FicWad

Title: Underworld meets Dawn of the Dead

Authors: Henrika and Bloodylocks

Fandom: Underworld/Dawn of the Dead (Underworld cast)

Rating: R for some grisly violence

Summary: How would the Underworld characters deal with an "invasion of the dead"? Read to find out.

Genre: Horror, drama

Disclaimer: We don't own either franchise and make no money from this story. Please don't sue. We're poor, anyways!

Notes: This is a story co-authored by two people. It does not follow canon. Please don't complain about this to us.

~~*

The outcast vampire was hungry. It had been days since last time he fed, and he was hungry for human blood. Homeless humans were his usual targets; no one would miss them, and one could easily dispose of their bodies. He went out searching the Budapest alleys and spotted a seemingly drunk human leaning against a wall. Perfect. The vampire stalked towards its prey...

The way the human shuffled as she was taken aside at first made her look incredibly sick, as did the way she held her arms to her body. As first the vampire thought she might have something in her blood he would regret ingesting, but he was too hungry to worry for long. He put her head to the side... and saw the awful sores and bruises her torso held.

"What the hell..."

And then she bit HIM.

The vampire cried out from the shock and the pain of the sudden attack. The woman's teeth tore a large chunk of flesh from his arm when managed to free himself, and then he noticed her eyes... the look in them was blank... and her irises were covered by a milky sheen... something he'd only seen in corpses. She growled and slowly reached for him again, and now the vampire turned around and ran... cradling his bleeding arm to his chest.

"Oh, SHIT!"

*
This was incredibly peculiar. Trix had found a dead vampire stuck within the entrance of a sewer path, and although the lycans usually burnt such victims, this body was different and needed examination for disease. Why else on earth would a vampire die from a wound in the arm?

"Hey, doc," Trix called out, entering Singe's lab with the body thrown over his shoulder. "I got something for you to look at."

"What is it?" Singe asked without much enthusiasm. He raised his eyebrows when Trix placed the dead vampire on the examination table. "What about this one? Did you kill it?"

"No... I found it dead in the sewers this morning. The only visible injury is a bite mark in its right arm. I thought you might be able to find out what killed it."

He dumped the body on the very shocked scientist's table.

"You degenerate," he exclaimed. "Don't you take precautions?"

"What for?" the ratty lycan asked.

"Whatever disease it might have, you might be contracting it now!"

"I don't really think so..."

It was then that the once dead vampire popped up from the table and took Trix's throat in his mouth. Trix screamed, terrified and in pain, finally gagging when his vocal chords were ripped out.

Singe began to scream when his shocked brain registered what was happening. He grabbed a scalpel from a table and stabbed the newly risen vampire in the back, aiming for its heart. Nothing happened, except the thing let go of a now dying Trix and turned toward its attacker, blood and bits of flesh pouring from its mouth. It reached out for Singe, and the scientist screamed again and managed to dodge its clumsy attack and run toward the hallway.

"Lucian! Lucian! Raze! Anyone! We need help!"

God, where was everyone?? Singe returned to the lab to see Trix dying on the floor, shaking as blood spurted from him. Slowly, the Austrian went for the gun under his desk. The vampire corpse was getting off the table, towards Trix. This time, Singe aimed for the head.

BANG. The thing went down and stayed down.

Lucian immediately tensed when he heard gunshots being fired in the lab. Singe! The idea of Singe being in trouble made Lucian's chest tighten. It couldn't be a vampire attack, could it? He ran there as fast as he could, gun and wrist blade ready. The sight that greeted him was not what he had expected. Singe was standing in the corner, livid and shaking, and on the floor lay two corpses: one was Trix with his throat ripped out, and the other... looked like it had been dead for days, at least.

"Singe! What's going on?!"

The gun rattled in the Austrian's hand as he stared at the bodies. Finally, he escaped his daze and looked at Lucian.

"I can't explain it..." he started. "The vampire wasn't really dead... it's so strange..." His scientific logic could not quite wrap itself around the concept.

Lucian approached his terrified lover. He grabbed Singe by the shoulders and tried to look him in the eye. "Singe, are you alright? Were you hurt?"

"N-no..." Singe stuttered. "I w-was just... I thought it was dead, but then it bit Trix and killed him... I... I shot it..."

"First things first, Singe..." Lucian said, trying to see the connection in this. "Is that a vampire? Who brought it here?"

Nodding, Singe pointed to Trix, beginning to calm down.

"Shot... in the head..." he stammered.

"I will send some of the others out to make sure there aren't any more of them in the sewers," Lucian said. "And then work our way above ground. Whatever it is, it might have spread to others."

Singe nodded and watched Lucian leave.

Singe really didn't feel comfortable being left alone in the lab with the two dead corpses. He was still shaking, and every little sound made him jump in the air. Spread to others... Oh, God... Trix. The creature had bitten Trix. Did it mean Trix was infected? But... Trix was dead. With a spasmodic hold on the gun, Singe slowly approached his dead pack mate...

