Chapter Twenty-One – Nicholas

Nicholas brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes as he waited outside Michael's apartment. He knew that eventually, someone would leave the apartment, and he'd act. No matter what he did, they seemed to be drawn together, almost as if it were preordained. Nothing he did seemed to drive them apart. He remained firm in his convictions that one of them had to die, but the question remained, who? He had been convinced that one of the humans must die because he needed the others to bring him to the Granolith, but lately he had begun to rethink that decision. As long as one of the Antarians survived to take him to the Granolith, it didn't matter if the others died.

They owed him that much. After the imbecile Rath clone destroyed the husks, he knew that his only chance of survival was the Granolith. Attacking en masse as they had before hadn't worked. Zan's bitch of a wife destroyed the others. He was only able to escape because of his ability to bend time. Who knew she was capable of using her powers that way. She certainly wasn't capable of much on Antar. She didn't even warm his bed effectively.

Persuading them to go to the summit in New York had been another exercise in futility. First those defective sewer dwelling clones had almost ruined everything. Then the summit was a complete failure. This new Zan was proving to be just as stubborn as the old one. His refusal to give up the Granolith not only grated on his nerves, it put his very life in jeopardy. He needed that damn thing if he going to survive. Actually, what he needed was to get the hell off of this God forsaken planet and back to Antar before it was to late.

Nicholas shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the truck he had stolen. It was a piece of garbage, but it was inconspicuous in the dump of a neighborhood Rath had chosen for his home. He was sick of waiting, sick of trying to hold on to the time shift, sick of everything. He just wanted to go home, back to his own body. The one Vilondra, Ava and countless other woman, fought over. Here, on this planet, he was nothing. A simple boy that nobody took seriously, and he resented it. Kivar put him in this body as a punishment for allowing the duplicated essences of the royal four escape. He had vowed to find a way back to Antar and avenge himself. He looked forward to crushing Kivar's skull to a bloody pulp under his boot, and he wasn't about to let Zan and his royal flunkies keep it from happening.

A flash of light from Rath's apartment caught his attention, and he shifted once again, and sank lower in the seat to escape detection. Over the dash, he saw Vilondra walking purposefully down the path, with one of the bumbling humans trailing after her like a lovesick puppy dog. Nicholas could understand the expression on the human's face; he felt the same way himself. He wanted Vilondra so badly that it was a physical ache. There had been a time in his life when he would have done anything to get her to want him the way he wanted her. He had even pursued Zan's slut of a wife Ava in an effort to make her jealous. But he couldn't let those old feelings resurface now. He had to focus with a single-minded determination on his goal, to get back to Antar.

He watched as Vilondra and the human climbed into a battered car and drove off. His gaze shifted between the apartment house, and the car as he tried to decide what to do. The desire to stay, and possibly take out Zan or Rath was strong, but the desire to follow the beautiful Vilondra was even stronger. Finally, he started the truck and drove off down the street, trying to catch up with the car. It didn't take him long to catch up with the battered silver vehicle, and he was careful to follow it at a discreet distance.

After a short ride through the Roswell business district, the car pulled up in front of the CrashDown Café. Nicholas parked several blocks away and exited the truck unobserved. He sauntered casually into the café and took a seat at the opposite end of the counter from where Vilondra sat alone. He picked up a menu to hide his face from her. He was fairly positive there was no chance Vilondra would remember him from the other time line, but he wasn't taking any chances. He pulled his hat down lower on his head and shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation she was having with the man behind the counter.

"Thanks again, Mr. Parker, for letting Alex grab those books. We all decided to study together, and Liz takes the best notes out of all of us," she said. She took a sip from the soda Mr. Parker had placed in front of her and smiled.

"No problem," Jeff Parker said, wiping down the counter. "And Alex knows where Liz keeps all of her things, so he'll be able to find it right away. Can I help you?" he asked, noticing he young boy at the end of the counter.

"No, I'm still thinking," came the muffled voice from behind the menu.

"No problem," Jeff said amicably. "The grill closes in an hour though."

"Oh, here comes Alex," Isabel said, the relief in her voice evident.

"Did you find what you needed, Alex?" Jeff asked.

"Sure did, Mr. Parker, and thanks. "It was right where Liz said it would be."

"And explain to me again why she didn't come herself?" Jeff asked, trying not to sound like a suspicious father.

"She was afraid if she showed up here, you'd talk her into doing another shift, Mr. Parker," Alex said guilelessly.

"She's probably right," Jeff admitted with a laugh. "Agnes called off yet again. Well you kids have a good time studying, and here are some snacks to help." He passed a large take out bag across the counter to Isabel who took it with a smile.

"Thanks Mr. Parker, I'm sure this will really help ease the pain of studying on a Friday night," she said with a smile.

Jeff watched with a smile as the two teens left the café. He didn't know about Isabel, but it was as plain as the nose on his face that Alex had it bad for the blond girl. He liked Alex, he only hoped this girl didn't break Alex's heart.

"So, did you make up your mind?" he asked turning to the end of the counter where the young boy sat, only the boy was gone.

"That's funny," he said to the deserted counter. "I could have sworn the kid was still there. Oh well."

He walked back to the kitchen, not noticing the rusty pick up truck that followed Alex's car down the road.