From red@fkfanfic.com Mon Jun 15 00:23:33 1998 Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 02:58:38 -0400 From: Mel Moser Reply-To: nnpackers@world.std.com To: nnpackers@world.std.com Subject: NNPACK: Darkness Descends (01/02) What's this? Another story by Mel? So soon after the latest? (Yes, you can faint now ) This is a little piece I had nearly completed, but I wanted to finish the song challenge before I worked on anything else. Now that the song challenge is done, I'm looking forward to finishing a few incomplete stories of mine, of which this is just one. Look out, I'm on a roll. :) Hope you like this brief story. Warning: This is not my typical N&N story. but a bit of a walk on the `dark side' and exploring a possible tangent of Nick and Nat `being together'. It is set in third season before Last Knight happened. This story contains some violence, but nothing more than what we've seen/heard about in FK before. Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but TPTB of FK. :) Comments, feedback, etc. are most welcome and will be responded to by me at red@fkfanfic.com Darkness Descends (01/02) Copyright 1998, by Mel Moser ********* His heart aching deeply with misery, Nick sat alone on his leather sofa, the darkness of the loft surrounding him. The shutters on the windows of the room had been closed hours ago, keeping out the deadly rays of sunlight. In his hand was a near-empty bottle of blood. It was the third bottle he'd had in the past several hours. He didn't care that he shouldn't be drinking it. He didn't care that he should be drinking a protein shake instead. He didn't care...because Natalie was dying. Horror and shock still lingered inside him. It had rippled through his body the moment he had first heard the news. At first, he didn't want to believe it, making him question if it was just a cruel joke or a nightmare. He wished it was. Dr. Lambert had been hit by a drunk driver, the dispatcher had said. Nick had been sitting at his desk at the precinct headquarters when the dispatcher had told him the news. A sudden hush had fallen over the bullpen as the dispatcher had spoken, many eyes full of sympathy and concern stared at Nick, watching for his reaction. Nick had closed his eyes and grabbed his desk for support. Then he had asked those painful words, "Is she alive?" "Yes, barely," had been the answer. It had taken him two minutes to fly to Nat's bedside at the hospital. Nick had sat beside her, holding her hand and listening to the hypnotic beat of the life-support equipment as it kept his beautiful Natalie alive. Hours slowly passed in the intensive care ward of the hospital. Gradually, the sky in the east, visible through the ward's only outside window, began to lighten with the quickly approaching dawn. Nick had wanted to stay, but he couldn't. With the various windows about the hospital, and the comings and goings of doctors and nurses, he knew he would find it difficult to disguise the vampire inside him during the daylight hours. He had needed to feed and the temptations to feast on human blood were too great in the hospital. And he couldn't keep whammying every nurse and doctor that came in questioning his continued presence at Nat's bedside. So Nick had returned home to his empty loft, quelling his hunger with a bottle of bitter cow's blood. He had called the hospital every hour, on the hour, checking to see if Nat was okay. "Still stable," was the only response he had received each time he called. The long day had passed slowly, the clock deliberately ticking off the minutes until the next hour when he could call again. Over and over, Nick had paced the length of the loft. The eighth time he called the hospital, Nat was gone. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and he had not been there beside her when she died. ********* Nick threw the bottle he had been sipping from across the room, the bottle smashing against the bricks of the far wall and shattering. Shards of glass scattered onto the floor, broken--just like his life was falling to pieces around him. He reflected on the years spent with Natalie--the hope and love he had found in their brief time together. She had always believed in him, even though his heart and soul had not been ready for mortality just yet. He still had a long road to travel. But how could he continue onward toward his goal without Nat beside him to help him along the way? The broken glass and spilled blood did not have an answer for him. Numbed by the shock and emptiness inside him, Nick grieved as the rest of the day passed slowly. Eventually, he'd had to take the phone off the hook to stop it from its insistent ringing. Earlier in the day, he had warned Captain Reese that he wouldn't be in to work that night, if in at all again. Somehow, his job as a homicide detective seemed meaningless now. That night, as soon as darkness fell, Nick pulled on his coat and flew up and out of the loft through the skylight, taking to the night air. It did not take him long to track down