Love and death
Disclaimer: Just playing with the wonderful toys. Will turn the lights out when I go. All rights remain with Toby Whithouse, the writers of the series and the BBC.
Love should be the opposite of death.
– George Sands, series 1, episode 3.
Chapter 1. A dark and beautiful light
Metaphysical atoms reversed their flow, pulling back together as if magnetised. As they accreted, rebuilding the disintegrated body, consciousness began to stir in the heart and mind of Cutler. Mr Nick Cutler.
With the return of his essence, Nick stood, reaching out with coalescing fingers, revelling in sensation. As his form solidified, he brought his hands together, captivated by the movement. He circled his palms before sliding his splayed fingers along his left arm, delighting in the feeling, the awareness. Then across his chest, noting his still heart, and down over his stomach. He was whole. His face lit with wonder as his questing fingers caressed his neck and hair before moving on to his forehead, cheek and chin. Then nose. Mouth and lips. Fangs. Everything as it should be.
As the remaining neurones began to spark, Nick's heart flooded with hope, a single thought enfolding him. Rachel... Could it be? Could she be here? So vivid now to him. Her warmth as he held her, their bodies melding. The way her hair caressed his face as he breathed in the lavender scenting her soft tresses. And the murmur of her voice, soft and low as she reached up to kiss his lips, her breath on his skin.
What was this? A hallucination, maybe. A memory, certainly. And a prelude of things to come? He had a good feeling about this. A really good feeling. He did have an immortal soul after all.
Ahead glowed a purple light, a highlight against the darkness that cocooned him, and he was beginning to notice that the air was scented. Eucalyptus and... something. Orange blossom? Not hellfire and brimstone anyway. Behind him there was... nothing. A void. So just one choice then. With a confidence that he'd rarely felt in the last 60 years, Nick inhaled deeply and strode forward to meet his fate.
A/N Extensively revised as I suddenly figured out a better way of writing it.