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Post by dragonfan on Jan 29, 2007 17:23:06 GMT -5
Title: The new king of the vampires Universe: This is a cross between Forever Knight and the movie Subspecies Disclaimer: I do not own anything from either the Forever Knight television show or the Subspecies movies. Warnings: I am taking liberties with both the Forever Knight universe and the Subspecies universe, mostly in adjusting them to work together. I do not care for the ending of the Subspecies movie, so ignore the last scene and that Michelle was bitten. In this version Radu did die and Michelle was rescued before Radu bit her. Rating: T/PG 13
Prologue
As Michelle sat watching the bonfire that she had helped Karl to build burning the bodies of her two best friends the events of the last few days flitted through her mind. She had been thrilled to hear from Mara, her roommate from her undergraduate days informing her that she had managed to get permission for her and Lillian to come to Romania to the village of Prejnar. Prejnar was where a monastery still stood that had been the site of a mysterious defeat of an army of Turks centuries previous. The local legends claimed that the King of the Vampires, Vlad, had led his people to the army and decimated it in one night of feasting.
The next morning a volunteer from among the survivors of the Turk invasion crept out of the monastery to go for help only to find that all of the Turks were dead with bloody throats. As mythology students Michelle and Lillian had been thrilled to be allowed to come and research in the monastery library. What little Michelle had read on the subject got very murky at that point but Vlad and his court ended up with the local castle to call their own and a gypsy had given the King a relic he had stolen from the Vatican in Rome, the Bloodstone which dripped the blood of all the Saints. By drinking from the Bloodstone a vampire did not have to hunt humans for their survival. Peace had come to the village. Not only were they never invaded again by an army, but they were never attacked by a vampire again; at least, not until the last few nights.
She, Mara and Lillian had been looking for information for their Ph.D.’s; instead they got caught up in the war between King Vlad’s two sons. Radu, the eldest, had arrived the night before they had and in a fit of madness had murdered the king, his father. The younger son, Stephan, had come home to find the king dead and Radu in possession of the Bloodstone. Stephan had gone to his friend Karl, the caretaker of the monastery, for help. He hadn’t expected to find Michelle and her friends, nor had he expected to find that Radu was stalking them. It wasn’t until Michele had been directly confronted with Radu that she demanded that Stephan tell her what was going on because Radu couldn’t pass as human.
The fact that vampires were real (and that the man she had fallen in love with was one) had been the hardest thing for her to accept. The idea that some were good and some were evil was actually easier. Michele brushed her short dark hair out of her eyes. Radu had brought both Mara and Lillian across, that is, he made them vampires. He had also killed the old storyteller woman of the village because she was trying to get rid of them for their safety and the safety of the village and another villager she didn’t know. He had nearly bitten her, but Stephan and Karl had arrived just in time. While Stephan had taken on Radu in a sword fight and won, Karl had killed Mara and Lillian. And now as the sun climbed high in the sky, she was watching her friend’s bodies’ burn.
She had a decision to make. Could she stay with Stephan and be to him what his mother had been to his father? Stephan had told her that his mother had been a mortal woman who had lived out her life among the vampires. Michelle didn’t think that it would be too bad a life to be Stephan’s wife. Even after all of this, she was still very much in love with the handsome, gentle vampire, but what about her doctorate? And what about Mara and Lillian? Someone had to deal with the details, like informing their families that they were dead. What was she going to do?
Karl sat down next to Michelle. “I will take care of informing the girls’ families and dealing with the formalities that the government requires. What will you do now?”
“I don’t know.”
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Post by dragonfan on Jan 30, 2007 17:57:09 GMT -5
Chapter One
Three months later:
Stephan Vladislav, King of the Vampires, slouched in the comfortable chair in his hotel suite and watched the ancient vampire in front of him pace. Lucien, once a Roman general, was just over 2,000 years old, an age that few vampires reached. It wasn’t that they aged or grew old of course; merely that they grew careless. Unlike the Royal vampires, a single sunbeam could kill a vampire who started out as a mortal human. Royal vampires could endure some early morning or late evening light but the moment the sun was truly up, they slept.
And if they were far from their crypts and exposed to the light, they died. Other vampires could stay awake while the sun was in the sky and as long as they avoided the light they would survive. Stephan had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he had been born a vampire. What he truly regretted was that he had to take the throne. As the last King’s younger son he shouldn’t have had to do so.
“HOW COULD HE HAVE DARED!” Lucien roared.
“It hardly matters now. Radu killed Father and I beheaded Radu for that and for violating the treaty.” The key he had found to dealing with the members of the Council of Elders was to remain calm. They, like all vampires, were a passionate bunch and someone needed to keep a cool head.
“No vampire may hunt in Prejnar,” Lucien said. He stopped his pacing and faced his king. The sight was enough to enrage him once again. Stephan was merely a child, barely more than a fledgling.
Stephan nodded. “He killed two villagers and two students who were studying at the monastery before I stopped him. The students weren’t so bad because he brought them across but by killing the villagers he violated the treaty. Older brother or not, I had no choice but to destroy him.” He tumbled the Bloodstone around in his hands. It was the basis for the treaty with Prejnar. After his father’s traveling court had feasted on an arm of invading Turks (and thus saving the village of Prejnar in the process) the villagers had given King Vlad the local castle to house his court and the Bloodstone, a stone that dripped the blood of all the Saints, to feed them. All they had asked in return was that no vampire be allowed to hunt in Prejnar ever again.
For 500 years the treaty had held. Then Radu’s jealousy and madness had driven him to kill their father, King Vlad. Stephan still didn’t understand how he could have done so, but the fact remained that he had. Radu had claimed the throne, the Bloodstone and proceeded to break every rule that Stephan had been taught as a child. No hunting in the village, no turning a human without their consent, take only a single bride at a time and most importantly of all, a king places his subjects welfare ahead of his own pleasure. But Radu, in spite of being the eldest son and heir, cared only for himself. He had not even informed the Council that Vlad was dead: which left the task to Stephan. In turn, that led Stephan back to the position he was in; watching Lucien pace.
“I should have never have taken Nicholas from your side. He is your cradle guard and you needed him!” Lucien was certain that Stephan wasn’t telling him everything. Radu had to have made an attempt on Stephan’s life as well. The elder son had gone so far as to kill his brother’s mortal mother.
“I’m 300 years old, Lucien. I’m no longer a child who must be guarded and watched over every waking moment. I know that to you and the others on the Council I will always be a child but I am old enough to take care of the situation myself and I did.” Lucien was about to verbally tear the boy a new hole when he realized that the look Stephan was giving him was daring him to say anything else. Lucien didn’t dare cross the boy, he realized. Stephan was the king and even more importantly, he was the only Royal vampire left alive. All it would take was a single word and the Enforcers would be presenting Stephan with his head.
