"Two decades had passed since the creation of both species." "The war had begun." "Viktor increased his army, creating a legion of vampires to protect them from the very first clan of werewolves:" "A vicious and infectious breed unable to take human form ever again." "Until he was born." "Lucian." "And although every fiber of Viktor's soul warned him to slay this child, he did not." "Over the years, this child grew." "He possessed a strength and focus that the ones before him did not." "What do you think, Sonja?" "Shall we make more?" "Of him?" "Like him." "Lucian will always be the first of the breed, the first of the Lycans." "Viktor would use Lucian's infectious blood to his benefit, taking advantage of the child's thirst, pitting it against him as he was forced to feed on humans," "Viktor's slaves." " Get in there." " In there." "Instead, he created a new race of immortals:" "Lycans." "Werewolf, but also human." "Unlike the others, this new breed could be harnessed, enslaved to guard them in the daylight hours of their masters." "Or so Viktor thought so very long ago." "The nobles are upset, my lord." "William's pestilence has not been checked." " Werewolves have killed their slaves." " Humans upset." "Tannis, please take a note of what pain that brings me." "Yet their lost slaves means our lost silver." "Enough." "Have I not increased our holdings tenfold since Marcus and Amelia took their sleep?" "We will deal with the wolves as we always have." " Come on!" " Come on, quickly!" "Fire!" "Close that breach." "Have you nothing better to do, blacksmith, than play with weapons of war?" "At least make yourself useful." "A little gratitude, Sonja, to the one who saved your life." "I needed no saving." "Tell me, Lucian." "Does it burden your heart to kill your own kind?" "Not at all." "They're mindless beasts, my lord." " No brethren of mine." " Really?" "Father." "You are a credit to your race." "Do you know how to remain so?" "Keep your eyes on the ground." "Get rid of that." "You were sorely missed at council." "There are other demands on my time, as you know." "I see." "I hope you enjoyed your little moonlit ride." "I was out patrolling." "You were disobeying." "I told you to stay within these walls." "You risk too much for a father to ignore." "You will leave the wolves to the Death Dealers." "And why, Father, is my risk any greater than theirs?" "They are not my daughters, and they are not council members." "You are." "And one day, you will become an elder, your birthright." "Sonja, you are well thought of at council, but that is a precarious thing." "They grow tired of your games and your absences." "The dangers of the forest are no greater than those of the council chamber." "You will learn the dance of politics, to be ruthless and cunning." "And above all, you will be loyal to your family." "To me." "After all, without the loyalty between us, we are no better than the beasts at our door." "Put your back into it." "Pick that up." "Move it, you scum." "More spin." "Get up." "Lycan." "No rest, dog." "Enough." "You dare raise your hand to me?" "I said, that's enough." "So says the master's dog, hm?" "You will not always be his favorite, and when you fall," "I will be there." "Let us hope so." "What are you looking at?" "Get back to work now!" "Get back to work!" "Back to work." "The matter before the council is simple." "We are under attack." "Six times in half as many weeks," "William's kind have reached our very walls." "What mayhem would follow if just one of them got through?" "Your fear, Coloman, is misplaced." "Are we not protected by an army of immortals?" "Superbly, my lord." "However, the nobles are not, and as I have pointed out, they are the grass on which we graze." "If we cannot protect our humans, it makes us look weak." "And how would you project strength?" "As our Death Dealers patrol the night, so our daylight guards can patrol the day." "Lycans patrol outside the walls?" "Have you lost your mind?" "They are born of beasts, and the savagery of this despicable fact cannot be bred away." "I think your fear of this idea is misplaced." "We can create a privileged class of Lycans." "Greater rations, finer quarters, and put them under the hand of one we trust." "Perhaps your pet, Lucian." "The one who saved your daughter's life today." "In fact, I think we should hear her