Missing Scene #3: By The Water By April French Toronto: March 1997 The water lapped quietly at its banks. Tracy could hear it. "Besides the blood... it's just little things, really. Small, insignificant things that I never noticed before. Smells, sounds. Grass growing. Paint drying. Heartbeats... "The hunger... wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Oh, the First Hunger... Yeah, that was terrible. That was pretty bad. But Kai was there, with blood. Human blood. Sorry, Screed. Rats give me the creeps. The first couple of weeks were... I fell into a kind of routine, you know? Feed, sleep, feed, sleep--that kind of thing. You never mentioned the nightmares, Vachon. Is it that way for everyone who's brought across, or only me? Because of the way... I should probably ask Kai. "It's weird. I mean, I've known him for less than a year, but it's like we've known each other forever. I've got two fathers now... At least one of them doesn't think I'm a chess piece. Although Nick-- Nick! Vachon, let me tell you something about Nick: he's freakin' crazy. He's Kai's master so that makes me his and he's treating me even more like breakable glass than he was I knew he was a vampire. We had maybe four months of nice, non-romantic, non-bloodsucking, mortal-vampire time--we had a good thing going--and then wham! I'm back to being the new girl. It sucks. Oops. Er... never mind. "But Kai... For someone who's never had a fledgling before, he's doing a pretty good job. I mean, flying and hypnotism are gonna have to wait, but at least I can go to work without turning into a raving lunatic. Crime scenes are still difficult. Although I don't get sick anymore... "I did have to kick myself though. I should have guessed about LaCroix a time ago... But now I don't know what to make of him. This whole thing with Nick's sister being Kai's daughter, and now she's LaCroix's lover--no, scratch that! She's his wife. They eloped on Valentine's Day. Nick was pissed as all hell. "It's... bizarre. I see them together... they don't look together, not like Nick and Nat, but... they fit, somehow. Julian says she's good for him. You remember Julian, he's come with me to visit you a couple times. He's not here tonight. Kai is; he's in the car. I don't know. I think "The General's" more vindictive, now that he's married... but then again, maybe he's always like that..." Tracy trailed off, turning the bottle over in her hands. "Remember-- remember when you told me I smelled like fruit? Like apricots, and calla lilies? You were right. The first time I went back to my apartment after Kai brought me across..." She laughed. "I smell like a damn fruit basket. Kai says I've got a really good nose for scents; I think he's trying to turn me into a bloodhound. It's like a game, like... some demented form of Sesame Street. 'One of these things is not like the other.' I can find Nick faster by scent now than I can through the Family bond--and not by smelling for cow blood, either. He's got a really distinctive odor. Almost like... lemons, I think, but not as strong. Sweeter. And oranges and... wood smoke..." She lapsed into silence again. "I wish I could remember what you smelled like." She knew Kai was standing behind her before she felt his thin, brittle hand on her shoulder. He stood there quietly, giving her strength. "You can take all night, if you like," he promised. "It may be some time before you can come back." "Yeah. Vachon, Kai and I... well, he's got some old business to take care of back in the States, and I'm going with him, so I... I wanted to say goodbye... for a while. And hey--I brought you a drink." She uncorked the bottle and knelt down beside the almost invisible graves, covered in dead, frozen winter grass. "Sorry, Screed," she apologized as she poured the blood on the ground. "It's human." Tracy stood and bowed her head. "I can still pray for them, right?" "Of course, child." Tracy said nothing aloud, but in her mind, Kai heard her fervent wishes for the peace of Javier Vachon and his two fledglings, one killed by Divia and the other by the Fever. Kai hugged her, and she leaned her cheek on his chest. "Sumac." "What?" "Nicholas's mysterious lemon scent. It's a Middle Eastern spice. He probably encountered it when he was in Jerusalem." Tracy nodded. "Sumac." "I'm told it's very good on fish." Kai put a finger under her chin. "I know you think he's being overprotective, but you are still young, Tracy. Grown as a mortal, barely born as a vampire. We all need to be protected when we are young. But I understand. Believe me, I how stifling he can be." "And here I thought grandparents were supposed to spoil their grandkids." He chuckled. "As long as we are aware of them, Nicholas's good intentions can't hurt anyone." Kai made his voice even gentler. "You can always ask Nicholas," he reminded her. "He knows what you felt for Vachon." "I know." Kai pressed a fatherly kiss to Tracy's forehead. "Come on." His arm around her shoulders, Tracy and Kai turned their backs on the unmarked graves and walked back to her car. The bloodwine on the ground shivered in the late winter wind. Some of it curdled and solidified. But some of it stayed liquid, and somehow, managed to seep into the frozen ground. The water saw it happen. But the water only lapped at its banks, and said nothing. ~Finis--December 4th, 2002~