Future Mortality

Part 23/?

By Christine Hantzopulos

A cursory glance had told him that nothing had been stolen, but the FBI agents had insisted that he go through everything. The Mongolian collection was intact, and that was all he’d had of real value here. It was the reason Cornell Public Safety had called in the Agency. This priceless find, and all the information being gleaned from the fossils, would bring the Archaeologists in Nick’s department hundreds of thousands in private grants, and prestige beyond all imagination.

But it hadn’t been touched. That alone vexed the government agents, and made Nick wary that something more personal was going on.

“Look, nothing is missing,” he told Agent Sullivan for the umpteenth time as he let Richie carefully touch the sharp claw. “Watch it,” he said gently as the boy ran his finger down to the point.

“It looks like a fang,” Richie said out loud.

Luckily he didn’t specify what kind of fang. Agent Sullivan didn’t seem to have taken note of the boy’s comment, and Nick set the fossil back into its storage case.

“Agent Sullivan, I’d appreciate it if I could get home. My wife is 38 weeks pregnant, and I really don’t want to leave her alone. Besides, we were in the middle of a family dinner. And there’s nothing else to do here.”

Sullivan nodded. “Okay, Professor. Thank you for your cooperation. If you notice anything missing,” he said, pulling a business card from his pocket, “please let me know.”

Nick assured him he would, and muttered ‘finally’ after the office door had closed. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Natalie as he said, “Come on, Richie, let’s get back home. Mommy should be there by now.”

No answer on Natalie’s phone. It rang four times and the voice mail picked up. The phone must be powered on. Why hadn’t she heard it?

More than a little alarmed, he hung up and dialed Niki’s cell number. Again, four rings until it went to voice mail. The phone was in range—if not, the voicemail would have picked up immediately. Alarm threatened to turn into panic as he dialed the house phone. Again, no answer. The machine picked up, and he waited what seemed an interminably long time for the outgoing message and beep.

“Natalie, Niki, it’s me… If you’re home, pick up. I’ve been trying to get you both. Pick up!” A pause. Nothing. “Nat, Niki! Pick up!”

“Where’s Mommy?” Richie asked as he hit the send button, trying home again.

“They’re probably not home yet,” he said absently, trying to hide his concern. Machine. Beep. “Natalie, Niki, it’s me, pick up!”

His heart rose up then sank as Janette picked up the phone. “Nicolas, is everything all right?” she asked. “You sound frantic!”

So much for concealing his worry. “Janette, I’m at the University. I was called away. Nat and Niki were driving home. It was over an hour ago. They’re not answering their cells—“

“They haven’t been here,” she told him. “Nicolas, it’s still the middle of the day. Why would you be worried?”

His promise not to mention Dimitri’s existence to Janette and LaCroix seemed suddenly insignificant, outweighed by what was becoming an almost irrational fear. But there was no time to explain it all now. “I’ll be right home. I’ll tell you then. But Janette, if Natalie comes home, please, tell her to call me.”

He hung up before she could answer, forcing a smile to his face. “I bet those girls went shopping again,” he told Richie as he picked him up into his arms. “Come on, buddy. Let’s get home before them.”

It was at times like these Nick wished he could still fly.

Steven was out of his mind.

She was convinced of that. She had seen it happen before, in her brother Richie, a good man whose transformation into a vampire had given him powers he could not control, and a warped sense of how to use them to attain what he truly believed to be a good end. No wonder Stavros had kept Steven on the island all this time. He could not deal with what he had become, or what had become of his family. And he was determined to get them back, no matter what the cost.

He wouldn’t let her die. He’d said it over and over. But only when he spoke the words did he confirm what she had begun to suspect, the ultimate plan that had come from a mind that was no longer sane.

“I’m going to bring you across, Natalie,” he told her suddenly, as if revealing a wonderful gift he was about to bestow, with a gleam in his eyes that defied all she had known him to be.

