"^ xsilver ^" "The war had all but ground to a halt in the blink of an eye." "Lucian, the most feared and ruthless leader ever to rule the Lycan clan had finally been killed." "The Lycan horde scattered to the wind in a single evening of flame and retribution." "Victory, it seemed, was in our grasp the very birthright of the Vampires." "Nearly six centuries had passed since that night." "Yet the ancient feud proved unwilling to follow Lucian to the grave." "Though Lycans were fewer in number the war itself had become more perilous." "For the moon no longer held her sway." "Older, more powerful Lycans were now able to change at will." "The weapons had evolved, but our orders remained the same:" "Hunt them down and kill them off, one by one." "A most successful campaign." "Perhaps too successful." "For those like me, a Death Dealer this signaled the end of an era." "Like the weapons of the previous century we, too, would become obsolete." "Pity, because I lived for it." "Bloods!" "It's all right. lt's all right." "You're gonna be okay." "You're acting like a pack of rabid dogs!" "And that, gentlemen simply will not do." "Not if you expect to defeat the Vampires on their own ground." "Not if you expect to survive at all." "Pierce!" "Taylor!" "Put some clothes on, will you?" "We have a serious problem." "I'll have to run a few tests." "It's definitely an irradiated fluid of some sort." "Ultraviolet ammunition." "Daylight, harnessed as a weapon." "You expect me to believe that a mangy animal came up with a bullet specifically engineered to kill Vampires?" "No, I'm betting it's military." "Something they stole." "Some sort of high-tech tracer round." "I don't care where they got these things." "Rigel is dead, and Nathaniel could still be out there." "Let's gather the Death Dealers and go back." "Absolutely not." "Not now." "Not for a random incursion." "The Awakening is a few days off, and this house is in unrest as it is." "Random?" "They opened fire on us in full view of the public." "And from what I heard in that tunnel" "You said you didn't see anything." "I know what I heard, and I know what my gut tells me." "There could be dozens of Lycans down there." "Who knows, maybe more." "Hundreds." "We've hunted them to the brink of extinction." "Kraven's right, Selene." "There's not been a den of that magnitude for centuries." "Not since the days of Lucian." "l know that, Kahn." "But I'd rather you prove me wrong by checking it out." "Have your men tighten things up." "I'll have Soren assemble a search team." "No, I want to lead the team myself." "Absolutely not!" "Soren will handle it." "Hundreds, really?" "Viktor would believe me." "l'd never treat you like that." "Of course not." "Now run along and make sure she's dressed and ready for her guests." "lt's a waste of time, you know." "What is?" "I doubt Viktor would want you freezing in here, staring at his tomb for hours." "No, he'd want the Death Dealers out there, scouring every inch of the city." "Kraven. I'll never understand why Viktor left him in charge." "He's a bureaucrat, not a warrior." "We need to get you ready." "For what?" "The party." "Amelia's envoy will be here any minute." "Oh, yes." "You should definitely wear this one." "It's perfect." "They were after you." "He's attractive..." "...for a human." "Who's attractive?" "I planned to have you at my side this evening." "Take Erika." "She's dying to be at your side." "If you ask me, you take this warrior business far too seriously." "You can't undo the past, no matter how many you kill." "And besides what's the point in being immortal if you deny yourself life's simple pleasures?" "Do you see this human?" "What of him?" "l'm beginning to think the Lycans" "Blast!" "Put on something elegant and be quick about it." "Kraven, I'm serious." "I think they were following him." "Other than food, why would Lycans stalk a human?" "Any progress?" "Let's find out." "Negative." "You heading home?" "Yeah, Nicholas gave me a couple hours off." "By the way he said you did a terrific job tonight with the surgery." "Yeah." "Take it easy." "We were ambushed." "Death Dealers, three of them." "And the candidate?" "We lost him." "You lost him?" "Look at this mess." "Ag rounds." "High content." "Prevented him from making the change." "No use in digging out the rest." "Silver's penetrated his organs." "Regeneration's impossible at this point." "Let's take these out." "Relax." "The Vampires didn't realize you were following a human..." "...did they, Raze?" "No." "I mean, I don't think so." "You don't think, or you don't know?" "l'm not sure." "Negative." "I really must have a look at this Michael." "Must I do everything myself?" "Our noble houses may be separated by a great ocean but we are equally committed to the survival of the bloodlines." "And when Amelia arrives to awaken