On his knees, Nick clenched his eyes shut and steeled himself in anticipation of the sharp pain that would come after impalement with the wooden staff.

LaCroix looked down at the back of his son, hunched over, bowing to death. Glancing slightly beyond Nicholas, he scowled at the mortal woman who had brought them all down to this critical moment. He heard the doctor's weak heartbeat, and Nicholas' strong one fighting against this decision Nicholas wanted. Another poor, ill-thought-out choice of his child. Another way his son, his creation, tried to lash out and leave him. LaCroix pressed his lips together and twisted his grip on the sharped wooden staff. "Damn you, Nicholas," he uttered while raising the staff above his head. With his full strength, LaCroix brought the stake sharply down.

Nick heard the crack and snapping of wood and winced as large splinters collided with him. He opened his eyes and saw the staff impaled through the broken coffee table. A strong grip on his shoulder jerked him up and slammed him onto the sofa. He blinked, then faced LaCroix's crimson eyes.

"Did you think I would actually help you die, Nicholas? After everything I have done to keep you alive?"

"Let me go," Nick pleaded.

"No."

"Why do you want me to suffer?"

"I don't want you to suffer, Nicholas; I want you to live. It was what you wanted and what I gave you." LaCroix glanced back at the doctor on the floor and calmed himself. He turned back to his son. With what had happened with Janette, he knew it was only a matter of time before his son tried that same technique with Dr Lambert. "You bit her to become mortal. Yet you still choose to die?" LaCroix loomed over Nicholas. "You claim mortality is such a precious gift, and she will give this to you with her very life, yet you throw it away with the same disregard you use to rid yourself of my gift."

Nick retreated as far as the leather cushion would yield. "I'm not mortal."

"The process is not yet complete. But regardless, you are in such a hurry to die."

"I took too much, it's too late," Nick moaned. "Nat is dying. I promised we would be together, on this side or the other."

LaCroix knew if Natalie died now, directly because of Nicholas' action, he would lose his son completely. It was the lesson he had learned from the Parisian ballerina. LaCroix straightened up, then moved closer to the mortal's body, listening intently to the weak heartbeat, deciding what to do. "It is not too late," he softly uttered. "With this one, you did not take too much; the ember is still warm."

"Turning her into a vampire won't save her," Nick snapped back. "I said I wouldn't do that to her."

"She can still live, and," LaCroix hesitated, "she will remain mortal."

Nick looked down at her, then imploringly at his maker. "Help me. Help her."

LaCroix took a deep breath while stepping away from the doctor. "I will ensure Natalie survives what you did to her. But this ends now, Nicholas. No more pursuing mortality after tonight. And you will leave with me. You have spent too much time in their world; now, you will stay by my side."

Nick looked at Nat, still lying motionless on the floor, chest barely rising. He rose off the sofa and knelt beside her. He reached over, gliding his fingertips over her cheek, down her graceful neck, and ended when he felt the two wounds he had made on her. Nat had tried everything to help him come back across, finally offering her very blood and life to him. She had believed in him so much. Nick pulled his hand back.

"Do you accept these conditions?"

Nick barely nodded, but it was enough. He watched as LaCroix gently picked Nat up from the floor and carefully laid her down upon the sofa. Pushing the broken coffee table aside, Nick was startled by his sire quickly moving to grasp his wrist, push up his sleeve, and pull him to Nat's side. He hissed in pain when LaCroix's fang sliced open his wrist and he tried to pull back. LaCroix didn't let go and yanked him closer, putting his bleeding wrist to Nat's mouth. "No!"

"Nicholas-"

"Vampire blood will bring her across."

"Your blood will not." He pressed Nicholas' oozing wrist to the woman's mouth. "She needs the blood to heal; her body cannot do that on its own." His son pulled away again, and as the wrist broke contact with the lips he saw the wound had sealed itself. "Do not fight me." LaCroix brought Nicholas' wrist back up to his own mouth, sliced the tissue open, and pressed it once again against the mortal's open mouth.

All during the day, Nick had sunk into the brown leather chair watching Nat heal. As the sun rose higher outside, she took deeper and easier breaths. His maker spent the time in silence. Periodically, LaCroix would take his wrist and slice it to give more blood to her, but otherwise kept away from him. After another feeding to Nat, he had to know how she was healing instead of coming across. "I don't understand."

"That has never bothered or stopped you before."

