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Archibald's Revenge

Part 2/4

Nick had awoken first, before the sun had actually set. He sat up and wiped the bloodsweat from his brow. Next, he turned and looked down on Nichole to make sure last night either did or did not happen, to his great disappointment it did happen. He got up and grabbed a set of clothes to wear after he took a shower; he did not want worry his daughter with his horrified dreams and memories that resurface in his sleep. Before he headed to the adjoining bathroom, he locked the door to his room to make sure he could hear anyone coming in or going out.

By the time Nick was done with his shower, the sun had set. He came out of the bathroom to find Nichole sitting up screaming and shaking. "Mon enfant fille, what is wrong?" He asked his daughter, holding her in the same manner he did this morning just before going to bed. She didn't say anything back to him at first, but instead she just cried bloodtears all over her father's shirt. "It's okay, Princess. I'm here and nothing can hurt you. Please tell me what is wrong. Why are you crying?"

Still sobbing, Nichole explains to her father about her nightmare. "It was last night again, and I just came downstairs to grab a glass of water and lock up. He was waiting for me, and I still can't remember what he looked like. He still played mind games with me and promised to 'bleed me dry'. He had me against the wall before he attacked, but this time I remembered more about the attack itself. I remember him coming towards me, fangs bared and his eyes yellow. Kind of like yours when you're either hungry or upset. He then quickly undress my lower half, and then himself. Daddy, I remembered that he raped me and then sometime during that he brought me across." She cried harder into Nick shirt. At this rate, his shirt will be covered in blood.

Nick's famous temper, which was all ready blown sky high, now just blew a gasket at this new piece of information that his daughter had just revealed. All he could do was to sit like a statue and let Nichole cry all over him. He was afraid to move, because if he did someone would have to get hurt. Right now, he was scared that someone would be his daughter and she did not deserve it. She was the victim after all. "Princess, after I drastically calm down, we're going to see Nat at work to have you checked over. Then, from there we're going to see Janette at the Raven for information. Okay? Just not right now, I'm so highly pissed that if I move I'm afraid of hurting you." He hissed through clenched teeth. She nodded her head in understanding at his statement, but she was very sorry for making her father this angry. After all, he did teach her to talk to him about anything that bothered her.

By the time she had stopped crying and reduced to only sobbing, Nick trusted himself to move without hurting Nichole. He gave his daughter a comforting hug as she told him that she was hungry. "I know, Princess. Lets go downstairs and get you something before you get too hungry. I can't stand to watch you when you won't be able handle the hunger any longer." He replied to her statement.

"But, Daddy, how come you are able to handle it for a while?" Nichole asked of Nick. By this time, they were heading down stairs to get her a couple of bottles to feed from.

"Because, I've been doing this for almost 800 years. I've got a lot of practice in. You haven't even been doing this for 24 hours, and besides I'm your father and I know how to take care of you." He replied to her. Once on the floor, Nick reached into the opened crate and handed Nichole a full, green bottle. He then effortlessly opened, without any tools, one of the crates he ordered for himself and grabbed a bottle to have.

Nichole watched her father grab the cork of his bottle by the teeth and yank it, spitting the cork out onto the floor. Afraid of hurting her teeth that way and knowing he did not own a corkscrew, she held her bottle out to him. He looked at her and the bottle, and smiled. He took the bottle and opened it for her in his usual fashion. "You know, Daddy, I'm not picking that up. I sure didn't make the mess." She teased her father. He turned around vamped out, and her cork stuck on one fang. She started to smile and then busted out laughing at his antics.

Nick smiled at his daughter's reaction to his little joke, which he did on purpose. "You don't have too. I seem to have a problem with them getting stuck on my fangs. Do you mind helping me remove it?" All Nichole could do is to nod her head, and reach out her hand and removed the stuck on cork. "You know, you could do that now, too. I've had the same set of teeth for almost eight centuries now, so it shouldn't hurt your teeth. But you are right, I do need to get a corkscrew for appearances of course. Now, give me a few moments to put these bottles in the refrigerator and change my shirt before we leave. Why don't you grab a set of clothes to change into after Nat's exam?" He asked of her.

She nodded her head once again and proceeds to empty her bottle. By the time Nichole was done, Nick had one crate in the refrigerator. She put the empty bottle down where he usually reuses them, and turned around almost knocking her father off balance. He managed to rebalance himself, and save the other bottle he had ready for her. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't know you were behind me. At least I didn't make a mess I don't have to clean up. Daddy, I'm confessed." She apologized to him.

Nick replied back, "About what, Princess? What confuses you so much?" The look on Nichole's face told him how confused she was.