Marcus in just two days' time we shall once again be united as a single coven!" "We want to thank our hosts for their generous hospitality." "He comes in, he does his job and then he goes home." "Other than that, I don't know what to tell you." "Interns work around the clock." "We don't have much of a life." "You know where we can find him?" "No." "You can try him at home, or you'll have to wait till he gets back." "He's not in some kind of trouble, is he?" "This is Michael." "I'm not in right now." "Please leave a message." "Michael, it's Adam." "The police were just in the hospital looking for you." "They were convinced you were involved with a shootout." "I told them there's no way you'd be involved with that but they're looking for you." "Right now." "Why are they after you?" "Shit!" "Hello, Michael." "What the fuck is going on?" "Stop the car." "Stop the car!" "Back off!" "Okay." "Okay." "All right." "But you've lost a lot of blood." "If you don't stop the car, you'll get us both killed." "l'm not screwing around!" "Neither am I!" "Shut up and hold on." "I'll be fine." "Shit!" "A second escape. impressive." "Perhaps Raze wasn't overstating matters." "Raze didn't bring back this." "If Michael is indeed The Carrier, the Vampires could" "Relax, old friend." "I've tasted his flesh." "Just two days till full moon." "Soon, he will be a Lycan." "Soon, he will come looking for us." "It's a shame we don't have more." "Positive." "Lay still." "Your skull's taken a good knock." "You've been unconscious for a while." "Do you have any idea why those men were after you?" "Where am I?" "You're safe." "I'm Selene." "So, for once, the rumors were true." "The whole house has been absolutely buzzing about your new pet." "Are you going to try to turn him?" "Of course not." "So why did you bring him here?" "He saved my life." "Why are you here?" "Kraven sent me." "He wants to see you." "Now." "This is completely unacceptable!" "You go against my orders and spend the night away from the mansion with a human?" "A human you've since brought back to my house." "As far as I'm concerned, this is still Viktor's house." "Look, I don't want to argue." "Understand that Michael is somehow important to the Lycans" "So now it's "Michael"!" "Would you just hear me out-- lt's beyond me why you're so obsessed over this ridiculous theory." "Lucian wouldn't be a bit interested in a human Michael or otherwise." "Wait a minute." "You're infatuated with him, aren't you?" "Now, that's a ridiculous theory." "is it?" "Leave us!" "I sure hope you never get pissed off with me." "Hold on." "Check this out." "Go ahead." "Squeeze off a few." "Eject the mag." "You've copied the Lycan rounds." "Silver nitrate." "A lethal dose." "They won't dig these out, like our usual rounds." "Straight into the bloodstream." "Ain't nothing to dig out." "Tell me, Kahn." "Do you believe Lucian died the way they say?" "Kraven telling war stories again?" "That's my point." "It's nothing but an ancient story." "His story." "There's not a shred of proof he killed Lucian, only his word." "I've never underestimated Kraven's lust for advancement but Viktor believed him and that's all that matters." "Where you going with this anyway?" "Nowhere." "Engaging Death Dealers in public and chasing after some human was not what I had in mind." "You were told to set up shop and lay low!" "Calm yourself, Kraven!" "The human doesn't concern you." "And besides, I've laid low for quite long enough." "Just keep your men at bay, Lucian." "At least for the time being." "Don't force me to regret our arrangement." "You just concentrate on your part." "Remember, I've bled for you once already." "Without me, you'd have nothing." "You'd be nothing." "Of the scores of brave souls who entered Lucian's fortress a single Vampire survived:" "Kraven who was richly rewarded for not only setting the great blaze but for returning with evidence of the Lycan master's demise the branded skin, cut from Lucian's very arm." "I've been looking for you." "He's been bitten." "Your human, he's been marked by a Lycan." "Did Kraven put you up to this?" "No." "I saw the wound with my own eyes, I swear it." "But what about the Covenant?" "You know it's forbidden!" "And ever since he bit me, I've been-- l've been having these hallucinations and these delusions." "All I know is, it feels like my skull is splitting in half." "Okay, so a full-grown man bit you?" "Jesus." "Are you sure this wasn't a dog?" "I said, it was a man." "It was a man." "Okay, I got it." "He was after me." "And that woman from the subway" "What woman?" "Haven't you been listening to me?" "She took me hostage!" "All right." "Just" " Please." "I'll help you get this all sorted out, all right?" "I'll be right back." "Let go, Michael." "Let go." "Just calm down, okay?" "I'm gonna be back in a minute." "That's a