thoughts on this matter." "Hm." "She seems to have been needed elsewhere." "Find her." "I will take your suggestion under advisement." "Thank you, my lord." "It would be gratifying to be able to reassure the nobles when they arrive tomorrow that we have their interests at heart." " Move it!" " Move it!" "Go on, slowpoke." "Over there." "There." " Move it!" " Don't go slow." "Keep going." "Move it, along!" "My lady?" "Is it true what you told my father, that you feel nothing when you kill them?" "They're just animals, incapable of thought or feeling," "so why should I feel anything for them?" "Sonja, if I were to leave from here, would you come with me?" "Leave?" "Do not say that." "Do not even think it." "They would hunt you down and they would mark you like all the others." "Not if I could remove this." "Look." "I made it." "This will be my freedom." "Lucian, promise me you won't use it." "Please." "Is that your answer, then?" "You will not come." "So you want me to stay here for you?" "Like this, like an animal?" "Lucian." "Vampire and Lycan, we are both children of Corvinus, yet my family are slaves." "I will use this key, and I will leave this place," "but I can never be without you now." " Any news of my daughter?" " She's most defiant." "She refuses to see me." "Will not answer her door." "Why are the young so blind?" "She risks her seat on the council, and for what?" "I cannot imagine." "We must prepare, my lord." "Human nobles are on their way." "It's sharp." "No wolf will stand before it." "Ready the horses." "Let someone else go." "Why?" "Last night, after I left you..." "Just let someone else go." "In case it had escaped your notice, blacksmith," "I am quite capable of looking after myself." "And besides, you can watch over me from the wall." "Get your back to the rear." "Lady Sonja, your father has ordered you to stay behind." "I intend to see our guests safely through the gate." "Gate master." "This is not a request." "Your father is ruler of the coven." "So he keeps reminding me." "Hah!" "Get back!" "Careful, blacksmith, lest your eyes betray your secret." "Steady." "Steady." "Shut it, my child." "Shut it." "Form up!" "No." "Get your men out there now!" "Down, boy." "Your leash is too tight." "Step away." "There's too many of them." "They'll be massacred." "Stop him!" "Ride out." "Ride out." "Easy." "Dimitri." "Lucian!" "Sonja!" "Lucian, no." "No, stop!" "He did it to save me." "Am I not master of this house?" "You know you are forbidden to remove your shackle." "Yes." "Yet you break my law after I gave you your life." "Your days of plush living are over, slave." "Father, leave him be." "I told you..." "Hold your tongue!" "You have defied me for the last time." "Get her out of here." "Burn the bodies." "Burn them all." "For removing the collar, 30 lashes." "You have stung me, Lycan, with your betrayal." "You were like a son to me." "I gave you your life." "You gave me chains." "I would have thought, after all these years, you would have known you cannot have one without the other." "Do it." "I told you I'd be there when you fell." "What?" "Stop this." "He is one of our protectors." "They are but beasts themselves." "This could stir up the others." "Let them stir." "Do you fear them?" "Believe me, it will be worse if we do not punish them." "Do you see now, Coloman?" "You would trust them outside the walls?" "We cannot even trust them inside." "By my count, that's 21." "Continue." "Oh, what a terrible sound." "Bloody stink." "Stay away from him, or they'll punish you too." "Your concern for Lucian was most touching." "A slave." "He had just saved my life." "Was it not you who told me to show a little gratitude?" "And yourself?" "Have you no gratitude for the one who saved your daughter's life?" "I am awash with it." "That he lives shows the breadth of my magnanimity." "Where it any other circumstances," "I would have had him fed in pieces to his own kind." "But his punishment is now over." "He will be freed." "Freed?" "Your judgment is clouded, Sonja." "We do not keep order with sentiment." "Lucian was forbidden to remove his collar, and yet he did so, for however finer reason." "He will remain in prison, a cautionary tale." "Janosh and the other nobles will soon arrive." "Your presence is expected." "I saw what you did out there." "Very brave for a human." "Have you come