Subject: Sanctuary (1/?) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 15:25:19 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Sanctuary (The Sons of Lilith: Episode 111) By April French Author's Note: A somewhat Kai-centric story, reflecting his status as the Knightwalker poll's favorite SoL character. Thanks again to KC Smith for all her beta-ing help. Praise, comments, criticisms and kudos are happiness-inducing and will be rewarded with yummy granola. Nasty flames will be force-fed the blandest puffed rice I can find. Once completed, this story will be archived with all the others at my site http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html. Permission to archive is given to the FTP site. Anyone else wishing to archive must first bribe me with butter-drenched French toast stix (the best breakfast food in the world!). ~~~ "Doubtless there exists in this world precisely the right woman for any given man to marry, and vice versa; but when you consider that a human being has the opportunity of being acquainted with only a few hundred people, and out of the few hundred that there are but a dozen or less whom he knows intimately, and out of the dozen, one or two friends at most, it will easily be seen, when we remember the number of millions who inhabit this world, that probably, since the earth was created, the right man has never yet met the right woman. The mathematical chances are all against such a meeting, and this is the reason that divorce courts exist. Marriage at best is but a compromise, and if two people happen to be united who are of an uncompromising nature there is trouble." --from "An Alpine Divorce" (late 1800s) ~~~ Sanctuary (1/?) Toronto: February 1998 Willing his hand not to tremble, Nick held his breath as Natalie slowly lowered the silver cross into his hand, and then clenched his fist. Closing his eyes, he sighed. "Does it burn?" she asked, biting her lip nervously. "It's... warm. It tingles, but not badly." He slipped the thin chain over his head. The tiny cross, engraved with the Italian phrase 'Ubi Amor, Ibi Fides,' rested lightly against the scar in the middle of his chest, a scar of the same shape and size as the cross itself. "Let's try the other one." "Are you sure? Leif and Julian--even Kai said not to push it." Nick continued to smile and hold out his hand. With a slight shake of her head, Natalie held out the larger gold-and-ruby Jerusalem cross, worn by the Crusaders on their exploits in the Holy Land. Nick carefully took the symbol in his cupped palms. "Well?" Natalie asked after five or six minutes. "Nick, c'mon. The suspense is killing me!" Her husband looked up, yellow eyes glowing, fangs bared in a joyful smile. "It's warm," he repeated softly, settling his wife's wedding gift upon his breast, a little below the silver cross. "Just warm." He gathered Natalie into a tight hug. Beyond the obvious worries about the delicacies involved with brain surgery, once Nick had gotten out of the hospital, their two greatest fears had been the status of his ability to handle holy objects, and his ability to father a child. His extensive injuries had not been confined to his upper body, and his pelvis had been nearly three-quarters shattered. With Leif recalled by the Enforcers, Julian had been reinstated at the Corvina, but he refused to give an opinion on the latter issue. "'One step at a time,'" he insisted. Having just had his birthright splattered in public, the young doctor was very sensitive about certain things, and Natalie wasn't going to push him just yet. But he had said point-blank that he didn't know whether Nick's painstakingly earned immunity to crosses and holy water and such had survived the trauma. "I don't see why they would have been destroyed," Julian had said, "but I honestly can't say for sure. The odds are against it. But the odds were against him surviving at all." "Nick, you're one hell of a gambler," Natalie murmured into his shirt. "With one hell of a lucky streak," he returned. He ran a hand up Natalie's spine, letting his fingers tickle the erogenous zone at the base of her skull. "How about we try and beat the rest of those odds, hmm?" Natalie gasped. She scowled playfully and lightly smacked his chest. "Don't you dare," she scolded. "You've got strict doctor's orders. No sex til you're one hundred percent healed. Besides, I have to go to work tonight." "Oh, sure," Nick groused. "No sex. That's easy for you to say. At least you've got work to distract you. What do I get to spend my nights doing? Playing with the cat." Natalie rolled her eyes, kissed him quickly, and slipped out of his embrace. "I can't go to the Raven; the atmosphere between LaCroix and Miranda is just too uncomfortable." He followed Natalie into the downstairs bathroom and watched her putting on her makeup. "And every time I go to the Corvina, Kai looks at me--and you know how he looks--and asks me if I've forgotten something. I have no idea what he's talking about, as usual." "Why not go to the Eidolon? Étienne's taking auditions for his first production; you could give him a hand." Natalie double-checked her lipstick. "Or go to the Black Madonna? You could get Jesse out of Janette's hair for a while." She shut off the bathroom light and went to get her purse. Nick followed her. When she turned to bid him goodbye, she was stopped by the mischievous grin her husband was fighting. "I've got a better idea," he said. Just then, the elevator door opened, revealing Tracy. "Evening, Nat," she said. "Hey, Nick, you ready to go?" "You bet I am." "'Go?'" repeated Natalie suspiciously. "Go where?" The grin spread across Nick's face. "To work." *** The cane had been a gift from Kai, more for keeping up the appearance of continued healing than anything else, but Nick found himself leaning heavily on it as, flanked by Tracy and Natalie, he entered the 96th precinct. "Nervous?" his partner asked. "Nervous? Nonsense." Nick swallowed. "I'm petrified." Natalie pulled his head down and kissed him, trying to convey her deep love and support for him. Tracy hugged him, and then to Nick's surprise, she kissed his cheek. He smiled, pleased. "Kai's been teaching you about our 'secret language,' I take it?" "Slowly." Tracy winked. "And with great enthusiasm." Stifling a laugh, Nick pushed open the door to the Homicide division. A wave of cheering greeted them, startling Nick into uncharacteristic shyness. He went so far as to hide behind his wife and partner, timidly nodding at his smiling colleagues and well-wishers. Captain Reese was standing in front of his office, and he gripped the hand Nick held out to him. "Welcome back, Nick." Nick felt tears burning behind his eyes. "Thanks, Cap'n," he managed. End Part One April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (2/?) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 15:26:03 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (2/?) He had agreed to take Julian's advice and remain strictly on desk duty for the first two weeks, and as much as Nick had been champing at the bit to get back to work, by the time his medical probation was over, he felt like there was paperwork coming out his nostrils. With a glad sigh, Nick slipped behind the wheel of his 1962 turquoise Cadillac for his first patrol in three months. He was wrapped in his long leather duster, his two crosses were around his neck, his sapphire ring and wedding ring were on his hand. His partner was in the passenger's seat, the ragtop was down and the night wind was blowing through Nick's short blond curls. He flipped on the radio. "Bon soir, mes enfants," caressed the Nightcrawler. "The night is dark, the air is fresh... and I am in a very mood. A special song tonight, for a very special person." The night calls my name... Nick looked at Tracy and grinned. "God, it's good to be alive." He put the Caddy into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. They tooled around for a good three hours, Nick getting reacquainted with old haunts and Tracy just enjoying the presence of her friend and 'grandfather,' before the radio started beeping. "81 Kilo, 81 Kilo, please respond." Tracy grabbed the receiver. "81 Kilo, go ahead." "Domestic homicide, 72 Sloan Place." "On our way." She flipped on the siren as Nick made one of his patented U-turns and sped off towards the scene. "Y'know, anyone would think you hadn't just been in a massive car accident." Nick threw her a devil-may-care grin. "I've got two months of legally violating traffic laws to make up for," he pointed out. 72 Sloan Place was a small, prim residence in a quiet side street, but the normal peace of the night was broken by the harsh red lights and blaring sirens. "Hey, Nick," called one of the uniforms. "Dakins," greeted Nick, getting down to business, "what've we got?" "According to the neighbors? Eh, the old story." Dakins jerked a thumb towards his squad car. "Shawn James." A thin white male with dirty blond hair was sitting in the back seat, with a blank, stunned expression. "Husband beats wife, wife hits back, husband blows a shotgun hole through wife's chest." He shook his head, scribbling into his notebook. "Dr. Lambert's inside, in the kitchen." There was indeed a large, gapping wound in the young woman's chest, which Natalie was making note of on her clipboard. "Not a good case to get back into the groove of things with." "Definitely not," agreed Nick, kneeling down beside her. With gloved fingers he gently turned the woman's head. There was something about her face that made him look twice. Something about her expression... The forensic photographers finished with the body, and as they were packing up, Tracy bent down. "Nick, look." She was pointing to the dead woman's right hand, which was clutching a large knife. Pulling a bandana out of her back pocket, she gingerly picked up the knife with it and slipped the weapon into a plastic evidence bag. Sealing the bag, she held it out to Nick. "A last-ditch attempt at self-defense?" Nick and Natalie exchanged a professional glance. Then Nat sighed. "Looks like it," she confirmed. *** "I didn't mean to kill her," James insisted for the ninth time. "Aw, come on, Shawn," scoffed Nick. "You're lying through your teeth and you know it." "You loaded your gun," Tracy started, "went into the kitchen with the intention of killing Cherilyn." "No!" "She came at you with the knife, and you shot her. Simple as that." Tracy arched an eyebrow. "Am I right?" James shook his head. "No. No, it's not true. Yeah, I killed her. But it wasn't... I didn't plan it out or anything. I didn't mean to..." He bit his lip hard. It struck Nick just how young his suspect was, barely twenty-three. James was trying not to cry. Nick walked across the interrogation room and opened the door. "Officer? Take