promise." "All right." "Please forgive me but I desperately need your guidance." "To my knowledge an Awakening has never been attempted by one such as myself." "The elders hold the power to organize their memories and thoughts into a single, cohesive vision a detailed record of their reign." "I can only hope Viktor will hear my plea." "Please forgive me, but I desperately need your guidance." "I apologize for awakening you ahead of schedule but I fear we may all be in grave danger." "Especially you, my lord, if left in your weakened state." "For I believe that Lucian is alive and well." "Here." "Now. ln this very city preparing to hit us during the Awakening ceremony." "Even more disturbing is that if I'm correct it would mean that Kraven is in league with him." "What's so pressing?" "Take a look." "Selene!" "I want to speak with Selene!" "is that Michael?" "ls it Michael?" "What the hell is going on?" "What's happening to me?" "I'm coming out." "If you go to him, you'll never be welcome in this house again." "Now that Viktor's awake, we'll see what he has to say about that." "Get in." "Look, I warned her. I warned her, but she didn't listen." "l should've told you sooner." "Told me what?" "Her human, Michael he's not a human at all." "He's a Lycan." "What?" "What's this ruckus?" "Never come here again." "They'll kill you." "Why?" "Who are you people?" "Leave us." "Like it or not, you're in the middle of a war that's raged for 1 000 years." "A blood feud between Vampires and Lycans." "Werewolves." "Consider yourself lucky." "Most humans die within an hour of being bitten by an immortal." "The viruses we transmit are deadly." "And if you bit me, I'd become a Vampire instead?" "No, you'd die." "No one's ever survived a bite from both species." "By rights, I'd stop the car and kill you myself" "Why are you helping me?" "l'm not." "I track down and kill your kind." "My only interest is finding out why Lucian wants you so badly." "Do you know why I've been awakened, servant?" "No, my lord." "But I'll soon find out." "You mean when you find her." "Yes, my lord." "You must let her come to me." "We have much to discuss, Selene and I." "She has shown me a great many disturbing things." "Things that will be dealt with soon enough." "This coven has grown weak, decadent." "Perhaps I should have left someone else in charge of my affairs." "Still her memories are chaotic." "There's no sense of time." "Please, my lord, let me summon assistance." "You're in need of rest." "I've rested enough." "What you will do is summon Marcus." "But he still slumbers, my lord." "Amelia and the Council members are arriving tomorrow night to awaken Marcus." "Not you, my lord." "You've been awakened a full century ahead of schedule." "I'm seeing these things, these hallucinations." "They're not hallucinations, they're memories." "You've been bitten." "His memories have been passed to you." "This is one of the places we use for interrogations. lt should be safe." "Ziodex lndustries." "We own it." "First there was synthetic plasma, now this." "Once it's approved, it should be our newest cash crop." "It's cloned blood." "What are these for?" "Lycans are allergic to silver." "If we don't get our bullets out quickly, they die during questioning." "What do you do with them after?" "We put the bullets back in." "How are things progressing?" "We're ready." "Why do you hate them so much?" "I've already told you, we're at war." "So you're just following orders?" "Why can't you just answer the question?" "Fine." "Something was in the stable tearing our horses to pieces." "I couldn't have saved my mother." "Or my sister." "Their screams woke me." "My father died outside, trying to fend them off." "I stood at my door about to run to my nieces' room when...." "Twin girls." "Barely 6 years old." "Butchered..." "..." "like animals." "Jesus Christ." "The next thing I knew, I was in his arms." "The war had spilled into our house." "He'd been tracking the Lycans for days." "He drove them off and saved me." "Who?" "Viktor." "The oldest and strongest of us." "That night, he made me a Vampire." "He gave me the strength to avenge my family." "^ xsilver ^" "^ xsilver ^ Since then, I've never looked back." "Who started the war?" "They did." "Or at least that's what we've been led to believe." "Digging into the past is forbidden." "I should be heading back." "What about me?" "Viktor will know what to do." "I'll come back." "l won't stay alone." "You will if you want to live." "I want to go with you." "What are you doing?" "When the full moon rises tomorrow you will change, you will kill, and you will feed." "It's unavoidable." "I can't leave you free to roam around. I'm sorry." "A single round won't kill you, but silver prevents transformation." "At least for a few hours." "If I don't return in time, do yourself a favor." "Use