He screamed when Trix opened his eyes and lunged for him, and he squeezed the trigger. Singe sank to the ground, relieved but confused. He had killed a pack mate, because the man had died and revived himself to feed. Like a zombie. Good lord, was that what it had come to?

Back above ground, the death dealers were on the prowl for a missing teammate.

*

Later that night, Selene and her group of Death Dealers arrived back at Ordoghaz. Things had turned out grim, and the group was shocked.

"What happened?" Viktor asked when he met his foster daughter in the lobby. "You look finished."

"We were attacked by a group of... rabid humans," Selene explained, confused with the absurdity of it. "They bit Nathaniel and Cynthia. They're in the infirmary, being looked over just now."

Viktor's brow knitted. Rabid humans? That sounded ridiculous... unless... but that had not happened for a century at least! "Take me to them." He had to see for himself to make sure.

The two Death Dealers, Nathaniel and Cynthia, were having their bite wounds cleaned and bandaged by the time the Elder arrived there.

"What happened?" Viktor demanded to know.

"Our team mate, Rigel, was abducted by Lycans some nights ago. We were searching for him," Nathaniel said. "Then suddenly before we knew it, we were attacked by a group of ten or more humans. They seemed... rabid!"

"Did you see the look in their eyes," Cynthia shuddered. "They looked dead. The way they moved..."

"Did you kill any of them?" the elder inquired.

"I... I don't know," Cynthia continued. "The weird thing was... I stabbed one in the gut after it bit me... and it hardly even bled. They must have been on something!"

"Why did they bite you?" Viktor asked with a frown. Most mortal zealots he'd come across attacked vampires with crosses, garlic and stakes. He'd never heard of a vampire being bitten by a human before.

"It seemed... hungry!"

Selene's cell phone rang. She answered it with her usual curt manner.

"Selene, something very strange is going on," Kahn said on the other end. "Humans are acting unusual everywhere we look, and it's not just homeless people and drug addicts in the low end of the town."
Selene snapped her fingers at the vampire closest to her. "Quick, put on the news!" she said, and the vampire servant switched on the TV in the common room. The news looked alarming, to say the least. The reporter talked about "insane killing sprees" occurring all over Budapest and hospitals overfilling with people being bitten by others, some by members of their own family.

"Kahn," Selene continued. "The city is no longer safe. Return to Ordoghaz as right now."

A barrage of gunfire filled the other end of the phone before Kahn hung up. Or perhaps his phone went dead. Selene dialed his number but no one answered.

"We are in lock down from here until further notice," Viktor ordered.

*

Lucian had returned to the Underworld and found Singe sitting on the floor, clutching his gun, but otherwise functioning.

"We're getting out of here," the leader said. "Something's going on above and it may lead down here."

Singe was shocked to hear the news. "Lucian... Is it related to..." He nodded at the two dead corpses on the lab floor.

"Yes, Singe. I think it is. The news says it's pretty bad already. We need to find a safe house. If those things get down here, we're trapped."

Lucian congregated his relatively small pack of Lycans and began to lead them to ground level.

There they found a warehouse the army had kept an eye on for some time. It took a few killings of wandering... whatever they were... but they had the place barred up in no time.

So far they had not run into any of those "things", which was a relief but also a worrisome aspect. They knew nothing about what caused people - human and immortals alike - to rip apart their own families.

"Singe... you killed the first one by shooting it in the head, didn't you?" Lucian asked.

"Y-yes, and I killed... Trix too. He rose only minutes after..."

"What's happening Lucian?" He asked. "This all something I can't even explain to myself. It's like something out of a movie."

"Yes, I agree." They watched as several lycans went to the roof to stand watch.
Lucian placed a protective arm around Singe's still trembling shoulders. His lover had never been the warrior type, and during the past 24 hours, he'd been forced to kill one of his own pack mates.

"Don't worry, my love... I'll make sure nothing happens to you..."

"I wish I could say the same for you." Singe felt useless. He had never seen anything like this before. Humans rising as vampires, sure... but even dead vampires rising as something worse?

*

Back at the mansion, Nathaniel was experiencing seizures.

The healer was out of options for treatment. He'd sterilized the wound and given the Death Dealer a dose of antibiotics, but nothing seemed to be helping. The infection was spreading, and Nathaniel's condition was quickly deteriorating.

"It's the bite, isn't it?" Cynthia asked from her bed in the same room. "He's caught something."

"And that means... I have it too." Cynthia was panicking inside. She may not have been bitten as badly, but that only meant it took longer for the virus to take hold.

Nathaniel gasped for air and reached for his throat. The healer clasped a respirator on him, but in vain. Gradually, the death dealer stilled.

