Chapter 9 –

I wait by the window of my bedroom for what seemed like centuries until I see a familiar car pull up to the gate. Turning I quickly make my way from my room down to the front door right as Selene walks inside. Her eyes meet mine and I nod before I follow her toward the awakening chamber. Before we reach it Kraven grabs Selene's arms and pulls her into a cove. She holds her hand up for me not to interfere and I wait patiently. I hear Kraven try to bully Selene and then the crack of bone as she swings her arm up catching him in the nose before quickly turning and sprinting off toward the chamber.

I smirk at him before I follow her. When we reach the chamber, I contemplate not following her but I know I shouldn't stay behind. I hear Kraven running after us and right before he is able to walk into the room the big doors close locking him out. I stay back toward the exit as I watch her and Viktor talk. I watch as Selene bows to him his eyes filled with adoration.

"Come closer, my child." He says and she obeys.

"I've been lost without you, My Lord." Selene says and I grit my teeth. "Constantly hounded by Kraven and his never-ending infatuation." Victor chuckles the sound sounding weak as he is still slightly shriveled.

"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?"

"But I've given you all the proof you need." Selene argues.

"Incoherent thoughts and images, nothing more. Which is 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 fourteen centuries. Not since we Elders began to leap frog through time. One awake, two asleep, that's the way of it. It is Marcus's turn to reign, not mine." I look from Viktor over to Marcus's chamber Kraven's words replaying in my head.

"But I had no choice. The coven is in danger, and Michael is the key-" Viktor scoffs cutting her off.

"Ah yes, the Lycan." He says disgust feeling his voice.

"Please. Allow me to get the proof you require."

"I will leave it to Kraven to collect the proof. If there is any."

"How could you trust him over me?" Selene asks and I can sense the sadness in her voice.

"Because he is not the one who has been tainted by an animal." Viktor says and I feel my blood start to boil. "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!" He looks at me and I walk up and stand beside her, glancing over only momentarily to see the tears falling from her eyes. The doors open and before anyone can touch her I call out, "My Lord, allow me to escort her to her room."

"Very well, no one may touch her save for Night." Viktor says and they nod.

"Thank you, My Lord." I say giving him a quick bow before I grab her hand and quickly pull her to the door only to have Kraven and his lackeys follow closely behind us. We walk through the halls and up the stairs until we reach her room. The lackey's open her doors and I walk in with her only to have her turn around and glare at Kraven as he says, "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 for you?" Selene asks and I smirk as I slowly turn back to look at him.

"I bet Lucian did it, there's no way he'd let a vampire touch him." I say folding my arms over my chest.

"Mark my words," Kraven starts anger lacing his words, "Soon, you'll both be seeing things my way." He nods to the guards to close the doors and I roll my eyes.

"I seriously doubt that." I say as Selene moves over to the window. I follow her and reaching her side I sense a slight difference in her attitude. "You alright?"

"I can't believe he doesn't believe me." Selene says and I nod.

"It's because he's blinded by his hatred for Lycans." I say following her gaze outside right as the shutters slide down the windows signaling sunrise. "He should know that if Kraven is possibly lying he is the last one to send to get proof of his treachery. I don't quite understand his logic myself."

"Oh well, there's nothing I can do now."

"You're giving up awfully quickly."

"I'm just following orders."

"I understand." I say as I watch her walk from the now shielded windows to her bed. I wanted to ask about Bucky but I knew now wasn't the time.

"Your Lycan," She starts taking me by surprise. "How did you meet him?"

"Truthfully," I ask and she nods. "I met him almost seventy years ago. I saved his life." Her eyes consider mine as if to ask for more details and I nod. "While I was wandering the world unsure of what it wanted from me, I came across a soldier who had lost his arm. I don't really know why I couldn't leave him behind and just move on."

"So, you saved him."

"I gave him some of my blood to keep him alive."

"Are you insane Night? You don't know what your blood is capable of. Is that why he hasn't aged?"

