This story is a sequel to "A Shroud of Crimson" and the third story in my "Sons of Lilith" series. I've got a number of stories planned for this series, and I have to say, this was one that resisted being written, for a number of reasons. I've occasionally been accused of 'fixing' characters, so that they ended up having a happy ending to some part of their lives. And I agree, sometimes that's wrong. I'm not a fan of easy fixes. But after much consideration (and many dire threats from LaCroix) I wrote the damn thing. This story was originally called "That Has Such People," after Miranda's line from Shakespeare's 'The Tempest': "O brave new world that has such people in it." However, I found a song, which I've included, that put LaCroix and his lost love into my mind so vividly that I had to change my quote, and by extension, the title. No, it's not the one by the Goo Goo Dolls. My perception of the General was probably colored by the fact that the first episode of 'Forever Knight' that I saw was "Sons of Belial," an episode in which LaCroix was not a diabolical monster but a friend and a father, albeit a slightly manipulative one. To me, that's LaCroix in a nutshell (now a mental picture...). I also would like to say that at the time of writing, I had not yet seen "Be My Valentine." But I do know the premise, and I think I know as much about Fleur as any fan can know, given our limited exposure to her. Kai, Julian, Alain and Crown of Thorns, Miranda and Garek are mine, as are Black Falls and the Corvina. Alain stole his song from the Goo Goo Dolls' Gutterflower (which was only released last month or so, but I say he wrote it and they covered it). Miranda's song is "The Old Ways," by Loreena McKennitt. All else that is familiar is no property of mine. Many thanks to KC Smith for reading over the first couple chapters; you were a big encouragement! Pictures that go along with the story can be found in the text at http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fk_sol_cot_1.html In a strange way, I think this one's for the Faithfuls... Crossroads of Time By April French Part One Toronto: December 30th, 1996 The Raven's characteristic pulse was different tonight, Nick noticed, taking a sip of the house special. His vampiric senses were as high and toned as they had been in over one hundred years, and now that he was getting re-accustomed to his abilities, Nick was becoming more and more aware of the things around him, things that any mortal would ignore or simply not notice. Nick thought sadly, setting aside his drink. Not that he regretted helping his son. Kai would most certainly have died if Nick had not done something. But the problem with controlling the vampire meant that he had to it. Become comfortable with it. So he had. Nick had been drinking human blood exclusively since September. Flying regularly. Now that Tracy knew exactly what he was, Nick could use his powers less evasively when they were on a case. It certainly made things easier, but... Natalie didn't blame him. She was a remarkable woman, and now that he could do so without guilt, Nick thanked God for the night she had entered his life, and refused to walk out again. Even with his regression (as he saw it), Natalie was still looking for a cure. Nick massaged his tiny silver cross against his skin. Even though he was more a vampire than ever... she had agreed to marry him. 'Ubi amor, ibi fides.' Nick rubbed his ring and looked around curiously from his vantage point at the bar. Something was still bothering him. Something was... "Why do I feel like running, screaming in terror?" he muttered. "Perhaps it has something to do with the company you keep," replied LaCroix, sliding easily into the seat next to him. "Incidentally, I suppose some form of congratulations is in order? Although," he frowned, looking pointedly at the cabochon-cut sapphire on Nick's hand, "I had assumed that would be proposing to ." "I did," Nick said, raising his eyebrows in wry assent. "And yes, she accepted. This was a Christmas present." He waited for LaCroix to take the opening. The General didn't bite. "The atmosphere in here is off tonight, wouldn't you say?" he asked calmly, nodding for Miklos to bring him a glass and a bottle. Nick noted the label with some unease. "Isn't that a bit strong, even for you?" "Ah, but when there is such a glorious event to toast, Nicholas, I indulge myself." LaCroix downed the contents of the goblet in one swallow, and resisted the temptation to crush the glass in his fist. Nick looked away. Something had been very wrong with the General lately. Ever since Nick had divulged his plan to propose to Natalie. But LaCroix had agreed, so that couldn't possibly have anything to do with his strange behavior... "Well?" Nick blinked. What were they talking about? "Oh." He nodded. "There's something odd in the air. I can't place it..." "I can," LaCroix said, mouth twisting into a sadistic smile. "Alain is here." Nick choked on his bloodwine. "Alain?!" LaCroix grabbed a napkin and solicitously dabbed at Nick's chin. "Stop that," Nick growled, pushing the hand away. "He's here?" "Indeed. He'll be on stage in a few minutes, in fact. He's in Toronto with his new band." LaCroix reached into his jacket and handed Nicholas a pamphlet. said a mental Nicholas. "Yes, that was my reaction. 'Crown of Thorns,' now really. Couldn't he come up with anything better than that?" Nick coughed, eyes wide. "Not that. Alain." He flipped the pamphlet around. "He looks like Joel Grey in 'Cabaret.' A bisexual German Nazi master of ceremonies." LaCroix tipped his head to one side. "Aside from the 'German Nazi' label, that's not a bad description." His pale blue eyes sparkled with icy mischief. "He still carries a torch for you, Nicholas. A terrible longing passion." "500 years, you'd think he could take 'no' for an answer." "You used to be much more fun. I do believe your quest for mortality has turned you into a prude." "I'm not a prude; I'm just not interested!" Any further protest was cut off by an electric guitar and the sounds of many bodies massing together in preparation for dancing. Ecstasy is all you need Living in the big machine You're so vain Now your world is way too vast Nothing's real and nothing will last And I'm aware I'm in love and you don't care Turn your anger into lust I'm still here but you don't trust at all And I'll be waiting Love and sex and loneliness Take what's yours and leave the rest So I'll survive God, it's good to be alive! I'm torn in pieces I'm blind and waiting for My heart is reeling I'm blind and waiting for you... Physically, Alain hadn't changed much since 1880s Paris. Nick thought ruefully. It was the last time a large part of the extended Family had been in any state resembling 'together.' They'd spent 1879 to 1883 almost exclusively at the Paris Opera House. Himself, Janette, LaCroix, Kai, Shosha, Étienne--both before and after LaCroix brought him across--and Alain, the eternal Parisian. What the hell was he doing in Toronto? Still in love with all your sins Where you stop and I begin And I'll be waiting Living like a house on fire What you fear is your desire It's hard to deal I still love the way you feel Now this angry little girl Drowning in this petty world Oh who you run to Swallow all your bitter pills That's what makes you beautiful You're all or not I don't need what you ain't got He was still tall and lanky, with straight, floppy black hair framing a wedge of a face, dark and liquid almond-shaped eyes, and a thin nose above a pair of large, sensuous lips. Instead of the tuxedo he had been wearing the last time Nick had seen him (in the orchestra pit), Alain was wearing leather. All leather. All black. And it fit him like a glove. God it's good to be alive! I'm still waiting for you I'm blind and waiting for you. Nick set his goblet on the bar and dropped a couple of bills for the bartender. "Leaving without saying hello? Poor Alain. He will be disappointed." "Ah, let him be. LaCroix, would you please tell him not to visit without calling?" "Yes, I suppose it would be rather devastating for him to find you 'at sport' with Natalie." Nick's lip curled. "Ah, well. That's how the knife falls." Nick saw Alain heading straight for him and made haste to the door. Alain shrugged and sighed. "My luck stinks," he confided to his 'father,' sitting down in Nick's freshly-vacated seat. "It's the same every time. I get close to jumping the bones of the closest man to perfection--and he slips through my fingers." LaCroix made some noncommittal sounds. "Where's he off to in such a hurry?" Alain asked, arrogantly snapping his fingers for a bottle. "That mockery of a job you mentioned?" "No. To his fiancée." Alain's face fell in horror. LaCroix only laughed. "Alain, , I suggest you look elsewhere for your 'perfect man.'" LaCroix grimaced into his drink. "Nicholas is already taken." *** Nick beat the sun home. He stepped off the elevator to find Natalie watching one of her old movies... and Kai keeping her company. He shucked off his coat and approached them very quietly. His fiancée and his fledgling were sitting on the floor with their backs against the couch. Kai's arm was draped loosely around Natalie and she was resting her head on his thin shoulder. Nick's mouth protested, but he managed to smother a smile. It reminded him of the companionable piles he and LaCroix and Alain and Étienne and Kai had made in Paris. Puppy piles, Étienne had called them, giddy and almost drunk on the idea of sustained physical contact. Nick shook himself all over. Dammit, why couldn't he stop thinking of 1880s Paris?! With the greatest care, Nick oozed around the couch, lowered himself to the floor next to Natalie, and insinuated his arm around her waist. She didn't move. Kai turned his head slightly. "She's been sleeping almost since the opening credits," he murmured with a smile. "I think she's coming down with a cold. You don't mind?" "You make a very cute couple." "None of your cheek, Nicholas." Nick glanced up at the television. "'A Christmas Carol'? Aren't you a few days late for that?" "I like Dickens. Always have. And I love this version. Alastair Sim was a master, and the theme song brings back some very good memories." "Theme song?" Kai nodded. "'In Scarlet Town, where I was born, there was a fair maid dwellin'. Made ev'ry youth cry well a day, her name was Barbara Allen.'" He had a very soft, light baritone. Strong and soothing. "Why, thank you, Nicholas." He rubbed his temple with his free hand. "But you know, this version always stumps me. I'm never sure who Scrooge reminds me more of, you or LaCroix." "Me?! Kai, I'm hurt." "It's the bit that's barely even in the book that muddles me up," Kai continued. "The bit with Fan. The sister. Scrooge and LaCroix have some obvious traits in common. But that bit with the sister..." He looked over at his father, whose jaw was very tightly closed. "Why did you give that painting to LaCroix?" Nick shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time," he muttered, clearly uncomfortable. He wasn't really sure ... "You shouldn't tease him. Do you know, Nicholas... you have given LaCroix more pain over the years than Divia could ever have inflicted on him?" Nick only squirmed some more. "You're in a foul mood this morning. And so's LaCroix, for that matter. What is wrong with you two today?" He shifted his body and laid his head on Natalie's shoulder. Kai tried not to collapse under the added weight. "Not that I actually want to get inside LaCroix's head..." Nick snorted. "But I think he's bored. And lonely." Nick looked at his fledgling quizzically. "Seriously. Have you listened to his broadcasts lately? They're more depressing than normal, more sadness than sarcasm. He's lonely, Nicholas. Heart-gnawingly so. You've come back into the pack, after a fashion, but you didn't come back to him. Janette is gone from his mind, thanks to you." Kai managed a lopsided smile through a very big yawn. "And to be honest, as much as he loves them all, he's never given a tuppence worth of the same attention to his other fledglings as he gives to you and Janette. You were his favorites. But now?" Kai lifted a hand and let it fall limply to his knee. "Janette's as good as dead as far as LaCroix's concerned, and you? You're engaged. He's lost you to Natalie. But he promised. And if there's one thing you can bet money on, it's the word of Lucien LaCroix. He's boxed himself in, Nicholas; he can't touch her." Kai shrugged. "He's lost you." The ash-blond vampire yawned again, wider this time. "God, but I'm sleepy..." Nick shifted himself slightly. Carefully, he pulled Natalie's sleeping form to his chest, lying down on the carpet. He pillowed her head over his heart and wrapped one arm around her waist. She didn't budge, only exhaled softly and relaxed even more. Nick stretched his other arm out to his son and raised an eyebrow. Kai smiled, and accepted the offer, snuggling into Nick's ribcage with his hands drawn up to his chin. "Good feeling, isn't it?" Nick sighed contentedly. "Yeah. Now, never mind LaCroix. What's on mind, Kai?" he asked, quietly but firmly. "Oh, nothing much. And I do know what LaCroix is feeling. I'm lonely, too. I miss Miranda." "Miranda? So the child has a name. I was beginning to wonder." "Yes," Kai chuckled. "I suppose you could be considered her grandfather, after a very strange fashion. And she's not so much of a child, really; she's twenty years old. Now that the danger with Sperling is past, I've been debating sending for her. Christ, Nicholas, if you had any idea how much I miss her!" "I have some idea," Nick murmured, remembering. Kai's voice was becoming drowsy and slurred. "But there are other dangers..." "There are always other dangers, Kai. Wherever you go, wherever you send her. There's no escaping it." "And I'm not certain how the Family will react to her. You, and LaCroix..." "Why us?" Kai didn't answer, just burrowed in deeper. Nick tightened his arm around Kai's wasted body, stretched his neck, and pressed a light kiss to his son's pale blond hair. "I'm sure we'll all adore her." "That's what I'm afraid of... Of losing her..." Kai whispered before he dropped off. Nick waited until he was certain his son was asleep before pressing a light kiss to Natalie's nose. "You can quit faking it now." Natalie tilted her head up, grinning. Nick smiled back. "Your shielding is getting excellent, if even Kai can't pick up on your thoughts." "God save us from telepathic vampires," she agreed, looking over at Kai. "He's a sweetheart... Nick, why are we all so cozy?" *** Julian peered into his microscope. Natalie had very generously lent him some of Nick's samples, thinking that perhaps he could help them find a cure for Nick's condition. Julian was more than willing to let her think that; in truth, it would be decades before he was ready to go back to looking for a 'cure.' But until then, he'd be very content to examine the cells of an 800-year-old-- "Julian?" He jumped, swearing in German. "Tracy," he gasped, clutching at his heart. "Don't that when I'm working!" "Sorry." Tracy