“You should not have had to deal with Radu alone. That was why Nicholas was made your cradle guard in the first place.” Lucien sat himself down abruptly on the couch. “Very well, what is done is done. There are two mortals who know about us here in Toronto,” he said moving on to Council business. “One is Dr. Lambert, who as you know figured out how to cure the Fever before it destroyed us. The other is Tracy Vetter. She is a detective with the Toronto Police Department. She is currently serving her rookie year (what ever that is) with Nicholas and Det. Schanke as her partners. She does NOT know that Nicholas is a vampire. His position means that he has been able to watch her closely.
“The vampire who revealed himself to her is Javier Vashon, the Conquistador. His master died after bringing him and his vampire twin across. He has had to fumble about without a proper education but he has done reasonably well. I believe that the reason he hasn’t killed her is because he cares for her. I really don’t know why he just doesn’t bring her across but that’s none of my business. As far as anyone can tell, neither of the ladies has broken the Code.”
“I need to speak to them both.” Stephan scrubbed his hand over his face. Mortal Royalty or country leaders had it easy. All they had to do was look after a single country. His subjects were spread out all over the world and they were a passionate people. The only things that held them in check were the Code (the laws that all vampires lived by) and the Enforcers. Most, those who had common sense, were scared stiff of the Enforcers. They were fanatics who were loyal only to the King and they were judge, jury and executioner for any who broke the Code. The slightest infraction often brought permanent death. They were both a serious obstacle and vital to Stephan’s plans.
“Send for whoever is the current head of the Enforcers, all of the Enforcers here in the city, both ladies, Vashon, Nick and Jeannette. I want all of them here together. Send for Nick and the ladies last. I know they have mortals who would raise hell if they just disappeared for a week. The last thing I want is a media frenzy over them going missing.” Stephan said.
Lucien rose to his feet, bowed to his king and left. Stephan stared at the Bloodstone and let his mind settle into the meditative state that he used to make his plans. His father had taught him that to make decisions for the entire kingdom, a king needed to divorce himself of his emotions, something Stephan could only do while meditating. This was better than he had hoped for. A female detective who not only already knew about vampire’s and was obeying the Code, but was also his cradle guard’s partner would make the perfect guard for his mortal lady. Because she worked with Nick she knew Natalie Lambert as well and that meant that she should have some clue about what Natalie wanted. He had to find some kind of reward to give Natalie for the cure she had found.
The Fever had been a merciless killer. No one had known how it had spread to the vampire community here in Toronto but they did know where it had come from. A medical research lab had created the virus in hopes that it would cure AIDS. It had failed to destroy the AIDS virus; instead it had attacked the genetic virus that was the cause of vampirism. The result was a virus that killed vampires and did nothing to the mortals who contracted it. It had spread like a wild fire and only Natalie had been able to stop it. She had done more than save the lives of numerous vampires here in Toronto. She had saved their race for there was no ‘getting over’ the Fever. If you contracted the virus, you died.
Unfortunately it seemed that only Stephan was listening to the wake up call that the Fever had been. From what he could tell no one was paying any attention to the mortal world’s tech and scientific advances. Engineering a virus that would be able to wipe them out and be completely harmless to mortal humans was the worst of it; but there were other things nearly as bad. According to Aristotle, the Archivist, creating new identities for vampires when it came time to move on was getting much, much more difficult with every passing year.
And Nick had shown him how police all over the world were tracking criminals. Someone could kill in one country and move to another only to find the police in the new country were waiting. Science held the key to those advances as well. Stephan knew his people were hunters, killers. But for the most part they lived in peace with mortals now. There were very few who killed more than once a year at most. Since the medical advance of blood donations the hunting of humans for their blood had been dwindling naturally. Fewer and fewer mortals were dying at the hands of vampires every year.
Stephan was brought out of his meditative state by a gentle kiss. It was Michelle, his mortal lady. He was grateful that Lucien had been so wound up in Radu’s murdering of the King. That way he hadn’t had to sit through a lecture on how he had to pick a mortal woman to sire a son on. He and Michele would do as they pleased, not as the Council dictated.
“How did your meeting go?” she asked. It always took Stephan a minute or two to come back from wherever it was that he went when he was thinking hard.
“Elder Lucien was furious about Radu’s actions and wants my cradle guard to take up his duties again. I can’t think of any reason for Nick to do that but I’m afraid that may be something I’ll have to give in on. I’m the only one of my family left and that’s going to make the Council very nervous.” Stephan gave her a grin. “Of course they don’t know about you yet.”
Michelle giggled. That was the agreement that they had worked out together. Michelle would stay off the radar as far as the vampires were concerned so that she could work on her dissertation. They had stayed at Castle Vladislas while Michelle had finished her research. Now all she had to do was finish actually writing her dissertation and submit it to the university where she was a student. Once she had her doctorate (or not) then the Council would be told that she existed. Stephan had a few plans about that as well but he was being very cagy about them. “Why don’t we go to the bedroom and figure out a way to get around your guard?” she said flirting.
Stephan laughed and swung her up in his arms. ‘Oh how he loved this mortal!’
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Post by dragonfan on Feb 4, 2007 13:07:35 GMT -5
Chapter Two
Elder Lucien LaCroix, also known among the vampire population as ‘The General’ knew that his favorite, and most insubordinate, son would be at his job as a homicide detective at this time of night. That meant that he would have to go down to the police precinct that Nicholas worked at to find him and talk to him. There was no way that Lucien could allow the King to not have a constant guard. He was the only Royal left and that meant that he would have a guard whether he liked it or not.
Nicholas had been Nicola deBrabrant in his mortal life. He had met LaCroix on his return to Paris in 1228 from his second tour in the Crusades. Suffering from an excess of both cynicism and a nearly crushing blow to his faith, he had been a perfect target for Lucien and his daughter, the vampiress Janette. She had seduced him and Lucien had brought him across, adding him to their family. It was a mistake that he had learned to regret in the following centuries. Now he searched for a cure and did his best to make up for the lives he had taken before his conscious had caught up with him as a homicide detective under the name of Nicholas B. Knight.
LaCroix marched into the station only to be brought up short at his first sight of Nicholas. His son was paler than usual and he looked shaky and weak. ‘What had he done to himself now? One of these nights his foolish search for a nonexistent cure was going to kill him.’ Lucien thought to himself. “Nicholas!” he thundered as he marched into the squad room. ‘He was needed to guard the King, he couldn’t be weak now!’
