Future Mortality Part 4/?
By
Christine Hantzopulos
(Disclaimer:
I don’t own the rights to Forever Knight or the other copyrighted properties
named herein, and this is written purely for enjoyment and with all due love
and respect towards all the characters mentioned and their creators.)
“Come on,
boys. It’s a school night.”
Natalie
tried to sound stern, but she got such a kick out of watching Nick and Richie
play together that she almost hated to call it a night. Nick loved new gadgets,
and he and Richie had been playing with the Nintendo Wii
for hours. The five year old had no idea that Nick was letting him win every
other round of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and
was giggling wildly every time his Yoshi licked up
Nick’s Mario with a silly barump sound only
to poop him out as an egg.
“Please,
Mommy, just five more minutes,” Richie begged, looking at Nick for support.
“Daddy and I are having fun.”
Her heart
warmed to hear his words, and to see Nick’s reaction to them. Nick loved this
little boy as much as if he were his own, and Richie
simply adored him.
“Please,
Mommy,” Nick echoed, his eyes bright with more happiness than she’d ever
imagined she could see in him. “Just five more minutes.”
“Okay,” she
gave in, “Five minutes. But don’t forget, you’ve got a full day of Kindergarten
tomorrow, and you—“ she nodded to Nick, “have a ten o’
clock lecture.”
“I did my
homework,” Richie
told her.
“Me too,”
Nick added with a wink, and a grateful smile.
She left
the room, marveling at how an eight hundred year old man could still act like a
little boy.
“Are they
still at that dumb game?” Niki asked as she passed by
her in the hallway, a book in her hand.
“Yeah, they
are,” she told her daughter.
“We heard
that!” Richie called out to his sister. “At least I’m not reading some dumb
vampire books!”
“They’re
not dumb! You’re just too little to understand them,” the thirteen year old
replied indignantly.
“Still
reading the third book?” Natalie asked her daughter, glancing at the black and
red cover. Nicolette had become fascinated, like all girls her age, with the Twilight series of novels by Stephenie Meyer.
“No, look,
I’m up to the fourth,” she replied, holding out the hardcover novel. “Breaking Dawn.
It’s so romantic, Mom. I can’t put it down.” She lowered her voice so that her
father and brother couldn’t hear. “I’m up to the part where Edward and Bella
are about to make love—” she whispered.
“What?!”
they suddenly heard from the other room. Niki closed
her eyes and shook her head, annoyed at herself for forgetting that her father
had just as finely attuned hearing as she did. Natalie tried to hold back her
laugh as she heard Nick tell Richie that five minutes were up. Richie ran past
them up the stairs as Nick came face to face with them, his look much more serious
than necessary.
“What are
you reading? You’re only thirteen years old!”
“It’s
nothing, Daddy. It’s just a romance. It’s not like that Urban Literature all
the girls in school are reading. There isn’t any really graphic sex—“
“How do you
even know about these things?!” he asked, his face blushing at her words.
“Calm down,
Nick,” Natalie told him. “All the girls her age are reading them.
They’re…nice.”
“Yeah,
Mommy is up to the second book herself,” Nicolette said in her own defense.
He looked
at Nat skeptically. “Are you sure they’re appropriate for her?” he asked. He
was so overprotective, but Natalie just found it adorable. Niki
was at the age, however, where it was becoming annoying.
“I’m sure,”
Natalie promised him.
“Okay, I
guess Mommy knows best,” he told his daughter, his face brightening when she
smiled at him. He stroked her hair. “I just don’t know why you have to have
this fascination with vampires.”
“Vampires
are ‘in’, didn’t you know?” Natalie told him with a grin.
“Yeah, just
when I get ‘out’,” he joked, referring to his own transformation.
“Don’t
worry, Daddy. I still think you’re the greatest even though you’re not a
vampire anymore,” Niki reassured him, throwing her
arms around his neck and giving him a spontaneous kiss on the cheek. The way
Nick beamed as he held on to her for just one moment longer, Natalie knew he
could deny her nothing.
So did Niki, apparently, because she took the opportunity to say,
“By the way…a bunch of my friends from school are going Friday night to see a
double feature in town—they’re showing both Twilight
movies together, to get ready for the release of the third one. Since I kinda got into this late and never saw them on the big
screen, I’d really LOVE to go…”
Her eyes
were pleading with Nick, just as they had been when she’d asked Natalie earlier
that day. Natalie had been hesitant, of course, just as she knew Nick would be.
After all, despite six peaceful months in
“Can’t you
go in the daytime?” Nick asked her uneasily.
“No. It’s a
double feature. It starts at five, and lets out at nine.”
“Why can’t
you go on Saturday?” he suggested. “There must be a matinee.”
“But
everyone is going on Friday night,” she whined. “Please, Daddy. It’s bad enough
I feel so pathetic all the time having to be in before sunset. Everyone is
going. And it’s really important to me.”
Nick
considered a moment. “Well, then I’ll take you,” he offered.
Niki
sighed deeply. “I can’t go with my father while everyone is there without their
parents. You’ll embarrass me!”