The healer felt for a pulse and found none. Nathaniel was gone. Dead from the bite wound in less than six hours. He covered the deceased vampire's body with a sheet and turned to his other patient, who was sobbing in her bed by now. "It's going to happen to me too, isn't it...?"

"We don't know that yet..."

"Bullshit! You know it's true!"

Mason, Kahn, and the others had returned, thankfully unharmed and were now stationed on the balconies of the mansion. Slowly, the grounds outside the gates filled with shuffling masses of dead flesh, searching for food.

Viktor looked out from his bedroom window and looked with growing horror at the reanimated corpses of both humans and previous immortals congregating behind the gates. "This isn't happening..." he murmured to himself. "It can't be."

Most of the coven heard an awful commotion arise from the infirmary. Cynthia's scream echoed through the halls. Selene raced through the hallway and entered, only to find the healer wrestling with Nathaniel, who was now swallowing chunks of the medical vampire's stomach.

She jerked her gun out of her holster and aimed at Nathaniel's chest. The impact of the bullet sent him off the healer but didn't seem to have caused him any harm. Nathaniel rose to unsteady feet and began to shuffle toward her. The look in his eyes... This was not Nathaniel anymore. Selene emptied her entire clip into his torso, but the undead thing just kept on coming. She backed off until her back was against the wall, desperately looking for something else to use as a weapon...

Cynthia reached for a scalpel at her end of the room and hurled it. It entered Nathaniel's head and he leaned over, as though half his body refused to work, but he kept coming. He fell upon Selene and she grabbed his head, desperate not to let him bite her.

She tried to press him back, hit him in the face... anything... Blood was dripping from his mouth onto her face, and she groaned in disgust. Suddenly a gunshot sounded and Nathaniel went limp atop her. Disgusted, Selene threw the now motionless body off her. When she sat up to see what was going on, she saw Cynthia standing beside her bed, gun in her hand. The brunette Death Dealer did not look well. In fact, it seemed like she would fall down dead any second.

Selene approached her comrade as she dropped the gun.

"I don't want to turn into one of them..." she said, voice trembling. "I'm scared. Please, Selene... please, kill me."

Selene was hesitant at first, but picked up Cynthia's gun and aimed it slowly at her.

"In the head," the girl reminded her. "... thank you." The shot sounded and she knew nothing else.

Selene stood still for a while, working to process what had happened... the dead were coming back to life. All of a sudden she felt a burning pain in her left leg. The healer Nathaniel had feasted on had risen and was biting her! Selene put a bullet through his head almost instantly, and he died once more, but... the damage was already done. Shit.

*

Back at the warehouse, Pierce and Taylor had captured one of the walking corpses and restrained him to a table. They weren't entirely strong creatures, nor where they intelligent, fast, or agile, but their numbers were rapidly growing. Singe examined the retained body, not being incredibly gentile in his exploration.

"This is... interesting..." he stated, having removed the creature's stomach and bowels and discovered that it was still trying to feed. "Obviously the brain is the integral organ of reanimation," he explained to Lucian and a few other Lycans who had the guts to watch his dissection of the thing. "Destroy the brain, and it dies."

"Otherwise..." he stuck his finger near the mouth and the creature reached upward for it. "They never stop." He pulled his hand away in time. Walking back, he pulled out a sledge hammer left over from the warehouse's past use. "Whatever else you destroy, it won't matter..." he took a heavy swing and smashed the legs. Then he went at the chest. Finally, eye twitching once, he decimated the head like a melon.

Grey matter splashed onto Singe's apron and the surrounding floor. The thing, now in bits, had stopped moving.

"Does it matter what it was before it... turned?" Raze asked.

"Doesn't seem like it," Singe replied. "If it happens to an immortal, they lose whatever abilities we have and become one of these... mindless, walking corpses."

"Alright, bottom line... How do we stop them?" Lucian asked.

"The central nervous system is the key," the scientist answered. "Separate it from the body, or destroy it." He glanced at the mass of tissue on the table. "Burn it and take it outside."

Lucian followed him as he removed his apron and threw it away. He watched as his lover loaded two more guns.

"I know we can't hide in this bunker forever..." Singe sighed. "Sooner or later, they're going to get in, and when they do..."

"There is enough food and water to sustain us for a month," Lucian replied. "Until then, I'm sure this... situation has been taken care of. I'm sure the local authorities... I want us to stay put and wait. What other choice do we have?"

Singe shrugged, pensive. "I wonder how our cousins are holding up..."

It was then that Lucian had an idea.

*

Meanwhile, Kraven was holding a gun to his head. He could not take anymore of this. The horde would get in somehow, he would be bitten, he couldn't bear the thought... the door slammed open and he stopped.

"Kraven, put the gun down," Marcus' voice said from the doorway. The regent didn't listen.

"It's better I die now, while I'm still myself," he simply said.

