strong as steel

Surprise, surprise, her entire wardrobe consisted of black clothing, yet another thing she was going to have to learn to live with: the vampire aesthetic of never changing into anything that went above dark grey. Not that anything was below her own personal taste. Eve didn’t know who picked all of this out but at least they rightly assumed the teen would prefer comfort over all else. A dark and lovely silk dress that fit her just right was chosen for the event; smooth as a whisper with a silver chain belt. A scarf she kept from her mother after they first escaped Antigen was wrapped around her shoulders. It at least covered the straps that seemed a tad too thin for her liking. Even with the (she was loathed to it but knew it was necessary) protection of Semira and the knowledge she could level the mansion and take half the inhabitants with her; the girl was very nervous. A gathering of vampires who would judge her in every way for circumstances that were far beyond her control. Wonderful. Would she be expected to talk at all? How was she suppose to hold her tounge if any of them tried to bring up her mother? What if one of them tried to trick her into revealing what she truly thought of Semira? What-

Knock! Knock!

Varga’s voice on the other side of the heavy door soothed her nerves somewhat. She couldn’t quite place why but something about him made her more willing to cooperate in this hellhole. Right-hand to Semira he may be but the girl was quick to notice the way he looked at the older woman when she turned her back. He was the only one to look at her with something akin to pity while she mourned her mother. The more he spoke the more her mouth started to gape. Was he serious?! Fixing herself up quickly she undid the lock on her door (another surprise) and finally let herself be seen by another living being in this castle. Varga stood before her all business-as-usual and with the same bored expression on his face. Like this entire world owed him for just doing anything. To Eve he was incredibly interesting.

“And what would you gain from it? Wouldn’t ruining an alliance weaken the coven you sworn to protect? Would she honestly let you or I off so easily?” Eve asked him at once. Was a brief feeling of sympathy for some bastard hybrid girl what this was all about? Vampires shared many things and one of those traits was a knack for ulterior motives.

The corners of Varga’s lips turned up for the briefest of seconds, but softened again as he continued. 

Five hours?! Well Eve couldn’t say that Semira was one to suddenly thrust events and duties on her. No real surprises with her. Except for one…

Once upon a time Eve dreaded that her worst nightmare was being brought back to another lab and becoming a lab rat once again. Something to keep caged until you needed to cut it open. See how it ticked. Use it for your own gain at the expense of a life. Her life. Not anymore oh no; now her nightmare was her current situation. Her mother was gone. She was under the thumb of a vindictive vampiress with a grudge against Selene and didn’t seem to be quite all there in the head. In five hours she would be expected to dress up and be paraded by Semira as a show of her power and control. Just like before she was something to be presented like a prize. A piece of indestructibility. Tears Eve didn’t know she still had leaked out and slid down her cheeks. It wasn’t fair! All those months spent hiding away from both sides of the war had been for nothing and now here she was back in the same predicament she had been born into. A specimen to keep. A silly little child that needed to be kept under control. A goddamn pet!

In a rage she grabbed the nearest thing she saw, a glass goblet, and threw it as hard as she could against the door. If only Semira was still there. How wonderful it would have been to see the older woman’s features twist into shock followed by aghast at Eve’s gall. Pfft! Eve had never submitted to her captors before, Semira was no acception. That being said, it would do her good to play on the woman’s whims and let her order the girl around for the time being. Well as long as she had the time, it would do her well to make her last safe haven into something just for her. Semira told her that she these would be her quarters after all, anything she wished to do with them she could. Material possessions never meant much to her unless they were books or something ‘natural.’ Natural….

For the first time since the horrid night a grin crept onto her pretty face.

Later on, after being informed of Eve’s presence at this ball, Varga devised something. It wasn’t much, as he didn’t want Semira to painfully murder him, but he was willing to potentially take some smaller form of punishment for Eve. 

He knocked on the girl’s door, ready to escort her downstairs when she was ready. 

