DISCLAIMER: Forever Knight belongs to Sony and no copyright infringement is intended. This story, however, belongs to me. It is not for profit and is for entertainment purposes only. Please do not publish this story or post this story on a website without asking my permission.
The story which follows this introduction is my attempt to complete a challenge by Susan Garrett to write a story ending based on a beginning that she posted titled, "From Dark to Dawn"(DTD:prefix). I think it can be read on its own, but can supply a link to Susan's beginning if needed.
There is one small section that *might* be considered adult in nature by some.
I welcome any comments, criticisms, or whatever.
DTD: To a New Day
by Sandra Gray
copyright 1995 Sandra Gray
LaCroix strode into the loft. His eyebrows rose slightly as he followed the tracks of the broken wine glass that Nick had hurled at the wall. His gaze took in the bags of human blood on the counter.
"What are you doing here?" asked Nick.
LaCroix came closer. "A father feels when his child is in pain."
"Go away."
"I'm here to help you."
Nick snorted. Help him? Without LaCroix's "help", he would have been able to marry, settle down...raise children. Die...
Have never met Nat...
"She betrayed you," said LaCroix. Nick looked at him. "I told you not to put your trust in mortals."
"Get out."
LaCroix smiled, then wiped the blood from the corner of Nick's mouth with one finger. "Will you punish her for her betrayal?"
Nick moved away, toward the windows.
"She deserves punishment," said LaCroix. When Nick did not reply, he added, "I would punish her."
"Stay away from her!" Nick said, his eyes blazing with his anger as he glared at LaCroix.
LaCroix studied Nick's face for a moment, then let his eyes drift down his body. When he returned his gaze to Nick's face, he said, "But you are giving up this quest for mortality?"
Nick turned away. "Yes." What good was it now? Now that the only hope in his life was gone. He felt LaCroix's hand on his shoulder.
"I knew you would regain your senses one day. Come to me when you are ready to leave."
He would leave with the sun.
LaCroix's hand tightened on Nick's shoulder. "She's not worth that sort of sacrifice, Nicholas. None of them are."
Nick vaguely heard him leave before his thoughts slipped again to the morgue.
###
"Hi, Nat," Nick said as he entered the examining room.
Nat turned to him and smiled. She had a folder in her hand. "I've got the McMaster autopsy report done."
Nick smiled slightly as he took the folder from her. "Thanks." He gazed into her large eyes, so warm and inviting. Then he remembered the Azure and knew he had to focus on business. He opened the file and scanned it, listening as Nat gave him a quick verbal rundown.
But before long he found himself gazing into her eyes again. Her lips looked so inviting. He remembered vividly the taste of them, the feel of her skin as he had touched her... His vampire senses became aroused. The sound of her heart beat loudly in his ears and then...
There was another.
Nick recoiled from Nat. Disbelief gave way to hurt and then anger. And then he ran.
###
Nick tried to quell the feelings raging through him...the desire to kill. He walked back over to the counter and picked up a bag of blood. He ripped into it with his teeth and upended it, not caring if some of it dribbled out around the jagged edge, down over his chin and onto his shirt. He felt a rush of power in his veins that exploded somewhere behind his eyes. He shut his eyes and gave himself over to the sweet sensation. So caught up was he that he didn't notice the sound of the elevator moving. And so was startled when the elevator door opened again.
Natalie entered the room. Her eyes took in the broken glass on the floor, the blood bags on the counter...the blood he felt drying on his face. Expressions of shock and dismay crossed her face. "Nick? What's wrong? Why did you leave the morgue like that?"
"Go away." He turned back to the counter and picked up the last bag of blood.
Nat was by his side in an instant. She snatched the bag from him and said, "What is going on?"
"Let's just say that I've decided to give in to what I really am." He reached for the bag of blood, but Nat pulled her hand back out of his reach and stepped back.
"Why?" she asked.
"I have my reasons."
"Tell me."
Nick hesitated. Could he have been mistaken before? He opened his hearing and listened to her. It was still there. The other heartbeat. Smaller, fainter, quicker...but there. "Go away and leave me alone," he said. "Get on with your mortal life." He turned away from her and headed for the fireplace.