sat down on one of the clinic's examining tables. "Didn't mean to scare you," she teased. Julian shook his head and bared his fangs playfully. "Honestly, Vetter, shouldn't you know better than to sneak up on a vampire? That's a good way to end up with a few extra air holes." He clicked his teeth at her. "What can I do for you?" "Oh, nothing. I'm not here on business." Julian raised a red eyebrow. "A social call? I'm flattered." He smiled one of his rare true smiles, the kind that melted his cynical brown eyes into dark milk chocolate. "How are you feeling?" "Better." Tracy pressed her lips together and looked down, pulling off her gloves. "I was visiting Vachon. I've been to visit him a few times now. Oh, thanks for going with me, the first time." "It was nothing." Julian inclined his head. "It's not the first time I've been a shoulder to cry on. And from what Nick told me... it didn't seem like you had many other shoulders to choose from. I'm glad you're doing better... Did you come to talk?" "No." "Trace, you've got to talk about them sometime. You know I'm... I'm always here to talk to." Tracy blushed under his concern and couldn't meet his eyes. "Who's that?" she asked, catching sight of a framed photograph on Julian's desk. It was posed portrait of one of the prettiest girls Tracy had ever seen. She had long blond hair and enormous blue eyes, and delicate features. And a decidedly evil grin. "Girlfriend?" "Huh? Oh, her. Hell, no." Julian studied the photo. "That's Kai's adopted daughter, Miranda. As for her being my girlfriend... Tracy, it's hard even for a vampire to have a romantic involvement with someone they put diapers on." He grinned as Tracy squirmed. "Can I get you something to drink? I've got Pepsi. Real Pepsi, not that diet crap." "Really?" "I like sugar." He grabbed two cans from his mini-fridge. "Sugar and salt, those're my staples. Kai's not here; who let you in?" "I came in through the service entrance." "Service--?" Julian blinked. "Tracy, we don't a service entrance. When a vampire wants to drop in, they just..." He shrugged and took a swig of his soda. "Drop in. Through the skylight in the fifth floor." He eyed the homicide detective suspiciously. "You didn't." Tracy grinned sheepishly, and nodded. "Yeah. I did." "So let me get this straight: you climbed five flights up the fire escape to the roof, opened the skylight, dropped ten feet down into the dormitory, and then came down here?" Tracy nodded. "Damn, girl, but you've got some kind of spunk." He liked women with spunk. But he had to wonder what Kai wanted with Tracy Vetter. Julian had attended on him long enough to know that Kai Thorn was not the kind of vampire to latch on to a woman just because she had blond hair, blue eyes and balls of steel. Although such traits certainly helped... But Julian was not about to meddle in Kai's business again, not after the fiasco with Sperling and Cat Spenser. He shuddered internally at the thought. So Julian drank soda and traded jokes with Tracy and never told her that her partner's son had 'plans' for her. *** "The funny thing about vampires is... well, to borrow Kai's wolf metaphor, we're pack animals. We like contact, with mortals, with each other. Living alone is... hard." Nick trailed off, thinking of all the times LaCroix had tracked him down over the centuries. The fury at being found. The overload of joy at no longer being alone. "Hence the pile. I can remember spending the day like this hundreds of times, with LaCroix and whatever other male fledgling he'd picked up, sometimes the two of us with Janette, or just me and LaCroix. It had nothing to do with sex. Physical contact strengthens the blood bond, makes us feel protected. Safe." Natalie stroked his chest, encouraging him to keep talking, to explain, not only to make her understand, but to clarify things for himself as well. He spoke quietly, his deep voice rumbling softly under her ear. "I put myself through Purgatory, running away from LaCroix and every other vampire I came across, having nothing to do with my own kind unless I needed something from them. Probably why I've had so much bad luck with fledglings. I wanted so much to have... companionship, someone to talk with, to touch, to be near..." <> "Kai was the first fledgling I had who didn't... who wasn't a mistake..." Nick trailed off again, remembering Gerard and Elizabeth. And Alyssa. "Every vampire makes mistakes. Even LaCroix, even the Ancients, but I was so desperate for some kind of companion, I made more than most. He stayed with me, on and off, for about forty years." Nick snorted. "He and LaCroix tended to avoid each other; their personalities really don't mix. When Kai left for good... I didn't try to stop him. I didn't want to be the kind of controlling master that LaCroix can be sometimes. But it was like he had died... and ripped out a chunk of me." "Why did he leave?" <> "He thought I was holding him back. I was... shielding him, I suppose, in hindsight. I was so afraid of losing him that I tried too hard to protect him... and lost him anyway." Nick and Natalie glanced at each other and looked away quickly. *** Black Falls, New York, USA: December 31st, 1996 The sun had long since slipped down behind the waterfall, but the town was far from quiet. Young--or young-looking--people were wandering the sidewalks now, basking in the sickly yellow light of a streetlamp or leaning up against a cold metal mailbox. Some of them, the younger ones in particular, were drinking, taking long draughts from queerly labeled green bottles and then licking their fangs clean with agile tongues. Miranda knew enough to stay well away from that crowd. Not for the first time in her twenty years of life, she wished that she were a vampire, so that she wouldn't have to bother about the cold. And it was cold. Past midnight in the Adirondacks was really no time to be outside, regardless of the reason. Miranda had done her best, been as quiet as was humanly possible in sneaking out of the old farm house on the west side of town. She could only hope that neither Joshua nor Violet nor any of their children had noticed that she was no longer in the house. It was a long shot; their ears were sharper than those of most experienced parents', and as long as her father was in Canada, Miranda had pretty much been under house-arrest. she thought again. She'd lost count of the times that sentence had run through her head, ever since she had discovered where her father was. Miranda commiserated, leaning herself against a tree sprouting incongruously from the middle of two concrete sidewalk slabs outside the building where her friend lived. She looked around, her great blue eyes annoyed beyond belief. "Garek, where the hell are you?" she muttered. She crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself. It was cold. A stick of ice touched her shoulder. "Gak!" Miranda jumped and punched her assailant in the stomach. "Jeez, Miri," Garek wheezed, his soft black curls obscuring his eyes. "Nice to see you, too." He straightened gingerly. "Damn, but you pack a wallop." "This is Black Falls. A girl's gotta know how to defend herself." She shoved her hands back into her coat pockets. "Okay, granted." "Now what gives? I usually sleep when it's dark out..." "You don't know what you're missing." "If Joshua finds out, I'm toast. And if Dad finds out, I'm shish-kabob." Garek chuckled. "You're twenty years old and still taking orders from your old man?" "It's dumb, I know." Miranda shrugged. "Always seems like fathers have trouble giving up their kids. Especially vampire fathers." "You have no idea..." Garek murmured, eyes flashing amber under his closed eyelids. When he opened them, the irises were their natural black. "Now what is it?!" "I just wanted to say goodbye. I'm leaving for Toronto in an hour or so, and I don't know when I'll be back. Or if I'll be back, so..." He trailed off. He didn't really want to leave the town... or Miranda... but he knew the rules. Blood called out for blood... "I want you to take me with you." Garek blinked. He hadn't planned on this-- "Come again?" "You're going to Toronto. And I'm going with you." "But why? Miranda--" "He's hiding something from me, Garek Donovan, and I don't like it!" "Who's... Kai? Kai's in Toronto?" Miranda nodded her head vigorously, spilling her long blond hair over her face. Garek tried not to lick his lips. This changed everything. Everything. And he didn't want to seem too eager... "Maybe he's just sick again." "No, it's more. It's worse than that. When he was home, Julian told me he's been burning all my letters. And he has no photos of me with him. Worse than that! He's avoiding talking about me. To his own Family!" "Maybe," Garek suggested softly, "it was just time for him to move on. It happens to all of us, Miri." She shook her head, disbelieving. "To all of us. Even in Black Falls. And even to St. Kai. He didn't want you to know where he was, after all. He may just have wanted for you to get on with your life--" Her great blue eyes blazed with indignation. "He promised me, Garek," she spat with a hiss that would have made any vampire proud. "Dad promised me that if he ever had to move on, he would take me with him. This is different. Something's wrong, I know it. I have to get to him, Garek. And if you won't take me, I can find some other way. Hitch a ride to Glens Falls, take a bus--" "No, no," said Garek hastily. "Kai'd find something very creative to do to me if he found out I let you go up there alone." He sighed. "All right, you've busted my arm." He jerked his thumb towards his apartment. "Go inside and warm up some while I heat up the car." Miranda nodded. She turned to go up the stairs to the front door, got two steps forward before she heard a dull thud!... and then the world fuzzed around the edges and blinked out. *** The glass made it only halfway to his mouth before it shattered from an involuntary muscle reaction. LaCroix looked down at the stem of his glass--and his bleeding hand--in mild shock. How had happened, he wondered. *** Toronto: January 2nd, 1997 Natalie was taking refuge in the morgue. It was a good place to hide from the world, particularly when the world was craving for your attention; the atmosphere was quiet, the company was undemanding, and if you got really pissed, you got to stick a knife in something. The truth was, she had had idea how much her colleagues wanted her and Nick to get together. Grace was ecstatic, Tracy was thrilled, Reese was relieved, more than anything else, and the rest of the precinct was giving her and Nick a well-earned ribbing. In Natalie's eyes, the best part was the fact that Nick had a ring and she didn't. No use explaining that the cabochon sapphire band had been a Christmas gift totally devoid of matrimonial intent; everyone and their mother-in-law were now completely convinced that had proposed to . Grace had even asked if Natalie was going to carry Nick across the threshold. Nick had turned as pink as was possible for him to get. The impromptu party might have gone on for hours, except that Nick had gotten an emergency call on his cell phone. "It's Kai," he whispered, throwing on his black leather duster. "He's having an episode." Natalie frowned, studying his expression. "You don't seem very bothered by that." Nick grinned and proceeded to book off. Natalie couldn't fathom why he looked so happy... until she saw Julian smothering a giggle. "Liar," he muttered. Now Natalie was hiding from the same fate, and to be honest, she was waiting for the implications of her decision to kick in. She reached up and rubbed the tiny silver cross under her blouse. Nick had asked her to marry him. Nick. Vampire. Marriage. And Natalie had accepted. Was it in May that the whole thing had started? Seven months, and they'd gone from estranged to engaged. When she looked up, Grace was staring at her, smirking. "Girl, you have ," she said pointedly. Julian dropped his scalpel, laughing. "Hey! You mind your own business." Natalie just shrugged. "Now come on. Spill. Did you or did you not ask that man to marry you?" "No. He asked me. Nick can be very traditional about some things. If I'd asked him-- I'd asked him--he'd probably have passed out." Grace cocked an eyebrow. "Then where's your ring?" "Didn't get one. Got this instead." She showed Grace the cross. "This meant more to Nick than a ring." "Details?" Grace persisted. "You know," said Natalie, laughing, "you're nosy." "You don't know the half of it." "Okay. But it was nothing really elaborate. We exchanged gifts at the loft; he took me to church, and proposed after the service." "And you think he's the one? Don't get me wrong, Nat, I think he's perfect for you. Everybody does." Grace's expression was one of friendly concern. "What do you think?" Natalie thought back to Christmas Eve... <> <> <> Natalie, finding her vision inexplicably blurred, blinked. "Yeah. I'm sure." Grace leaned over and hugged her. "I'd toast the happy event, but I'm fresh out of champagne." "Stick it, Gorey," Grace said succinctly, going back to her work. Julian, still chuckling, began to pack up for the evening. Natalie shook her head. "Nutcases. All of them." She pulled on a pair of latex gloves and resumed her autopsy of one Christopher Fletcher III, urban violence victim. The radio played softly in the background. *** "Merry meet, gentle listeners, from the Nightcrawler. Another year's come, and with a puff of dust, it may be gone just as quickly. Tonight's topic: relationships. Or as I prefer to classify them, romantic entanglements. Before we begin, I should like to offer my official 'congratulations' to my old friend and his new love. Be careful what you ask for, Nicholas, because you seem to have gotten it." *** Nick shook his head. "You said boredom? Marriage or not, I'm still his favorite topic of conversation," he said ruefully. He was sitting in Kai's living room, taking a welcome respite from the jabs of his co-workers. Kai smiled, sipping at one of his favored Edinburgh vintages. "By the way, thanks for saving me back there." "Don't mention it. Although I daresay you probably deserved it..." Nick gave his fledgling a look. Kai grinned knowingly. "Come on, we've both been through the wringer, as they say. Twice, myself. And I know you've been married before." "Once, yes." Nick's memories of Alyssa, their brief courtship and even briefer marriage, were painful but sweet, and the pain was even greater because of its nearness to his soul. "But it was pretty whirlwind. And afterward... I made a terrible job of it. I want to do things right with Nat." "Have you done much planning?" "Not really. Lots of ideas, nothing solid. I've only been engaged for a week, remember." He sighed and rubbed his knees. "Weddings have changed since the last time I did this." "And yet, not nearly as much as it might seem at first glance. Tell me, are you inviting any Family members to the ceremony? I assume you'll have a civil service if you do." Nick turned the question over in his head. "You, of course. And LaCroix, though I don't think he'll actually show up. Janette, if she