Time To Spare, Part 8
Natalie was dreaming again. It was another of her recurring dreams, she could tell by the feel that she had been here before. But unlike her dream from the other night, this one was anything but peaceful. Or safe.
She was lying on her stomach just at the rise of a hill. On the other side stretched an enormous lake, so wide she couldn't see the other side. On the near shore stood a cluster of warriors, all circled around an old man in long robes, who seemed to be chanting something. The water gradually began to boil and froth, until a dragon made of water began to emerge, rising slowly out of the surface. And it kept rising, and rising, until it was so tremendous it seemed to touch the sky, dwarfing the magician who made him...
Its gaze caught Natalie with one baleful eye, and knew her as an enemy to the one who made it. From a hundred feet up, its head snaked down, fast as lightning, and instantly she was faced its wide gaping jaws ready to snatch her up and kill her without another thought...
****
She woke with a gasp, and her eyes snapped open to see Karen standing over her, her sword raised and glinting in the predawn light.
Of the numerous Immortals she'd fought over the past fourteen years, she'd seen many who would admit defeat at this point. They'd certainly admitted defeat for less; when they've only lost their sword, or are driven to their knees, they simply let their opponent take their head. Consequently, expecting this reaction, a number of Immortals paused before making that final blow, to make a parting comment, or something equally useless.
Before Natalie came into contact with this phenomenon, she never understood why Adam was so insistent on drilling her about that portion of her training; he must have taught her seven or eight different ways to kill a man from the classic kneeling position of defeat. She also never knew why his ever-present half-smile was a cross between grim and smug when he demonstrated the technique. Now she understood. Very well, indeed.
However useful they were, though, she wasn't kneeling at the moment, she was flat on her back on a couch in the middle of Nick's living room... not the most ideal of starts. All that (well, at least the last bit) flew through her head in the moment of realization that one has between living a dream and recognizing the real world. The moment when Karen started her downswing.
Natalie rolled off the couch onto the floor by Karen's feet as her sword came down in a puff of pillow feathers, grabbing her legs at the knees and bringing her down to the ground with a yank. Admittedly, Karen fell on top of Natalie, which wasn't an ideal solution, but it was better than giving her room to swing that sword. If she could keep well within Karen's personal space, she could use her two free hands to best advantage. Speaking of which...
Natalie wrapped her legs around Karen's waist and grabbed at her arms before Karen could get oriented. For a moment, Natalie had her pinned, and while they struggled, Natalie hissed in her ear, "Why?"
"You killed my husband, you bitch!" Karen jerked her head back, connecting hard with Natalie's face and causing her to whiplash against the ground with a crack. That loosened Natalie's hold, which a quick elbow to her ribcage loosened further, enough for Karen to get away. She scrambled to her feet and spun around in time to see Natalie pull her sword out from under the couch and up to meet her blow with a clang of metal.
Natalie shook her head in irritation. "No, not why you, why Tom? Why did he try to kill me?" Karen wasn't listening as she moved in quickly, trying to knock Natalie off her balance. As Natalie blocked the smaller woman and pushed her back, she was honestly only half listening, herself. "Karen, if anyone, you would know. What was he after?"
Fury finally sparked in Karen's icy blue eyes. "How *dare* you!" and she made a brutal crash against Natalie's blade that nearly sent the other woman staggering. "You kill him in cold blood in the middle of your damned *living room*, and then you have the gall to pretend it's his fault?" She followed it up with a push to her advantage, succeeding in making Natalie take a step back to regain her balance before solidly holding her ground against Karen's onslaught.
Some detached part of Natalie's brain noted the weakness, while another portion debated the wisdom of exploiting it. Anger could cause someone to make mistakes; it could also cause them to become inspired. And she really didn't feel like shouldering that particular blow again.
So she tried another line of thought. "It's been," she grunted under the weight of another downward swing, decided to just dodge any further ones, "nearly fifteen years, Karen. Why now? What happened?" *Why can't some things just be forgotten?*
Karen grimly responded, crouching and making a swipe at Natalie's legs, "You told me you grew up in Toronto, Natalie." She swept her blade up to block an upper shot of Natalie's, before taking a step back and repositioning herself again. "I figured you had to come back sometime. After that, it was easy to keep tabs on old friends you might visit before their time is up."