the drunk driver who had hit Natalie. It hadn't been too tough either, making him wonder why the police had yet to apprehend the man. He'd found the murderer in a dark bar on the seedy side of town, sucking on a near-empty bottle of whiskey. A few well-placed words and the idiot had numbly stepped outside, accompanying Nick to the back alley. Nick didn't know for sure what had gotten into him, but his fury had raged as he began ripping the man to shreds, then threw him harshly against the bricks of the alley wall, surely breaking a few bones in the process. The brutality didn't matter to Nick. A moment later, he growled fiercely and slipped his fangs into the man's scrawny neck. Drinking deeply, Nick drained the wretched soul of every last blood droplet in his victim's pitiful veins. ********* The rest of the night passed painfully slow after Nick returned to the loft. The room was deathly quiet around him as he sat on the sofa, staring blindly at the fireplace, lost in thought. The fresh blood in his gut had been the first human blood he'd had for months. Now, he felt an euphoric high from the rich blood. The life and emotions of the mortal he had killed raced through his mind. The pitiful life the man had had was little compensation for the beautiful life his Natalie had lost. But the guilt for what he had done--murdering a human--began to plague him, pulling Nick into a downward spiral of self-loathing and pity. His heart and mind felt laden with darkness, the evil that he had never been quite able to purge from his soul. Killing that man was proof that he still had a very long way to go on his infinite road to redemption.if he even had a chance of getting there at all. By the time the night was almost over, he had come to a decision. Nick Knight would be no more. He was done here. Time to move on. He glanced across the room to the corner by the fireplace where a long wooden stake leaned against the brick wall. If not by staking, then perhaps he would walk out into the morning sunlight, like Erica had done. Nick sighed. He couldn't tolerate living his empty life any longer. The door to the loft opened, breaking into his thoughts. Nick jumped up, alarmed. Few people knew the access codes to gain entry to the loft. And he hadn't detected the smell or sound of an approaching person. ********* It was her. Her skin was pale, luminescent, her lips full and smiling, her eyes bright with love and shining with darkness. If the lack of a heartbeat or the lingering smell of life wasn't a dead give away, it was the familiar scent of a newly brought-across vampire that clued him in--Natalie was no longer dead. "Nat!" All of the emotions of the past day and night swelled up within him, filling his heart with joy at the sight of her. With vampire speed, Nick approached her and scooped her up in his arms, swinging her around in an immense embrace. She laughed, a deep throaty laugh of joy that matched his own cries of happiness. Her arms encircling his shoulders, he gently lowered her feet to the floor and continued hugging her. Blood tears of joy began to fall as his lips found hers, kissing her long and passionately, as if they had all of eternity to remain locked in this one embrace. ********* "Nick!" Nat eventually broke off the kiss, weakly pushing him away, laughter in her voice. Her senses were already on overload from the assault of new smells, tastes, sounds, and so forth that the enhanced vampire abilities brought. Being this close to Nick, and the sole focus of his amorous attentions, was reeking havoc on her new vampire body and senses. "Oh God, I thought I'd lost you." Nick let his hands stroke down her arms to take both of her hands into his. She looked so beautiful, so unlike the near-death body, covered with bandages and tubes, he had seen in the hospital. The wounds were gone, healed through the vampiric process of regeneration. Her eyes now sparkled with beauty and life--undead life, Nick realized and sighed. He dropped her hands and turned away from her, sadness and uncertainty marking his face. ********* (To be Continued in Darkness Descends (02/02) ) From red@fkfanfic.com Mon Jun 15 00:23:51 1998 Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 02:58:41 -0400 From: Mel Moser Reply-To: nnpackers@world.std.com To: nnpackers@world.std.com Subject: NNPACK: Darkness Descends (02/02) Intro, disclaimers, etc. in Part (01/02). Comments, feedback, etc. are most welcome and will be responded to by me at red@fkfanfic.com Darkness Descends (02/02) Copyright 1998, by Mel Moser ********* It had not taken long for the reality of the situation to sink in, Nat quickly assimilated as she felt the distance Nick placed between them, yet again. Frustrated that things had not changed, especially now that nothing else should be able to keep them apart, Nat found herself staring at Nick's back. He slowly walked over to the window and gazed out at the night sky. "What, Nick?" she inquired, trying to keep her voice calm, "You're not glad to see me?" Her question