wishes to come. Étienne and Shosha, and their boys. Étienne's thrilled beyond the telling of it." "Ghost always was an incurable romantic." "The Prince and the Pauper. Alain... Well, I'm not so sure about Alain..." "Serena?" "Um..." Nick squirmed. "Well, she'll hear about it whether I invite her or not. If she wants to come... she can." Kai brought his glass up to hide his smile. He was about to say something more when his telephone rang in the kitchen. "I'll get it!" Julian shouted, just coming home from work. He zoomed up the stairs from the store and grabbed the phone. "Gorey. Hey, Josh, what's new?" "It's his brother," Kai decided. Nick nodded. "You and he seem to have gotten back to normal." Kai suddenly found his drink extremely interesting. "Your relationship was kind of strained for a while. It seemed like--" "Kai." Julian stood in the doorway. "It's Joshua, he needs to speak to you. It's about Miranda." Concerned, Kai took the handset. "Joshua? Yes, what's--What?" A muscle in Kai's thin cheek jumped. "You... are certain? Yes. No, she's not here. Good. Yes, by all means, send them. I'll make arrangements. Thank you, Joshua." Kai pressed the OFF button, sat quite still for a moment... and chucked the phone into the fireplace. "Miranda's missing," he whispered, burying his face in his hands. --Lyrics taken from "The Big Machine" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Part Two "Right. Thanks, Trace." Nick clicked his cell phone closed. "She and Nat are on their way." Julian nodded. "Good. I don't know how much help they'll be, but the more contact with people he has, the longer it'll take for him to go ballistic." With professional care, he poured a shot of holy water and half a mug of hot coffee into a pint of blood and stirred it together. Nick carried it back into the living room. Kai was huddled in his armchair with his knees clutched to his chest, and his face buried between them. "Kai," Nick said softly, "drink this." Mechanically, Kai's head came up. His eyes were blank, drawn inward. Nick knew that look; he had seen it many times on Kai's face in the past months, when his mortal friends were bring systematically slaughtered and Kai could only wait, helpless, for the murders to end. He reached out and took the mug, and drank. The hot blood flowed smoothly down his throat... then the caffeine hit his nerve endings and he began to cough and hack. "Damn you, Julian!" he rasped. Nick thumped him on the back. "I coffee..." "Calm down," said Nick sternly. "Now tell me: what's happened?" Kai took a deep, shuddering breath. "She's been gone for two days," he began, voice tremoring audibly. "Joshua told me that he heard her leave the house just after midnight on December 31st, but he didn't try to stop her because he thought she was just sneaking out to meet a friend. She's been known to do that. When she didn't come home by the afternoon of New Year's Eve, he started getting worried and set out around the town. He walloped a couple of the local loungers and found out where Miranda was last seen. It seemed to them like she was waiting for someone, but they didn't see who. Or didn't want to say who. Could be the same thing." Kai leaned his forehead against a thin, brittle hand. "I've failed." "Stop it, Kai," Julian scolded. "This isn't your fault--" "Oh, you're a fine one to talk about fault!" Kai snarled viciously. Nick actually jumped; he'd heard his son sound so... vindictive. Julian's expression could have been set in stone. "Who the hell are you to go around assigning blame, Gorey? Won't even forgive your own father for something he couldn't control!" "All right!" Nick shouted, voice coarsening. The room became deathly quiet, with only the insidious whispers of the Nightcrawler to break the silence. "Julian," he commanded around his fangs, "turn off the radio." The doctor moved to do so. "No!" Kai's head jerked to one side as if he'd been smacked. "No, leave it... leave it on." Kai stumbled out of his chair and leaned his ear next to the speaker, clinging to the sound of LaCroix's voice like a man dying of thirst. "Leave it on..." *** "And then she--" LaCroix pressed the button on the telephone, effectively cutting off the rantings of his caller. "Enough of that. No surprise coupling didn't work out, it there? And why is that? Because our caller, the lovelorn little accountant, was unwilling to put forth any effort. Or to take any of the blame. 'Love at first sight,' he claimed. It is... amazing to me to find that so many still believe that love is a flash of lightening. Something that just happens. There's no such thing as 'love at first sight.'" <> "And even if there was, would it be allowed to last? That which just happens, for no reason at all but to imbue others with happiness, is rarely permitted to exist for very long." <> "Love... is like a cancer. It grows in us, feeds off of us like a parasite, and finally, without a second thought, it kills us." The fingers of LaCroix's left hand drummed incessantly on his thigh. "But to cut it out, mercilessly, can kill us just as swiftly. And far less sweetly..." Shaking his head, he stabbed at one of the blinking buttons. "We seem to have another visionary on the line. This is the Nightcrawler. Tell me your secrets." A high tenor voice came over the line, singsong and taunting. "'One night, along a road I named, I begged her for a rendezvous. She came! - a crazy thing to do! But more or less we're all insane!'" His giggling laughter made LaCroix raise a dark eyebrow. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, was a quote from "The Murderer's Wine," by the poet Charles Baudelaire. I compliment you on your choice, young man." "Not my choice," the caller laughed. "Hers." His voice grew softer and yet louder, as though he was leaning into the telephone receiver. "I have her, Kai. I have her." LaCroix frowned. Kai? "Listen." There was the soft, rustling sound of cloth. "... Dad?" *** "Oh God..." whispered Kai, reaching out to touch the speaker, to touch his child. "Miranda... who?" The man's voice sounded vaguely, ominously familiar, but he could not place it. "Who has you?" *** "You know me, Kai," the voice continued. "You've known me for years. But you don't know me at all, do you?" His breathing became labored from excitement. "Blood calls out for blood, Kai, you know that much, at least. Blood calls out for blood. This daughter for my father." LaCroix narrowed his eyes at the offending telephone. More of Kai's nonsense. This sounded like one of that slug Sperling's fledglings. And he claimed to have Kai's adopted daughter? LaCroix reached out to his bond with Kai, through Nicholas-- Nicholas shot back, with enough force to give LaCroix a minor case of whiplash. Well, LaCroix thought, I suppose I do owe Kai some kind of favor. "And just what has the daughter done to deserve the honor of satisfying your blood feud?" he asked calmly. "It's not what she's ," the caller said softly, "it's what she ." "Really. And just what she?" *** Kai held his breath. "She's special." Kai sighed, relieved that secret, at least, was safe for the moment. "She's special to Kai." "She is his daughter, or so you've mentioned." "And she's special to me." Nick heard the unmistakable sound of the caller licking his lips. "She's a pretty one, you know. Pretty. Fiery. A mind like a viper. Eyes like a grazing doe..." "How quaint. Then, I beg you, what is the point of killing--" "Take your hands off me, you bloodsucking son of a bitch!" Kai almost attacked the stereo. *** LaCroix swallowed his snort of laughter. Kai's child, if that was indeed the damsel-in-distress in question, sounded like a force to be reckoned with. The sound of a heavy hand meeting a cheekbone came over the line. "I'm not going to kill her. No. Too easy. Kai can find someone else. He always does. Quite the Good Samaritan, Kai." "I'll take your word for it." "I'm not going to kill her. I'm going to make her mine." *** "Over my dead body," Kai ground out through clenched teeth. Oh God, if this piece of sewer slime, whoever he was, tried to take Miranda against her will... and worse, if he succeeded-- "She'll be mine, Kai. You pathetic old man, I'll take her from you. Just like you took him from me--Argh!" *** LaCroix knew that sound--that was the unmistakable sound of teeth tearing into flesh. Kai's daughter had bitten her captor. he thought approvingly. Sounds of a scuffle, and then a female voice came over the line, speaking frantically to her father. "Dad! Dad, it's Miri. It's Garek, Dad, he's got me, we're at the cottage at Sham--" LaCroix's ears told him that a foot met someone's ribcage, but it was impossible to tell which anatomical feature belonged to whom. "Hello?" "Hello? Hello!" "Is this Kai's daughter? Where are you?" But she didn't answer. She held the receiver for several seconds, before a voice, heavy with hope and disbelief, said "Lucien?" *** Julian punched a hole in the living room wall, and Kai cursed vilely under his breath. Nick's heart skittered in his breast. *** LaCroix shook his head; he must have been hearing things. That voice... "This is the Nightcrawler, Lucien LaCroix. Where are you?" "At the--" "That's none of your concern," hissed the high tenor voice. Garek. "I want her but I want Kai even more badly. You've got two days, Baltimore. Then she's mine. Forever. 'And I don't give a good god-damn for God, Communion, or for Hell!'" *** Over the stereo speakers, Nick heard the dial tone. *** "His name is Garek Donovan," said Kai forlornly, his small living room packed to the seams with people. As Julian had predicted, the presence of so many witnesses forced Kai to hold his temper in check. "I've known him for years, but I had no... idea, no inclination that he was one of Sperling's fledglings. And he must have had no idea who I was either, or he would never have waited this long before moving against me. He's young; he has no patience..." LaCroix leaned over the top of Kai's armchair. "How old is he?" "Young. Fifty-five, fifty-six, maybe. He's been in Black Falls since the McCarthy era. Christ, I've been blind... Garek was always a little on the... unstable side, but Sperling's death must have made him snap; I've never heard him sound like that." "Why Baudelaire?" "He's Miranda's favorite poet. Baudelaire and Goethe." Natalie rubbed her forehead. "She said she was at the cottage at Sham. What's that, where's Sham?" Kai shrugged. He couldn't think clearly. Visions were tugging at the periphery of his consciousness and he was doing his best not to succumb to them. He had never seen this event happening, but he realized what the outcome would be if Garek brought Miranda across... "Champlain," Julian spoke up, pushing off from the wall with his shoulder. "My Family has a cottage on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain. Donovan used to be a pal of my sister's; he knows all about the place." "Then we have to get down there," said Nick, trying not to think about what he had heard over the radio. His connection to LaCroix was bouncing like a badly stretched wire. What he had heard; what they had both heard. "That's all there is to it. We have to get to her before Garek brings her across." Kai shook his head. "There's no 'we' this time, Nicholas. This is my fight." "So was the last one." "He doesn't want you, he wants me." "But killed Sperling!" "You think that's going to matter to Garek? He's right, I do know him. He's unpredictable, erratic. He thinks I killed Sperling because he believes I'm the only one that could. Nicholas, I can't let Miranda be brought across. Not like this. Not by him." LaCroix snorted. "Does it really matter who does it?" Kai turned one of his patent-grey stares on the General. "Yes." "You don't know Black Falls, LaCroix," said Julian darkly. "If Garek does it and one of the Home Guard gets to them first, they'll put Miranda down." "They'll kill her?" Tracy asked, aghast. "Forced crossings are a cruelty and a crime," said Julian neutrally, slipping into his 'cynical clinical' mode. "Kai, have you contacted Leland yet?" "Not yet, but I plan on it. I don't want the Home Guard rushing in there without me." He turned to LaCroix. "I know my own child, Lucien. She is not ready to become one of us. And Garek is far too young to even consider the act seriously. If he manages not to kill her, the change will make Miranda go mad." Kai passed a hand over his high pale forehead, muttering to himself. "She called me by name." Kai looked up. LaCroix had fixed him with a pretty piercing stare of his own. "Your child called me by name." "You haven't had any contact with her since you came to Toronto," Nick pointed out, seeing exactly what his master was driving at. "And I highly doubt you've spoken of me or of any of the Family--save Nicholas--to your daughter. How did she know my name, Nikaila?" Kai bit his lip. "Julian." "Sir?" "Go and get that picture of Miranda from the clinic. The one I told you not to bring but that you've been hiding from me anyway." Julian gulped, but did as he was bid. "LaCroix, do you have Nicholas's Christmas gift with you?" LaCroix frowned. The miniature portrait never left his pocket, but how did--? Foolish question. He reached into his jacket and pulled out Nicholas's portrait of his younger sister. He did not notice Tracy's eyes widen in recognition. Julian came back with his photograph in his hand. "Give it to the General," Kai instructed, "and step back." Gingerly, Julian handed the framed photo to LaCroix and retreated. LaCroix held the likenesses side by side. Nicholas looked over his father's shoulder and felt his heart beat twice in quick, startled succession. The two pictures were identical. @}----- Black Falls, New York: 1982 Dr. Julian Gorey stood at the foot of his patient's bed. Kai--Nicholas Thorn--was asleep. He'd been asleep for nearly six weeks now, waking long enough only to feed, to drinks a few swallows and then collapse back into a death-like stupor. Kai had been Julian's patient for two years now. The first year had been hopeful and full of progress, full of light. But this past year... the regression, and Diana's death... The last twelve months had been a mockery. "Never again," Julian muttered to himself. "Never again." Kai stirred, groaning. "Hey, Baltimore. How do you feel?" "Why do people in your profession always ask that question when they damn well already know the answer?" "Tradition." "I feel like Hell." "Well, for once, you look better than you feel." Julian winked. "You've got a visitor." He opened the door. "Daddy!" A little blond blur ran from the door to the bed and clamped her prone father in a bear hug. "I didn't think you were going to wake up!" "I wondered about that myself," Kai murmured, stroking her hair. It was blond, like his, but far darker. That was to be expected; she was not his daughter, after all, not truly. Julian extracted himself from the room. "What have you been doing while I was sleeping, hmm?" Miranda climbed carefully onto her father's bed and thought. "I've been daydreaming," she decided finally. "Oh?" Kai smiled. "What about?" "Me. Before I died." Kai's