After an initial burst of irritation at being so predictable, Natalie's first thought was, ironically enough, *Yet another reason not to come back so soon. Gee, Adam, I guess you forgot that one.* But she kept silent, figuring that Karen wouldn't see the humor in it.. She thought about trying to ask her a few more questions, but that might get them back on the subject of Tom again, and her brain hadn't figured out yet if that was a good idea or not.
But no, it went beyond that, she decided. She wanted to know what it was all about. She wanted to know why the same man who convinced her of the existence of fantastic creatures called Immortals, of the Game, and the Rules, who convinced her to give up everything, to leave her life here and begin a new one with him, far from home... why this same man would betray every trust she gave him and leave her to die in his stead. She wasn't angry, she wasn't sad. She just wanted to know why.
So she asked again, "He said he'd been chasing Adam for a long time, that Adam had been hiding from him. Why? What was between them?"
Karen sighed in irritation at yet another interruption to their fight. "What the hell are you talking about? Tom never met Adam until we introduced them to each other."
Natalie suddenly had a thought. It was a thought she didn't like at *all.* She backed up another step, keeping her guard up, as she said very slowly and carefully, "Karen, you have to listen to me. I didn't attack Tom, he attacked me. He was going to use me against Adam. There was something that had happened between them. That's all I know..."
But Karen was shaking her head, and smiling in amazement at her. "This is a real work of art, Natalie. Let me make sure I've got this straight. My husband, whom I'd been with for nearly a century, actually had a terrible soul-eating vendetta against someone I'd never met. No, make that someone I've never even *heard* of. Oh, and the best part, he just happened to *forget* to tell me." Her voice was just dripping with scorn and hatred. "Now let me tell you something. My husband would never keep anything from me, he couldn't. He never would have tried to attack you, he had no reason to." Her expression twisted as she gazed into Natalie's eyes, and her words short and bitter. "You, however, are young, and sadly lacking in power. It's not hard to believe you'd do pretty much anything to get it. Am I right?" Her face twisted even further in grief as she demanded, "AM I?!"
Natalie was struck completely speechless for a long moment, as Karen wiped her eyes furiously on her sleeve. "Karen, I..."
But she shook her head in such a way that Natalie's voice faded. "Shut up, Natalie. Just shut up and fight." She jerked her sword upward to crash against Natalie's, not to get beneath her guard, but to get beneath her skin. A move meant to start a fight, not finish one. But Natalie wasn't finished with the conversation, no matter if Karen wasn't listening anymore.
"I'm telling the truth!" Natalie was fighting hard to concentrate on Karen's sword, and not the threads of connection that were forming rapidly in her head. He never told her. Whatever was going on, Tom had kept it a secret from her. All Karen could see was her husband's Quickening, and Natalie already gone... she wondered what Adam had told her. Who knows, he might have just told Karen what she wanted to hear, that Natalie had gone berserk, killed Tom, anything to put Karen on her trail and not his. *I swear to God, Adam Pierson, if I find you, I really am going to kill you.*
It was only just as they resumed their fighting that they noticed they had an audience. Nick stood at the entrance to the hallway, gun in hand. He looked grim, but was holding his ground without a word.
Karen glanced at him, then broke out in an amused smile, the same one she used to wear when she laughed at one of Adam's jokes. "Ah yes, the other half of why I'm here now. It would be fitting, wouldn't it..." she began conversationally, then spun and lunged at him. Going for Nick, the most obvious weapon to use against her. Nick's gun went off the same moment she took Karen's head. Natalie remembered that her husband had made the same mistake, when she killed him. She hoped the other woman could appreciate the irony.
Maybe Karen died thinking the same thing. Because when she fell, Natalie finally got a clear sight of Nick.
Or, more importantly, of the sword point embedded in his chest. Standing just a few inches closer than where she thought he would be.
Then the Quickening overwhelmed her senses, and she saw no more.
****
By the time she came out of it, the sun was already shining through the window. Natalie couldn't have been senseless for very long, but Nick had already lost a lot of blood. She called the paramedics, but he was just bleeding too fast; there wasn't much that could be done. The clinical part of her mind knew that help would be too late. But it wisely refrained from telling her heart.