"We're holding up so far," the redhead Elder said, approaching. "You're doing nobody a favor by killing yourself while you're still healthy. For once, Kraven -- be a man!"

Kraven looked like a lost child. "That's something I can't do."

He stuck the gun in his mouth, just as Marcus cried, "Kraven, stop--"

CLICK. Kraven's eyes nearly popped out.

Marcus calmly strode over and took the gun from him. "If you're gonna try that again - at least make sure the gun is loaded!" Marcus hissed. "I'm going to do you a favor and not tell Viktor. He doesn't need more proof of what a cowardly worm you are!"

Kraven was crying now. "But those... things... This is the end of the world, isn't it?"

"It certainly would be, if everyone was like yourself."

A shape banged against the now gated windows. One of the revenants had somehow gotten through the gates and had seen them. Looking outside, Marcus saw the creature no longer had legs. It must have been left for dead and slipped under the barrier. Kraven jumped as its head exploded with a gunshot.

Meanwhile, Selene returned from her visit to the infirmary. She had bandaged her leg and hoped the smell of blood would not give her away. She knew that if the others found out what had happened, she'd be executed immediately. When the time comes, I'll take care of it myself, she decided. Until then, I'm needed here.

"How's the situation?" Viktor asked her when they met.

"All three of them are dead, my lord," she answered, bowing her head. The elder nodded, passing her.

"My lord," one of the coven members said. "Look outside."

They stared as a military truck mowed over countless revenants at top speed, screeching to a halt at the gates.

"What the hell...?" Soren murmured to himself, watching through surveillance cameras how the truck came up right behind the gates. The people inside it instantly began to shoot down the zombies that clung to it and tried to get inside. Soren rushed out of the control room to find either Viktor or Marcus and ask the Elders what to do about the truck.

"Wait for them to survive their endeavors," Marcus sneered, witnessing the display. "Then ask what they want."

The driver of the truck got out and shot another revenant, walking to the small camera at the gate. It was Raze, and Soren glared at the sight.

"The lycans," he remarked. "Perhaps these things are doing our job for us then."

"Hello! We want to speak to whoever is in charge at the moment!" Raze shouted into the camera.

Meanwhile, the vampires inside the mansion were debating whether to answer the call in the first place.

"Ask what they want, and then tell them to get the fuck away from here," Selene suggested.

"Let us watch while the things overtake their truck and tear them to pieces," Soren said vehemently.

"No," Viktor concluded. "Ask them what they want. They might have some information for us."

Lycans continued to shoot down the shuffling horde as Marcus and Selene walked out to the gate.

"What do you want?" The death dealer demanded icily.

"Lucian wishes to grant piece among our armies and assist in fighting the onslaught, as long as you grant us asylum in your mansion."

Marcus pondered the proposal for a moment. "And what do you have to offer us in return?" he asked.

"We have done some important research on the things," Lucian replied. "Knowledge that could be useful to you."

"Speak!" Marcus commanded.

"You have to shoot them in the head to kill them permanently."

The Elder smiled sardonically. "Tell us something we don't already know, you mangy cur!"

"Alright..." Lucian smiled wryly. "Singe has found a way to test if a person is infected. I suggest we perform this test on each and every one to make sure our group is free from infection."

Selene was surprised at the look on Marcus' face. He seemed to actually be thinking about letting them in!

"My lord, you can't possibly trust--"

"Let them in," he said, his gaze piercing her through.

Shooting a few more approaching revenants, the lycans re-entered the truck and were granted passage.

Viktor could not believe this! Had Marcus lost his mind?! He was letting their worst enemies into their one and only refuge!

The Elder stormed out, knuckles paling, to confront his brother and the intruders. Marcus stopped him.

"You can't tell me you are seriously entertaining this!" Viktor snapped.

"What is more important now?" Marcus asked, glaring. "A grudge or our survival?"

Viktor shut up, though the still did not approve.

As the death dealers took shifts to shoot any corpses which came too close to the mansion, people were filed through the infirmary to be tested.

It was agreed among the group that everyone should be tested for infection - vampires and lycans alike. Singe was in charge of the operation, taking blood samples and studying them through a microscope. The equipment here was so much better that the procedure went surprisingly quickly. So far he had not encountered anything suspicious, either among his own people or the vampires, but one could never be too careful...

Selene had strangely disappeared during the tests and when Viktor confronted her, she insisted her place was on the roof. When he urged her to get it over with, she complied, knowing he would suspect something if she was avoiding being tested.

Singe leant over the blood sample and he paused. The death dealer who sat before him was one of them. He stared at her. "You've known, haven't you?" He asked.

"I'm not sick!" Selene objected, rising from the chair. "I was bitten over two hours ago, and I don't feel ill! Maybe it only affects certain people."

Singe shook his head grimly. "No, it is only a matter of time..."

