
      Once A Millennium


      Author: aria


      Rated: R



      Prologue
      "No sir, your computer will not blow up on new years." Serena Woodard ran 
      her hands through her hair in frustration. Since the announcement of the 
      existence of the so called Millennium Bug she had been getting nothing 
      but calls about peoples appliances going wrong. "No sir your car will 
      work fine. Yes. That goes the same for your toaster and microwave." She 
      banged her pencil eraser on her forehead. "Your welcome sir. Bye." She 
      hung and looked over at her friend Mike. "Can you believe these calls?"
      "I know what you mean. Ive been getting nothing but those." He leaned 
      back and laughed. "So you going to the new years party?
      Every year the firm that they worked for, Cybertech Software, had an all 
      out new years party. This year since it was the end of the millennium, the 
      corporate heads were going all out. Everyone, from the heads to the 
      mailroom, was expected to attend.
      "Yeah I think I will for a while. Are you?"
      Mike nodded his fair head. "Yup." The phone rang. "Ugh. Here we go again." 
      He pushed the answer button on the phone. "Good after noon Cybertech how 
      can I help you?"
      Serena laughed as he went through the whole everything is safe speech 
      one more time. She went back to answering her phone and said the speech 
      herself another twenty times.
      Five oclock finally rolled around and Serena was exhausted. She couldnt 
      believe that working at a helpdesk could be so tiring. She had just 
      graduated from university the year before with a degree in Computer 
      Science. This was the first job that she could find that would hire 
      someone with such limited experience. She felt incredibly lucky since most 
      of her friends from her graduating class hadnt had any luck to this day.
      She and Mike packed up and walked out together like they did everyday, and 
      walked to the sliding front doors. "See you later Carol." She and Mike 
      waved at the secretary stationed at the front desk.
      Carol waved as they walked past. "Bye."
      "So can I give you a ride?" Mike repeated the nightly ritual every night 
      knowing that Serena always took a cab home. He smiled at her as he put his 
      coat on.
      Serenas hand was already up hailing a cab. "No thanks. I got a ride." The 
      yellow car swerved easily up to the curb. "See you at the party tomorrow."
      "Night Serena." He shut the door for her and waved as the cab sped off.
      Serena sat back and listened to the driver chatter away as she watched the 
      brightly lit up buildings flash past in contrast to the darkening sky. She 
      didnt like taking public transport at night. Shed heard too many horror 
      stories about muggings and worse and didnt care to take her chances. 
      Several minutes later the car pulled up to a large apartment building.
      Serena pulled out a few bills and handed it to the driver then got out. 
      Every night it was the same routine. Pack up, decline a ride from Mike, 
      get a cab, pay the cabby, unlock the front door, climb seven flights of 
      stairs and then she was at home. There had to be more to life than this.
      She unlocked the squeaky door to find the room in complete disarray. 
      Serena rolled her eyes and took her keys out of the lock. Looks like the 
      girls had some company.
      Serena moved in with some old school friends, Mina Scott and Raye 
      Thompson. They had met during their first year at university and became 
      fast friends, often going to coffee houses together and shopping. They 
      definitely had a good time together, which was why they figured they could 
      live together. They did have their up as and downs, and as Serena looked 
      around it seemed that this was a down point.
      "Hello? Anyone home?" Serena dropped her purse on top of the laundry 
      strewn on the couch and headed to the kitchen for some coffee. She opened 
      up the cupboard to find that all the mugs were gone. She turned to the 
      sink and found them amidst the piles of dirty dishes. Serena sighed and 
      started washing up her favourite mug.
      "Serena? Hey I thought I heard you come in." Mina poked her blonde head 
      around the corner. "Sorry about the mess. I was doing laundry when I got a 
      little distracted." She giggled and pulled someone into the kitchen with 
      her.
      "Hey Serena. Hows it going?"
      "Hi Phil." Serena smiled at the tall, dark haired man. Phillip Gately was 
      Minas boyfriend as well as one of their friends from school. "Hows it 
      going?"
      "Good." He put his arms around Serena and Mina's shoulders. "So what are 
      you three going to be doing for new years?"
      "Office party." Serena busied herself with the dishes. "And you?"
      "Party of course. Me and the guys were hoping that you three would join 
      us." He wiggled his eyebrows at Serena. "Weve got some real hunks of 
      beefcake coming."
