chapter 6

With the slight sway of the locomotive and the sound it made when moving along the tracks, she allowed herself to enjoy most of the lull that this provided. No rush, no whispers about politics from the councilors who have been following her since New York, no reminder that she would soon be the one hibernating in a grave. Just the tranquility of her cabin in which she spent most of the time just meditating.

Meditating ... a habit that she had picked up and that she would hardly die even though she was as far from the north as she was, even though it seemed like another life away. A life away from the covens, away from politics, away from everything. It was simpler, more objective. It was a peaceful and unprejudiced place that she was always proud to have founded, a place where she occasionally considered going. At least until she remembers what she got, the feeling she felt blooming inside a heart that she had thought until then that it was no longer beating.

Until she remembers how she had to give up that feeling, how she had to give up on…

"Lady Amelia."

This was the part that she could always enjoy having her meditation interrupted, being spared from having to reflect more deeply on her choices and renunciations. Opening the brown eyes that hid a vampire's supernatural electric yellow, she looked at the guard who had the head slightly bowed in reverence.

"We arrived."

"In fact." She spoke with a slight tone of surprise, surprised at how quickly time could pass when she meditated like that.

Rising from the chair in which she spent the last hours of her journey reflecting, she left her cabin and went to the car where the council and some members of her coven were waiting for her, all wearing fine formal attire for the occasion alongside to their faces of inflexible politicians that they needed to be to occupy the positions they held within vampire society.

"I hope that rainy climates and Gothic architecture will not bother you, my dear. Budapest is waiting for you and after that night it will be the home of this elite council." She said with the welcoming tone of a charitable queen.

"This elite council that is honored to have had the chance to be with you throughout your reign, my lady." A vampire councilor with a youthful face whose age did not match his youthful, well-dressed appearance spoke up, holding up a bowl full of blood in a gesture that was repeated by others with their drinks in hand or by nods for those who had none.

"We are not yet at the ordogahz, or even performing the awakening ceremony, Hopper. So don't say goodbye to me anytime soon." The faintest hint of a smile crossed her lips briefly before she started walking, taking her place in front of the vampire council that followed her elder just behind towards the exit of the train now standing on the station platform.

Only to never get there when Amelia's footsteps ceased, when she stayed completely motionless as a statue, with her eyes involuntarily turning to the ceiling when a deep howl rose high enough for even those who were not graced with the senses of the immortal occupants of the train could hear.

Her eyes shone and fangs revealed themselves against her will when all her instincts went on high alert, because even though it has been almost a thousand years since she started politics instead of war, since she started commanding troops behind a throne instead of standing beside them, she could still recognize that sound as well as in her glory days as a warrior when she first hunted her ancestors.

Lycans.

Jumping onto the roof of the train, and entering the cars with the ferocity of relentless hunters who would not stop in front of anything until they caught their prey. The sounds of gunshots from a fierce battle between lycanthropes and train guards intermingled with the cries of pain and pleas from the passengers, who were equally slaughtered by the werewolves who mercilessly mutilated anything that moved within the train.

Standing outside the station, watching the carnage, Soren felt nothing when he heard the vampires' cries of pain that he should receive, seeing the windows being painted by the blood of the councilors that he should ensure safety. Nothing, he felt nothing. Except for a slight spark of satisfaction that always rose in his chest whenever a task was completed..

There was a reason why he was the one to flog dogs for Viktor with great pleasure that was only felt when consuming the blood of mortals after all.

Leaving the savages to eat the remains of his own work, he got into his car when he considered everything to be complete. Being followed by his men who followed the gesture, leaving the station and the last occupants of the train now transformed into a slaughterhouse behind.

The sound of meat being cut and devoured was slowly the only noise inside the train, with only the last shot from a machine gun of what remained of the opposition disappearing when the last remaining guards were subdued, joining the pile of corpses that was the council now. A lycan with leftover flesh and blood running down his mouth, he walked with slow steps to the only car they had not painted red with the bloods in this train.