it." "My lord." "She's here." "How could you do this to me?" "Embarrass me like this?" "The entire coven knows that I had plans for us." "There is no us!" "You'll go before Viktor and tell him exactly what I tell you to!" "From here on out, you'll do as I say." "is that in any way unclear?" "Come closer, my child." "Outside." "Come on, move it." "I've been lost without you, my lord." "Constantly hounded by Kraven and his never-ending infatuation." "It is the oldest story in the book." "He desires the one thing he cannot have." "Now, tell me why have you come to believe that Lucian still lives?" "Yeah." "l've given you all the proof you need." "lncoherent thoughts and images, nothing more." "Which is precisely why the Awakening is performed by an elder." "You do not possess the necessary skills." "But I did see Lucian. I shot him." "You must believe me." "The chain has never been broken." "Not once." "Not in 1 4 centuries." "Not since we elders first began to leapfrog through time." "One awake, two asleep." "That's the way of it." "It is Marcus' turn to reign, not mine." "There's been a complication." "But I had no choice." "The coven is in danger, and Michael is the key" "Yes." "The Lycan." "Please." "Give me the chance to get proof you require." "Fine." "I will leave it to Kraven to collect the proof if there is any." "How could you trust him over me?" "Because he is not the one who has been tainted by an animal." "I love you like a daughter, but you leave me with no choice." "These rules are in place for a good reason and they are the only reason we have survived this long." "You will not be shown an ounce of leniency." "When Amelia arrives, the Council will convene and decide your fate." "You have broken the chain and the Covenant!" "You must be judged!" "You should've listened to me and stayed out of this." "Now you'll be lucky if I can convince the Council to spare your life." "Tell me." "Did you have the nerve to cut the skin from his arm, or did Lucian do it?" "Mark my words." "Soon, you'll be seeing things my way." "No one opens this door." "Understood?" "I can't afford to have my future queen run off with that Lycan again." "Shit." "Change of plans." "Amelia will be picked up by Soren and his team." "That's our job." "Not anymore." "Why are you helping me?" "l'm not. I'm helping me." "What's going on?" "The perimeter sensor's been tripped." "We're locking down the mansion." "It's Selene." "She's escaped, to go to him, to Michael." "I want that Lycan's head on a plate." "We need to go." "Get down!" "Go." "Go." "Jump." "Are you fucking kidding me?" "Any luck?" "False alarm." "The dogs would've been all over it if anything had gotten near that fence." "Amelia should have arrived by now." "Yes." "Look, I want you to slip off the property and find out what's keeping her." "You've got it." "Maybe we should pull over and dose him." "Fuck him." "He'll be all right." "We're almost there." "Oh, shit." "He's not gonna make it." "Pull over." "Pull over!" "Get the kit." "Stick him." "Stick him." "My lord." "I sent for Selene not you." "She's defied your orders and fled the mansion, my lord." "Your incompetence is becoming most taxing." "It's not my fault." "She's become obsessed thinks that I'm at the core of some ridiculous conspiracy." "And here's my proof." "Now, I want you to tell them exactly what you told me." "All right, all right." "For years, we've been trying to combine the bloodlines." "And for years, we've failed." "It was useless." "Even at the cellular level, our species destroyed each other." "Yet the key, we knew was to locate the rarest of 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 watch a plague ravage his village." "He alone survived." "Somehow, his body was able to change the disease mold it to his benefit." "He became the first true immortal." "And years later, he fathered at least two children who inherited this same trait." "The sons of the Corvinus clan." "One bitten by bat, one by wolf one to walk the lonely road of mortality as a human." "lt's a ridiculous legend, nothing more." "That may be but our species do have a common ancestor." "There is a descendant of Corvinus lying there not three feet from you." "Yes." "But he's already a Vampire." "We needed a pure source untainted." "An exact duplicate of the original virus." "The Corvinus strain itself, which we learned was hidden away in the genetic code of his human descendants and passed along in its dormant form down through the ages to Michael Corvin." "His blood allows for a perfect union between our species." "There can be no such union." "And to speak of it is heresy." "We'll see." "Once Lucian has injected him" "Lucian is dead." "According to whom?" "I can assure you, my child Kraven will pay with his life." "Soon, this house will lie in ruins." "Not before you." "No, wait." "Wait." "You