Nick Knight looked up to see his master bearing down on him. This could be good if he could get the ancient vampire to go along with him. “Don’t worry Father, I’m fine,” he said in medieval French. “My new Captain doesn’t believe that the sun could make someone chronically ill. So he’s been calling me in early everyday this week. I’m a little tired of it so I’m arraigning for a little time off courtesy of my condition. Do you think you could throw a little fatherly fit about my health?” To the onlookers it sounded like Nick was completely exasperated, although they couldn’t follow exactly what he was saying.
Lucien, however, had known his son for nearly 800 years. He could hear the amusement in the Crusader’s voice and see the twinkle in his eyes. Whoever this new mortal in his son’s life was he had really annoyed Nicholas. Nicholas rarely played these sorts of games with mortals. When he did play manipulation games he was very good and as this would ensure that Nicholas had all the time he needed to guard the King, Lucien decided to help. He braced his fists on Nicholas’ desk and leaned in. “Of course I can throw a fatherly fit. And with the mood I’m in I’m more than grateful to have a chance to yell.”
The cops who were witnessing the confrontation couldn’t believe their eyes. This man (who a few knew as the Nightcrawler, a very creepy radio show personality) was getting right into Detective Knight’s personal space and yelling at him. Most wondered where he had found the balls because he obviously knew Nick and Nick wasn’t nicknamed ‘The Knightmare’ for kicks. Knight had a terrible temper and although he had a firm grip on it, he had been known to lose it. Detective Donald Schanke, Nick’s partner, was the only one that knew the Nightcrawler had more than just a passing history with his partner, although Nick wouldn’t talk about it. Schanke was sure that this man and a woman named Janette down at the Raven club were the closest thing Nick had to family. Personally he thought it was more than a little sad, because he knew that neither of the two supported Nick in his calling as a police officer, a job that Nick excelled at.
“Your charge’s father is dead and so is his brother. Your charge dealt with the situation. He’s here and you will need to take up your duties again. Nothing can be allowed to happen to him.” Lucien was certain that Nicholas would understand why he was talking around the situation. Even though they were speaking in medieval French, if too many key words were spoken, someone might figure out what their conversation was about.
Nick leaned right back, “I’m not surprised. That &*^%&&$$!!! wasn’t fit to sit at his father’s feet, much less take his place. My charge will do well. He took his father’s teachings to heart. Our people come first with him always.”
The two growling vampires (not that anyone in the bullpen knew that they were vampires) were the center of attention and they were the only thing that could be heard. “Be that as it may, he wants to see you, the doctor and the slacker’s lady friend, together, as soon as our,” Lucien looked around “cops,” he said in English and then went back to the French, “can be called to his presence. I don’t like it but it is his call. Make arrangements.” He then turned to his son’s mortal partners and switched back to English, “When this fool collapses, take him to see that doctor of his. Perhaps she can beat some sense into his head.” He turned around and stormed out of the bullpen, slamming the door and breaking the window in the process. He almost ran over Dr. Natalie Lambert, the city coroner, as he snarled in her direction on his way out.
“YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT!” Nick yelled and then turned back to see Schanke and the rookie they were training, Detective Tracy Vetter watching him closely. “I’M FINE!”
“Sure you are Knight,” Schanke said. “You looked better when you picked me up after my car broke down the night the plane crashed.” That night still gave Don Schanke the shivers. He and Captain Cohen had been scheduled to escort a bombing suspect to another city and they both should have been on that plane. But due to a flat tire, a dead cell phone battery and no one letting him use their phone (which had resulted in a two hour hike until he could find a working public phone) he had missed the flight. He hadn’t even known that Captain Cohen was dead until Nick had shown up and grabbed him in a bear hug. The bomb and crash had left no survivors.
Nick switched his glare to Tracy who just shrugged. She wasn’t green enough to get into this one. She’d learned a lot from the two older detectives and one of those things was when to duck when it came to Nick’s temper. Pulling the strings and making sure that she was assigned to this team of detectives was the one thing that she did thank her father, the Police Commissioner for. Oh she knew that the only reason he had done it was so that she had more back up and better back up than anyone else, but they had taught her so much and they were more than willing to ignore the fact that her father was the Police Commissioner, something that few others did.
“I’m fine!” Nick insisted. He knew he wasn’t. He hadn’t fed in two days and the effects of the slight sunlight exposure and the lack of blood was more than evident. It was only because he had more than ample experience with starvation that he could handle what he was experiencing now. The garlic burn to the back of his neck was not helping either. He had smeared holy water over his wrists and a few other places where sunlight could have gotten to him to simulate sunburns but it was the garlic oil that was giving him the most trouble. Not that it had been part of his plans. Another detective had patted him on the neck in gesture of support against Sneed. To bad Jimmy had been eating pizza before he’d done that.
Captain Harlen Sneed, temporary captain for the 96th Homicide department, marched out of his office and up to Nick. “Who was that Knight and what was he doing here? This is a police station, not a bar room for the two of you to brawl in.” Sneed had come into the captaincy of the homicide division when Capt. Reece had been shot in a gas station hold up. Reece had just been an innocent bystander but that hadn’t helped the feelings of frustration of the men and women of his division. A cop being shot should be the result of something in the line of duty, not going to get gas on your way in to work. They couldn’t wait until Reece recovered enough to come back.
Sneed was not a popular captain. He was the proof that the stereotype of a red neck actually did exist. He was a large beefy man with no tolerance for weakness and even less for fame chasing. Anywhere else he would have made a good captain but he was taking his opinions out on Knight. He had loudly proclaimed that he wouldn’t put up with drama queens and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was Nick that he was going on about. Nick was the cop most of the reporters went after, mostly because he was handsome and his partner Schanke wasn’t. Because they were the best detectives in the department they also got the worst cases which made for good stories as far as the media were concerned. Sneed was convinced that Nick’s sun allergy was a fabrication that he had made up to get him out of coming into work whenever he was needed.
“That was my father Captain,” Nick said in clipped tones. “He’s convinced that working for the police will cause me to have a relapse of my condition. He’s wrong. I’m fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.” Nick stood up, and promptly collapsed.
“NICK!” several voices called and everyone rushed to his side. Sneed went to his knees and grabbed Nick by the throat to shake him, only he couldn’t feel a pulse. “Doctor! I can’t get a pulse!” he said to Natalie who had shoved her way to Nick’s side.
Natalie dropped the files she had been delivering to the department, yanked his hand away and shoved him out of her way. “Move!” she barked. She quickly took a set of nearly nonexistent vitals. She also checked his wrists and around his neck. “His pulse is slow and irregular. Schanke, how much sun has he gotten lately?”
“He’s been in early nearly every day this week,” Don said worried.
“The captain has also been sending him out places where he might have gotten more,” Tracy said with a vicious look at Sneed.
“Did anyone touch the back of his neck?” Natalie asked, finding an unexpected burn there. It looked like garlic exposure to her.
“I did when he came in today Doc,” one of the other detectives said.
