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Daddy's Little Girl
Part 04/04
See my chit-chatter in part 1, right after a conversation between Pinky and the Brian that went something like this: "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?" "I think so Brian, but how did they get that sailing ship inside the bottle with a little hole at the opening?". Send all grenades, nuclear missiles, liquid nitrogen, and plains that have failed to help you take over the world to me.
(Outside of the loft.)
As Nick was tracking down the boys that just made a mess of his humble home, he felt a sudden emotion through the bloodlink he shared with his only child and daughter, an emotion he hadn't felt from her in a long time: fear. A few minutes later, he received her message. He responded briefly, ending with, 'I'll be right there, be careful. That man is dangerous.' Having said that, he turned right around and headed back toward what was left of his loft. Entering through the broken window, he looked around the room. He saw David shaking visibly behind Nichole in the center of the room, both of them facing a tall man. The man appeared to be 25 years old. He had shoulder length brown hair, a nose that looked like he stole it from LaCroix, and thin lips that were shaped into a hair tight wicked smile.
She glanced Nick's way, and the stranger followed her line of sight.
"You know Nichole, we don't mix well with the undead," Chilton told her.
"What do you men 'we'?" Nichole was startled at statement after Brian had laid eyes on her father.
"I mean my family and I. When I mention 'my family', that includes you too," he slurred, proceeding to grab her. However, just before his hand made contact, he heard a growl such as from a deadly animal, coming from his left. 'The vampire,' he realized and his smile grew wider and made another grab at Nichole.
Nick saw as the stranger continued to reach for her after his warning growl. Now, he recognized the attacker. It was Brain Chilton, Nichole's wicked uncle from her mother's side! Brain has always followed the family tradition, including distancing himself from vampires. "Get away from her, Brain!" Nick grunted the command through clenched teeth.
"She belongs with me. She will not be tainted like Nancy!" Brian roared at Nick, furious at being ordered around. Nobody ordered him around, not his mother or father, not his siblings, nobody and he certainly was not going to start just because some dirty, filthy, blood-sucking demon of the night said so. He pulled Nichole tighter against his body.
"Daddy! Don't let him take me away! Daddy, please!" She screamed toward her father while trying with all her mortal and immortal strength to break free from her uncle's grasp. When that did not so the trick, she turned to her telepathic abilities for help. There was no way in hell she was going to be separated from Nick again. It happened once and she didn't like it one god damn bit. She entered Brian's mind easily and forced him to release her. However, what she found in his head scared her like hell.
She could see her emotion plastered in Nick's eyes for only a second. After she had been released completely, she grabbed David and dragged him behind the couch out of the way of the upcoming battle that she knew was about to take place. Not to be disappointed, just as both of them ducked behind the couch, her father flew at Brian.
"I protect my family from people like you, and that includes Nichole!" Nick spat, pummeling his opponent with lethal blows. After beating up Brian for a while, an unseen force separated him from the other, pushing him back suddenly and with great force.
She looked up as he flew backwards over her head and slammed into the refrigerator, denting it lightly and breaking a bottle or two upon impact. Then she felt something else: excruciating pain.
David asked her what was wrong.
"Dad, he is in pain and needs my help," she stated. She told herself that the pain wasn't real. It was Nick's. Once she had gotten the pain under control, she crawled over to where she had seen Nick land. She shook him gently, "Daddy, are you okay? What do I do to help you?" She watched his face for a response. He suddenly opened his eyes. They were gold tinged bordering on a blood-red hue. He started to go for her neck. "Daddy, what are you doing?" She asked, backing away from him. 'Something's wrong!' She thought. Her eyes wide, she had seen him like this once. He had been possessed at the time. "Daddy, it's me. Nichole, your daughter." When he didn't respond, she heard the most wicked laugh she had ever heard.
"What's the matter, Nichole? Scared because 'Daddy' can't recognize his own daughter? Perhaps I can help for a price that is," he crowed with a smile that said 'Victory and Satisfaction'.
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You, Bastard! I demand that you release him this very minute!" She roared at the wicked man across the room. She was sure she saw him shake for a brief moment. Her mouth went from a tight thin line to a wicked smile she saw her grandfather do on occasion. 'He's really scared of me!' She decided to put on a show for him. Now she realized everything is afraid of her, from demon to this man or 'Warlock'. 'Wait a second! Where did that word come from?' How amusing that thought was! She concentrated all her anger and hatred toward the man that had done this horrible thing to her father, and focused it on the knife drawer hoping Nick had sharpened at least some of them.
The man had answered her with a simple answer. "No. I don't think so."
She forced all the knives in Brian's direction, every last one of them flying by his head. Each one giving him a hair cut or a shave. She stood there watching him flinch at her attack. "You told me 'NO'! I'll show you 'NO'! I said release him, NOW!" She thundered, she caught a movement in the corner of her eye. 'David! I forgot he was here! I bet he scared shitless of me now. Damn it!' She thought of him.
