part of his plans either, but the fact that he hadn't rejected Michael's question yet gave the medical student hope that there might still be a way to resolve this without the vampires and lycans just trying to kill each other…

A door opened and another figure (obviously another lycan; Michael doubted they allowed humans down here) walked in, looking over at Michael's companion.

"We've got company," the figure said.

"I… take it that this isn't the type of company that's going to immediately start shooting at us?" the first lycan said, moving the sample into a safe as he looked back at the new arrival.

"Not right now, but it's only a matter of time," the new arrival said. "You know what they're like…"

"Indeed," the clearly lead lycan said, looking back at Michael for a moment before he sighed. "Well, I should see what he wants before things get more complicated."

As the others left the room, Michael bit back the urge to call out after him. As much as he wanted to continue their talk, right now the only thing on his mind was Selene's safety if she came here to get him out, and giving the apparent leader a reason to think he was only making these arguments because of her wouldn't help.

If he could just focus his thoughts enough to let himself change on purpose again… he just needed to break these straps and find some way out of this place to talk with Selene…