The only car where their primary objective would be.

A roar that resounded all over the place came from the werewolf who charged furiously at the cabin door with the clear intention of destroying the only thing between them and the last blood breathing on that locomotive. What this lycanthrope did not expect was to be totally stopped in his steps against his will by a strong hand that held him by the throat when the cabin door was opened not by the brute force of the raging lycan, but by its occupant now holding the half wolf totally changed with one arm.

Amelia stared at the black-haired beast helpless in its grip with mixed feelings. She was impressed by the audacity they had to carry out such a coup, offended that they thought it would be so easy and then simply furious to see the bloody and mutilated mess that was now the elite councilor and all the other passengers on the train. Her eyes shone with pure hatred and she made no ceremony by breaking the lycan's neck, throwing it's corpse aside like the dead animal carcass it was.

The immortal beasts watched the scene with what she imagined to be astonishment before they attacked the elder who was quick to catch the two submachine guns that fell beside the destroyed bodies of the guards and shoot frantically at the lycans that were being annihilated by accurate silver rounds.

Modern weapons never impressed her, or seemed as reliable as a sharp sword. But that didn't stop her from mastering that weaponry with the same proficiency that she had mastered crossbow shooting in her early centuries of fighting, proving useful when she sprayed the werewolves with unmatched accuracy until they were nothing but corpses with the rest of the bloody mess.

Discarding the now unloaded submachine guns, Amelia walked fearlessly to the next car where she found the jaws of a lycan who jumped to tear her standing inches from her face when she stopped the beast as she had done before, knocking the poor creature against the window. before twisting the neck just as easily as she did before. Looking beyond the corpse returning to its human state, she tore the side of the skirt of the dress that not only hugged her curvaceous body but also decreased her mobility.

Drawing the sword next to a beheaded vampire, Amelia hissed before advancing on the band of lycans who roared in fury before charging at the elder who did not hesitate to engage in a bloody dispute against her wolf opponents.

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Walking around in the room that had become her prison since it was decided that her future would be decided by others instead of herself, Selene remained restless, more restless than she had ever been in her long immortal life. 'Late… in a thousand years since it was founded, and during all six centuries that I have accompanied and served them, the elite council has never been late.'

Since she woke up at nightfall, she waited patiently for her judgment that now seemed to be lingering like a bitter joke of fate. Minutes became hours that were initially spent with her sitting at her usual place of work, and now in front of the window where she had a good view of the garden, as well as the reason why she did not try to escape.

'Usual night shift with double security, standard protocol.' She watched the deathdealers patrolling the entire property, switching shifts with a surgical synchrony that left no room for any attempt at memorization or escape, as there were none, only her fellows soldiers who would put her down if she even stepped outside the mansion and the beginning of the appearance of the moon in the sky.

Full moon…

She moved away from the window, away from the moonlight that began to awaken thoughts that she preferred to keep away at that moment. She already had her own problems to deal with and the prospect of having to face a trial that she was sure she would lose. She had to focus on the here and now, not the suffering of another, not a pain that she could not even help to alleviate.

'At least not while I'm locked in here while everything happens without me being able to do a fucking thing about it!'

It was then that almost in response to her thoughts, the lights of the mansion were suddenly switched off, plunging the entire seat of the old world coven into complete darkness that gave way to the window of opportunity that Selene didn't even know she was waiting until she saw all the deathdealers dissipating from the garden and hearing the alarm go off.

She did not have to think much about what caused all of this, as the person responsible revealed herself when Erika entered her room declared out of bounds, handing Selene a bag she opened to find her guns before looking at the maid with a confused look.

"Why are you helping me?"

"I'm not, I'm helping me." Erika replied, throwing her the car keys.

'Fine.'

She didn't care about her motives, it didn't matter to her. She simply picked up her coat where it had hung since her car accident two nights ago, putting it and guns in place before opening the window and jumping through it, landing in the now badly guarded yard.

