Disclaimer: I do not own Tanya Huff's incredible characters. Hopefully I've borrowed and returned them in pristine condition.
Notes: Yes, the long-awaited chapter 10 is finally up! Thanks SO much for those of you who've stuck with me. Hopefully the ending is to your liking!
Feedback: Please, please, please let me know what you thought. Knowing that people enjoy what I write is what keeps me coming back. Definitely be on the lookout for more BT fics from me.
Thanks again, everyone!
Time seemed to stop the moment Nathan entered the room. The four were frozen in some weird sort of tableau, like those often seen in the climax of great cinematic features. Nathan blocked the doorway, arms hanging at his side, rigid, a smirk plastered to his otherwise handsome face. Coreen stood off to the left, half-hidden behind one of the abandoned factory's machines. Henry and Vicki stood in the middle of the room, eyes narrowed, body stiff, respectively.
Nathan paced the length of the room, slowly circling the couple in the center. It reminded Henry of wolves stalking their prey, and had he been capable of sweating, he would have, for the other powerful figure in the room was making him nervous. Had he been less narcissistic, he would have admitted outright fear.
Vicki's hands trembled, one wrapped around Henry's arm, gripping the soft fabric of his blazer, the other shoved nervously into her pocket, an old habit she'd picked up while on the force. She had a feeling she wouldn't have been nearly as terrified had she been able to see, but the fact that her world was darkness, and that Nathan could be anywhere, had forced a fear to arise in her that she had never known before. Vulnerability was not a trait Vicki had ever considered admirable, so to be dealing with it now, she felt like a hypocrite as well as a coward.
The last time she had faced fear such as this had been over a year ago, after Mike had betrayed Henry and she'd thought him dead. The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach mirrored her feelings in those long moments after Henry had been dragged away, and she swallowed back bile that had risen in the back of her throat.
A familiar hand gripped her wrist, and she was rapidly pulled back into the present. There was small comfort in Henry's nearness, but it was, at least, something. The fact that Nathan was in the room with them, and could easily reverse Henry's adaptability to sunlight, or incapacitate her ever more, had her heart thumping to a macabre beat.
"Nice to see you, Victoria," Nathan cooed, and she felt Henry's grip tighten as a finger traced its way down her cheek. She cringed and took a step back.
"What? You aren't happy to see me?" She could hear the smile in his voice. "Oh, wait. That's right, you can't see, can you?"
"I'm assuming that's your fault," Vicki quipped angrily.
Nathan shrugged. "It's not like you could see that well, anyway. I did you a favor."
"A favor? How do you figure?"
"I made you face your fear," Nathan said simply. "At least you came to terms with one of them."
Vicki raised an eyebrow. "One of them?"
"Are you going to keep repeating me?" Nathan asked, annoyance creeping into his voice.
Vicki sensed the danger in angering him further, so she pressed her lips together and waited.
"To answer your question, yes, Miss Nelson, one of them."
Vicki couldn't see, but Nathan shot a pointed look in the other immortal's direction. She did, however, feel Henry's grip on her hand tighten.
Nervously, she squeezed back.
Henry's presence offered little comfort when pulled away from her safety net, one hand rapidly making its way down the small of back, hovering dangerously close to her ass. Her back was pressed up against a cold cement wall, and roving hands made her skin crawl.
Nathan grinned as Vicki's breath caught in her throat as he pressed his lips against the velvety down of her cheeks. Her body strained beneath him, trying to push him away. He could sense her growing fear, and mixed with Henry's mounting anger, it only egged him on.
"Care to stop me, Vampire?"
Henry watched helplessly as Nathan ran his hands over every inch of the woman he had claimed as his own. If he thought he could have stopped it, he would have. In this case, though, he feared for Vicki's safety, and while watching her be nearly violated tested his resolve, he couldn't risk Nathan's anger. Towards any of them. Coreen, mercifully, had remained silent.
Henry kept his temper in check as best he could, trying to offer Vicki his silent support some fifteen feet away. However, when Nathan's nimble fingers began to unbutton Vicki's blouse, Henry let out a dangerous growl, eyes shifting from green to black. The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room as the two powerful figures glared at each other. Vicki had no sense of space, her feet stumbling over one another, trying to find her way back to Henry's side. She felt vulnerable just standing dumbly by herself in a room where time seemed to have stopped. She needed stability. What she needed was Henry.
