"So, that's it?" Selene finally asked, her voice quieter.
Now she had the full picture—why the Lycans wanted this human. It wasn't because of who he was, but because of what ran in his veins. His blood. They intended to use it to forge a hybrid, a perfect predator capable of destroying vampires entirely.
The thought churned coldly in her mind. The most logical course of action was clear: return to the coven immediately and warn Kraven. But even as the thought formed, another followed—Kraven would never take her seriously.
He would smirk, dismiss her concerns, and carry on with his own agendas. Ninety percent of her was certain he wouldn't listen.
"That's one part," Luke said, breaking her thoughts. His eyes didn't waver as they locked onto hers. "But the story's not over. There's another chapter—truth buried beneath layers of lies."
Selene tilted her head slightly, her expression sharpening. Truth? Lies? What exactly was he hinting at?
"You know," Luke began, his voice calm but laced with weight, "the Lycans you see today… they're not like the first generation. The originals were something else entirely. Once they transformed, they were gone—no trace of their human selves left. No thoughts. No speech. No strategy. Just raw, mindless rage, tearing through anything in their path. They were animals in the purest, most dangerous sense of the word."
Selene said nothing, but her eyes narrowed further.
Luke leaned forward slightly, his tone dropping. "Back then, the vampires managed to capture the very first Lycan—the one from whom all the others came. You'd think they'd kill him… but they didn't. Couldn't, for reasons that remain… complicated. So they made a different choice. They decided to lock him away, bury him where no one could ever find him."
He paused, letting the weight of the moment stretch.
"And the one tasked with building that prison," Luke said, his gaze shifting deliberately toward her, "wasn't a vampire at all. It was a human."
After hearing Luke's words, something in Selene's mind stirred. A memory. Not sharp, but faint—like a half-forgotten dream. A man's voice. Her father's working on something. She'd been human then, still a little girl.
"This is about me, isn't it?" she asked slowly, her voice low but edged with suspicion.
"Yes," Luke said without hesitation. "It was your father who built the prison for the progenitor of the Lycans. And that… is also the reason your family was killed."
Her eyes hardened instantly, filling with that familiar, icy hatred she carried for the Lycans.
The memory of blood, of her family's lifeless bodies—every hunt she'd done since then-was fueled by the belief that they were the ones responsible.
But Luke's next words shattered that certainty.
"But the ones who killed your family weren't Lycans," he said. "It was Viktor."
Selene's expression turned into pure fury, and in the blink of an eye her hand shot up, gripping his throat with enough force to crack a stone.
Viktor had been everything—a mentor, a protector, almost a father. And now this man is accusing him of betrayal?
How could she not be angry? Every word out of Luke's mouth challenged what she believed, what she knew. The only reason she hadn't already snapped this human's neck was simple—he had saved her life.
Luke didn't flinch. "Didn't I tell you it's the truth? The Lycans back then didn't have the intelligence to plan your father's death. Only Viktor had a motive. Think about it—the only one who benefited was him. With your father gone, no one alive would know the prison's location. It would stay hidden forever."
His voice never wavered. He had expected this reaction, which was why he had steeled himself beforehand—his own form of stone skin. He felt nothing, at least outwardly.
"This is all truth. If you want proof… wake Viktor and ask him yourself," Luke said firmly, holding her gaze without a hint of fear.
Selene's grip finally loosened, her fingers slipping from his neck. She stared at him, her expression caught somewhere between doubt and reluctant consideration.
Until now, every word he'd spoken had fit—how he knew her name, how he knew what she believed about her family, and how the fragments she'd carried for centuries were starting to align into a picture she wasn't ready to see.
For the first time in her immortal life, she felt the smallest crack in her certainty. A seed of doubt has been planted.
Could the man she had respected for centuries—the man she had trusted above all—truly have been the one who ordered her family's death?
"Selene," Luke muttered, rubbing the side of his neck with a faint wince, "you should really stop choking people when you're angry."
Not that it hurt him at all.
"Then how do you know all this?" Selene asked, her tone sharp but edging with genuine curiosity now.
Who the hell was this man, casually throwing around details about vampire history she herself had never even heard of?
Luke grinned, sensing the small crack of doubt forming in her mind about Viktor. Perfect—now was the time to deliver his… carefully packaged "truth."
"Me?" he said, tilting his head slightly, as if the answer was obvious. "I got the blessing of a higher-dimensional being—you could call them a god—and now I can travel between various worlds. I also have certain… means that let me know things."
It was technically all true. He had been tossed into another world thanks to some cosmic busybody, and he could travel between worlds now.
As for how he knew all the history of this world, the less glamorous truth was that he knew all of this because he'd watched the movies back on Earth. But telling her, 'I saw it on a screen,' would have made him sound like a lunatic.
This version of the truth went down easier—well, in theory.
Selene had been dead serious up to this point, her piercing eyes locked on his. But then, she turned her head slightly—shoulders trembling—before a small, unexpected sound escaped her.
A giggle.
And then, another one.
She actually laughed.
It wasn't loud or mocking—more like she simply couldn't believe he'd said something so ridiculous with such a perfectly straight face. "Oh, you… you actually expect me to believe that nonsense?" she managed between small chuckles.
"Hey! That's the truth, you can't laugh," Luke protested, frowning in mock offense.
That was exactly why he hated telling the truth. Every time he did, it sounded like well-crafted nonsense.
But in this case, it was the truth—it just happened to sound like the ramblings of a crazy person. He sighed inwardly. Yeah… from now on, I'm sticking to lies. At least people believe them.
A small sniff escaped him—half dramatic, half real. No one believes in the truth anymore. No justice for honesty in this world, Luke thought bitterly.
Selene had stopped laughing by then, but there was still the faintest smirk tugging at her lips. Something about his strange mix of confidence and absurdity had lodged itself in her mind.