7/24/09: Edited for original upload errors caused by text editor.

Touched By An Angel was about angels helping people.

Forever Knight was about a vampire family--one of whom sought redemption.

I wrote the crossover, but don't own either property.

Chapter 20: Kidnapped!

Outside in the nightscape of Toronto, Monica was watching her own assignment fuss over clothing and makeup. The fourteen-year old girl checked in a mirror that her black lipstick and heavy eyeliner was on just right, then brushed back her midnight-black dyed hair with her fingers before putting a sheer veil over her face.

"You know, Jenny," Monica advised her charge, "I don't think this is really a good idea. What if the bouncer spots that card as a fake and calls the police? What will that do to those that love you---having to haul you out of jail? You should give some consideration to their feelings."

Jenny Schanke gave a disdainful laugh, smoothing down her dress with her hands. Was it black enough? Maybe she should have used more dye and kept it in the pot longer? "Oh, mom's too busy with her society friends to care what I do," was the flippant reply. "Dad's old partner might have, but he stopped coming to visit us a few years back. I guess all that show of caring for us was just an act for his detective buddies. You know---the police franchise watching out for their own?" She shivered a little. "Not that I care if he abandoned me and mom... I mean, he was just dad's best friend, wasn't he? Not ours."

The angel frowned upon hearing the pain of rejection behind the bravado. Such a lot of hurt and anger from one so young. "But someone cares about you. That fund for your education is real enough, isn't it? I mean--goodness--you're set for life."

The teenager shrugged as if bored by the whole conversation. "Yeah---mom showed me the papers. Something called the Brabant Foundation. Big flipping deal--- probably got our names picked out from some sort of lottery or something."

"Jenny!" the angel scolded her, disturbed by her charge's continuing air of coldness, "You know that isn't true!"

"Hey---let's just drop it okay? You got the bottle of Ribena I asked you for?"

"Yes," Monica opened a large purse and showed her a plain green bottle that was filled with a dark liquid. "But what do we need black currant juice for?"

The adolescent girl gave her an incredulous look. She'd met Monica in a cemetery while she was contemplating the different headstones and plaques. The older woman dressed like a Goth, but at times Jenny was sure her new friend could not have been doing the culture for very long. Still, she was very nice and they had hit it off fairly quickly. Besides, since Monica was of legal age, Jenny figured Monica could help her get access to alcohol at the party. Monica had grimaced when she'd proposed that idea; however, she had hours to convince her new friend to lighten up. It wasn't like it was a major crime to help a minor get a glass, was it?

"You're kidding right?" Jenny snickered. "Everybody into the Goth scene knew that black currant was the closest thing one could get that looked like real blood. It was absolutely essential for playing the 'vampire' fantasy at this club. Even if the incredibly sweet stuff did make your stomach twist and send your body into hyperdrive from the high sugar content--- it beat that strawberry red junk they sold at the costume shop. Obviously fake was so uncool. "C'mon, this alley is a short cut. We don't want to miss the opening act. It's a new band that supposed to have a really great sound."

With a deep sigh, Monica followed her into the deserted alley, wishing she could get her young charge to see reason. The angel really disliked this assignment. Not only for the places the girl was dragging her into, but because all of this 'Gothic' stuff reminded her of poor Andrew. Where was he? What was he doing now? She wanted very much to apologize for her behavior towards him back in The Raven when he had...changed. Yet she couldn't help but hope that his work was finished before hers so she could apologize to nice, sweet, dear, loving, normal Andrew---sans the Dracula stuff. Maybe she could even apologize over a good, hot cup of cappuccino. None of these deluded teenager 'friends' of her assignment seemed to appreciate a well-made cup of java.

"Oh!"

A hard, black wall had suddenly appeared right before Monica, knocking her backwards a step. No--not a wall---a man. Tall, broad shouldered, dark hair and pale complexion, the stranger fairly radiated danger. Behind him, she could just make out another such person laying hands on an astonished Jenny.