Vicki frantically thrust her hands out in front of her, searching desperately for something familiar. From what she could gather, Henry was somewhere to her right. Or perhaps it was Nathan, she really couldn't tell.
And with that, she ran headlong into one of the large machines scattered throughout the room.
"Big machine, twelve o'clock," Nathan called a bit too late.
"Thanks," Vicki muttered, rubbing her forehead tenderly. Her temple was throbbing.
Cool hands gripped hers, pulling her up and into the safety of his arms.
"Henry," she breathed, relief nearly knocking the wind out of her. As long as she had something familiar to hold on to, to ground her, she would be alright. They would be alright.
Somewhere to her left, she could hear footsteps, heavy soles slapping against the slate tiles. The room was silent, save for the repetitive slap, slap, slap of Nathan's shoes, and Vicki's heartbeat met his pace beat for beat.
The endless sound of nothingness stretched to uncomfortable limits, and finally Vicki could stand it no longer.
"Why are you here?" she asked testily. "What do you want with me?"
"Your charming wit and flowing blonde hair," Nathan grinned devilishly.
If she had been capable of glaring, Vicki would have. As it were, Henry did it for her.
"You're quite self-absorbed, Miss Nelson," he continued. "Everything has to be about you, doesn't it? What makes you think it's you I want?"
"You don't?"
"No, Miss Nelson, I don't."
"But… But the dreams and the blindness…?"
"Just good old fashioned fun."
"Just for fun?!" Vicki exclaimed. "For fun? That's fucked up."
She suddenly found herself hanging upside down, held up by an invisible string.
"I'd watch my language if I was you," Nathan warned, his breath brushing against her skin.
"Put her down," Henry growled, taking a step forward, his fear, as well as rational thought, suddenly forgotten.
Nathan smiled calmly.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" He laughed. "Sorry. Already dead."
"Put her down," Henry repeated.
Nathan shrugged.
"If you insist."
Vicki crashed to the ground with little time to cover her head. She could almost feel her brain crash against her skull as she fell, and grunted in pain as she rolled onto her back, clutching her head in her hands.
Henry was at her side before anyone had even blinked, and Coreen's mouth hung open in silent horror, her scream lost amidst Nathan's sigh.
"Mortals. So predictable."
"I swear to God," Henry began, "If you so much as come near her, I'll-"
"You'll what? Kill me? I already told you, that's impossible."
"There's always a way to rid the world of people like you," Henry snapped, pulling Vicki to her feet as she groaned in protest.
"How very heroic of you," Nathan observed. "Unfortunately, your words fall on deaf ears. Miss Nelson isn't what I came here for, as I already said."
"So what do you want with me?"
"Your power."
"My what?" Henry asked, confused.
"Your power," Nathan repeated, agitated.
"If you're talking about not-so-super-human-strength and great night vision, you're welcome to it," Henry muttered. "But leave Vicki out of this."
The other man's lips slowly turned up in an evil smile. "I'm not talking about your admirable vision. I'm talking about your longevity and mental capabilities. Combined with what I already have, I would be unstoppable. I would be the greatest man to have ever walked this earth."
Henry sincerely doubted that. But he was forced to wonder what else this man had taken from others like himself.
"So why did you try to kill me before?"
Nathan shrugged.
"Habit. If I'd killed you I could still have drained your life force and added it to mine, but then I realized it would be impossible to collect your mental abilities. So I decided it would be much more enjoyable to turn your loved ones against you."
To prove his point, with a snap of his fingers Vicki was thrown against a nearby wall and collapsed in a heap on the cold cement floor.
Henry made to go to her, but found his feet strangely incapable of movement. His gaze swiveled to meet Nathan's, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Not so fun, is it? Being helpless? But don't worry," he continued, "I'm not having any fun either. Not yet, anyway."
Henry struggled to lift his feet as Nathan made his way over to Vicki's limp body and pulled a knife from somewhere inside his jacket.
"Watch carefully," he breathed.
He pressed the blade against Vicki's cheek, and brought it down in one swift motion. Blood trickled from the wound, winding its way down her face and pooling on the floor beneath her.
Eyes having been averted, Henry raised his head at the familiar scent of Vicki's blood. It took only a fraction of a second before he realized what had happened, and he roared, arms clawing at the air as his feet remained firmly planted to the ground.
"Damn it, let her go!"
"Why should I? Why should I care one iota about your feelings, Vampire? It isn't my fault you fell in love with a woman who can't love you back!"
