FicWad

Title: Chance Encounter

Author: Henrika (henrika_amanda@yahoo.se)

Fandom: Underworld/Dark Angel cross-over.

Rating: NC-17 for graphic sex.

Pairing: Lucian/Max, (implied Lucian/Viktor)

Summary: Around year 2020 in Seattle, Lucian and Max meet in a bar. Will the Lycan Master be able to handle an X-5 in heat...?

Disclaimer: I don't own either Underworld or Dark Angel, and the characters are used without permission. Please don't sue: I'm poor anyways.

Feedback: Please? Constructive criticism is very welcome, but don't flame me.

A/N: Like stated above, this is an Underworld/Dark Angel cross-over. Lucian meets Max. Some hard punching and smut ensues. :) Because of her feline DNA, Max goes into heat 2-3 times a year and has some trouble controlling her "cravings". This story takes place during one of those "phases". Basically, Max is very animal. :)

Warnings: Graphic, rough m/f sex, some violence (come on, this is a Lycan and an X-5, after all!) If you think you can handle that, you may proceed.

~~*

Lucian walked into a rather mucky-looking bar and sat down by the counter, trying to ignore the loud, atrocious music sounding from the speakers. The air was rank with cigarette smoke. So, this was America. The land of dreams. The Lycan leader snorted with the irony of it. Hardly. The United States were more like a third-world country nowadays.

It all happened one night in the summer of 2009 - over ten years ago. Terrorists had triggered an electromagnetic pulse, which has pretty much destroyed all of the country's cyber-infrastructure, and a complete breakdown of the society had been the result.

Lucian had never been to the USA before in his immortal life, but he had travelled there now - to Seattle, more precisely - just to see if there was anything left of the nation he had dreamed and fantasized about long ago. It didn't seem like it. "The Pulse" had truly left its mark everywhere.

"I'll have a beer..." the Lycan Leader murmured to the man behind the counter and received a curt nod in reply. It was very clear that he was an outsider here, and no one did anything to make him feel welcome. Lucian began to regret coming here in the first place. He felt out of place and - to his surprise - homesick. He had no real business in his bar, this city, or this... country. At least he should have brought someone with him. Someone he knew and was comfortable with. He had asked Viktor - practically begged him - but the Vampire Lord had not wanted to travel with him to the Land of Liberty. All the Lycan got for his pleading was a blank refusal and a scornful sneer. Viktor had made fun of him, taunted him, laughed at him... as he always did, and Lucian had had no choice but travelling by himself. Sure, he could have asked Raze or another fellow Lycan, but he wanted to make this journey with a close friend or a lover, not a bodyguard or a sidekick. /And certainly not alone.../

I'll have my beer, and then I'm out of here, he decided. He'd had enough of the strangers' unfriendly glances. It seemed like the citizens here had also become extremely xenophobic.

The bartender handed Lucian his glass of beer, and the Lycan took a sip. Did he look any different from the others? He suddenly felt nervous. He had always managed to blend in well among mortals, at least in Hungary, but here...? Most of these people probably didn't even know that creatures like he existed, but one could never be too careful. He was a foreigner here and could take nothing for granted. Viktor had been right. Experiencing America now was a waste of both time and money.

Well, if I have to fight, I'll fight, he thought. Although I'll be very happy if I don't have to.

Lucian swallowed a few more mouthfuls of his beer and tensed when his keen, wolven senses grasped a still-quite-distant sound. It sounded like a... Some ten seconds later, a heavy motorcycle pulled up just outside the bar, and the door opened, revealing its owner.

The Lycan's eyes widened when he saw her: a woman, perhaps in her early twenties, clad in tight black jeans, a snug blue tank top, a black leather jacket, and matching boots in the same colour. She was quite tall with a slim, athletic build, brown curls, large brown eyes, and a beautiful face with perfect skin and a rather large mouth.

Something about her appearance and bearing made the Lycan tense up. She was not a Vampire or a Lycan; his heightened sense of smell immediately told him that. She was human, but... not quite. What was this?

Max's whole body felt burning hot, and it got even worse when she entered the bar. She had to leave... If she didn't, she might lose the little self-control she had left and simply throw herself over a random stranger, and... It would be too embarrassing. Why did she have to endure these indignities of her feline DNA? Certainly not for the first time that day, the young transgenic cursed Manticore for making her what she was.