"Mm-monica!" the fourteen-year old stammered out a fear filled scream that made Monica's own heart race.

"Now, just wait a minute," the angel protested to the two thugs, "You just leave--!"

The 'thug' smiled at her, and Monica felt what courage she had garnered drain away along with the blood from her face at the sight. She was unceremoniously grabbed and flung over a broad shoulder. The same was done to Jenny and then all four of them were rapidly ascending up into the night air.

Kurkan smiled at his reluctant audience of vampires as they descended into the Raven's club room level. Ten sets of glowing red eyes stared back as Nicholas' trio of 'escorts' dragged the sagging crusader into the room as well. Each enraged eye spoke of a horrible death they wished upon him, but that was alright with Kurkan seeing that for each of the friends and family of the General, the Council had seen fit to allow the Interviewer an Enforcer counterpart. With them at his beck and call, there would be no heroics dared by the friends. And with de Brabant's family subdued by the curare derivative his benefactor had supplied, there would be none by either the Roman or his raven-haired daughter. Let the General curse his ancestry all he wanted. No one here was strong enough to stop an Interviewer on a Council-approved mission.

Yes...

This scene, Kurkan grinned inwardly, was what made putting up with the mercurial Joran's mentorship all worthwhile. With the success of his latest assignment, the forbidding Councilor had promised that he would receive 'more than he had ever dreamed of'. And there was nothing Kurkan coveted more than a powerful seat within the High Council.

From the back of the room Lacroix staggered to his feet with a Herculean effort, willing his limbs to function despite the poison coursing within them as General continued to hurl every insult he'd learned from a double millennium of existing.

"You offal of a bastard Harpy! You mangy, worm-infested bi-product of a vulture! How dare--?!" he spat in his blood rage.

"Such eloquence from the tongue of the civilized Romans," Kurkan smiled at him. "As much as I'd love to stay here and trade barbs with you, my dear Lucius, I'm afraid we are running short of time. And if you think yourself ill used, remember it was you who tried to cheat on the agreement by hiding your protégé from our eyes." He let his gaze include everyone within the room. "But Joran wishes you to know that he is not completely heartless. You may all visit the whelp before my master makes his decision. In fact," the Interviewer's teeth gleamed whitely in the pale light of the room, "my master rather insists that you all attend the event. It will be held at the southern end of the lakeside park jutting out into Lake Ontario---upon fall of darkness. No excuses will be accepted, gentlemen, ladies...and," Kurkan gave Lacroix a mock nod of respect, "basilisk dung. Until then...?"

And there was a multitude of blurs and rushing wind as the ten Enforcers and Kurkan departed The Raven with their captive.

Left shivering together in a damp basement of which the only light source was from a sputtering electric bulb fixture over their heads, Monica did her best to comfort Jenny Schanke. She wasn't very successful being that she felt pretty scared witless herself. All she knew was that they had been grabbed by a couple of vampire goons that might have given Bram Stoker's imaginary character Dr. Van Helsing pause and all on the order of someone named Joran. Why, she didn't know. But it was too much of a coincidence to think that Andrew was not involved somehow. But was the kidnapping to use her against Andrew, or her assignment against his? And how would they get Jenny out of this? If nothing else, she and the girl were hardly dressed to keep out the chill from the cold stones of their prison, Monica thought in her misery. She wrapped her arms around Jenny's trembling body to conserve warmth each other's warmth. Oh what she wouldn't give for a nice, hot, 24-oz cup of steaming cappuccino. Preferably one delivered by a warrior angel... or two...or three... or four...

That was warriors, not cups. Not that she would protest having as much of the hot liquid as her body could hold either, mind.

"Monica?"

"Tess!" the young angel excitedly exclaimed before hurriedly lowered her voice to a whisper as Monica belatedly remembered the sleeping girl in her lap and the vampires upstairs. "Tess, you've got to help us...there are these rejects from Plan 9 From Outer Space running around here!"