him downstairs and hold him." When James was gone, Nick walked into the anteroom, rubbing at his upper lip. "What d'you think, Trace?" "I think he killed his wife. He admitted as much." "Yeah, but..." He gave his head a sharp shake. "I don't know." "Natalie?" Tracy suggested. Nick nodded. "Natalie." *** "His prints on the gun, her prints on the knife, and a huge hole straight through her," said Natalie succinctly. Tracy grimaced. "How charming." "Anything to suggest that the relationship was an abusive one?" Nick asked. "Any sign of what might have caused her to finally fight back?" "None. In fact, there's no evidence of any kind of physical trauma at all." "Nothing?" Nick repeated. "No bruises?" asked Tracy. "No broken bones?" "Not even a scratch. This woman was in perfect health." Tracy frowned, confused. "Maybe it was purely verbal or mental abuse." "Maybe..." Nick trailed off, thinking. Natalie waited a moment. Then she poked him. "Nick? Wanna share with the rest of the class?" "Huh?" Nick looked at her blankly. Then he smiled. "I don't know. It's nothing." *** To his surprise, Captain Reese also shared their reluctance to accept the case at face value, although for different reasons. "We've got no motive," he complained. "The neighbors say it was an abusive relationship, that they had heard the couple arguing on a number of occasions. But they can't say what the Jameses were arguing about. And no one can recall ever seeing Cherilyn James with a bloody nose, a black eye, or even a sliver in her thumb." "We do have a confession," Tracy pointed out, not very convincingly. "But not a complete one," shot back Reese. "And," Nick added, "without at least a possible motive, getting a conviction of murder for Shawn James will be a shot in the dark at best." Reese scrubbed a wide hand over his face. "So now what?" He sank heavily into his chair, and shot Nick a gloomy look. "Getting my star detective back is supposed to be a good thing!" Nick glared at him, insulted. "Aw, nothing personal," the captain sighed. "If we only had a lead, or even a hint of a lead! Just something to give us a place to start." A simultaneous thought flitted across both Nick and Tracy's minds, but it was Tracy who spoke up. "Captain," she asked, "what about using a psychic?" End Part Two April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (3/?) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 15:27:36 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (3/?) Kai looked up from his account book. "You want me to what? Nicholas, how much of your brain did they remove? No, no, absolutely not." He tried to go back to his figures, but his hand was shaking so badly that an enormous ink blot exploded across the page. Kai slammed the book shut and hurled it to the floor. Nick and Tracy looked on, stunned, as Kai held his head in his hands. "I can't... I can't anymore." "We don't want you to tell us about the future," said Nick gently. "I know you don't have that power anymore." Kai made a strangled whimpering sound. "Kai, we need you to help us with a murder case." He pulled the bagged knife out of his coat pocket. "Is it possible for you to give us a reading on this?" The pale-blond vampire stared at the evidence bag in dull horror. "No, Nicholas. It's not." He grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and all but ran from his office. Tracy gaped after her master. "What in the world--?" Nick was equally astonished. "Y'know... I have idea." *** "Where's LaCroix?" Nick bellowed over the noise. Miklos nodded to the radio booth. "Aren't you supposed to be across town?" "She closed up for the night. Kid's got a cold." Nick found his master staring glumly at his microphone. Despite his earlier assertion, his dedication to Nick had apparently been the high point of his 'very good mood.' But he did brighten slightly when he caught sight of his son. "Nicholas," he said, eyes smiling, and even stood to greet his favorite fledgling. Nick embraced his master fondly. LaCroix raised an eyebrow. "Why is that you have to nearly die before we can have a civil relationship?" "Well, let's just say, death does funny things for your world view." "Hmm." Though he would never say so aloud, the past several months had been hellacious for him. His eldest son gravely injured, his two youngest sons drifting away, and his wife regarding him with distrust and suspicion... no, it had not been a Happy New Year. "You seem well." "Quite well." "Physically whole?" Nick grimaced. "Apparently not. I find that celibacy no longer holds my interest." LaCroix grunted. "Yeah, Natalie told me about the letters. She still sleeping days at the Eidolon?" "Yes. You're looking for her?" Nick nodded. "Why?" "I need to talk to her about Kai." LaCroix rolled his ice-blue eyes derisively. "Nicholas, if you can get any information out of her at this point, I will be astonished." Nick hid a smile. "But she's not here." "I thought she was working tonight." "She was. Something came up, with one of the boys, I assume, although again, she doesn't trust me with the time of night anymore." "Where're the boys?" "At the Eidolon." Nick laid a hand on his father's shoulder. "Take care, LaCroix," he said before he left. The ancient Roman watched his son through the one-way mirror as he made his way out of the club. Then LaCroix flipped on his microphone. "The Christians' Bible makes no mention of how old the Devil was when he rejected God. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say he was a teenager." *** Alexei sat on Miranda's bed, hugging his knees to his chest. As he spoke in quiet, rapid Russian, he was shuddering. Miranda listened sympathetically, but there was little she could do for her 'step-son.' If she tried to touch him, to comfort him, Alexei would most likely give into instinct, and attack her. And yet touch was precisely what he needed, preferably the touch of Family, of his master. "You need to go to him, little soul," she said gently. "Lucien will help you get through this." "I don't want to 'get through this'!" Alexei hissed. He curled himself into a tighter ball. "You can't tell me you enjoy feeling like this." "It's torture... but I don't want it to go away. Besides, I don't need his taunting." He lifted his dark head and looked at Miranda, his eyes beginning to glow. "I think you should go now, Miri." Miranda rose gracefully from the floor. She shut the door behind her, and a few seconds later heard Alexei lock it from the inside. *** "Dammit, Étienne, where is she?!" Étienne refused to be bullied. "She doesn't want to be bothered, Nicolas," he said brusquely. "So if LaCroix sent you--" "No one 'sent' me, Étienne. I just want to talk to her about Kai. He's not acting like himself. I'm worried about him." "He's your fledgling." "And you're LaCroix's," Nick growled back. "How much does it count for?" Étienne whirled around. "As far as the mortal world is concerned, you're Shosha's husband, which makes you my uncle, not my brother. And you act like it! Alain cared for Serena like she was his own, and she loves him. Miranda isn't Kai's biological daughter, but he doesn't care. We're Family, Étienne. We have to look out for one another." Étienne's cat-like yellow eyes regarded his 'nephew' with astonishment and something very much like shame. "I think you need to cheat death more often, Nicolas," he said quietly. "It does wonders for your common sense. All right, I'll take you to her. But I can promise you, she won't be happy." He paused. Mildly amused, Nick sighed. "What's your price?" *** Miranda looked up when she heard footsteps in the corridor. "Nicolas!" she exclaimed, flinging herself into his arms. She planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged him hard. "Mon fil et mon frere." "Miranda, ma fleur. Ma mere et ma soeur. Et ma grand-fille," he reminded her, winking. "We do have a strange Family," Miranda agreed. Then she sobered, stroking his cheek. "Oh, Nicolas, I'm so glad you've come." She laid her head on his chest. "I don't know what to do." Concerned, Nick lifted her chin. "Is that about LaCroix?" "Lucien? Gods, no!" Miranda dismissed the idea with a flick of her wrist. "No, Nicolas. It's Alexei." "What's wrong with him?" asked Nick, trying to reach his bond with his younger brother. To his consternation, it was blocked by a wall of intense emotion. Miranda sighed. "Hormones." "Ah." "He needs Lucien's touch, Nicolas. He needs his master's blood to calm him, but he refuses to return to the Raven." Her cobalt blue eyes, so like his own and yet eerily like her foster father's, fixed on him. "Nicolas... could you go to Alexei?" Nick started. "I--I could, yes. But why me? He's closer to Étienne." "Ah, but you are the elder. And closer to Lucien." She hesitated. "And for all the suffering that Étienne has gone through, I think that you have had more experience. You will understand what troubles Alexei." End Part Three April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (4/?) Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 07:54:20 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Also, just wanted to let everybody know that this is the first *illustrated* episode of Sons of Lilith; so if y'all would just mosey on over to my site, you can read this ep with screen caps courtesy of Knight Vision. I'm told they really enhance the reading. Sanctuary (4/?) Tracy, for her part, had not left the Corvina. In fact, she was in Kai's apartment, sitting outside his bedroom door. "Let me in." "No." "I'll break the door down," she warned. "Go right ahead." She growled in frustration. They had been going at this for an hour now. "Kai, please." "Tracy, just leave me alone." Not that she had a problem with respecting her master's privacy, but she was becoming more and more afraid that in his stress, he was going to work himself into a coughing episode. "Let me in." "No." "I'll break the door down." "Be my guest." This time, Tracy took Kai at his word. She cleanly broke the doorknob, braced herself, and walked in. As she remembered, it was an uncomfortable room to be in. There was an abundance of religious paraphernalia from all manner of faiths, things that Kai used to strengthen his mind and soul as his body failed him. Tracy was too young a vampire to withstand their effects entirely, but she was Kai's fledgling, and while she did not have his abilities, she had inherited his strength. So she was able to restrain the urge to rush out. Kai was crouched down in front of his open mini-fridge, staring into the chilly depths. He glanced at her. "Want something to drink, child?" "No. Kai, what's wrong with you?" "Why is there always something wrong with me?" he snarled. Tracy jumped. "How do you know there isn't something wrong with you? Maybe