“Wash your hands after you eat, Jimmy. It looks like you had something he’s allergic to on your hands,” Natalie turned to Sneed. ‘He’s burned pretty bad. I’m taking him to the ER. Someone help me put him in his car.”
Everyone offered to help and soon Natalie was buckling Nick into the backseat of the old Cadillac convertible that Nick drove. He whispered in her ear, “Tracy drives.”
Natalie didn’t know why the change of plans (she had been in on the faked collapse from the beginning), but no doubt it had something to do with LaCroix’s visit. “Tracy, take the keys. Don, stay here and take care of things.” She glared at Sneed, but Schanke didn’t need the hint. Everyone knew about Nick’s problems with sunlight and his other allergies. That was why the man was permanently assigned to the night shift. This was one time ole Don Schanke was going to take advantage of his connections to the Police Commission. Sneed was not going to get away with sending his partner to the hospital.
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Post by dragonfan on Feb 10, 2007 10:00:51 GMT -5
Chapter Three
After Tracy had safely driven away from the station, Nick sat up. “Sorry about this Tracy but you weren’t supposed to be in on this. There was a last minute change of plans.”
“NICK?!?!?!” Tracy gasped. She was lucky she didn’t run off the road, it was only her defensive driving courses that saved her.
“Sorry but Sneed was going to get me killed, so we staged a little ‘hospital’ time for me. Pull over when you can.” Nick didn’t want to tell her what he had to while she was driving. She would either wreck his car or well, she would probably wreck his car. He didn’t want that to happen because he not only really liked his car, but it was the only one with a trunk big enough for him to hide in if he was caught outside by sunrise and couldn’t make it to a safe place. There was no way that he was going to avoid having her pissed off at him. He’d learned that much about women in the last 800 years.
“Nick, while Sneed is the biggest jackass I’ve ever seen make it to captain, you just can’t do that!” Tracy huffed as she pulled over.
“Yes I can because I can’t tell him the real reason sunlight will kill me and I barely missed dying twice this week because of him and his bigotry.” Nick turned her so that she was facing him. “Tracy, you’re going to be upset with me and I don’t blame you for it. I just want you to understand WHY I lied to you.”
He waited until she nodded at him and then glanced back at Natalie as she hissed his name. “I’ll explain in a minute Nat. Tracy, it was the best way to protect you. I’m a vampire. I’m the third oldest member of the Community here. I was the one who made sure that the Enforcers weren’t called and that you and Vachon were given a chance to prove yourselves. By making sure that you didn’t know, I was the one who was given the assignment to watch over you and make sure that you were following the Code. The reason I did that is because I’ve had a lot more experience than Vachon does with mortals who can be trusted.” He nodded to Natalie.
Tracy stared at both Nick and Natalie in shock. She had learned about vampires through Vachon, when he had been the only survivor of the same airplane crash that had killed Captain Cohen. She had found him searching the wreckage for his hand and for some unknown reason; he had decided he couldn’t kill her when he had found out that she was resistant to his hypnosis inspite of the fact that it was against the Code, the laws that all vampires had to live by. Mortals who found out about vampires either had to have their memories changed or they had to die. Because Vachon had done neither, both of them were being watched by the Community. He had told her that and what the consequences of talking to anyone would be. They had become friends in the months since but she had seen him hypnotize Nick and she had seen Nick drinking those awful protein drinks that Natalie had made for him. He couldn’t be a vampire! Tracy shot her hand out and tried to take Nick’s pulse. That only confirmed what her partner was saying.
Tracy was ready to die from embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she had been so blind! Then she realized the rest of what Nick was implying; that Natalie also knew. She shot the coroner a shocked look. Natalie smiled and said, “I treat the dead and the undead. Lucky for me most of my undead patients only need things removed once in a while. I doubt that I get more than one emergency a month for removal of unwanted objects which is the most common ailment.” She wondered what Tracy was going to do.
“Ok, you are in the dog house and you’re really going to have to work to get out of it,” she pointed at Nick. “But I do understand just why you had to do it, I would have been killed otherwise and I haven’t even known about vampires for a full year yet.” She glanced over at Natalie, “At least now I understand why you answer the phone ‘Natalie’s bed and breakfast’.”
“Well, I can’t say, ‘Vampire ER’ now, can I?” she answered. “Nick, why tell Tracy now? And what does LaCroix have to do with this?” Nat was sure that Nick’s master had something to do with the timing. She didn’t trust that vampire as far as her cat Sydney could throw him.
“All right, Tracy what do you know about how our government is set up?” Nick asked.
“I don’t, the only thing I know is that ‘The General’, whoever he is, runs Toronto and the Enforcers will kill both me and Vachon if I talk.”
“Alright, well we’re basically set up as a monarchy. We have a king, a governing council and the oldest vampire in each community all over the world runs that community. The General is the Elder for Toronto. The Enforcers are our police/military. The throne just changed hands. The new king is very young for a vampire, he’s only 300. But he’s the last of the Royal family, so he’s automatically assumed the throne.”
“Won’t someone try to take it away from him?” Natalie asked. She knew quite a few vampires were obsessed with power and with what was basically a child on the throne, that was a sure set up for a power struggle.
“No one will because Royal vampires unlike the rest of us are born as vampires. They are where we came from. The only thing most vampires are going to be doing is trying to figure out a way to either; become Stephan’s best friend and try to rule through him or set him up with a mortal woman so they can take control of the next heir to the throne. You see, a Royal vampire can only have a child with a mortal. That child will always be a vampire.
“That’s what LaCroix tried to do; sort of anyway. He gave me to King Vlad to be his youngest son’s cradle guard. He thought that he could be the power behind the throne that way. He knew that the elder son wouldn’t last as the king. Radu was mad and it showed.” Nick shrugged. “Anyway, he stopped by to tell me that Stephan was now the King and that the King wanted to see all three of us. He stays at the Sutton Palace Hotel when he’s in town.”
“Well, I doubt it’s a good idea to keep a king waiting,” Tracy said and she turned around and restarted the car. “Hey Nat, he still looks awful. Do you have any blood on hand?”
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Stephan knew he shouldn’t but he really found it amusing when Michelle got frustrated with her computer, mostly because she swore at it in French. Her originality was almost as good as Nicholas’. Of course, comparing the swearing ability of a lady scholar with a 13th century knight and war veteran was a bit ridiculous but they were the only two people he knew who cursed like that. “Trouble?” he asked.
“This stupid thing won’t let me on the net tonight,” Michelle groused. “I finished my dis and now I have to let my advisor know. The sooner I can do that the sooner I can either get my Ph.D. or not and we can get on with our lives. I hate being in limbo and having to wait.” She pouted at him.