Semira’s threat made the girl look up from her pillow, even Eve could tell it was not an empty one. The thought of being dragged out of her last safe haven brought back unpleasant memories and compelled her to finally leave the bed. So a new coven was visiting and Semira wanted to show off her latest ‘prize’ did she? Well, she could take everything from Eve, could force her under her rule, and make her mingle with the rest of the vipers in this hell-den. But she was never going to break her. She was Selene’s daughter.

“I need a moment.” She finally said towards the door. First words spoken to Semira since she came here, that alone should get her off her back for now. Next her gaze slid to the closet, already filled with clothes, though where and when Semira got that done still confused her greatly. Would there be some sort of dress she had to wear? Compared to the many vampires she had seen already Eve had no doubt that she would be expected to look as proper as possible.

As possible as a half-breed can. She thought bitterly. Dressing up for Semira and the rest of her socialites and soldiers was the last thing she wanted to do. She could already imagine the stares and whispered comments….

Better make it good then.

Finally, something. Finally, words. Semira wasn’t sure if it had been time or the threat, but she wouldn’t question it at the moment.

“Alright. You still have plenty of time, I believe... five hours, give or take.” she informed Eve. “I’ll send for Varga to escort you when it’s time.” Eve probably didn’t realize the full extent of how powerful she could become. Most of the other vampires liked to scoff at the idea of a hybrid being superior, but Semira didn’t. No, she realized what others failed to, and perhaps what Eve had yet to grasp too; Eve had the potential to become one of the most powerful beings among them. More than herself, her mother, even her father. Unlike them, Eve was born with all of her genetics, they were not gifted to her. By default, as time and experience had proven, those born the way they were rather than turned were far more powerful than the latter. And unlike other purebloods, even the Corvinus family and their descendants, Eve was born with both sides of the coin; a pureblooded hybrid. 

Watch me

Or not… Eve didn’t care.

The girl didn’t make a sound while Semira stood outside her door like some sort of warden. In a way that’s what the older vampire, now Elder, was to the young hybrid: a warden. Also a deciver and a murderer. If Semira was going to think Eve would overlook what she did after days to herself then they were both in for a long few months. Why Semira didn’t kill her yet was beyond her. Some sort of twisted and final ‘fuck you’ to her now dead mother. At least that’s what Varga had whispered was the gist of it when she tearfully begged him to let her know.

@inacciaio

Semira stared at the door in frustration as Eve said nothing. Part of her wanted to simply give up on Eve and throw her out like an outgrown toy, but mostly, Semira had plans for Eve. Plans she had yet to tell anyone. So, she wasn’t giving up just yet. 

“Well, tonight you are leaving your room, whether you like it or not. You can come out willingly or I can have you dragged out.” she spoke, dropping the nice act for a moment. “I have an important night this evening. Apparently there have been vampires in America that have formed some sort of makeshift coven. After everything, our numbers and resources are low, and they have both. So we need to show them that we are a strong coven that they want on their side.”

The young hybrid had been about to reply harshly to Cassius, daring to call her a liar when there was plenty of proof available… When Semira chimed back in to suggest Lilith giving her blood to show the truth of her tale. Lilith froze for a moment, a deer caught in the headlights herself; she wasn’t sure if her blood would hold enough of the truth from her own point of view, or her mother’s, to allow them to believe…

She swallowed at the mention of Selene. Lilith knew why he was so fond of Selene for a time too, but that wasn’t exactly her story to tell. “He took clear advantage of Selene as well. Clearly, he only loved someone so long as their life and their choices aligned with his belief system… But that is another story for another time; Selene should be present to regale you with the story of her betrayal, of the lies she endured at Viktor’s hands. Why she turned away from the rules and the Covenant.”

Murmurs were passed again and just Lilith had been about to offer her wrist to Semira a shadowy figure moved into view. It was sudden and no one had known the being was there, not even Lilith herself.