Then she spotted him - a guy sitting at the counter; early or mid-thirties, bearded, long brown hair... wearing a dark, leather trench coat and leather pants to go with it. He seemed to be of medium height with a well-built, muscular body. Max's elevated brain registered all these details within less than a second. At first she wasn't sure what drew her attention to this particular man, but she was going to find out. When their eyes met, a tremor passed through her body. She knew that her intuition was never wrong. If she would throw herself over someone, it would be him.

Lucian got even more nervous when he looked into the woman's chocolate-brown eyes and she began to approach him. He forced himself to relax. A human female couldn't possibly threaten him in any way or form. If she addressed him, he could just make some small talk and try to enjoy the company. She was the only one so far who had not regarded him with loath or suspicion, after all.

"Hey," she said in a husky, smooth voice and seated herself on the barstool next to him. She stretched her supple body in a clearly suggestive way, and Lucian felt his mouth go dry. She was trying to attract his eye despite the fact that they had not even exchanged a word?

"Hello," he replied and gave the woman a small, tight smile. "I apologize for my staring, but I didn't expect you to... approach me."

Max immediately discovered that she liked the man's voice. It was soft, smooth, cultivated... A sharp contrast to his rather grubby appearance. And she liked his accent, too. "You're not from here," she said. It was a statement, not a question.

"That's right, I'm not," Lucian replied. "I am from Hungary... Budapest. I'm only passing through."

"I can tell that by your... accent..." Max purred softly and leaned closer to him. She hoped that she could indeed make him interested, because she wanted him to sate her urges this evening. The bar was filled with other men, but she barely saw them. This one had an odd scent; somehow... animal. Wild. /I bet he's a terrific lover.../

Lucian cleared his throat. She was flirting with him. There was no doubt about it. "I heard a bike out there... was it yours?" he asked, trying to converse.

The woman smiled seductively. "Yeah... it's mine. Nothing beats having 600 cc's of raw power between my legs."

Lucian almost blushed at the blatant innuendo. Really, who - what - was this woman? And why was she practically crawling over him? They were close now; she was pressing up against him with her right shoulder and arm, and her full lips were uncomfortably close to his cheek. He could feel her warm, humid breath against his face and neck, and before he even knew it, her hand was on his upper thigh, stroking and rubbing through the leather.

"What are you doing?" the Lycan hissed and grabbed the woman's slender wrist in an attempt to stop the madness, but she twisted out of his grip easily - a bit too easily, in fact - and jumped down from the barstool, grabbing him from behind instead. Lucian could feel her firm breasts and lean torso pressing into his back, and he hated to admit that the contact was arousing. Whoever this female was, she did not seem to be shy or afraid.

"Oh, come on, big boy... You're not afraid of little me, are you?" she cooed and sneaked her hands inside his coat, kneading his stomach and chest muscles. "You seem tense, baby... Let me loosen you up..."

"You...!" Lucian snarled and spun around, intending to grab the shameless woman and throw her onto the floor with his Lycan strength to prove that he was serious. His plan didn't work. With astounding reflexes, she twisted away from him again and grabbed the front of his jacket, slamming him into the nearest wall with obvious superhuman strength.

The Lycan Master was flabbergasted. What was this creature?

Max's intense brown eyes were practically burning, and she pressed herself against the foreigner once more, grazing her lips over his. She could hear his heart pounding in his chest from both fear and arousal.

/Max, you're going too far. You should have stayed at home!/ The voice cried out within her, but she ignored it. Her brain was no longer working rationally.

"Do you reject me? I don't like being rejected..." she whispered, moving down one hand to cup his groin through his pants. Maybe his mind had doubts, but his body certainly hadn't. He was as hard as a rock. She was tempted to simply rip his pants down and lower herself onto his cock there and then.

"Outside..." Lucian growled, taking her wrists in an iron-grip. "Let us continue... whatever this is... outside." A part of him objected; this girl seemed completely out of her mind, but he was also curious about her. What was she? Oh, well, he was pretty certain that he could handle her, whatever she was.

She gave him a predatory grin. "Okay."

~~*

Rather unwisely, he let her lead the way and followed her to the backyard of the bar. It was empty save for some trash and an old, rusty car wreck standing next to a ramshackle shed. Lucian felt more insecure by each passing second. He was out on thin ice. What if this woman was even some kind of Lycan or Vampire hunter and tried to shoot him with silver bullet? She did not seem to be carrying a gun, but still...