“You are so impatient!” he laughed. “We have all the time we need. I have a great deal to do with taking over from my father and I’d just as soon you take your time. The last thing I want is for the Council to start hounding us to start a family.”
“Well, I don’t mind practicing for that,” Michelle said with a grin and a blush. “But we do have to talk about kids don’t we? I mean, if we can even have kids,” she trailed off thinking about all of the potential difficulties ahead of them.
“Yes, we do need to talk about it.” Stephan walked over and picked her up out of her chair at the desk and brought her over to the bed. “We can have children, but they will be vampires. Unlike my mother, you will have the option of a fully informed doctor which means that there is a better chance we can have more than one child. While my mother did miscarry several times, I’m fairly certain that it was more due to my brother’s meddling and her diet or lack of it at times that were the cause.”
“What do you mean?” Michelle asked as she snuggled into him.
“Radu hated the idea of having any siblings. He was the only heir for centuries and although his mother seduced our father just so that she could have him, he also hated the idea of him being with anyone else. I’m sure he caused my mother more problems than the ones I know about. She miscarried three times before I was born and she never conceived again after that. When my father realized that she was pregnant with me, he went to the Council and demanded a cradle guard for me and a lady in waiting for my mother. He did that for our protection. Once Nicholas and Janette started watching over us, my mother had very few problems other than a craving for blood. But as she was a mortal, she didn’t have the best of diets. Remember, she was living at Castle Vladislas, among my people. There was little food for her at times, although she never complained.” Stephan paused for a moment.
“As a peasant girl three hundred years ago she would have been used to times of starvation, Stephan. As long as she had any food to eat, she would have seen it as enough,” Michelle reminded him.
Stephan nodded and continued, “The Council will insist on a guard for me and I will insist that it be Nicholas. I think you’ll like him, he’s a rebel and of all my people I know I can trust him. I would like Janette to be one of your ladies in waiting as well, but that will be up to you. I have two other ladies in mind as well, but they are both mortal. Detective Tracy Vetter is one of Nicholas’ partners on the Toronto police force. Dr. Natalie Lambert is the other. She’s the medical examiner on the night shift and when a vampire needs a doctor around here, they go to her.”
“Are you serious? The doctor to a group of vampires is a coroner? And what would a bunch of vampires need with a doctor anyway?” Michelle asked, barely stifling her giggles.
Stephan stilled. “It’s not a funny matter Michelle. A medical research company accidentally created a virus that killed vampires but did not harm mortals. The epidemic nearly destroyed my people. Dr. Lambert is researching vampirism in search of a cure and she was able to stop the epidemic. Medically speaking she knows more about vampires than anyone on the planet. We owe her everything.”
“Oh my god, that’s awful! How many died?” Michelle was horrified. Vampires were effectively immortal and for any illness to be able to kill them must have caused a panic.
“Far too many, until Dr. Lambert came up with the vaccine if you contracted the Fever you died. I think all together over fifty of my people died, vampire and carouche alike.”
“Then we have got to do something for her and making her one of my ladies is a good start. Now, what’s a carouche?” Michelle asked.
“A vampire whose first meal was an animal or an animal that has become a vampire. They don’t do very well and usually don’t last very long. But inspite of that, they are still my people too.”
Michelle snuggled back into Stephan’s embrace. “It’s not easy being a king, is it?”
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Post by dragonfan on Feb 10, 2007 20:53:20 GMT -5
Chapter Four
Nick didn’t bother to ask anyone at the hotel where Stephan was staying. He just led Natalie and Tracy straight to a penthouse suite and walked right in. They followed him in only to find him kneeling on one knee in front of a young man. Tracy, being a cop, automatically categorized him; white male, early twenties, black hair just too short to be called long, black eyes, very pale skin, black t-shirt under black sweater, jeans and hiking boots. This had to be King Stephan who Nick had said he had been the cradle guard for, whatever a cradle guard was.
“I thought that much formality was ridiculous when I was six and time hasn’t changed my mind Nick,” Stephan laughed as he drew Nick up off the floor and into his arms. “It’s good to see you! But Lucien wasn’t supposed to send for you until later this week. How long can you stay? I don’t want to get you into trouble with your captain.” Stephan wasn’t aware of Reece’s hospitalization and he liked the man. He had allowed Stephan to ride along with Nick and Schanke for a few nights the last time he was in Toronto running errands for his father.
Nick snickered a bit, “Reece is in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound. My current and thankfully temporary captain thinks I’m at the hospital having collapsed at work because of his actions. The last thing he’ll expect is to see me anytime soon. The ladies, however only have about an hour before they need to get back or check in.” Nick pulled them each forward as he introduced them.
“Dr. Natalie Lambert, Detective Tracy Vetter, this is His Majesty, King Stephan. Your Majesty, Dr. Lambert is Toronto’s Chief Medical Examiner and the doctor that cured us of the Fever. Detective Vetter is the rookie that my partner, Detective Schanke and I are training. She knows about us through Javier Vachon.” Stephan already knew all of this, but introductions were always formal when dealing with Royalty.
Stephan bowed to both ladies and gestured for them all to sit down. “Thank you for coming. I’ll make this short and quick then so that you can get back. Detective Vetter, Doctor Lambert, both of you are in a precarious position under the Code. I want to change that because neither of you have shown even the slightest sign you are going to break it. In fact, quite the opposite is true, both of you have gone out of your way to protect our community here. I want to change your position by giving you both the option of becoming ladies in waiting to the Queen. That will make both of you members of my Court without forcing you to become vampires. With an official position you’ll both be safe as long as you continue to follow the Code.”
Tracy and Natalie exchanged glances, stunned at the offer. Neither had expected anything like it. “I only ask that you think about it and give me your answer before the week is up. The Council of Elders will be meeting on Saturday night and after the meeting the Enforcers will be set loose on a Purge. I would like both of you protected in someway when that happens. I don’t like the Purges but they are a necessary part of how the Code works. Also Dr. Lambert, you have earned a boon for your work in finding a vaccine for the Fever. Anything you request, as long as it is within my power, will be granted to you. Think on it carefully, you only get one and you don’t want to waste it.”
“I will Your Majesty,” Natalie said. She turned to Tracy, “We’d better go. And remember, Nick’s at the loft recovering from both anaphylactic shock and first to third degree burns. The first and second degree burns are to his neck and face and the third degree burns are to his wrists and arms.” She turned to Nick, “You remember that too. I predict that it will take a full week for you to recover enough strength to go back to work and the burns will take even longer to heal so be prepared to wear bandages.”
“I will and Tracy, you dropped me off at the loft and I’ve threatened to skin you if you let anyone else drive the caddy.” They smirked at each other. They both knew that he meant Schanke who was the only one brave enough to ask.
“No problem partner,” Tracy said and she led the way as she and Natalie left.