She pillowed his head on her lap. "Nick? You're going to be all right. Can you hear me? You're going to be fine, you just lie still. Help will be here soon..."
Nick smiled weakly. "You were always such the optimist, Natalie." He coughed.
She made a sound that could have been a laugh or a sob. "I said *lie still*. And don't try to talk." She had a sudden thought, looked around wildly, and did something she never would have done under any other circumstances. She looked to the windows, to the brightening sky, and shouted, "Help him!"
Nick shook his head slightly. "She can't hear you. She's already left." Natalie looked back down at him, and he made a miniscule shrug. "I guess that vampire sense hasn't left me completely after all. She left just before the lightning started. Dawn was," he coughed again, a little more weakly, "coming anyway. No need to stay. Besides, my..." he swallowed painfully, "mortality's irreversible." He smiled again, his voice rasping in his chest. "Neat trick, huh?"
"Nick, I'm serious. You have to stop talking. You're just making it worse." Her tears were falling freely now, she couldn't stop them.
He still had breath enough to chuckle, though it hurt like hell. "Natalie, we both know talking isn't going to change anything. Now listen to me very carefully, there's something I need you to remember..."
By the time he finished his story, he was reduced to whispering. Natalie's eyes were wide. "That's it?"
"Anybody can do it."
Natalie tried to smile, but her grief twisted it into what looked almost like a grimace. "One last revenge, huh?"
The corners of his mouth turned up, though he couldn't focus on her face anymore. "Well, one of them, anyway. Which reminds me, when you see LaCroix, tell him I said hi."
Natalie didn't understand. "Why would I ever see him?"
Nick's smile lifted a little more. "No, better get him to tell you the story. If you've never seen LaCroix truly angry, it's quite a floorshow. I wouldn't want to deprive you of that. Just watch out for the flying furniture."
He couldn't see her face at all now, but he imagined her expression, and his eyes were still bright. "Hey, God will forgive me. There was a time when his revenge was something to fear, too."
"But not anymore?"
"No, not anymore."
And Nick died smiling, with the morning sun on his face.
Natalie was dreaming again. It was another of her recurring dreams, she could tell by the feel that she had been here before. But unlike her dream from the other night, this one was anything but peaceful. Or safe.
She was lying on her stomach just at the rise of a hill. On the other side stretched an enormous lake, so wide she couldn't see the other side. On the near shore stood a cluster of warriors, all circled around an old man in long robes, who seemed to be chanting something. The water gradually began to boil and froth, until a dragon made of water began to emerge, rising slowly out of the surface. And it kept rising, and rising, until it was so tremendous it seemed to touch the sky, dwarfing the magician who made him...
Its gaze caught Natalie with one baleful eye, and knew her as an enemy to the one who made it. From a hundred feet up, its head snaked down, fast as lightning, and instantly she was faced its wide gaping jaws ready to snatch her up and kill her without another thought...
****
She woke with a gasp, and her eyes snapped open to see Karen standing over her, her sword raised and glinting in the predawn light.
Of the numerous Immortals she'd fought over the past fourteen years, she'd seen many who would admit defeat at this point. They'd certainly admitted defeat for less; when they've only lost their sword, or are driven to their knees, they simply let their opponent take their head. Consequently, expecting this reaction, a number of Immortals paused before making that final blow, to make a parting comment, or something equally useless.
Before Natalie came into contact with this phenomenon, she never understood why Adam was so insistent on drilling her about that portion of her training; he must have taught her seven or eight different ways to kill a man from the classic kneeling position of defeat. She also never knew why his ever-present half-smile was a cross between grim and smug when he demonstrated the technique. Now she understood. Very well, indeed.
However useful they were, though, she wasn't kneeling at the moment, she was flat on her back on a couch in the middle of Nick's living room... not the most ideal of starts. All that (well, at least the last bit) flew through her head in the moment of realization that one has between living a dream and recognizing the real world. The moment when Karen started her downswing.
Natalie rolled off the couch onto the floor by Karen's feet as her sword came down in a puff of pillow feathers, grabbing her legs at the knees and bringing her down to the ground with a yank. Admittedly, Karen fell on top of Natalie, which wasn't an ideal solution, but it was better than giving her room to swing that sword. If she could keep well within Karen's personal space, she could use her two free hands to best advantage. Speaking of which...