Nick's gaze followed his sire's pacing. He decided on a different tactic. "How did you know she wouldn't come across?" He thought for a moment, knowing what his maker was capable of. "Had you tried to convert her before and you couldn't?"

LaCroix stood still. "I assure you, Nicholas, had I used my blood she would have come across without difficulty." He scrutinized the woman's healing progress, then focused on his son. "It is your blood that is unable to accomplish this."

"I've brought people across," Nick reminded him.

"You would never be able to bring Natalie across," LaCroix immediately replied.

"I don't understand."

Instead of answering the repeated question, LaCroix turned and walked over to one of Nicholas' paintings, studying the colors and the texture of the applied paints.

Nick rose out of the chair and went over to his maker. "You knew this would happen. When did you know?"

"When I learned of her, and that you could not hypnotize her."

"Nat's a Resistor. She can't be hypnotized." Nick frowned at the memory of them at the Azure. "Well, you could-"

"Yes," LaCroix interrupted, "I could, others could. Every vampire can, everyone but you." He glanced at Nicholas. "Didn't you ever wonder why some mortals are Resistors?"

Nick shrugged. "Some just are. It's rare, but it can happen, especially if they have proof of our existence."

"Yes, rare. Very, very rare for one to find a true, natural Resistor, like Natalie is to you." LaCroix turned to watch Nicholas go back to Natalie's side. He could tell that she was almost completely healed and could wake soon. He did not have much more time. "Have you not wondered why I can hypnotize her, but you cannot?"

Nick shrugged. He learned long ago LaCroix could do many things he couldn't, either due to advanced age and strength, or because his maker decided to not teach him. "I assumed you were just better than me."

"That is generally true, however, not in this situation." He studied his child. "It is what a Resistor is that lets them be how they are." With his open hand LaCroix indicated Natalie. "You cannot hypnotize her. Your blood does not convert her." Nicholas' confused stare did not change. "Resistors are specific to the vampire," LaCroix supplied. "She resists you. The vampire in you cannot influence her. I can because she is not resistant to me."

Confused, Nick backed away from his maker and from Nat. "What are you saying?"

"One resistant to you is resistant to the vampire in you. They resist the mental manipulations of the vampire, which is why they cannot be hypnotized." LaCroix took a step closer to Nicholas and his son backed up. "They resist the temptation of the vampire, which is what is required to be brought completely across." He advanced more and Nicholas yielded before him. "They resist the gift of immortality and the driving thirst for blood to feed the vampire, which is why," LaCroix uttered, his voice dropping, "they are required for a vampire to come back across and become mortal again."

Nick took another step back. "Mortal?"

"Yes. That was how Janette achieved her mortality – blood of her Resistor voluntarily given."

Nick shook his head. "No, Janette said she took his blood and it became easier to …."

"Not be controlled by the vampire?" LaCroix finished. "Easier to resist the vampire?" He knelt down by the sofa near the mortal's neck, watching and hearing the strong flow of blood through the blood vessels.

"But she wasn't mortal, she was still a vampire. She even tried to bring Robert across."

"Which she could never do because he was her Resistor."

Nick recalled the story both when Janette told him and Nat, and when he found the memory when he was bringing her across. "After that, Janette became mortal."

"Janette became mortal," LaCroix intoned, "when the man died and all of his ability to resist the vampire now resided completely within her." He turned back to the woman and put his fingers on her neck to feel the strong pulse. "Natalie was willing to die so you could achieve mortality."

Nick felt a shift in his mental link with LaCroix and saw crimson-colored eyes glare at him.

"Let's give her what she wanted for you." With a quick motion and a loud crack, LaCroix broke the woman's neck and severed her spinal cord.

"No!" Nick threw himself at LaCroix, then found himself colliding with the brick wall. He slid down, then, snarling, immediately launched himself again. Again, he found himself against the bricks far above the floor, but LaCroix held him this time. "You promised to help her."

LaCroix pushed harder to contain his struggling son. "I promised that Natalie would live after you drained almost all of her blood. I fulfilled my promise." He gripped Nicholas tighter. "Now, let us remember your promises to me."

Nick struggled to escape, desperate to reach Natalie. But LaCroix was unyielding and as he watched the life leave Natalie, he fought back less. An overwhelming sadness flowed over him, and he felt weaker.