Selene picked up her gun and aimed it at the Lycan scientist's temple. "So what? What are you gonna do about it, beast?"

Lucian sometimes had movements like a feline and Singe thanked him for it. He twisted Selene's arm and the gun fell from her hand. His teeth were against her ear as she whispered menacingly.

"I see we have a traitor in our midst," he seethed, "you even think of him and I'll kill you instead of allowing your beloved Viktor the honor." He let the death dealer go and she stumbled, snarling at him, as the next in line stared at what had taken place.

"This one is infected!" Lucian pointed at Selene. She snarled at him in reply. "We must either kill her or quarantine her -- I'll leave that choice to you Bloods!"

Only a few minutes later, two guards arrived at the infirmary and began to lead Selene to a holding cell. The petite female Death Dealer did not physically resist, but she shot the two Lycans daggered looks. The next one in line to be tested was none other than Viktor...

Selene gazed pleadingly at the elder as he stared back, shocked. Her eyes were longing as she stood, held back by the guards. Finally, Viktor looked away, acting as though she was made of less than air.

"My lord...?" she said. He ignored her.

"Take her away..." Viktor addressed the guards and made an absent gesture with his hand. The men nodded and complied with their Lord's request. The Elder didn't know what to think or feel. One of the people closest to him - or so he'd believed - had lied to him and endangered the entire Coven! How could Selene do something like that? '

Lucian grinned at the clearly upset vampire. "You ought to thank me and my brethren," he grinned audaciously.

"Silence your treacherous tongue and get on with it," the elder spat, and he proceeded to roll up his sleeve.

Outside, Mason poked at a legless revenant with his gun, the body's head reduced to pulp. He had the job of searching for any which had come along the lines of this fellow, partly disabled, but capable of slipping under the gate. Turning, he got the shock of a lifetime as another, one in the form of a child, bit his leg. Growling, he pumped the thing full of lead, regret marring him as he realized how young the thing was. But now he had been bitten, and in one of his major veins. He stumbled inside, blood pouring out.

The shock was great when Mason stumbled in, blood still spurting from his leg, and several of the aristocrat vampires backed away from him in terror, afraid to contract the infection. With the help of two other Death Dealers, Mason made it to the infirmary, although he knew his chances were slim. Once you were infected, nothing could save you.

Viktor, whose test had just come back negative, watched as the wounded soldier was brought in. An idea flashed through his mind.

"Lucian," he said, still loathing to speak the Lycan's name. "Here's an opportunity for your scientist rat to research the infection from its first phase," he said. "If you mangy beasts want to remain here, I am expecting... results."

Restrained in a specialized cage able to withstand abuse from lycans, Mason wailed as he pleaded with his fellow death dealers to kill him, but his pleas fell on deaf, if not suffering ears. Singe took notes as Mason began foaming from the mouth, his blood loss sure to be his cause of death.

Singe had already taken a number of blood samples from him, lined up in a row. The more the infection progressed, the more the poor creature's blood cells deteriorated to finally dissolve completely. Six hours and 33 minutes after infection, Mason finally started convulsing and died.

He lingered right next to the bars as he lay reaching for his comrades. One death dealer had to leave the room in tears. Singe examined the body closely, careful to kill the thing in case it awoke and got any bright ideas. Lucian stepped away for a moment to give the elders an update on the situation. Taking down some notes, Singe glanced at his leader as he left.

Lucian did not stay away long though, as he heard a shout and violent noises. He ran back in to see Singe shooting the pulpy remains of what used to be Mason's head. Singe held his trembling hand, the wound on it clear. They stared at one another for a moment.

"Amputation," the Austrian said.

"Oh, no...!" Lucian felt like crying. "Singe... How could it happen..."

"Quick, there is no time!" Singe cried out and shoved a meat cleaver into Lucian's unwilling hand. Then he placed his bitten hand on the examination table. "Cut it off," he said.

Lucian shook his head. "I... can't."

"You HAVE to!"

"I..."

"Now!"



With his eyes closed, Lucian did as his lover requested, and chopped...

Singe screamed his pain and fell to his knees. A guard who was watching carefully threw the hand into a bag and sent it to be incinerated.

Lucian held Singe from behind on the floor, whispering soothing words.

"Shame... that was m... my writing hand." He laughed bitterly and Lucian held him closer.

The Lycan leader held his lover in his arms, not caring that blood from Singe's severed hand was staining his clothes. "We need to bandage that, dearest, before you bleed to death," he said gently and stood up, carrying the wounded scientist. Losing Singe would be a great personal loss for him, but he also knew the scientist was important to them all. Singe was the only person even remotely close of cracking the secret of the undead.

Viktor entered the infirmary an hour later, demanding some sort of update on the lycans' progress. Upon seeing Mason's battered form, he was outraged and began to take his rage out on the two.