“You need not take my daughter’s blood to verify the truth. Why bleed her, when you can take from me…”

Sonja Dammak, herself!

Blue eyes pierced the heart of everyone in the room as she removed the hood of her long cloak and stepped into the light of the Council chambers. A dark smile haunted her beautiful features. “I know not all of you have had the pleasure, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Sonja Dammak. I am the daughter of Viktor Dammak, was who an Elder to these covens…

It was like time had stopped. Everyone was frozen, some in shock, some in disturbed horror. For Semira, it was immense surprise. She had been told about how Sonja had completely perished. Completely and absolutely, physically unable to ever return. And yet, here she was.

She suddenly felt a pain in her chest. It became apparent to her in a moment why Viktor cast her aside as soon as he found Selene. Semira only held a slight resemblance to Sonja. They looked as though they could be cousins, maybe sisters. Selene and Sonja, however, looked as though they could be nearly identical twins. Their resemblance was uncanny. It was no wonder, that if the story they claimed was true, that Viktor spared Selene. 

Semira realized in that moment that nothing she did would’ve ever been enough to Viktor. Selene would always be the near perfect image of Sonja. Semira was just the pale imitation in Viktor’s eyes.

“Sonja.” she murmured softly, the first one to address her. Though she didn’t know what to say. Semira usually did, she always had exactly the words, a retort, a manipulation, a conversation. It felt as though Sonja had stolen the breath from her, had reached down her throat and stolen her tongue. Her body moved forward against her own will, approaching Sonja with both caution and curiosity. She had lived most of her life in comparison to this woman. This woman, and Selene. “I...” 

She truly didn’t know what to say. But she felt as though she had to say something. Yet when she opened her mouth, no words came. Semira was utterly daunted. 

“Eve.” She knocked on the door. “It’s been weeks, you can’t possibly stay in that room forever.”

Lilith didn’t have an ego that was easily wounded by other’s judgements of her. They could easily be proved wrong or right in the event of an ability to do so, in keeping with the actual nature of the being in question. She smiled ruefully, almost saccharine in its appearance, at the Council member they called Cassius. It wasn’t so much to hide her underlying current of rage, bubbling to the surface – a byproduct of her father’s gift to her blood that she had to constantly quell and keep in check, lest it come loose and have her tearing off her clothing in an instant – and more for the unsettling show of calm that would no doubt send some form or another of shudders down his spine, and perhaps through others present as well.

“Perhaps, if you knew the truth of my mother’s death…it would help you decide the matter at hand with more clarity.”

Her pronounced canines – one of the many gifts she’d received from her mother’s bloodline – stood barely covered by her pouty upper lip. She waited for the pettiness of the Council to die down before she began her story.

“Just prior to the first battle with the Lycans, Lucian, the first of their kind as we know them today, escaped his bondage. We all know that part of the story. It has been well documented on. What you all do not know…was of my mother’s involvement. You see, she loved Lucian. She grew up beside him, with him; they were children together. And thus, they became much more over time.” She paused, looking at each member, making sure they were listening. “Lucian had not defiled her or raped her, or any of the other claims that have been made throughout Viktor’s retelling of history. Nor did my father kill my mother.” She had them all with those words, for it had been told over and again that Lucian had been responsible for Princess Sonja’s death. “My mother was instrumental in freeing Lucian, along with effort from some others, because he dared to love her. Because he dared to make a key to remove his collar; he dared to take it off on one fateful night to SAVE her. He was to be killed for his trouble; made an example of. Viktor feared a rebellion and a mass upheaval from the Lycans if he didn’t squash Lucian’s infractions with a show of complete and absolute dominance. What he had not counted on, was that my mother foresaw a greater rebellion if we kept our brothers, sisters, cousins, in chains and bondage. The legends of the Corvinus twins were true, as we know them to have been true today. We are all children of Corvinus. Why should one side remain the ruling clan, free to live a plush and full life while the other get nothing but chains and a straw bed? So my mother freed him. He was gone. He did not have to come back to the castle… But he did. For my mother. Because Viktor threatened to hurt her, kill her even, for her betrayal in setting Lucian free.”

