Chapter 5

The gates opened to allow the car she had been driving at full speed since she left the house safe, giving the illusion of a warm welcome waiting behind the door that would lead into the mansion.

But she knew better, she knew it would not be a warm welcome or even the usual vision of immortal hedonists enjoying the pride she so disapproved of, but rather a coven as agitated as never before, agitated by her actions and the rules she had broken.

But that didn't stop her from making her way through the doors, entering the foyer with her head held high and fearlessly in her eyes. Even when the judgmental and disapproving glances of everyone present fell on her, Selene was not deterred by walking deeper into the mansion toward her goal, shrugging mentally at all the scowls and head shakings of the vampires around her.

'Looks are exactly that, looks. Whether disapproving or condemning, they are not as sharp as a sword or as painfully accurate as a silver round.'

Her steps, laden with haste and determination, were interrupted by the only one who could really get her to the point where she thought of a thousand different ways to hurt him even if there was a title resting on his head that should have prevented her from considering it, but not not now. Now when Kraven had the audacity to grab her by the wrist just to make her hear whatever bullshit he might say.

"How could you do this to me?" Speaking between teeth, his frustration will be of no use other than making her take her wrist out of his grip abruptly, glaring at him. "Do you have any idea how you have embarrassed me? The whole coven knew I had plans for us!"

"There is no us!" And she would call a lycan a friend the day there was.

"You will go before Viktor, and you are going to say exactly what I tell you to say! You are going to do what I say from now on! Was that somehow unclear?"

Her answer did not come in the form of any words cold enough to freeze his illusions, or acidic enough to melt his so unpleasant obsession, but in the form of a well-applied blow to the face that brought the traitorous regent to his knees, giving her time enough to run from his words that did a good job of penetrating his temper, his presence that caused her disgust.

Run to do what she came to do, don't waste her breath on someone who wasn't worth the time.

Entering the elders' chamber, she allowed herself to regain her composure and calm her nerves when the doors were sealed behind her, creating an appropriate barrier between her and what she was about to reveal as the greatest traitor to her people for the one who was watching her from the throne since the second she entered.

With her head bowed in a show of fear and respect that she knew she should always give not only to any elder, but especially to him, she approached and bowed in awe to Viktor, awakened and following his movements with her blue vampire eyes.

"Selene." His voice was dry, an effect of the awakening that he was still healing. But even the hoarseness was not enough to hide the satisfaction in his voice when he saw her. "Come closer, my child. Let me have a look at you."

And so she did, getting close enough that he could see her, just like her. He looked fine, even if not fully recovered and at full strength. His skin was still abnormally pale and still somewhat mummified, exposing his supernatural nature. But he looked better than a newly awakened one, an effect of blood attached to his back working to restore his strength.

"You changed." He spoke, his keen eyes meeting hers in a kind of appraisal. "You look confused, my child. The fire that shone in your eyes so long ago seems weak."

His words were the truth. He was one of the fews who understood her and now it was no different. She was confused, for many things. "I have been lost without you, my lord. Constantly pursued by Kraven and his endless affection."

A genuine laugh of amusement escaped the old man, not surprised by the fact. "It's the oldest story in the book, he desires the only thing he cannot have." Another laugh, a last show of amusement, a last moment of relaxation between him and his protégé before his expression became more serious when he addressed the subject of this commotion. "Now tell me, my dear. How exactly did you come to believe that Lucian still lives?"

............

The sound of commotion, the smell of light nervousness and the feeling of victory approaching, all of this was so prevalent in the den's air that it could be cut with a knife. They were many things, creatures of the night, slaves freed from their chains and even killers if the situation was extreme enough.

But most of all, they were natural hunters and even Lucian could not completely stifle the satisfaction that was growing in his chest for the hunt that was going to take place. A hunt not for blood, but for a key, about to be carried out by his men who stood as still as statues when they noticed his authority-filled presence entering the den area where they were waiting..

He watched them closely; their faces ranging from deceptively naive to frowning and scarred, their smells, their postures, they all had something in common: they were all the oldest in that den, those who had seen the most struggles among others, those who could stay focused on the task at hand even under the presence of the moon rising in the sky.