across them before?" "Only in stories." "Were you not afraid of them?" "Yes, but I wanted to live." "Are you afraid of me?" "Yes." "Well, do not be." "I will not bite... much." "You are like them?" "No." "A Lycan, yes, but not like them." "Those you fought with tonight were animals, the spawn of William." "Purebloods, if you will." "No trace of human left." "Savage, mindless beasts." "As it has been told." "But I saw you." "They obeyed you." "Yes." "Yes, they did." "Hey." "Oh, you should not be here." "I had to." "My love, I'm sorry." "Your back." "No, no, I'm all right." "This is my fault." "If I had not gone out..." "Then you would not be who you are." "This is not your fault." "I cannot remain here." "I have to leave this place." "My father will be watching you now more than ever." "What about your Death Dealers, are there none that you can trust?" "Unfortunately, their loyalty to my father is greater than their loyalty to me." "Tannis." "Tannis cannot be trusted." "No, Tannis, he knows about us." "How?" "I have no idea." "But if he still has not told your father, then that must mean he wants something." "Sonja, find out what it is." "Bring them in." "Janosh." "Do you not own the largest silver mine in these lands?" "It has been overrun, my lord." "Our workers infected, turned to beasts." "Most unfortunate, and costly." "I think half the rights to your mine should cover the expense of our assistance." "What assistance?" "We have all seen the fires on the way here." "We have learned of the deaths of Baron Covasha and his family." "The wolves are at your door as well." "So why should I pay tribute when you cannot so much as protect your own house?" "You have all but bled me dry already." "We have all heard the stories." "Look into his eyes." "They are true." "This place is cursed." "They are no more human than the devils that invade our lands." "If devils you call us, rest assured, better the devil you know." "Unhand me." "Certainly." "Would anyone else like to be heard?" "Toss it here." "Bring food to these filthy mongrels." "Here you go." "Eat it up like dogs." "Like dogs." "We are not animals." "Is this what you want, to be their entertainment, their playthings?" "Their pets." "Cowering beneath the whip and then fighting amongst ourselves." "Is this what you want?" "I have lived by their rules my entire life." "I've protected them, envied them." "And for what?" "To be treated like an animal." "We are not animals!" "We do have a choice." "We can choose to be more than this." "We can be slaves or we can be Lycans!" "Morning is upon us, my child." "It's time we left this wretched night behind." "Gladly." "There are some difficult decisions ahead." "I would like your help with one of them." "Of course, Father." "With Lucian gone, we must promote another Lycan in his place." "Gone?" "Coloman thinks he will stir the others." "We must remove him." "That will be difficult." "He has been with us so long." "Perhaps Gyorg." "Or Thrasos." "They would be trustworthy." "Excellent suggestions." "I will consider them strongly." "You, my child, are the most precious thing in my heart." "What have you told my father?" "What have you told him?" "Nothing." "Why?" "Why what?" "Why have you told him nothing?" "Would your father welcome the man who brought him news that his beloved daughter was consorting with a Lycan?" "He isn't well known for his gratitude." "And I am not yet in a position to use this for my benefit." "What sort of benefit?" "There are 12 council seats." "And we don't die often." "Sadly, no." "So, what if I gave up my seat at council?" "Simply left it to you?" "Why would you do that?" "Can you keep a secret?" "I will need something in return." "Two minutes." "Any longer is too risky." "I'm sorry." "There was no other way." "So Tannis?" "You were right." "He will help us in exchange for a seat on the council." "And your father knows nothing?" "I'm sure of it." "Oh!" "Sonja, this can work." "Lucian, it has to." "I think some of the others will come with me." "Sabas and Xristo, the human Raze." "My love..." "I'm certain I can..." "Lucian, there is no time." "My father will have you killed tomorrow, after the humans are turned." "You must leave at sunrise." "And you?" "The important thing is you stay alive." "The best chance you have is when Viktor and the Death Dealers sleep." "I will