smile faded very quickly. "Died?" he repeated, knowing instinctively that this was something he needed to approach carefully. "Sweetheart? What do you mean, before you died? Tell me." "I lived in a castle, and wore long dresses, like a princess. And I had a mommy, and a brother who was a knight and wore armor, only I didn't see him very much. He was a vampire, too. Then he came back and he brought friends, and I fell in love with one of them. But Nicolas--he was my brother--he didn't want me to be in love with his friend, so he tried to make me forget. But I didn't. I remembered." "I see," said Kai, nodding his head thoughtfully. This story was starting to sound ominously familiar. "Tell me more. Did you daydream anything else?" Miranda nodded solemnly, twisting a strand of her long blond hair around her index finger. "I got married and I had a baby. I loved my baby. But I didn't love my husband." "You still loved Nicolas's friend." The child nodded, her big blue eyes wide and serious. "Was he a vampire, too?" "Uh huh." "And what was his name?" "Lucien." Again, Miranda pronounced the name with a very French accent. To the best of his knowledge, Kai had never spoken French in his daughter's presence. "And what was your name? Was it Miranda?" "No." "Then what was your name, when you lived in a castle and wore dresses like a princess?" "Fleur." @}----- With a roar, LaCroix threw the pictures to one side, and it was all Nick could do to keep his master's hands from fastening themselves around Kai's throat. "LaCroix! Calm yourself!" "If this is some kind of sick joke--" "You still have the paper, I presume?" Kai shot back. LaCroix's hand touched his breast pocket. "'For the future,' I said. AE. One love. Love eternal. Have you ever once known me to , LaCroix?!" He shot out of his chair to go eye-to-eye with the General--or rather, eye-to-chin, but no one seemed to notice the difference in height. "I've been trying to tell you since September that she was returned, but you weren't willing to believe it." <> <> LaCroix's pupils contracted immeasurably, and Kai saw it. "But you believe me now," he proclaimed. Nick sat down heavily. "Fleur," he said, hardly daring to believe it himself. "Alive? Reincarnated?" "It wouldn't be the first time, Nick," said Tracy, thinking. "That whole business with Frank and Francesca... you were Nicholas Chevalier, weren't you?" She had never told anyone about her own past life regression, about how thought she might be the reincarnation of the violinist that Nick had so admired... and that Francesca had then killed. Nick nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I was, but... gah!" he snarled. "Kai, why didn't you tell us before?" "I wanted to be sure Sperling was out of the way. I wanted to make certain she would be safe..." LaCroix hissed viciously, eyes blazing saffron, and paced up and down the small space like a caged lion. The lassitude that had been plaguing him the past few weeks drained out of his veins, leaving his blood afire with rage that anyone would dare to lay hands on his precious flower. He did not question Kai's word, not truly. He had done that once. Only once, and never again. If Kai said that Miranda Thorn was Fleur, then Fleur she was. "Well, you've certainly done a marvelous job of assuring her safety." "You're one to talk, Lucien," returned Kai acidly. "As I recall, you definitely know something about sending children away for their own 'safety.'" @}----- Paris: 1945 "I can't believe that you're even considering it!" Nicholas said, shaking his head. "After all the trouble you went through--" "And after all the trouble the child has caused us over the past five years," LaCroix shot back, "this is the best thing for him. For of us. Étienne agrees with me." He was standing in the center of the floor of their hotel suite, legs apart, hands behind his back, purposely imposing. Nicholas slumped in his chair. Janette said nothing, but Nicholas had the strong impression that she was trying not to cry. He couldn't fault her for that. The past five years had not been easy; the war had made inconspicuous travel damn near impossible, and bottled supplies had become almost non-existent. And then, of course, there was Daniel... LaCroix put his mouth close to his older son's ear. "We cannot keep him with us, Nicholas," he whispered. "He's too much trouble. We have to move on and Daniel is weighing us down. He doesn't know how to control himself, his urges--" "You are his master! It is your responsibility to teach him control! Instead, you propose to discard him like a drained corpse? Deposit him in Étienne's lap the same as you did with Alexei!" LaCroix growled and dealt Nicholas a backhand across the face. Nicholas collapsed to the floor with a reddened collarbone and split lip. "Janette, tell Daniel to pack his things." LaCroix's voice was even and cold. "We will take him to Étienne as soon as the sun sets." Janette shook her head. There was no need to tell Daniel anything; he was in the next room; he had heard the entire conversation. The little boy-vampire came barreling into the common room. "No! No! Don't send me away! I'll be good, I promise, I'll be good. Don't send me away, sir! Don't let 'im, Princess! Please, Nicky, don't let 'im do it!" Daniel buried his face in the collar of Nicholas's uniform. "Why don't 'e love me, Nicky? I've tried to be good, honest I 'ave. I'm doin' my best, I am!" The child began to sob as LaCroix looked on stonily. Janette touched Daniel's shoulder. "We know you have tried, Daniel," she said soothingly, "and LaCroix knows that as well. He wants you to be safe until you have learned to control yourself. Then you can stay with us again." "But why can't 'e teach me? Why can't you?" "Because we have to leave, Daniel." "Why can't I go with you?!" "Daniel!" said Nicholas sternly. He sat up and grabbed Daniel by the shoulders. "Now listen to me. LaCroix is not sending you away. We are not abandoning you. We are leaving you with Family, with one of our brothers. He is a very good teacher. Think of it as--as no more than going to school here in Paris. It's a very nice city, I can tell you. When we are settled, LaCroix will send for you." Daniel sniffled, darting glances at his father. "Promise?" Nicholas nodded. "I promise." He grinned. "You will have so much fun here, you won't even notice we've been gone." He tousled the child's hair. "Now go on and pack your things. We leave at dusk." He watched Daniel race back to his room. LaCroix sighed. "That," he whispered, too softly for anyone but Nicholas to hear, "was a filthy lie, Nicolas." @}----- "Sperling was one reason I didn't want her in Toronto. were the other." Kai stooped to pick up the pictures. "She is Fleur de Brabant reincarnate, with all Fleur's memories. She remembers you, remembers what she felt for you. But she is also Miranda Thorn. Part of her is a different person; she feels different, she smells differently. She is twenty years old and a thoroughly modern woman, and if she knew you were here, she would have gone looking for you months ago. Do you think I wanted her to walk into the Raven and find you 'involved' with Urs or with one of the other local flavors? Would you have wanted Divia to kill her as well?" Kai stuffed the tiny painting into his 'grandfather's' hand. LaCroix, for once, was at a loss for words. "Help me get her back!" the American vampire whispered. "Don't let him... ." LaCroix's throat worked furiously before he managed to speak. "Were you serious," he got out at last, "when you said that she will go mad if Garek brings her across? That she will be killed?" Kai swallowed, and nodded stiffly, eyes closed in seeming pain. "If Miranda is brought across against her wishes, the Home Guard will destroy her. It's the law of the Falls. And yes, she will go mad if brings her across." Then he opened his eyes and looked directly at LaCroix. "Anyone but you, Lucien." Kai's voice was roughened by a sudden lump in his throat. "Or I would have had it done the moment she turned eighteen. It's what she wants. There is no other explanation. She came back to be with you." LaCroix's ice-blue eyes and pale face were almost unreadable. And his mental barriers had slammed down the moment he had set eyes on Miranda's picture. He locked gazes with Kai and did not look away for some minutes, until Nick spoke up. "There's no question now," he said. "Regardless of who she was in the past, she's Kai's daughter now. That means she's family. And if she's Fleur... then she's doubly family. We have to get her back." At last, LaCroix nodded. Kai reached out and laid his hand lightly on the General's shoulder. "Go home," he whispered. "And rest. I'll be in touch. We'll leave in the morning." Kai waited until his living room was empty before picking up the coffee table and breaking it over the back of his arm chair. "If we fail, Julian," he said quietly, "will you be able to help her?" "I don't know. Perhaps, if we can get to her soon enough, before Leland does. But her mind..." Julian trailed off. Kai pitched the leg of the coffee table into the fire and sank to his knees. *** Nick stared out his window, a half full bottle dangling from his fingertips. <> The blond vampire's lips face twisted into a sad frown of resignation. Going upstairs, Nick knelt down beside his bed and brushed a lock of hair from the sleeping Natalie's face. Were he and LaCroix really so different? *** "LaCroix?" Nick pounded on his master's door. "LaCroix, let me in, please." Giving up, Nick put his hand against the door and pushed, snapping the dead bolt. He found LaCroix lying face up on his couch, his portrait of Fleur held between his long fingers, staring at the ceiling. "LaCroix..." "And you were getting so good at entering my home without bothering about the door." LaCroix's voice was inflectionless and without tone. Nick sighed. "LaCroix, this is insufferable--" "I am nearly two thousand years old, Nicholas. I am pragmatic, cold..." "Stubborn as all hell." "The upper hand has always been mine. But now... I am here, she is there, the sun threatens... I have never felt so... useless." "Helpless." LaCroix didn't reply. Nick tossed his coat to one side. "Come on," he said briskly, grabbing his master by the wrist. "Get up." "What you doing?" "Son's prerogative. You need a shower, blood and sleep. Sound familiar?" "You wouldn't--" Nick bared his fangs in a wolfish grin. "I've fed very well today. Have you?" "You really can be an annoying little insect sometimes." "Into the bathroom, LaCroix. Before I return a favor by stripping you myself and throwing you bodily into the shower." Nick had hoped that LaCroix would continue to argue. Instead, the old Roman set down his picture, and marched resignedly into his bathroom. "Damn," Nick sighed, sinking into the couch. "He's more depressed than I thought, if he's taking orders from me." He looked at the portrait of Fleur that he had given LaCroix for Christmas. <> "You didn't come back for me," Nick said, speaking to the painting. "You came back for LaCroix, you literally for LaCroix..." He trailed off, marveling at the implications. Nick shook his head and took a deep breath, knowing that the running water would shield his voice from LaCroix's ears. "I was wrong, Fleur. I can say it now, to you. I was wrong... and I'm so sorry. If I hadn't stopped him from bringing you across... all our lives might have been so much easier. I--" He cut off abruptly when he heard the water stop. Nick picked up his coat and pulled out several packs of donated human blood. No more vodka-laced hemoglobin for LaCroix, not tonight. He warmed them in the microwave and emptied one into a large black ceramic mug. LaCroix came up behind him, dressed in his bathrobe. The short white bristles of his hair were plastered damply against his forehead. "Here." LaCroix took the mug without complaint. "Nicholas, go home. I will be quite all right." Nick didn't move. "Drink it." "Or what? You'll force it down my throat?" "I may. LaCroix, you'll be useless to Miranda if you're starving." LaCroix stared at his son icily, but sipped at his blood. "All of it. Now." LaCroix drained the mug and tossed it into the sink, where the heavy ceramic bounced but did not shatter. "Now go to bed." LaCroix sighed in exasperation. "Fine." Nick waited. "What?" "Go to bed." "Where did you learn to become such a mother hen?" Nick winked. "From the best." Before could sink in, he grabbed LaCroix by the shoulders and steered him into the bedroom. This was really starting to worry Nick; LaCroix was only making the feeblest of attempts to fight back. Nick turned down the covers and LaCroix got quietly into bed. His ageless face looked so... haggard. And beaten. This was not the ironclad General that Nick had come to know and hate and love. He leaned down and brushed a quick kiss over his father's forehead. LaCroix gave no sign that he had even noticed. Nick left in a hurry. When he was certain Nicholas was gone, LaCroix got up. He dressed and combed his hair, and felt some semblance of normalcy return. Ignoring his damaged door, LaCroix went down to his office. *** Janette's hand reached out from under her blanket, and somehow found the telephone. "" she warned, speaking in French. The night had been long, unproductive and painful, and Janette had turned in early with the hope of getting some extra sleep. Her hopes dashed, she added a few archaic curses for emphasis. "" The mocking voice like silk over sword blades was more than enough to wake Janette fully... as well as provoke a few involuntary bodily reactions. She could almost hear LaCroix's smirk of masculine pride. "" Oh, how had he felt that?! " "" "<--and much as I may believe you capable of making a long-distance call simply to wake me up and hear my screams of orgasmic pleasure at the sound of your voice, I do not think that is why you're calling.