Future Mortality
Part 13/?
By Christine Hantzopulos
{{Warning: This part contains some mild sexual content, N/N. If you are under eighteen, please don’t read the last scene.—yeah, I know that sounds dumb, but I think the rest is slightly amusing…]]
Disclaimer: I don’t own the rights to Forever Knight, True Blood, or any vampires. Unfortunately. lol
Natalie
looked dubiously at the black lace teddy. It wasn’t very different from the one
her friends had bought her on her thirtieth birthday—and it had taken a while
for her to have the opportunity to wear that one. “I am pregnant, you know,”
she said to Janette.
“But look,
it fits right over your breasts and then falls loosely. It will fit. And look at the adorable matching panties…” They didn’t
cover very much anyway, and it was true, it was sexy and yet would fit around
her temporary shape. She took the matching bottom from Janette and went alone
into the dressing room.
Janette was
right. Impossible as it might seem given how enormous she felt at the moment,
the lingerie made her look—and feel—as sexy as she had when she’d been thirty
years old. It couldn’t hurt, could it? Nick certainly needed no encouragement,
and had the sexual stamina of a twenty-year old. Maybe it was all those years
of repressing those human urges. But there wouldn’t be any harm in giving him a
little treat. Especially if Janette kept her promise and took LaCroix out for a
few hours…
She
returned to Janette decided. “I’m taking it,” she said enthusiastically. “Now
help me find something for after I have this baby and I’m not the size of a
house.”
They spent
the next twenty minutes indulging themselves in picking out anything and
everything that looked appealing. After all, money was no object for either of
them, and Natalie was enjoying having a female friend to offer an opinion. The
awkwardness of Janette’s having been Nick’s lover once was gone. It was an
issue they had resolved months ago, and it was good to learn the little tidbits
she could about Nick’s long life as they chatted. It wasn’t that Nick had held
anything back from her at this point. She knew the extent of what he considered
his evil. She had heard his stories long before they had become more than
friends. But Janette added a new dimension to the past, telling her random
stories that were actually quite amusing.
“Yes, he
was totally embarrassed,” Janette was saying as they waited on the cashier’s
line. “He had no idea that the wine would still make him tipsy once he started
mixing it in, and had no tolerance whatsoever. He tried to kill a goat in
Natalie
laughed with Janette as she pictured the scene, though in the back of her mind
she noted that she had always thought the legends of the Chupacabra were really instances of vampires feeding on animals.
Janette
sobered. “He doesn’t like to feel helpless. You know that. And I’m afraid that
now, he does.”
Natalie
nodded gravely. “I know he feels safer with you and LaCroix here, for me and
for the kids—but he needs to believe that he can protect us himself.
Otherwise…” Her voice drifted off. But she didn’t have to voice her fear that
he would come to regret his decision to become mortal.
Janette
smiled comfortingly. “I told Niki the other day that Nicolas was brave and
strong and full of confidence long before he ever became a vampire. He just has
to remember that. Don’t ever think he regrets being human. It has been his wish
for over a century. And I have never seen him happier than he is with you and
with the children.”
Natalie
knew that it was a difficult admission for Janette, acknowledging that Natalie
had been able to make him happy in a way that Janette had not. “Thank you,
Janette,” she said. “You’ve been such a good friend to us. I can’t ever thank
you enough.”
“Of course
you can,” she teased, reaching out in wonder to touch the baby that had just
begun to move once more. “Name your daughter for me, and we’ll call it even.”
Natalie
grinned. “Not a bad idea. At least the middle name. I
think Nick has his heart set on naming her after his sister.”
“Fleur
Janette de Brabant. Very french. I like it.”
When they
met Niki, Natalie noticed that her daughter seemed to be on Cloud Nine. “Did
you find anything nice?” she asked as they headed towards the car.
“Yeah. I
did.”
Niki didn’t
elaborate, but the flushed look on her face piqued Natalie’s curiosity. But she
ignored it for now. She knew that whatever it was, her daughter would confide
in her sooner or later. She always did.
The house
was totally quiet save for the television playing in the living room. Natalie
set her packages on the couch and peeked to see what was going on.
“Nick? Is
Richie--?”
“Shhhhhh.
Yeah, he’s asleep,” her husband responded without looking at her.
Janette and
Niki followed her into the room to find both LaCroix and Nick sitting on the
couch utterly transfixed before the huge flatscreen HDTV.
“What are
you--?”