Suddenly she stopped and he almost walked into her. "What...?"

She spun around and grabbed the Lucian's coat again, intending to push him down to the ground, but this time he was prepared for her attack and grabbed her arm, twisting it up behind her back with the speed of a true wolf. Viktor had used this particular move on him so many times that he knew it expertly by now.

It took Max about half a second to overcome her surprise. She counter attacked, slamming her free elbow into his ribs before doing a backward flip above his head, landing behind him. She was taken aback by his speed; by the time her feet touched the ground, he was already facing her. Max instinctively threw a punch at his face, using her own feline speed, and albeit fast, he could neither block nor evade it.

Lucian was shocked when the woman's fist connected with his face. She sure hit hard and fast! A feral snarl escaped his throat, and he could feel his eyes turning Lycan-blue. /Oh, no, not here.../

Her facial expression changed, but what he saw was not fear. Rather it was some form of... recognition. "You're a transgenic!" she exclaimed, and a broad, daring grin formed on her face.

"Transgenic?" Lucian echoed, chuckling. "Well, I guess you could say that..."

Max began to circle him, her fists balled and raised. "I should have known! Well, it makes you more of a challenge, I guess! And you know what they say... Fighting makes good foreplay!"

/Fighting makes good.../ She wanted to fight him before... fucking him? Lucian couldn't believe his ears. Transgenic? She was one? That would explain her superhuman physique, but it still made little sense to Lucian. He was about to fight a transgenic? Being the greatest Lycan ever, he was pretty confident about his chances, but she was, after all, something completely unknown to him.

"You're very right about that," he replied, smirking at her. His encounters with Viktor often began with a match that left both Vampire and Lycan heated, excited, and very horny. Fighting made excellent foreplay, indeed. He got into a fighting stance as well, fixing his gaze on her with eyes that were still ice-blue.

Max's blood was basically burning when she lashed out, dodged his blow, and landed another punch on his face, this one powerful enough to knock a normal human unconscious for hours. Lucian was shoved back a step and could taste blood in his mouth. She had split his lip! Damn! The transgenic was regarding him intently and waiting for his next move.

They clashed again, and fuelled by rage and uncontrollable urges, each managed to land several kicks and punches on the other. Groans and shouts of pain, exertion, and triumph sounded in the night. It was soon obvious that Lucian was superior to her in strength, while she had speed and agility to her advantage. She had bent her over-flexible spine at a seemingly impossible angle several times to evade his blows, and her reflexes were lightning-fast.

Lucian managed to grasp Max's arm and threw her to the ground, but she rolled around and leapt to her feet before he could either engage again or raise his defences. She sent her foot straight into his chin from the front, and Lucian could both hear and feel his jaws clashing from the powerful impact. Momentarily dazed, he realized that he could have severed his own tongue had it been between his teeth.

"My God, you're fast...!" he murmured shakily. "You... you're even faster than Viktor!"

/Viktor? Who's Viktor?/ Max thought, but she did not ask the question out loud. It was probably just an attempt to distract her. He had managed to land several hard blows on her body, and although she was sore in places, she barely felt it. All she could feel was the urge to maul him, to claim him... to have him. He was a powerful opponent, which only made him more desirable. But she could take him down eventually... she was quite sure about that.

"You're not giving in, are you?" she challenged and started to circle him again.

Lucian sneered. "Giving in? You wish!"

She leapt at him once more and tried to kick him in the chest, but he blocked it this time, roughly grabbing her leg and tossing her slender frame onto the ground. Max grunted when she landed on her back and the air was knocked out of her lungs. She had not been prepared for that, but her combat training at Manticore had taught her to always have a backup move. As Lucian was still within her reach, she kicked at his shins and managed to take out his legs from under him.

Neither wanted this to become a wrestling match just yet, and they jumped to their feet almost simultaneously. The Lycan Master was beginning to lose his patience. He had expected this to be an easy fight, but the young transgenic was very able to hold her own against him. He would not lose a fight against a female! It would be quite an embarrassment. Viktor beat him eight out of ten times when they duelled, and that was bad enough.

Lucian could feel his canines growing. The woman was giving him a hard look. Then suddenly she leapt high into the air, coming straight at him. Lucian reflexively did the same, and they collided forcefully approximately nine feet above the ground.