The moment the door closed Nick rounded on Stephan, “Ladies in waiting to the QUEEN? Since when do we have a Queen, Stephan?”
Stephan squirmed a bit. Only Nick had the ability to make him feel like a fledgling again. “Radu murdered father and I killed him that’s how I ended up in this mess. I never wanted to be king. After Radu killed father he went on a bit of a rampage in Prejnar. He outright killed two villagers and brought across two lady scholars and he wasn’t the least bit interested in being subtle about it. He completely shattered the Code. The ladies were doing the original research necessary for their dissertations at Prejnar Fortress in the monastery there. There was also a third lady scholar studying at the monastery with them for the same reason. The third lady’s name is Michelle and she and Karl helped me to kill Radu. She’s also become my lady. We’re planning on getting married after she defends her dissertation.”
Nick settled down. The fact that this girl had to be a mortal, had helped to kill a mad vampire and yet still was willing to marry Stephan said a lot about her, all of it good. “Does the Council know about her yet?”
“The only member of the Council that I’ve talked to has been Lucien and he was so busy being pissed off about Radu that he didn’t even bother to ask me if I had any candidates for a lover, much less a wife. I’m honestly hoping that she’ll be pregnant before I have to tell them that she exists,” Stephan admitted. “It’s not like we don’t want children Nick. It’s just that we don’t want to be ordered to have them.”
“As long as you are sleeping with a mortal no one on the Council is going to say anything. They’ll just assume that you’re taking your responsibilities as king seriously,” Nick soothed. “The same way you are already planning for the Purge.”
“FINALLY!” they heard. The shout had come from one of the bedrooms.
“I think the computer let her on line,” Stephan giggled. “She’s been trying for hours. She’s finished with her dissertation and has been trying to send an e-mail to her advisor but the computer wouldn’t hook up for some reason. She’s almost as original as you are when she swears at it.”
“Well, let’s go in and you can introduce me to your lady and my new Queen.”
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Don Schanke had not only called the Commissioner, he’d also called Internal Affairs and he’d done it from his desk right in front of the entire bullpen. He was not a man to sneak around and rat out a fellow officer but he wasn’t going to let Sneed get away with putting his partner in the hospital either. His phone calls got quick results and soon both a IA Investigator and the Commissioner were sitting at Knight’s desk questioning him.
“Where’s Tracy?” the Commissioner asked from where he sat in Nick’s chair.
“She drove Nick and Dr. Lambert to the ER sir. She’s not back yet. I think she’ll probably stay until she knows Nick will be ok. She’s a good partner to have.” Schanke wasn’t smoozing the man. Tracy was a good cop and he knew there was no way she’d leave her partner while it wasn’t certain he would live.
“We need to get your statement Detective,” the IA Investigator Jake Wheatly said.
“No problem; everyone who saw Knight go down is still here,” Schanke waved his hand around at the bullpen. “We’re just catching up on our paperwork until you have a chance to talk to us.”
Stunned Wheatly looked around, only to see heads nodding at him from all directions from detectives and uniforms alike. ‘Sneed must really have pissed these guys off,’ he thought. ‘Normally a division shielded their captain, they didn’t hand him over on a platter. Unless what Schanke said was true and Sneed really did deliberately put Knight in the hospital.’ He grew even more concerned as he escorted Schanke to an interrogation room. If Sneed really had put Knight in the hospital on purpose, then that was aggravated assault if not attempted murder depending on how severe Knight’s allergies were. As Schanke gave his statement he prayed that Knight’s collapse wasn’t due to Sneed’s actions. “Now, you said that the doctor said he was badly burned?”
Don nodded. “Yes I did. Dr. Lambert is not only the night shift forensic pathologist; she’s also Knight’s personal physician. Nick says that it’s because she knows how to look outside the box. His condition is really rare and more importantly he trusts her both professionally and personally. She was here bringing a report on a case for one of our cases and she saw him collapse. She started working on him right away and had Detective Vetter drive them both to the ER.”
“Did you see these burns?”
“Yeah I did. I saw the burns on his wrists where his sleeves had ridden up. They looked awful, and I noticed redness around his neck too.” Don was kicking himself about those burns. He had known they were bad but Knight had bitten his head off when he tried to point that out. Of course, he wasn’t talking literally and if what he suspected about his partner was right then he was lucky that was true. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell Donnie,’ he reminded himself. If and when Nick was ever ready to tell him he’d be ready for it and he wouldn’t say or do anything to betray his knowledge of his partner’s true condition before then.
“Could the allergen Detective Jim Peck accidentally placed on his neck have caused Detective Knight’s collapse?” ‘Please, please let that be it! That was accidental and everyone agreed on that one!’ Wheatly silently begged. No sign of his thoughts crossed his face.
“Contributed yes, caused no, I know my partner’s allergies front to back,” Schanke was definite on that one. “We had a case where a woman was hunting people, the more dangerous the better. She went after Knight and used me as bait. She had done her research and knew all about Knight’s allergies. He used that against her by deliberately going out into the sunlight to come at her from behind. He saved my life and burned really bad. I saw the burns. He was only burned, he didn’t collapse. A single slight exposure to something he’s allergic to won’t cause a collapse. This collapse was caused by prolonged and repeated exposure.” Exposure that Sneed was responsible for he wanted to say but didn’t. That would be IA’s call and he wouldn’t jeopardize the case by ranting.
Just then one of the uniforms stuck his head in the door to the interrogation room. “Detective Vetter’s back and she’s got an update on Knight.”
Both Schanke and Wheatly hurried out of the room and over to the bullpen. “How is he?” Schanke asked the minute he got close.
Tracy was careful and told him exactly what Natalie had told her to say. “He’s back at the loft and he’s going to be ok. He was going into anaphylactic shock and they got that stabilized fairly quickly but he’s not going to be coming back for at least a week. He’s got first and second degree burns to his face and neck and third degree burns on his wrists and arms.”
“Why didn’t they keep him at the hospital?” someone wanted to know.
“DUH!” Schanke said. “The hospital’s got windows and none of those metal shutters Nick has on the windows at the loft. The last thing he needs right now is more sunlight!”
“I’m glad that Detective Knight is going to be alright. Detective Vetter, I’m Internal Affairs Investigator Wheatly. I need your statement.” Tracy nodded and followed him to the interrogation room. ‘This was going to be a long night,’ she thought.
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Post by dragonfan on Feb 11, 2007 23:17:25 GMT -5
Chapter Five
Tracy had been right; it had been a long night. She had begged off when Schanke had told her he was going to go see their partner at his loft. She had an errand to run before she dropped the Caddy off there. Or at least that’s what she told Schanke. The truth was she needed to make a decision about King Stephan’s offer and she couldn’t do that without consulting her own personal vampire. Ok, so it was more like she was his mortal than he was her vampire, but she still needed to see Vachon about this.