Natalie
could feel for her daughter, but understood Nick’s hesitation. If Spark, that
renegade vampire, had found Nicolette on their private Greek island, then it
was very likely that some vampire would surface in this booming college town.
Even LaCroix had warned them that vampires would always
be able to sense both Nick and his daughter. The cure of Nicolette’s pure dhampir blood had made Nick as she was—essentially human,
but with the heightened senses and scent that would both attract and repulse
vampires. In six months, the family had never ventured out at night.
Nick was
not going to break that tradition just yet.
“I’m sorry,
then. You can’t go. The only way is if I take you, so at least I’m there to
protect you.”
The girl’s
eyes began to fill with tears from a frustration that had been long in building
but finally pushed to the surface. “That’s not fair! There’s no reason why I
shouldn’t be able to go out with a group of friends just like any other girl!”
“Not at
night,” Nick said firmly. “You know the reason. It’s not safe. There could be
vampires there, especially at a movie about vampires! It’s not safe for either
of us to go, but I’m willing to take you if it’s so important to you. But you
won’t go alone, and that’s final.”
“If I show
up with a parent I’ll have to hide from the kids too, and not just the
vampires,” she retorted nastily. “Come on, please!”
“I said no,” Nick told her, more unyielding than he had ever been with her.
“Niki, I don’t feel safe with you going alone
either,” Natalie told her. “Why don’t you take up your dad’s offer, and let him
take you. If not Friday, another night. I’d feel
better.”
“Why?” she
asked pleadingly.
“Because he
can protect you,” she reiterated.
“How?
It’s not like he’s a vampire anymore! He doesn’t have any special powers. If
some vampire wanted to kill us, he couldn’t stop them!”
Her words
left Natalie speechless, and as she glanced at Nick, she could see the color
had drained from his face. In her anger, Nicolette had voiced aloud something
more serious than she’d realized.
It was the
truth, a truth Nick had only mentioned in passing, but Natalie had known
troubled him deeply.
As a human,
he was powerless to protect them.
The look on
her father’s face impressed upon Nicolette the full import of what she had
said. Natalie could see that she was sorry, but her own frustration wouldn’t
let her admit that right now. She ran up to her room and slammed the door.
Natalie
looked into Nick’s eyes, the pain on her face mirroring his own. She drew him
close and held him tightly, whispering, “She’ll be all right. Just let her cool
off.”
He hugged
her to him, drawing the comfort he always found in her arms. But in defeat, he
murmured in her ear, “But she’s right. I can’t protect her. I can’t protect any
of you.”
She knew
that that thought alone ate him up inside.
Nick lay in
bed while Natalie tucked Richie in. He heard her knock on Niki’s
door, telling her not to stay up all night reading. He’d hoped when she came to
him that she would have made some progress with their daughter, but apparently
Nicolette was not ready for that. Normally, he would go to her. But he didn’t
know what to say. Her words had pierced his soul, taking root in the self-doubt
of his last six months, sprouting even greater guilt and fear than he had
cultivated on his own. Had he selfishly grasped at this ideal life without
considering the risk he posed to those he loved? In curing his vampirism, had
he left them vulnerable? Could he really protect them as well now as when he
had had preternatural powers?
Natalie
slipped in beside him, and he held her close, protectively. Could he do more
than that? Between them, he felt their unborn daughter stirring. Was he selfish
to bring another life into this world, when he was incapable of protecting
those he had already vowed to care for with his life?
“I guess
both of our daughters are a little cranky tonight,” Natalie said as the baby kicked at him.
“Maybe
she’s angry with me too,” he said humorlessly.
Natalie
looked into his eyes and caressed his cheek. “Nick, she’ll be okay. It’s just
hard for her, being a teenager, and wanting to do all the things her friends
are doing. She didn’t mean what she said.”
“But she
was right,” he said in barely a whisper. His eyes burned with unshed tears as
he ran his fingers through her hair. “I can’t protect her. Or you.”
“Nick,
don’t—“
“Or our
baby,” he said looking down sadly at the unborn child she carried. “Or Richie. Nat, she was right. If some vampire were to—“
“Nick, what
are you saying?” she asked, and he saw sudden worry in her eyes, though he
realized at once it was not for their safety. “Are you saying you…regret
becoming human?”
He couldn’t
believe that she was holding her breath waiting for his response. Did she
really think…? He shook his head and smiled tenderly at her, hoping she could
see the truth in his eyes. “No, Nat. Never. How could
I regret being able to be with you…to love you…to create another baby from our
love? The last six months have been a dream come true
for me.” He showed her he meant it with a slow, gentle kiss on the lips, glad
when he felt the relief flow through her.
She sighed
deeply and cuddled closer to him. “We’ll be fine,” she told him. “As long as
you’re with us, I feel safe.”
“I have no
intention of ever going anywhere else,” he said softly. He made love to her
then, slowly, carefully, mindful of the baby that had been created in this same
beautiful, human, expression of a greater love than he had known in eight
centuries. And as he fell asleep holding her tightly, he couldn’t help but
believe that she was right. As long as they were together like this, he felt
safe too.