be safely at my father's side when you go." "Hurry." "If this plan works, I'll meet you in three days' time, after the sun sets." "There's a clearing by the river." "I'll meet you there." "And if it doesn't?" "I will meet you at the clearing." "Face the wall." " Get out." " You animals." "You." "Get back." "Be brave, human." "You know what your problem is?" "You don't understand the natural order of things." "Things change." "Be ready when they do." "Consider it a parting gift." "Wait." "Do you not realize this is a gift I am giving you?" "It's a curse." "What have they done to us?" "You'll find out soon enough." "They turned us into..." "Like you?" "Yes." "Why?" "He wants to use you for his own protection." "I will die first." "Well, that may not happen." "The time has come." "At sunrise, I leave this place." "Anyone willing to take the risk may follow me." "There is a new life waiting beyond these walls, my friend, and you can be a part of it, one of us, or stay and serve them." "The guards are coming." "New dogs today." "Let's see how they look." "You've come too late." "He's already gone." "Are you with me?" "Sabas, Xristo, free the others." "The rest of you with me." "Freedom is yours." "Move!" "This way." "Down here." "All right, move." "Run, run, run." "Keep moving." "Keep moving." "Keep moving." "Keep going." "Move." "Fire." "Raze." "There is nothing you can do." "I will come back." "I promise you." "No!" "My lord." "My lord, Lucian is escaping." "Forest, go." "Go!" "My lord." "Move here." "Move it." "Move." " You, get in there." " Move." " Are all these accounted for?" " Each and every one." "Yes." "Tannis." "Come on." "Move." "Yes, my lord?" "Where is the key I gave you for this?" "I locked it in the armory myself." "How, then, is it open?" "I have no idea." "I think I have." "Kill him." "No." "Please." "Check the armory." "There has to be an explanation." "Show me." "I've never been outside the walls." "Well, enjoy it while you can, Xristo." "Because soon enough we're gonna have to fight our way back in." "We did not all make it out, and I will not leave our brothers to rot back there." "We humiliated Viktor." "It is they who will pay the cost." "But we were lucky to make it out alive." "And there's but a handful of us." "We have no weapons." "True, for now." "The noble who brought you here, can you lead us back to his estate?" "Yes." "Good." "Come on." "Come on." "It has to be here." "I put it here." "Here." "He must have made another one." "I never doubted you." "Now, I have no wish to remove one shackle from around your necks only to replace it with one of my own." "You have a choice." "You can run and hide or you can stay and fight." "Any man who fights with me shall have his freedom and, if he wishes it," "immortality." "Pick up your weapons." "Together we're strong." "There are other estates to the west of here." "I want you to go there." "See how many will join us." "I will meet you back here in two days' time." " Put it over there." " Over here." "Father." "Did I startle you?" "I'm sorry." "No." "You did not." "It occurs to me that I have been thoughtless." "So deep have I been in my own anguish at Lucian's betrayal," "I gave no thought to your feelings." "My feelings?" "They worm their way into our lives, and we forget the travesty of their birth." "I myself had tenderness towards Lucian." "He could have been anything." "A Death Dealer, perhaps." "Yes." "Perhaps." "But he was not as we are, was he?" "Did you help him escape?" "Help him?" "Of course not." "Are you lying to me?" "There are many things that I have done against your will, but he is a Lycan." "I'm sorry, my dear, but you leave me no choice." "Father, please..." "I wanted to believe your lies though I knew it could not be true." "Not my own daughter." "How could you?" "Father," "I love him." "You have betrayed me!" "To be with an animal!" "I loved you more than anything!" "She does not leave this room!" "No." "You're under orders to wait." "Here." "This rate, we'll have enough men by the end of the week." "Has there been any sign of Sonja?" "Nothing." "She should have been here by now." "With respect, Lucian, I do not see the wisdom in waiting for her." "She's not one of us." "Have you forgotten she is the one who set us free?" "But she is a vampire." "If she has deceived you, she could lead them here." "Death