"Singe was bitten and we had to stop the disease from spreading, Viktor," Lucian calmly, though angrily explained. Singe stood behind him with a clipboard, but threw it down and held up the stump which once was his hand, burned, cauterized, but now healing.

"See what your death dealer did to me??" He growled. "Isn't that nice?!"

Viktor only looked down at the lycan, uninterested. "What have you learned about this new enemy of ours?"

Singe clenched his teeth, but decided it was safest to answer the haughty vampire lord. "I have learned that the virus attacks the blood cells of its victims and causes them to dissolve. The time of death can occur anything from four to eight hours after infection, depending on..."

Viktor cuffed Singe hard, sending the Lycan tripping against the laboratory equipment.

"I was asking for USEFUL information, lycan scum!" he snarled. "All that shite you just told me means nothing! How do we stop this epidemic?!"

Lucian instantly rushed to Singe's side, shooting Viktor daggered looks. "Well, as you know, vampire, our latest "test subject" had to be put down before he could be of much use. Why don't you give us Selene? She should have died and risen by now," he said.
Viktor left in a rage and went in the direction of their holding cells. He had been planning to kill Selene himself. Despite all that had happened, he still cared for her and wanted her to be put out of her suffering. When he saw her in her cell, she looked awful, shivering, scratching at herself, curled in a ball on the floor.

"Selene...?" he asked through the bars, and she weakly lifted her head. The look in her eyes was tormented and pained, but it was the look of a living creature, not an undead one.

"Father...?" she wailed miserably. "Please... I'm cold..."

Viktor opened the cell door and entered, kneeling by Selene's trembling body. She looked awful, but she had survived more than eight hours after being exposed to the infection. Could this mean something, by chance?

He took the blanket from the bunk bed and wrapped it around her small frame. "I am sorry, my child. I just wish you hadn't lied to me..."

"Will you not end my life?" she asked, shivering. Viktor shook his head. "Not if this disease in you can be fought. You should have fallen and changed from it by now. I think perhaps we can use this to our advantage. Something about you, dear child, is what can prevent any more of these... revenants... from coming about."

Viktor lifted Selene, still wrapped in the blanket, into his arms and took her to the infirmary. Lucian and his pet scientist were still analyzing some of Mason's early blood samples. They looked up, slightly surprised, when Viktor brought the female in.

"Test her blood, but treat her like a patient, not a guinea pig," he said sternly. "And if there are any problems, consult me directly. Meanwhile... good luck." The Elder left the infirmary, leaving Selene with the Lycans.

Singe's work was impeded by the fact that he could no longer write intelligibly, and thus had Lucian write down his findings. Being left handed would take getting used to. Selene lay in a fetal position as they took her blood sample and tried to gently explore what made her different. Suddenly, she convulsed and Lucian prepared to kill her, but he stopped. The vampire groped at her shoulder as she gasped and she fell back to the table, breathing hard. Singe examined her.

"Her immune system's battle with the disease is all too much for her," he regretfully said. "She's basically having a heart attack."

The Death Dealer's heart went into cardiac arrest, and the EKG monitor she was attached to flat lined. Neither Lucian nor Singe cared much for Selene, but she was their most valuable test subject, so they couldn't just let her die.

"Paddles, quickly!" Singe called and ripped Selene's shirt open.

The Austrian cursed at his newfound disability and let Lucian place them on her, flipping the switch instead and letting the voltage course through her. They tried it three more times, but she was gone.

"What was it?" Singe asked himself as he paced back and forth. Thirty minutes had passed following the vampire's death and she seemed most definitely dead, not moving. "What could it have been?"

Then it clicked. Selene had been made a vampire by Viktor, an elder.

Viktor was saddened to know that Selene had died, but it hardly came as a surprise. Singe seemed to have some urgent news, though, and the Elder decided it was best to head to the infirmary and hear them out. Singe hadn't had any monumental break through so far, so maybe now was the time...

"The cure lies in your own blood," the Austrian announced, glad to have gotten somewhere with his efforts. "The reason why Selene held out as long as she did was because she was made by you. The purity of the vampire race is in you and Marcus alone."

Viktor faltered, looking for once unsure.

"He's not pure," Lucian said, giving a malicious smirk. "Marcus made him."

Viktor tackled the Lycan with full force, knocking Lucian to the floor. "How even dare you insinuate something like that?!" he snarled in the other man's face, fangs elongated and eyes flashing bright blue.

"I need the truth!" Singe called out. "If Marcus made you, then the key is in his blood!"

Viktor held his icy gaze on the lycan below him and stayed quiet for a moment. "He did," the elder murmured.

Marcus glared at the proposal presented to him by the lycans. "My blood, is it?" He asked. "And if I refuse?"

"It is the only way," Singe explained. "You, and you alone have the ability to fight this disease. We have to try something now while there's still time."

