Time. As a vampire, Nick always believed that he would have time enough for any of his heart's desires. It was one of the perks of immortality. But as he had watched Nat's life slip from her, he realized that he had been foolish. He had wasted the brief time he had with the mortal woman he loved, and now it was too late. She had refused to join him in immortality, preferring to die by the wounds he had inflicted rather than be cursed to live the life of a vampire. If only he could have controlled his thirst!

But all of that was past now. Soon, this life would no longer concern him. If he was lucky, he may even find Nat on the other side. Although Lacroix, being true to his nature, had selfishly refused to help Nick immediately follow Nat into death, Nick was resolute in his decision. The burden of immortality had become too much for him. He could not continue in this world, staying the same while these mortals that he loved grew old and died all around him. As much as he had tried, he could not rejoin their world…and he refused to live as a shadow in it any longer.

He could feel it now…the first rays of the morning sun. It would be his first true sunrise in nearly 800 years. For someone who was used to having all the time in the world, he was oddly calm. He was pleased to have only minutes left.


Lacroix watched his wayward child from the shadows. He had refused to help Nick with his suicidal desires, but if the boy truly wished to leave this world, he was not so selfish that he would physically stop him. He loved him enough to grant him at least that. He would merely watch, standing witness to the passing of this tortured being.

It is said that time waits for no man, but what of those who are yanked out of the stream of time, those who are more than beasts, but not quite man? What then becomes of time, that 'precious gift' that mortals so cling to? Would one long once more for the sand in the hour glass, praying for the return of time and its inevitable end, just to avoid the crush of eternity? Or would one bear the burden of immortality in order to also reap its benefits? Perhaps the benefits themselves are just an illusion meant to trap the weak of heart. One can never know until after the last grain has fallen, and by then it is too late. The decision has been taken from you.

For himself, Lacroix chose to live outside of time, in the world, but not of it. He could not bring himself to leave the tortures of this life in order to face the unknown reality of the next. Whether that made him fearfully weak or indescribably strong, he could not say. He would have liked to pose that question to Nick, but it was too late for that now. Nick's time had run out.