Nick growled, his eyes already amber behind the dark
glasses. “Andropov.”

The figure at the end of the room chuckled. “Detective
Knight, I’m flattered. You remember me. It has been SO
long, and I’ve been waiting to see you again for
several years.” He looked at Natalie and LaCroix, and
started walking forward. Natalie could see a gun in
his hand, pointed at Nick. “Good evening Doctor
Knight, or should I say Doctor LAMBERT. I must say,
you did give me a bit of a time trying to find you. I
assume congratulations on your nuptials are in order?”
He tilted his head. “But apparently you have had a bit
of a lover’s quarrel, since the good detective
obviously does not reside here. How sad. How long has
it been since he’s seen his lovely daughter? And she
is quite the image of the good doctor. I must say, my
dear wife Irina was not pleased with her situation
when I finally found her a few months ago. But, she no
longer cares about anything.”

“Cut the crap Andropov. We’re here. WHERE IS MY
DAUGHTER?” Natalie’s anger flared at the baiting.

Andropov immediately tensed. “Your daughter is here.
She is fine, and asleep.” He pointed at Nick with the
gun and gestured toward Natalie and LaCroix.
“Detective, move closer to the doctor and her friend.”


Nick started moving slowly toward them, each step
loosing the vampire just a bit more. He felt the cone
of energy imposed upon him by Janette start to
tighten. The beast snarled inside of him to get to his
prey. Natalie’s heart beat in his ears, he could smell
the sweetness of her blood, and her memories sang
inside of him. LaCroix stepped to the side closest to
him, and he could feel the link he shared with his
master start to pulse with the power of the ancient,
augmented by Vassili and Arthur. Both vampires were
concentrating on keeping Nick in control, although
Andropov could not see the struggle going on inside of
Nick. The vampire inside of Nick was beating at the
mental bars caging it. Nick was barely even able to
control his movements, so intent was he on reaching
Natalie. The bloodlust was upon him, and only the
lines of control imposed externally kept him leashed.

Soon he was only a few feet from LaCroix and Natalie.
She didn’t even look at him, so intent was she on
Andropov. He could feel the vampire trying to lure
her to him by their blood link, but his efforts were
thwarted by all the other energies ensnaring him.

Andropov was watching the three in front of him,
vastly enjoying the control he was exerting. He had
dreamed of his revenge for eight long years.

Suddenly one of the doors behind Andropov swung open,
one of his hired thugs entered. He half turned his
head at the sound.

“Mr. Andropov, something’s happened to Andrew. He’s
not answering his phone and he’s gone from his post.”

Andropov scowled and returned his attention to the
group in front of him. LaCroix had all his energy
focused on Nick, who was looking at Natalie.

“So, Doctor Knight, you called in the authorities
after all. Too bad, so sad. I wonder if I should kill
your daughter as well as her parents. Or, maybe I’ll
raise her as my own. She is young enough that she
might be malleable. In a few years, after she has
grown a bit, maybe I’ll have some fun with her and
imagine it is her mother underneath me. I’ll train her
and then she can earn her keep.”

Natalie was growing angrier by the minute. Although
she felt the tug at the back of her mind to go to
Nick, her anger and fear for her daughter suppressed
the tether of the blood link between them. She swore
under her breath and suddenly she shouted and threw
herself toward Andropov.

Time seemed to slow down for Nick. His eyes were on
Natalie the entire time. He had barely heard
Andropov’s threats. He watched as Natalie started
running toward Andropov, and he snarled in rage as his
quarry moved away. Andropov tensed, hearing first a
yell from Natalie, then an animalistic snarl from
Nick. The gun in his hand swung from Nick, to Natalie,
back to Nick. Then there was a gunshot and Natalie
screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

LaCroix turned from Nick to Natalie, his own eyes
blazing gold. Andropov had started toward Nick, but
when faced with visage of the master vampire, he
stopped in his tracks, terrified.

“What the hell ARE you?” Andropov started firing shots
at LaCroix.

“Your worst nightmare and more.” LaCroix started
toward him, gunshots not even bothering him.

With LaCroix’s attention refocused, Nick managed to
break the control of the other vampires holding him
and he stalked toward Natalie. He could hear her heart
beating frantically, and a pool of blood was spreading
from under her still form. The call of her blood was
stronger than anything he had ever experienced. He
sank down beside the dying woman just as shots were
heard outside the building and the snarls of multiple
vampires in feeding mode seeped into the building.

Janette entered the room, dropping the body of one of
the guards as she walked toward Andropov.

“LaCroix, this one is MINE. Go to Nicholas. Hurry!”
Her red eyes turned toward Andropov, who had started
backing up in terror.

LaCroix turned to see Nick reaching toward Natalie. He
could also see that Natalie had been shot, and he
could sense that she was dying.

Imposing his will, augmented still by Vassili and
Arthur, on Nick, he flew to them.

“Nicholas, NO! She is already dying. You must either
bring her across or let her die. You will NOT feed
from her.”

Nick had pulled the sunglasses off and his own eyes
were blazing red, blood tears of frustration and
helplessness streaming from them. “LaCroix, help me. I
cannot let her die. Please, she’s losing so much
blood.”

“Nicholas, her heart is faltering. You don’t NEED to
feed from her to bring her across. Quickly.” LaCroix
knelt next to his son and tore the sleeve from Nick
and raised Nick’s wrist to his own mouth and slashed
it open with his fangs. He quickly put the bleeding
wrist to Natalie’s mouth.

The two vampires waited for several seconds, when Nick
finally felt Natalie fasten on to his wrist and start
to drink. He could feel her hunger and sense the
changes starting in her body. As she started to feed
from him, he realized that the blood lust was gone; it
was being replaced by the master-fledgling bond. He
sighed in relief.
===============
Kristen Fife, 2004 All Rights Reserved