“No, you’re not,” she told him adamantly, fully aware that she might throw him over the brink with her refusal.

“Don’t you see, Nat? We’ll be together forever! Isn’t that what you wanted Niki’s father to do to you? You told me the story! He refused, and he was a fool, because if he truly loved you he would want to be with you forever! Instead he’s become human! Mortal! Do you want to wither and die, Natalie? Don’t you see this is the way for us to truly be together for all eternity?!”

He was mad. With power. With jealousy. With a fantasy of how he could restore all he had lost, and keep it forever. “Steven, what about our children?” she said, grasping for the man she had known for over ten years. “What kind of life would they have if we could never go out with them in the sunlight?”

“Eternal life, Nat,” he told her as if it were obvious. “Dimitri told me where you were, in exchange for a promise to bring him across. Look at how he and Niki seem to feel about each other. They can stay young forever! And when Richie is a little older—“

“No!” she said in horror, not caring if it angered him or not. “You won’t turn my children into vampires! Steven, what kind of life is that?”

His face suddenly turned serious as he replied, “It’s the only life I have left.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” she told him. “You can abstain from the blood, and I can try to find a cure; you can become human again, just like Nick did.”

Amber flecks glowed in his eyes. “What makes you think I would want to? To be weak? Mortal? Helpless? To have my life and everything taken from me, as it was the first time?!”

Now she was afraid. She had pushed him too far. “Steven, please, we can talk about this later. Right now, I just need to get to a—“

The doorbell rang and she held her breath. Had Nick found his way here? Had he spotted the car? Would he have any idea what he faced? Had he brought his gun with the wooden bullets? Would Steven…?

Steven seemed not in the least surprised, as if he had been waiting for someone. In a flash he was near the door, far enough to escape the shaft of light that could burn him. “Come in, Andy.”

Natalie’s eyes opened wide. Andy? His brother? Had Andy known all along?

Her question was answered as her brother-in-law stood open-mouthed, staring at the form of his dead brother. “Steven? What the fuck--?”

But as he approached him, Andy’s face paled to see the pallor of Steven’s skin. He literally looked like a walking dead man, devoid of the warm tan he’d usually sported. Natalie was sure his eyes still held the amber glow of his anger, despite his happiness at seeing his brother for the first time in nearly a year.

“Steven…your face, your…eyes…”

“I’m a vampire, bro,” Steven told him, his fangs descending as proof.

Andy’s face had gone from shock to fear to astonishment. He backed away as Steven held out his arms to give him a hug.

“Hey, man, it’s still me,” Steven said as naturally as if he were still truly the same man. “Come on in, and I’ll explain.”

Only then did Andy notice Natalie on the couch, clutching at her abdomen as the next contraction began to build. His eyes opened wide as he came to her, the expression on his face telling her that she must appear to be in as terrible distress as she felt. “Natalie, what are you doing here? Are you all right? Did you know this?”

“I think…I’m in labor,” she told him, her words broken by her pain. “And no, I didn’t know. Not until today—“ Her words turned into an uncontrollable moan, as the pain crested. Andy took her hand and she squeezed his as she breathed through the contraction.

“Steven, have you called an ambulance? She needs to get to the hospital!” Andy yelled without taking his eyes off her.

Somehow Dimitri and Niki had entered the room, and Niki ran to them. “Oh my God, Mommy,” she said, kneeling by the couch so she could bring her face to her mother’s. Natalie looked up at her, to see her mouth the words, ‘Stavros is coming’.

Natalie nodded her acknowledgement, covering with, “Yeah, I’m okay, sweetie,” as Niki looked up at Andrew.

“Uncle Andy, please, help us. Mom needs to get to a hospital. Daddy won’t let her go.”

Andy looked at his brother in disbelief. “Steven, she has to get to a hospital! She’s in labor! What the hell are you thinking? She could die!”

Hearing it didn’t help ease her own terror, but Steven’s words were even more horrifying.