It was just after dawn when she reached the abandoned church where Vachon made his home. “Vachon! You’d better be here because I don’t think you’re going to believe this one!”
Vachon leaned out from around doorway right behind her. “What is it this time Tracy? Did you find another kill or did your father set you up on a date?” Either one was a possibility he knew.
“EEEP!” Tracy jumped, turned and swatted Vachon on the shoulder, “Would you quit that? I hate it when you sneak up on me! And no, those are the usual. This is way out there.”
“First of all, yes I do have to do that. I’m a vampire, we sneak up on people. It’s kind of hard to eat someone when they know you’re coming,” Vachon pointed out.
“You feed from a bottle most of the time Vachon. In fact the only time you don’t is when someone’s threatening me.” Tracy pointed out.
“No point in letting my skills get rusty. So, what’s up this time?” he smirked.
Tracy just shook her head. She never could resist his version of puppy eyes even when she knew he was fully capable of killing someone without a second thought. Why had she fallen in love with an immortal serial killer anyway? Oh yeah, because most of the time when he killed someone these days he was saving her from her own screw ups. “Well, tonight Nick collapsed at work and I was on my way taking him to the ER, only to find out that he’s a VAMPIRE,” she growled the last word at Vachon who realized just how far up the creek he was.
“And he and Natalie had staged the entire thing. Also we had an appointment with the King tonight. Did you know that Nick was the King’s cradle guard? And what is a cradle guard anyway?” Tracy didn’t give him a chance to answer before she was off to the next thing. “The King wanted to see me and Nat so Nick took us to see him. And he offered to make us ladies in waiting to the Queen so we’ll be protected during the Purge. What’s a Purge and why does the name give me the creeps? The King says he needs our answer before Saturday.”
Vachon grabbed her and kissed her. It was the only way he had found to get her to stop babbling when she got like this. “Knight was cradle guard to the King? Knight was cradle guard to the younger Prince. That must mean that the King and the elder son are dead. MERDE! There’s going to be a Purge. There hasn’t been one of those for nearly a thousand years, not since Vlad took the throne.” He stared off into the darkness of the church. This was not good. The last Purge had killed all of the orphan vampires. Vlad hadn’t liked the idea of orphans, vampires without masters to teach them the Code.
“Hey, you still haven’t told me what a Purge is,” Tracy poked him in the chest. “And what is a cradle guard? And what about the lady in waiting thing?”
“When a new King takes the throne, he has the Enforcers kill off anyone who he doesn’t want to live. I mean, Vlad killed off orphans and those who killed children. That’s what a Purge is. When the King orders certain types of vampires purged from our society.” Vachon began pacing. “A Royal vampire isn’t brought across, they’re born vampires. While they are babies and small children they are incredibly vulnerable. A cradle guard is a vampire who guards the child from the moment the King becomes aware that his mortal Queen in pregnant. Their mothers are always mortal.”
“So King Stephan has a mortal Queen and he wants us to hang out with her while he has the Enforcers go on a rampage killing everyone that he doesn’t like?” Tracy couldn’t believe it. That nice young man, well vampire, was going to go and pass out death sentences on his own people. Then again, he had said that he didn’t like the Purges and he was only going to do it because it was part of how the Code worked. “How are Purges part of the Code?”
“Purges are used when something big is going to happen and those killed are those who cannot make the adjustment to the changes that are made to the Code because of whatever is going to happen. As for King Stephan I haven’t heard that the Prince had become the King and I certainly haven’t heard anything about him having a mortal bride!” Vachon thought about it for a moment. If the new king was going as far as offering Tracy a position in his court, then she had better take him up on it, especially before a Purge. Otherwise it was likely that they both would fall to the Purge. They were both seriously walking the line as it was.
“I think that you had either better take him up on becoming a lady in waiting or you’d better let me bring you across. I don’t think we’ll survive otherwise.” Vachon didn’t like being so blunt, but sometimes with Tracy he had to be.
“Well, I’m not ready to become a vampire just yet.” It was the first time Tracy had admitted that she had been thinking of crossing over. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been confronted with the idea before but it had not been her idea. This time she was confronted with it being her choice and to her surprise, she was finding that it wasn’t such a scary thing.
“Then I guess you’re going to become a lady in waiting,” Vachon said. He pulled her up the stairs to the room where he slept. “And I guess I’d better get used to being part of the court as well.”
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Schanke rode up in the elevator to Nick’s loft, nervous that Nick wasn’t going to be ok inspite of everything that he’d been told. Natalie had come by the station after Tracy had gotten back and had repeated what Tracy had said. Nick was going to be fine and would be out for a week. But he just had to see his partner for himself.
He wasn’t expecting to walk in and find a coffin. Nick sacked out on the couch with bandages on his wrists, yes, a coffin, no. “Ah, partner, I know you get a little depressed sometimes, but a coffin?” he joked. If this was one of those don’t ask, don’t tell things, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Nick smirked. “Don’t worry Schanke, it’s not mine. It belongs to a friend of mine. I’m just storing it for him while he’s in town. You remember Stephan? He did a ride along with us last year.”
“Yeah, I remember him. Nice kid,” Don said. He was glad that Nick had a somewhat believable reason for the coffin. Although he wouldn’t have pegged Stephan as a Goth. The kid did have the coloring for it though.
“Yeah he is. The coffin is a family heirloom and he’s been having it restored. Even though it’s never been used in an actual burial, it does need to be repaired every few decades or so.”
“If you say so, partner. Well, I thought I’d drop by and see how you were doing and give you the update of what’s going on down at the precinct.” Schanke parked himself down on the couch beside Nick as Nick moved into a more upright position. “Sneed has been suspended, without pay, pending the outcome of the IA investigation. Our old buddy Stonetree has been called in to act as temporary captain in the meantime. You are hereby ordered to rest and get well. The kid and I have our caseload covered, so you are not to worry about anything do you hear me?” Schanke looked sternly at Nick. “I know you’ll be worried about us being out there on our own but we’ll be fine.”
Nick grimaced. Schanke knew him too well after only a few years as partners. His own master wouldn’t have known that he’d be worried about his mortal partners until Nick had driven him to distraction and they’d had at least one fight about the matter. “I can’t help it Don. I promised Myra that I’d make sure you came home every night. I intend to keep that promise and I can’t do that from a sick bed.”
“You get out of that bed before Nat lets you up and you’ll have Myra to deal with my friend. And let me tell you, she is not someone you want to cross when she gets upset. She’ll be feeding you chicken soup and fluffing your pillow and hovering. There will be lots of hovering to make sure that you follow doctor’s orders. Trust me, its easier to do it right the first time and not get her worried. You remember the time I got shot and ended up on light duty? She drove me up the wall!” As much as Schanke was cracking jokes, he was also serious and Nick knew it. Myra Schanke could have made a serious Jewish mother look like an amateur when she got going.
