Finally "home"

[Lucia Drusa Severa]

"That is a difficult question for me to answer. I was born this way, so I don't really have much to compare it with." She had, however, spent years alone with both Vampires and Werewolves. The girl looked into Pablo's face thoughtfully. The answer still was easy, or short; but he had asked, and it wasn't as if he were going anywhere. "It was easier when I was younger. The Vampires just assumed I was one of them, despite my voracious appetite. Lycans have been more difficult to get along with. I'm not sure if it is my scent or my habits, but it has been more difficult to gain their trust and make friends." Surely kidnapping Pablo wasn't going to help in that area. "Szandor says it's because of the Vampire in me, while I think it has more to do with the particular Vampire I'm related to. Raven's name does not bring fond memories to any Werewolf, I believe, except to my mother. Regardless, there are obvious things that set me apart from Werewolves; I clearly don't fit in with the pack. I have never seen the sun, well, except for in paintings and pictures." Lucia's voice softened slightly, as if she was about to tell a secret, but she maintained her calm and candid posture. "There are feelings and urges that sometimes come from no where, like two different parts of my Being arguing with each other. Szandor says it's my conscience, but this feels different than just that." Even though her father had taught her to never be ashamed of who she was, she chose not to mention that most of her urges were of a violent nature.

Lucia laughed, delighted, when Pablo mentioned she had handsome Vampires to whisk her away, bringing a hand up to her wide grin. "No, I would not compare you to Szandor. Unless 'your duty is your wife'? You seem more fun than that."

As Pablo looked nervously around, Lucia wondered how to make things more comfortable for her new pet. She shook her head slightly, "I will feed when Dane gets here. I am sorry for what he will do to you... You can make it easier for yourself, but I don't blame you if you won't say anything. I'm not sure I would say anything if he asked me either." To lighten the conversation, the Hybrid added, "I'll be cooking for you tonight. It will be better than cat. I promise." She smiled softly, "Would you perhaps be interested in coming out to the gardens with me later? I'll let you see the moon, though it isn't near full at the moment."

[Ahmad]

Ahmad listened to Dane as he gave him command of more soldiers for the fight. "Of course Dane thank you, however it will take time to get everything into place, I will get everything together and we will move out at sunset tomorrow night. And trust me we will take Oslo."

At that Ahmad started working with his other trusted members to command smaller squads showing them which routes they would take and when they would each go in what order. Everything had to be planned precisely right down to the number of bullets they took with them. However Ahmad felt more bullet the better. But everything still had to be planned to deal out the maximum damage to the lycans while at the same time preventing as much loss of vampire life as possible. When everything felt to be secured and once he finished looking over the last of his details he returned to Dane.

"Now Dane, I have lost track of time, but now I must go to my room and prepare myself for the coming victory ahead of us. If you need me for anything I will be there."

Ahmad then quickly ascended up to his room, he looked over to his assortment of weapons and clothing. Making sure he had all the equipment that he himself could need. Once he felt that that was all set he then decided to grab a glass of that divine red drink and sit down to watch some television before getting some rest before his big victory.

[Pablo]

Pablo nodded his head, to signify he was listening as he more or less stared down at his lap. Multitasking at its finest; listening to a woman speak while bearing through a brain splitting headache. "I'll be honest, it's probably both. I see a vampire and I automatically want to punch it its face, but the feeling is always mutual... And well Raven was kind of a dick, no offense." She understood, he was once the enemy and probably responsible for more lycan deaths than any other being on the planet. "I have many brothers and sisters whom lost somebody to your father." Part of Pablo wanted to be sympathetic, growing up an outsider, few maybe no friends, it must have been difficult, however, any feeling of pity was wiped with a quick reminder that she was keeping him on the verge of death. "I apologize on behalf of my brethren, in a society of outcast nobody should be excluded." Okay, maybe he was a little bit of a softy. For whatever reason; empathy maybe friendliness, Pablo was finding it awfully easy to forgive Lucia for his current state. Yup, he the man in the silver chains was feeling pity for his captor, she looked like somebody who really needs a hug. “I would have accepted you as you are.” It didn’t mean he was happy to be here; he was simply waiting for Lucia to leave before making his move, unfortunately she seemed content to just speak with him.