you're the crazy one this time!" He chose a bottle, bit out the cork and chugged down several large gulps. Tracy saw from the label that it was pure, uncut human blood. And from the sensations leaking through her master's iron-clad shields, she had a strong suspicion that it was of an undonated variety. "We... it's not like we're asking you to overthrow the government. It's just one little murder." "Maybe to you, Tracy, it's just another night on the job. To me? Think about it. I touch that knife Nicholas was brandishing, I instantly see and hear and feel everything connected with that knife. It's all in my mind, Tracy, like memories in blood but far less pleasant. And I've killed for myself. I don't need to see mortals slaughtering one another inside my head." "The knife wasn't used--" "That doesn't matter!" Kai hurled the bottle at Tracy; it barely missed her ear and shattered against the opposite wall. Thick, dark red liquid oozed onto the carpet. She turned back, fangs bared, to see her master looking terrified at the shards of glass. "It... doesn't matter," he repeated in a dead whisper. *** With a firm but unthreatening hand, Nick knocked on his young brother's door. "Alexei?" he called. "Let me in." "Now is not a good time, Nikolai," came his answer, in the form of a harsh growl, a strange thing to hear from the throat of a fourteen-year-old boy. Nick switched to Russian. "Little brother, let me help you." A moment, and then a skeleton key came sliding out from under the door. Nick set it to the key hole. When he opened the door, he saw Alexei curled up into a tight ball on his bed, shivering. Nick swept in and locked the door behind him. He approached the prone boy, and knelt down. "Alexei," he soothed, reaching out a hand. Alexei snarled and lashed out. Nick reacted instantly, vamping and catching the tall but skinny boy into his arms, holding him tightly. "Enough," he rumbled around his fangs. Alexei snarled again, but Nick heard past the threat to the fear, and the pain. "What is it, little prince, eh, that causes you such anguish?" The boyish vampire was panting, but he had stopped struggling. "Will you let me see?" Alexei froze, and then nodded once, stiffly. Nick pulled back his younger brother's collar, and Alexei automatically moved his head to one side. Nick titled his head back, allowing his fangs to drop fully, and then bit into Alexei's throat. Images and emotions assailed him, frighteningly powerful emotions for one so young, even among vampires. Nick had no clue what he was looking for, but there was one image Alexei kept returning to in his mind. Nick pulled back abruptly. "Oh, God..." Alexei winced. Nick put his mouth back to the small wounds. "Sorry, sorry," he murmured in Russian, licking the punctures closed. Then he rested his chin on his brother's head. "Alexei, you poor boy. But I understand." "How can you? It's not exactly the same situation." "No. But I understand the sentiment." Nick loosened his hold enough for Alexei to turn around. "Go ahead," he urged. Alexei's small fangs wasted no time in piercing the flesh of Nick's throat, drinking in the support and comfort that his powerful older brother offered. "It's all right," Nick continued to sooth, rubbing the boy-vampire's back. "It'll be all right." *** Kai kept his back turned to Tracy, but he didn't try to send her away. "There's something else bothering you, Kai. I can feel it." "Damn your perception," he cursed her tiredly. "You're as bad as I am." Tracy laid her hand gingerly on her master's thin shoulder. Kai tensed. "Will you tell me?" she asked. He stared at her hand, and then brushed it away. "I've been asked to use my talents in murder cases before," he began, in an unusually high, clipped tone, "but I've only agreed once. The first time. The killer found out, and I was kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead. And the case was never solved; he got away." Kai turned around. "I was eleven years old, Tracy. Is it any wonder I'm reluctant to try again?" Tracy stared at him. "Kai, you're a hundred and eighty now." "The smallest things can affect us for the longest time," he said quietly. "I saw my best friend run over by a train when I was eleven," she returned, equally as quiet. "And I became a homicide cop who deals with dead bodies every night--bodies that I didn't create. I've been kidnapped and held by a psychopath, and I'm still a cop. "Kai, we have the husband in custody. We don't need you to track him down. All Nick and I want is for you to give us a little help with a motive. Just a push in the right direction, and then we'll leave you alone. Kai's lips were pressed together into a thin grey line. "All right," he said, defeated. End Part Four April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (5/?) Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 07:58:10 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (5/?) Tracy pulled the evidence bag Nick had given her out of her pocket. Kai stared at it, as if waiting for the knife to come to life and bite him. "Kai?" "A moment, Tracy," he said hoarsely. "Just give me... that much." @}----- Baltimore, 1828 He could hear voices, people speaking, talking in low whispers. For a change, the voices were not inside his head. He was... in a bed? His own bed by the feel of it, his own room, his own house by the vibrations around him. He tried to open his eyes, but could not. He swallowed; it hurt, and his mouth was very dry. "Mama?" A swift patter of footsteps, then he felt a cool hand on his cheek. "My little Nicol," said a soft, soothing voice, "my Kai. How do you feel?" Kai swallowed again; it still hurt. "Not bad," he lied. "Thirsty." His mother held a tin cup to his lips, and Kai drank greedily. Another voice, deeper but no less comforting. "That's my Nicholas. A boy of mine could stand up to a common ruffian any day." "Arthur, hush!" "Aw, he was nothin'. Caught me by surprise," Kai tried to smile. His eyes were not working for some reason, but he could still see his parents, in his mind's eye. His mother's pale blond hair and his father's gentle, mischievous smile. "I could've beaten 'im with one hand tied behind my back." Arthur Quartermayne chuckled. "That's my boy." Another shape loomed up in Kai's mind, a burly one. "Did you see his face, boy?" "Inspector Jackson!" Claire Quartermayne's soft voice suddenly became very hard. "He's barely come awake! Give him some time to recover before you subject him to your questioning!" "Mrs. Quartermayne, this may be our only chance to catch this killer! If your son saw anything--" "Get out," Kai managed. "Leave me alone." "Now, you look here, you young blackguard--" "I said, get out!" Kai sat straight up, and in his mind's eye saw the Inspector clutch his head in pain and stagger violently against the wall. "I think you should go away, Inspector," said the child calmly, swollen eyes turned towards the prostrate police officer. "And don't come back." His father went away with Inspector Jackson to make certain he was gone. When he came back, his handsome face was grave. "What did you do to him, son?" "Did I do something wrong, Papa?" Arthur was about to speak, when Claire laid a placating hand on his arm. "No," said Arthur shortly. He tried to smile. "Nothing at all." @}----- "Give me the knife, Tracy." He turned the evidence bag over slowly in his hands, grey eyes half-closed in concentration. He shook his head. "Damn synthetic materials... blocks everything... I need to take it out of the bag." It was an ordinary wood-handled kitchen knife, with a serrated edge. Kai held the handle loosely in his left hand and allowed the fingers of his right hand to hover over the surface of the blade. "You're right," he said absently, "it wasn't used. Cherilyn planned on it, though." Tracy arched her eyebrows, impressed. She hadn't doubted her master's abilities, exactly; it was only that she had never seen him use them in this manner. She had suggested using a psychic to the captain; Nick had been the one to suggest Kai. "She was going to kill him... her husband... Shawn..." His eyes were fully closed now. "He had a gun... two barreled piece, a shotgun. She saw the gun... and grabbed the knife." Tracy could see his eyeballs darting back and forth under the closed lids. Kai's mouth opened, and he spoke in a high voice not his own. "'I'm tired of it, Shawn. I'm tired of your lying and your cheating and your damned little friends. I'm gonna kill you, Shawn.'" Kai stopped short. He opened his eyes. "Bang," he said dully, dropping the knife back into its bag. End Part Five April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (6/?) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 08:20:49 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (6/?) "Cutting it a bit close, aren't you?" asked Natalie when Nick stepped off the elevator, smoking gently. He winced as he shucked off his duster. "Where were you all night, anyway?" "Over at the Eidolon. Say, did a delivery come in for me? A case of wine, from the states?" Natalie looked up from their mail. "Oh, that's what it is? Yeah, it's by the coffee table." Nick actually licked his lips. "Great." He quickly helped himself to a bottle. "Use a glass," said Natalie, and handed him one. "So," she asked, taking a seat next to him and trying to be casual. "What were you doing at the Eidolon?" Nick took a sip from the bottle. "Oh, that's good." "That's from Rivendell?" "Yeah." Nick filled his glass with bloodwine and looked sideways at her. "But don't tell LaCroix. Most of the bloodwine circulating in this city is from his winery, Winterborn, in Tuscany. I'd hate for him to try and eliminate any competition. "As for why I was at the Eidolon--I went there to find Miranda, so she could tell me what was wrong with Kai, so he can help us with the James case." Nick raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Did you catch all that?" "I--I think so," said Natalie, blinking. Well, that's a relief. I knew I was just being paranoid... "And did she?" Nick sighed. "Actually... I never asked her. She took one look at me and begged me for help with Alexei..." He dropped his gaze to his glass, remembering the impressions that had flooded his brain when he'd tasted his brother's blood. "Poor kid." "What's wrong with him?" Natalie asked, snuggling up next to her husband. "Too much LaCroix on the brain?" "Not... not exactly." Nick hesitated. Telling her could produce some unexpected results. But he had promised. No more secrets. "He's in love." Natalie turned until she was on her back and flopped down with her head in his lap. "Not with Miranda?" "Huh? Oh, no," Nick replied with a slight chuckle. "No, that would be Daniel, though he's doing his best to hide it. No, um... shit," Nick