Future Mortality

Part 16/?

By Christine Hantzopulos

www.forevernickandnat.com

Dimitri closed the door of the darkened house, shutting out the rays of the sun that he had begun to appreciate more as of late. This wasn’t going anything as he had planned. The young dhampir, Nicolette, was so much more than he had expected. He’d hoped for an ally, one who understood his anger and resentment towards the vampires for the curse of his existence. Instead, he had found an exquisite young woman who was perfectly at ease with what she was, full of love for both her parents, vampire and human. Before he’d met her, he hadn’t been sure what he would want of her—to ally herself with him against the vampires as the natural hunters they were, or to join him in his quest for power that only vampires possessed. But now, having gotten to know her even in this brief time, he knew she would join him in neither. She would no sooner give up her humanity than take the life of a vampire who posed her no threat. The Spark affair that he had heard of had been self-defense, and though he had not spoken to her about it, he knew that she had no malice in her, and probably regretted what she had been forced, by self-preservation, to do.

And she was lovely. True, she was two years his junior, and he would not pursue anything more than the kiss he had instinctively stolen. But she was like no one he had ever met or imagined, someone who could understand what he was and what he had endured in his lifetime. Whatever his original intentions might have been, right now, his only desire was to get to know her better, to see if maybe circumstance and their unique existence had destined them to be soulmates.

Steven would not like that.

As if on cue, the blond vampire came down the dimly lit stairs, sitting down on one of the black leather chairs that made the darkened living room seem even more grim. How he longed suddenly to be out in the sunlight again, watching Nicolette with the beautiful blond hair flowing in the cool winter breeze.

“So, Dimitri, what happened? Did you meet with her?”

“Yes,” he said, reluctantly sitting across from his father’s progeny. For the first time he began to consider that it had been ill-advised to put himself in this situation, alone with a powerful vampire with his father nowhere near to protect him. That ‘protection’ thing didn’t seem so bad at this moment. “I met with both of them. She brought Richie to the park to play.”

He felt a pang of pity for Steven as his eyes seemed to show a sudden sadness at the mention of his son. Clearly he wished it had been he who had been playing with the boy in the park. Another thing he would never get to do as a vampire, at least, not in the daytime.

“How is he?”

“He’s a great kid,” Dimitri told him gently. “And I have to say, he looks a lot like you.”

Steven was silent for a moment. “How do they both seem? Are they happy?”

He knew Steven didn’t want to hear the real answer to this, but he said it anyway. “Yes. They both seem very happy.” Then he added, “I did ask Nicolette about you, though. She said that you were a great dad, and she loved you and missed you.”

Steven wiped away something from his eye, and by the red smudge on his hand, Dimitri knew it was a tear. “And yet, this Nicholas has taken my place. With them, and with my wife.” Dimitri could only imagine the pain behind the bitterness in his voice.

“Steven, you have to think of this logically. They all believe you to be dead.”

“But thanks to your father, I’m not,” he said, an odd mix of gratefulness and grief in his voice. “I’m…whatever he made me. And he kept me away all these months because he knew that that pitiful excuse for a vampire had taken my family.”

Dimitri didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t often in the habit of defending his father, but he could see the difficulty of the situation. “As I understand it, my father didn’t know until months later. You couldn’t have returned to them right away, and when he knew what had happened, I’m sure he just wanted to prepare you.”

“Prepare me for what?” he asked angrily, baring his fangs. “To give up my family?”

“Calm down, Steven, please,” Dimitri said, for the first time feeling a little afraid. “You…may not have lost them. You don’t know what Natalie will say when she finds out you’re alive.” Actually, Dimitri was pretty sure it wouldn’t make a difference, from the way Nicolette had spoken about her parents. But he couldn’t tell Steven that. He was scared to tell him that.

Steven closed his eyes, willing his fangs to retract. “Well, if your father hadn’t sent those two vampires to watch over them, it would be a lot simpler. But I can’t go there. I couldn’t take them both on. So you’re going to have to get Niki and Natalie to come here.”

“How?” Dimitri asked. “She’s thirteen years old, and she has already sensed that there is a vampire in town. She may have met me in the park, but I don’t think she would ever consent to come to a stranger’s house without her parents’ knowledge. And why would Natalie come? Niki promised me she would not tell her parents about me. I told her I was afraid because of LaCroix and Janette staying in her home.”

Steven smiled slightly. “I know my daughter. She can’t keep having met you a secret from her Mom. She won’t. And if you convince her to come here, you can tell her to bring her mother to meet you.”

“And you think Nick—“ he consciously didn’t say ‘her father’ for fear of enraging Steven, “would let them go anywhere alone? What if he comes along?”

Steven shook his head. “It’s a girl thing. She’ll sooner tell her mother than anyone else, and if he comes along, well, he’s human, right?”

