Future Mortality

Part 7/?

By Christine Hantzopulos

Christine@forevernickandnat.com

“Oh…”

Nick looked down at Natalie in concern as a low moan escaped her lips and she clutched at her adbomen. “Nat, what is it?” he asked frantically. “Is it a contraction?”

“No. I don’t think so,” she said as it passed.

He scooped her into his arms without protest. “Come lie down,” he said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “This is too much stress for you.”

He carried her up the stairs and lay her gently on the bed, Niki following them into the bedroom, her face filled with fear.

“Mommy? Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

“I’m okay, sweetie,” Natalie assured her, then looked up at Nick. “Really. It was just a cramp.”

“It was all this damned stress,” he said in poorly veiled anger. “I don’t want you to give a second thought to any of it. You can’t afford to in your condition.”

Natalie nodded in agreement, laying back on the pillows. Niki climbed up on the bed beside her, laying down to hug her. Natalie put her arm around her daughter and held her close, just as she must have when she had been a little girl. A pang went through Nick’s heart as he thought of all those moments, all those embraces, he had missed. He would never forgive himself, never forgive fate, for stealing those years. Even as he had vowed to savor every moment of his unborn daughter’s life, he knew what that would do unintentionally to Niki—remind her of what she herself had missed. Maybe that was why tonight had been so important for him. The movie, the family ring, the time alone together—all part of his inadequate attempt to make up for lost time, and let his first-born know how special she was.

He looked down at them for a long time, his reasons for living, the only good that had come out of his eight centuries of life. Finally he sat on the edge of the bed, taking Natalie’s free hand. “Any more pains?”

She shook her head. “No,guys, I’m fine. Really. It was just the shock of it all.”

“Why would Uncle Andy want to do this to us?” Niki asked quietly, still dwelling on all she had heard.

“I don’t think it’s Andy, sweetie. He was really worried about all of us. It’s his parents.”

“I never liked them,” she confided in her father, her face growing dark with the unpleasant memory. “They always favored Richie, and treated me differently, just because I wasn’t their real grandchild.”

Nick had guessed as much from the conversation. He gave her a smile. “I don’t know if this means anything, but my parents would have loved you and spoiled you rotten.”

Niki smiled. “Thanks, Daddy. It does. But you know, Uncle Andy was different. He was always nice to me. To Mommy too. But I think that’s because he had a crush on her.”

Nick didn’t find this in the least bit amusing. “Oh really?” he asked, looking back and forth from mother to daughter.

“He did not,” Natalie protested. “It’s just that I met them both together, Andy and Steven, when Niki was about two years old. We were in the park, and they used to go jogging every afternoon. We became friendly, but then Steven asked me out.” She shook her head. “Please, this isn’t important. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Nick just looked at her curiously, wondering why she seemed annoyed at Niki’s having brought up the topic. Did it bother her to talk about Steven? Or had she maybe actually had feelings for this Andy…

“We’ve got more important things to worry about,” she told him, as if reading his silence correctly. “What are we going to do? Move again?”

“I’d rather not,” Nick said honestly, as Niki nodded in agreement. “We’ve started a nice life here. And I don’t even think there are many vampires up here. I didn’t sense anyone when we were out last night.”

“We can’t go through some kind of court battle. It will draw attention to us—“

“We won’t,” he told her with certainty. “I told you, Nat, don’t worry about this. I’ll take care of it.”

She looked at him dubiously. “There’s a time I might have worried what you meant by that.”

He grinned. “Are you saying you don’t think I can handle a situation without baring fangs?”

She smiled, but something inside made him wonder if there weren’t more truth to that than he wanted to admit. In reality, he didn’t know what he would do to stop the Dillon family from seeking out Richie. They might very well have to move on—something that he had grown accustomed to, but would be difficult for Natalie and the kids. How many times could he expect them to start anew? How much easier it had been as a vampire to frighten someone off, or to hypnotise them into forgetting what they’d seen. Once again, he was reminded of just how dependent he had become on the vampire within him to emerge when necessary. If he were still a vampire, there would be no question of his ability to protect them from any threat, human or supernatural.

No. He consciously pushed those thoughts from his mind, lest Natalie sense regret. He did not regret his decision to become human. How could he, when it had made possible his life with them? No, whatever he did, it would be as a man. Hadn’t he survived over thirty five years as a man, through Plague and Crusades and the hardships of the thirteenth century?

“So, how were the movies?” Natalie asked lightly, not having had the chance since they’d come home. It seemed almost a ludicrous switch of conversation, but seeing Natalie’s and Niki’s faces brighten made it seem the most logical thing in the world. Good. Natalie was leaving it in his hands. Once more her faith in him strengthened his own faltering confidence.

“They were great! Weren’t they, Daddy?”

“Yeah, they were,” he said cheerily. “ A lot better than I expected.”

“And Edward and Bella remind me so much of you two,” Niki said with a sigh.

“Well, your father doesn’t sparkle in the sunshine,” Natalie said, winking at Nick, “but he is my own Edward.”

Nick was sure he felt a flush in his cheeks, now that he understood all that that meant.

Niki giggled. Unlike most teenagers, she found her parents’ love for each other to be utterly romantic. Maybe it was because they had only just been reunited. Or maybe it was simply the vampire thing, Nick thought.

Suddenly, Niki stiffened, and her face turned white.

“What is it?” Nick asked, not sensing anything himself.

“It’s a vampire,” she said simply. “And he’s very close.”

The blond vampire watched Andrew Dillon leave the house in a huff, looking back at the door for a long while as if debating whether or not to go back. Suddenly, Andy tensed, then twirled around as if feeling he were being watched. The vampire was gone in a flash, hidden in the shadows, as he watched the car drive away.

This was it. This was the house. Now there was no doubt.

End part 7