      Serena turned to him amused. "Do they have brains this time? Or will it be 
      the usual parade of pretty boys with nothing between their ears?" Phillip 
      had taken it upon himself to try and set Serena up with his friends and 
      took any chance he could to do it. So far none of them interested Serena 
      in the least.
      "Youre too picky. Youre never going to get a boyfriend if you dont 
      relax your standards a bit." He grinned at her.
      "So I can end up with someone like you?" Serena grinned at his look of 
      mock anger. She loved to give him a hard time. "No thanks. I think I like 
      being single for now." She had a few dates while she was in school but she 
      found being single was better. There was no hassle and that was the way 
      she liked it.
      "What the hell happened in here?" Rayes voice could be heard from the 
      living room. She stormed into the kitchen, flaming red hair accenting her 
      temper. "Who did that out there?" Raye jerked her finger over her 
shoulder.
      "That was me." Mina held up her hand guiltily. "Ill clean it up in a bit. 
      Dont get your panties in a twist." She dragged Phil out with her.
      Serena finished up the dishes and went to the fridge to find something to 
      eat. "Bad day Meg?"
      "Argh!" She sat down at table and tore off her jacket uncovering the 
      psychedelic top she wore underneath.
      Serena still couldnt believe how her friend dressed. Raye almost always 
      wore torn jeans and tight tops with bright prints. She looked everything 
      like a stereotypical photographer. Serena couldnt remember a time that 
      she wore anything slightly sedate. Though in the back of her mind 
      somewhere, she remembered at time when her hair was long and black. But of 
      course that was too tame for outrageous Raye. And since then it had 
      morphed several times in different colours and styles until it reached 
      its current state, short, spiky and flaming red.
      "Douglas is an idiot!" Raye was an assistant for a local photographer, 
      Zack Douglas, and they frequently had disputes about nearly everything. 
      "He flipped out just because I mounted his print on a different card than 
      he wanted. It looked better my way!" She jabbed her hands through her hair 
      in frustration.
      Serena found some cold Chinese take out they had the night before. "Want 
      some?" She spooned some out onto a plate when Raye nodded. "Im sure hell 
      get over it. So what are you doing tomorrow night? Staying home?"
      "Yeah right! Me stay home the night of the biggest party this century? Me 
      and Zack are going to Phils party. How about you?"
      "Compulsory office party." Serena jabbed at a cold piece of sweet and sour 
      pork. "Did you just say you and Zack? As in your boss Zack?"
      Raye nodded and smiled happily. "Yeah we figured since we act like a 
      bickering couple we might as well become one."
      "If it makes you happy." Serena noted the happy grin and smiled herself. 
      "Im happy for you. Hey and maybe youll stop fighting now."
      "Not likely. Its the basis of our relationship." Raye giggled happily as 
      she sucked down a noodle.
      "Anyways I think Ill turn in. Had another long, boring day." Serena 
      sighed. Hopefully she would find another job or at least get promoted 
      soon. The help desk was getting to be incredibly tedious.
      ----
      The next morning the girls decided to get some last minute shopping in. 
      They hit the mall and spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon 
      there.
      Serena walked away with a new dress and some accessories. Mina and Raye 
      enjoyed similar success as well so laden with bags they decided to go home 
      and start getting primped for the big night.
      Back at the apartment, everyone spilt up to get ready. Each girl took her 
      turn in the bathroom. Serena managed to get a quick shower and barely 
      wrapped the towel around her before Raye swept in the door.
      "Come on Serena! I need to shower too!" Raye pushed her out the door and 
      shut it behind her.
      Sighing Serena ignored her impulse to turn on the hot tap in the kitchen. 
      A cold shower would do nothing to improve her roommates sour mood. 
      Instead she headed to her bedroom and started getting dressed.
      Serena walked into her room and shut the door. The first thing anyone 
      noticed when they walked into her room was the gigantic poster of a knight 
      on a white horse on the wall. She had bought it on a whim years ago, 
      somehow the gleaming metal of his armour and the white of his horse caught 
      her eye. Serena was never the sort of girl who fantasized about a knight 
      in shining armour coming to her rescue. She always believed that people 
      could rescue themselves if they really wanted to.
      Serena looked around her room at the rest of her things; all of her stuff 
      that she had acquired over the years. It had grown into quite a 
      collection. She had prints of works of various artists, mostly Ansel Adams 
      prints. Serena loved his stark black and white photos. Raye hated his 
      work, she said he had no imagination. Still even after that harsh critique 
      from Raye, Serena hung his prints hung all over her walls making a nice 
      contrast to the dark green paint.