“What are you saying?” Dimitri asked, though he was sure he knew.

“I’ll kill him,” Steven said matter-of-factly.

Dimitri was convinced now that Steven was insane. “You think they would ever forgive you for that?”

“He’s been in their lives what, a little less than a year? Dimitri, that’s my family. Natalie and I were married for ten years, and I raised Niki as my own. And Richie is my son, not his. They belong with me, and that’s all there is to it.”

Dimitri was silent. There was no reasoning with Steven. When his father had first brought him across, Steven had seemed a decent, good man. But something in him had changed. His rage and jealousy over losing his family had made him irrational.

“Don’t worry, Dimitri,” Steven said, not properly interpreting his silence. “I haven’t forgotten my deal with you. You led me here with the information you stole from your father, and now all you have to do is lead Niki here. Natalie will follow, and I will get back my son, too. It seems I have an unexpected ally in town. But in any case, as soon as I have them, I will grant you your wish. I will bring you across. Then you’ll be free to do as you want, imprisoned to no one.”

“I don’t think that’s what I want anymore,” Dimitri said quietly.

Steven looked at him curiously. “That’s all you’ve begged your father for for as long as I have known you. The power to protect yourself.”

“Maybe…I don’t want to lose my humanity just yet,” he said slowly, convinced more than ever that the change in Steven had been more than merely physical.

Steven studied him, then, with the insight of a man, and protectiveness of a father, asked, “Does this have something to do with my daughter?”

“In a way,” Dimitri admitted uncomfortably. “She is an extraordinary young woman, and she had made me see things differently.”

“You like her, don’t you?” he asked accusingly.

Dimitri nodded. “Very much.”

Suddenly Steven was upon him, his hand around his neck, raising him into the air. “Don’t forget that that is my daughter, Dimitri. If you do anything—“

“Relax,” he told Steven, trying to pull his arms away. Steven dropped him to the floor and he said, “I wouldn’t take advantage of her in that way, if that’s what you’re afraid of. But I’m not happy with the idea of tricking her into a trap either.”

“Do you think I would hurt her?! Do you think I would hurt my wife and children?! You’ll do it, Dimitri,” Steven told him, his eyes burning gold. “Or you can say goodbye to your precious humanity for good.”

When Niki and Richie came back from the park, they found their parents sitting in the living room, smiling and laughing as if nothing were amiss. Uncle Andy had left, and clearly, things had gone well.

“Is everything okay?” she asked tentatively, taking off her coat.

“It’s going to be fine,” her mother told her as she pulled off Richie’s jacket and hat. She obviously didn’t want to talk in front of the little boy, so when Richie asked if he could go to his room and play with his action figures, Nicolette waited for her brother to be out of earshot.

“What did Uncle Andy say about the custody suit?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

“He’s not going to let them do it,” Natalie promised her. “He can see that you and Richie are both very happy, and he’s satisfied to leave things alone, as long as we try to go out and visit sometime.”

Funny how the thought of a trip just made her think that that would be time away from Dimitri. Could her father sense anything different about her? Did she look as if she’d just gotten her first kiss? Was it possible to see such a thing?

“Are you okay?” her mother asked, looking at her curiously.

She tried not to blush, failing miserably. “Uh-yeah. So Daddy,” she said, changing the subject, “what do you think of all the new clothes Mommy and Janette bought me?”

Nick smiled knowingly. “I knew Janette had something to do with it! Especially the makeup. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it before, but isn’t that a little too much for you? And aren’t those jeans a little, um, tight? And the blouse is nice, but isn’t it a little low cut?”

“Stop living in the thirteenth century, Daddy,” she told him, waving him off with her a perfectly manicured hand.

“Now you even sound like, Janette, except without the french accent,” he murmured.

“Come on, Nick, it’s fine, really,” Natalie said, looking over her daughter’s clothes. She stopped suddenly, focusing on Niki’s left hand.

“Wait, where did you get this?” she asked, holding the girl’s hand up to the light to see the glistening cubic zirconium ring.

“At Hot Topic,” she said quickly. It was true, wasn’t it?

“Let me see,” Nick said, taking her hand. “This looks almost like an engagement ring.”

“It’s a replica of Bella’s ring,” she explained.

“I saw those the other day,” her mother said warily. “They’re pretty expensive. You bought two T-shirts. Where’d you get the money for that?”

“I had left over from what Daddy gave me,” she said, the first lie.

Her father looked at her strangely. “Are you sure you don’t have a secret boyfriend you’re hiding from us?” he asked, half-joking.

She could feel the tears of guilt welling up in her eyes, even as her father’s smile faded and his face turned pale.

“Mommy, Daddy…I have something I have to tell you,” she said in a small voice.

End part 16