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one last look at his condemned brother.
The vanquished werewolf sprawled upon the snow-covered ground, his
mighty limbs rendered impotent by the chains wrapped around his furry
body. The Fates alone knew when and if Marcus would ever lay eyes on
William again.
    I shall not forget you, my brother, the Elder vowed. He wiped a blood-red tear from the corner of his eye. I will bide my time until our moment comes round
again. No matter how long we must wait, someday you shall be free once
more.
    And the world will tremble before us.

 
 
Chapter Four
     
     
    Present day
     
    The abandoned mine was located in the rocky hills northeast of Budapest. A
corrugated-steel door barred the entrance to the mine, which was built
into the side of a hill. Rusty metal tracks led up to the sealed
doorway. Security cameras monitored the approach to the mine. DANGER! NO
TRESPASSING! a sign read in Hungarian. Selene ignored
the warning, tramping through the snow up to the locked entrance. A full
moon provided the only illumination, but Michael found that he could
easily see through the dark.
    Another side effect of his new condition?
    The young American was still trying to process all the
life-altering changes that had been thrown at him over the last few
nights. Barely seventy-two hours ago, he hadn’t even believed in
vampires or werewolves. Now he was some sort of a vampire/werewolf
hybrid and caught in the middle of a life-and-death struggle he was only
just beginning to comprehend, in the company of a lethal woman he barely
knew. He had been shot, bitten, abducted, drugged, and nearly devoured
since stumbling into that firefight in the subway station three nights
ago.
    How did this happen to me? he wondered. I just want to be a doctor, that’s
all.
    A pang struck him as he thought longingly of his dinky
apartment in the city, and of his residency back at the hospital. Both
were less than an hour away by car, but they might as well have been on
another planet. His old life was over now. There was no turning back.
    It’s just me and Selene now.
    A high-tech lock protected the mine from intruders.
Selene entered the key code, then pressed her thumb against a biometric
sensor. The rusty metal door squealed loudly as she threw it open,
exposing the interior of the mine. It was pitch-black inside, obscuring
Michael’s view of what lay beyond. It had been Selene’s idea to seek out
this so-called safe house, after they’d fled the lycans’ underground
lair beneath the city. He assumed she knew what she was doing.
    I have to trust her, he thought. She’s all I have left in the world.
    A power box was mounted on the wall just inside the
mountain. Selene flipped the switch, but nothing happened. The safe
house remained as dark as before. She scowled in annoyance.
    Power must be out, Michael
guessed. He wondered when was the last time anyone had visited this
location. From outside, the mine looked as if it had been deserted for
years. Appearances can be deceiving, he
reminded himself, as I’m starting to learn all too
well.
    Take, for instance, the leather-clad woman standing by
the power box. Michael recalled the first time he had laid eyes on her,
at that subway station downtown. He had been attracted to her
immediately, but had thought that she was just another hot-looking
European chick. How was he to know that she was really a kick-ass
vampire assassin?
    I didn’t have a clue, he thought.
    She drew an automatic pistol from beneath the folds of
her voluminous black trench coat. A light mount was attached to the
stock of the gun. She pressed a switch and a thin beam of light
penetrated the darkness. The search-beam fell upon… the face of an
enraged werewolf!
    Oh, fuck! Michael thought.
His brown eyes turned into molten jet-black orbs as he instinctively
started to change into his hybrid form. Sharpened talons extended from
his fingertips…
    But Selene was way ahead of him. She squeezed the