"Now off you go, all of you. I have something to discuss with Selene."
His tone wasn't raised, yet none of them hesitated.
The vampires slowly rose from the floor. No one protested. No one questioned. After what they had just experienced, defiance no longer felt wise.
They filed out in silence, some avoiding Ethan's gaze altogether, others glancing at him with a mixture of awe and unease before disappearing beyond the chamber doors.
Only Selene and Lucian remained.
"Now," Ethan said, turning his attention to her, "you must have a lot of doubts. Especially about why I joined hands with the Lycans."
Selene didn't look at him immediately. Her gaze shifted to Lucian first, jaw tight. In her eyes, the Lycans were still the enemy — still the ones responsible for her family's death.
"Yes," she replied evenly. "And if you don't give me a good explanation, the good impression I have of you will disappear."
Lucian watched the exchange carefully but said nothing.
Ethan tilted his head slightly.
"Oh? So I have a good impression in your… what is it?" he asked, the corner of his mouth lifting.
Before the sentence even finished, he vanished from where he stood.
A faint blur — and he reappeared directly in front of Selene.
He simply stood there, looking down at her with amused curiosity.
"In your mind?" he continued softly. "In your heart?"
Selene didn't step back.
Her eyes held his without hesitation.
"Don't ruin it," she said quietly.
"Okay. Didn't I say I would prove to you who the true murderers of your family are? They're right here," Ethan said, his hand lifting slowly as he pointed first toward Marcus's raised coffin, then toward Viktor's resting below.
"It's Viktor and Marcus. The two people responsible for your family's death."
The words hit harder than any bullet.
Selene moved before thought could catch up. Her gun was out in a clean, practiced motion, arm locked, muzzle steady against Ethan's forehead.
There was no hesitation in her stance—only fury barely restrained. In her world, Viktor was the one who had found her , who had given her purpose, who had shaped her into what she was. To accuse him of that was not just an insult—it was sacrilege.
Ethan didn't flinch.
"I understand," he said evenly, meeting her eyes without challenge but without retreat. "Viktor was a father figure to you. I can see that. But that doesn't change what he did. You were lied to."
"Why?" Selene demanded, her voice sharp, controlled—but her eyes betrayed the crack forming beneath. "What could they possibly gain from killing my family?"
"Your family built something," Ethan replied. "Something so important that once it was completed, anyone who knew its location became a liability."
Selene's jaw tightened. "What?"
"The prison," Ethan said. "The prison of the Lycan ancestor—Marcus's brother. A creature too unstable to control.The one who ordered that prison built… was Viktor."
Silence stretched between them, heavy.
"And when it was finished," Ethan continued, "Viktor ensured no one who knew its location would survive. Your family was executed to seal the secret."
Selene's finger tightened on the trigger.
"Convenient story," she said coldly. "Then explain this—if Viktor wanted the secret buried, why am I alive?"
"For that," Ethan replied, glancing sideways as he appeared on Kraven's side, "he can answer."
With a casual kick, he forced Kraven forward. The cloth gag around his mouth vanished instantly.
"Now," Ethan said, voice calm but edged with steel, "tell her the truth. Why didn't Viktor kill Selene?"
Kraven glared up at him, humiliation and pain twisting his face. "Fuck off."
Ethan exhaled slowly, almost disappointed.
"You really don't learn."
His foot came down hard on Kraven's leg.
The crack of bone splitting echoed through the chamber, sharp and ugly. Kraven's scream tore through the hall, raw and uncontrolled, his body folding in on itself as agony overwhelmed him.
"Tell her," Ethan said, his tone stripped of all amusement. "Or you become my experiment. And I promise you, death won't save you. Even if you die, I will bring you back… and continue."
His eyes shifted—something darker flickering behind them.
"Until you beg me to kill you," Ethan added quietly, a strange intensity settling over his face. "If you don't want that future… tell her the truth."
Kraven met his gaze—and immediately wished he hadn't.
There was no bluff there. No exaggeration. Just a certainty that made his throat tighten. He swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing as fear finally overpowered pride.
"I'll tell… I'll tell."
His voice cracked.
"It was Viktor who ordered your family's execution," Kraven forced out, each word dragged through humiliation. "Marcus was the one who carried it out."
The hall felt colder.
"The only reason you were spared," he continued, glancing at Selene with something between spite and desperation, "is because you reminded Viktor of his dead daughter. That's the only reason he spared you. That's why he turned you. That's why he treated you differently."
His lips twisted bitterly.
"Otherwise, you would've died with the rest of them."
The words landed like a blade sliding between ribs.
Selene's grip loosened.
For a second, she simply stood there, frozen—processing, rejecting, replaying every memory she had ever held sacred. Viktor's guidance. His protection. His quiet approval.
The way he had always looked at her with something almost paternal.
Her hand began to tremble.
The gun slipped from her fingers and hit the stone floor with a sharp metallic clatter that echoed unnaturally loud in the chamber.
*****
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