sighed. "No, he's... he's in love with Amy." For a moment, there was no reaction. Then Natalie sat up so fast she almost knocked the glass from Nick's hand. "Nat, Natalie, take it easy." He set down his American wine and caught her in a tight hold. "He won't hurt her." "Nick, he's a vampire!" "So am I--" "A young vampire! With no control over his urges--" "He's got more control than I do--" "He's LaCroix's!" "So am I." Natalie stopped and looked away, flushing. "Sometimes, I think you try to forget who my master is. He is a confusing man, I'll grant you that." Nick kissed her forehead tenderly. "I wish I could tell you that this is just a childish crush. But I've tasted his blood, Nat. He's over ninety years old. It's real." Natalie didn't answer, but he could feel her shivering. "I know you're scared, Nat. You've lost Cynthia and Richard... but I can promise, Alexei would never hurt Amy. He has had a sense of honor ingrained in him since birth. He lived with Étienne for years; Étienne has never hurt a woman in his life." Nick took her face in his hands. "Amy won't be hurt, Natalie. I promise." "Has he... seen her since the wedding?" Nick nodded. "Does she know what he is?" "No. And he wasn't planning on telling her. I've spoken to him, Natalie. And I've called LaCroix. If I have to, I can alter Amy's memory the next time Sarah invites us over for dinner," he finished softly. "Okay?" Natalie nodded against his chest. "I won't let anything happen to her," she warned, sending such a strong wave of conviction across their bond that Nick was staggered. He brushed his lips across her chestnut hair, and laid his cheek on her head. "Why did it make you so nervous, that I went to the Eidolon?" "Kai told me about you and Étienne," answered Natalie frankly. Nick stiffened. "When did he tell you?" "While you were in the hospital." "He shouldn't have. It wasn't his place." "All he did was try and explain to me why Étienne was so upset. He said that you were the first person to show Étienne that a touch could do more than hurt. He said, 'Nicholas taught him how to trust again.'" "I'd forgotten all about that," Nick murmured. "Étienne never did." Nick shook his head sharply, trying to dispel the sudden sense of déjŕ vu. "And you thought that was why I went over there tonight?" Natalie eased out of his embrace. "I won't lie to you, Nick. I don't understand everything about the relationships in a vampire family. And you haven't exactly been forthcoming with your information--although you're getting better," she hastened to add. "I just thought--" "You assumed," corrected Nick harshly, biting off the words. "Nat, look. My relationship with Étienne was short-term and decidedly not romantic. It was a long time ago. And it's not something I like to be reminded of by my wife!" Bedtime was a tense thing that day, and for the first time in their marriage, Nick and Natalie fell asleep with their backs to each other. End Part Six April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (7/?) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 08:22:36 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (7/?) LaCroix paced slowly around the foyer of the opera house. His internal clock told him that dawn was upon him; he would have to spend the day at the Eidolon. I only hope I won't have to sleep in the entranceway. The floor vibrated slightly under his feet, signaling an approach. LaCroix looked up to see his... "Do you know, I have no idea what to call you anymore." Étienne lifted his shoulders in an eloquent shrug and clasped LaCroix's hand. "I'm Family, as Nicolas put it so strongly." "Nicholas? Talking about Family?" "Indeed. You know, when he tries, he can put you to shame." Étienne regarded his master carefully. "He sent you here, didn't he?" LaCroix said only, "Where is Alexei?" "Follow me." He began to lead LaCroix through the twisting corridors. "Miranda is with him," Étienne continued as they walked. He noted LaCroix's mild alarm. "Worried?" "Certainly not for her," LaCroix snorted, derision dripping from his lips. "Hmm. Well, they're in there." Étienne gestured to a door. LaCroix took a step forward. A hand on his arm stopped him. "LaCroix." The ancient Roman waited expectantly. Étienne winked. "Remind Nicholas rehearsals begin Thursday at five." LaCroix watched him walk away. Then, resigned, he shook his head. Without bothering to knock on the door, LaCroix gripped the old brass knob and went inside. Miranda was stroking the limp dark hair from Alexei's pale forehead, her fingers smeared with his red sweat. He was asleep, but trembling in the throes of a violent nightmare. "I knew you'd come eventually, Lucien," she said lowly. Quiet, he shut the door and went and sat beside her on Alexei's bed. "But you should have come sooner." "How long has he been like this?" "Since Nicolas left." "I would have come if I'd known, but why didn't he come to me?" Miranda sighed, clearly annoyed. "He said he did not want your scorn. He is in love with a mortal, after all." The brush of cold fingers on her cheekbone made her jump. "So am I..." Surprised by his own weakness, LaCroix looked away for a moment, gathering his senses. "Move," he said shortly. Cradling his young son, he smoothed aside the lank hair and pressed his forehead to Alexei's. The boy's trembling ceased almost immediately. Relieved, Miranda turned towards the door. "No. No, wait. Can you... ask Étienne if he has any uncut blood on hand?" "Of course." She disappeared. "Alexei," the ancient one murmured gently. "My son... awake..." Groggily, the youthful vampire opened his eyes. "Go away... leave me alone, LaCroix." "I'll do no such thing." "I don't want your help." "Well, as the current generation says, tough luck." Snarling softly, LaCroix bit into his wrist until his blood flowed freely, and brought it to the boy's mouth. Alexei turned his head away. "It will make the pain go away." "Nikolai shared with me already." "Nicholas is a generous fool, but he is only your brother. Drink, mon fil." Alexei made no motion to take the offering. LaCroix focused on his fledgling's slow heartbeat. "Drink," he repeated. Alexei took the proffered wrist and drank tiredly. "Do you feel it soothing your pain, my son? Is it a balm to your hurts?" Alexei pushed him away. "Your blood poisons me!" he hissed. A mask clamped down over LaCroix's alabaster face. "Does it really?" "Why didn't you leave me to die at Ekaterinburg?" the prince asked bluntly. "Why did you bring me into this life?" "Would you really have preferred the death that awaited you?" returned the general. "Shooting and dismemberment, and being dissolved in a vat of acid with the rest of your family?" He refused to be moved by the tears suddenly flowing down Alexei's face. "You're not yourself, my son. It is your hunger that makes you say such things. You'll feel better once you've fed." "No." Alexei's lips curled up in a painful grimace. "This hunger won't be satisfied with blood. And thanks to you, I'll never be able to make it go away." He tried to stand but immediately collapsed. LaCroix grabbed at him. "Let go," he snarled. Alexei sank to the floor. "And I'm not your son." Stonily, LaCroix picked Alexei up and deposited him back in bed. "Yes, you are." He left the room and waited outside until Miranda came back with the blood. "You feed him, ma fleur," said LaCroix in a jaded voice. Miranda did so. When she came back out, she laid a tentative hand on his arm. "Did he drink?" "Yes. He's asleep now. Lucien, what happened?" Leaning his back against the wood-paneled wall, LaCroix let himself sink to the floor. "He renounced me," he sighed miserably. Miranda gasped. "Renounced... Lucien, can he do that? Is he old enough?" "Age isn't a factor. If he were to bring this up before the Council of Ancients, he might have a real case. He could literally disown me." LaCroix rubbed his forehead with tired fingertips. "He's angry, and not himself. He probably doesn't know the ramifications of what he said..." Miranda sat down next to him. "But?" "Even in all our years of conflict, Nicholas never tried to disown me." His wife rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. He's not Nicholas." "Try not to take it too much to heart," she said quietly, long blond hair in her eyes. "As you said, he is angry. And in love, with no chance of ever requiting that love... he's lucky to have you." LaCroix looked up, confused. "He is. If you hadn't found him when you did, he would be dead. Or worse, he would have been alone, masterless." "That's not always a bad thing," LaCroix reminded her dryly. "Shosha and I did well enough." "I've wondered about that. How did you two ever manage for so long without a master?" LaCroix took her small hands in his, chafing them gently. "By virtue of a very close-knit, very devoted crew, just as young and inexperienced as we. Vincent... Emily... Styx, Nadzieja, Krysha... By the gods," he murmured, using a rare oath, "I've not thought of them in years. But by virtue of our collective ignorance, we persevered. We survived... together. My old Family... the old crew." Miranda was intrigued. She had never heard this part of her husband's life before. "What happened to them?" LaCroix shrugged. "We grew older. Grew apart. Or died; Styx was killed sometime during the tenth century. He always was a careless fool... I still see Vincent, now and again... He and I were children together," he offered suddenly. "And then we were in the army together... we were always close. But when I took on Janette as a fledgling, my old Family fell apart." His clasped her hands tightly. "I can't let that happen again. Not again." End Part Seven April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (8/?) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 08:30:31 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (8/?) As usual, Nick woke up before Natalie. Sometime during the day, their collective subconsciouses had made up, because his arm was draped over her and she was snuggled securely against his chest. Nick smiled sleepily, enjoying the nearness of Natalie's warm body. Their rare squabbles and his recent brush with death had certainly taught him a thing or two about taking her for granted. He thought back to their early relationship. "Y'know, Nat," he mused, very quietly so as not to wake her, "I think, when I first met you, I turned you into my surrogate Family. You knew my secret, you'd seen me at my worst, and all you wanted for me was what you thought was best. You really were like part of my Family, and I think... I think I thought you'd be around forever. And I didn't realize how much I loved you until I thought I was going to lose you." Nick kissed her and turned over to answer his cell phone. "Knight residence," he whispered. "Nick, it's Tracy." "Hey, did you talk to Kai?" "Yeah, he did a nice little reading on the knife last night." "And?" "And he's gone catatonic on me. Again." Nick swore. "All he said was that we got the right man for the wrong reasons, but that's not why I'm calling. Shawn James has been taken to the hospital." "What?!" "He was found unconscious in his cell." "I'm on my way." *** "I'm telling you, Detectives, I'm fine!" For a man who was supposed to be their prime suspect, Tracy was finding Shawn James to be annoyingly likable. Maybe it was the fact that he was in a hospital bed. "I'm serious, it was just a lack of food. Happens all the time." "You pass out all the time?" repeated Nick incredulously. "Well, I don't usually eat much. The lack of food doesn't seem to agree with me, but I've sort of gotten used to it." "Why don't you eat much?" "Fixed income." Nick nodded, unconvinced. "And what's that?" He pointed to several small black marks on the side of James's neck. "Huh?" "Three small stylized Ts over one larger T." Nick leaned over and touched his suspect's throat with gloved fingers. "Right here." "Oh, that." James shrugged. "Just a tattoo. I've had it since high school." But his voice as he said this was curiously wooden. "Well, if the doctor thinks you're feeling as good as you say you are, you'll be out of here in the morning," said Tracy. "Yeah, joy." James shrugged again, unenthused. "I'm happy. Hurray." He looked up at them pleadingly. "Listen, I already told you I killed my wife. So can you just get on with the investigation or the indictment or whatever?" Tracy shot her partner a glance. "We're doing everything we can to see that the law is upheld," she said, reassuringly noncommittal. "Good night, Mr. James." She got into the Caddy and shut the door thoughtfully. "What're you thinking, Nick?" "I'm thinking that tattoo definitely was not there yesterday." Nick's long fingers came up to worry at his scars. "You?" "Am I paranoid?" "Sorry?" "Am I paranoid?" Tracy repeated. "When I found out about Vachon, I was seeing vampires in every case that seemed a little off." Nick noted that she said the Spanish vampire's name without hesitation. "Since Kai brought me across, I'm seeing vampires everywhere." "We are everywhere, Trace," Nick reminded her with a small grin. "I know, but--" She ran a hand through her light blond hair. "I'm feeling a little lost right now." Nick leaned over and clasped her shoulder. "Hey. You're not alone, you know that." Tracy nodded. "And no, you're not paranoid. You've been seeing vampires in an odd number of cases because there have been vampires in an odd number of cases in the past year." Nick started the ignition. "James was hypnotized." "That's what I thought!" Tracy paused, thinking. "But why?" "I don't know. Nothing to do with the case, for sure." He glanced into his rear view mirror and changed lanes effortlessly. "But why a vampire would go to the trouble of hypnotizing a mortal in police custody just to scratch some marks on his neck, I've no idea." He trailed off, thinking. "Tracy, did you notice anything odd about Cherilyn James's face, when you first saw the body? About her expression?" "It was contorted. Pain, fear. As if she'd seen her own death. But I guess she did." Tracy paused. "Was there something else?" "It was cold," Nick said succinctly. "Remorseless. Like she was someone who knew what it was like to give pain." He shook his head, and glanced at the radio longingly, but didn't turn it on. LaCroix had his own problems to deal with. "They looked familiar," Tracy said suddenly. "The marks on his neck. Like something I've seen in a movie... or on TV..." "You probably have. They were cuneiform marks. I don't know what they mean; I never studied the archeology of the Near East, but I do know that much. You might've seen them on a history program." His partner shook her head. "No, it's not like something I've actually seen before. Just like something from a... a slideshow." Nick's ears pricked up at the description. "Like something you saw in someone's blood memories?" he prodded. Tracy thought about that. "Yes," she decided. "Trace, how long has it been since you shared blood with Kai?" "About... two months... shit," she sighed, dropping her head into her palm. "That's it. That is where I saw it. How'd you guess?" Nick glanced at her, grinning. "You don't hunt, and Kai's the only person you share blood with regularly." "At all," Tracy corrected. "What, you and Julian haven't...?" Tracy thought she had outgrown blushing. Apparently not. "Y'know something, you're the thinnest-skinned vampire I've ever met." She growled at him. Nick just laughed. "Should we go see him?" she asked doubtfully. "He was pretty shaken up when I left tonight." "No, we'll leave him alone," Nick decided. "I can feel him, too. Subjecting him to anything more would be cruel." *** Kai thought as he walked unmolested through the halls of the 96th police precinct, "Excuse me, miss," he said pleasantly, touching the shoulder of a passing uniformed officer. "Could you tell me where the evidence room is?" "Sure. It's right down that hallway." The brunette young officer pointed. "Third door on the left." Kai smiled. "Thank you." The two went their separate ways, Kai regretting that he was on business and the uniform never remembering that she had been stopped at all. Locking himself securely in the room full of shelves, Kai pulled off his gloves and stuffed them into the pockets of his overcoat. He ran a hand through his wispy blond hair, gnawing on his lower lip. Then he began looking carefully through the shelves. It wasn't hard to find the long cardboard box containing the evidence from Nicholas and Tracy's current case. Lifting the box from its shelf, Kai took out each item and stared at it closely before setting it gently on the floor. The knife in its bag, he set aside immediately, shuddering. At the very bottom of the box, Kai found the murder weapon, a double-barreled shotgun. His nostrils flared eagerly. This was what he had been looking for. Police investigators used psychics all the time; there was really no cause for him to be skulking in back doors and hypnotizing pretty young officers. Chances were, all Kai had really needed to do to see the evidence was to ask for it. He had his reasons, of course. Kai reached for the shotgun. <"Cheri, no!"> He hesitated. Then, a resolute expression forming on his gaunt, grey face, he reached into the box with both hands and grasped the gun firmly. A storm of images thundered through Kai's brain, too fast for him to make immediate sense of. Overwhelmed by the intense emotions, he blacked out. End Part Eight April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (9/?) Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 08:32:32 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (9/?) "We have no clue what we're looking for, do we?" Nick ignored his partner's dour mood. They had returned to the James house to look for something, anything, any piece of evidence that the investigators might have missed during their initial searches. "This one just feels funny, Trace." "You say that an awful lot," Tracy pointed out. Nick turned and gave her such a piercing glare that Tracy shook. "And I'm right an awful lot, too." Then he softened his stern visage a bit with a quirky grin. "Besides. You've been feeling as off about this case as I am." He winked. "I'm not alone in this one. It's a nice change." They passed through the living room, dining room, and kitchen without finding anything of interest. "I'll take her bedroom, you take his?" Nick nodded. "That's the first odd thing," he decided. "Two bedrooms for one married couple." "Yeah, but Nick, not every husband and wife are as clingy as you and Nat. Some couples prefer separate bedrooms, especially if they keep radically different hours." "But it could also prove that there was trouble in the marriage." Tracy pawed through Cherilyn's dresser drawers, while Nick went through Shawn's belongings. Cherilyn James, Tracy discovered, was fond of exotic undergarments and cheap vodka, and kept them both in the same drawer. Her room had been cleaned a bit since the murder, but it was still a pretty mess, with clothes all over the floor. There was a kind of dressing table against one wall, with a mirror and toiletries, and a drawer or two. Tracy opened one of these, but found nothing. The other drawer, however, caught her attention. There was an almost imperceptible weight to the drawer that was disproportionate to its size. She took a small jackknife from her pocket, flicked open the largest blade, and then delicately forced it into the groove between the side of the drawer and its bottom. As she had suspected, the drawer had a false bottom. Beneath the panel, Tracy found a tiny bag full of a white crystalline substance and a wire-bound notebook. She flipped through the pages; they were full of writing in blunt pencil, and the notebook was apparently meant to be a diary. Reading a few entries, Tracy found herself pitying Shawn James even more than she had when she'd talked to him in the hospital. No, this had not been a happy marriage She tucked the notebook under her arm, turned off the light and went to join Nick in the other bedroom. She came upon him as he was examining a gold chain with a pendant hanging from it. "Hey, Nick," she said. Nick jumped, and quickly slipped the chain into his pocket. "Find anything interesting?" She thought her partner's expression was a bit alarming. "I'm not sure, Trace." His eyes were withdrawn, but they cleared after a moment. "You?" Tracy showed him the diary and the cocaine. Nick flipped through the notebook in disgust. "Well, that puts a new wrinkle in things, doesn't it?" He pointed to a specific passage. "Look at this. 