>" "" Janette sat up. Now that was something she had not expected to hear, neither the request nor the tone of voice. "" "" "" Janette rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "" "" "" She hesitated. "" "" "" she persisted. LaCroix said nothing. "Lucien?" "" The old Roman sighed. Janette thought she detected a slight catch in his throat, but no, that could not be. " Au revoir, mon en... ma cherie." "LaCroix--" Janette's protest was cut short when LaCroix hung up. *** LaCroix dug his fingers into his eyeballs, concentrating on the discomfort. His brain felt like it was going to explode from the onslaught of information, and yet compared to the state of his emotions, his brain was in fine form indeed. A goblet was placed on the desk in front of him, and LaCroix looked up to see Alain, his angular face showing very open concern. LaCroix pushed the glass away. "I know I'm not one of your favorites, LaCroix," said Alain slowly, "and I'm too careless to have earned even your respect. But I wish you trusted me enough to tell me what is wrong." "It is not lack of trust, Alain." LaCroix rubbed his forehead. "It is simply none of your concern." Briskly, he stood and shrugged into his coat. He paused. Their eyes met, then LaCroix mutely nodded his thanks. "Behave for Janette," he warned. Alain rolled his big brown eyes and pouted. *** Nick filled his third flask of holy blood, sneaking a swig as he did so. He slipped it into his jacket pocket along with the others. The trip from Toronto to Vermont was going to be a long one, and the only way to get there without tipping Garek off would be to drive. "So I get to be stuck in the back of a van with Julian, Kai, and LaCroix? If we're lucky, one and a half bodies will make it to Vermont intact." "Stop griping," Natalie chided. "It's not like you and LaCroix are on the most terrible of terms anymore." "I meant Kai and LaCroix. The idea of them in close quarters, for a long period of time and with no way for me to escape..." Nick shuddered. "The last time that happened, I ran off and joined the Union Army." Natalie snorted. "I think I've got everything," she said, checking her bag of medical supplies one last time. Nick came up and embraced her from behind, laying his cheek on top of her head. "Mmm. I like this." Nick's arms were solid and somehow warm around her torso, and in such peaceful security it was not hard for Natalie to understand a vampire's desire--no, need for physical contact. Natalie tilted her head up and ran her tongue across Nick's throat. He thundered a gentle growl, intrigued by her deliberate teasing of one of a vampire's most sensitive erogenous zones, and nipped playfully at her earlobe with his fangs. "Little vixen," he murmured. "Careful. I don't need that ear re-pierced." Nick's hands wandered down the front of Natalie's body, and she was just beginning to think that things were getting a out of control for the present moment when they came to rest on her stomach. "Kai adopted Miranda before she was even born," Nick said softly. "He married her mother and gave her and the child his love... I think he forgets at times that he can't have children, that she's not actually his. He was able to do all the things that expectant fathers do. He was able to feel his child in her mother's womb... like this..." Natalie put her hands over Nick's, and together they explored the clothing-covered surface of her flat, empty stomach. "You asked me if I was willing to chain myself to you, even with the knowledge that I might one day lose you. And I am. But I never asked you, Nat, if you could live out your life with someone who could never give you a child of your own." Nick pressed his lips to the line of her jaw. "I know that that's important to you, I've seen it in your blood. But..." "If you were any other man, Nick, it would still be important." Natalie took a deep breath. "Can I accept as my husband a man who cannot give me a child?" She smiled. "Yes. As long as that man is you." Nick's strong arms tightened around her, and Natalie felt her temple dampen with his tears. "That you have that kind of strength..." he murmured, "to think of this as your husband..." She pulled away and punched his shoulder. "'This,' nothing. You're human, Nick. You may not be mortal yet, but you're definitely a man. Definitely marriage material. And material. We find a way. I promise." Her resolve was still as firm and unshakable as it had been for nearly seven years, and now that she had Nick in a manner she had only dreamed possible, Natalie was not about to back down. "I've slipped so far," he confessed, contrite. "You've come so far, too." Natalie grabbed Nick by his silk lapels and gently shook him. "You're more human than you've been in 800 years. You've walked in the sun, you've gone to church--a little more information from Kai and a little help from Julian... who knows? Parenthood may not be too far in our futures." Reverently, Nick stroked her cheek. His yellow eyes and fangs detracted not an ounce from the love and longing that radiated from his face. Then, overcome by emotion, he spun her around in his arms and hugged her hard. "So... if Miranda's Kai's daughter, but she's also the reincarnation of your sister... how are you related?" Nick grinned and kissed her forehead. "How are related, you mean. You and she will be in-laws soon, in one way or another. Well, you'll just have to ask her when you meet her." He kissed Natalie's mouth tenderly. "We'll get her back. Don't worry." "I'm worried." Natalie traced the brown lines of Nick's scars. "This Garek guy sounds like a first-class nut, and I'm not gonna put much stock in LaCroix or Kai until Miranda is safe." Nick kissed her fingers, lingering on each tip. "And honestly, Nick?" Her voice broke, their bond tremored, and Nick knew she was thinking of Cynthia. "Hmm?" "LaCroix can do whatever he wants to Garek. I may help him." Nick laughed roughly. "Je t'adore, ma belle Natalie," said the vampire in a possessive tone. "You are one of a kind." Nick dipped his head to nuzzle the skin of her neck, breathing deeply of her scent. Spiced wine and chocolates, the perfect midnight snack. Or midday snack. Or mid-morning, or early morning, or-- Someone beeped a horn. Reluctantly, Nick pulled away. "They're here," he groaned. Natalie was panting, her face was flushed and Nick realized, not for the first time, that she was lovely when she was aroused. He placed a quick, regrettably chaste kiss on her lips. "Let's go." Part Three Nick climbed into the back of the unmarked van. LaCroix, Kai and Julian were already inside; Natalie was up front with Tracy. LaCroix shut the back doors quickly, hissing, his ungloved hands sending up tendrils of smoke from the weak winter sunlight. Kai didn't look up from his maps as the van pulled out. "Morning, Nick," greeted Julian. "I hope you brought a deck of cards. We've got a drive ahead of us." He and Kai were ensconced near the front of the van. Nick settled against one wall, and LaCroix sat down opposite him. LaCroix eased his burnt hands and closed his eyes; Nick watched him. Kai was lost in his own little world, and nothing short of an attempt to stake him through the chest would get him to acknowledge anyone or anything for hours. Julian took note of the arrangement and slipped on a pair of headphones. It was some time before anyone spoke again. "Are you all right, LaCroix?" "I am always all right, Nicholas," the General replied, not opening his eyes. "I am delightfully calm and serene and all too eager to rip out this Garek's throat and drown him in his own blood." "I meant your hands." They stung like fury, but he was not about to admit it. "I'll live." Nick wasn't so sure; those hands, that were so quick, willing and adept at dolling out comfort or pain, were rippled with lesions and oozing pus, which meant that LaCroix didn't have enough blood to spare for healing. "I'll live, Nicholas." LaCroix opened one eye a fraction. "You?" "I just want to get Kai his daughter back safely." "How altruistic of you." "Hey, I can claim her as a granddaughter, as well as a sister. We take care of our own, LaCroix." "Why did you give me her portrait for Christmas?" his master asked, point-blank. Nick began to squirm and mumble. "What possessed you to give me a gift in the first place, let alone Fleur's portrait?" "Because I..." Nick hesitated. "I wanted to apologize," he finished softly. LaCroix's smug expression flickered. "Being with Natalie... finally being able to be with her... I realized what you felt for Fleur. The shame I felt when I realized what I took from you couldn't have been one tenth of what you felt when you let her go." LaCroix eyed his son suspiciously, but before he could speak, Kai looked up. He had been listening to their conversation quietly and decided this was a good time to break in. "'Can you forgive a pigheaded old fool for having no eyes to see with, no ears to hear with, all these years?'" Nick managed a sheepish shrug. "Pretty much." "I want you two to hear something." Kai tapped Julian's shoulder, and the doctor slipped off his headphones. "Get out the mini-speakers," he said, taking a CD from a side compartment. He stuck it in the Discman and flipped through the tracks until he found the one he wanted. "Listen." The sweet strains of a Celtic violin filled the tiny space. And then a clear voice, wise beyond its years. The thundering waves are calling me home, Home to you... The pounding sea is calling me home, Home to you... On a dark New Year's night on the west coast of Clare I heard your voice singing Your eyes danced the song, your hands played the tune 'Twas a vision before me We left the music behind as the dance carried long As we stole away to the sea shore And smelled the brine, felt the wind in our hair In sadness you passed Sadly I knew that you'd have to go Your world was not mine Your eyes told me so Yet it was there I felt the crossroads of time And I wondered why LaCroix felt a stab of bright pain pierced his carefully frozen heart. As we cast our gaze on the tumbling sea A vision came o'er me Of thundering hooves and beating wings In the clouds above Turning to go, I heard you call out my name Like a bird in a cage Spreading its wings to fly "The old ways are vast," You sang as you flew And I wondered why The thundering waves are calling me home, Home to you... The pounding sea is calling me home, Home to you... The thundering waves are calling me home, Home to you... The pounding sea is calling me home, Home to you... LaCroix went rigid. He grasped the tentative thread of contact and wrapped it around his fist, diving deep into his own mind. There was nothing, only a heartbeat and a stream of confusion. He tried again, more forcefully. LaCroix forced himself to stay calm. Was it possible, a small part of him wondered, for a bond created by the ingestion of a single drop of blood, eight centuries ago and from an entirely different body, to still exist in enough form to allow him to contact Miranda Thorn? He was vaguely aware of a thin, brittle hand grasping hold of his own, but the link was suddenly heightened by the addition of another mind. A strong impression of relief and annoyance only slightly tinged with fear was transmitted. Kai chuckled darkly. As though he was very far from his own body, LaCroix felt someone take up his free hand, and at the same moment, an air of panic trickled through the bond. LaCroix suddenly found himself unceremoniously on the floor of the van, sprawled on top of Nick. "Fleur..." His face felt wet and clammy. Nick, not believing what he was seeing, brushed his thumb against the corner of his father's eye. When it came away red, Nick surprised even himself when he pulled LaCroix's head to his chest and began stroking the short white hair, murmuring soft words of comfort. LaCroix's face was drenched in tears. *** Miranda sagged against her restraints. "That was... weird," she muttered, breathing heavily. Several strands of her hair were caught in her mouth, but she didn't bother to spit them out. The annoying sensation was a grounding in reality. Not once in her life had she ever that Lucien was real. Granted, Dad had told her what her childhood daydreams were, memories of a past life. Her name, her family, her lost love, they were all real... eight centuries ago. Even knowing that the pale, imposing figure that haunted her sleep was a vampire had not prepared her for the realization that Lucien was not a fiction. "Dad... why didn't you tell me?" He was real. He was still alive. And he was coming for her. "Lucien... Oh, damn, Garek. You are one dead vampire." Be strong, my rose, Lucien had said. Well, Miranda knew how to be strong. She'd grown up in Black Falls, hadn't she? She'd lost her mother and nearly her father when she was five, and faced down her mother's killer when she was eleven. And she'd held her own and more in every street fight the town had to offer. "Oh, I'm strong, all right. This rose has thorns." Setting her jaw, Miranda went back to work on her ropes. *** Tracy glanced away from the highway to look at her one live passenger. "Nat? You awake?" "Yeah. Sadly. No sleep for Nattie today." Natalie sighed. "Is this crazy or what?" "No worse than the last time somebody decided to reincarnate themselves. Better, actually. No drained bodies." "Yet." Tracy concentrated on switching lanes. "Mind if I ask you a question?" "Shoot." "Did you propose to Nick?" She felt a ripple between her eyebrows, which meant that Nick was laughing. Natalie snorted. "Since when do you pay attention to office gossip? No, I didn't. I promise. Honestly, I don't think I'd ever have worked up the nerve to ask Nick to marry me. We both danced around each other for years before we decided 'Okay, you're a guy, I'm a girl, there's some chemistry here.' Then the number of times one or both of us almost ended up dead just because I knew Nick got too large to count..." "One screwed-up courtship." "Tell me about it." "So how come Nick's got a ring and you don't?" "Nick's ring was just a Christmas present." Natalie pulled out the little silver cross. "He gave me this instead. He's got a matching one that he wears under his shirt." Natalie smiled, remembering Christmas Eve. "Where there's love, there's faith." "Well, he's definitely proven that." Tracy paused. "What about LaCroix? I mean, I don't know him as well as you or Nick, but... this isn't the same Nightcrawler. No one would believe me if I told them that the man Toronto loves to hate is having a nervous breakdown over a girl." Natalie lapsed into silence. "Look at it this way, Trace: let's say that thirty years from now, some guy walked into your life, and you realized he was Vachon reborn. Would be fine and dandy?" *** Once again, Nick found himself in a very unique position. LaCroix had often held him in this fashion, comforted him when he was afraid, but never before had the tables been turned, making the father the one in need of the comforting. It was like the previous night in LaCroix's apartment. Nick wasn't sure if he liked these switches. Neither was LaCroix, for after savoring a few seconds of the contact he pushed away roughly, skulking back to his spot on the opposite side of the van. "LaCroix." "Was that Miranda singing?" asked the General hoarsely. Kai nodded. Nick rubbed fretfully at his sapphire ring. It was something he'd begun doing in the past few days, without really noticing. "How could she have reached him?" Kai shrugged. "As I have mentioned in the past, soul mates is not just a term of endearment. And there are those who do not need a blood bond to speak directly into the heart." "What does she smell like?" Kai blinked. "You said that she smelled differently. Fleur smelled of..." LaCroix shook his head, laughing shortly, "flowers. Roses. What does your daughter smell like?" "Only in a van full of vampires..." Nick muttered. LaCroix shot him a look. Kai just smiled. "Roses, LaCroix. Whole clouds of them. And wild heather. And cinnamon bark." He leaned forward, grey eyes narrow and calculating. "When we get to the lake, you'll follow her scent." LaCroix turned his head sharply. Nick could see his nostrils flaring already, like a deranged bloodhound. "Under normal circumstances, Garek would have to be taken back to Black Falls--alive--to face Benjamin and punishment." Kai