"Shut up!" Henry yelled, causing Nathan to jump in mild surprise. "Shut up! She does love me."
"Really. Did she say that?"
"Yes," Henry replied in agony, as Nathan brought the blade back to Vicki's face, slowly pulling it down alongside the cut he had just made. Vicki's skin puckered as the blade moved, and she flinched as she eased back into consciousness.
"I doubt she meant it," Nathan said, shrugging. "This woman is incapable of falling in love. You should know that by now, Henry. How many women have you been with?"
"That has nothing to do with her."
"Doesn't it? If you're such an expert in women, how is it that you've completely ignored the fact that this bitch ran away from you? And not just once! She's lied to your face about sleeping with Detective Celluci-"
"She didn't lie," Henry hissed. "She told me what happened."
"Only after she knew you'd found out. If you hadn't known, do you think she would have told you?"
"Yes."
But somewhere in the back of his mind, a seed of doubt had been planted.
Would she have told me? Would she have risked losing me, just for the sake of honesty?
He shook his head.
She would've told me. I know her. She wouldn't lie. And she wouldn't have lost me, in any case.
"Yes," he said, this time with much greater conviction.
Nathan raised an eyebrow.
Are these people seriously incapable of admitting the truth to one another? Christ.
"Fine. So you know her. You love her. Whatever, I get it. But that doesn't mean she's going to let it happen, you and her. She's not that stupid."
"We can beat the odds," came a faint voice.
Nathan glanced down at the woman at his feet and smirked.
"You two are hopeless," he muttered.
He jabbed his foot into Vicki's ribs and she groaned, clutching her stomach.
"You really believe that a vampire and a mortal can fall in love and live a normal life together? Don't you get it? There is no happily-ever-after when it comes to stuff like this! This shit is real, it's dangerous, and it doesn't work."
Vicki could detect a hint of sadness that had crept into Nathan's voice, and she raised her head to stare blindly up in his direction, torment briefly flashing across his face.
"Just because it didn't work out for you doesn't mean everybody has to lose," she said quietly. "Maybe you didn't try hard enough, you selfish bastard. No wonder you're so miserable."
Nathan glared at her, his stoic expression back in place.
"Shut up!" he snapped, and pulled the knife from his pocket. "I didn't come here for you, and I certainly don't need to listen to your ramblings. Say goodbye to your first and last true love, as you so call it."
He raised the knife, and Vicki could feel his anger radiating nearby. She tried to crawl backwards, away from him and his threats, but found herself pressed against the wall. She had nowhere to go, could see no exit. She was going to die, and she couldn't even fight for her life.
She heard something split the air in front of her, and suddenly there was an overwhelming sense of pain as a sharp blade pierced her heart. She made a gurgling sound as it twisted painfully in her chest, blood seeping through her shirt and staining her hands as she tried to force Nathan away from her.
"No!" Henry cried brokenly, his voice full of unrelenting anger.
In his need to be near her, to stop Nathan from doing her any more harm, the enchantment holding his feet to the floor was broken, and before Nathan had even turned around, a large metal pole had lodged itself in his chest. Henry's anger rained down on the young man, shoving the pole through his heart, shattering his spine, and ripping a massive hole in his back, where the rod eventually broke through.
And suddenly the world swam into focus. Vicki lay on the floor, blood pooling at her feet, Henry's hands wrapped firmly around – what was it? A stake? – something protruding from Nathan's chest. His knuckles were white in his need to do the man irrevocable harm, and she watched silently as he twisted the pole from side to side, watched the pain disfigure Nathan's face after the initial shock wore off.
"Henry," she choked out, her voice cracking. "Henry, stop," she whispered.
Henry spun around at her words, having almost forgotten everything except his need to kill the immortal who had tried to kill the love of both his lives.
"Vic…"
He rushed to her side and lowered her to the floor, one hand cradling her head in his lap, the other suddenly warmed by the blood on her hand.
It was then that he realized she was gazing up at him, almost as if she could…
"Holy Mary," he whispered, eyes wide. "Vic, can you see?"
She nodded slowly, her breathing shallow.
"Spell dies with the person who cast it," she repeated from memory.
Then her eyes grew wide.
"Henry, run!"
Sunrise had been hours ago, and as Nathan's breathing grew ragged, Henry's adaptability to sunrise was weakening. His skin was already blistering, not unlike the sunburn she received from sitting outside for too long.
