09-02-04
An End
by LeoniaKat
This story takes place around the end of the second season.
Too late. Too damn late! He knew it the moment he had felt the pain from his son. He knew there was no hope that he'd arrive in time to save him. He did arrive in time to practically rip the head off the hunter who had destroyed his most precious child.
Natalie parked the car in the driveway and grabbed the grocery bag on the passenger's seat. She had her keys out and ready to unlock the front door of the home she shared with Nicholas. The marriage wasn't perfect, but then again, whose was? They still hadn't found a cure for him but they had found ways around that little problem.
Her first sign of trouble was the front door which was slightly open. She was positive she had locked it before her little trip to the store. She pushed it open with one foot, listening for any sounds, anything to explain why the door was open. She placed the groceries on a stand just within the entryway. She was about to head to the bedroom to check on Nick when a roar of what sounded like anguish reached her ears.
Throwing caution to the wind, she ran upstairs and to the master bedroom. Pushing open the door, it would only open partially as it collided with something. She squeezed through the opening and froze in terror.
There, cradling her husband's limp body, bloody tears streaking his face, sat Lacroix. Everything seemed to go in slow motion from that point. She cried out and collapsed to her knees. The love of her life, her reason for living, was gone. She knew it as surely as she knew she no longer wanted to live.
Lacroix looked up from his beloved son's face after a time, knowing the sun had set as he'd sat there. He was surprised to see Natalie Lambert kneeling across from him. She was mumbling, tears streaking her face. He wondered how long she had been here as he focused on her words.
"I should have been here… Shouldn't have left during the day… Should have been here…" Over and over her mantra continued.
Lacroix felt his anger growing. If he hadn't allowed his son to run off and marry this woman, maybe his son would still be alive. If they hadn't been so far away… maybe he would have gotten here in time.
He gently laid his son's body on the floor and rose. He wiped at his face, feeling an unexpected wetness there. He moved to tower over the mortal woman. She looked up at him before resignedly dropping her head.
Furious, he grabbed her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. She offered him no resistance, which only served to make him angrier. He grasped her shoulders with a bruising strength and tilted her head to one side. She turned it farther for him as he moved to sink his fangs in her neck.
The hunter's blood had calmed his anger for a short while but it had returned with a vengeance. He reared his head back and viciously struck. Swallowing a mouthful of her blood, he quickly released her and drew back.
Natalie had been prepared to die, had wanted to die, when she suddenly found herself released. She looked up at the man she was sure would be her death, "Why did you stop? Damn you!" She raised her fists and beat at him.
He grabbed her wrists, although her blows barely affected him. "Believe me, Dr. Lambert; I want to kill you… But even I do not kill unborn babies."
The words took almost a full minute to penetrate her brain, "What are you talking about? I've only been with Nick," she said, the name of her husband bringing fresh tears to her eyes as she looked down at his too-still body.
"I'm aware of that," Lacroix responded. "It's rare, but it does occasionally happen. To kill you would be to destroy the last piece of my son."
Nat placed a hand on her abdomen, "You're sure, Lacroix?"
"Yes," he responded quietly. "I will deal with the body of this hunter, and then I will return to bury my son."
Natalie glanced at the floor behind the door, for the first time seeing what had blocked its opening fully. "He would have liked that," she responded as he hefted the nearly-decapitated body of the hunter.
He left without replying, leaving her alone with her husband's body. She moved to his side and knelt beside him. Her grief was turning into a sort of numbness.
"Oh, Nick, I'm so sorry. I should have been here…" The tears began anew but she didn't care, "Did you know that I'm pregnant? We're going to have a child, Nick. We thought we would have forever. I guess things didn't work out as we planned. I don't know how I'm going to go on without you." She paused and dashed at her tears, "I know you're in heaven. I know God would have forgiven you, my love." She sat for a time, not speaking, simply saying a silent prayer to the God Nick had believed in for eight hundred years.
She had no idea how long she sat there before Lacroix returned. She heard the front door open and close, and then he was beside her. She looked up at him, "I'm so sorry, Lacroix. If I'd been here…"
"You would be lying dead next to him," he cut her off quickly. "Hunters don't concern themselves deciding who is innocent and who is not."