Those who were handpicked by the gray lycan giving the last orders to two lieutenants in particular displaying a disgruntled frown, but who did not dare to speak when he approached them.

"How things are progressing?"

"We are rea-"

"Almost ready." Pierce's scowl grew with the interruption of the only one gathering them here, but he forced himself to keep his jaw closed. Reluctantly, letting Brick, who had shifted his attention to the horde leader, speak. "Everyone is ready to hit the road, we are just waiting for you to say the word. I was suggesting to Batman and Robin here that they could offer extra help in Singe's chase. You know, real legal aid and with real value on the streets."

'Translation: I don't want them in this operation or anywhere near me on such a delicate subject, so they can be useful elsewhere.' There was a very solid hierarchy in the Budapest den that was not much different from any other den. General decisions that affect the pack as a whole was he as an alpha who had the final say. Assignments, food, accommodation and command in his absence were left to Raze.

Now small independent tasks, escorting, tracking a high-value target, or selecting the right men for a last-minute mission was left to his lieutenants, who sometimes had different ways of working.

Ways that could put them in conflict with each other. He couldn't change the minds of the more conservative lycans or those who saw humans around as food to satisfy their carnivorous instincts. Discipline them from time to time? Sure. But Lucian was not a fool to think that he could change the way everyone thought. Brick and the duo were a good example of how some individuals can follow different philosophies and how it can put them in conflict.

Conflict with enough blood to make an elder's senses drunk and with claws sharp enough to cut through the steel. This choice of tasks was nothing more than his way of keeping they away so that he did not have to be constantly on the lookout so that the duo's destructive temperament and personality did not put everything to lose.

"After the constant interference from our cousins, an extra pair of hands would not hurt. I need eyes and ears up there and those are you two, understood?" Lucian said, his tone left no room for discussion. It was the tone that could fit into civilized words that if they both had any problem with it, that they would speak to his face if they had the courage.

What they didn't have.

"Yes sir!" A greeting in unison and they left to perform their duties as law enforcement officers in the human world with their agendas for a hidden underworld.

"Küçük tavukların yanında görüşürüz." A scornful smile crossed Brick's features as the language of a nation that stretched from east to west Europe escaped his tongue before he took on a serious expression when he looked at Lucian again. "Well, as has already been said, we are ready. Just give the order and we will be gone before Raze can even say bald."

"Humor can be a tool but also a form of distraction, Gabriel. So just remember what we're going to be achieving." Lucian's words came out like those of a father reminding his son of an important fact in life, before he added more volume when speaking to the others standing there totally unaware of the internal conflict between the lieutenants that was drowned out by him. "And that goes for everyone present here! You, who, like the others, knew the risks but were the only ones to get this far. You, who know the tempting glow of the moon hovering over us, but who were one of the few to survive enough to resist that shine.

"Each one of you was chosen, selected among so many others not to carry out a slaughter, but to collect the key that will open the door of a new era for our people!"

Looks were exchanged, doubts slowly drowning out by the confidence his words sang in their ears, like a battle anthem that never grows old. That even after six hundred years it could still make them feel like the relentless hunters and obstinate soldiers they needed to be.

Six hundred years of war, six hundred years closely followed by the great black lycan, subtly entering the den area where this speech was taking place. A mutual look of recognition between Raze and his gray comrade was exchanged, but no words were spoken, none were needed.

If there was one thing they could agree on, it was that the man making his pronouncement was the reason they all went so far, for they both knew that an army by itself was useless without a commander with an indomitable spirit to instigate the fire of battle in the hearts of his troops who needed to remember from time to time why they were fighting..

From why they couldn't fail.

"A new era of peace… peace baptized in the blood of those who tried to put collars on our necks! Peace won not by mine workers who never had a choice, not by slaves, but by men and women who showed that we are free! that we have a choice, that we choose to be more than we were, that we choose to be what we are today! And I ask you now, what we are? "

"... Lycan."

"WHAT WE ARE?"

"LYCAN!"

............

His eyes remained fixed on the monitors showing the conversation going on inside the chamber, his ears attentive to every word and a frown formed as Kraven watched from the other side as things seemed to completely get out of his control without him being able to stop it. His work ... threatened, not by any deathdealer who flew too close to the sun, but by the one he intended to be ... no, that would be the one next to him when he sat on the throne currently occupied by the source of his fears.