allowed himself the small, twisted smile that generally made all onlookers sick to their stomachs. "Circumstances today are far from normal. The Home Guard will meet us there, but you and I... You and I, General, we will take care of him together. I to avenge my daughter, and you? Who shall you avenge?" "" LaCroix vowed, voice coarsened by the vampire. "My heart." --Quote from "Scrooge," with Alastair Sim --Lyrics from "The Old Ways" by Loreena McKennitt Part Four They stopped at a service station and mini-mart just before crossing over the border. "Okay," Nick announced, "let me out!" He all but kicked open the doors and rolled out of the van, letting in enough sunlight to cause LaCroix to plant himself against the back wall. More carefully, Kai followed Nick. "Julian, come with me, please." "Um... it's still day out?" Kai just looked at his doctor. "Right. It's an emergency." Julian popped a capsule into his mouth and bit down. He grimaced at the bitter chemical taste. "Yuck." Before he climbed out of the van, he shot a glance at LaCroix's hands. They were still slimy with blister fluid and very red. "You need to feed," he said pointedly, "and those really ought to be looked at." Without further comment, Julian slipped out and closed the doors tightly. LaCroix let out a deep groan and slid to the floor. *** "Try a French fry?" "Er, no thanks, Trace." Nick took a healthy chug from one of his flasks. As always, the blessed water he'd mixed with the blood pricked his tongue smartly without actually hurting. Kai had told him that the tingling was actually his taste buds 'waking up,' and that he could eat and enjoy regular food... if he was willing to help the chewed food come back up. "I'm not into self-induced vomiting." Tracy nudged him with her elbow. "Come on. If Julian can wolf down a Christmas dinner, you can eat a French fry." Nick looked around helplessly. Natalie was attacking a large sub sandwich; no support there. Kai wasn't paying attention. Julian just grinned. Nick sighed and picked up a piece of fried potato. "It's... salty," he decided, chewing. "And greasy. But... good." He snagged a few more before Tracy pulled away. "Buy your own!" Natalie's laugh was muffled by her ham sandwich. Kai handed her a napkin. "Natalie, will you do something for me?" She stopped in mid-chew. Kai really didn't look too good; in fact, he looked worse than normal. "Never mind about me. The General is in a far worse state. He burned his hands in the sunlight when Nicholas got into the van. We've got supplies in the back with us, but he's too stressed to feed and his burns aren't healing." "You want me to treat... LaCroix? You're kidding." "No." "I'll end up the treat." "I don't think so." "But Julian--" "--is a card I don't want to play right now. Natalie, Julian is not your average vampire--" "I've noticed that. What's he doing out in the daylight?" "--and I don't want to put him into a situation where he might not be able to look after himself. So if I'm not there, I don't want him in close quarters with the General. LaCroix won't hurt you; he's promised." "Like that's worth a whole hell of a lot." "It's worth more than you think. Look, for the sake of family peace, could you just put some bandages on that man?" Natalie sighed. "I guess that means I'm family now, huh? Okay. On one condition?" Warily, Kai nodded. "I heard LaCroix and Nick talking earlier... who's Alain?" Kai choked and grabbed her arm, and pulled her behind the potato chip rack. "What was that for?!" "So you don't embarrass yourself." Kai's tiny grin was almost... cheeky, Natalie thought. "All right. Alain is one of LaCroix's fledglings, one of Nicholas's 'brothers.' He's about 300 years younger than Nicholas and as--you'll excuse the word--as flaming as they come." "He's gay?" "'Undiscriminating' is probably a better word. Natalie, once you've been brought across, sexual orientation is a moot point. The taking of blood, anyone's blood, is such an incredibly... erotic experience--as you yourself have found--that to actually make a distinction between genders is fairly pathetic. Granted, we may have a preference for one sex, but every vampire has, at one time or another, had a sexual encounter with a member of their own gender. vampire." Kai watched Natalie blush as his words sunk in. "I told you you'd embarrass yourself. Alain has had a crush on Nicholas since before North America was a recognized continent. Nicholas does not have similar feelings." He shrugged. "It's the Family joke, really. 'Don't sleep alone, tonight, Nicholas, Alain may try to join you.'" He raised his eyebrows solicitously. "Too much information?" "Just a little." Kai's worried grey eyes twinkled briefly. "You did ask. After that revelation, I would think that LaCroix would be welcome company." *** Groggily, LaCroix opened one eye. Someone was touching his wounds... He arched his back and snarled in pain, his fangs pressing against his lips. He smelled blood, warm human nectar, spiced wine and chocolate-- he told himself. "This is not necessary," he managed to whisper hoarsely. "How effective do you think you'll be if your hands are useless?" Natalie had applied ointment, and wrapped each finger individually in gauze. The left hand was in far worse shape than the right, so she rebound the whole hand again. "If you were mortal, I'd recommend a sling, but for you, I think a bottle will do the trick." LaCroix shook his head. "I'm not hungry." "You're not thinking clearly." LaCroix looked at Natalie incredulously. How could he think clearly, when all he could think of was Fleur? "Honestly, I'm beginning to think that vampires can pass on genetic traits to their fledglings. You and Nick are so alike in stubbornness, I find it hard to believe that Nick comes by his naturally." Natalie snapped her bag shut. "Eat. And sleep. You'll be fine by the time we get to Vermont." "You and Nicholas are beginning to sound alike as well. I should think you would be glad to see me, of all people, suffer." "I'm a doctor," Natalie said stiffly. "I don't like to see anyone suffer. And Nick's your son." Then, "Look," she exploded, "I understand that you care about Nick and that the idea of loosing him is painful. But I'm not trying to take him away from you!" LaCroix froze. His eyes darted back and forth over her face. Finally, he said, "You brought Nicholas back to me. You may do with him what you like, I won't stop you." The old Roman leered at her. "And I'm sure he won't, either." LaCroix waited until she was gone, then dug out a bottle. Natalie was not as afraid of him as she had been. Exasperated, yes, and--dare he think it--concerned, but not afraid. Oddly, that thought did not distress LaCroix much; he was getting used to her, and her directness, typical of the twentieth-century professional female, was always refreshing. As much as her words had unnerved him in their truth, he was sure that they would not be true for much longer. "A toast to you, Natalie," he muttered. "To my prospective daughter-in-law and future granddaughter." The blood in the bottle was human. It was also room temperature and starting to congeal, but he forced it down. The new blood trickled through his cold veins, and with it came renewed purpose. His eyes fell on Kai's maps. Thoughtfully, LaCroix licked the clotting blood from his lips, and drew the papers closer. The lay of the land was nearly drowned in red ink marks that the General recognized as denoting troop movements, attacks and retreats and ambushes. This was not just a rescue mission, he realized, this was a campaign of near military precision, and one of the most brutal kind. The kind where a superior force swooped down and crushed their opponent utterly without mercy. An old Spartan saying came to his suddenly clear mind. "Breakfast well," LaCroix whispered, "for tonight we dine together in Hell." *** Garek didn't like the way Miranda was looking at him. There was a sly, calculating gleam in the girl's luminous blue eyes, and it was directed at him. And it was making him a bit uneasy. Garek knew what Kai was, knew the advantages his bloodline gave him, and he knew, that Miranda was adopted. But if he had not known... If Miranda's eyes had been snow-grey instead of that taunting, soul-engulfing cobalt... "What a pity to waste such eyes on a mortal," he mourned, brushing a few strands of hair from Miranda's face. He drew his hand back quickly before she could bite him again. The girl had magnificent teeth, she had proven that last night--but she had spat out his blood. Garek's nostrils flared, and his black eyes narrowed to slits with a sudden rush of desire. He could Miranda's anger. She was flushed and sweating, furious with him for tightening the ropes that bound her to the chair. But she was not afraid, not of him. The roots of his canines were throbbing; they ached to bury themselves in the flesh of Miranda's throat. But Garek would wait. "This wasn't what I had in mind," Garek said conversationally. "All I wanted was to say goodbye. But then you had to tell me Kai was in Toronto, so of course I couldn't leave you alone. Don't put blame on me for this." "What does it matter to you where Kai is? If he killed your master he must have had a damn good reason." "That's not the point!" her captor snapped. Then the vampire's expression softened. "Where did you get such eyes?" Garek sighed. "To hell with my eyes." "Your mother was beautiful but Diana's eyes were green, that I remember. Not from Kai, certainly. Who was your father?" "I don't care," said Miranda acidly. Garek shook his head. "Why aren't you afraid of me?" Miranda only smiled. *** Julian and Natalie switched places so she could get some rest, and the trip got underway again. "Where did you learn to coordinate like this?" LaCroix asked, pointing to the maps. "Oh, West Point," answered Kai casually. "When I first moved to the Falls, Leland tried to recruit me for the Home Guard because of my military training, but I turned him down." "What is the Home Guard?" Natalie asked. "You keep mentioning them." "They are the Falls' version of the Enforcers." Kai fiddled with a few poker chips. "Here," he said to LaCroix, laying down a blue chip, "and here. Black Falls is a sinkhole. The mortals there either don't notice we're there or don't care, and no one bothers about the occasional body, so the Enforcers leave us alone. Julian's father Benjamin and Leland's Home Guard are the only law we have." Nick looked up. "I thought that both Julian's father and master were dead." Kai shrugged. "Actually, Benjamin is both Julian's father his master. He's the leader in Black Falls, a bit like LaCroix is in Toronto. They don't get along. Hence the transfer of Dr. Gorey's affections from Ben to me. But that's Julian's affair. Upbringing, I suppose. No one in the Falls really talks about their antecedents." His face fell into bitter lines. "Garek certainly never did." LaCroix accepted the explanation and dismissed it as quickly. "What does he look like? This Garek." "Black hair, black eyes, medium height, slender. Very chiseled face. He'd make a wonderful statue." "Maybe we should have brought cement." Three pairs of startled eyes turned to look at Natalie. "Why not? Give him a nice pair of cement overshoes and dump him in the lake. It'd make one hell of a picture postcard." Nick flushed slightly in chagrin, but he bit his lower lip to keep from laughing. "Oh, yeah," said Kai dryly. "She's gonna fit riiiight in. Although..." he trailed off, his expression thoughtful, "throwing Garek into the lake might be the best course of action." Now it was Kai's turn to get stared at, and LaCroix's face said plainly that he thought Kai had gone completely mad. Again. "Are you serious?" "Deadly so." Kai made a rasping sound in his throat and shook his head. "Nicholas, when you and Sperling were in the church, I told you to empty the baptismal font over him." "Right. The holy water killed him." "No. The killed him. Sperling's line is a very old, very obscure breed of vampire. Very old and very dangerous. Few of the usual protections against a vampire will work on the lilim." Nick frowned. "Lilim?" "Yes." Kai coughed and leaned back against the wall of the van. "The Sons of Lilith." He coughed again, more violently, and fumbled for a handkerchief to hold to his lips. "In the Hebrew tradition, Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She left him over... marital difficulties, and left the Garden of Eden. She went to the Red Sea and consorted with demons and eventually became one herself. She bore many daughters and sons, a good part of which were born vampires. The lilim. The Sons of Lilith." "And Sperling was one of these... misbegotten offspring?" Kai shook his head. "Not exactly. Sperling is part of a fledgling line from Lilith; I don't know which one. So is Garek." "That's... incredible," Natalie breathed. "So these lilim are actually older than the human race..." Kai made a dismissive gesture. "You're thinking in terms of Genesis," he warned. "You can't do that with vampires. As much as it's going to annoy the General here, humans did come first. A vampire cannot exist unless it has once been human. And you can't have vampires without something for them to feed on. What you must remember about Genesis, Natalie, is that it is a legend. It has grains of truth in it, but it is not a complete story. It's doesn't take evolutionary theories into account, for example. Adam and Eve aren't really the grandparents of the human race; they are remembered because three major religions can trace their beginnings back to that one couple. But every race and religion has a creation myth. There have been many Gardens of Eden." Kai folded his crimson-stained handkerchief. "I've heard of Lilith," said LaCroix, with some difficulty. Kai closed his eyes abruptly. "From... from Divia..." He trailed off, uncertain. "I'm listening." Kai's voice was gruff, and he dry-coughed twice. His head was starting to hurt, and not from the coughing. He knew better than to suppress his visions. "Keep talking. What did she know?" "That she was an Ancient. Even older than Divia's master. According to her, Lilith was someone to be admired, emulated... which I interpreted to mean that she was someone to be avoided at all costs." "Well," Kai conceded, massaging anxiously at his tattooed breastbone. Like Nick rubbing his ring, when Kai was nervous his hand went to the cross of blue paint. "Everything is open to interpretation. But I prefer yours. The lilim are not bothered by crosses," he continued, "or anything remotely Christian. Or Jewish. Their origins go too far back, further back than Egypt, further than Babylonia. Stakes and garlic and fire are pretty much universal constants but the only real defense against the lilim that I know of... is water." "Just water?" Nick was incredulous. "Plain, ordinary, non-holy water?" "All water is holy, Nicholas." Kai smiled sadly. "Miranda told me that once. From the sea we came and to the sea we return. Blood and water. One sustains life, the other sustains unlife. Water has always been a symbol of creation. It is the one