sounded more like a statement. There was a long pause. "No, I am glad to see you, Nat, alive and well." His voice was soft, almost a toneless whisper. Still, he did not turn to look at her. "Then what is it?" Nick sighed, waiting another long moment before responding. "I didn't want things to go like this, Nat. I never wanted you to know what it was like to be a vampire, to see this darkness for yourself." Nat gazed at his back in confusion. She was alive, not dead. She had awakened and fed hungrily on blood--blood that at first had seemed revolting to her. But she had quickly learned that her immortal body enjoyed the taste and sensations she gained from it. It made her feel.exhilarated--alive, more alive than she could ever remember. Her body felt stronger, lighter, quicker, and her senses now tingled with new smells, sights, and sounds--things she had never noticed before. How could Nick be upset with her because of what she was now? Especially when she felt so wonderful. And since being brought across, she had been looking forward being with Nick, finally being able to pursue the relationship they could have never had before. "Nick, I was going to *die*," Nat emphasized, trying to make him understand the complex emotions she felt upon becoming a vampire. She was barely a day across, and yet things suddenly seemed to be clearer in her mind. She stepped closer to Nick, near enough that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted, but she clenched her hands into fists at her sides and willed herself to resist the urge. "I *would* have died," she stressed. "It was just like you had told me, the spirit plane, the doorway to the light. I almost walked through, but then I hesitated. The goodness through the door called to me, wanted me to come home." Nat's voice trembled with emotion. "Richie was there, and so was Cynthia and Nana. They cried out to me, wanting me to join them. It would have been so easy to go with them." "But something didn't feel right," Nat continued, not waiting for Nick to respond. "It wasn't my time. Not yet. I just knew it. Something was also calling to me, wanting me to remain. I remember what you told me about faith, about a mission not yet over in your life. I felt that, too." "But I also told you of the darkness, the evil, the rot..." Nick whispered hoarsely. Nat could see that he was clenching his fists too. "I know, I know, Nick," Nat at last took the last step and stood next to him, laying a hand on his arm, mentally urging him to look at her. "But I worried about you, about what my death might do to you, about the progress we had been making toward finding the cure." Her voice was full of conviction. "And something within me knew I wasn't ready to go to the next life, not yet, not when we still had work yet to do. And if taking some of the darkness into me is the price I must pay, I'm willing to do that. You don't have to kill, Nick, to be a vampire. *We* don't have to kill." Nat watched the emotions play across Nick's face, saw her words have some effect on him. But Nick still refused to look at her, and pulled away from her touch as if it burned him. His expression turned to one of guilt. "Nick?" Nat walked up behind him again and placed a soft hand on his shoulder. She marveled at how sensitive her touch was now, somehow feeling his emotions through their closeness. She sensed anguish, shame, and guilt from Nick. But she was still having trouble sorting it all out and found she still needed to rely on more mundane methods of communication. Both seemed to indicate that her being a vampire wasn't what was troubling Nick the most. Something else was bothering him. "What is it?" "Even as a vampire, your goodness outshines mine." He hung his head, his eyes closed. "I killed a man tonight," Nick confessed, his voice barely a whisper. "The drunk who hit you. I was so angry, full of hate, filled with the need for vengeance, full of rage...." Nat wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, laying her cheek against his back. She felt the tension in his body. "It just shows that we have a long way to go yet, doesn't it?" Even in her short few hours of vampire life, Nat was already beginning to comprehend the hunger for human blood. With all the mortals roaming about, she now understood Nick's need for solitude in the quiet warehouse loft. She'd had just a hint of the difficulty Nick faced in resisting the hunger to kill. And the rage. She, too, had been angry when she had first awakened and realized what had happened. Her emotions had run a full gambit before she finally sorted through things, and realized her priorities in life had shifted. What mattered to her now and most was Nick and making sure he was okay. He pulled away once more, shrugging out of her embrace and still refusing to look at her. "But what's the point? What is the use? After all the years I've been trying, what do I have to show for it?" Nick voice trembled with frustration. "And now, look at you. I've brought yet another into the