There was still the presence of death dealers, but they were so agitated and so frantic looking for the cause of the blackout, that it was easy for her to sneak and stay in the shadows all the way to the car, starting the engine and going through the gate at maximum speed without looking back.

And without noticing the shining eyes of a man as cunning as a fox watching her go. Without losing sight of her, Singe kept the camera he will use to observe the mansion during the last hours of his surveillance, starting to drive the truck full of lycans armed and ready to deal with the death dealer whose priorities were to get as far away as possible from the coven for now and go to what she hoped was still the man with whom she shared her pain, and not the beast that would rise from the moon emerging from the sky.

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A sharp stab of pain ran through his back, seeming to ignite his entire nervous system when the burning sensation made him shiver. Anger, he was angry and at the same time ... there was something more aching in his chest, but he didn't know what, only that it seemed to get worse when a female cry of pain resounded in a deafening way.

The face of a woman screaming in agony, a cry that soon changed to a wild roar, the sensation of cracking bones and the smell of flesh being burned flooded his senses so vividly that he could not help jumping in his chair , frantically opening his eyes in search of anything in the corners of the room until he realizes that he will just come out of the same memory that had been tormenting him every time he tried to get some rest.

'Crap.'

Michael used his free arm to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, letting out a long, tired breath as he tried to get his racing heart to calm down. He thought that after understanding what was going on in his head, it would get easier from there, but he was wrong. As if being forced to experience someone else's memories in his sleep wasn't enough, they were somehow painful enough to exhaust him and he couldn't even make any sense of them.

Or anything in fact …

He tried to get up, just for the handcuff on his arm to remind him that he was still locked up and that he would stay that way until she came back. She, who turned her mind upside down with just a simple gesture and dark words. It has been a day since she left him alone with the prospect that he would become a monster, but ironically this was not what he pondered during most of his "remand," but about the sensations that ran through every fiber of his body when he felt the touch of her lips.

'I'm thinking about that kiss while I'm tied to a chair because maybe I will grow fangs and claws, I must be really going crazy.' He thought with a weak laugh, leaning back in his chair. At first he saw in her a solution to all the mysteries that had seen him hunting since that shooting on the subway and to some extent, she really intrigued him.

But now after hearing all the pain she went through, after that kiss ... he was no longer sure how he felt.

The only thing he was sure of was that the hours spent in this dark place became more and more unbearable. First he had a whole day to think and come to some kind of agreement with everything that was revealed to him, with what he would become and with the confused feelings he felt for the death dealer as beautiful and mysterious as the moonlight shining in the night sky.

Then the sunset came, and with that the terrible restlessness that seemed to infiltrate his nerves like a goddamn disease that he was unable to identify, even with all his medical knowledge.

The chair, the handcuff, the building, everything seemed strangely unbearable. All he wanted to do was get rid of the chains holding him down and just… run, run in search of some freedom that his body seemed strangely to need. It went on for hours, with his heart racing to the point where he thought he was having a panic attack at how agitated he was. Until exhaustion finally reached him, until he fell asleep in search of some rest for his mind.

Just to find the same tormenting memories that didn't bother him any less even though he knew what they were, just to find himself awake with his heart not beating faster because of those memories, but because of those strange reactions that his body seemed to be having.

Preferring the bearable surrealism of memories to this strange restlessness, he closed his eyes again, hoping that sleep would overtake him again.

Until his hopes of relieving the discomfort of the situation were dashed by the sound of quick steps breaking the atmosphere of silence in the abandoned building. Michael has not questioned since when his hearing was working so well, as his attention was on the steps that seemed to be being followed by several heavier sets, getting closer and closer to the floor where he was trapped and unable to react.

He swallowed and expected the worst when he felt a strange presence approaching. There were no more sounds or anything he would denounce, he could only feel in the form of a strange, intense discomfort on his nerves that someone had come to this floor and was about to walk through the door.