"No, at least I don't think so. Before I rescued him, back then, he was experimented on. They turned him into something called a super soldier, that is how he survived for so long after the loss of his arm; he was also placed into a cryogenic chamber and only thawed when they needed him to kill people. Them being Hydra."

"I remember them." Selene says remembering how some of our kin went rogue and joined them. All of which we took out, at least as far as we knew. "What I am curious of is, if he has traces of your blood in his body, and he has been bitten by a Lycan; how is he not dead?"

"I didn't give him a significant amount, just enough to stop his bleeding. I don't think there is even a trace of my blood still in his system."

"You better hope not, if Viktor or any of the others find out about him they will kill him."

"I know," I say unconsciously rubbing my shoulders.

"I don't know what to believe anymore honestly. Michael is not a bad guy, and there has to be some special reason Lucian is so obsessed with him."

"Perhaps it's his blood." I state and she stares at me.

"I know it's not a normal Vampire ability, but you know how I can smell the sweetness and rarity of human's blood." She nods and I continue, "His blood smells special, and slightly familiar, I'm not sure why though."

"Do you remember where you smelled it from? The familiarity?"

"Honestly, it was like smelling Bucky, only Michael's blood smelled purer, whereas Bucky smells sweet."

"How is that possible for their blood to smell similar?"

"I don't know, I wish I did, but I do not." I pause waiting for her to ask more but she doesn't. "Is he, safe?"

"He is," She says causing a wave of relief wash over me. "He is protecting Michael."

"Good, he's good a protecting people." I say remembering his stories he had told me all those years ago.

~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky groans out in annoyance as Michael pulls and rattles his chains. "Dude, come one, you gotta stop."

"I would if you uncuffed me."

"I already told you I can't do that. I promised Selene." Bucky replies reaching for a pen and paper. Michael turns quiet for a moment then suddenly a gun goes off causing Bucky to jump in surprise as he looks over to see that Michael had missed the chain and was now pulling at his chains again. Bucky shakes his head and goes back to writing on the paper.

"What are you writing?" Michael asks trying to get a good look at Bucky's piece of paper.

"A map of escape," He pauses to look over at Michael, "You know, just in case anyone other than Selene or Night shows up."

"So how long have you been bitten?"

"I was bitten right after you in the elevator. Lucian, I believe, bit me for getting to close to Night."

"Why? Isn't she a vampire? Don't they hate each other?"

"Night is special," Bucky replies a wave of memories filling his mind causing his head to throb in pain.

"Special? How?"

"I don't know all the details yet, but I will." Bucky replies as he adds more and more details to the map.

"If you don't mind me asking, how'd you lose your arm?" Michael asks changing the topic and Bucky pauses a moment to look at his metal arm.

"I fell off a train and over a cliff. I think I lost it during the fall."

"And your new one?"

"A crazy scientist made it for me. I didn't want it, but I don't regret having it." Bucky replies as he lifts his left hand up to wiggle his fingers.

"How come you weren't freaked out by all this vampire, Lycan stuff?" Michael asks and Bucky sighs as he tosses the pencil down onto the paper finished with his plans.

"I met my first vampire around seventy years ago. He was an asshole. Well a good guy, but an asshole just the same. He'd been alive for centuries just waiting for his dead wife to be reincarnated. I never found out if he ever found her. Then after my accident, I met Night, and she saved my life. Things happened and we lost touch."

"That's why you were at my apartment that night. You wanted to know if I knew her."

"I watched the CCTV of the subway fight and saw that she was surprised by you. Not gonna lie, it made me a tad bit jealous."

"You really like her, don't you?" Michael asks causing Bucky to nod slightly.

"Yeah, I think I do." Bucky looks at the landline and takes a deep breath before he lifts it up and dials Hunter's number again. "This is gonna suck."

"Hello?" A familiar voice answers and Bucky groans inwardly.

"Hey Red,"

"James where the hell have you been?" Natasha asks causing Bucky to roll his eyes.

"Well, if you want me to be honest, a mansion full of Vampires, and now I'm in a safe house."