"I am not going to let you two curs use me as a lab rat!" Marcus cried out, enraged. "Tell them, Viktor! Tell them you won't allow it!"

Viktor simply shrugged. "It's the best option so far," he admitted. "And if these curs are right, you will live through an infection. Your blood alone can produce the needed antibodies. Besides... what's more important now?" He asked condescendingly.

Marcus glanced at Viktor. If looks could kill...

Marcus trembled at first after he was injected with Mason's most degraded blood sample. He tore at his clothes and hair as his immune system fought off the disease.

They had not gone as far as locking Marcus up, but the two Lycans kept a close eye on him, just in case their theory would be incorrect. The Elder vampire writhed in violent spasms, but so far his vitals seemed to be holding up. Viktor visited the infirmary from time to time to see how things were progressing, he claimed, although he didn't want to admit he was genuinely concerned for Marcus.

After about five hours, the elder's fever finally broke and he collapsed. Taking a few breaths, he brought himself in a sitting position.

"What do you need now?" he asked groggily.

"We need samples of your blood... the more, the better," Singe replied. "Now we only need to extract the antibodies and create an antidote... that should take up to a few days, if we're lucky..."

The look Marcus gave them made Singe wish he could indeed work faster. The scientist himself was drained. He'd been working non-stop for over two days, and even though he'd apparently managed to avoid infection, he was physically and emotionally exhausted. "I need to rest..." he gasped and sunk to his knees.

Lucian came to his side and ignored Marcus' tirade of objections to their cure taking too long to create.

"Yes, you do," the lycan answered as he kissed the overwhelmed scientist's cheek. "I will try to help, if you allow me the right instructions, but it won't be any success without your mind behind it. And that won't be possible unless you take a break from all this."

Once again ignoring the elder vampire, Lucian hoisted his lover up and sent him to one of the infirmary beds.

The news was the same every time they went to check. The hospitals were over-filling with injured people, and the military had trouble simultaneously battling the undead and keeping infected people in quarantine. Rescue squads had been established, and even some brave volunteers had agreed to help transporting people to safe locations.

The subways and sewers had been closed off for quite sometime and those revenants trapped underground had either gone comatose from malnutrition or resorted to cannibalism. Raze and Soren oversaw the defense of the mansion and thus far, the number of attackers was dwindling, though not by much.

Singe worked hard for three days to produce a functioning antidote. It was troublesome and frustrating working with only one hand and being dependant on an assistant at all times. His calculations indicated that the cure should work, although the only real way to know was to test it on someone...

"I think we need a volunteer..."

In stormed Soren, and with him was someone very familiar.

"Rigel??" Marcus exclaimed.

"Please tell me you've come up with that cure," the raven haired death dealer began. "He's been hiding out ever since he was thrown from the car and saw what was going on. He almost made it here before someone bit him." Indeed, Rigel now sported a bloody arm, pieces of clothing and flesh missing from it.

"We have," Singe replied. "Although we don't yet know if it works."

Rigel looked both relieved and devastated. "And...?"

"The scientist filled a syringe with the precious substance and tapped at it. "It means..." He grinned. "That you're our volunteer!"

"Whatever it takes," he sighed, rolling up the remains of his sleeve. The needle dipped into his arm, entering a vein and filling his bloodstream with the antidote.

"It will take a few hours to see if any of this was not in vain." Singe admitted. "You'll have to stay here."

The following hours were like a stay in Purgatory for Rigel. He was sweating, spasming, and his heart rate could vary from 30 beats one minute to 200 the next. At one point it did not seem like he would pull through and all their efforts had been in vain. Then, sometime during the fifth hour, the course of events turned...

Rigel stood up and gave dreadful cough, hacking congealed blood and mucus into an isolated bag, and straightened himself. The vampire looked as though nothing had happened. Even his complexion had resumed its original color and state. Lucian wanted to tell Singe his efforts were a success, but he barely had the heart to wake the man from his exhaust induced slumber. The poor thing had been so disoriented that he had stumbled and hit his jaw and chin against a hard table corner, causing a rather unpleasant but hopefully soon to heal cut.

Now they just needed to get out the antidote to the public somehow... Although Lucian was not sure how that would happen. He'd spent almost all his time in the lab with Singe and knew very little of what was going on outside those four walls. He didn't even know how his pack was adjusting to their life at the Ordoghaz mansion. Most of them had not been around at the time when he and his people were kept as slaves at this very place.

Being here now made unpleasant memories resurface at more than one occasion, although he'd tried to suppress them as they all had more important things to focus on. Now, however... the urge to kill Viktor was back, stronger than ever...

He sat down at one of the chairs as he contemplated all that had happened. Considering how well things had actually gone in the fight against a seemingly impossible to defeat enemy, he actually thanked being in the hellish mansion. Why was he still pursuing this war anyway? To defend his race, yes... did he feel any grief anymore for his dear Sonja? Yes, but... his grief had been lessened. He had Singe to thank for that.