He shushed
her again and she looked at the screen to see a young blond woman standing
before an exquisite, bare-chested blond vampire with blood-tears staining his
cheeks. She began to kiss his face, tasting the blood, and then he took her
into his arms, at first kissing her gently, then poising his fangs above her
white throat…
“Oh my God,
they’re watching True Blood,” Niki said out loud in amusement. “That vampire is
Eric. Isn’t he gorgeous?”
“I’ll say,”
Natalie said in admiration, though she saw Nick shoot her a playfully nasty
glance.
“I’ve seen
this show. Eric reminds me of Nicolas, except he’s a lot more fun,” Janette
said dryly.
“All right,
all right,” Nick said, coming over to meet them. “Niki you haven’t been
watchimg this show, have you? It’s way too adult—“
“It’s
certainly entertaining,” LaCroix said, a glint of gold
in his eyes. “Though not very accurate in many ways.”
“See,
LaCroix thinks it’s okay,” Niki told her father.
“LaCroix is
two thousand years old. You’re thirteen,” Nick told her, tousling her hair. “You
look like you bought out the stores, all three of you.”
“Just some
essentials,” Janette responded with a wink at Natalie.
Nick was
looking at his daughter as if something was amiss. “Aren’t you wearing a little
too much makeup?” he asked finally.
“I told
you,” she said to her mother and sister. “Good night, Daddy,” she said reaching
up to kiss him on the cheek, in effect ending the conversation. Her mood seemed
so light, Natalie was again suspicious.
“Don’t you
want to show Daddy everything you got?” she asked, knowing the usual routine.
“Tomorrow.
I’m really tired. Thanks Mommy. Thanks, Janette. I love everything.” She gave
them each a quick kiss and hurried up the stairs.
“What’s
going on with her?” Nick asked.
“I’m not
sure,” Nat replied. “But if I know our daughter, whatever it is she won’t be
able to hold it in for long.”
Janette was
looking after Niki thoughtfully, then turned to
LaCroix. “LaCroix, I would really like to check out the nightlife in this town.
Would you care to join me?”
Natalie
tried to contain her excitement as LaCroix agreed, and the two left.
“Well, I’m
going to watch the rest of this episode,” Nick said, heading back into the
living room. “Wanna join me?”
“No, I
think I’ll get ready for bed,” she told him, grabbing the
Nick wasn’t
sure how he felt watching these television vampires.
In a way,
it was amusing. There was so much they got wrong. And yet, there was enough
they got right to make it interesting.
What really
irked him was the whole premise that these vampires could make love to humans
without killing them. Had he been able to do that, he might have been satisfied
to “mainstream”, as they called it in the show. But it just wasn’t reality.
Blood lust, though inextricably intertwined with carnal desire, could not be so
easily controlled. Unfortunately, he knew that from experience. It was that
awareness that had kept him away from Natalie for so long…
Thinking of
her now, he wanted her in a very human way. He had been insatiable, and it
seemed so had she, even during her pregnancy. It was as if they were making up
for the years they had spent apart. Not a night passed when they did not make
love. And as he headed up the stairs, he was glad that LaCroix and Janette were
gone. A peek told him Richie was still asleep, and his sensitive ears could
pick up the faint sound of his daughter’s ipod. He knew she was tuning them out
on purpose, and he was glad, though the thought that she might have heard them
was mortifying.
He could
hear Natalie in their private bathroom, and he locked the bedroom door,
shedding his clothes and climbing in between the satin sheets. His arousal was
almost painful as she stepped into the dim light of the bedroom.
His mouth
dropped open as she stood before him, the black lace lingerie leaving little to
his imagination, clinging tighly to her breasts, then falling loosely around
their baby. She was smiling tentatively
at him, as if not sure what he would think of her sexy attire in her condition.
“I see…you
bought some…uh…new…” he stammered.
She was
absolutely glowing as she saw the effect she was having on him. “Do you like
it?” she asked, slipping carefully next to him, lying on her side to face him.
God, she was so beautiful. She always had been, but she seemed even more so,
ever since he had made her his.
“What do
you think?” he murmured as his mouth covered hers, his hands caressing her
breasts through the sheer fabric. His lips moved down her neck, kissing their
way to her barely covered nipples, licking at her through the lace, loving the
way she shivered at his touch. His hands found the panties that were scarcely
there, pulling them down carefully, his fingers dipping into her nectar to find
her more than ready. He gasped as she took him in her hands, guiding him…
Then he was
inside her, a gentle yet urgent motion that brought them to that moment when
there was no doubt in his mind, no fear, no worry about the future, just the
simple truth that this was what he had sought his entire life…
She cried
out as he came inside her, caressing him from within, riding the mutual wave of
pleasure that washed over them. And then he held her, unmoving, and they fell
asleep as they had made love…joined together as one.
End part 13