Dealers will undoubtedly be on the hunt, and they will eventually find us, but not by her doing." "I trust Sonja with my life, and as long as I'm in command, so shall you." "Told you not to say anything." "Lucian has sacked two estates in Brashov, my lord, and made off with the contents of their armories." "The slaves have joined his ranks." "Freedom is as much a disease as William's pestilence." "You need to bring your pet back." "Thank you, Coloman." "The obvious escaped me." "I do not need to lift a finger." "Lucian will return of his own free will." "I have something he wants." "My lady." "Luka." "What is it?" "Where is she?" "Sonja has been arrested." "He knows about the two of you." "He will kill her." "I thought you should know." "Nothing yet, my lord." " It is a trap." "You know that." " I will not let her die alone." "They followed you here, Lucian." "If you go, we will lose them." "Let me tell you a secret, my friend." "They thought they followed me." "What they truly followed was the idea of being free." "That's what brought them here." "Now, you can hold them together until I get back, and lead them if I do not." "Are you all right?" "Yes." "But Lucian, you were free." "Not without you." "We have to go now." "My lord, your daughter has escaped." "Of course she has." "This way." ""This way."" "That one." "Yes, sir." "Now." "How dare you raise your hand to me?" "I do not want this." "I am your father." " Do you think you can defeat me?" " I don't want to defeat you." "Killing me won't save your precious Lycan." "Please call off your men, for the sake of your grandchild." "A miracle, Father." "A union of the bloodlines." "I curse the day your mother gave her life to bring you into this world." "That thing inside you is a monstrosity." "Sonja!" "This is over." "Remove him." "Do you understand what you have done?" "This night was not about you." "It was about him." "I could have given Lucian to the council." "And they need never have known of your indiscretion, but after this, never." "No!" "No!" "If I had not left, none of this would have happened." "Then you would not be who you are." "You were right." "No one should live a life like this." "Others are free because of you." "Things are forever changed because of what you have done." "But I have failed you." "No." "Lucian, my love, you have not failed me." "The choices I made have led me here." "Not you." "You said yourself there are risks that you were willing to take for me, as was I for you." "For us." "Open the door." " No." " Get up." " No." "No." " Come on." "Come on." "No." "I'll kill you." "All of you!" "The accused has committed high treason against the coven." "She has consorted with animals." "She has abetted in their escape." "I have saved this coven many times over." "You have killed your own kind." "And you've commingled bloodlines, resulting in the thing germinating within you." "Your past glory does not excuse your present guilt, nor does your station as a council member." "The punishment for these crimes is death." "How vote you?" "Aye." "Aye." "Aye." " Aye." " Aye." "She's your daughter." "Aye." "Take her to the chamber." "No, you..." "You cannot do this." "My lady, come with us." "Come quietly, please." "Viktor." "Viktor." "No!" "No, Viktor!" "No." "Lucian." "No, Sonja." "Don't." "Just look at me." "Keep your eyes on me, Sonja." "Look at me!" "I love you." "As I love you." "Your face will not be here when this is over, will it?" "Goodbye, my love." "No." "No!" "Sonja!" " Fetch my knives." " Yes, my lord." "My lord." "Go." "Go." "Quickly." "Go." "Now go free the others." "Go!" "Follow me." " Do you want your revenge?" " Yeah." "It is out there." "Now go." "We have greater concerns than your precious scrolls." "Go to the elders, now!" "Kill the dogs!" "Viktor." "You defiled my daughter." " I loved her!" " You killed her!" "I should have crushed you under my heel the day you were born." "Yes, you should have... but you didn't." "Lucian!" "Lucian." "Lucian." "It is finished." "No." "This is just the beginning." "But let me tell you a little something about your beloved dark father." "He's the one who killed your family." "Not the Lycans." "But when he got to you, he just couldn't bear the thought of draining you dry." "You, who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death." "Lies." "" ThE EnD ""