He heard Nat set the blood bag back on the counter and start toward him. "Nick..."
The anger welled up in him again and he felt his eyes change and his fangs extend. "Go away!" He glared at her.
Nat stood her ground. "Not until you tell me why you've suddenly decided to give up on being a mortal."
"Why should you care? You have someone."
Nat frowned in what looked to him like some confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"
Nick approached her. "Who is he, Nat?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not seeing anyone else."
Nick's lips drew back from his fangs in a bitter smile. "Oh, no?"
"No, I'm not," said Nat.
She sounded sincere. He wanted so much to believe her. But the evidence of her betrayal pounded in his ears.
"Don't lie to me, Nat," he said. He looked away and into the fireplace, and tried to quell the vampire. Whoever it was...at least he was able to give Nat a normal mortal life. But to think she'd been seeing someone else... That it was just a dark sexual thrill for her...
"I'm not lying to you, Nick. There's been no one else in my life." Nick looked at her. "I've wanted no one else in my life but…" Her eyes filled with tears and she walked quickly to the window.
Nick frowned. Nat seemed genuinely upset. But if she had been seeing no one else...
"No, it's not possible," he said, looking away, the vampire finally forgotten. His mind filled with memories of that night in her apartment. Kissing her, telling her of his undying love, exploring her as far as he had been able... She had been willing and he had been aroused. But with the first...his fangs throbbed briefly at the memory of the intense bloodlust that had hit him. He had not been able to continue. They had both been unfulfilled. Nat had said she understood, that one day when he was mortal...
"What's not possible?" asked Nat. Nick looked at her. She was in control of herself again.
Nick sat on the couch and stared at her. "You...haven't been seeing someone...romantically, I mean?"
Nat slowly sat down on the other end of the couch. "No, Nick. Whatever gave you that idea?"
Nick looked down and swallowed. What could he say? She obviously wasn't aware of what had happened. How long would it be before she found out?
"Nick, how could you think I'd see someone else after...what happened in my place?"
Nick looked sharply at her. "You remember that?" He had thought that LaCroix had taken that memory away as well as mesmerizing her in the Azure.
"Of course I remember it. Drink...may have muddled my memory of our dinner at the Azure on Valentine's Day, but I wasn't drinking when..." She looked at her hands. "And then...you seemed to step back some. I thought maybe...maybe you weren't sure how far we should go after...well, I thought you were afraid we were going too fast." She looked at him.
Nick rose from the couch and paced to the window. He ran his hand through his hair and said, not looking at her, "I'm sorry, Nat."
There was a moment of silence, then Nat said, "Are you ready to tell me now why you thought I was seeing someone else?"
Nick frowned and rubbed his chin.
"Nick? What did you mean when you said, 'it's not possible'?"
"It shouldn't be possible."
"What shouldn't be possible?"
If he told her, what would she think of him? But if he didn't tell her, what would she think of him when she found out on her own and realized that he had known? "There's...another heartbeat, Nat," he said, and looked at her.
"Another heartbeat? I don't understand," said Nat, frowning. Nick swallowed and glanced briefly at her midsection. He watched her take a breath and then she said, "Wait a minute. You don't mean…" She blinked and her eyebrows rose slightly. "I'm pregnant?"
Nat rose from the couch and came to stand beside Nick at the window. She stared out into the night and said, soberly, "Well, I guess that explains why you thought I'd been seeing someone else."
Nick was silent. He didn't know what to say.
"I take it nothing like this has ever happened...to your knowledge." She still looked out the window.
Nick looked out the window too. "Any...intimacies...usually had a different result."
"You mean the woman wound up dead," said Nat flatly.
Nick frowned and nodded, not looking at her.
"Well, I'll have to run some tests. See what effect-" Her voice broke off.
Nick looked at Nat. She was hugging herself. Her face was very pale, her eyes wide, and her lips were pressed tightly together. "Nat, if I'd known anything like this...was possible-" He turned toward her and reached for her.