'She has a temper that could get me killed!' Brian recoiled. He might have been evil, but he sure as hell didn't have a death wish! Looking at his niece, he mused, 'Gods, how much she looks like her mother when she is mad. No doubt about it, she's the one.' He knew he couldn't let her stay with Nick. But, on the other hand, if he didn't undo the spell he placed on her father she could kill him if she wanted. "Very well, my dear. I shall do as you suggested." He uttered a spell under his breath so softly that Nichole couldn't even hear it if she tried with her sensitive hearing.
His reaction surprised her. She was sure she was going to have to push him further to get him to consider following her command. All of a sudden, she heard a whimpering sound behind her, "Daddy!" She turned around and ran to help her father in anyway she could.
Nick remembered beating the crap out of Brian before he flew across the room and blacked-out. 'What is wrong with me? I usually don't do that,' he thought on what happened shortly before. When he regained consciousness, he was across the room from where he should be, but shortly before he blacked-out, the last thing he remembered was Nichole calling to him. Before he could respond, he just simply blacked-out. "Nichole!" He hoarsely whispered the name of the person central to his thoughts. Next, he felt an arm wrap around him and help him to his feet.
"I'm here, Papa." She turned toward her unknown uncle. "Who the hell are you?"
"Princess get me something please. Explain to David what just happened along with myself," he whispered hoarsely.
She moved him over to the couch and sat him down. She returned to the refrigerator and opened the door. Carefully estimating the damaged bottles, Nichole retrieved two bottles of human vintage. They were the only bottles not broken at the impact. She gave the bottles to Nick and told him what happened after he hit the frig door. She had purposely left out the part about throwing the knives at Brian's head, he has not seen the wrecked wall yet. At the end of her story, Nichole started to cry. "What's wrong? Come here, mon enfant fille." (my baby girl)
"Je n'aime pas, Papa." (I don't like it, Daddy.) Nichole answered him while crawling into his lap.
"Quel est tu n'aime pas?" (What do you not like?)
"Quand tu combat." (When you fight.)
The conversation in French between father and daughter, or rather Nick and Nichole, confused David and Brian.
"Why?" Nick switched the conversation to English before it got too much out of hand. After all, she was born in the USA and need to speak her mother tongue. Plus, Nick had not taught her very much French.
"I'm scared."
"Why are you scared, mon enfant fille?"
"I'm afraid that your opponent will get very angry and do something that they will regret later."
"As in what?"
"Like bonding you in titanium and leaving you for the gamma rays, or decapitation, or worse."
"How much worse?" He probed, trying to guess at what 'worse' was.
"A stake, and I don't mean the one with the A1 sauce." That caused a laugh from the males of the room. Even when she wasn't in a good mood, she could make others laugh.
'I like her, but I can't separate them from each other. Nichole needs Nick.' Brian thought to himself, realizing that he will have to apologize to his brother in law for his behavior. "Nick?"
"Yes, Brian?" The detective replied. Nick had finished off both bottles by now, but his voice was filled with hatred.
"I apologize for my behavior of the past as well as tonight."
Nick got up, after pushing Nichole gently out of his lap, walked over to where the coffee table, now a pile of small toothpicks, had stood. He reached into the middle of it and pulled out the remote to the shutters. He closed the shutters before replying to Brian's statement, "I accept, but don't come near my daughter again. Understand?"
"You don't have to fear me." Brian replied.
"Nobody has answered my question. Who are you exactly, Mr. Chilton?" She interrupted them.
"Princess, this is your Uncle Brian. Brian, this is Nichole, your niece." Nick properly introduced the two family members. "That boy over there," Nick waved his hand toward David, who was now under the table and had been since the knife attack, "is David."
The phone also wanted a proper introduction, for it rang at that moment. "Excuse me, I have to get that." Nick said as he picked up the phone. "Knight here."
"Knight, I got some good news." Captain Stonetree sounded relieve in Nick's ear.
"What's that, Cap?" The detective continued.
"Well, remember that call you gave us earlier tonight?" Not waiting on an answer from his star detective, the captain continued, "We followed your lead and guess what? We caught those kids responsible for that murder by the school where Nichole attends."
"That's great, Cap. Thanks for letting me know." With that, Nick heard Captain Stonetree hang up, and he did so as well. He turned around to finish introductions.
"Nichole, what was that?" David asked before Nick could open his mouth. He also pointed to the object of his question, the knives stuck in the far wall.
"NICHOLE ANN!" Nick bellowed at his daughter as he saw the display.
'Uh oh. I did it this time...' Nichole moved out of Nick's reach quickly and tried to reason with him. 'I should tell Dad what EXACTLY happened while he was out of it.' "Daddy, I can explain..." her statement turned to a scream as there was a snap of a belt across her butt.
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I would like to thank a couple of people. First I would like to thank my best friend, Krystal, for giving me the idea of calling LaCroix 'LaCuckoo'. I would like to thank her and Desiree for telling me I have talent and should become a writer. Next comes my beta-reader, David J. Duncan, who helped me put together my grammar, spelling, and ideas. Then there is sweet Molly, who told me that I 'made a research blunder (Nick's loft is on Gateway Lane, not Lockwood Road)' and who was one of the first ones to have the gut to tell me that 'your grammar and punctuation are atrocious'. Thank you Molly for having the nerve to tell me such things. Last but not least, there is you. Without you, I wouldn't have written this piece or something like it. Thanks to all of you out there.