“Wow sweetheart, that is a GREAT dinosaur! I bet it’s
the BEST orange and pink polka dotted dinosaur ever!
Are you ready to go home and get some dinner?” Natalie
coaxed Nikki into the car with promises of a chocolate
chip cookie if she finished her dinner.

As they got onto the bridge, Natalie kept up a
conversation with Nikki who wanted to know how
butterflies tasted flowers. Luckily, Natalie was able
to answer that they tasted with their feet.

“Their FEET? Mama, that’s just gross!” The precocious
five year old answered, and Natalie chuckled at the
expression on Nikki’s face.

The sun had set and the evening was darkening when
Natalie pulled in to the driveway of her small house.
She got Nikki out of her car seat, took her hand, and
led her inside. She helped Nikki take off her coat,
put Beauty and the Beast in the DVD player for Nikki
to watch, then went back outside to her car to
retrieve her laptop and notes. As she came in she
smiled to hear Nikki singing along with the movie. She
shook her head and smiled. The fact that her
daughter's favorite movie was about a beautiful young
woman falling in love with a horrible monster with a
kind heart brought a short stab of pain as she thought
about Nick. At night she still sometimes cried herself

to sleep, missing him. Her fingers unconsciously
strayed to the sunburst necklace she never took off.

She started dinner for the two of them, put it in the
oven, then took her laptop and went into her office.
She connected the modem cable, then started
researching on the Internet for some papers she had
been referred to by a recent medical journal. She was
researching blood-borne pathogens, and had recently
made some startling discoveries that she had hopes
might lead a greater understanding of one of the main
components of HIV, as well asprogress on a potential
cure for Nick some day. She became engrossed in her
research, printing up articles and notating
bibliographies to research later. Finally, the timer
went off and she sighed as she put her research
away. She got up and went to get Nikki and eat their
dinner.

Three hours later, Nikki was safely tucked in bed.
Natalie returned to her research. She was engrossed in
her work when she suddenly heard a -thud- coming from
right over her head in Nikki's room. She frowned, then
got up to go check on Nikki. She had had a couple of
episodes of sleepwalking in the last year, and had
fallen out of bed earlier in the month. As she climbed
the stairs, she felt a gust of cold air coming from
Nikki's room and ran up the steps and into her
daughter's room. She looked over to the empty bed and
noticed that the window was open. Nikki was nowhere to
be found. She raced across the hall to the bathroom.

"Nikki! Honey, where are you? Nikki!" Adrenaline was
pumping through her blood just as the phone rang. She
ran down the short hallway to her own room
and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"If you aren't aware of it, Dr. Knight, we have your
daughter."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Tears formed in her
eyes.

"Let's just start by saying that first of all you'll
need to get $5 million, of course in unmarked bills.
You have 72 hours. We'll contact you to let you
know the rest of our demands. Needless to say, if the
police become involved, you'll never see your daughter
again. And that would be a pity, as she is just as
pretty as her mother." The line went dead.

"Hello? Hello! Oh my god." The phone dropped from her
fingers as she sank to
the floor sobbing.

Two hours later, Natalie was in the police station.
The environment was familiar and oddly comforting. She
looked around, part of her expecting to see a certain
blond detective showing up at any time. She sighed and
sniffed again. She turned her attention back to the
two officers that she was talking to.

"Dr. Knight, can you think of any reason why these
kidnappers might target you? Anything to do with your
personal life, or any projects at work?"
Lieutenant Nate Scott was in his fifties, kindly and
graying. His young partner, Jason Nguyen was just
returning with a cup of coffee for Natalie.

She frowned. "It COULD be related to some research I'm
doing, but there would be no way for them to know
about it. I haven't told anyone, not even my research
director."

"OK, let's assume that is what they are after, and
that the money is just a ruse. I'm assuming you aren't
a rich heiress hiding several million dollars
in a Swiss bank account. What makes them think you
have access to that kind of money?"

Natalie pondered, then remembered a business card with
a number on it. A number she thought she would never
need to call. If these kidnappers knew anything about
her, her past, and Nick, they would know that she
would have no problem coming up with the money. She
also remembered her last conversations with LaCroix.
Was it possible that these criminals somehow
knew about vampires?