The Lycan and the X-5 were a tangled heap of limbs, long hair, and leather clothing when they landed, rolling around several turns before coming to an abrupt halt at the wall of the shed. Max gained the upper position and instantly ripped Lucian's shirt apart, baring his muscular, hairy chest. The sight practically made her salivate. She was acting like a total beast and was subconsciously aware of this; she just couldn't stop herself despite everything. This man was like her - he could handle rough treatment.

"Are you ready, baby? Hmmm? Or you want some more?" She slapped him across the face, fuelling his rage even more. The blue glow in his eyes was hypnotizing her. Really, what kind of genetic freak was this guy?

"I'm ready..." Lucian breathed, grinning back at her. "...but you are not on top, sweetheart!"

She probably didn't know it, but she had unconsciously given him the edge. Wrestling on the ground was a technique which Lucian mastered perfectly. He was mostly even able to handle Viktor if it came to a ground-level fight. He flipped them around in a flash so that he ended up pinning her to the ground, reversing their roles.

"Oh yeah?" Max tried to shove the man off her and roll them around once more, but this time he just wouldn't budge. A wrinkle formed between her brows, and sweat broke out all over her already heated body. She tried again, but her efforts were futile. He really had her pinned.

Lucian regarded the flushed female struggling against his vice-like grip and shook his head patronizingly. "You aren't going anywhere. Your speed and your reflexes are of little use if you can't move."

Max frowned. What now? He definitely had brute strength on her, she gave him that. Her legs were pinned beneath his; she couldn't use them either. Oh, well. She might just have to concede, then. Anyway, it had been a good fight, and she was more than ready moving on to other activities. Judging from the way his body reacted, he shared her interest.

"You won, I guess," she said. "So... what are you waiting for? Fuck me!"

"Wait just a minute... How old are you? Are you even legal?" Lucian asked with a chuckle.

"I'm 20, so I'm perfectly legal!" Max spat back. "But like anyone cares? It's post-Pulse, you know. 'Sides, even if they cared, the laws don't apply to our kind anyway."

/You're so very right about that./ "I can't let you go. You'll hit me again."

"I don't want to hit you anymore; I just want to fuck you!"

"A fair being such as yourself shouldn't use such crude language. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" he teased, wanting to get back on her for all the nasty punches and kicks she had landed on him.

"No!" she said grimly, and at that very moment she felt his iron hold slip just a little. Max jerked her right hand free and thrust her open palm into his face with a movement too fast to perceive.

She caught him completely off guard, and the hand slamming into his face from nowhere shoved him off her and made him land on his rear with a surprised thud. When Lucian raised his eyes, Max was already standing up. He felt something warm and wet tricking down his upper lip, and his nose suddenly throbbed vehemently.

"You bitch!" he snarled. "You gave me a nosebleed!"

"Yeah, I'm a bitch in heat!" she snapped back. "Now, are you gonna finish this or not?"

"I will..." Before he could finish the sentence, she bent down, grabbed his coat, and yanked him to his feet, pushing him up against the unsteady wall of the shed.

"I'll show you what I want!" she hissed and a predatory gleam crept into her large, brown eyes. They did not change colour the way his did, but if possible, they would have changed long ago. She opened his belt with deft fingers and unzipped his pants, jerking them down. He never wore underwear. Her strong, heated hand gripped his erect cock and gave it a few firm strokes. Max grinned. He sure was generously endowed!

Lucian grinned when he felt her hand squeezing his member and saw her countenance. She was clearly impressed by the size. /Oh, but you wait - I'm even bigger in my wolven shape!/

A transformation would scare even her: he was sure of that. But he couldn't change here and now for a multitude of reasons, and although he hated to admit it, he did want to finish what he'd started with her.

Lucian quickly shrugged off his trench coat and his torn shirt. Damn, why did she have to be so brutal? He didn't have that much spare clothing with him. "Well, girlie... If we're doing this, I can't be the only one naked," he said wryly, eying her still clothed form.

Max surprised herself when she managed to dispose of her leather jacket and tank top without tearing either in the process. The night air was rather chilly, but it didn't ease the fire in her body. The only thing that could do that was his cock inside her. She struggled out of her jeans as well and kicked off her boots. Unlike him, she wore underwear. The intense burn between her legs had made her juices flow and soaked the crotch of her panties.