Natalie wrapped her legs around Karen's waist and grabbed at her arms before Karen could get oriented. For a moment, Natalie had her pinned, and while they struggled, Natalie hissed in her ear, "Why?"
"You killed my husband, you bitch!" Karen jerked her head back, connecting hard with Natalie's face and causing her to whiplash against the ground with a crack. That loosened Natalie's hold, which a quick elbow to her ribcage loosened further, enough for Karen to get away. She scrambled to her feet and spun around in time to see Natalie pull her sword out from under the couch and up to meet her blow with a clang of metal.
Natalie shook her head in irritation. "No, not why you, why Tom? Why did he try to kill me?" Karen wasn't listening as she moved in quickly, trying to knock Natalie off her balance. As Natalie blocked the smaller woman and pushed her back, she was honestly only half listening, herself. "Karen, if anyone, you would know. What was he after?"
Fury finally sparked in Karen's icy blue eyes. "How *dare* you!" and she made a brutal crash against Natalie's blade that nearly sent the other woman staggering. "You kill him in cold blood in the middle of your damned *living room*, and then you have the gall to pretend it's his fault?" She followed it up with a push to her advantage, succeeding in making Natalie take a step back to regain her balance before solidly holding her ground against Karen's onslaught.
Some detached part of Natalie's brain noted the weakness, while another portion debated the wisdom of exploiting it. Anger could cause someone to make mistakes; it could also cause them to become inspired. And she really didn't feel like shouldering that particular blow again.
So she tried another line of thought. "It's been," she grunted under the weight of another downward swing, decided to just dodge any further ones, "nearly fifteen years, Karen. Why now? What happened?" *Why can't some things just be forgotten?*
Karen grimly responded, crouching and making a swipe at Natalie's legs, "You told me you grew up in Toronto, Natalie." She swept her blade up to block an upper shot of Natalie's, before taking a step back and repositioning herself again. "I figured you had to come back sometime. After that, it was easy to keep tabs on old friends you might visit before their time is up."
After an initial burst of irritation at being so predictable, Natalie's first thought was, ironically enough, *Yet another reason not to come back so soon. Gee, Adam, I guess you forgot that one.* But she kept silent, figuring that Karen wouldn't see the humor in it.. She thought about trying to ask her a few more questions, but that might get them back on the subject of Tom again, and her brain hadn't figured out yet if that was a good idea or not.
But no, it went beyond that, she decided. She wanted to know what it was all about. She wanted to know why the same man who convinced her of the existence of fantastic creatures called Immortals, of the Game, and the Rules, who convinced her to give up everything, to leave her life here and begin a new one with him, far from home... why this same man would betray every trust she gave him and leave her to die in his stead. She wasn't angry, she wasn't sad. She just wanted to know why.
So she asked again, "He said he'd been chasing Adam for a long time, that Adam had been hiding from him. Why? What was between them?"
Karen sighed in irritation at yet another interruption to their fight. "What the hell are you talking about? Tom never met Adam until we introduced them to each other."
Natalie suddenly had a thought. It was a thought she didn't like at *all.* She backed up another step, keeping her guard up, as she said very slowly and carefully, "Karen, you have to listen to me. I didn't attack Tom, he attacked me. He was going to use me against Adam. There was something that had happened between them. That's all I know..."
But Karen was shaking her head, and smiling in amazement at her. "This is a real work of art, Natalie. Let me make sure I've got this straight. My husband, whom I'd been with for nearly a century, actually had a terrible soul-eating vendetta against someone I'd never met. No, make that someone I've never even *heard* of. Oh, and the best part, he just happened to *forget* to tell me." Her voice was just dripping with scorn and hatred. "Now let me tell you something. My husband would never keep anything from me, he couldn't. He never would have tried to attack you, he had no reason to." Her expression twisted as she gazed into Natalie's eyes, and her words short and bitter. "You, however, are young, and sadly lacking in power. It's not hard to believe you'd do pretty much anything to get it. Am I right?" Her face twisted even further in grief as she demanded, "AM I?!"