His focus on the unofficial trial taking place on the camera was deflected by the vibration of the phone in his pocket, which he quickly picked up and answered, without taking his eyes off the monitors. "Yes?"

"It's time." Even through a cell phone, a result from the innovations of the modern world in which they lived, the voice being transmitted still had the characteristic features of the grace of a nobleman in the body of a dog leader.

Lucian.

"There was a complication." A euphemism for the situation at hand, which ironically seemed to be resolving in his favor by the direction the discussion was going.

"So make it less complicated, cousin. All preparations have been perfectly arranged and we are on schedule. What could be holding you back besides your own ineptitude in controlling your people?"

"How about the fact that Viktor was awakened ahead of schedule? Not Marcus, but Viktor! Viktor, that shouldn't be a problem until the next century or less after your plan was executed!" He forced himself to lower his tone when he remembered that he was not entirely alone. The chamber walls were thick, but everyone in the room had a hearing that could detect a heartbeat...

Much less an argument between two leaders planning to evict the tapestry of the past who was listening to his future queen's charges of conspiracy.

"Handling the coven is your job, your only job. Any off-scale occurrence is your responsibility, your failure." The calm, the irritatingly arrogant tone of a lord explaining to a foolish child the consequences of his actions not only irritated him, but made Kraven wonder if he understood the seriousness of the situation. "Awake or not, the plan goes as expected. Exactly as we agreed, exactly how I want it. The only question is, are you the man to do it?"

If he was the man to do it?

He had reached a position envied by many within this coven, he had kept the secrets and cleared the clutter, he had the necessary vision and ambition that the "saviors" of the race could never have, with their weak and easily manipulated politics. He was not the man to do it, but the only one who could do it.

"You know I am."

"Then do your part. Or I will be the one to regret our agreement, cousin."

............

"But I already gave you all the proof you need!"

"Incoherent visions, thoughts and images, nothing more." His tone was severe, a tone that Selene recognized very well, the tone of a general disciplining a soldier who would receive punishment equivalent to failure. She recognized it, as she had seen him use it in all trials in which the defendant was found guilty. "Which is precisely why the awakening is performed by an elder, you do not possess the necessary skills, Selene!"

"But I saw Lucian and I shot him! You must believe me!" And yet she would insist, insist until he at least considered her words, regardless of how this discussion wasing making her frustrated.

Because it seemed that again, his claims were falling on deaf ears. Even he, who had trusted her judgment before, he who she trusted unconditionally, seemed to ignore the lycan threat in favor of why he was the one awake, the one sitting on the throne. "The chain has never been broken in fourteen centuries, not since we elders began to take turns in time! One awake and two asleep, that's the way it is. This is Marcus's turn to reign, not mine!"

"But I had no choice! The entire coven is in danger and Michael is the key-"

She fell silent under his hiss, lowering her head again. "Ah yes, the lycan." His tone was no longer just severe, but it also poured contempt. As if the name of the species that the man she had spent the last hours of in the company was a disease.

And she felt tired, frustrated and to some extent desperate to see everything practically slipping out of her hands. Her plan seemed completely on the brink of failure, and her actions, the rules she broke for a greater cause, all seemed in vain.

But even so, she raised her head again to look at him, one last attempt to appeal came in the form of her voice tired from the pointless argument between the two. "Viktor, please. Give me a chance to get the proof you require."

"I'll leave it to Kraven to collect the evidence, if there's any." His expression, still severe. His words, without a drop of emotion. He had already made up his mind, he had already completed this unofficial trial between the two.

And that frustrated her, even more than all this failed attempt to convince him. Not because he was doubting her for the first time in centuries, but because he was relying on her target of accusations, on that conspiracy to undo everything they accomplished. That was what frustrated her, that was why she asked, "How can you trust him more than me?"

"Because he is not the one who has been tempted by an animal." And for a moment, the uncompromising stance, the frown of severity on the old face exposing his supernatural nature, softened when he said, "I love you as a daughter, but you leave no choice. These rules are in place for good reasons and they are the only reason we have survived this long, my child. "

And then it disappeared, as quickly as it emerged, as well as the good humor that had dissipated from him when this audience began, giving way once more to the face of a king who ruled with a steady hand. "You will be treated without any clemency. When Amelia arrives, the council will meet and decide your future. You have broken the chain and the covenant! And for that you must be judged!"