      Serena walked over to her up lighter lamp and turned it on, adjusting it 
      so it gave a soft illumination to the room. She went to her bed and opened 
      up the garment bag that lay on her white duvet. Almost reverently she 
      pulled out the dress that she had bought earlier that day. The sea green 
      dress shimmered in the dim light. Serena ran her fingers over the hundreds 
      of beads sewn into the fabric and smiled happy that she decided to buy 
      this one. She easily slipped it on and pulled close the zipper on the 
      side. Serena admired her reflection in her vanity mirror before proceeding 
      with applying her makeup. She carefully applied the contents of the myriad 
      of tubes and bottles laid out before her on the vanity. Last but not least 
      she turned her attention to her hair. Serena ran a brush through her long 
      golden hair and fashioned it into a stylish chignon.
      Slipping on her matching shoes, Serena walked into the living room and 
      found Mina and Raye there all dressed up in their finery as well. "Looking 
      good ladies."
      Mina wore a flaming red dress whos daring cut showed a lot of skin. 
      Rayes dress had a full hot pink skirt that was only outdone by her tight 
      brightly patterned sequin bodice. Both women smiled happily at her words.
      "Thank you." Mina spun slowly, pivoting on one foot until she faced Serena 
      again. She smiled at her friend. "You look very nice Serena." Mina nodded 
      approvingly.
      "So are your guys going to pick you up?"
      Raye snorted. "Nah. Were all meeting up at the party. We thought wed 
      wait for you so we could all split a cab."
      "Sounds good. So are you ready to go?" Serena picked up wrap and small 
      handbag that were waiting for her on the couch.
      They both nodded. All smiling they walked out the door.
      Serena sat back in the cab after dropping off the girls. A few minutes 
      later they arrived at the glowing Cybertech building. She got out and 
      handed the driver a few bills and walked up to the building. Serena pulled 
      out her pass and showed it to the night guard and walked in. She did a 
      quick makeup and hair check in the elevator on her ride up to the top 
      floor.
      The doors slid open with a subtle ding revealing a room crowded with 
      expensively dressed men and women milling around chatting and laughing. 
      Waiters in their uniforms wove in and out of the crowd balancing their 
      trays of champagne flutes. Serena didnt see a single familiar face 
      anywhere until one came smiling out of the crowd.
      "Serena you look fantastic." Mike smiled and pulled her out of the 
      elevator.
      "Thanks, Mike. You do too." Tonight he wore a dark suit that complimented 
      his looks.
      "Shall we?" Gallantly Mike extended his arm. Serena took it, and together 
      they walked into the room.
      Serena was glad that Mike was there with her. It made it less nerve 
      wracking when she saw who was actually there. In the first few minutes 
      alone she saw the mayor, the chief of police and a number of other 
      influential people.
      Mike looked at her patted her hand gently. "Just smile." He accosted a 
      waiter and lightened his tray of two flutes. He handed one to Serena and 
      smiled then steered her toward and older gentleman who stood in the middle 
      of a group of similar looking men. "These guys are the heads. That man 
      there," He pointed at the man in the middle. "Hes the owner, Michael 
      Smythe."
      Serena nodded. "Thats strange he almost has the same name as you. You 
      know hes Michael Smythe and youre Michael Smith." She almost started 
      laughing but when the man turned to them with a big grin, Serena froze 
      wide-eyed like a deer caught in headlights.
      "Son! I didnt think that you would come." The older Michael walked over 
      and gave the younger a big hug and a pat on the back. "And who is this 
      beautiful young lady?" he extended his hand to Serena.
      Serena took it and shook it, willing her hand to stop trembling. "Serena 
      Woodard. Very nice to meet you sir."
      "Oh dont call me sir! It makes me feel like Im a hundred years old. 
      Please call me Michael." He laughed jovially. "Son, are you two having a 
      good time?"
      Mike grinned. "As much fun as two people can who just got here. Well see 
      you later dad, were off to mingle."
      "It was nice meeting you Serena." He smiled at her and returned to his 
      friends.
      "Mike why didnt you tell me youre to owners son?" Serena took a sip of 
      the fizzing champagne.
      "I didnt want anyone to know that I was his son. Ive spent my entire 
      life getting things handed to me on a silver platter." He ran his hand 
      through his blond hair in frustration. "I like it better when no one knows 
      that Im Michael Smythe the third."