Natalie was struck completely speechless for a long moment, as Karen wiped her eyes furiously on her sleeve. "Karen, I..."
But she shook her head in such a way that Natalie's voice faded. "Shut up, Natalie. Just shut up and fight." She jerked her sword upward to crash against Natalie's, not to get beneath her guard, but to get beneath her skin. A move meant to start a fight, not finish one. But Natalie wasn't finished with the conversation, no matter if Karen wasn't listening anymore.
"I'm telling the truth!" Natalie was fighting hard to concentrate on Karen's sword, and not the threads of connection that were forming rapidly in her head. He never told her. Whatever was going on, Tom had kept it a secret from her. All Karen could see was her husband's Quickening, and Natalie already gone... she wondered what Adam had told her. Who knows, he might have just told Karen what she wanted to hear, that Natalie had gone berserk, killed Tom, anything to put Karen on her trail and not his. *I swear to God, Adam Pierson, if I find you, I really am going to kill you.*
It was only just as they resumed their fighting that they noticed they had an audience. Nick stood at the entrance to the hallway, gun in hand. He looked grim, but was holding his ground without a word.
Karen glanced at him, then broke out in an amused smile, the same one she used to wear when she laughed at one of Adam's jokes. "Ah yes, the other half of why I'm here now. It would be fitting, wouldn't it..." she began conversationally, then spun and lunged at him. Going for Nick, the most obvious weapon to use against her. Nick's gun went off the same moment she took Karen's head. Natalie remembered that her husband had made the same mistake, when she killed him. She hoped the other woman could appreciate the irony.
Maybe Karen died thinking the same thing. Because when she fell, Natalie finally got a clear sight of Nick.
Or, more importantly, of the sword point embedded in his chest. Standing just a few inches closer than where she thought he would be.
Then the Quickening overwhelmed her senses, and she saw no more.
****
By the time she came out of it, the sun was already shining through the window. Natalie couldn't have been senseless for very long, but Nick had already lost a lot of blood. She called the paramedics, but he was just bleeding too fast; there wasn't much that could be done. The clinical part of her mind knew that help would be too late. But it wisely refrained from telling her heart.
She pillowed his head on her lap. "Nick? You're going to be all right. Can you hear me? You're going to be fine, you just lie still. Help will be here soon..."
Nick smiled weakly. "You were always such the optimist, Natalie." He coughed.
She made a sound that could have been a laugh or a sob. "I said *lie still*. And don't try to talk." She had a sudden thought, looked around wildly, and did something she never would have done under any other circumstances. She looked to the windows, to the brightening sky, and shouted, "Help him!"
Nick shook his head slightly. "She can't hear you. She's already left." Natalie looked back down at him, and he made a miniscule shrug. "I guess that vampire sense hasn't left me completely after all. She left just before the lightning started. Dawn was," he coughed again, a little more weakly, "coming anyway. No need to stay. Besides, my..." he swallowed painfully, "mortality's irreversible." He smiled again, his voice rasping in his chest. "Neat trick, huh?"
"Nick, I'm serious. You have to stop talking. You're just making it worse." Her tears were falling freely now, she couldn't stop them.
He still had breath enough to chuckle, though it hurt like hell. "Natalie, we both know talking isn't going to change anything. Now listen to me very carefully, there's something I need you to remember..."
By the time he finished his story, he was reduced to whispering. Natalie's eyes were wide. "That's it?"
"Anybody can do it."
Natalie tried to smile, but her grief twisted it into what looked almost like a grimace. "One last revenge, huh?"
The corners of his mouth turned up, though he couldn't focus on her face anymore. "Well, one of them, anyway. Which reminds me, when you see LaCroix, tell him I said hi."
Natalie didn't understand. "Why would I ever see him?"
Nick's smile lifted a little more. "No, better get him to tell you the story. If you've never seen LaCroix truly angry, it's quite a floorshow. I wouldn't want to deprive you of that. Just watch out for the flying furniture."
He couldn't see her face at all now, but he imagined her expression, and his eyes were still bright. "Hey, God will forgive me. There was a time when his revenge was something to fear, too."
"But not anymore?"
"No, not anymore."
And Nick died smiling, with the morning sun on his face.