Title: Origins of a Nightstalker

Author: angel-fire

Disclaimer: The characters of Hannibal King, Abigail Whistler, Dex, Hedges and Sommerfield do not belong to me, they are the property of David Goyer and New Line cinema. I'm just borrowing them to spin a little yarn.

Authors Comments: I wanted to tell the story of the beginnings of a Nightstalker and given that we're already aware of the histories of King and Abby, I decided to introduce a brand new character - Katy Maddox. This story explores her origins, while still involving the characters we all know and love. It's set before the events of 'Blade: Trinity' and this particular piece doesn't involve the character of Blade (but I'm not ruling that out for the future) ... Enjoy! (all feedback welcome!)

King came down for breakfast whistling the same jaunty tune he had been for the past three days and despite its happy note he was still pissed that he had no idea what the hell it was. He had thoroughly enjoyed actually sleeping at night this week and his little lie in this morning was just the icing on the cake. He had decided that as much as he loved hunting, the occasional weeks of downtime were definitely one of his most guilty pleasures.

As he passed the training room he glanced in and noticed that some of the equipment was out on the floor, the usual evidence that some early bird – probably Abby – had been down getting some training without his usual running commentary and witty one-liners. None of this was out of the ordinary, but as he peeked round the door to see if anyone was in there he did notice something, which was. At the corner of the room, beside the cage which held the quarterstaffs and kickboxing pads, lay a staff split clean in two and above it was a hole punched through the wall. He walked on through to the kitchen to see if anyone was around who could explain what had gone on and of course to answer his stomach which had growled so loudly as to wake him from his sleep.

When he got into the kitchen he made a beeline for the fridge and noticed Katy sitting over at the table. He was just about to open his mouth to ask her about the hole in the wall when he looked up and noticed that she was staring about a million miles into space and was absent-mindedly rolling an orange around in her right hand, the knuckles on which were scratched to hell and turning an angry shade of purple.

"Maddox?" … Nothing … "Hey, Katy!" That snapped her out of her daydream and as he was about to make a quip about her fists of fury he caught her eye. That stopped him dead in his tracks as he noticed her eyes were a glazed-over red colour. "Hey, what's up? Are you okay?" She looked up and gave him a look he hadn't seen in a long time. On the very rare occasion that he caught Abby off guard and upset she would always answer that question by cementing over any feelings that her face had dared to give away and saying the two words that he really didn't want to hear – 'I'm fine!'

However, Katy shot him a look which he had almost forgotten existed – her chin began to quiver and her eyes almost screamed that she needed someone to talk to. With an unsteady shake of her head he abandoned his quest for food and headed straight over to sit across from her. He shot her a sympathetic smile, "I'm all ears."

She gave him a weak smile in return, "How much time do you have?"

"Well I was planning on getting some quality sitting and staring in today, maybe even a little TV but hey, I guess I could fit you in!"

Katy let out a little giggle and then the whole room descended into silence as she prepared herself to tell King the whole story. Just as she inhaled, ready to begin, a huge grumble broke the silence and she looked over to King whose face was rapidly turning a whole new colour of crimson. She smiled, "Listen King, this is really a long story so you should get something to eat before I get down to it."

"Sorry," he glanced at her like a school kid who'd just been caught cheating in class, "I'm a guy, when my stomach calls it demands that I answer!" Secretly he was just glad that he could bring a smile to her face. Her mood had visibly lifted, but he hoped she was still in the mood for telling him what was on her mind.

He shot her a sideways glance and bounced up from the table and over to the fridge. As he was preparing his oversized breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast Abby appeared at the door, pulling on her red and black leather jacket. "Morning all," she exclaimed in her usual energetic morning tone, "Dex and I are heading out to pick up some stuff, you guys wanna come?"

"I'm alright," Katy replied, "I'm still in my training gear and I haven't showered yet. Trust me, you and Dex don't want to be in the confined space of the Land Cruiser with me right now!"

King didn't even say a word, he simply pointed at the pan on the stove and looked at Abby like she'd just asked him to gouge out his own left eyeball with a toothpick. Abby just laughed, "Well if you can think of anything you need Katy just give me a call on my cell. And if King's brain wakes up after he eats tell him the same!" That earned her a cheeky grin from King, closely followed by a dishcloth flying at her head.

Abby and Dex left and King finished cooking his breakfast and sat back down at the table. Katy was now rolling the orange she had been sitting with the whole time between her hands. King looked up from his plate and caught her eye, "So you were about to tell me what the wall in the training room did to warrant such a severe beating."

She looked up at him and gave him a half-smile, "Are you sure you still want to hear this? It really is a long story – we're talking from the moment I realised that vampires existed until the moment I became a Nightstalker!"

"You mean after eight months of me bugging you, you're finally going to tell me how you got into all of this?" He looked rather pleased with himself, "In that case, I'm all yours! And don't give me the long-story-short version, I've got a whole day and want all the details!" Suddenly he remembered that look she had in her eye when he came into the room, "My God, I'm such an ass … are you sure you're okay to talk about this? I mean …"

"It's okay King," she smiled, "You managed to make me feel about a hundred times better within 30 seconds of walking through that door. Think of this story as a reward." She took a deep breath, "Here goes!"