“Hah." Pablo winced as he chuckled. "Szandor's an old fart he's probably forgotten, every lycan at first has turmoil with its inner beast. Most of us come to qualms with it." Pablo said casually, he and his beast had come to an understanding very early in his lycanhood. "It took Pete a while, I'm guessing that's what made him a horny bastard... and have you met Perrin's kid, Damien? Prod him a little bit and he snaps, he's a ball of anger."

"Oh I may be a blast at parties, but my duty is his wife, which is even lamer." He said with a half smirk.

Torture! Great, sounds like fun in the sun. "He's wasting his time." He said, trying to sound confident but clearly dishearten. Pablo would never provide information to the enemy. He was however not looking forward to whatever torture toys the vampire kings had collected over the years. Pablo wasn't angry or scared at the news; no he felt hopeless and depressed that he had to go through this. The lycan lifted and turned his head to Lucia as she spoke. He frowned and looked away, not caring for her words, and having nothing left to say.

***

"Our entire operation is counting on it." His eyes trailed Ahmad as he left the room. His second in command was very competent, it was almost nice to not be needed. Unfortunately, Dane had little to do outside of scheming and plotting. Glancing around the room he shrugged his shoulders and made his way to Lucia's room. Taking his sweet time he arrived in a few minutes and gave the door a single loud knock.

[Lucia Drusa Severa]

Lucia considered what Pablo said silently. She'd overheard talk among members of each race about the hatred felt toward the other race. However, she didn't feel that toward either one; there was a strong indifference toward Vampires and Lycans, but that was it. The only innate hatred Lucia held was toward Humans. They were a weak, disguting race whose only purpose was food and sick entertainment. If that's how Lycans felt toward Vampires, she could understand animosity toward her.

"I haven't met either of those Lycans, although Mother has talked about Damien on occasion." Smiling, the Hybrid listened to Pablo intently as he talked about Szandor. For a moment, behind the man's small grin, Lucia could see a spark of life, and it made her happy. Despite Pablo's predicament, who he was as a Lycan was still present and very alive. That's what the girl wanted, for her Werewolf pet to be able to be himself; she hated having these chains on him, but she couldn't yet trust him to be free.

Frowning inwardly as the conversation took a plunge, Lucia looked away from the Lycan so as not to stare. An unexpected sadness came over the girl. Normally, she was all for torture; she'd sat in and helped her father in the past and found it quite enjoyable. Yet she wasn't looking forward to this. She was growing fond of Pablo and didn't want to see him hurt worse or have his spirit broken. What was she to do? She'd given Dane permission to interrogate the Werewolf, knowing full well what methods he intended on using. Lucia couldn't just take back her word; she didn't want the Vampire king to think she'd gotten soft during her time with her mother. I'll just have to cut in if things get too heavy for Pablo. Dane wouldn't like that either, she knew, but if she could save Pablo from the worst of what might happen, it would be worth the Vampire's anger. She hoped.

Dane's knock at the door brought Lucia back to the present, making her keenly aware of her hunger. At least her headache had subsided. It was time for the fun to begin. Leaning forward on her hands, Lucia planted a soft kiss on Pablo's forehead, saying softly, "Stay strong, Pablo." The girl was up on her feet gracefully in an instant, heading for the door to her room. Unlocking the door, Lucia pulled it open for the Vampire, smiling brilliantly, "He's all yours." She would go feed before joining Dane to watch the questioning.