      "Yeah I think I understand." She could imagine how hard it was for him. "I 
      just thought that we knew everything about each other." Serena and mike 
      spent most of their time, when they werent on the phone talking about 
      just about everything. At least she thought they talked about everything. 
      She had to admit that she felt a little deceived.
      "Well now we do." He gave her his most charming smile and put his hand on 
      her shoulder apologetically. "Come on lets go have fun." Mike pulled her 
      into the crowd.
      For the next few hours Serena did have a great time. Mike didnt leave her 
      side the entire night as if he knew that these people made her a little 
      nervous. They mingled and he introduced her to quite a few people. By the 
      time eleven oclock rolled around, Serena felt completely relaxed and at 
      home with everyone there.
      She and Mike were talking with a group of people from the fourteenth floor 
      when a waiter came up to mike and whispered in his ear.
      Mike thanked the waiter and he left. "Serena I gotta go talk to my dad for 
      a second. Ill be back in a little while."
      "Ok. See you in a bit."
      He smiled and walked off in the direction of his fathers office.
      Serena talked with the people for a while longer then wandered off to the 
      buffet table. She suddenly realized that she was starving. Serena picked 
      up a napkin and a couple of tiger prawns. She would have started eating 
      but she heard someone calling her name. Serena turned around and saw a 
      moustached man walking toward her.
      "Mr. Howard, hi." She shook his hand with her free one. Mr. Howard was the 
      man that interviewed her and hired her for the company.
      "Ms. Woodard, how are you doing?" His eyes wandered down her body and 
      lingered on her breasts and then slid back up to her face.
      "Im fine how are you?" Serena shuffled uncomfortably and moved back a 
      bit, seeing where his gaze was focused.
      "Still enjoying your job then?" he leered at her and moved closer.
      Backed up against the table, Serena smiled a little strained smile and 
      nodded. "Yes, its a great job." She wished he would move away a little.
      Howard moved closer, close enough for Serena to smell the alcohol on his 
      breath, and pressed himself up against her. "If you didnt Im sure that I 
      can help you find another."
      Serena dropped the food onto the table and pushed at his shoulders, trying 
      to get him off of her. He was too heavy to move. "Mr. Howard, please 
      move." She was trying to be as polite about it as she could. Serena looked 
      desperately over his shoulder hoping to find someone that could help her 
      but everyone was too involved in their conversations to notice what was 
      going on. Serena looked at him again and decided there was nothing else 
      she could do. She stomped on his foot with the heel of her pumps then 
      pushed him back while he was yelping, balanced on one foot. He let out a 
      yell as he fell over and landed on his back.
      Mike and his father came running out of his office to see what the 
      commotion was all about. Mikes eyes widened. He quickly strode over to 
      Serena who was standing over the fallen mans body and put a hand on her 
      arm. "What happened?"
      Serena tried not to laugh while she watched the man try to get on his 
      feet. "He was trying to grope me. I simply defended myself."
      "Youre alright?" Mike looked concerned. He motioned to a waiter to help 
      Howard up.
      "Im ok but Id like to go home now I think." Serena didnt feel much like 
      partying now, Howard had totally ruined her good mood.
      "Are you sure? Hes gone now. You dont have to let him ruin your night." 
      Mike gave her a sympathetic smile.
      "I think Ill just go home." Serena started walking toward the door. "I 
      had fun tonight, Mike."
      "Me too. How about I give you a ride?" Mike followed her to the elevator.
      "Sure thatd be great." The thought of standing outside waiting for a cab 
      didnt appeal to Serena at all.
      Twenty minutes later, Mike parked his Porsche outside of Serenas 
building.
      "Thanks for the ride Mike." Serena picked up her bag and wrap.
      "Not a prob. Sorry your night was ruined. Happy New Year anyway."
      "Happy New Year Mike." They kissed each other chastely on the cheeks. "See 
      you later."
      "Bye."
      Serena walked up the stairs and opened the door to their apartment and 
      went in. At least it was clean for once. Kicking off her shoes, she 
      wandered into the living room and sat down on the soft couch. So much for 
      the millennium. Looking around and finding nothing to do, Serena got up 
      and went to her room, took off the dress and headed for the bathroom.
      Twenty-five minutes later, after a long hot shower. Serena, now dressed in 
      jeans and a sweatshirt, sat at her computer checking her email not really 
      expecting to find anything. She clicked through some junk mail about 
      mortgages and getting her diploma online. Sighing she made a mental note 
      to start filtering her mail. With a click of her mouse they were gone. 