“All right I promise. I’ll follow Nat’s orders. Sheesh, sic Myra on me, that’s a serious threat.” Nick would follow Nat’s orders, but they wouldn’t be what Schanke was thinking. Her orders had been to stay away from the steer blood and stick with the blood from the Bloodstone. She didn’t think it would undo the progress they had made and it had the double benefit of not being imbued with the emotions of the donor which was the biggest trouble Nick had with real human blood.
“Good, then I’m on my way home and I promise that as long as you’re following orders I won’t sic Myra on you. I’ll even stop by every morning with the kid and we’ll go over our cases so you can keep up, deal?”
“Deal,” Nick said.
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Post by dragonfan on Feb 12, 2007 18:20:06 GMT -5
A boon; Natalie Lambert, forensic pathologist and night shift coroner, had a boon from the King of the Vampires. Taken at face value that was silly, taken as part of her life it was a measure at how far she had come since she had met a certain sun light challenged homicide detective. A boon meant that she could ask for anything in the world and she would probably get it. The sheer number of possibilities was enough to make her head spin. “What am I going to ask for Sydney?” Natalie asked her grey fluffy cat. She already knew that she would take King Stephan up on his offer to make her a lady in waiting. Becoming a part of the Court of the Vampires would grant her protection and offer her more opportunities for her research, not something she was going to turn down. But did she dare ask for what she really wanted?
She reached over to the top drawer of her night stand and took out a small tape from a personal voice recorder. It had come from the pvr she used for work. She always carried it with a blank tape in side her purse just in case something came up even when she was off duty. That was why she’d had it with her that Valentines Day. She had gotten a romantic invitation to dinner. She had thought she would be meeting with Nick but it turned out the invitation had come from LaCroix, Nick’s ancient master.
Meeting LaCroix in the restaurant instead of Nick had scared Natalie badly, but not out of her wits. Not only had she held her own in the ensuing conversation with the ancient vampire, she had also turned on her pvr so that Nick would be able to hear what had happened when he found her body. There was no doubt in her mind that LaCroix would make sure that Nick would be the first one to find her body. She had feared not only for her own life, but the pain LaCroix would cause Nick by killing her. They had only just admitted that they were in love with each other and to have that snatched away just as it got started would cause Nick untold pain. The pvr had recorded the entire conversation between her and LaCroix and more importantly to her, between LaCroix and Nick.
Empirical evidence; because of the tape neither of the two vampires had been able to hypnotize her into forgetting that night inspite of the drugs LaCroix had given her in her drink. She had never let on to either one that she remembered everything about that night. Nick had put on an incredible performance to save her life and she wouldn’t let him down. But she did remember and the memory broke her heart. Nick was trapped into an agreement that had saved his sister’s life; not only from becoming a vampire but from becoming LaCroix’s slave. Natalie knew that LaCroix’s ideas of family hadn’t changed in 2,000 years. In love or not, Fleur would have been little better off than a body slave. That was what Nick had saved her from.
But the cost was centuries of torment, subtle and not so subtle abuse from LaCroix. She wanted so much to save Nick from him but the only way she knew to break the hold a master vampire had over his children was for the master to die or for the ‘child’ to be cured. They had tried for years, and Nick had tried for a century longer than that and they still were only in the first stages of finding a cure. Could she really ask for LaCroix’s life? She was a doctor. Yes, she treated the dead and the undead, but she was still a healer, not a killer. But it wasn’t just redemption that Nick was seeking in his quest for mortality. He was also seeking an escape LaCroix. The third option, suicide, just wasn’t an option for Nick.
And it wasn’t just Nick she had to consider. What about Janette? The owner of the Raven club had been delirious when Natalie had given her the vaccine for the Fever, delirious enough that Natalie now knew far more about Janette’s past than she had ever wanted too. While her life now was far better than it had been while she was a mortal, she dared not defy her master any more than her ‘brother’. How many times had LaCroix ripped her from a life she was just getting happy in? Natalie didn’t know. What she did know was that even after a thousand years; Janette was still terrified that she’d loose what she had worked so hard to build. No, when it came right down to it they both would be better off without LaCroix. And if she had to become a murderer to set free the man she loved and a woman she was beginning to consider a friend, then so be it. Decision made, she settled down to sleep.
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Michelle hadn’t liked the idea of Stephan moving his coffin over to Nick’s loft but that was the compromise that the two vampires had come up with. While Nick was off work, he would take up his duties as Stephan’s guard but he would be very circumspect and only be visible while Stephan was in meetings. Once the meetings were over, he’d disappear so that Stephan could spend time with her unless they went out. Then he would follow at a distance. But during the day, Stephan would sleep over at Nick’s so that Nick could guard over him in comfort.
Unlike the hotel Nick’s loft was set up so that no matter if Nick was sleeping or not, sunlight could not get into the building. She would have insisted on sleeping over as well if it wasn’t for the fact that Nick didn’t have a guest room. There was no way she was going to sleep in another vampire’s bed. That was something that she had promised herself. She had slept with Stephan in his father’s coffin while they were still at Castle Vladislas, just to figure out if she could do it. She had managed, although she had slept a lot less than he had, naturally. His crypt here was too small to share though. So she was stuck sleeping at the hotel while Stephan stayed at Nick’s.
Once Nick was back on duty, Stephan would be busy by night at the Raven, a club where he would be surrounded by vampires, from Enforcers to the Council of the Elders. And during the day, he would once again sleep at Nick’s. She was hoping that during that time she would be involved in defending her dissertation. She didn’t think the two of them would get much time alone while Nick was at work. So she planned to make the most of the time they did have.
She hadn’t missed how nervous Stephan was when he mentioned both the Council and her in the same sentence. She might be an American and have grown up in a democracy without Royalty but she was also a folklorist. She knew the pressures a single king faced from his people, even a king that still had the traditional absolute power that Stephan had. He was under a tremendous amount of pressure to both fully take over his father’s position as king and to produce his own heir in case of disaster. And if he didn’t produce an heir quickly it would be an even bigger disaster because he had no relatives at all to become his heir. He wasn’t just the last member of his family left alive; he was the last Royal vampire. There were no distant cousins in some hidden woodpile.
So it was up to her. After a morning of sleeping in until noon, she had plans for a shopping trip. She had been charting her cycle for the last three months and this would be the week she was fertile. Her first stop was going to be Fredrick’s of Hollywood and she had a few other stops in mind as well. After all, it wouldn’t be nice for Stephan to have to do all of that intense take over being king stuff without something to look forward to.
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