Nat moved away, avoiding his gaze and his touch, stopping at the end of the couch. "It's not your fault, Nick. If anything, it's my fault for...for not taking the...proper precautions. It just didn't occur to me that..."
Nick felt tears rising in his eyes and turned back to the window. "Nat...if it's a problem for you...you don't have to..." He couldn't get out "have it". His dreams of being mortal again always included Nat and sometimes included...children. He'd visualized this moment as happy... He blinked, and tried to get himself back in control.
There was a touch on his arm and he looked down at Nat. Her eyes were filled with tears. "I don't want to abort our child, Nick. I love you." The tears slid down her cheeks.
Nick pulled Nat into his arms. She clung to him instead of trying to move away. "Oh, Nat, I love you." he said. "But...I'm still a vampire." He clutched her tighter to him. "If you could be harmed by this..."
Nat pushed away from Nick enough to look up at him. "This can't be evil, Nick. It's a miracle."
Nick pulled her close again and hoped that she was right.
"A miracle indeed," came a voice. Nick and Nat separated.
LaCroix stepped out from under the staircase and started to walk slowly toward them. Nick stepped in front of Nat protectively.
"But, really Nicholas, how could you be so gullible?" continued LaCroix. "She is deceiving you, just like Marie."
Nick frowned.
###France, 1591###
Marie had grown more lovely since Nick had last seen her. A young woman. As they sat together before the fireplace, Nick found himself watching the way the firelight gleamed on her long blonde hair, the way the flames reflected in her blue eyes. He breathed faster as the sound of her heart pounded in his ears. And then he heard another.
Anger flooded through him and he grabbed her arms. "Who have you been with?!"
Marie's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "Been with?" She nervously licked her lips. "What do you mean?"
"Do not pretend ignorance with me, Marie! You have been with a man!" Nick stood, pulling her up with him. He silently cursed the deception that kept him away from Marie for weeks, months at a time. He had not wanted to risk any more of his family, even so distant a cousin as Marie de Brabant, to his Master. And this was the result! "Tell me who!"
Marie looked at a spot on his chest. "No one!" Then she looked back at him and said, "But if I had, what should it matter to you? You have never-"
Her persistent lying just enraged Nick further. He plunged his fangs into her throat. Marie's blood showed him who she had been seeing.
Before she died...
Nick let her body drop on the couch and ran out into the night.
###
"What is he talking about, Nick?" asked Nat.
Nick glanced at Nat, who had moved to his side again. Then he looked back at LaCroix and said, "No."
"And deception works both ways, doesn't it Nicholas?" said the other vampire. "As on Valentine's Day, at the Azure."
Nick felt a chill go through him and swallowed. His body tensed in preparation for the battle he was sure would start soon. LaCroix would have to destroy him to get to Nat. He breathed faster as his master looked at Nat. "You do remember what happened in the Azure on Valentine's Day, don't you, Ms. Lambert?"
"I...," started Nat, frowning slightly.
"You do remember having dinner with me? How Nicholas so rudely interrupted us?"
"Don't listen to him, Nat," said Nick, grabbing her arm and trying to turn her toward him.
"His deception," said LaCroix, smiling slightly.
Natalie turned her gaze, wide-eyed and aware, to Nick.
"Nat, I said the things I said to save your life," said Nick. "You have to believe that."
Nat continued to look at him, her eyes briefly shadowing with pain. Then she pulled away from Nick and turned back toward LaCroix.
"Nick loves me," she said firmly.
LaCroix's expression grew dark. He launched himself at Nat, but Nick intercepted him, knocking him to the floor. Both vampires bared fangs as they rolled across the floor. Nat scrambled out of the way.
LaCroix dealt Nick a heavy blow. Nick found himself sailing, out of control, over and past Nat. He hit the wall head first with a heavy thud, slid down it and lay still. He saw LaCroix grab Nat from behind and brush her hair away from her neck before his vision faded. He fought to maintain some consciousness.
"You don't really want to kill me," he heard Nat say. Her heart was pounding.
"You're right, Ms. Lambert. But I have no choice. I cannot allow you to be the means by which Nicholas escapes his...curse."