That someone being what he could only describe as an eye candy and a rewarding relief for his racing heart. Selene slammed the door behind her as she entered the room, and the relief of seeing her again was replaced by concern when he saw that she was wearing her professional mask again.

Which was only confirmed when she said, "We need to go, now."

"What is happening?" He asked. The few times he saw her energetic and focused like that, it all ended violently.

"They found you." She replied, preferring to give a simple explanation and just take the handcuff off her arm instead of having to explain how the whole plan that she had put so much faith in failed.

"Lycans?"

She nodded before the attention of both was caught by the monitors who showed several lycans armed to the tooth taking firing positions outside the room. Selene wasted no time in pulling out her Beretta and firing at the door, the monitor allowing her to hit a large part of them through the door without missing a shot.

"Get down!" She loaded up with a new magazine without missing a beat, aiming at the window behind Michael and spraying the glass with a few shots, creating the escape route he needed. "Go Go!"

He wasted no time and did as she had said, reaching for the broken window to face the big five-story fall just below that paralyzed him when he slowly understood what she wanted him to do.

"Jump!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Selene didn't have a chance to explain that the fall wouldn't kill him due to his new supernatural status, or yell at him to just trust her without letting his fears get in the way, as the door was finally opened and a volley of UV shots from the Lycan shooters greeted. She avoided all shots by bending down with the Beretta drawn up, quickly retaliating with her own automatic silver rounds.

As a result, the lost UV rounds hit the wall next to Michael, causing a natural imbalance reaction that resulted in the young lycan falling down the floors below. He found himself closing his eyes, preparing for the fall to come, only to land crouched with inhuman grace on the ground without any kind of injury he expected to receive.

'What the fuck…' He stared at his hands as he stood up, so shocked by his own supernatural feat that he didn't even notice the car until he was brutally hit by the police vehicle that sent him skidding down the alley, temporarily taking the air out of his lungs.

"What…" He coughed in an attempt to catch his breath as he tried to stand up again, only for a fist hitting his face to take what was left of his consciousness before he felt himself being dragged and thrown into something that started to move.

Taking him away from the safe house whose fight going on seemed to end when Selene put a round on the head of the last lycan still standing, running to the window after when the sound of tires moving at high speed caught her attention and a wave of frustration washed over her, making her bang her fist against the wall when she witnessed Michael being carried away.

'Fuck! They ...' She stared as the car got farther and farther away, watching helplessly as the siren lights disappeared in the dark. And for a long minute that seemed to last for a lifetime, she froze in horror when the thought of what they could do to him came as a kind of blow that left her unresponsive.

'They took him ...'

"Ugh… jesus christ…"

The hurt moan of the injured half-breed in the next room was like a melody that not only reminded her that it would be a cold day in hell when she simply crossed her arms and left him at their mercy, but also made her realize the opportunity that seemed to arise in the middle of this bloody moonlight night.

Walking over to the runt lycanthrope lying on the floor with a smoking gunshot wound to the shoulder, Selene stared at him for a long moment, looking between his wounded form and the nearby interrogation tools when she realized that this weak and hateful creature was the source of her answers.

A red river flowing with information that she would extract by force if necessary, no matter how long it takes.

"You and I are going to have a little chat."

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'I can still fight…'

That was what she had been saying to herself, I can still fight. Even when the large number of wolf creatures proved to be too much to fight at once, she continued to fight, cutting with her blade and breaking as many as she could. Even when the fatigue of dealing with beasts that could match her in physical strength when united began to manifest, she continued to fight regardless of the claw-cutting wounds that were inflicted on her with a frequency that seemed to grow alongside her exhaustion.

Even at the end of this carnage of bodies regressing back to them human form, even with her normally silent heart accelerated by shortness of breath, she continued to fight when that damn gray wolf emerged from the shadows to attack her with a force and ferocity that were too much to her wounded and exhausted body that still had enough energy to give it hell itself before finally bring her down.