'Shawn's spending more and more time with those disgusting little friends of his.' Isn't that what Kai said when he read the knife?" "Something about 'damned little friends,' that's right." Nick handed her back the notebook. His mood had suddenly turned bad. "I don't think we're going to find anything more tonight. Come on. Let's get out of here." *** When Kai came to, he was curled up in a fetal position on the cold floor of the evidence room. "Oh, bloody..." he groaned. Suddenly he was starving; his fangs were throbbing, and dropped of their own volition. Kai shook his head sharply several times, trying to curb the impulse to tear into his own wrist. "The gun." He'd thrown the shotgun to one side during the mindstorm. Shaking, Kai pulled on his gloves, and put all the evidence back into its box, and shoved it into position on the shelf. He leaned on the metal shelving unit, taking in deep breaths through his nose and trying to cool the burn in his eyes. Still trembling, Kai reached inside his coat and pulled out a cellular phone. He dialed, tonguing one canine irritably. "Come on, pick up... pick up!" "Natalie's Bed and Breakfast." "Yeah, I'd like scrambled eggs, a side of hash browns with onions and a pint of B-negative." He heard her grin. "Hi, Kai." "How'd you know?" "Nick likes his eggs sunny-side up." "You're definitely a woman who pays attention to details. Listen, Nat, can you do me a favor?" *** Natalie sobered immediately and straightened in her chair. "What do you need?" "How did you classify Cherilyn James's injury?" "Not to be too technical about it--" "I don't care about the technobabble; I went to med school!" "--she had a huge hole blown through her." Thought Kai couldn't see it, of course, out of habit Natalie raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Or no?" *** Kai licked his lips, then asked, "Did you check the angle of the shot?" There was a pause. "Kai, it blew straight through her." "Did you check the angle?" he insisted. "Yes, that's what I said. The shot went through her body." *** Kai swore so violently, Natalie had to hold the receiver away from her ear. "Kai? Kai?" "I'm here. Is the James body handy?" "It's right here." "Check it again." Natalie rolled her eyes. "For what?" "Just check it!" "Kai? Calm down." A low snarl came over the phone. "Are you all right?" "I'm a pissed off and hungry vampire. Not a good thing." Natalie spoke in the most non-threatening voice she could manage. "Kai, I need to know what I'm looking for on the body." She heard Kai breathing slowly and steadily, something that Nick did when he was struggling to control his temper. "Do you think she killed herself, or that someone else besides her husband killed her? "No, Natalie. I know Shawn killed her. But I know he killed her in self-defense." "You 'know'?" "I know. I've seen. And whether or not you can prove it, I know what my senses are telling me." Natalie switched the receiver to her other ear and turned in her seat. Nick and Tracy were standing in the doorway. "Kai," she mouthed silently. They nodded. "Will you at least check for me?" "Yes, Kai. I will check. Bye." *** Kai stared at his cellphone as if the just-finished conversation were all its fault. "I need a drink," he muttered, stuffing the phone back into his pocket. At least, he reasoned, the other piece of evidence he'd been looking for had not been there. The best thing to do was to go to Shawn's house and find it. *** "What was that all about?" asked Nick, giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek. They were on duty, after all. Natalie groaned and got up from her chair. "He thinks Shawn James killed his wife in self-defense. He wanted me to verify it but I can't." She gave Tracy a manila folder, containing the autopsy report. "Cause of death was a single shotgun blast from a distance of about .5 metres, straight through the heart. Death was probably instantaneous." "Probably." "Give or take a few seconds." Tracy nodded. "Did you find any chemicals in her system? Any drugs? Cocaine?" Natalie blinked. "Yes," she said, surprised. "There was none present in her bloodstream, but there is definitely evidence of recent cocaine use. You found cocaine at the house," she deduced. "And a diary full of very nasty ramblings," added Tracy cheerfully. Then she laughed. "I don't know why I'm so happy about this. It's almost like I want James to get off." "You very well might," Nick told her darkly. "Flow-over. There's definitely one person close to this case who wants James to get off." Natalie and Tracy looked at him. For an answer, Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold chain he had taken from Shawn James's bedroom. Dangling from it, what Tracy had first thought was a pendant, was in fact a coin. Taking it in her palm, Tracy saw that it was an American coin, a quarter, from the year 1842. End Part Nine April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (10/?) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 18:52:15 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (10/?) "His 'damned little friends,'" Tracy repeated woodenly. "No wonder he didn't want to take this case." Her fist clenched around the coin. "I've got to talk to him." Nick's firm hand on her shoulder was the only thing that stopped her from taking off. "No. No, let's wait. He's not jeopardizing the investigation, and you know Kai. The more you push him, the more he pulls." "He can pull all he wants," Natalie said decisively, "but there's nothing on that body to indicate he shot in self-defense." Tracy went and lifted the sheet from the corpse. Nick was right; there was something sinister about the face. "Nick." "Hmm?" "If Shawn had one of Kai's coins, does that mean he knows that Kai's a vampire?" Nick nodded. "He told me he only gives them to his closest mortal friends." She looked a little put out. "How come I never got one, then?" Discomfort flitted across Nick's face. "I think Kai was planning on bringing you across from the first time he met you." "Oh, I--oh." It was plain to see that she was stunned, and was lost in thought for several minutes. "Y'know," Natalie said, smirking, "it's not often I see someone besides you spacing out in my morgue." "The presence of the dead is very conducive to thought." Nick walked up behind Tracy and leaned over her shoulder. "Tracy?" he prodded. She jumped. "Was there a point to this digression?" "D'you think Shawn James might be more willing to talk to us if he knew we were part of Kai's Family?" Nick stared at her, stunned. "Tracy," he said after a moment, "you're a genius." *** Slamming the last drawer closed with a bang, Kai quickly exited the James house and took to the air. He was not alone for long. "Either Nicholas or Tracy found the coin," he reported shortly. Tenebres's yellow eyes were unblinkingly steady, and even after decades of acquaintance, still made Kai a little uneasy. "What do you want me to do?" "What do you think should be done?" "Why do you always give me the benefit of the doubt?" asked Kai irritably. "Sometimes I think my life would be so much easier if I was just able to take orders like everyone else." "You're not everyone else," replied Tenebres calmly. Kai growled under his breath. "Don't remind me." The growl quickly turned into a wheeze. He nodded to a nearby roof, and the two vampires landed, Kai barely keeping his balance. He clutched at his chest with claw-like fingers. Tenebres stood like a solid black shadow behind him, silently watching. "Are you finished?" "Oh, yes, of course. Excuse me while I evacuate my lungs." Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, Kai spat into it. "Now I'm finished." "Then what do you think should be done about James?" Tenebres repeated. "They will confront him with the coin, and with their true natures. That is how they think: if Kai trusts him, then he must be trustworthy." "Yes, well we all know how accurate barometer is..." Kai wiped his mouth and stuffed the cloth back into his pocket. "What do I think? I think I should go and slit my wrists so no one will have to put up with me anymore." He whirled on the ancient Enforcer. "Why do you put up with me?" he asked, point-blank. "I explode like a coughing pińata at the slightest provocation, I can't even predict who's going to win a slow horse race--Tenebres, I'm useless!" The aged yellow eyes like old gold were calm and expressionless. As always. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to offer moral support?" "This is the part where you're supposed to go away and let me throw myself off a roof." "You can fly," Tenebres pointed out blandly. "But I still remember how to fall." Kai moved to the edge of the roof. "Shall I wait for you at the bottom?" "Go away!" Tenebres finally showed some emotion; he rolled his eyes. "Are you finished ? We do still have a situation on our hands." Kai was still staring longingly at the edge of the roof. "If it's ego-boosting you need, that's what females are for. I put up with you because you're useful to me. And if you'll recall, part of my job is to hold back those stumbling towards the slaughter." For a moment, Kai was distracted by this last. Then he said, "Proverbs 24:11?" "Very good. Suicide is a waste of material, and you're still on my payroll." Kai lifted a pale eyebrow. "I haven't seen a check in six years." "Trust fund. For... emergencies." Tenebres flashed a bit of fang at Kai in a grin. "Now. James?" "Right. James." Kai shrugged his thin shoulders. "Well, let Nicholas and Tracy question him. I think he'll talk. You put one of your people in as the defense, we get him off." "And then what? He's a clearly marked mortal. He'll be on the run for the rest of his life. There's nowhere he'll be safe." Tenebres waited. "There is... one place..." Kai said reluctantly, "where he would be safe." Tenebres said to himself. Aloud, he said, "You will send someone for him or should I?" "No, I'll send someone. I'll, um... I'll send Elijah." thought Tenebres. End Part Ten April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (11/?) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 18:55:06 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (11/?) There were many floors at the Eidolon, and many more rooms than Étienne would ever be able to incorporate into its function as a theatre. It was why he had purchased the oversized place; to use as a safe haven for strays, both mortal and vampire, as well as for anyone just looking for a place to hide for a while. Some rooms were simple bedrooms; a few were fitted out as fully furnished apartments, with showers and refrigerators. The fee for a room was almost nothing, and if you swore yourself penniless, Étienne would still let you stay. But regardless of financial status, he always made exceptions for Family. >From his bed on the couch, LaCroix woke to find Alexei curled up in a chair on the opposite side of the small living room, watching him. "What are you thinking, boy?" Alexei shrugged. "Nothing special." His thin frame was lost inside an oversized blue sweater. He hugged his knees to his chest. "I was just thinking about what to do now." LaCroix sat up, and stretched his limbs luxuriously. "I'm in a hell of a lot of trouble, aren't I?" "How do you think?" "Amy. And... and what I said to you the other night." His brown eyes were nervous. "I didn't mean it, LaCroix." LaCroix grunted. "Which part? About my blood being poison to you or about not being my son?" "Both of them," replied Alexei meekly. Something about the way the proud, upright little prince submitted so timidly made LaCroix feel slightly ashamed. "You're right about one thing," he began. "I'm not your father. I have not been a father to you. Everything you said, I blame myself for. I made a terrible