Lucian's sniffed. The scent of her arousal was strong, and mingling with his own, it excited him further. The X-5's body was perfect save for a few visible scars. It proved that she had indeed done some fighting before and gotten wounded in the process. She had to be a fast healer; some of his blows had been hard enough to break bones and she was barely affected.

Growling, she jumped on him again and wrapped her lithe legs around his waist, almost knocking Lucian to the ground as he still had his pants around his ankles. The feral side of him took over as well, and he raked his sharpened claws over her back, drawing blood.

"You're really aggressive...!" he murmured, turning them around so that he could press her up against the wall. Now she didn't seem to mind it. The smell of blood had made him almost as crazy as this girl. Lucian couldn't help wondering what would happen if he bit her. She wasn't completely human, so maybe the usual wouldn't occur. If that were the case, she would either die or remain unaffected. He was tempted to find out, but his inner voice told him that it was a bad idea.

The Lycan's hands came to the waistband of Max's panties, and he tore the offending garment away. She had torn his shirt; he was just getting even. Her supple, slender form bucked against his brawny one, and Lucian buried his hands in her mass of dark curls, banging her head against the wall not-so-gently. Her eyes snapped open, and a small, terrified gasp left her parted lips.

"Ready?" he hissed, lips pressed to her shapely neck. "I'll give you what you want!"

Not waiting for a reply, Lucian plunged into her wet channel, which easily accepted him despite his impressive girth. The girl was really dying for this. She cried out from pain, pleasure, or a mixture of the two, and her hands gripped his neck- and shoulder-muscles spasmodically.

He established a quick, steady pace almost immediately, savagely using the body impaled on his cock for his own pleasure. The woman seemed to be doing the same. Her arms and legs tightened around him, as though she feared that he would push her away before her needs were sated.

Lucian wanted to nip at her neck but refrained from it, simply because he was afraid of going too far and actually biting her. Instead he growled like a wolf and plunged his cock into her wet heat, earning a wanton groan in reply. It felt good. He really couldn't deny it, even though her cries mattered little. Lucian imagined he was doing this to the Vampire Elder. To Viktor.

Max had been right - he really was an amazing lover. She had come twice before he'd even found release inside her. It was amazing. There were many advantages to being a transgenic - great stamina was one of them. Her previous human lovers suddenly all seemed puny compared to this.

Lucian's muscles flexed when he finally neared his release. He gripped her even harder and his final thrust was so rough that he could hear the wall-boards creaking from the impact. He had the Elder's name on his lips when his seed flooded into her. Lucian did not know her name - or even if she had one - and he at this moment he couldn't care less.

When she felt his essence fill her and his pumping came to a halt, Max slowly loosened her hold on him and stood up with trembling legs. Her body was spent, but at least the agonizing itch that made her an uncontrollable monster had dissipated. She looked around for the first time. Had anyone seen them? It didn't seem like it. Not that she really cared, but...

She pushed past him and started gathering her scattered pieces of clothing. He had torn her underwear, but it was only fair, supposedly, as she had torn his shirt.

Lucian pulled his trousers up and buckled his belt. His shirt was ruined, but he didn't have any spare clothes with him, so he put it back on along with the coat. The woman dressed quickly and silently and combed her fingers through her tangled hair when she was finished. She seemed much calmer and much more human now. Almost... civilized. Lucian grinned. But so did he, probably. The blue glow had disappeared from his eyes, and his canines and claws had returned to "normal" teeth and nails.

Their eyes met for the first time since they disengaged from each other. Max lowered her gaze and felt her cheeks burn with shame and embarrassment. She should leave right now, without another word. That was the best solution. They knew nothing about each other, and this had merely been a fevered physical encounter. Still... Max felt that she owed him some kind of explanation.

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate your doing this... for me. I could have hurt someone if you hadn't."

"Well, you hurt me..." Lucian replied, sniffling. His still-tender nose was a good reminder of her strength and incredible reflexes.

Max rolled her eyes. "Someone who couldn't take it, I mean!"

"Oh, yes, that's true..." Lucian agreed, chuckling. He casually leaned against the wall and picked up a cigarette and a lighter from his right inner pocket. He lit the cigarette and took a deep pull. He sure needed one after something like this. "So..." he continued. "...are you always like this, or was that just the animal side of you?"