"I'm not going to let you die," he growled, gripping her hand tightly. "Not today."
"You stupid fuck," she mumbled, tears slowly leaking out from under her lashes. "Get out of here."
"No!"
"Henry, please," she whispered, kissing his hand, her lips lingering. "Go. I'll be fine."
"Vicki, I hate to tell you this, but you're not fine! You've lost a lot of blood. We need to get you to a hospital."
"I'll call Mike. It'll be fine."
Her eyes pleaded with him, begged him to go, and yet he couldn't tear himself away from her, even in his impending death.
"Vicki, I-"
"I know. I love you too, you stubborn son-of-a-bitch."
She smiled weakly as he laid a hand against her cheek, running a finger along the two deep cuts Nathan had made.
"You know," he whispered brokenly, "it's funny how things work out. I thought you'd die of old age and I'd just wait for sunrise."
She offered a questioning look in response.
"You're dying, but you're still young. I'm going to die, but the sun's already up." He gave a weak smile. "Ironic, isn't it?"
"I can't believe you're worried about irony right now," was all she said. But she understood.
"Come on, we have to get you to a doctor," he repeated, eyes wild with fear as he glanced towards the window. He only had minutes, perhaps seconds, to spare.
"No!" she argued with her last bit of strength, slouching against the wall. "Leave. Come back tonight and we'll-"
"We'll take you to the hospital," came a voice from the doorway. "Nobody's dying if I have anything to say about it"
It was Mike.
Nighttime had one again descended upon the city of Toronto, and Vicki Nelson found herself surrounded by a familiar sea of faces, once again prisoner of the Toronto General Hospital. Coreen was curled up in an overstuffed chair in the corner, Mike leaned his back against the window, and Henry was perched on the edge of the bed, worrying the corner of the blanket with nimble fingers.
No one had spoken in the near hour Vicki had been awake, and from where she lay nestled amongst the pillows, she waited anxiously for someone to begin. When nobody did, she sighed, pulled herself into a half-sitting position, and took a deep breath.
"Jesus H. Christ, guys! Who died?"
Mike shot her a withering look, which Vicki easily withstood.
"Do you realize what happened today?" he asked, voice shaky.
"Yeah, I do. I got stabbed. Big deal."
"Vic, you almost died," Henry reminded her, looking up. "If Coreen hadn't snuck out and told Celluci what had happened, we'd both be dead."
"But we aren't," she argued. "Don't get me wrong, Mike, I really appreciate what you did. You too, Coreen," she added. She glanced in Henry's direction and offered a small smile. "But I wasn't going to die from being stabbed."
But Mike had had enough.
"Fuck, Vic! You really think you would have made it? You aren't fucking Superwoman! You aren't fucking Christ!"
"No, Mike, I'm not!" she snapped. "But I'm fine. I'm not dead, and I'm certainly not dying." She glanced around at the other three. "Nobody is."
Coreen shrugged. "Not yet."
Vicki shot her a look.
"I'm just saying," she said, holing up her hands in defeat. "If Nathan had actually noticed me leaving, we'd all be dead. And if Mike hadn't gotten there in time, you two would be dead."
"That's a lot of 'what ifs,' Henry reminded her.
"Don't even," Vicki said. "You weren't going to leave unless someone literally dragged you away."
"Which I did," Mike pointed out.
"I wasn't going to let you die," Henry repeated.
"Enough with the dying, already!" Vicki cried, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Can't we talk about something happy?"
"Like what?" her three compatriots asked in unison.
After exchanging looks with each other, the silence was broken by hysterical laughter.
Henry entered on a breeze, easily navigating his way through the hallways of Michael Celluci's house. It was late, and Mike was likely fast asleep. Henry made quick work of the security system and made his way to the detective's bedroom, his slowed heartbeat an indicator of sleep.
It had been a while since Henry had been forced to erase a man's memory, but tonight he had a purpose. Eliminating any memory of Nathan and what he'd done to them was the task at hand, and he made a mental note to never bring up the immortal in conversation after this moment.
Placing one hand on either side of the Mike's head, he closed his eyes and focused intently on his breathing. The vampire focused all his energy on releasing the past month's events from the man's mind and for a moment his breathing faltered. Henry waited patiently, and a few seconds later Mike's chest began to rise and fall to its regular beat.
It was done.