And even now on the ground, with her windpipe held by the claws of that wild gray mestizo that occasionally emitted grunts of pain from the blade cuts on it body, Amelia continued to fight as she could, hissing with hatred at the lycan who had in her in possession, drowning all the pain she felt through the anger that allowed her to face this beast fearlessly even though it's jaws full of bloody fangs were inches from her wounded face with a cut on her cheek.

That like her other wounds, didn't seem to want to heal because of the amount of blood she'd already lost to the point where it was hard to tell how much of the blood on the train was hers, from the dead passengers or from the lycans carcasses.

"In the name of the blood… of the ancestor, I hope you… choke on my remains and burn in hell for all eternity for the lives you took today, your beast-" Her insults were silenced when extra pressure was applied on her neck, making her let out a groan of pain that she cursed herself for letting go..

Amelia hoped that this would be the beginning of the end, that he would continue until that day his head was pulled out of place by the inhuman strength of the half-wolf creature, but strangely the pain only lasted so long until she was quiet, as if he just wanted to cut off the insults. than really hurt her more.

'Why doesn't he just kill me and get it over with, what in the name of blood is this thing waiting for? Does he want me to beg, does he want to have the pleasure of watching me agonize?' Amelia stared at the gray beast for an answer she didn't know she wouldn't want until her attention was caught by the shape of a huge man entering the train car, lowering the hood of his coat to reveal a frowning black face that he looked at all the carnage around in a kind of silent assessment.

'This must be the alpha of this clan then.' Amelia thought, the wounds and pain they caused did not stop the mind of the cunning warrior she was from making the connection. In fact, if it weren't for her body that wasn't responding as she wanted, the pain wouldn't be an obstacle for her to put them down with her bare hands.

The gray werewolf and black lycan exchanged what she could have sworn was a kind of silent command look that she never imagined a creature in such a feral state could understand. She didn't have time to be surprised by the fact, as the sharp pain of a needle being driven into her neck took her breath away as she moaned in agony when she felt her blood being taken by the syringe that the larger lycan took with him again..

'What…'

"Now, finish her off." He ordered, leaving without bothering to look at her fallen state again, as if she were something that was not worth his time.

"Touché." It was the last word her dry throat could produce as Amelia slowly looked back at the wolf holding her. Her eyes still shone, but there was no more deadly hatred in them, but resignation. She was ambushed and captured, her efforts to fight seemed futile now that she was lying on the floor about to be executed.

But she was still a warrior, a guide for her people, the elder of a race that has overcome various adversities over the ages and who would not be intimidated even in the face of the end. Her only regret at that moment was not being able to hold him again...

'I'm sorry, little prince, maybe one day you'll forgive me for not being able to be there to tell you ... everything.'

With a totally stoic expression that clearly demonstrated how much she had accepted her destiny, Amelia closed her eyes to the lycan's bestial roars and waited for the final blow.

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Authoritarian and tired eyes from centuries of struggle were slowly opened when the last drop of blood being pumped through the tubes was finally absolved by the body of Viktor, who made no ceremony to remove the objects whose purpose was to heal his body and getting up from the throne, walking to the back of the chamber where he was asleep until then.

The elder vampire stared at the elegant purple coat that looked rather old for the time, but perfectly suited to someone in his position. Wearing the mantle reserved for the leader of this house, he observed with momentary satisfaction his own hands, no longer weak and mummified, but completely restored as well as his strength.

His strength had returned, bringing back the ability temporarily stolen by hibernation to lead his race. But that did not mean that things were as he wanted, in fact, Viktor could not remember times as chaotic as this. The mansion on full alert, the council overdue, and his exhausted patience leading him to order the chambekeeper to call the one whose life he would have to condemn, much to his own displeasure and disappointment.

But it was not the daughter he would have to sentence that came to him, but the one he trusted to take care of his business, but instead brought everything he built into a decadent and weak state that was even disturbing, even that he only had a confused glimpse of the extent of the damage.