thing the lilim fear. The demons who fathered them lived in and around the Red Sea. It didn't get its name from tinted sand, not in the beginning. The Red Sea was red with blood. The lilim can't abide water, they can't adapt to it. It destroys them, utterly." Nick sighed in frustration. "Kai, how do you all this?" Kai didn't answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, and finally gave himself over to the shroud of crimson and to the visions that he had been fighting. The others looked at each other gravely. Finally, LaCroix just shrugged. It was too much information to assimilate right now. Very sleepy, Nick cradled Natalie in his arms, and she drowsed on his shoulder. With his less injured hand, LaCroix checked their cache of weapons, and went over the maps once more, marveling at the thoroughness and precision of the plans. If he had had Kai with him in Gaul or China... *** Clad in a black dress that fit her form like an old lover, Janette leaned her elbows on the bar and surveyed her former domain. she asked, not for the first time. She flexed her elegant fingers and debated indulging in a cigarette. <> "Alain, I ask you, why couldn't LaCroix have asked Nicolas to give him some paintings?" She gazed with disdain on the bare-breasted expressionist females decorating the walls. "Ugh. I may have to move back to Toronto and reclaim my club, just to get these... out of here." Alain grinned, twisting around on his stool to face her. "LaCroix may have wonderful taste, but taste and libido don't always mix." "Hmm. And aren't you the proof of that." "Aw. Don't tease, Janette." Alain sighed. "At least you had your share of our Nicolas." "I'm sure you'll get your chance, petit frere." Janette did not for one moment believe that Nicolas would ever welcome Alain's advances, and she had many times told Alain so. But he kept hoping. "Just be patient." "I'll be waiting another two, three centuries at this point. Do you have any Jamaican vintage?" Janette raised an eyebrow. "You can afford that?" "Tonight I can. Depression makes my pockets deep." He checked his wallet. "Deep enough for one glass, anyway." Janette poured him his blood. "Why is this bothering you so badly, all of a sudden? You've been after Nicolas for years, why start whining about your failure now?" "You don't know. He didn't tell you?" Alain was visibly surprised. "I'd've thought you'd be the first to know." "Know what?" "About Nicolas's engagement. He's going to be married." *** Julian looked over at the driver of the van. "So. You and your folks don't get along?" Tracy blinked. "Has Nick been talking to you about me?" "Nope. Just a guess." Julian shrugged. "Most people on good terms with their parents go home for Christmas. It's okay. My old man and I don't get on either." "You knew Garek, didn't you? Like you knew Cat Spenser." Julian stiffened and tried not to hiss. "Not nearly as well," he admitted. "Garek used to be 'on terms' with my sister Amanda, but that was about twenty years ago. He's not the kind of vampire that amounts to much. We've got a lot of bums in Black Falls." "Vachon might've fit right in," Tracy smiled. "Screed, definitely." Julian put a friendly hand on her knee. She glanced at him and saw his eyes had turned to chocolate. "We've got some time left. Tell me about them." *** Kai stirred and yawned, stretching luxuriously, and felt oddly refreshed, almost... eager. He knew what that meant: they were finally in the United States. God Bless America, apple pie and E Pluribus Unum. Quelling his excitement at being back on native soil, Kai reached for a thin book. Nick and LaCroix nodded their approval, and settled back to listen to Kai read from Tennyson. "'The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,'" the seer read in his soft, soothing baritone. "'The vapours weep their burthen to the ground, man comes and tills the field and lies beneath, and after many a summer dies the swan. Me only cruel immortality consumes.'" <> "'Alas! for this grey shadow, once a man-- So glorious in his beauty and thy choice, who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'd to his great heart none other than a God! I ask'd thee, "Give me immortality."'" <> <> "'But thy strong Hours indignant work'd their wills, and beat me down and marr'd and wasted me, and tho' they could not end me, left me maim'd to dwell in presence of immortal youth, immortal age beside immortal youth, and all I was in ashes.'" <> <> "'Let me go: take back thy gift: Why should a man desire in any way to vary from the kindly race of men, or pass beyond the goal of ordinance where all should pause, as is most meet for all?'" <> "'Once more the old mysterious glimmer steals from any pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure, and bosom beating with a heart renew'd.'" <> "'Lo! ever thus thou growest beautiful in silence, then before thine answer is given departest, and thy tears are on my cheek.'" <> "'Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears, and make me tremble lest a saying learnt, in days far-off, on that dark earth, be true? "The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts."'" <> <> "'With what another heart in days far-off, and with what other eyes I used to watch (if I be he that watch'd) the lucid outline forming round thee; Changed with thy mystic change, and felt my blood glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all thy presence and thy portals, while I lay, mouth, forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm with kisses balmier than half-opening buds of April, and could hear the lips that kiss'd whispering I knew not what of wild and sweet...'" <> "'Yet hold me not for ever in thine East; How can my nature longer mix with thine? Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold are all thy lights, and cold my wrinkled feet upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam floats up from those dim fields about the homes of happy men that have the power to die, and grassy barrows of the happier dead.'" He closed his book just as the van slid to a halt. Kai looked up, eyes blazing. "We're here," he said evenly. --Quotes excerpted from "Tithonus" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Part Five Kai tossed Nicholas a bottle. "Drink it," he said curtly, shucking out of his customary white turtleneck. To Natalie's acute worry, his stomach was badly sunken, and her clinical eye was able to pick out each and every rib, and in the dim light of the van, Kai looked like Boris Karloff in "The Black Cat," just before he was about to be flayed. <'Are we not all the living dead?'> she thought. Kai tossed aside the white turtleneck and pulled on a black one, hiding his ponytail in the high collar. "LaCroix, how're your hands?" "Fine." To prove it, he shredded his bandages. LaCroix could feel his eyes pulsating. He was desperate to kill ! He had to get to Fleur... Nick finished his meal. "It's straight," he commented, licking his lips. He was finding it difficult to catch his breath. There was a battle coming... he could feel it in his blood; the thick red stuff in his veins was leaping, straining against its bonds. "There's no holy water," he managed with some difficulty. "Why? It's an odd choice for you." "Nicholas, if holy water is in your system, you lose some of your vampiric abilities. You that." Kai banged on the front wall, and then pointed at Nick's face. "This is a big campaign," he said seriously. "You need to be in top form, not with your healing powers subdued." Julian banged on the door of the van. After he and Tracy climbed in, also dressed in black, Kai and LaCroix distributed the weapons. Kai handed Tracy a strangely-made clip for her gun. "Watch where you point that thing," he warned. LaCroix flexed his fingers around his stake, testing its weight as he would the haft of a sword. "There will be killing tonight," he pronounced roughly. The vampire's eyes gleamed yellow in the darkness. Kai's mirrored them. "I very much hope so. Everyone out." The small group stood close together in the Vermont woods. Natalie and Tracy shivered slightly, as the winter wind blew off the nearby Lake Champlain. Absently, Nick put his arm around Natalie. His red hair ruffling in the wind, Julian pointed south. "The cottage is about two miles down the coast of the lake." "LaCroix, Nicholas, Tracy, you and I will approach the cottage. Then we'll split up. Tracy, I want you to take the back, LaCroix, the front. Nicholas and I will take the sides. Leland and his people will take the top, and cover all the routes out of the area." "Nat, we're medical; you and I are gonna have to stay back a ways, stay out of the fighting, 'cause there's gonna be fighting." Suddenly, Julian pointed up. "Kai. Leland's coming." Two figures dropped down out of the new night sky. One was a tall, overly broad man with a rough face and dirty blond hair. The other was a willowy woman with bone-straight auburn hair and coy green eyes. "Milverton," said Leland blandly, holding out his hand. "Nasty business. My sympathies." "Of course." Kai nodded to the woman. "Amanda." She returned his nod before her gaze fell on Julian. "Big brother. Some kind of homecoming." "Tell me about it." "Who're your friends, Kai?" asked Leland with some suspicion. Nick looked the Home Guard over. Not more than 300, he decided, but he also got the feeling that Leland was someone they could trust. Kai smiled his gut-twisting smile. "This is my Family, Leland. I'd wager on them any day, even against your people." His smile disappeared. "Now, if you don't mind, we are working on a schedule." "Right." Leland took the maps and glanced over them briefly. "Whew. Donovan's going to be massacred. This is fairly standard, pretty much what I had in mind--" "Only because I taught you." "--but are you sure you want to go in, in your condition?" Kai's eyes narrowed dangerously. Vamping out, he took the Home Guard by the throat and tossed him sixty feet into the air, then caught him, flipped him over, and pinned Leland's arm behind his back. "I think you know what'll happen if you move." Gasping, Leland nodded. "Never make the mistake of thinking that I'm an invalid." Kai released his elder. "Now. Can we get moving?!" Rubbing his wrist, Leland led them into the woods. Amanda shook her head and shared a grin with her brother. "Still a holy terror?" "More than ever. What're you doing here?" Amanda hissed with some relish. "I want to be here when Kai puts Garek down." She shrugged. "I think I have some reason to be vindictive." "Yeah, well..." Julian trailed off, sneaking a glance at Nick and LaCroix. Granted, he hadn't known them that long, but he'd never seen the detective or the General look so damn feral. Nick, especially. For all he tried to deny what he was, he seemed very comfortable in the niche of predator. And LaCroix--Julian really just wanted to stay out of LaCroix's line of sight, in case he got too free with that stake. "I doubt Kai will be doling out the kill. His 'grandfather's' claimed that honor. And somehow I don't think it'll be clean." "Good." Amanda paused, watching Leland and Kai carefully. When they crouched to the ground and waited, she did as well. "Handsome blades you've brought down from Moose Country, Jules, who are they?" Julian rolled his eyes. "Mind your own business, you maneater. The blond is Nicholas, the other is LaCroix. Nick's a homicide cop on the Toronto PD." Straighten, walk a few paces, crouch. "And LaCroix. What's he do with his time." "Eh. Runs a club, does a radio show, owns Toronto." "He's ancient." "Survived Pompeii." "And he gets Garek?" "He kills Garek, he gets Miranda." "Stop." "Seriously." Straighten, walk a few paces, crouch. "How about the mortals?" "Natalie Lambert and Tracy Vetter. Nat's a colleague of mine at the morgue. She and Nick are engaged." Straighten, walk a few paces, crouch. "Too bad. And the blond?" "She's Nick's partner. Kai's got his eye on her for some reason." "No kidding. She doesn't seem his type." "That's what I thought. Beats me what he wants with her." Straighten, walk a few paces, crouch. "She does seem like your type, though." Julian hissed. "Not a good subject, Sis," he warned, flashing a fang at her. "She's my patient." He could just see a glint of light from the cabin up ahead. "Right. And you know better than to get emotionally involved with your patients. Not like Mom--" "Shut up and keep moving!" Julian turned his head and signaled furiously to Natalie. "This is where we stop. And you, you take care of yourself, Sis. And for Christ's sake, learn to mind your own goddamn business." Behind a tree, Nick and Natalie embraced roughly. They exchanged no words. They needed none. With a last nod to his betrothed, Nick followed Kai and LaCroix deeper into the forest. After a few minutes, Leland made a sharp hand signal. LaCroix grabbed Tracy by the bicep and pulled her down, as everyone flattened themselves against the cold, damp earth. "Don't even breathe," he whispered against her ear, the smell of frostbitten loam strong in his nostrils. Despite the severity of the situation, Nick just had to ask. "'Milverton'?" He pointed. Wordlessly, the group split up. Leland took to the air; the others kept their feet on the ground, and moved forward slowly. *** She had been staring into the fire for hours when suddenly Miranda looked up at something. Garek bolted from his rickety chair, knocking it over. "What?" he demanded. "What is it?" "Nothing..." "That's a lie. You're lying to me!" Furious, he ripped off the ropes, grabbed a handful of her long blond hair and yanked Miranda to her feet. *** LaCroix snarled at the sudden burst of pain and indignation. The closer he got to Miranda Thorn, the stronger the old bond with Fleur de Brabant became. "Bastard," he mouthed silently, moving swiftly forward. With the soundless, easy stealth born of nearly two thousand years of experience, LaCroix leapt onto the rough-hewn porch. He tossed aside the wooden stake, dismissing it as inadequate. He could hear the sounds of a struggle within the house. Miranda was putting up a good fight, and the sudden high-pitched yelp told of a well-aimed kick to a male groin. He grinned ferally. Kai repeated firmly. A sharp snap of pain, and then... "No!" *** Her broken arm dangling uselessly at her side, Miranda could do little but fight the nausea that was threatening to steal her consciousness. Don't go to sleep, she told herself firmly. Don't go... Garek lifted his prey from the floor. "It won't be so bad," he promised, kissing her jaw line from her chin to her ear. "It's not such a bad life, all in all." He laid his fangs against her carotid artery-- --just as the cabin imploded. *** LaCroix smashed the door down with a roar, casting his scarlet gaze on the kidnapper. "What th--shit!" Garek snarled, throwing Miranda to the floor. She landed on her injured arm and let loose a very unladylike curse. "Who the hell are you?" "The left hand of vengeance," LaCroix hissed. Another crash, and Nick was standing in the cabin, shaking splinters from his black duster, and flashing angry saffron eyes at