"I should have been here," she whispered defiantly.
He knelt beside her and gently lifted his son into his arms, "Come." He rose and led her outside and to her car. "Do you have a shovel?"
She nodded and went to the garage, emerging a moment later with a large shovel in hand that she placed in the trunk. She ran back inside the house and exited a couple seconds later with a small wooden box, which she also placed in the trunk.
He laid the body of his son on the back seat and got in the passenger's seat as Natalie sat behind the wheel.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she started the car.
"We will find an isolated spot by the river to bury him." The words sounded so very final to one as accustomed to death as he.
"I know a place," she responded, thinking back to the flights Nick had taken her for. She silently drove them, the sadness rising up to engulf her the closer they got. She pulled into a hidden road through the woods. Parking at the end of it, she finally spoke, "We have to walk a little to get to the spot."
Lacroix wordlessly exited the car and gently lifted his son. He kicked the door closed behind him.
Natalie got out of the car and extracted the shovel and the box from the trunk. As an afterthought, she grabbed the blanket she kept in there as well. Closing the trunk, she silently led Lacroix through the woods, leading them towards the sound of running water. They emerged in a small, riverside clearing. The river was maybe five meters wide and was flowing quite quickly. It reflected the brilliant orange of a full harvest moon.
The sight of the clearing brought new tears to Natalie's eyes as she recalled the happy times she and Nick had spent here. Those were all over now. Now, she had to figure out how to carry on alone and how to best raise the child growing within her. She placed the shovel and box on the ground before spreading out the blanket.
Lacroix was momentarily awed by the beauty of the clearing the doctor had led him to. He glanced down at his son and whispered too quietly for the mortal to possibly hear, "No parent should ever have to bury their child."
He watched her lay out the blanket and found himself irrationally glad that he didn't have to place Nicholas on the cold ground. Lying down his son, he picked up the shovel and momentarily considered the clearing before choosing a spot close to the river and digging.
Natalie sat beside her husband's body, holding his much-too-cold hand, and watching Lacroix dig the grave. She reviewed the three years of their marriage. She found herself pondering the what-ifs. What if he had brought her across when they had first married? What if they hadn't accepted Lacroix' offer for him to leave them alone for a time? What if, what if, what if… She suddenly realized there was little or nothing she could have done to change the situation. It didn't help much, though.
She was broken out of her reverie by Lacroix dropping the shovel to the side of the hole he had dug. She looked down at her husband a final time, committing everything about him to memory. Then Lacroix was covering the body with the sides of the blanket before lifting him and placing him in the grave. Natalie followed, carrying the wooden box in hand.
She opened the box, glanced at St. Joan's cross before closing it again, and then she placed the box into the grave next to Nick. "Goodbye, my husband, my love," she whispered before tossing a handful of dirt down into the grave. Everything she felt she needed to say had already been said. She walked away, granting Lacroix a moment of peace.
Watching the mortal say her goodbye to his son made him reconsider his assessment of the woman. Years ago, before allowing their marriage, he had seen her as competition for his son's love. Then, when his son had taken back the pocket watch with 'Forever' engraved within it, he had listened to his son's pleas to allow him to marry the mortal. Against his better judgment, he had agreed. Now, the life the mortal carried within her was all he had left of his son.
"Nicholas," he began, his voice a mere whisper, "I hope that you have found the salvation you sought. Natalie has my protection, my son. None shall harm her. The child within her also has that same protection. As do the children of that child and so on until the day I too take my eternal rest." He paused and glanced up at the moon, "Know that I loved you above all. You were my only son and I was always proud of you. No matter how hard we fought, my love for you never faltered." He bent and lifted a handful of sand, "Goodbye, my son."
As soon as he finished filling the hole, he carried the shovel to where Natalie stood crying. He gently embraced her, "You and your child and your children's children and so on have my eternal protection."
"Thank… thank you, Lacroix," she stuttered around her hiccoughs.
He pulled away, "You will come and live with me, then. There are those who will fear your knowledge of us with Nicholas' death."
She nodded; she had no desire to ever return to their house again. She turned away from Nicholas' grave and took the first steps to a new life…
To be continued…