How opportune it was when he heard footsteps behind him and saw the hand which alighted his own. He smiled.

The joy of his lover's presence was short. Singe collapsed onto the floor next to him, face ashen grey and shining with cold sweat.

"Singe!" Lucian cried out in shock and grief. "Dearest, what is it?"

"I... I think I have caught the infection, after all..." the Lycan scientist wheezed in a labored, strained voice. "It's so cold..." he said shivering. Even his tongue trembled in his jaws, out of losing strength and life.

Marcus watched from the doorway as Lucian wept while holding his dying lover. Slowly, he entered. He had no idea why he was doing this.

"Lucian..."

The bearded Lycan looked up, tears streaming freely down his cheeks. Unlike vampires, Lycans tended to express their emotions openly. "Marcus... please help us..."

Marcus had not the heart to tell Lucian that his own blood may in fact do the opposite of what was desired. After all, vampire and lycan blood contrasted in a way that killed. But at least he'd die without becoming a revenant. Kneeling down, he removed the syringe of the antidote from his coat and inserted it into Singe's arm. Lucian pressed his face into Singe's shoulder, praying to the powers that be for things to turn out well. They had not gotten this far for things to suddenly fall apart.

Lucian carried his now unconscious lover to the bed where he'd previously lain and tucked him in. Singe's chances looked pretty grim, but Lucian refused to give up hope. Could Fate really be this cruel to him? He'd already lost one soul mate, and now he'd lose another?

A few minutes passed without any results and Lucian began to face the awful truth of possibly killing Singe when he revived as a revenant.

Suddenly, Singe's back arched and his eyes opened wide as he gasped, showing fangs. His eyes were the usual lycan hue of deep cobalt, but suddenly, they changed. The blue darkened into soulless black pits.

Lucian had never seen such a reaction in anyone, lycan or vampire -- never. In addition to the eyes, Singe's skin colour also changed from pallid greyish to a bluish nuance. The newly awakened creature -- which possibly wasn't even Singe anymore -- leapt out of the bed and looked around, eyes and mouth wide open.

Lucian regarded his lover in terror. "Singe?!"

Singe heard his voice and sank into the corner of the room, still shaking slightly. Lucian hardly was inclined to approach this creature. What the hell had the elder's blood done to the scientist??

Black eyes darting around the room, Singe - or what used to be Singe - breathed hard for a moment, and finally calmed. When he saw his hand, and the claws on it, he shied away from himself, if such a thing were possible. Slowly, his body changed, his skin reversing to its original pallor, albeit very pale, from shock.

It took a while before Lucian dared to approach Singe; he had to make sure his lover had indeed returned to his usual, harmless self.

"Dearest? How are you feeling?" he asked, taking Singe's pallid face in his hands.

"I feel... alright, I guess..." the scientist finally stammered, albeit still shaking. "Alright, but different..."

"You looked different for a moment," Lucian said. The imaged stayed with him like a lingering dream.

"This is all so curious," Singe stated, glancing at his hand, watching vein-like patches of grey and blue spread for only a moment. Then he realized... "Lucian all this time, we've been searching for the answer to the bloodlines of lycans and vampires... I think we found it."

Lucian's chin fell. "No... it cannot be..."

"What cannot be?" a refined though haughty voice said from the doorway. Viktor.

"Nothing that concerns you, vampire..." Lucian muttered under his breath. If Viktor found out, surely both he and Singe were dead.

"I am merely overjoyed at the health of my scientist. He is much improved since his collapse that you so memorably caused."

Singe slightly smiled, knowing just how well his health had improved.

"What shall we do about the antidote?" Lucian asked, changing subjects.

"We'll have to deliver it anonymously," the Elder replied. "I don't want public media to fix their eyes on my house. And if they find out about you mangy curs, we're next."

Lucian smiled sarcastically. My, my, my... Viktor had not changed a bit.

"At least I am a pure born of my race," he said. "That more than one can say about you."

Singe stood, feeling his bones crack as though he had not used them in years. "It is of no consequence to us," he said to the elder. "We're mangy curs after all..." he smirked as he and Lucian went past the confused elder.

Later that day, the radio spoke of an anonymous chemical sent to the military, which had been tested and proven vital to treating victims of the onslaught. The number of new revenants went down as those too far gone were now easier to fight off. Lucian's army destroyed any walking corpses who happened to be of his pack while Viktor oversaw the same for his race.

The Lycans had to find a new den, since their old one had been completely destroyed by insane, hungering corpses. Lucian and Singe decided to keep Singe's new state secret to everyone but the two of them, just in case. If the vampires found out, it might be enough to start a new war. While the "zombie raid" had caused massive damage to Budapest and surrounding areas, at least it had brought the century-old war between the two immortal species to a -- even if it was just temporary -- halt.

The End