She felt the weight of her words like a whip marking her skin, and the severity of her tone sounded in her ears like the hammering of a judge giving her sentence without even considering the words of defense that were given. He had condemned her, without any hesitation. The feeling was distressing, and for the first time in six centuries, she allowed part of her anguish to come out in the form of a tear that slid down her cheek.

Which she quickly wiped away when the sound of the doors being opened resonated in a kind of extra confirmation for what she already knew: it was over, she had failed and her fate had been sealed. Hiding the signs of anguish happening inside her behind her stoic and cold expression that rarely left her face, she regained her composure when the footsteps of the target of her accusations and the others accompanying him stopped behind her.

"She will be confined to her quarters until the council arrives. Was that clear enough, Kraven?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Get her out of here."

It didn't matter that she was practically being sentenced to death, that she would be judged as an exile who had come low enough to betray everyone. None of this prevented her from giving the dishonest regent a very clear glare. If he touched her, not even regeneration would help him to use that arm again.

Kraven quickly took the hint and, being true to his cowardly nature, ordered with a simple nod that Soren at his side was the one to grab her by the arm, leading her out of the chamber without giving her a chance to look back. Which she could appreciate on some level, because Selene did not want to look at the face of the elder who had sentenced her, the mentor who had abandoned her.

Abandoned her … to the sun that would come with the sentence of the council, to the eyes of all the coven walkers who stared with astonishment and even slight satisfaction to see her being escorted by Kraven's guards. She ignored them as usual, the fact that she was being placed under house arrest would not change her beliefs. It wasn't going to mean more to her than when she arrived at the mansion.

But that didn't mean that she didn't at least feel the slightest relief when she was taken away from the eyes of judgment, taken to her bedroom door, one of the few places where she could be alone with herself, where she could be at peace.

But not before reluctantly heard the voice of the source of her troubles one last time, the temptation to push the vampire holding the door and simply slam the door in their faces grew when Kraven said, "You should have heard me when you had the chance, now you'll be lucky if I can convince the council to spare your life. "

Selene gave him a blank look before simply saying, "Tell me, did you have the nerve to cut the skin off his arm or did Lucian did it for you?"

His reaction was no different than what she expected from someone like him. Looking away, the fact that she probably correctly deduced how things happened only served to hurt his ego, even more than the punch she had thrown earlier.

"Just mark my words, soon you will see things my way."

'You always have to be the one to give the last word, don't you?' She was content to leave it that way and enjoy what she considered a small victory on a night of defeats when they retired. Being free of his presence provided a satisfaction that not even the sound of her door being locked from the outside could do little to change.

Finally alone, with only herself for company, Selene let out an audible sigh of frustration before she went and sat on the couch, wondering how it all went wrong so quickly and in such a colossal way. She had the advantage in a minute, ready to burn the entire web of a conspiracy that only she seemed to recognize. And the next… failure. Her word rejected by him in favor of a rule that seemed more important than the danger around everyone.

In the end, she was unable to stop them, unable to expose the snake that was supposed to care for this coven in the absence of a leader. And now she couldn't even help him anymore …

Help him…

'Michael.'

She looked at the couch she was sitting on, remembering that ironically it was where he probably woke up scared and confused when she brought him here. 'Unbelievable.' Even now, waiting for a sentence that would not be kind, she still seemed to have time to think about him, about him who would prove pain as bleak as the sentence the council would give her.

'I think it doesn't matter what the circumstances are, we are two souls united by problems in one way or another ain't we?' She thought, letting out a weak laugh before getting up and going to bed, her internal clock doing a good job of reminding her of the sun that would soon rise in the sky, giving her some precious hours of sleep where she could forget all the problems.

Closing her eyes in resignation, Selene allowed herself to fall asleep. But not before her mind reminded her of what she said she would come back for him, and now she couldn't. The suffering of a lycan in his first transformation could not have meant less to her under normal circumstances, but now on the verge of falling asleep, she was unable to prevent a thought from passing through.

'I'm sorry.'