Max first thought that the question was intended to make fun of her, but there was no sarcasm or mockery in the man's voice. "Yeah, you can say that was my "animal" side..." she muttered. "Usually I'm in fact pretty docile. Unless someone messes with me."

Lucian smiled. Whoever this girl was, she seemed cool and even had a sense of humour. "Then remind me not to mess with you. I learned my lesson the hard way." He rubbed his nose with his knuckle and discovered that some dried blood still stuck to his moustache.

She smiled as well and went to stand beside him, also leaning against the shed. "I'm sorry about that. Can I have a pull? Just one?" she pleaded, gesturing at the cigarette jammed between his thumb and forefinger.

"Help yourself," Lucian replied and handed her the cigarette. She inhaled, blew out the smoke through her mouth, and gave it back to him.

"So... how long have you been living in Hungary?" Max asked. What she really wanted to know was whether he knew if transgenics had been created somewhere outside the USA, but she didn't want to make it that obvious.

"Born and raised. This is my first time visiting your country." He chuckled dryly. "I'm sure Viktor will regret not coming with me when he hears about you."

She scowled, suddenly suspicious. "Who's this "Viktor" you keep mentioning? I heard you whisper that name even when we were..." She regarded him knowingly. "...you know."

"It is... someone who's been in my life for a long time," Lucian said reluctantly. His relationship with the Vampire Lord was complicated to say the least, and he didn't exactly feel like telling her the long story of his life. She was likely to understand him better than most others, but he didn't know if he could trust her, and he also did not want to draw needless attention to the Lycan or Vampire kind by revealing his identity.

"You're close?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, I suppose we are. In a way..."

Max nodded slowly and pushed out her chin. "I... see..." she said with some hesitation. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. "So you two are like...?"

Lucian chuckled at the unspoken question. "Yes, I swing both ways," he admitted. "But I'm not devoted to Viktor, if you were wondering that. We're not really lovers, we just... meet at times and do what's in our nature."

The Lycan Leader knew that the Elder often wanted to meet him so that he could take out his aggressions on Lucian. And Lucian let him do it, for some unknown reason. Viktor was cold: he would always be cold. He was never there for Lucian when the Lycan needed him. Hell, he knew how much experiencing America had meant to Lucian, and yet the Vampire had refused to accompany him.

"No," he repeated in a much sterner voice, "Viktor and I are not lovers."

"Is he... like you?" she asked, and he had no problems knowing what she was referring to.

"No, not like I. He's... different."

Max could tell that the conversation was making him uncomfortable, so she decided to drop the subject. He had to be as curious about her as she was about him, and yet he did not pressure her with questions about her origins or her past. She owed him the same.

Clearing her throat, Max tried to come up with something to say before they parted for good. Then she realized that she did not even know his name. Holding out her hand, she said, "By the way, I'm Max."

The Lycan Master gently grasped her smaller hand with his larger one and shook it. "Lucian," he smiled. "Pleased to meet you."

Max laughed, genuinely amused. Her face was an odd mixture of adult and childish features; a round face, high cheekbones, a large, full mouth, a perfectly shaped button nose, and beautiful, chocolate eyes. Those eyes had riveted Lucian already when their gazes met for the first time. Now that her "itch" had abated, it was really difficult to believe that she was the same person who had fought him like a rabid animal only half an hour ago.

"Well... now what we've been properly introduced, Lucian... I think I have to go." It was inevitable, and they both knew it. She had no chance to get to know him better, even though her heart craved it.

"Yeah... So do I..." Lucian replied, sighing.

They walked to the front side of the bar in silence, and Max mounted her motorcycle. "You walked here?" she asked when noticing that he did not approach any of the vehicles parked outside the entrance.

"Yes. I'm staying at a motel not far from here. Hey... don't you have a helmet?" he asked. All she had put on was a pair of yellow shades.

Max grinned. "Never! There's nothing better than the feeling of wind against my face." She started her bike and gave him a flashing smile over her shoulder. "You know... if I ever come to Budapest, I'll find you. Goodbye, Lucian."

/That's a promise, then.../ She made a flying start, and Lucian watched her take off at high speed and disappear into the night as if she was a part of it. He regretted that their time together had been so short. Well, at least he got her name. Max... He rolled it on his tongue. If they ever met again, he'd know what to call her.


Finis