      Serena surfed around for little while looking at nothing in particular. 
      Just as she was about to succumb to boredom and shut the machine down, her 
      computer announced she had new mail with a little bell.
      "Well I have nothing else to do." Serena clicked on the little flashing 
      mail icon in the corner of her screen. In an instant the mail opened up.
      The mail was blank. There was nothing indicating who or where it was from 
      or anything. Puzzled, Serena took a closer look, trying to figure out who 
      would send her such a strange email. She moved to the bottom of the screen 
      and noticed that there was a little icon there. She couldnt make out what 
      it was, even when she practically pressed her face up against the screen. 
      All she could make out was a blurry bunch of blue pixels in varying 
shades.
      The clock in the other room started to ring in the New Year.
      "Happy new year to me." She muttered to herself. Shaking her head, Serena 
      went back to her mail and looked at the icon debating whether or not she 
      should click it. "What harm can it do?" she could always fix whatever 
      damage it did later on. Besides, there was nothing of importance on the 
      machine at the moment so if it was a virus it wouldnt be able to do much 
      damage.
      Shrugging, Serena clicked on the icon just as the clock struck twelve. For 
      a moment everything was still. Serena wasnt even sure if she clicked on 
      it or not. But then, just as she was about to click again, her screen 
      turned a strange shade of blue. She pressed escape, F10 and control Z but 
      it did nothing to help. "Thats odd." Intrigued, she tried all the buttons 
      again, still nothing happened. Serena pressed the control, alt and delete 
      buttons but that did nothing as well.
      The radiant blue light engulfed the entire screen and then it looked like 
      it almost liquid in nature as it swirled around the screen.
      "Strange." Serena had never seen anything like this before. Interested in 
      what was going to happen next, she stayed seated and watched the screen 
      churn. The light spread, moving out of the screen now. Unexpectedly it 
      billowed out of the screen, swallowing up Serena in its surge.
      Serena stood up in panic and tried to move out of the light. This wasnt 
      like anything she had ever seen. She pulled the power cable out of the 
      wall but the light didnt dim at all. She ran toward the direction her 
      door use to be in, but when she looked around her she could no longer see 
      her room. There was nothing except for the light. Serena tried running in 
      another direction. Her movements were slow and fluid like she was floating 
      in water.
      Then, as quickly as it appeared, the light was gone and Serena was dropped 
      like at stone. She hit the ground with a thud.
      Face first on the ground, Serena thought she had dreamed the whole thing. 
      That was until she felt the ground rumbling beneath her. Then she noticed 
      that her face was in dirt. She brushed off a pebble that had embedded 
      itself in her cheek. Somehow she had ended up on a dirt road. She looked 
      up just in time to see several pairs of hooves stamping dangerously close 
      to her head. Before Serena had a chance to react, something clamped around 
      her waist and she was hauled roughly out of the way.
      "Damn fool!" A deep voice shouted next to her ear.
      Still dazed, Serena had no idea what was going on. She looked dumbly at 
      the person who just saved her life, meaning to say a thank you. But the 
      words died in her throat. The sight took her breath away.
      The man before her was glaring at the cart that rolled away from them 
      giving her time to take in his features without him noticing. He was dark 
      and broad shouldered and incredibly tall. His dark hair curled a little at 
      his temples and the rest of the waves were tied with a leather thong at 
      the nape of his neck. Tearing her eyes away from his looks, Serena looked 
      at the rest of him and noticed that he was dressed strangely. He looked 
      like something out of a fairytale. Not like the extravagant costume that 
      princes wore but simpler, like a peasants.
      Serena took in every detail of his clothing, every stitch of his obviously 
      hand made clothing etched itself in her mind. By the time she made it down 
      to his leather boots and back up to his face he attention was already back 
      on her. His beautiful blue eyes had a hard edge to them as he stared 
      coldly at her. Her eyes moved on and Serena noticed that the only thing 
      detracting his good looks was a long scar that ran down the right side of 
      his face. She was torn from her reverie by his deep voice.
      "Are you stupid? You could have gotten yourself killed!" He grabbed her by 
      the arm hard and dragged her over to the side of the road standing her in 
      front of him.
      "Let go of me!" She didnt care how good-looking he was, no one handled 
      her this way. She wrenched her arm from his grasp and glared at him.
      "Wheres your master?" He looked up and down the street at the people 
      milling about the market place, but saw no one looking for anyone. "Come 
      on speak up boy!" He shook her like a rag doll.