They arrived at the chamber where the Elders lay in their eternal deep sleep. The place felt ancient, the air heavy with dust and the faint metallic scent of blood.
Luke's eyes wandered across the room until they landed on a strange circular mechanism built into the ground—made of some kind of metal or maybe something far older—directly attached to the coffin buried beneath it.
He instantly recognized it.
From the movies, he remembered that if you rotated that ring-like mechanism, the coffin would rise from the ground like some kind of supernatural elevator.
"I still can't believe such an important place isn't guarded?" Luke asked, glancing around the eerily quiet chamber. "I mean, isn't this supposed to be the place where a Vampire Elder sleeps? Shouldn't there be, I don't know… at least one guard? Maybe two, just for show?"
Selene didn't even pause as she walked ahead. "Do you think any enemy can even get here? They'd be attacked the moment they set foot inside the coven," she replied matter-of-factly. Her voice carried that quiet confidence of someone who knew her home turf inside out.
The only reason Luke hadn't been attacked on sight was because the vampire who first saw him assumed he was Selene's human pet—something she'd decided not to correct. In truth, Selene had been tempted to mention it just to see his reaction, but kept it to herself.
It wasn't unheard of for vampires to kidnap humans and… keep them. Some as servants, others as entertainment, and a few with hobbies so bizarre they'd probably struggle to explain them out loud. After centuries of immortality, vampires tended to collect unusual tastes.
Luke had to admit, Selene's point made a certain kind of sense. Even if an enemy somehow infiltrated the coven, they'd have no way of knowing this was where the Elders slept—let alone which chamber belonged to whom.
And honestly, with how creepy and silent the place felt, he figured most intruders would turn around long before they reached this far.
"Wait," he said, a mischievous grin forming on his face. "I have an idea."
A brilliant, wonderfully terrible idea had just appeared in his mind—one that could royally mess with Viktor.
Selene's eyes narrowed instantly. "That tone already tells me I'm not going to like it."
"Why don't we use animal blood to wake Viktor—just to see his reaction?" Luke suggested, leaning forward slightly as if pitching the next big reality TV show. "I mean… what if it works differently? Would he wake up weaker? Or hungrier? Maybe he'd just get dizzy and fall back asleep. This could be a one-of-a-kind experiment."
Yep—he was genuinely curious. Honestly, who wouldn't be?
Selene's gaze turned cold enough to make the room feel ten degrees colder. Her expression all but screamed: Do that, and I'll put a bullet in your skull right now.
She had agreed to awaken Viktor only because she needed answers. Her respect for him had dropped several levels after recent doubts, but she couldn't bring herself to completely discard it.
Elders were still the leaders of the vampire race, and treating them in such a way… it wasn't something a loyal coven member would even joke about.
But animal blood? Even fledgling vampires looked down on it. If Viktor—proud, ancient, and terrifying—was forced to drink it… she could already imagine the storm of rage he'd unleash.
Luke read her expression easily. Yeah, that idea was a solid no. It seemed Selene still had a sliver of hope that his accusations about Viktor were wrong.
"Alright, but what if Viktor is the one who killed your parents?" Luke asked, his voice suddenly serious. He wasn't going to let go of his 'experiment' idea that easily—especially since he found it way too entertaining to give up.
Selene's face softened back to neutral, though the steel in her eyes didn't fade. She gave a single, firm nod. "If that turns out to be true… you can do whatever you want with him—after I'm finished. But if it's false… you just escape. I'll take the fall."
Luke blinked. He hadn't expected that—Selene still offering to protect him even if everything he'd said was false. But that was fine. Because it wasn't false. And soon enough, someone would show up to prove it.
Kraven.
Luke could practically hear the man's footsteps already, storming in like a rabid dog—literally. The moment Kraven saw that the woman he'd been obsessing over had brought another man into the heart of the coven, he'd lose his mind.
And when that happened, Luke's plan was simple: grab him, tie him up, and squeeze the truth out of him. Then, when business was done, he could move on to the fun part—experimenting with animal blood.
The only question now was… which animal?
After thinking it over for a moment, Luke decided dog blood would be the easiest to get. The front gates had plenty of guard dogs—big, mean ones with thick collars and teeth like little daggers—trained specifically to bark their heads off whenever Lycans got too close.
All he had to do was "borrow" one for a little while.
Sure, it was cruel. He wasn't blind to that. But in Luke's mind, this wasn't just cruelty for cruelty's sake—it was science. And sometimes, sacrifices had to be made for the sake of knowledge. Besides, it's not like he planned to kill the poor thing.
Just… you know… borrow a cup or two of its life juice, run the Viktor experiment, and return the dog like nothing happened.
He could already imagine the academic paper on it: "Effects of Non-Human Hemoglobin on the Reanimation of Ancient Vampiric Entities." Definitely a solid read.