Garek. "And the boot that's going to kick your sorry carcass back into the pit you crawled out of." A third crash. Tracy had broken through the boarded up back window and was now pointing her loaded pistol at the offending vampire. Garek's head whipped around like it was on a pivot, tonguing his fangs in panic. A string of saliva hung out of his mouth. "Move aside, lilim," commanded a deep ringing voice. Miranda raised her head slightly. "Dad," she gasped. Kai had broken through the back of the tall fireplace and was actually standing the fire. Flames licked at his boots, but he remained unharmed. His grey eyes were cold and masterful. Garek's face had changed at being addressed by his true lineage, and his smile had all the charm of a python. "You came." "I came for my daughter. I've no interest in you." "They can take her. I want you." "Why? I've done you no harm, Garek Donovan." "You murdered my master." Kai laughed, an easy sound that made the flames leap even higher around his body, but he was still untouched. "I never laid a hand on him." Garek narrowed his eyes. "Nicholas there has a new permanent fashion statement, thanks to your master's death throes." "Then it's him I want." Garek took a step forward. But the one step was all he managed, before the roof above him exploded in a chorus of hisses, snarls and growls. "Yes, Leland brought a few of his people along on this... little campaign." Kai stepped out of the fireplace. "As for Nicholas, I don't think so. You see, Nicholas is father, and besides, he has no interest in you." As he was speaking, Nick and LaCroix moved closer and closer to their quarry. Tracy, still covering Garek with her gun, crouched down next to Miranda. "You have to understand, Garek, that you've done a bad, bad thing." Nick was getting a little nervous; in his mind, Kai was relishing this far too much. Not to mention drawing the encounter out far longer than was necessary. Then he understood--he was trying to provoke the lilim. Kai wanted Garek to take on him or Nick or LaCroix so that the others could get Miranda to safety. They couldn't act until Garek did. Nick tried not to notice LaCroix's swiftly flexing fingers. "I did what was necessary. Surely you understand necessity--" Garek's snaky smile changed into a full-blown grin. "--Milverton." "That won't work." Kai's cold grey eyes roamed up and down Garek's slender form. "Honestly, Donovan, you're slime. Sperling should have left you where he found you. "In the whorehouse." Garek leapt at Kai with a scream and toppled the slender vampire to the floor. LaCroix jumped into the fray; Nick ran over to Tracy and Miranda. "Fleur, Fleur, ma soeur, can you hear me?" "Oui, Nicolas. Mon frere..." Miranda looked up at him through pain-filled eyes. "I was going to slap you..." "I'll take a rain check." He could hear pounding and growls from on top of the roof; the Home Guards were smelling blood even before it was spilt. Nick ripped the sleeve off his shirt and used the wooden stake to splint Miranda's arm. "Come on, let's get her outside." "No!" With a surge of strength, Garek threw off both Kai and LaCroix, and flew across the room, knocking Nick down. Slobbering like a mad dog, Garek attacked Tracy, tearing two deep horizontal slashes across the side of her throat. He wrenched the gun from her hand and pinned her against his chest, pointing the gun at Nick. "Blood calls out for blood," he said, wildness in his eyes, and fired twice. Nick stiffened as hard lightening ripped through his chest and leg. A roar tore itself from his throat, and then he collapsed, barely feeling the cold stream of blood trickling out of his mouth. *** Natalie's body went rigid. "Nick... Oh God, no. " *** For a split second, time stood still, and LaCroix could only stare in disbelief at the motionless body of the son who was his reason for living. A low keen that seemed to come from somewhere far away filled the room, but it was not until the inhuman sound burst from his lips that LaCroix realized it was coming from himself. Garek's face went completely slack, in an expression that Kai knew to be total gut-wrenching fear. At his command, Leland and two of his people smashed down through the ceiling, snarling eagerly, brandishing stakes and blazing torches. Garek was boxed in... or so Kai thought. To his horror, Garek suddenly tossed aside the gun, picked up Tracy Vetter, and almost faster than even a vampire's eye could follow, threw her into the fire. And then he was gone, zipping past LaCroix and out through the front door. LaCroix growled low in his chest and followed his prey with a vengeance. Kai dove into the fireplace and pulled Tracy out, beating at the flames with his bare hands. The blood loss and burns were rapidly sapping her strength. "Leland. Parker, Jinx. Take Miranda and Nicholas, get them out of here." Jinx took one look at Nick's prone form and shook his head. "He's gone, Milverton--" "Don't argue with me! Just get them to the medics!" Leland shrugged, but gathered Miranda up and flew threw the ceiling. Parker took Nick's shoulders and Jinx took his legs. "And watch his leg!" Kai bent over the injured detective, stroking her blistering forehead. "Tracy, Tracy, can you hear me? You've got to hang on, child." But his pleas had no effect. Kai could feel her life slipping away. He choked down the lump in his throat and brushed his lips lightly over Tracy's. "Forgive me." Kai pulled back the bright blond head to expose the burned, lacerated neck, and buried his fangs in the flesh of her throat. *** "It's nicked his heart," Julian pronounced, producing a long, shiny pair of tweezers and plunging into the wound. "But it's not serious." Natalie breathed a long, shuddering sigh of relief. "I think... as long as I... get it out... now... there!" He pulled out a small but lethal pellet of hawthorn wood. "Just be glad Kai didn't give Tracy the splinter bullets, those are damn nasty." Julian slapped a dressing over the hole in Nick's chest and wrapped several layers of gauze around his body. "I'm more concerned with his leg." He dropped his tweezers into a dish of disinfectant that he had set on a smooth rock, and pulled out a bottle and a syringe from his bag of tricks. Carefully, he drew out a dosage, tapped the syringe free of bubbles, and plunged it into Nick's thigh. "Curare's wonderful stuff. Best tranquilizer known to man." Confident that Nick was not about to wake up and bite off his hand, Julian looked the leg over. "Bone's shattered," he muttered. "But the bullet passed clean through, so he just needs two or three heavy feedings and he'll be good as new. He'll be outta commission for another couple of days." Julian dressed and bandaged the leg wound, and wiped his hands. "Where's Tracy?" Parker was taking care of Miranda; Jinx and Leland traded an uneasy look. "She was the blond mortal?" Julian stood up. "Where is she?" "Back at the cabin with Milverton. She--Jules, she didn't look too good." Julian turned and sprinted through the forest to the cabin. Natalie looked at the Home Guards. "I don't suppose you could help me get these two to the van?" *** Garek stumbled heavily through the thick Vermont woods, tripped and falling over the various tree roots. He didn't dare take to the air; such an escape would be too open, and the Home Guard would be waiting for him. Bad enough that that white-haired banshee was following him through the underbrush... Garek had never seen such terrifying eyes, even on a vampire--blood black and suffocating. Garek stepped round a tree and slammed into LaCroix's chest. Without a word, the General's fangs descended even further and he plunged them into Garek's throat, not drinking, but ripping two gaping wounds from one side to the other. The lilim's blood was like battery acid on his tongue. LaCroix reared back. "Blood calls out for blood," he rasped hoarsely, biting into Garek's forehead just above his left eyebrow and dragging his teeth down the length of the face. His hands tight on Garek's arms, LaCroix took to the sky. He opened his mouth and let the bitter cold air partially soothe the rancid aftertaste. "You don't finish at all well," he commented, his vocal cords slightly damaged. Garek could only gurgle. LaCroix flew in the direction of the long Lake Champlain. "Kai tells me that your Family has no practical use for water," he said conversationally. At the mention of the word 'water,' Garek began to writhe frantically, trying to break free. But the General's hands were like vices. "There is it." LaCroix swooped down until he was a mere three feet from the glassy surface of the dark water. Garek was making the most awful shrill noises. "Do shut up," insisted LaCroix, somehow managing to kick his prisoner in the small of his back. "You're spoiling the moment. "It does seem a pity to harm the tranquility of this place, but as you say, we all must do what is necessary." He wrenched Garek's head around to look him in the eye. "From the water we came and to the water we return." With a smile, LaCroix released his prisoner. Half the lake roiled and boiled as Garek's body dissolved. And standing on the shore, watching the execution with a tranquil smile, was Amanda Gorey. "Go home, General," she whispered, knowing well that he would hear her. "You are done here, and your lady awaits you." Her smile turned into a sneer. "Goodbye, Garek. Say hello to the Devil for me." Part Six February 14th, 1997 Using his cane, Nick eased himself down the stairs to the kitchen, spouting his displeasure with each step. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." "Nick--!" Natalie threw up her arms in disgust. "You slept late; it's nearly ten o'clock. Why didn't you fly down?" "Well--ow." Nick leaned heavily on the aluminum cane for a moment. "When you didn't want me to fly, I wanted to. Now that I can't walk properly, I have this burning desire to run a triathlon. And I was tired." He stretched out his hand, but Natalie held the bottle out of his reach. "You're still healing. On the couch." "Nat--" "Now." "And a very Happy Valentine's Day to you, too." Once settled in front of the fire, Nick drank his breakfast while Natalie retightened the Ace bandage on his leg. "It's been six weeks. Am I done yet?" "How's it feel?" "Like the bone is in three pieces instead of three hundred. It's sore, but I can put weight on it. Did the phone ring while I was asleep?" "Yep." Natalie pressed the last of the butterfly clips into place. "It was Commissioner Vetter." Nick groaned. "Asking yet again why Tracy was taken to a private clinic for treatment after the car accident, and why he wasn't notified immediately." "He was. As soon as we got back into the country." "There was also some little concern about why the clinic is housed over the Corvina. Thank God Julian's a registered GP... oh, and Captain Reese called." "And?" "And he wants you and Tracy back to work as soon as his humanly possible. Judging from his tone of voice, you'll have so little personal time left, we may have to postpone our wedding for three or four years." Nick pulled Natalie into a hug. "I'll resign first. How's Miranda?" "Her arm's healing well." She gave him a sideways glance. "How's Tracy?" Nick closed his eyes and reached out through his bond with Kai to touch his new 'granddaughter.' "She's... okay. She's coping. A little shaken still, but... Tracy likes living, Nat. She'll be okay." Natalie hugged him back. "Want to see them? Julian wants to take a couple more X-rays. Maybe you'll even get to talk to Miranda without LaCroix hovering in the background." Nick grinned. *** Tracy looked up as something tremored in the back of her mind. "What is it, Tracy?" asked Kai softly. "What do you sense?" "Someone's... coming here. Nick. Nick's coming, isn't he?" "Very good." Kai closed his book. "He'll probably take the elevator. Shall we go and see him?" "Can you tell Nick and Nat I said hi? I... really just want to go to sleep right now. Can I use your guest room?" "Tracy, you don't have to ask. You're Family now, and my home is always open to you." He grasped her hand reassuringly. "Good night, child." Tracy smiled weakly, and went to bed. *** Julian had grabbed Nick as soon as he stepped off the elevator and hustled him into the X-ray room, so Natalie was forced to wait in the hallway. Kai smiled. "You look tired," he commented. "Coffee?" "No thanks. Nick wanted to see Tracy and Miranda." "Tracy's gone to bed. New fledglings are like any other infants; they need copious amounts of sleep in the first few months of life. As for Miranda..." @}----- Earlier that night LaCroix stroked the sleeping girl's forehead. "She's in less pain," he commented absently. "Her arm is completely healed. And the aftermath of the kidnapping has been much easier on her than it might have been. Thanks to you." Kai leaned against the door frame, chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip. "She is... a remarkable woman, Nikaila. You should be proud of your child." "I am. But she is not a child any more." LaCroix turned. "I trust you. Lucien, I am trusting you " Kai crossed the room and opened the window, letting in the cold mid-winter air. LaCroix looked at him in disbelief. "Don't disappoint me." Before Kai could change his mind, LaCroix gathered up the sleeping woman--and her blankets, it was freezing out--in his arms, and flew out of the Corvina. Kai shook his head, as a slow, deliberate, but sad smile spread across his face. @}----- Kai shook his head sharply. "Miranda's not here, Natalie. She's with LaCroix." "Oh--oh." Natalie gulped. "Why do I feel like I should apologize?" Before Kai could answer, Julian and Nick came out of the X-ray room. "I've told you before, if Kai hadn't had you flush your system of the holy water, there would've been nothing I could've done for that leg. The bone was completely shattered. As it is, I'm confining you to desk duty for another week, but you can go back to work tomorrow." "Thank you," Nick said gratefully. "My Captain is threatening to undermine my honeymoon if I don't go back soon." "And we can't have that, now can we?" Julian shrugged, a wicked gleam in his expression. "Not that you two really a honeymoon..." Julian took one look at Nick's face and shut up. *** Julian and Kai stood over Tracy's bed and watched her sleep. "This is what you meant, wasn't it?" the doctor asked. "When you said you had plans for her. You were going to bring her across from the first." Kai nodded. "Not like this, though. She's been through so much... not like this. But she's held up well. Her strength is formidable. She is an extraordinary woman." "Yes," Julian whispered with some difficulty. "She is." The slender blond vampire did not turn around, but his sigh was one of knowledge. "You love her." "Yes." "Don't. She's been hurt enough, and you can't give her what she needs." Now Kai turned, and laid his thin, brittle hand on Julian's cheek. "You've got even less time left than I have." Kai left the room. Julian licked his suddenly dry lips. He sat carefully on the edge of Tracy's bed, and stayed there until the sun came up. ~Finis--December 3rd, 2002~