"I'm not an heiress, but I do have a well to do family
member that would be able to raise the money. I
haven't spoken to that side of the family in
several years, and there is a lot of...bad blood
between us. They don't even know about Nikki." She
snorted internally at her very bad pun.

Jason smiled at her. "Can you contact this family
member? Explain the situation to him or her, and see
if they are willing to help out?"

She nodded. "Yes. I have contact information at home."

"Dr. Knight, you might want to contact them from
somewhere you don't normally go. They may have somehow
tapped your phones and be monitoring your
communications."

She nodded. "I understand. What else should I do?"

The two officers looked at each other before Lt. Scott
spoke. "You should probably take some time off of
work, and make sure that all your documentation on
this research you mentioned is in your possession."

"No problem. I have to tell you, though, that I'm
scared. What if they hurt my little girl?" Tears
welled up in her eyes.

Jason reached across and patted her hand. "Don't
worry. We'll make sure there are plainclothes officers
watching your house, and we'll find her. Do
you want us to take you home?"

She nodded. "I'll go to a hotel after I get some
things together and I'll call my relative."

Their surprise was evident. "In the middle of the
night?" Lt. Scott's unvoiced opinion was clear.

"He's a night owl, and besides which, it's only a
message number that I have." She got up. "Thank you
for your help." Lt. Scott motioned for another
officer to come over to escort her home.

"Everything will be fine, Dr. Knight. You did the
right thing coming to us."

"I used to work as the Medical Examiner for the city
of Toronto. I know how law enforcement works." She
smiled as their eyebrows both shot up into their
hairlines.

Jason got a frown on his face. "Is it possible that
this isn't related to your work at all, but is someone
from your past, perhaps someone that you
testified against?"

Natalie thought for a moment. "It's possible, but not
only do I have a different name now, that was in
Canada. I can contact the team I used to work with and
see if they have any ideas." She made a mental note to

call Joe Reese in the morning. She shrugged into her
coat and went out into the wet night, memories of her
past crowding to the fore.

Three hours later, she checked into the Heathman Hotel
in downtown Portland. She went up to her room, set
down her small suitcase, laptop and work files,
then went to the bed. With trembling hands, she pulled
an envelope out of her shoulder bag and opened it.
There were two pieces of paper inside. One was the
card she had gotten from Nick with his letter and the
deed to the loft. The other was a piece of paper with
a solicitor's name on it, and a phone number to call
in London. She debated which number to call. She knew
that Nick would do anything in his power to help her,
but she also remembered LaCroix's warning and his
offer of help. Finally, she picked up the phone and
called the London solicitor, figuring that if LaCroix
was unable or unwilling to help her, she could call
Nick.

"Good afternoon, Smythe and Berwick Barristers." The
crisp British accent on the other line answered after
two rings.

"Hello, I was wondering if I could speak to Mr. Daniel
Smythe? I was given his number by a client to
contact."

"May I tell him the name of the client and your name,
please?"

"My name is Natalie...Lambert, and the client is
Lucien LaCroix."

"Thank you, please hold." Soothing music played in her
ear as her stomach did flip flops.

After only a few seconds, the line picked up and a
deep voice picked up. "Ms. Lambert? This is Daniel
Smythe. Mr. LaCroix told me that I might one
day receive a call from you. How may I help you?"

"Hello. I need to get in contact with him, and it is
rather urgent. Do you know the best way to accomplish
that?"

"Yes, please tell me what number you can be reached
at, and I'll have him contact you within the next few
hours."

Natalie gave him the name and number for the hotel and
her room number. "Please tell him that I'm registered
under Natalie Knight. And, thank you for your help."

"My pleasure. Please let me know if you need anything
else." The line went dead, and Natalie placed the
phone back in the cradle, praying that she had
made the right decision in contacting LaCroix.

She looked at the clock. It was 4:30 AM. As tears slid
down her cheeks, she realized she was exhausted and
laid down to sleep. "Oh baby, I love you" she
whispered before sleep overtook her.