This sent whispers of outrage through the Council chambers. Viktor!? Threaten to kill his only daughter by blood!?

“And so, my father returned… To try and save the love his life; as it turns out, it was all a ploy to lure him back and get him recaptured and execute him. But when Lucian freed Sonja that night, they fought together, side by side, for each other, knowing…believing, that they both would die if they failed to escape. Cornered, if a last chance for a peaceful end to an already bloody night, my mother told Viktor of his grandchild, of me. She pled with him for a peaceful end. She pled with him that it was a miracle babe that could bring about final and lasting peace between the bloodlines, a mixing of the two that would show we were harmonious and symbiotic. We could all live together somehow… But Viktor, stole his hand away; he claimed I was an abomination. He pulled a knife on my mother and held it to her throat, and ordered his men to carry my father away and put him in the dungeon. He did the same to my mother, then, claiming he could no longer ‘hide her indiscretions’ from the coven, from the Council and the rest of the Elders, and how she would be ‘judged.’ That night they convened. Much like you all here, this night, in a circle around her. They all, unanimously, condemned my mother to death for her ‘CRIME.’ Viktor was the last. It didn’t matter, for they all agreed. Viktor feared the child. He feared me. And for the feelings of betrayal, the love my mother had for Lucian, and for the fear of the abomination I would become, that I was already, he says AYE. And it was done. Lucian watched my mother burn in the sunlight. There was nothing he could do. They beat him and weakened him with silver and they forced him to watch…” At this time Lilith’s eyes had welled with tears, two pearls of blood red iridescence slipped down her creamy cheeks.

“You tell me now… You tell me who the monster was in that.”

Semira stared in silent horror as the story got worse and worse. By the end of it, she was simply frozen in shock, like a doe caught in headlights. 

Cassius, however, looked outraged. “Lies! You bear no proof of any of this.” he growled.

Semira’s expression turned to anger then, though at Cassius. “You know there is a very simple way to prove that.” She then looked at Lilith, speaking to her directly for the first time. “Lilith.” she addressed. “Let us taste your blood. Let us see a memory of some form that proves what you are saying, and I promise that I will make sure Cassius stops his tyraid against you. Even if it costs me.”

Cassius snarled at Semira. “How dare you! You would even consider believing this? This about Viktor who you speak so highly of still? Even after what he did to you, you’ve always still defended him. But now at the words of some hybrid, you question him?”

“You know, it makes sense.” Semira admitted reluctantly. “I displeased him, he thought Selene was better and he was willing to drop me just like that. Despite everything I had done for him, despite my loyalty and the fact that I was willing to do anything for him, despite the fact that he told me once that he loved me as his own daughter. And yet he... he turned me away. He had Selene, what use did he have for me? His love was fleeting. When he was done with me, he simply stopped caring about me with ease. I no longer existed to him. It’s entirely possible that he did the same thing to Sonja. Although her “crime” was much worse than inadequacy in his eyes, so instead of abandoning her, he killed her. It lines up, Cassius.” 

Lilith stared all of them down, refusing to feel apologetic for her mixed species status. She waited for them all to speak and get their arrogance out on the table before she replied. She didn’t wish to compete with any of them for the floor.

“In this age, in this time, there are allegedly THREE hybrids to exist. Myself, Michael Corvin, and the offspring of Selene Gallio and Michael Corvin, named Eve; no hybrids have existed before me although there have been two since.” She looked to each Council member in turn, making sure to stare accusatorily at Cassius each time she got around to him. “The laws are then, since we have established a change in culture since the days when the laws were first written, out of date. I may have been a feared abomination back in the days when Viktor and the other Elders reigned, leapfrogging through time to share in the spoils of their great covens, fear mongering, war mongering, and lying as they go… But here I am!” She held her arms out at her sides, raised to shoulder level, palms up to show that she, indeed, stood here in their midst.