"I haven't been able to cure his...condition."
"Nor will you. But you carry the means to his escape."
Nick managed to force his eyelids open a crack. He watched in helpless horror as LaCroix leaned closer to Nat's throat and opened his mouth. He tried to will his muscles to move, to save her, but they would not.
"If you kill me, Nick will hate you."
LaCroix paused, then drew back. After a moment he said, "Nicholas...hates me already. But in a few centuries he will give up this quest for mortality and return to his...family."
Nick felt his muscles start to respond to his will. He shifted his body slightly.
"If I'm to die, I should at least be told why."
"Why? I had credited you with more intelligence. It's the...child...you carry. If you give birth to a child conceived in...love, Nicholas becomes mortal again."
"But-" started Nat.
LaCroix put his hand over Nat's mouth and pulled her head to the side. Fangs bared, he leaned down to bite her.
Nick flew off the floor and knocked into LaCroix's shoulder. His master caught himself before falling, but Nat didn't. She slipped to the floor. Nick snarled and grappled with LaCroix, swinging both of them into his painting area. The wood table where he kept his paints collapsed as he drove LaCroix into it. The two vampires rolled through the debris, then Nick hauled LaCroix upright again and they crashed into the elevator door. LaCroix, livid, pushed Nick up against the elevator door and, grabbing Nick's chin, wrenched his head to the side and made to bite him. Nick tried to push him away, but LaCroix was stronger.
Suddenly LaCroix straightened and took a step back, an expression of shock and pain on his face. Nick saw that Nat stood behind him. LaCroix turned toward her and he saw that Nat had driven a splintered piece of wood from the paint table into LaCroix's back. Nick grabbed it and shoved it deeper into his master's back. Nat jumped out of the way as LaCroix was propelled past her.
Blood poured from LaCroix's back and chest as he started to pull at the piece of wood that now protruded from his chest as well as his back. Nick grabbed the part protruding from LaCroix's back and held on, staying with him as LaCroix tried to pull away. They spun across the room and finally to the floor in front of the windows. Nick threw one leg and arm over the other vampire. LaCroix raged and snarled, but the blood continued to pour from his wounds and Nick could feel him starting to weaken.
But so was Nick. If LaCroix got loose, pulled out the stake, Nat wouldn't have a chance. There was only one thing to do.
Nick plunged his fangs into LaCroix's throat and drank.
LaCroix writhed in Nick's grasp, trying to shake him off. Nick held on as LaCroix hit him in the head several times and as he fastened his left arm around Nick's neck and squeezed. His strength increased as he drank his master's blood. Soon LaCroix's movements became feebler, then stopped altogether.
But all the rage and bloodlust of a vampire trying desperately to defend himself poured into Nick's mind. Nick released LaCroix with a gasp and stood.
*Must kill her.*
*She must not take him away from me.*
Nick put his hands to his head and shut his eyes, and tried to quell LaCroix's memories. Or was it LaCroix's thoughts?
"Nick?" said Nat.
Nick opened his eyes, seeing Nat through a red haze. Her heartbeat pounded in his ears and he could smell her blood, wanted it... He growled and reached for her.
Nat backed away from him. "Nick?" she said again, and this time her tone was more worried and fearful. She bumped into a leather chair.
Nick lunged for Nat, but she managed to duck down and out of his reach, running to the far end of the couch and putting it between them.
*Must kill her.*
Nick paused, then moved for Nat again.
She stepped behind the couch. "Nick, fight it! You don't want my blood!"
Nick blinked, shook his head slightly. Then he moved quickly to his prey and grabbed her. He pulled her closer and opened his mouth.
"Nick, please! I love you!" sobbed Nat, futilely pushing at him.
Nick's fangs were about to touch her skin when the sense of what she had said got through to his mind. He stopped and drew back, appalled at what he had been about to do. "Nat?" he gasped, looking at her.
Then a searing pain went through his body and he fell to the floor. Because he still held Nat, she fell too, but on top of him. Nick screamed, aware of an echoing scream before he was suddenly plunged into red-tinged darkness.