mistake, Alexei Nikolavitch, and that lead to you." "You never wanted me, I know." "You were a child, Alexei. I don't make a habit of turning small boys into vampires. Had I met you when you were twenty, who knows? Then again, it's always been Nicholas who's had the penchant for royalty. And he does have a way with children." "My sisters and I thought he was the most wonderful friend Papa had," Alexei remembered, eyes distant. LaCroix allowed him a few moments of reflection. It had to have been difficult for the boy, to have lived through eighty years of listening to historians speculate just how he and his family had died. And then that woman, Anna Anderson, masquerading as the Grand Duchess Anastasia... Étienne was just the person to shield him from these things, but it still had to have been hard. "But I'm not a child anymore," said Alexei forcefully, shaking his head. "I act like one because everyone still expects me to. Sometimes I think like a fourteen-year-old. But I'm not fourteen! I'm ninety years old. And there's nothing I can do about it," he finished, dropping his head onto his knees. LaCroix tried to think of something appropriate to say, and could not. "Will you let me see her one more time?" asked Alexei's muffled voice. "So I can say goodbye? I'll tell her I'm going to boarding school or... something." At least this was a fear the General could assuage. "Who said you have to say goodbye?" Alexei's head shot up. "Don't tease, LaCroix." "I'm not." "But--but--" "Don't stutter, youngblood. It's unbecoming." He held out his arm. Hesitantly, Alexei went and settled himself in his master's embrace. It was not a position he was used to, but it felt... good, somehow. "Natalie's niece is not a liability at this point. You've shown that you have enough control not to harm her, and the tact to know better than to reveal yourself. So long as you're careful, I see no reason why you can't maintain a friendship with her." He gave his child a one-armed hug. "Now." LaCroix raised a dark eyebrow at Alexei; the boy looked back expectantly. "Has Étienne ever taken you hunting?" "Once, a long time ago. Shosha would take me, sometimes. But I know how to do it." The General smiled toothily. "Then what's say we get some breakfast, eh?" *** Shawn James was still in the hospital, being treated for what the doctors were describing as severe malnutrition. He didn't look at the detectives when they entered his room. "Here to serve me some papers?" he asked, almost pitifully hopeful. "Are we gonna get this over with?" "Yes, we are," said Nick, shutting the door. He pulled up a chair beside the bed; Tracy stood behind him, at his shoulder. Nick pulled something from his pocket and tossed it on the little table slung over the bed. James looked at it as though he'd never seen it before. "So?" "So you must be pretty close to Kai for him to have given you one of his conversion year coins," said Tracy nonchalantly. He sat up very straight, eyes wide. "You know Kai?" he asked in a hushed voice. Nick and Tracy glanced at each other, smiling. "You could say that," said Nick around his fangs. Tracy flashed her eyes briefly. James fell back against his pillow, relieved. "Thank God for that," he whispered. "I thought..." He dashed his hand across his eyes. The black tattoo stood out starkly against his pale white throat. Tracy took out a small tape recorder, pressed the RECORD button and set it down next to the coin necklace. "How did you meet Kai Thorn?" she asked. "I used to go to the coffee shop all the time. I worked at that little music store down the block, and I spent my breaks in the shop. I got to know him pretty... pretty well." "And he just... told you?" James nodded. "Eventually. Maybe about, oh, three, four months after I met him. Early '96. Late March, early April. He said, 'I know I can trust you with this, Shawn.' And he gave me that coin." "But you didn't wear it." "I did at first. But then all his friends started turning up dead, so he told me to put it away, to hide it. I haven't worn it since... since May, '96, actually." Nick nodded, lost in thought. "What about your wife?" asked Tracy. "Did she know about Kai?" "She knew the owner of the Corvina was a friend of mine. That I was spending way too much time there for her liking. She was... real controlling." "Then why did you stay with her?" James licked his lips, restless. "You've gotta understand, Detective... I'm a real loner. You know. People make me nervous. I was never good with girls." He shrugged. "When I first met Cherilyn, she made me feel like I didn't have to be all suave and... and not awkward. She made all the decisions for me, took care of me." "And then when you met Kai?" "He's--well, you know him. If something's beyond your control, he'll take it out of your hands, but otherwise, he expects you to take care of your own business. All his pals who hung out at the Corvina were like that. I mean, we were friends, we'd look out for each other, but they were all... They could all stand on their own two feet. And I liked that, y'know? I wanted to be like that." "And your wife didn't care for that idea." "No," James chuckled shortly. "Not at all. She made me stop going over there. And I was scared, because so many of Kai's pals had turned up dead. I didn't know what to think. That was... almost eighteen months ago now. "Eighteen months of hell. She made me quit my job, locked me in the house... rationed out all my food. Being friends with Kai gave me at least a little bit of a backbone; I used to shout at her. We'd get into arguments, she'd hit me. She did drugs, you know?" They nodded. "Finally, I... I'd just had enough." "What set you off?" Nick wanted to know. "I'm not sure..." James's bottom lip was chapped; he was constantly licking and biting at it. "I just got tired of... of being so much. I wanted to get out. So I called Kai. I didn't know who else to call. The only phone in the house was in Cherilyn's bedroom, and while I was talking to Kai... she walked in. She looked... God... and I know she knew who I was talking to. She turned around and went into the kitchen. I could hear her talking to herself. I hung up quick, and I..." He blinked rapidly. "I went into her closet where she kept the gun." "The shotgun?" "Yeah." "It is registered under your name, isn't it?" "Yeah. She made me buy it when we got married, and then she took it. She always kept it loaded. I followed her into the kitchen. She took a knife from the block. She said, 'I'm tired of it, Shawn. I'm tired of your lying and your cheating and your damned little friends. I'm gonna kill you, Shawn.' "She came at me with the knife. I pointed the gun at her but she kept coming and coming. I shouted 'No!' And then... I shot her." Nick waited a moment before shutting off the recorder. James was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, telling the absolute truth. "All I wanted was to get away from her," James added softly. "I wouldn't've killed her." It was clear to Nick that his suspect was on the verge of a minor mental breakdown. "Shawn." James looked into Nick's stern blue eyes, and was trapped there. Nick focused on his heartbeat. "Sleep," he said simply. "Sleep," repeated James, the word echoing in his head. He leaned back against his pillows and was quickly unconscious. Tracy slipped the recorder back into her pocket. "Let's go, Nick." End Part Eleven April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (12/?) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 18:57:41 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (12/?) "I can't help but feel like there's more to this case," she was saying as Nick drove them back to the precinct. "I mean, I'm satisfied that he killed her in self-defense, there's no question that he's no murderer. But there's still... something..." "There is definitely more to this story," Nick agreed. "I just wish I knew what. James was right about one thing: if Kai thinks you can't handle something, he handles it for you." "Kai did fix this case." "Not fix, exactly. I don't think so. I just think he has more information about what's really going on." Nick shrugged, enjoying the wind in his short hair. It was too short actually, and annoying him to no end. "We shouldn't have pressed him to get involved." "Come on, Nick, we were desperate. And there's no way we could have known that he and James knew each other." "He's strung tight as a wire now, thanks to us. Thanks to me," Nick corrected. "It was my idea to even ask him in the first place." "Yeah, and Reese would've chewed our heads off if we hadn't come up with something. Stop angsting!" "I'm not angsting," Nick insisted, scowling. "I just..." Then he sighed. "Never mind, it's nothing. Never mind." *** Nick quickly combed a few drops of bay rum through his damp hair and went to grab his coat. "Mmm, good enough to eat," Natalie said, burying her nose in his hair. Nick groaned. "Nat, you're a wicked, wicked woman. Don't tempt me!" Her chestnut hair shone, her paisley shawl was wrapped about her shoulders--she looked pretty delicious herself. "Besides, we don't want to keep Sarah and Amy waiting because we got distracted." It had been a week since the taped conversation with Shawn James; the case was well made up in Nick's mind and he just didn't want to think about it anymore. He wanted to spend time with his wife and sister-in-law and niece and have a good time. Natalie was a little nervous, though, as they drove to Sarah's house. She'd moved away after Richard's death, but then had moved back when Nick and Natalie had married. If she had stayed away, Nick thought, Alexei wouldn't be in this mess. "What if..." "What if what, Nat?" "I don't know. My brain shut down before I could complete that thought." "The worst that can happen is that she'll know something remotely dangerous. A little nudge will take care of that." Sarah was overjoyed to see them, as always. It had been almost six years since her husband had died, but the pain and loneliness was still there, in the skin around her eyes. "I'm glad you came," she said, giving Natalie a sisterly kiss. "I know you've been busy lately." Nick gave her a friendly hug. "Never too busy for family," he declared. Amy, almost thirteen now and all legs, rushed into the living room. "Hi, Aunt Nat!" she said, grinning. "Hi, Uncle Nick!" Nick grinned back. He loved hearing that. "Can we eat now, Mom? Please?" "Let them get their coats off!" Sarah took her guests' wraps and hung them up in the closet while Amy gave both her aunt and uncle big hugs. "You smell good," she said to Nick, sniffing his hair. Natalie choked back a laugh. "Thanks," said Nick wryly. "I like your necklace," he said, noticing the silver and stone pendant. It was a very odd stone, shining brown and green. On