[Dane]

"Excellent," Dane smirked as he stepped into the room. He still wore the same clothing as before, save for the pair of black leather gloves he now wore for the handling of silver. "There's my little guy." The vampire quickly approached the open cell and its prisoner, Pablo who seemed to be rubbing his forehead lightly sat up, alert. He went to speak. "Save yourse-" The vampire king lunged forward, kicking the lycan dead on in the face; silencing and knocking him out. "Good night." An unconscious lycan was much easier to transport. The vampire held out a hand, waiting for Lucia to hand him a key to the silver chains. "A little time out of his restraints will do him well. He'll need the extra strength. The vampire picked the young man up in both arms and began to carry him out the room. "Are you ready to see what I have prepared?" He propped up Pablo, resting the back of the boy's head on his shoulder while he wiped the lycan's face clean with a handkerchief. "I can promise it's not what you think. You said you wished to be present, if you run ahead I will wait for you downstairs." Dane was taking a risk; he was unsure how Lucia would react to what he had planned. However, if everything played out correctly, then he should have more than secured the hybrid's trust for as long as he may need it.

He carried the lycan boy downstairs and allowed Lucia her time to feed. In his arms he could feel the lycan stir. Curiously, he watched as Pablo continued to move slightly before awaking. His lycan eyes opened widely, a look of fear as he realized he was being carried by the vampire king. "Unhand me!" The lycan barked; obliging Dane let him go. Landing with a thump, Pablo quickly ran his hands over his neck, wrist, and ankles. No chains! His body had already begun the repairing process, his strength had not returned, but much of the pain was gone. Sitting on his behind Pablo looked up at the vampire king. They were in the middle of the mansion, just waiting, what was going on? He went to stand, but more or less stumbled onto his feet bumping into Dane. He would have spoken, if he wasn't so damned confused. Fleeing from here would prove to be futile, and he did not believe himself capable of transformation at the moment. "You will not run child. You are in my domain, there is nowhere for you to go. You cannot fight me; we proved that once already..." Like that was even an option. "Cooperate and I will save you from much pain." Looking the vampire in the eye Pablo blinked. "I don't have much of a choice do I?" What Dane said made sense, he couldn't fight him or flee at this state. Dane was an ancient, and Pablo wasn't even at full strength. "I'm not selling my brethern out to save myself from a little pain." The vampire smirked. "You assume much, stop it. I do not intend to hurt you.... and your brethren have little to do with this, at least most of them don't."

[Ahmad]

Ahmad was standing just outside the city of Oslo, it was midnight, and a cool breeze blew in their direction. A storm was approaching and would be there within the hour. Ahmad got all of his strike teams into position. Using a bluetooth device to communicate with all of the other leaders of the other squads that he had assigned. "Everyone in position? Good, now we wait for the first sound of thunder, we try and coordinate our attacks with the sound until we are in a secure position, then we give them everything. The thunder will allow us to move in as quickly and silently as possible until they can't do anything else." Ahmad sat patiently awaiting the thunder, and after about thirty minutes it started to thunder in the skies. "That's the signal, all teams move in, wipe out every lycan you see in the city, but don't give yourselves away until we surround and have entered the main base."

...

The scout leader started to move his squad into the city, scouring buildings he looked for any signs of lycans on his way into the city from the north, whenever he spotted a lycan he had one of his vampires quickly and quietly assassinate it before it could make any noise. As they moved farther and farther into the center of the city, they encountered more and more lycans assassinating them each with beautiful precision. Once each team was stationed around the main base, they reported back to Ahmad, "We are in position, ready to attack the base on your command."
...

A lycan guard was just going on duty for the midnight shift at the outpost just outside of the base, "Hey sorry I am late, was grabbing a quick bite to eat." "Yeah whatever man, just get to work so I can get some sleep already." The other lycan replied on his way to his bedroom after throwing down a debriefing file on what had taken place during his shift. The report didn't show any activity other than some human who was starting to get to close to the entrance but then ran off after hearing a noise of one of the lycans growling simply to mess with the human. Well time went on during his shift and all seemed easy, he just started to dose off when all of a sudden a vampire smashed through the window and started attacking the lycan, the lycan had just enough time to hit the alarm and telepathically call out for help shouting out that there were vampires in the base before he died.
...

