A/N: Hello, all! As always, I'm really sorry that the updates take so long, but this time, I have a VALID excuse-I had a rather large writing project due in my Creative Writing class, which put everything else I was writing on the back burner, unfortunately...

Anyways, I'd love to thank everyone who reviewed: Bobby Rae, daccu65, alfalfa7, JuggsGotYa, ThranduilsDaughter, Skyestrike65, David Fishwick, SpeedDemon315, Kyrptonian250, and chase young's daughter. Sheesh, guys-ten reviews! That's nuts!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Underworld...which makes me sad...it would be cool to own Lucian...

Chapter Four: Advice for the Lovestruck

The sounds of leaves crumpling and twigs snapping under his boots were muffled by the snow that had only started falling a few hours ago. Flakes of white stuck to his dirty blonde hair, greasy and in desperate need of a wash, and also to the ripped and bloody T-shirt that clothed his lean, athletic torso.

But Michael hardly felt the chill in the air, or the cold snow on his skin. It baffled him to no end, how he was suddenly impervious to the cold, but he wasn’t exactly whining-the cold felt good on his slightly-feverish skin.

He half-walked, half-staggered to the gates of Ordoghaz, stopping and staring at the imposing manor before him. He remembered stumbling up to the gates of the very same manor two nights ago, desperately searching for Selene, knowing she could tell him what the hell was happening.

And now, she brings me back here again…

He didn’t know what it was about Selene that he found so hard to resist. Stoic, cold-hearted, and clearly, she despised the entire breed that Michael was now a reluctant member of…none of that was really all that appealing, in all honesty.

But he remembered what had happened two nights back, in that safe-house in downtown Pest. He recalled breaking past her jaded, stoic shell, seeing a bit of the true Selene, the Selene that mourned her family six centuries later, that only wanted revenge on the lycans that had torn her world asunder in one night. Not to mention Michael found he couldn’t really resist her outward appearance, not with those enticing dark eyes, that silky black hair, that smooth, moon-bathed skin…

The gates to Ordoghaz creaked open, and a sleek black limousine emerged from the circular driveway. But, just as Selene’s car had two nights ago, the limo stopped beside him. The darkly-tinted back window rolled down, and he found himself face-to-face with none other than Lucian.

“Michael,” he stated flatly, somewhere between a statement and a question. He glanced at the manor, then back at his new recruit. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.”

The new lycan said nothing, unsure as to how to respond to Lucian’s comment. The lycan master sighed, then leaned back into the limousine for a moment. “Keep it running, Raze. This shouldn’t take long.”

He couldn’t help but feel a sense of apprehension and foreboding at Lucian’s comment; he watched as his leader emerged from the limo, slamming the door shut behind him. Michael braced himself, should Lucian yell at him, but he merely started to walk back towards the gates, motioning for Michael to follow. He did, curious as to what was going on; Lucian stopped a foot or two from the gate, his eyes fixed on the manor beyond, hands clasped behind his back, his expression pensive, almost brooding.

“What is it about her that draws you here, Michael?” he questioned in a monotone.

Michael blinked, feigning confusion. “What about whom?”

A smirk came over the face of the elder of the duo. “Please. I’m neither blind nor stupid. I know that there’s something about the elusive Selene that draws you here, like a moth to the flame. I just want to know what.”

The young lycan shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets in an attempt to look nonchalant. “I…I don’t know,” he confessed honestly. “Maybe it’s because she’s fierce. Maybe it’s because she’s gorgeous. Maybe it’s because she’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I really don’t know.”

“I will give you credit, she certainly is…unique.”

“I think she’s trying to push me away, though,” he continued. “Like three nights ago, when she handcuffed me at the safe-house…she said it was because she couldn’t risk me running free. I still can’t tell whether it was because she didn’t want you finding me or because she didn’t want me following her back here. Is she trying to drive me away..?”

While not exactly a question, Michael rather hoped for an answer from his sire. He glanced over at Lucian, who was still staring at the manor. His dark eyes looked as if he was lost in thought, or maybe memories…

“Do you not know how you feel about her?” Lucian questioned out of the blue.

Michael glanced over at him. “I…I want to get to know her better, that’s for certain. Call it infatuation, call it fascination…I’m not sure what it is. But I feel almost as if she’s pushing me away…”

“I know the feeling all too well,” Lucian commented. “It was long ago, but I still remember her…”

“Remember who?” the American doctor questioned. He couldn’t help but wonder if what Lucian was talking about had anything to do with the woman he kept seeing in those hallucination-esque memories Selene had mentioned.

“Sonja.” His voice, usually so even-keeled. Had an undertone of sentimentality, along with longing and…was that sorrow Michael heard? “Looking back, I think now that I loved Sonja her entire life. For a long time, however, I was nothing to her. She knew me not as Lucian, but as blacksmith, or lycan. For the longest time, I thought she was pushing me away. I had to force it out of her, how she truly felt about me.”

Michael absorbed the story, then paused to think something over. He may have only been in the lycan den for two nights, but he had managed to make a few observations. One of them had been that he hadn’t seen a lot of female lycans. Another observation had been that none of them seemed intimately close with Lucian. And the third and final observation had been that the woman from Lucian’s memories-Sonja, he called her, and an eerie look-alike to Selene-was not among any of the females of the group.

“What happened to Sonja?”

Lucian didn’t answer; he turned away from Ordoghaz, heading back towards the stalling limo. “I have only one piece of advice to offer you, Michael, and that is if you want to determine whether Selene is pushing you away or not, tell her how you feel.” A bitter sort of smile came to his face. “That is, if you can get into the manor and get to her without being torn apart by an entire coven of vampires. Just because we’re ‘allies’ now doesn’t mean that I think Kraven will be inviting us over for sherry and giggles.”

“She’ll come looking for me,” Michael stated, trying to keep the questioning out of his voice as he ducked into the limo after Lucian.

Lucian gave a small, almost inaudible chuckle. “I’m afraid not, my friend. Not when she’s on as tight a leash as the one Kraven has her on.”

Michael felt his hands tightening into fists, clutching the leather of the seat under him in his hands. Claws slid out from his nail beds, prickling the fine upholstery. His stomach clenched and churned, but not with nausea, with something that felt more like…anger.

“Oh, yes,” the lycan master commented, motioning for Raze to head back towards Ferenciek Station. “Kraven is very possessive of what’s his…”