"I know that, baby." Tess said as she laid a shawl over the sleeping human girl. She frowned at her 'Miss Wings'. "And just when did you ever watch that particular movie?"

The pretty casework angel blushed as she stammered, "Um...uh... it was playing one evening on TV. Part of some show featuring a couple of robots and this guy all poking fun at it? Honest, Tess---I thought it was a science show at first! At least, the title of the thing had 'science' in it.'

"So after you realized your mistake, just how much longer was it before you changed the channel?"

Monica looked guiltily at her supervisor's tapping foot and inwardly cringed. "Well...Andrew thought it was kind of funny so we..."

"Stayed and watched the whole thing," Tess finished for her. She rolled her eyes and sent out a silent prayer for strength. "Honestly, Baby, when you get together with Angel Boy its all I can do to keep up."

"Speaking of whom," Monica asked, her eyes shining with worry, "how is Andrew?"

"If you're asking if he's still got those extra dental accessories, then I'm going to have to disappoint you and say 'yes', Angel Girl. But for how he's feeling emotionally right now... Probably not so good seeing as he's temporarily lost sight of his assignment."

"He did? Oh, poor Andrew," Monica empathized, knowing how seriously her sensitive friend took his responsibilities. "He must feel terrible. But how did he--?"

There was a clanking sound as the basement door was opened, letting a stream of artificial light bathe the majority of the basement that had been hidden in shadow. Tess---whose non-corporeal form was hidden from mortal and immortal eyes---watched as a large, bald vampire stepped aside enough for another monster to force a third figure along the brink of the stone staircase. Monica just caught a glimpse of a blond-haired man wearing somewhat old-fashioned clothing before the hapless person was flung down amidst snickering laughter. He landed in a tumbled heap at the foot of the staircase, face away from the angels and groaning quietly to himself.

"Joran figured that you'd rather not snack on the child," Monica heard someone say to the fallen man, "so I had them bring you another to feast upon before tonight. Do try not to make a mess of it though, de Brabant, and clean your plate thoroughly---he doesn't like bloody stains all over the walls. They are too hard to clean."

The door closed with another loud clank, leaving the entire basement bathed in shadow except for the space where the original occupants huddled.

"Oh my goodness," Monica gasped, starting to rise to her feet as Jenny was snuffling awake, "they've hurt that poor man---I've got to see if I can help him." Her supervisor moved in the way.

"Stay right where you are, Miss Wings."

Monica blinked in surprise. The man needed aid and right away. He could have broken bones or even a concussion thanks to the malicious behavior of their captors. "But Tess---he's hurt."

"Honey," her supervisor quietly informed her, "he's also Andrew's assignment."

"So wh... Oh." The light dawned. "Oh dear....you mean that's a... a..." Monica looked down at Jenny who was now fully awake, staring into the darkness. Monica had no idea just when she had woken--- how much she had seen and heard. Suddenly Jenny clutched Monica hard enough to make the angel wince. Looking back in the direction where the man had fallen, she saw why. Glowing amber eyes were watching them, slowly coming closer while deep growling sounds accompanied their advance. The Irish angel unconsciously started clutching the young girl back just as fiercely.

"T-Tess!"

Crossing her arms, the invisible supervisor made herself visible to all as she stepped into the light to rebuke the vampire using her most severest tone of voice.

"Nicholas, behave yourself right this minute. You're frightening the youngsters and I won't stand for it."

The golden irises came closer still.

"Who are you?" Monica heard a deep, but tired-sounding voice growl. "How do you know who I am? Tell me!" The blond man staggered out of the shadows as if in a daze, his gaze fixed on Tess.

Jenny gave a little gasp as she looked at him.

"Oh, my Gawd--- Uncle Nick?!"

Monica saw a look of panic cross the vampire's face as he croaked out, "Jenny?" Instantly the amber glow died to reveal dark blue eyes. He fell to his knees. "Jenny Schanke? What are you..?"