and you alone will know the truth of this." "If Lucian was able to get his hands on the blood of a Pure-Born a powerful elder like Amelia or yourself and inject it along with Michael's blood...." "Abomination." "Half-Vampire half-Lycan, but stronger than both." "I need to speak with Kahn." "My lord the Council members have been assassinated." "What of Amelia?" "They bled her dry." "It has already begun." "I'm sorry I doubted you." "Fear not, my child, absolution will be yours the moment you kill the descendant of Corvinus, this Michael." "You've been given an enzyme to stop the change." "It may take a little time for the grogginess to dissipate." "That's enough!" "Just go and see what's keeping Raze, will you?" "I really must apologize." "He's in desperate need of a lesson in manners." "Speaking of manners, where are mine?" "Forgive me." "I'm Lucian." "I need to go." "I need to get back." "There's no going back." "There's no going anywhere." "The Vampires will kill you on sight." "Just for being what you are." "One of us." "You are one of us." "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "Bringing an end to this conflict." "Your war, it has nothing to do with me." "My war?" "No!" "No!" "Sonja!" "They forced you to watch her die." "Sonja." "That's what started the war." "I saw it happen as if I were there." "We were slaves once." "The daylight guardians of the Vampires." "I was born in servitude yet I harbored them no ill will." "I even took a Vampire for my bride." "It was forbidden our union." "Viktor feared a blending of the species." "Feared it so much he killed her." "His own daughter burnt alive for loving me." "This is his war Viktor's and he's spent the last 600 years exterminating my species." "What are they gonna do to Selene?" "We have company." "l thought we had a deal." "Patience." "Kraven." "These are matters to be discussed in private." "Please escort our guests downstairs." "The Council has been destroyed." "Soon, you will have it all." "Both great covens and an ironclad peace treaty with the Lycans." "Who I trust will not be forgotten when the spoils are tabulated." "How do you expect me to assume control now that Viktor's awake?" "There's no defeating him." "He grows stronger as we speak." "And that is precisely why I need Michael." "If Viktor were so easy to dispatch you'd have done it yourself centuries ago." "Exit shaft!" "Move it!" "Son of a bitch!" "Oh, shit!" "It's Viktor." "Yes." "And if you had done your job, he'd still be in hibernation." "Where the hell is Raze?" "is there another way out?" "I guess it didn't occur to you that you'll have to bleed to pull off this coup." "Don't even think about leaving." "Silver nitrate." "Bet you weren't expecting that." "Come on!" "Move!" "Move!" "Move!" "Move!" "Move!" "Lucian." "Selene!" "Selene!" "I have to get you out." "Viktor's on his way." "And he won't be satisfied until every Lycan's dead." "They'll kill you too, just for helping me." "I know." "I know what started the war." "That's enough." "You're coming with me!" "I hope I live to see Viktor choke the life from you!" "I bet you do." "But let me tell you a little something about your beloved dark father." "He's the one who killed your family." "Not the Lycans." "Never could follow his own rules." "Said he couldn't abide the taste of livestock." "So every once in a while, he went out and gorged himself on human blood." "I kept his secrets cleaned up the mess." "But it was he who crept room to room dispatching everyone close to your heart." "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." "Believe what you want." "Now come on." "Your place is by my side." "So be it." "Bite him!" "Half-Vampire half-Lycan but stronger than both." "What the hell are you doing?" "You may have killed me cousin." "But my will is done regardless." "Where is he?" "Where's Kraven?" "Forgive me, my child." "It wasn't the Lycans." "It was you." "Leave us." "How could you bear my trust knowing that you'd killed my family?" "Yes." "I have taken from you." "But I have given so much more." "is it not a fair trade, the life I have granted you?" "The gift of immortality?" "And the life of your daughter?" "Your own flesh and blood?" "I loved my daughter!" "But the abomination growing in her womb was a betrayal of me and of the coven!" "I did what was necessary to protect the species as I am forced to do yet again." "No!" "Time to die." "Though I cannot predict the future the consequences of tonight will reverberate through the halls of both great covens for many years to come." "Two Vampire elders have been slain one by my own hand." "Soon, Marcus will take the throne." "And a tide of anger and retribution will spill out into the night." "Differences will be set aside." "Allegiances will be made." "And soon I will become the hunted." "^ xsilver ^"