“She’ll never die, Andy. Even if things go wrong, I’ll bring her across. She’ll live forever, and we’ll be together just like we were before.”

“Steve, you’re fucking crazy,” Andy told him bluntly. “Whatever happened to you, I’m glad you’re alive, but if you think I’m going to stand by and watch you do this to Natalie—“

“You always had a thing for her, didn’t you, Andy?” Steven said, shaking his head. Natalie wasn’t sure if he seemed amused or disgusted. Perhaps it was both. “What do you really think you can do to stop me?” he challenged his brother.

“Steven, what the hell happened to you?” Andy asked in disdain. “I thought you loved her. And yet you’re willing to let her suffer like this?”

“I didn’t call you here to lecture me, Andy,” Steven said sharply.

“Then why did you bring me here? Did you think I would approve of this?” he retorted, his contempt evident.

“I brought you here to help me. I need you to bring my son here. You’ve seen him. You know where he is. You have to get him here by sundown, because the minute it’s dark, we’re out of here. And if you want to be part of our lives, that’s great. If not, then you can forget you ever saw me alive. But either way, I need you to bring Richie here. It’s the last thing I’ll ask of you.”

“Andy, please. Don’t bring Richie here,” Natalie begged.

Andy squeezed the hand he was still holding, nodding ever so slightly to her. He looked up at Steven. “What makes you think Nick would let me take him?”

“What makes you think you need his permission?” Steven responded. “He’s your nephew. You can say you want to take him out to McDonald’s before you leave Ithaca.”

“Nick won’t let him go,” Dimitri broke in, clearly annoying Steven that Dimitri was steadfastly on their side against him. “Especially with Natalie and Niki missing. They should have been home by now. He’ll be worried sick. He won’t let that kid out of his sight.”

Natalie knew it was true, but Steven seemed unperturbed. “Then let him come along,” he said as if actually hoping that that would happen.

“No!” Niki cried, coming to the same realization as Natalie. “Uncle Andy, you can’t let my dad come here! He’ll kill him!”

Steven shook his head, disappointment in his eyes. “Ten years I raised you, Niki, while he had nothing to do with you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Niki looked at him stricken. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Of course it does! But you can’t kill him! I love him, and so do Mommy and Richie. Please, Daddy, if you ever loved us at all, just let us go! Let us get Mommy to the hospital and we can all sit down and talk about this later.”

For a moment, Steven seemed affected by his step-daughter’s words. But jealousy consumed him too. Natalie could see he was hurt to see how much they did love Nick. Even his own son had seemed to find a replacement for him. A part of her felt terribly sorry for Steven, and knew that it was her fault, ultimately, that he had been brought to this point. But her fear for Nick, for her children, and her unborn baby, held her firmly in its grip. “Please, Steven,” she said weakly, knowing that the contractions had already gotten closer. How much longer before she would have to begin to push?

Steven gazed upon them emotionlessly, as if considering what to do next. Finally he said, “All right. Andy, I’ll make you a deal. Bring Richie here, and we’ll get an ambulance for Nat the moment you’re back.”

Andy looked from Natalie to Steven. “Okay. I’ll bring Richie here—but you’ve got to promise to get Nat to a hospital.”

“The minute you’re back,” Steven vowed, smiling with satisfaction. “I’ll even let you go there with her. It’ll give me a chance to get reacquainted with my son.”

“No,” Natalie moaned. “Please, Andy, don’t bring Richie here.” Don’t bring Richie here. Don’t bring Nick here… If only Andy could hear her thoughts!

“It’ll be okay, Nat,” Andy told her. His eyes were reassuring, as if he had a plan, and yet there was no way he could tell her. Not while Steven might hear.

“You can’t. Leave him out of this. Steven, please. You want me to go away with you, I will, but please, leave the kids here…” she begged.

Steven shook his head. “No. We’re a family. And we’ll always be a family.” His fangs descended and his eyes began to glow, as he said in a voice lower than his own, “Forever.”

End part 23