darkness. That was never my intention. I'm slipping backwards...." "Sometimes we need to step a step back before we can move forward. Sometimes even several steps back." Nat replied, "Besides, it wasn't your fault that I was brought across." "No? If I had never let you know about vampires in the first place," Nick whispered. "If I had never become involved in your life-" Nat interrupted him, her voice shaking with her anger. "I may have ended up dead and dying long before now, or even like I did last night, killed by a drunk driver." Her anger seethed. "Things happen, Nick. I was just driving along, minding my own business. I didn't ask for that man to go out and drink himself into a stupor. I didn't ask for him to get behind the wheel and attempt to drive himself home. I didn't ask for him to hit my car broadside, almost killing me instantly, and I didn't ask to die afterwards!" It seemed like she was speaking to a brick wall instead of Nick. Undaunted, she continued, trying a different tactic. "All that matters now, Nick, is that we are together, and that we will be, whether it be here as vampires dwelling in the darkness but still in the land of the living, or as mortals if I'm one day able to find the cure for both of us." Nat threw her words at his back, hoping they would sink into his thick skull. "I was given the chance to still live in hope that I might be able to save you, to save us both, be it finding a cure or simply the salvation of our souls from damnation and living in peace as vampires." Her words must have finally gotten through to him. She watched the muscles in his back relax and a look of surrender in his posture. "You're still interested in searching for the cure?" he simply asked, finally looking up at her, his eyes full of the hopeful innocence she loved about him. "I am, Nick, " Nat replied. "For both of us now, however long it takes. I want to be with you, forever." She couldn't imagine the alternative, had she walked through the doorway of light and been left wondering for eternity if Nick was going to be all right. He needed her still. And she needed him. "Forever?" Nick asked, turning to face her. His face was full of hope as he opened his arms and pulled her into them. "Forever can be a very long time," he whispered into her hair. "Forever." She smiled up at him as his lips descended to meet hers in a deep, dark kiss. A minute later, Nick swept her up into his arms and carried her upstairs, his feet leaving the ground as he flew into his bedroom and gently lowered Nat to her feet, holding her close as he kissed her again, this time with growing passion. Their new dark lives together were just beginning. ********* Lucien LaCroix took a sip from his wine glass, savoring the smooth taste of the blood as it ran over his tongue. He stood on his penthouse balcony, feeling the cool breeze of the night wind blowing against him. He smiled. It was a good night. His thoughts were still filled with the sensations he had gained from his new daughter. The taste of her blood had been exquisite and very rewarding, revealing to him that she would be a perfect addition to his family. It had not been his first choice, bringing Natalie Lambert across, but circumstances had provided him with the perfect opportunity to do so. Tonight, LaCroix had not only added her to his family. He was hopeful that he had also provided an additional incentive for Nicholas to once again embrace his life as a vampire. LaCroix had felt Nicholas's fear and worry for the injured doctor from the moment his son had first heard the news. His son's emotions were often an open book to him, much like they were now as he felt the link with Nicholas, and the new one with his daughter Natalie, beginning to tingle lively with very interesting sensations. For a moment, he considered mentally closing off the links, leaving them some privacy. He knew he would have more times in the future to eavesdrop into their lives and feelings. He would enjoy this night, knowing that he had made progress in bringing Nicholas back into the fold. Whether Nicholas would finally return to his true life as a vampire, only time would tell. And LaCroix had plenty of time for that. One step at a time. With Natalie Lambert now a vampire, he knew he had taken a big step in his endeavor. Yes, it was a good night indeed. LaCroix closed his eyes and smiled as he felt the power of his children's passion blossoming along their links. He leaned back in his chair and relaxed, relishing the sensations and memories that filled him. ********* *finis* (for now, at least ) * Mel Moser **************** red@fkfanfic.com ************ Red Ridinghood * * N&NPacker ** Mad Natter ** Lonely Heart ** MAD ** FK Wallflower * FKV4S * * Cyberchild of the WebGoddess **** Keeper of Cinderella's Glass Slippers * * Webmistress, Home of FK Fanfiction on the Web: http://www.fkfanfic.com/ * * Keep Writing to Kickstart the Knight!! http://jessica.simplenet.com/ktk * ******** I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it! ********