Future Mortality

Part 20/?

By Christine Hantzopulos

www.forevernickandnat.com

Despite his expectation that he would despise this boy that had seemingly swept his little girl off her feet, Nick had to admit that Dimitri didn’t seem so bad.

He was intelligent and well-spoken, attributing his education to home schooling. He’d clearly spent his life among adults, although his interractions with Richie seemed natural and unforced. He was certainly polite, and as they ate their meal together Nick could see that he’d had impeccable manners bred into him. Yet halfway through the dinner, Nick was still no closer to knowing exactly who this boy was, and he was becoming impatient with the cryptic references to his father.

“Dimitri, you’ve said that your father is four thousand years old. I assume then he’s a prominent Elder in the community?” Nick asked.

Dimitri paused for a second, then said, “Yes. That was why he couldn’t openly acknowledge me. My mother was from Poland, and he sent us back to Warsaw under the protection of some friends in the city.” His face darkened for the first time this afternoon, as he continued with some difficulty. “But the Elders in Eastern Europe found out about us. My mother sent him word, and he came…But it was too late. She was dead. My father’s friends fought the Enforcers, but were no match for them. If my father hadn’t arrived in time, I would be dead too.”

Nick breathed deeply, knowing the difficulty of bringing up old wounds. But there were things he had to know if he were to let this boy into his daughter’s life. “Your father was able to kill the Enforcers? He must be very powerful.”

“He had to, or they would identify us. The Elders in the area knew there was a dhampir, but they didn’t know the vampire who had fathered me. So my Father took me back to his island off the coast of Greece—“

Dimitri stopped suddenly as if realizing he had said too much. Nick and Natalie both looked at him wide-eyed as the realization hit them.

“But Daddy knows one of the Elders in Greece,” Niki said, herself intrigued.

“I’m sorry, I’ve said too much,” Dimitri said quickly, looking down.

At least it was clear that he was telling the truth. Nick knew that this would be the time to press further. “Dimitri, what is your father’s name?” he asked, not wanting to supply the answer he and Natalie expected.

“I can’t,” Dimitri said, a tinge of fear in his eyes. “You must understand the danger it would put us in—“

“You know all about us,” Nick pointed out. “You realize the threat that this knowledge could present to Nicolette’s safety, and ours.”

“My father warned me to trust no one. And to be quite honest—I’ve made some serious mistakes because I disregarded his warnings.”

“And you want me to trust you with my daughter,” Nick replied. They could go on and on arguing their mutual security, but ultimately this was the most compelling reason why he needed to know all he could about Dimitri.

Dimitri nodded slowly, glancing at Niki, his face softening as he did so. Richie had been right. He did look at her ‘that way’. He turned back to Nick and Natalie. “Of course. You’re right. It’s only fair. You already know my father. He’s Stavros, the Elder of Sparta.”

“That’s how you knew about us,” Natalie surmised as the pieces seemed to fit together.

“And that’s how you found us. You must have been there when he met with LaCroix and Janette,” Nick deduced. Somehow, there was comfort in that. He had never really seen Stavros as a threat, especially after LaCroix had told him that he was sure Stavros had known about Nicolette all the time. Now he understood why.

Stavros himself had fathered a dhampir.

“Exactly,” Dimitri told him. “My father forbade me to come here looking for her, saying it would put us both in danger. But—I didn’t listen,” he admitted, shame crossing his eyes.

“Dimitri, you know Nick will have to tell your father that you’re here,” Natalie said gently. “He must be worried sick about you. He’s been good to us. We owe him that.”

Not to mention the wrath they would incur from Stavros if they were to hide his son, ally or not.

Dimitri nodded. “I realize that. But you see, I’ve already contacted my father. He promised to be here by nightfall.”

“What?” Niki asked distressed. “But he’ll make you go back!”

Nick’s heart wrenched as he saw the panic in his daughter’s eyes. He’d already decided that this boy’s feelings for her were sincere. But given the situation, it was beyond his control. Niki’s heart would be broken.

“Nicolette, it’s okay,” Dimitri told her, taking her hand. “I’ve told my father how I feel about you. He assured me that we would see each other again.”

“But how?” she asked, her eyes reddening.

“We still have an island home in Greece, Niki,” her father reminded her. “We can vacation there any time you want.”

“Really?” she asked her father, hope springing to the surface.

“I was hoping you would say so,” Dimitri said, smiling wistfully. “I truly care for your daughter. And she has opened my eyes to things I never realized before.”

“He wanted his father to bring him across,” Niki explained. “But when I told him about you, and how hard you struggled to be human to be with Mommy—“

“It made me rethink a great deal,” Dimitri finished.

“Never give up your humanity, Dimitri,” Nick told him, his words passionate. “You would lose more than you can imagine. I existed eight hundred years, and only now have I truly begun to live. Immortality is nothing compared to what I have now.” He motioned around the table. “The woman I love, beautiful children, the sun…”

“Don’t forget pizza and french fries, Daddy,” Richie added, letting everyone know he had been following the conversation even as he kept working at his chicken parmagiana.

They all laughed, including Nick, who tousled his son’s hair as he said, “Yes, thank you, Richie. I almost forgot. Pizza and french fries. With lots of ketchup.”

End part 20