a hunch, he asked, "Did you get that from Alexei?" Amy blushed very red, nodded, and ran into the other room. "So he finally told you?" Sarah ushered them into the dining room. "He comes over every once in a while, and they'll sit in the living room for hours, just talking. He's a nice boy, but it worries me, him coming over here alone. I keep telling him he shouldn't be walking all the way from downtown at night." "Well, that's the sun allergy," Natalie explained quickly. "Runs in Nick's family." "Oh, I know all about that. Nick, his father, all his siblings. I just don't like the idea of him walking alone, at night--I offered to pay for a cab whenever he wants to come over, but he wouldn't hear of it." "You don't have to do that," Nick began. Sarah chuckled. "That's what Alexei said. But I wouldn't mind; Amy's so withdrawn, still. She gets along fine at school, but she doesn't have any close friends. He's been so nice to her. He gave her that lovely necklace for her birthday. It's just costume jewelry, but it was such a nice thought." She got them seated at the table, refused both their offers for help, and with Amy, began to bring in food from the kitchen. Natalie raised an eyebrow at Nick. "Costume jewelry?" she repeated. "Not by a long shot," said Nick very quietly. "That's green amber, from his mother's collection." After they were all settled, and the food had been blessed, they began to chat. Nick, not wanting to push himself too much, started off with some salad. It was an odd thing; he couldn't drink holy water because of the new risk involved, but his taste buds could still tolerate mortal food. "So, what do you and Alexei talk about?" he asked conversationally. His niece-by-marriage shrugged, blushing a bit. "Um... well, he talks. I just listen, mostly. He likes to talk about Russia." Warning bells went off in Nick's head. "His mother was Russian, he told me. And he was born there." She flipped a bit of hair out of her eyes. "Did you know her, Uncle Nick?" "Amy, that's rude," Sarah scolded. "Yes, I did know her," Nick replied quietly, remembering the sad-eyed czarina with great clarity. "Does he talk much of his life in Russia?" "No, mostly history. And folktales," she perked up. "He likes to tell me old folktales. Like Dad used to," she added, a little more subdued. Nick remembered, Then he deliberately sent, Natalie shot back. Aloud, she asked her niece, "Is he teaching you how to speak Russian?" Amy nodded eagerly. They moved away from Alexei after that, touching briefly on many topics and constantly joking, mostly thanks to Amy, who displayed a wonderfully sharp mind and fast tongue. The adults lingered over their coffee, while Amy alternating between listening to their conversation and ducking into the living room to watch TV. "I probably shouldn't ask, Nick," Sarah said, sipping from her coffee mug, "but is there something I should know about Alexei?" Nick thought a moment, and then set down his mug. "Like what?" "Like why he's so quiet. I feel like there's something that he's hiding from me and Amy." Nick threw a glance at Amy in the living room, then he and Natalie hitched their chairs closer to Sarah and began to speak in the low murmuring voices that adults used when they wanted children to remain innocent of painful things. "Alexei has been a sickly boy for many years. He's getting over it, but slowly. Also..." Nick pondered how to phrase this next. "When he was very young, Alexei saw his mother murdered." "Oh, God," Sarah whispered, thinking of Richard. "The poor boy." "Afterward, our father was... was hard-put to take care of him and Daniel, so they went to live with our aunt and uncle. They kept them very secluded, so they aren't used to company." Nick leaned forward and touched Sarah's knee. "Just give him time. He's never had many friends, either." "I don't know what to think," Natalie confessed as they drove home later that night. "All I know about Alexei is what I learned in high school history, and the little you and LaCroix have told me. He keeps to himself so much. I don't know what he's really like." "He's changed a bit since he was mortal--we all do--but not much. Y'know, Nat--and don't hit me for saying this--but I think they're actually all right together. There's nothing wrong with them being friends." He sent waves of reassurance over their bond, and felt her relax. "There was nothing wrong with us being friends." "There was so," she retorted. "LaCroix hated the very idea of me and you were putting both our lives in danger of a visit from the Enforcers. But," she conceded, "Sarah and Amy do seem to like him. And as long as they don't know the truth..." Nick smiled. End Part Twelve April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com Subject: Sanctuary (13/13) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 08:34:54 -0700 From: April French To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in first post. Sanctuary (13/13) "This court finds the defendant, Shawn James, not guilty of first degree murder." James slumped visibly in his chair. Nick, for his part, was glad. The young man had done nothing more than to defend his life, and as far as Nick knew, that was no crime. "What will you do now, Shawn?" he asked, accompanying him out of the courthouse. "I'm going with him," said James shyly. Nick looked up and down the empty street to see a short, slender man in a black wool overcoat approaching them. "Kai." "Good evening, Nicholas. Satisfied with the way your investigation turned out?" "More or less. Oh," said Nick, digging into his pocket. "I think this belongs to you, Shawn." He handed James the coin and chain, who took them carefully. "Wear them with pride." James slipped the chain around his neck, and shook Nick's hand. "Thanks, Detective. For listening to me." "Well, I trust Kai's judgment." Kai snorted quietly. Then he froze, listening. He stretched his senses out as far as they would go. Nick tensed as well; he could not sense what his fledgling could but he knew they were being watched. His eyes blazed suddenly yellow. "Shawn," Kai growled around his fangs, "run." James didn't need telling twice; he bolted. Something darted outside the scope of Nick's vision. Snarling, he whirled around--there were blurred images and several sharp flashes of pain--and then Nick found himself flat on his face on the sidewalk. With no little difficulty, Nick raised himself up on his elbows. The street was completely deserted. There was no one in sight. The only thing Nick could see was the prone body of his son. Struggling to his feet, Nick ran stumbling to Kai's side and rolled him over. "Kai. Kai!" His son's grey eyes were wide open and staring at nothing, and bleeding from a deep wound on his shoulder. Nick wrapped Kai up in his coat and carried him off into the night. *** "Julian!" he shouted, flying in through the always open clinic window. "Now, Julian!" He laid Kai on the surgical table and began stripping off his shirt. "Move, Nick," Julian ordered, shoving him aside. He glanced at the wound and went to the cabinet for antibiotics and gauze. "Take off your shirt." "What?" "You've got a nasty slice of your own." Nick hadn't felt the hole in his left shoulder until that very moment, but he continued to ignore it. "Julian, he's not responding. I think he's going into shock." "Huh?" Julian was busily cleaning the gash in Kai's shoulder. "Hand me that yellow bottle, will you? Shock? No, look. He's coming around." Indeed Kai was groaning in the back of his throat, blinking rapidly, but his eyes still were not in focus. "Just lie quiet, old man," Julian soothed. "You're all right, you're safe." The doctor flashed a small penlight in each of Kai's eyes. Watching carefully, Nick was alarmed to note that neither pupil dilated. "That's not good," Nick muttered. Julian promptly shoved him out of the room. "Will you just shut up?" he hissed, closing the door. "The man just had a chunk taken out of him. Let him rest." "I'm missing a chunk, too." "You didn't seem to care five minutes ago!" Nick clenched his jaws and tried his level best not to rip Julian's throat out. "His eyes, Julian. Why didn't he respond to the light?" "Because he took a nice knock on the head, so he's a little out of focus." Nick shook his head. "No, I know this. The eyes are controlled by involuntary muscles. The only time they don't respond to external stimuli like light is when there is damage to the eyes or to the brain." He was seething. "Now you go in there and you find out what's wrong with him." Shushing him, Julian said, "Aw, Nick. I thought you of all people would know about this." He scrubbed a hand through his bone-straight red hair. "Kai sees with his mind. With his mind's eye." "I know that," said Nick impatiently. "No," Julian insisted. "That's he sees with." He saw the exact moment when the import of what he was saying sunk in. Nick inhaled sharply. "Kai's been practicing precise muscle control for years. It's how he gets that blue cross to stay in place. He can move his eyes to correspond with what his brain is seeing, so that no one takes any more notice of him. But that's all. His eyes are useless tissue, Nick. The optic nerves are dead. He's blind." Stunned, Nick leaned against the antiseptic white wall. "But... that can't be... how long?" "Since he was about eleven years old." Julian touched Nick's arm. "Don't take it so hard. He deals with it." "He could see when I brought him across..." Julian shook his head. "No. He couldn't." Then he sighed. "Come on. Lemme take a look at that shoulder." *** Gasping for air, Shawn James ducked into an alleyway. He bent down, heaving, struggling to breathe. He straightened wearily, but had not taken more than two steps when a dark shape appeared in front of him. He yelled. "Hush!" said the figure forcefully, lifting a finger to his lips. Shawn saw something metal flashing at his wrist. The wan light from the street lamp dimly revealed a strong, angular face covered with stubble, and lank, straight brown hair. He held out his hand. "I was sent to find you." Shawn saw then that the metal around his wrist was a wide silver band, in which was embedded a very familiar coin. "My name is Elijah. Come with me. I'll take you to safety." Shawn went with him, gladly. ~Finis--September 10th, 2003~ April French daomir_darkfell@yahoo.com ===== ~Forever Knight: The Sons of Lilith~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/fkficindex.html ~The Corvina~ http://www.geocities.com/runeshard/index.html "And we shall exist by amusing ourselves, by dreaming of monstrous loves and fantastic universes, by complaining and quarreling with the pretenses of the world..." --"The Flash of Lightning" by Arthur Rimbaud __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com