Bowing in reverence, Kraven announced his presence to the elder in front of the throne with his back to him. "My Lord."

"I sent for Selene, not you."

"... She defied your orders, my lord, she ran away from the mansion."

"Your incompetence is becoming intolerable." The elder said with a scowl that showed his discontent well. With each failure of the small, inept vampire in front of him, the more he thought that perhaps the death of that animal was an overestimated merit. "Tell me Kraven, how can I entrust you with an entire coven when you can't even control a single vampire."

"But this is not my fault, my lord. She is obsessed, she thinks I am the core of some ridiculous conspiracy!"

"And here's my proof!"

Their attention was drawn to the entrance of the chamber just in time to see the subject in question hurling a wounded and badly beaten man who stopped practically in front of Viktor's feet. Selene watched Kraven's face lose its little color with a slight satisfied smile that she almost allowed it to grow when she saw Viktor recognize the man groaning in pain for what he was.

"Lycan." The elder concluded, his voice intoning scorn before he looked through the now closed door of the chamber. "Duncan! Put chains on this thing now!"

At the command of the elder vampire, chains emerged from the camera floor, trapping the arms of the beaten-up runted lycan who was still emitting grunts of pain from all the brutal forms of questioning applied by Selene who gave him not even a window of time to heal the little he could even with the bullets lodged in his shoulder.

The bullets that seemed to move against his flesh when the death dealer placed a firm hand on the helcan lycan's shoulder. "Now, I want you to tell them exactly what you told me."

Selene waited until the lycan spit out all the information she had extracted from him before and even on the way to the mansion, but there still seemed to be traces of a will that she thought had already broken, causing her to press her fingers in the wound ending, his last attempt at futile resistance.

"Alright! Alright…" Singe swallowed, sweat running down his forehead and the scent of burning silver invading his nose as he took a deep breath to ease the pain. She was going to kill him, this death-loving harlot was going to kill him in the worst way he could imagine if the creativity with which she tortured him was any indication. he didn't want to die, not like that and certainly not by her hands. "For years we tried to combine the bloodlines, and for years we failed. It was all useless, a waste of time and resources.

"Even at the cellular level, our species destroy each other. Yet, the key we knew was in the rarest of the bloodlines. A direct descendant of Alexander Corvinus, Hungarian, a warlord who came to power in the early seasons of the fifth century. Just in time to witness the plague devastate his village. He alone survived. Somehow, his body managed to change the disease, mold it to his benefit. He became the first true immortal. "

'Keep talking your rat!' Selene buried her fingers again in Singe's wound in response to the lycan's last attempt to hide the truth that she was going to pull out here and now. "And years later he fathered at least two children who inherited the same trait."

"The sons of the Corvinus clan." Viktor smiled in a way that showed how much the elder vampire was mocking the words of the dying creature before him, which was only reinforced by the tone of his next words. "One bitten by a wolf, one by a bat, one to walk the lonely road of mortality like a human. It is a story told to the youngest during the first days, a ridiculous legend and nothing more."

"It may be, but our species have a common ancestor."

"There is a direct descendant of Corvinus lying there!" The older vampire pointed angrily at the ornate M in the grave on the floor, already feeling fed up with the animal spitting nothing but words of outrage in front of him "Not even ten feet from you."

"Yes, but he is already a vampire. We needed a pure, immaculate source. An exact duplicate of the original virus, the Corvinus strain itself that we discover is always hidden in the genetic code of its human descendants, passed on in its dormant form through from the ages to Michael Corvin. His blood allows a perfect union between our species. "

"There can be no such union." Viktor's frown had turned to complete hatred now with the confession of that thing of what they had discovered. "And even to speak of it is an act of heresy!"

"We'll see! Once Lucian has injects himself with-"

"Lucian is dead!"

"According to who?"