Ahmad heard the alarm and ordered all of the remaining vampires to move in on the base, as soon as they broke down the main gate they were met by a small army of lycans, some in full form, some in half, and some in human form dawning weapons. Ahmad led the charge quickly killing many lycans with his silver daggers. Vampires and lycans were dropping left and right but it seemed that the vampires had too many numbers for the lycans to deal with. Ahmad began to push through the base only meeting some opposition that would slow him down once or twice, until he met some of the more elite lycans. Ahmad and a few other vampires accompanying him had a tremendous battle on their hands with these lycans, in fact that fight Ahmad was the only survivor. Ahmad radioed on his bluetooth device, "Everyone on me, one squad stay outside just in case other lycans return home to get slaughtered but everyone else on me. We are going for the leader." When all of the other vampires he wanted joined him on the final attack, he encountered every other lycan in the base all rallied up in the main hall where the leader of the base was supposed to be. The fighting in there seemed to last for hours, blood spurting, dead bodies falling and flying in every which way. But after four hours or so Ahmad and perhaps about fifty or sixty remaining vampires stood there in the main hall, apparently victorious. Ahmad called the team that was outside to come in, the sun was about to come up. Ahmad pulled out his cell phone and called Dane. "Hey Dane, just thought I would let you know that we won here. Every lycan here is dead, no sign of the leader but most of these mutts all look the same to me, and much better when they are dead. But I am sure the leader is here somewhere in all of this mess. We suffered a severe amount of casualties on our side, but that was to be expected, we still have about fifty or sixty by my count. But Oslo is ours, we will begin work on the renovation immediately." And with that Ahmad hung up the phone and looked down to see one lycan whimpering in pain just barely clinging onto life. Ahmad pulled out his gun and shot it right between the eyes. Looking back to the rest of the vampires there he began his little speech.

"Wonderful job all of you, I mean really tremendous job, we took Oslo. Now I know we have most some, but that is war people, and we wiped them out of here. This victory will be a huge foothold in wiping out that mongrel race from existence. I am proud of each and everyone of you. But we aren't done yet." Pausing to take a whiff of main hall, "Man this place wreaks of lycans, we need to clean this place out, basically we have done a lot here but we still have work to do."

Turning back to the main hall of the base he had just conquered, "Once we cleared this place out of lycan corpses and searched the rest of this base to make sure there aren't any lycans hiding around somewhere, then we can have some time to celebrate, but until then this place needs a good cleaning."

As Ahmad started to walk away to find the main room of the base to make it his own room he contacted the other leaders that were still alive on his bluetooth device, "Someone find me the body of the lycan leader here so I can present it to Dane, the one who finds it for me will be greatly rewarded, now move."

[Lucia Drusa Severa]

Hurrying downstairs, Lucia made her way back down to the basement of the castle. Finding the dungeon was easy; the guards let her through after some words and soon the girl was walking down the halls of prisoners, looking for the strongest one. Maybe it was her, but there didn't seem to be as many captives as last time she was down here. Though everything seems bigger when you're younger, she didn't think there had been as many empty cages last time. After some searching, Lucia found a Lycan who seemed to be more alert and alive than many of the others. Opening the cell door, she approached the woman gracefully, watching her with a quiet, predatory smile. A look of fear crossed the Werewolf, and in seconds Lucia was upon her, plunging her fangs into the woman's shoulder. There was a moment when the Lycan tensed, trying to pull away, scratching and struggling against the Hybrid's grip, but soon all fight faded away and the woman became limp in Lucia's arms. Her blood filled the girl in waves of warm energy and satisfaction. Slowly, Lucia's headache and the throbbing in her temples began to subside and everything became right with the world. Lucia left the Werewolf with just enough blood to live, but she pushed it to the brink, letting the woman slink down to the floor when she was through.

Licking her lips clean, she left the dungeon, saying farewell to the guards on her way upstairs. The Hybrid found Dane and Pablo in the middle of the main room, not exactly where she thought they would be. Yet the girl smiled pleasantly, "Thank you for waiting."