Henry stared down at Vicki's sunken face, a hand instinctively reaching out to brush a stray curl off her cheek. He had always been fascinated by how she slept, one arm draped across her stomach, the other stretched out above her head. There was always the faintest trace of a smile on her lips, and he had often wondered if there was a secret hidden there. He dared not ask, but it was a thought that occupied his mind quite frequently.
He knew that this was it, the last piece of the puzzle in erasing Nathan's memory from the world. Celluci and Coreen had been taken care of, as well as Vicki's mother and the otherwise involved policemen and doctors, but Vicki… This was much harder. For, in erasing her mind, he would erase all of her memories of the two of them, of the day they had spent together, of her admitting her feelings.
Henry supposed it was selfish to even consider leaving her with the memories of what Nathan had inflicted upon her, and yet he couldn't help but take pause. It had taken him nearly a week to decide on this particular course of action, and he couldn't back out now. He had thought it through, and this was right, no matter how much it pained him.
When she awoke, Vicki would not remember having ever said she loved him, would not recall holding hands while strolling through the park, would never be able to bring back the memory of sitting on a park bench, talking about someday starting a family together. Everything would return to a time when Vicki was stuck in her ways, unwilling to admit her feelings, avoiding any opportunity for intimacy.
But this is how it has to be, Henry reminded himself.
Because knowing, in the end, how she truly felt had made all the difference. He had waited nearly a year and a half for her to say the three words every human being longs to hear, and he had all eternity to wait for her. He knew the end result now, and that gave him courage to do what he was about to do.
With one last look at her lips, that secret hidden so well, until now, he placed a hand on either side of her head.
Vicki awoke with a start, heart pounding. She tried to focus on her breathing, but the only thing running through her mind was Henry.
She had to see him.
Blindly, she grabbed a sweatshirt and hurriedly called a cab. One thing she appreciated was the fact that she never had to worry about waking Henry up with her sporadic late-night visits.
She stared out the window, watching Bloor Street speed by in a flash of light. Even at three in the morning, Toronto was still wide-awake. Her fingers tapped the seat in quick succession, desperate to get to Henry's apartment.
She was out the door and inside the elevator before the taxi had even pulled away from the curb.
She paced circles inside the tiny space, staring uneasily at herself in the grey metallic walls. She could not recall ever having had a more realistic dream, and something inside her told her that she had to see Henry, needed to be with him, to make sure he was alright.
She didn't stop to primp herself before knocking, and rapped loudly against the heavy wood door.
"Henry, are you home?" She licked her lips nervously. "Please be home," she added under her breath.
It took only a few moments for Henry to unbolt the door, and he peered anxiously out into the hallway.
"Vic?"
She smiled that goofy smile of hers, the one she flashed when she knew she was overreacting.
"Hi."
He didn't need to ask; something was obviously wrong. He opened the door wide enough for her to slip inside, then carefully closed it behind her. When he turned around, she had settled herself on the couch, pillow nestled in her lap, her fingers doing still more damage to the remaining fringe.
Henry raised an eyebrow, trying to make light of her mood.
"Well?"
"I had the weirdest dream," she explained, sounding almost confused, if not a little awed. "I can't remember much but… I think I had sex with Mike. And you were both mad at me. Or something. And you could go out during the day, and I was blind. And there was something about a factory, I think. Or big machines." She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. "I don't know."
Henry smiled kindly.
"Doesn't sound like a very good dream to me."
Vicki shrugged. "No, I guess not. It's weird, though. I feel like it actually happened."
The vampire shook his head.
"Our lives have never been that exciting. And the last time I saw sunlight I was seventeen. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet you were dreaming."
Vicki nodded slowly, eyes clouded by something resembling disappointment.
"You're right. I don't know why I was so worked up over it."
She smiled up at him through heavy-lidded eyes.
"You probably think I'm crazy."
Henry grinned.
"Maybe a little."
Vicki swatted him playfully, leaning into the couch's leather cushions.
"Bastard."
"Indeed I am," Henry said with mock severity, bowing until his hair brushed against the floor.
"Yeah, but I like you well enough," she teased.
"You do?" he asked, seductively leaning over the back of the couch, intent perfectly clear.
Vicki easily dodged him by jumping up and heading for the kitchen.
Definitely back to the way it was, Henry thought with a hint of sadness.
"Hey," he heard a voice call from the other room, "where's my leftover Chinese?"
"Damn it," he whispered. I probably should've replaced that.
And then Henry smiled. Perhaps his vampiric powers of persuasion worked on her after all.
Fin.