"Where is she?" Natasha asks anger in her voice.

"She's at the mansion. She stayed behind so I could get out safely." Bucky answers as he runs a hand through his hair. "Where's the punk, I know he came with you."

"I'm here." Steve replies quickly and Bucky can tell that he is angry with him.

"You two didn't need to come here. I would have been fine."

"Bucky, did you get what you needed?" Steve asks making Bucky feel suddenly irritated.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You came here to find out what happened, did you?"

"Steve, I came here to find her and I did. That doesn't mean I'm done, or that I'm leaving. I can't leave. Not now."

"Why? What happened?" Natasha asks interrupting them both.

"Things are different now. I'm not leaving. So, you guys can accept that or go back to America by yourselves." Bucky hangs the phone up and clenches his jaw so hard it starts to hurt.

"You okay?" Michael asks and Bucky lets out a heavy sigh before he shakes his head.

"Not really," Bucky replies pushing himself up from his chair so he could pace back and forth. "I understand they're worried about me, but the way they talk about my need to find Night like it's just another stupid mission pisses me off." Bucky runs a hand through his hair as he reaches the window. He knew they would probably locate him very quickly so he hoped that the sun would set soon. He didn't care about the thought of becoming a werewolf, well it's not that he didn't care, he was just more concerned with Night and how she was fairing back at the mansion. "I'll come get you soon (Name)."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did he really just hang up on me?" Natasha asks staring at the phone eyes filled with anger while she typed away at the computer in front of her.

"He hung up on both of us." Steve says folding her arms over his chest as he tries to put himself in Bucky's shoes.

"I knew he shouldn't have come here." Natasha says her brow furrowing.

"Like you said, nothing we could have said or done, save for locking him up, would have kept him from going." Steve says a pained expression filling his face.

"Still, he's become someone completely different. He's not the man you and I know." Natasha replies pausing momentarily to look over at him.

"What are you doing?" Steve asks curiosity filling his face as he moves to stand behind her.

"I ran the trace and found out where he is."

"But,"

"But his attitude doesn't fit him. So, I decided to go back and look at the security cameras at Michael's apartment."

"Did you find anything?" Steve asks his eyes focused on the screen. They watch closely as the scene plays out in front of them and Steve grips tightly to the table crushing it in his grasp. "He was bitten."

"Yeah, but that's not all." Natasha says her eyes narrowed at the long haired Lycan. "He whispers something to Bucky."

"Rewind it and zoom in," Steve says his eyes trying to focus on the Lycan's lips. "I remember your scent, you're still searching for her, aren't you?" Steve puts words to Lycans lips and feels his anger rise.

"So, the Lycan knew, or knows, the vampire; and he also knew Bucky was looking for her." Hunter says rounding the corner with a beer in hand.

"I think it might have been more than that." Natasha says leaning back in her chair to ponder.

"What do you mean by that?" Hunter asks voicing Steve's concern.

"I'm not exactly sure." Natasha replies before leaning forward again and starts typing furiously.

"What are you doing?"

"When Shield was still in business, we had an accumulative list of all the Vampires and Lycans we came across. I think I've seen him before while I was doing a mission."

"Could you be able to verify who he is? If so we can figure out what he wants with the human and what he meant by what he said to Bucky." Steve says moving to the other side of the room to grab his bag.

"If he is who I think he is, you know that none of this is coincidence. They wanted Bucky here." Natasha says and Steve nods.

"More of a reason to go get him." Steve says reaching out to grab the door handle only to have someone grab his wrist stopping him. He turns to see Natasha standing behind him holding a syringe full of some liquid her eyes unreadable. "What's this?"

"Tonight's the full moon, if he starts to change, give him this. It'll put him down enough that the transformation will be impossible."

"I got it," Steve replies reluctantly taking the syringe from her and putting it in his jacket pocket.

"We don't know what he'll become rogers, the serum in you is also in him; that alone is dangerous."

"I got it Nat," Steve says his brows furrowed. "I'll find him, and when the times comes I'll bring him home."