"Gawd, Uncle Nick...what are...I mean...I think I know--but..Gawd!" She shrank back against Monica, clearly terrified.

The man Jenny had always thought of as simply her dad's weird partner looked at her askance with a tearful expression as if he was too mortified to look her in the eye.

"I'm sorry, Jenny. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. Please don't be afraid."

"Oh my gawd---you really did have a sun allergy and a restricted diet! Did dad know? Did mom?" Jenny exclaimed in a rush, feeling overwhelmed. "My gawd"---she exclaimed yet again---"my dad's partner was a vampire---a real, blood sucking vampire!" If she wasn't so darn scared, she'd think it was kind of cool, but right now it was all too much to take in at once.

"No, Jenny...they didn't know," Nicholas coughed nervously, eager to change the subject. At the Toronto precinct, Don had been his best friend besides Natalie and the memory of having seen his plane explode from a terrorist bomb just after takeoff still gave him nightmares. Afterwards, he'd done all he could to help Myra raise Jenny; but then the rest of his own world had rapidly started unraveling thread by thread. He glanced around. "How did you get here?"

Tess answered for her.

"Enforcers took them, De Brabant, what do you think happened?"

Confused and still reeling from Kurkan's 'Interview' where the Ancient had plagued him with question after question about himself and his family, Nicholas tried to sort out his memories. It didn't help that his body was now one big bruise under his clothing from the Enforcers using him as a punching bag when he'd refused to answer any of the Interviewer's 'polite inquiries'. Actually, it wasn't that the wounds hurt so much as they brought to bear his Vampire's automatic survival instinct: repairing the injuries and bringing his body back to optimum efficiency required use of his dwindling blood reserves. And that increased his Hunger. Nicholas forcibly pushed his need to the back of his mind and tried not to concentrate too closely on the siren sounds of the mortal heartbeat before him.

"But....why?"

"Well, I can think of several reasons. By the way, my name is Tess and I'm an Angel."

"You mean like Andrew?" Nicholas smiled, picturing and sorely missing the presence of his friend. Having found out what Andrew was, he now found he could sense that Tess was before she even told him. And the other one as well... Just how many angels had been sent to be with him?

"Not in the same 'job' category, honey, but yes. We're good friends as well as co-workers."

"Oh." He looked at Monica. "What about my 'snack'? Not that Nicholas hadn't already guessed, but with his conception of the world turned topsy turvy...

Angels, devils; angels, devils; how many turns til they start their revels?

Hide before the Horses, see the Devil laugh.

Grinning Reaper's coming to cleave your soul in half.

Angels, devils; angels, devils; how many days til the start of Travails?

Judgment Day is coming, sinners will regret.

Blood's the only payment that Death will want accept.

De Brabant winced as the remnants of the old rhyme ran through his head.

"Hey!" Monica's eyes went wide with fright as she looked at Tess to do something. She didn't care to be anyone's 'snack'.

"Sorry," the vampire apologized, "it has been a wild night and I was just being sarcastic. Anyway, be assured I gave up the fresh stuff over a century ago. I won't hurt you." If I can help it.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Miss Wings!"

"I'm sorry, Tess, but.... well, he's a vampire!"

"And you're acting like a snob," Tess informed her with a frown of disapproval. "We're God's angels who should have better manners. Now apologize to Sir Nicholas."

Her student apologized---if a tad reluctantly. As far as Monica was concerned, these 'wolves within the flock' were simply not trustworthy no matter what Tess said.

"Nick's not royalty," a giggling Jenny felt compelled to chime in with the correction. "And what'dya you mean you're angels?"

Monica smiled, allowing herself to glow. "We were sent by God to help you and Sir Nicholas, Jenny."

Jenny stared at her open mouthed then leaned back against the stone wall. "Oh, wow. I must've been slipped something really weird at the club."

"We didn't make it to the club," her transformed friend reminded her.