[Pablo]

Curious; Pablo cocked his head to the side. "Worry not, you will know soon enough. I won't ruin the surprise, but I can say it will relieve you of a great burden, you may even thank me one day." The lycan snorted in response. Pay no heed to the vampire king he reminded himself. "You might as well be speaking in tongues." The bloodsucker was only trying to get into his head. Turning away from the smirking vampire Pablo continued to rub his wrist. I'm flaking. He rubbed off long pieces of dead skin and watched as they hit the ground. Standing next to Dane was strange. The amount of hate the lycan felt towards the vampire was immense, Pablo's chest felt like a boiling pit of lava, his heart inflames; there was nothing he wanted to do more than tear this man limb from limb. But of course he couldn't. And any attempt would end with certain death. He had to be alive to seek vengeance, if following Dane's orders meant survival then Pablo was willing to oblige for now.

The lycan turned his head, staring at the door right before Lucia stepped through it, as if he could feel her coming. She seemed to have a glow, her presence lit up the room, and the anger in his chest subsided for a moment and for a second Pablo found himself smiling. His smile quickly vanished though, this wasn't he time for that. He was about to be.... whatevered, and as far as he was concerned he should be feeling resentment towards Lucia. That was proving to be very difficult though, despite the fact she was the reason he was in this hell hole. His smile became a stern glare. He would have to treat them both like enemies. For all he knew they were playing him. It would explain Lucia's pleasant behavior earlier. Good cop, bad cop, she tried slowly talking the information they needed out of him, but after that failed it was the main man's turn. Why has my mind been so hazy. He could feel his throbbing headache return. "Your prisoner, it's the least we can do." Pablo felt a chill run up his spine as Dane's cold hand grabbed the lycan's bare shoulder. Jerking the boy to the right, the vampire king pushed him forward. His grip was tight and powerful; a reminder that outside of his werewolf form Dane could snap his neck in a split second. "Follow us, if you have any questions they should be answered soon enough."

To his surprise the vampire guided the werewolf out the front door. As the moon beams hit the lycan's skin he smiled. It was refreshing and eased much of the pain he felt. In fact, he could feel some of his strength return in an instant, not enough but it was progress. Once again the vampire jerked the lycan and tightened his grip. They were heading straight into the forest. At this moment Pablo was becoming curious. What did Dane have in store for him? They pressed forth, the vampire did not speak, nor did the lycan. After a good five minutes or so into the forest they approached a cabin. "Go in." The vampire shoved Pablo forward, tripping the lycan landed straight on his face in front of the cabin door. Turning back he glanced at the two other dark creatures before stepping into the room. It was a large empty room, save for a large stone table in the middle of the room(chains included) and two hooded figures standing in the corner. A feeling of dread crept into Pablo's gut. "What is this?" He turned around, glaring at the vampire king who stood in the doorway.. "Lie down on the table." Pablo hesitated. "I said lie down." Dane repeated this time angry. He was upon Pablo in a second, grabbing the lycan by the hair the vampire smashed the young man's head against the table. Pablo crumpled onto the ground, but was still conscious and let out a painful groan. Lifting him by the back of his head, Dane laid the lycan face up on the table.

[Lucia Drusa Severa]

Following close beside the Vampire King, Lucia left the mansion. She hadn't planned on going outside, and the cold bit through her arms and legs, yet she couldn't complain. She'd never been sick before in her life, and there were other things to occupy her mind than the numbing of her fingers and toes. Curiosity was eating her about where they were going and what Dane was going to do with Pablo, but the girl curbed her impatience and trusted in Dane that her questions would soon be answered.

Walking barefoot through the forest, the twigs crunched softly, tickling Lucia's feet. The moon shown sparsely through to the forest floor, illuminating patches in a radiant silver glow. The girl remembered dancing among the trees, basking in the moon's light in years past, but for the life of her she couldn't remember where they might be going now. As they approached the cabin in the woods, Lucia watched Pablo carefully, humming softly to herself. She didn't remember this cabin being here; but there were probably a lot of things she'd forgotten since she was last here.