When Nick finally opened his eyes again, it was to find Nat kneeling beside him, pressing a cool, wet cloth to his forehead. Her expression was anxious and her eyes looked a little red around the edges. "Nick? Are you all right?"
Nick saw he was still lying on the floor where he had fallen...behind the couch. There was a blanket over him. "Yeah, I think so," he said. "Why?"
Nat sighed, her expression clearing some. "Thank God. I was afraid you weren't ever going to wake back up."
"Why?"
"Don't you remember?" she asked.
The memories came flooding back. Nat...pregnant, LaCroix determined to kill her, fighting with LaCroix, drinking his blood...wanting to drink Nat's blood, the searing pain, the screams... "LaCroix," he said, struggling up.
The spot before the window where LaCroix had lain was empty. LaCroix was gone.
"Where is he?" said Nick, not really expecting an answer. LaCroix had escaped. That meant that Nat-and he-was in danger. When his master recovered...
"I...think he's...gone, Nick. Destroyed," said Nat.
Nick turned his gaze to her.
"When you...collapsed...the first rays of sunlight had come in the windows...and onto LaCroix."
Nick noticed for the first time that the shutters were closed. Extending his senses, he could feel that the sun was still out, that it was...afternoon. Then he became aware that Nat was still speaking and focused his attention on her again.
"There's nothing left. Not even ashes," she said.
Nick walked over to the spot on the floor where LaCroix had lain. If what Nat said was true, then he was finally free. Free...
"Of course I can't be sure," said Nat, nearing him. "But I...watched it, Nick. Watched him...become nothing. Unless you think..."
"He was...drained of blood," said Nick. He remembered the searing pain he had felt. It had hurt much more than the pain he had felt when he had tried to destroy LaCroix before. He extended his senses, searching for LaCroix, and found...nothing. "I can't sense him," he mused. Not that that meant anything if LaCroix didn't want to be found. But he suddenly felt like the world was empty and he was...alone. He blinked and swallowed.
He swayed slightly and Nat was quickly at his side, supporting him. With her help, he stumbled to the couch and sat down.
"Nick, are you sure you're all right?" Nat asked, sitting next to him and taking his wrist in her hand.
"Yeah. It's just...shock, I guess." He took her hands. "Are you okay?"
"I guess I'm a little shaken up too," she said. Then she smiled and added, "But I'll be okay."
Nick put his left arm around Nat and pulled her close. "You'd better be. Because I don't think I could live without you." He opened his hearing to listen to her heartbeat, then separated it from the other heartbeat which, although fainter and faster, still maintained a steady pace. He hesitantly laid his hand on her abdomen. He felt her flesh tense and her heartbeat fluttered slightly.
"Nick." Nick moved his hand to her thigh as she looked up at him. "LaCroix said something...about the baby."
"I know. I heard him." At her frown, he said, "I was just...stunned, temporarily."
"Is it true?"
"I don't know. But I don't know why he would have lied about it." He paused, then added, "LaCroix...was very old. He knew lots of things, but of course he didn't always share what he knew with others." He raised his hand from Nat's thigh and stroked her nose. "I guess it's something we could research." He smiled. "Or just wait and find out." He dropped his hand and sobered again. "That is..."
"What?" asked Nat when he didn't continue.
Nick looked away. "Well, under the circumstances, well...I'm not sure if we should try to keep things platonic, but..." He looked at her. "Is it too soon to ask you to marry me?"
Nat looked down. "Well, under the circumstances..." Her eyes rose to meet his again. "I think you'd better ask me."
Nick smiled slightly, then took hold of her left hand. "Will you marry me, Natalie?"
"Yes. Right away," she said in a determined tone of voice that puzzled Nick into a frown. "Well, you wouldn't want your son born a bastard, would you?" Then she smiled at him.
Nick caught Nat into an embrace, and said into her ear, "Oh, Nat, if I could have you, have a family, and be mortal, it would be..."
Nat pushed back to look at him. "A miracle?"
"Yeah. A miracle," he replied. Then he kissed her.
And he knew that on that day he would give thanks.
THE END