The teenager mulled that over and realized she was right. "Okay. So's if you're my guardian angel, how come we're here stuck in a bad Dracula movie?"

Tess shook head and looked up as if beseeching divine help. "What is it with everyone and B-horror movies? Doesn't anybody watch decent cinema these days?"

Nicholas eagerly raised his hand. "Anyone else see the French version of The Count of Monte Cristo? It was quite good."

Throwing her hands into the air, Jenny exclaimed in exasperation, "What is this---the Canadian Film Critic Association? What are you guys going to do to get me out of here? My mom must be getting worried sick!" When nobody answered, she raked them with a raised eyebrow. "You're kidding. I've got two angels and a vampire with me---and nobody has a plan for getting out of here?"

"I'm sorry, Jenny," Nicholas apologized. "But I didn't come here to rescue you: I'm a prisoner myself. Actually, they must have taken you as a hostage to keep me in line." He sighed. "I knew I should have directed Feliks to front your educational fund through another agency. It was stupid of me to leave the link for them to find."

"That was you? But your just a...um." She left 'cop' unspoken, not wanting to sound as if she was insulting him. But she knew first hand that law enforcement officers didn't make millions of dollars. But then, most Provincial cops weren't blood sucking vampire monsters either.

"Sir Nicholas de Brabant, once known in certain circles as Detective Nick B. Knight, at your service, my lady," Nicholas bowed giving her a charming smile.

Monica frowned disapprovingly at this, but Tess wordlessly communicated to her that Jenny needed to make peace with her dad's former coworker.

"Let's just say that I had a lot of time to save up before I joined Toronto's underpaid finest."

"Oh, wow...then... the fund was... from you." the chagrined girl stuttered. What could she say? This...vampire... had single-handedly set her financial future---and she had not thought much of the gift until now. "Gee...thanks, Uncle Nick."

In the face of her sickly smile, Nicholas offered back an understanding one. "You're welcome, Jenny. How's your mom doing?"

Instead of answering, she asked a question of her own.

"You'd know if you had just stopped by sometime during the past couple of years," she angrily pouted, then repented when he let his head drop to his chest and heard him bite back a sob. Had she misjudged him? She could still remember his visits: bringing in groceries for her mom, gifts for her---once a new bike for Christmas. He'd even helped her with her history and language lessons, proving to be a patient and knowledgeable tutor. She almost smiled at that now---he'd probably seen the scenarios of her homework unfold all firsthand.

"Nick...why did you stop coming to visit me and mom?" she asked in a much more subdued manner. His face shadowed as he answered her.

"A... good friend of mine died. I took it pretty hard and had to leave for awhile. It wasn't that I didn't care about what happened to both of you." Nicholas took both of her hands in his. "Please believe that." Then his hands slid away as her childhood's favorite 'Uncle' slumped the rest of the way to lay on his back, eyes tightly closed.

"Uncle Nick---you okay?"

"No. I'm.....kind of hungry."

"Oh. ...um...you mean...?"

"Just give me a minute. It's the drug... my body is using a lot of energy to expel it from my system. I... can control the need, though."

Tess frowned, "You sure about that, Fang Boy?" If he lost control, there was little she could do to protect the teenager without causing the vampire grievous hurt.

The one-time medieval soldier grimaced---whether from the moniker or the pain they couldn't say. "I have to. Contrary to what Kurkan thinks, there's only one here whom my Vampire will recognize as food. And I'll be damned if I let them win."

"Them?" Jenny asked.

Nicholas hesitated. To talk about anything vampiric with non-Community was to break the Code and bring down the wrath of the Enforcers upon both mortal and vampire. But... how much more trouble could he possibly get himself and Jenny in now?

"Joran... Kurkan's his protégé for the Council. I met him briefly back in 1798. He scared me then---I'd never met any ancients of such age besides my own master. But he was nothing compared to the one I met mere hours later...nobody compared with him." Nicholas shuddered as he relived he memory.

"Joran..."