The smile of the lycan who previously only managed to moan in agony and spill any information he might have in search of a few more seconds of life, made the old vampire and his protégé exchange a look, before facing the empty space where a few seconds ago was the regent finally exposed by the traitorous snake that he is.

Coward. Selene thought with some disappointment, as part of her hoped to see her efforts rewarded in the form of the foolish bureaucrat she worked so hard to expose by being punished.

Almost guessing his thoughts, Viktor left the throne and walked to her side saying, "I assure you, my child, Kraven will pay with his own life."

"Enjoy the security of your status as long as you can, soon this entire house will be in ruins."

"Not before you!" She pressed the Beretta against the lycan's head, more than ready and willing to silence her audacious words, he had already spoken more than he should, breathed more than he should

"Wait! Wait! Only you and you alone will know the truth!" He pleaded, still trying to hold on to the little time he had left, trying to buy a few more seconds of breathing that seemed more important to him than the cause of its own specie. Selene doubted that this half-breed could give them anything else, but she obediently lowered the gun at Viktor's nod. "If Lucian can get his hands on the blood of a pure born, a powerful elder like Amalia or yourself, and inject it along with Michael's blood …"

"Abomination!" Viktor spat with disgust and disgust when his mind assimilated the lycan's thoughts, when he understood the profane creature them were trying to create.

"Half vampires, half lycan, stronger than both. A hybrid of the two species, Lucian's will personified!"

The two night walkers inside the room didn't exactly have much time to process this information when the doors were opened and Kahn stepped into the chamber with a squad of death dealers right behind. Expressions that ranged between horror, shock and grief adorned the faces of each of them, but altogether it could be translated as serious news.

What was confirmed when the commander of the warriors of the old world coven was the first to speak, "My lord, the council members have all been assassinated."

"What about Amelia?" Viktor's question sounded deathly low due to his fearful tone. There were few moments in his government that he found himself fearing for something, the fate of his fellow elder whose fate he feared knew already being one of those times.

"Missing, we didn't find her among the bodies but we believe they took the body to ..." He didn't have to finish, everyone there was more than familiar with the lycans' modus operandis to know what intentions the bloodthirsty beasts had with the corpse of a vampire. But even this knowledge did not prevent Viktor from closing his eyes with regret for the tragedy.

All this while what was bad news for them seemed to sound like anthems of Victoria to the still-chained lycan scientist, who smiled with satisfaction at the discovery of recent events that symbolized the imminent victory of his people regardless of what was revealed here.

"Has begun." He laughed, which turned out to be the last laugh of his life when Viktor's fist hit him hard enough to rip all the rest off, breaking the lycan's neck that fell to the ground completely lifeless.

'Fits you well.' Selene, who seemed to be the only one to process the information with a supernatural calm and composure, thought as she looked at the lycan carcass before lowering her head as she looked at her sire with respect and fear, fear for her life that rested in his hands again.

"I'm sorry to have doubted you." Viktor's expression for the third time showed softer features that were not common for an elder with his reputation to display when he reassured her. "Do not fear anymore my child, the absolution will be yours."

She didn't know she was holding her breath until she breathed a sigh of relief at his words, lifting her head to look at him with grateful eyes.

"The moment you kill the descendent of Corvinus, this Michael."

And with those words, the glow of thanks was replaced by something that Selene didn't even think she could feel, fear. The fear and the strange sensation of a weight that should not have been placed there in her heart, an unusual feeling of hesitation that went unnoticed by Viktor who left the chamber with the death dealers without realizing the conflicting feelings that were tormenting her.

'… what is this?' She questioned herself, not even scolding herself for doing so at this decisive moment in order to try to find an answer that didn't come, much to her discomfort that seemed to grow even more when she wondered why the hell of this strange and unpleasant feeling going up through the stomach to the chest.

The victory of the coven is all that matters, my personal feelings are not part of that. She repeated to herself in a kind of mantra, something to keep her focused. That is what she kept repeating to herself as she left the chamber and the corpse whose blood flowed down to the ornate M on the floor behind.