Closing the door behind her, Lucia looked casually around the cabin, noting the drab furnishing. Watching with a removed interest, Lucia followed Pablo with her eyes as his face met the table's edge and he fell to the floor. The poor Lycan's head was really taking a beating these last few nights. As the Vampire king picked the man up and placed him on the table, the girl looked over at the hooded figures in the corners, standing patiently and quiet. Her light humming stopped. As far as the Hybrid could tell, these two were human, but there was something odd about them that gave the girl pause. "Who are they?" She asked softly of Dane. Lucia stood where she could see Pablo on the table as well as the two cloaked figures in the corner.

[Dane]

"Witches; said to be descendants of those who cursed your mother. My fail-safe." He said calmly, as the two hooded-figures; robed in black turned and stepped away from the corner of the room; revealing both their faces. One was an old woman; a hag by every definition of the word. Her face wrinkly, the bags underneath her eyes might as well have been flab flaps, her eyes once blue were now a hint of grey, and there was of course the droopy nose. She made her way to Pablo's side. "Ha," The old lay croaked. "You said you would bring me a lycan warrior, instead here I see a half-naked boy." Lying on the table Pablo groaned in pain. A hand went to cover his aching forehead. For him The room was quite literally spinning. "Not a boy, twenty something... why does everybody call me that?" He believed himself to be speaking out-loud, but his words came out as mumbles. Dane shot a glare at the old lady. "You and I both know appearances can be deceiving." He spoke sternly. "You know what I want, now stop wasting my time." The vampire king grabbed the silver chains. As he was about to speak, the other figure spoke.

"Those will not be necessary." She spoke up, her soft, calm, and at this moment clearly full of fear. She had large brown round eyes; her face soft like her voice, the witch appeared to be young, at most Pablo's age, at least Lucia's. She stood by the end of the table, hovering above Pablo. The young lady gently ran a hand through the lycan's hair, occasionally scratching behind the ear. While she bore a frown; clearly neither witch was happy to be here, it turned into a weak smile as she heard Pablo's mumbles. "I can relate." She whispered down to him; a small necklace with a stone carved in the shape of a crescent moon popped out from behind her robe. She placed the palm of her other hand on his forehead before glancing up at the vampire king and Lucia. "He's not well. The conditions you keep him are terrible." The young lady then began to inspect the lycan like he was a contestant at a dog show. She checked his teeth, ran a hand over his neck, and lifted his arms inspecting the wounds around his wrist; all the while she shook her head. "You're lucky he's alive, most would be dead." Though still clearly frightened her voice seemed to be seething with anger.

Dane glared again, this times his eyes flashed red."ENOUGH BANTER!" He shouted, the rage in his voice more than matching the young lass. In fractions of a second the vampire vanished, reappearing right beside the young one, his lips mere centimeters away from her ear, he spoke loudly directly into it. "I can end both of you in half a breath, now get to work." He emphasized each word. The young witch shaking stepped away from the vampire and nodded. Once again Dane disappeared, this time appearing besides Lucia. "I know you must have questions." He spoke quietly as the two witches began their ritual. The old one began walking around the stone table, scattering yellow flower petals about it, the other still stood by Pablo's head. Her hands cupped above his face, she held her eyes shut.

"You and I both know your mother won't leave tomorrow alive empty handed. If she falls in battle then the war will end, if not then Pablo will bring her to me.... dead or alive. Either way, her reign as Lycan Queen will end." He said while turning to face Lucia, waiting for her reaction before he continued. In the background Pablo could be seen reaching for the necklace, the witch gently slapping his hand away. "His mind is powerful, I require assistance." The hag nodded and stepped beside her companion. She too closed her eyes, cupped her hands and held them above Pablo. "He may require weakening."

"I wish to let you decide her fate. After all, when she is defeated I plan to resign from my position and allow you to succeed to the throne." Dane reached into his pocket as he spoke, pulling out a small, but long metal case. "I have just the thing." He spoke to the witches. Plopping the case open it revealed a long, thin silver needle, about twelve inches in length; surrounded by cushion.