“I am here, now, and I am not going away. Viktor tried to stop my existence once. It may well be a miracle I am here… But now it is you that must deal with that fact. Laws are rules and rules are more like guidelines than actual rules. There needs to be comprehensive reform of the laws on your books. And there needs to be change in the record historically and going forward. The reporting of many deeds, historically, and today since Viktor’s death have been misconstrued, discredited, and altogether gone untold as if they did not happen. Take for example: the truth of my mother’s death…”

Cassius scowled at her. 

“Michael and Eve Corvin are different matters entirely. They are criminals and traitors. You however, are not, unless you want to ally yourself with them.” he told her. 

Semira held a tired, pained expression. “Cassius, just stop. Quit antagonizing her. This is truly an unnecessary show of power in attempt to bully her.”

“That’s enough, Semira!” he barked. “I am tired of your insubordinate comments. Remember your place.” Cassius snarled.

Glaring at Cassius in offense, she felt blistering anger surging through her. However, soon Lilith said something about her mother’s death. Sonja. Every time Semira asked about how Sonja died, Viktor would avoid answering. He said it was too painful to speak about. She never learned the answer. 

“Tell us this truth.” Semira insisted. “I for one, would like to know.”

“Oh, of course you would.” Cassius scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “This is all nonsense to distract us from the matter at hand.”

@inacciaio

Lilith sat at the table, a goblet of blood before her and alcohol in another not too far removed. She’d been alive for centuries, only awake for maybe…a few decades. She was just as confused about most of the goings on as anyone, but where it came to the truth…

The hybrid girl knew the only truth that mattered.

“Why am I here?” She looked from one of the Council members to the next. Her accent was everything her mother’s had been; and though her vocabulary was advanced and she knew a great deal of slang from this new age, this time frame; her cadence was still from another time. “In case anyone is interested in keeping a tally, our kind only comes before the Council anymore when they have broken one of the sacred laws of our species…” She sounded just like her mother…

Her pale eyes met everyone at the Council table, settling on one of the females. Suddenly, she was less her mother’s daughter…and more her father’s.

“Well FUCK your laws! They are in need of a rewrite. Times change.”

Semira wanted to practically cheer her on. Raise her glass to that statement. It was what she had been trying to tell Cassius ever since her appointment to the Council, but he wouldn’t listen. And in general, she was the newest Council member and while she led the Eastern Coven, that didn’t change that she was the newest, and thus lowest in the chain of command in the eyes of the other Council members. She had been able to make some changes, but not as much as she would like. And any change she had been able to make had to be won by fighting tooth and claw.

“You aren’t here because of any laws you’ve broken.” Semira spoke up. 

“Silence, Semira.” Cassius growled. She gave an annoyed look to the Council head, but held her tongue. “You are here because now that you... exist, we don’t know what to do with you. This is what we will decide tonight. Frankly, your existence is a broken law.” 

“Cassius.” Semira addressed him sharply, raising a brow. “I told you. This isn’t necessary. I will gladly accept her as a member of the Eastern.”

“The question is, does a hybrid belong in a coven of vampires?” Cassius argued.

“This is the daughter of Sonja. Viktor’s beloved daughter. Have you forgotten?” Semira scoffed. “Her being a hybrid shouldn’t matter.”

the moral of underworld re: selene especially is: when you don’t tell the story of what happens to the rebellious favored daughter, the next rebellious favored daughter repeats history … 

but also, the general moral of underworld is: if everybody didn’t lie all the f’in time life would be a lot simpler.

underworld in a nutshell: repeated history again and again

another example

viktor: murders selene’s only family selene: I’m gonna murder him selene: murders semira’s only family semira: I’m gonna murder her

   “So you seek the Eastern Coven’s protection.” 

Away from the ball, now sitting in Semira’s private office, she considered her guest’s request.