Free 03 - Evolution by Greg Cox - (ebook by Undead)

similar transformation—into an unnatural
hybrid of vampire and werewolf.
    Just like Singe predicted, Kraven recalled. His gaze darted to the body of the dead lycan
scientist. Before his well-earned demise, Singe had explained how a
unique component in Corvin’s blood, inherited from Alexander Corvinus
himself, allowed vampire and lycan blood cells to combine to form a new
hybrid species, theoretically more powerful than any other immortal
bloodline. According to Singe, Lucian had intended to use Corvin’s blood
to transform himself into just such a hybrid, but Kraven had killed the
scheming lycan before he had the chance to carry out his blasphemous
plan. Instead it had been Michael Corvin who had become the hybrid,
after Selene added her own bite to the lycan taint already infecting
Corvin’s blood.
    Despite his immediate peril, Kraven could not suppress a
flash of jealousy at the memory of Selene bestowing her crimson kiss
upon Corvin’s unworthy throat. She could have ruled
the coven by my side, he recalled spitefully. But instead she chose that ignorant American!
    Marcus’ wings dug painfully into Kraven’s shoulders,
dragging the trapped vampire back into the present. He tried to grasp
how the Elder could have become a hybrid as well. Singe had implied that
only a pure sample of “the Corvinus strain” could permit the existence
of a hybrid, but apparently he had been mistaken. Although separated by
generations, Michael Corvin and Marcus Corvinus clearly shared the same
singular mutation. Singe’s blood had been enough to trigger the
transformation in the revived Elder. The gigantic bat-wings, however,
suggested that Marcus’ vampire side was clearly dominant.
    Black eyes glanced at the dead lycan. The Elder’s voice
when he spoke was hoarse from two hundred years of disuse. “The blood
memories of this wretched creature have shown me that your treachery
knows no bounds.”
    Kraven’s bloody face turned deathly white. Marcus had
obviously absorbed Singe’s knowledge of Kraven’s secret alliance with
Lucian. His heart pounded within his chest. “Milord… I can explain—”
    “Why should I listen to your lies,” Marcus hissed, “when
the journey to the truth is so much sweeter?”
    The Elder’s withered lips curled in a smile
of… forgiveness? Understanding?
    Hardly.
    Ivory fangs tore into Kraven’s throat. A crimson flood
poured down Marcus’ throat, and Kraven felt his own memories being
sucked out of his body along with his life’s blood. Images from the
recent past flashed across the minds of both the Elder and his victim:
     
    Kraven sat in the back of a
parked limousine, conspiring with Lucian. Pouring rain streaked down the
sides of the tinted windows. A crest-shaped pendant dangled from the
lycan’s neck. The gleaming pendant had once belonged to Sonja, Viktor’s
daughter—and Lucian’s long-dead lover. It had been their forbidden
passion that had ignited the centuries-old conflict between the vampires
and their former servants.
    “Remember,” Lucian warned Kraven,
“I’ve bled for you once already.” Kraven’s false claim to have slain the
dreaded lycan commander had led directly to his ascendance within the
coven. “Without me, you’d have nothing. You’d be… nothing.”
     
    Later:
     
    Kraven watched in dismay as
Selene sank her fangs into Michael Corvin’s throat, triggering his
transformation into a hybrid abomination. Lucian lay upon the floor of
the underground bunker, his dying body riddled with deadly
silver-nitrate bullets. Kraven had shot Lucian repeatedly, but the
stubborn lycan had clung to life with the last vestiges of his immortal
strength. Distended black veins snaked across his face.
    He taunted Kraven with his final
breaths. “You may have killed me, cousin, but my will is done
regardless.”
    Kraven opened fire once again,
emptying the last of the experimental rounds into the lycan’s writhing
body.