"You're my biological father and you're also a vampire. You didn't bring me across, but another vampire did. In the Community, a master is also a father. So according to the Community, you're not my father but whoever brought me across is. If you didn't bring me across, then what are you to me?" Nichole explained in simple logic to Nick.

"Princess, that custom was set into place to make fledglings like yourself more comfortable with the idea of eternity. Vampires are not suppose to reproduce and have children, but once in a blue moon they occasionally do. Not so much as they see the reason to change the custom, because the children were either brought across by their vampire parent or died of natural causes. You're most likely the first on that doesn't fit into either category, because you didn't die of natural causes nor did I bring you across. No matter what happens, I am your father. Out of your 46 chromosomes, 23 of those you got from me. I want you to remember that, and never forget it. Understand me?" Nick attacked her logic with his own hard, cold facts. He also wanted tell Nichole that 50 of her DNA came from him also, and to stress that she is his no matter what.

Nichole nodded her head in understanding as Nick gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. She quickly finished off her bottle, and flew up to her room. Once there, she grabbed a pair of blue jeans, a cute teddy bear tee shirt, and a pair of socks. She also put on a pair of black tennis shoes to wear for right now. She turned to go out the door, but was stopped by a tall shadow in front of her. "Who are you? What do you want?" She demanded of the stranger in her way.

"I am your father, I'm the one who brought you across. What I want is you to come with me." The man replied in a slightly German accent, but he still stayed in the shadows.

"What if I don't want to go with you? My daddy is waiting for me downstairs, and if I don't show up very soon he will come to get me. If you touch me, I will scream for him and he will come flying through that door." She spat back in her usual spirit.

"I'll tell you what, I'll give you 24 hours to tell your 'father' that you will have to leave him forever. After that, I will come and collect what is mine." The stranger told her in a way that made her spine crawl with unease. He started to move toward her, but at the last minute he changed course and was gone.

Still very shaken, Nichole ran downstairs and into Nick's arms. He just stood there for a moment to figure out what had just happened, "Princess, what happened? Are you okay?" He patted her back, trying to comfort her fears. Whatever that maybe.

"Daddy, it was horrible. He was in my room just now, and no I did not get a good look at him. He said he was here to take me away forever, and that I had 24 hours to tell you goodbye. I just noticed that he talked in a somewhat German accent." Nichole replied to Nick between body shakes.

"It is all right, Princess. I promise he won't lay a hand on you. If he does he will have to answer to me, understand?" Nick tries to ease Nichole's fears down to where they could leave. She didn't say anything, but she did manage to nod her head into his shoulder. Nick picked her up and carried her to his bedroom; "I'm going to set you down now so that I can change my shirt. Okay?" Nichole nodded her head in understanding. He sat her down and a thought dawned on him, "Princess, do you mind if I try something? I want to taste your blood to see if I can find out who he is."

Nichole nodded her approval, and held out her hand to her father. Nick took his daughter's wrist and placed it to his lips. He bit into her flesh and started to drink. After three large mouthfuls, he pulled away and kissed the wound he made, which was already starting to heal. He closed his eyes for a few moments to relinquish her memories of the last 48 hours. When her attacker came into focus, Nick opened his eyes and hissed, "Archibald!"

"Daddy, who is Archibald?" Nichole watched Nick shed his blooded shirt and pulls out a cotton T-shirt from a drawer.

Nick turned around and looked at his daughter for a few moments before replying. He was unsure weather or not if he wanted her know. "Archibald is your vampiric uncle. LaCroix brought him across in the Thirty Years War." He explained to her.

"Okay, but why does he want to make you 'pay' by hurting me?" Nichole asked of her father.

Nick pulled his shirt over his head and down his torso before answering her, "Archibald had a daughter before we found him dying on the battlefield. He didn't want to die, so LaCroix offered him eternity and he took it. For payment, LaCroix wanted his daughter. When he realized this, he tried to smuggle her out of Germany. LaCroix found out and sent me to stop him and bring her back with me. I succeeded, but what I did not know at the time was what LaCroix wanted me to do to the child. Archibald and LaCroix fought, and LaCroix told me to kill her. I did. Archibald spat at me; 'Pay back is a bitch!' He then left, never to be heard from until today.

Nichole sat there for a few moments digesting what her father had just told her. She knew that Nick had killed before, but it didn't bother her much. He had to in order to survive. She got up and hugged the vampire kneeling before her. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Now let's go give Nat a visit, before we go to the Raven. I want to chew Janette out." Nick whispered in his daughter's ear. She nodded her head.