"You agreed to stop perusing mortality. Natalie's death ensures you cannot try again later with her." He felt Nicholas weakening, and released his grip. The younger vampire dropped to the floor. "Her death, like Robert's, will allow you to resist the vampire completely. So now, we wait." Not long after Natalie's ember finally went cold, Nicholas curled into a tight ball at his feet. The loft was silent, his son refusing to make a sound as his body shook. LaCroix felt when his link to Nicholas ended and the unmistakable sound of a mortal heartbeat enticed him. He reached down and grabbed his son, hauling him over to the sofa. He pushed the woman off and dropped Nicholas down. "How are you feeling?" He inquired. "Feeling alive yet?"

Nick was staring at Nat, her body on the floor.

LaCroix followed Nicholas' gaze. "No different than how you had left her, dropped upon the floor to die."

In anger, Nick punched LaCroix. He immediately retracted back his hand, pain radiating from the impact.

LaCroix turned to face Nicholas. He was more amused by the attempt than angry, and was not injured at all, of course. His son tried to escape, but LaCroix moved quicker and redeposited Nicholas into the center of the sofa once more. "You are mortal now, Nicholas. You were not a match to me before; you cannot stop me now."

Nick was breathing hard with fear and felt his pulse pounding. He didn't understand why LaCroix let him come back across and worried what the elder vampire would do to him. His maker had always enjoyed planning and executing punishments when he was a vampire; now that he was mortal, he knew he would not survive anything LaCroix planned. Nick slid as far away from LaCroix as he could get and still be on the sofa.

"Janette," LaCroix began, "had such a short time for her mortality. Then you took that from her."

"She was dying. If I hadn't brought her across-"

"Then she would have died as she wanted to," LaCroix interjected. "Janette thought she would then be with Robert. Sound familiar?"

Nick stilled his objection. It was the same thought that had been in his mind when he had asked LaCroix to stake him.

"Then, against her wishes and objections, you bit her and made her choose. Tell me, Nicholas," LaCroix quietly asked, "did you also make the final choice for her?" He waited, but his son kept quiet. "Janette has not completely forgiven you for what you did to her. You hurt my daughter."

Nick held his breath until the burning in his lungs forced him to breathe. His mind raced with the possible punishments he could receive; vivid memories replayed what LaCroix had done to other mortals that had harmed Janette over the centuries.

"You made a promise to me, Nicholas. Eight centuries ago you accepted what I offered, and that bond was to never break." He inched closer to Nicholas while dropping his fangs. "One action will address both situations."

Nick held out his palm. "You can't force me."

"Think back to Janette and what you did to her. Do you really think I can't?" Nicholas scrambled off the sofa and LaCroix followed. "Poetic, really, this ending."

"You killed Nat, that's punishment enough."

"No, you would have done that on your own had I not been here." LaCroix followed Nicholas through the loft. "I told you there would be no more pursuing your cure, your return to mortality. Resistors are rare, she might have been the only one you will ever encounter that would voluntarily give blood and then die to help you. With Natalie gone, you will not be able to reverse your return to being a vampire."

"I'll never choose to go back to that darkness." Nick backed up until he collided with the metal door to the elevator. "I will choose death." LaCroix was quickly on him, grabbing and raising him slightly off the ground. Sharp elongated fangs could be seen behind LaCroix's smile, and Nick saw golden eyes bright with amusement.

"You have no choice."

A small piece at a time, Nick became aware of himself and his surroundings. His eyes were closed, and he kept them that way; he could tell though the closed lids that there was a bright light over him. A slight breeze skipped over his skin and gently moved his hair. The pain he had felt after being tossed around by LaCroix were gone. The only sound he heard was the clanking sound of the rocks and pebbles under his hands as he moved them. Nick stayed as he was, resting before he got up to look for the lighted door and the Guide. Perhaps his Guide could help; Nick knew he had to choose to go through the door and hope Nat was on the other side. He felt tears sliding down his cheeks thinking about her – what she had gone though that night and maybe being able to be with her here. Nick opened his eyes, blinking at the blurry bright light above him. Then a shadow crossed over.

"I see you are finally awake."

Fear gripped Nick and he scurried back before getting upright. He was looking at LaCroix. Nick had hoped in the intervening time and the work he had done that the Guide's visage would have changed from the last time he was here. "You still look like LaCroix."

"I do not see a reason why I would have changed."

Nick looked around expecting to see rocky hills and the door. Instead, he saw a gravel lot, a street, and a lamppost. And LaCroix.

"If you are finished running away, it is time to come with me."

With trepidation, Nick reached up to feel his teeth. He poked the skin of his finger and drew blood off the razor-sharp fang.