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"It must be closing time by now," Nick said to Tracy. "I'm going to
wait at Nat's."
"Go easy on her partner, okay?"
"Yeah"
Waiting for him in the caddie
was LaCroix. "Good evening, Nicholas."
"LaCroix, I'm in a hurry to get to Nat's.
I need to see her, make sure she's okay."
"I just saw her, Nicholas, and I assure you- she's
never looked better. I'm sure she's at home right now, whipping up
a batch of those detestable protein drinks you've grown so fond of."
One look into his son's tired eyes said volumes.
Somehow telling him about Dr. Lambert and the Italian didn't seem as much
fun as it had earlier.
"You know Nicholas, I thought that this whole
mortality crusade came about as a result of your time with the good doctor.
Now I'm wondering if it didn't start long before that- possibly as a result
of your time wasted with that young priest."
Flashback: Rome 1600's
It had been interesting, as it
always was when a mortal crossed over. As their eyes turned colors,
ending up Vampire red. That intense need for blood, that first hunger.
LaCroix and Nick felt it intensely as the priest realized what he had become,
the horror of what his very soul was desiring.
What he needed to survive claimed him, and
master and son covered their ears as the piercing cry of a newborn vampire
filled the skies.
LaCroix was actually quite incredulous that
the man had crossed over, he felt sure he would embrace the light.
"Maybe, his work here wasn't done," LaCroix laughed,
delighting in the ongoing struggle within the man.
Where he found his first victim, LaCroix and Nicholas
would not know.
The priest had become mad for a time
and LaCroix teetered on destroying him.
"He just needs some time, LaCroix. Give him a chance,"
his son had convinced him.
Nicholas was secretly following the priest,
absolutely entranced. The man was unwilling to take human lives.
He fed on the blood of animals. Not a new concept to Nicholas. It
was sometimes necessary. But he had never known a vampire to be so
exclusive.
Vittorio was his name, he had learned one
night when the man had been talking to himself. Nicholas followed
him to see if he would slip; but he never did. Vittorio would be
positively crazed with hunger, even to having a victim in his arms, neck
bare, fangs barred, when suddenly a look would come over his face and he
would release them and go.
To a field, a farm, a countryside, a wood and feast
with fervor on the life there. Nicholas was his invisible companion
those times, tying up loose ends, hypnotizing those who needed to be reminded
that *they saw nothing*.
Finally after months of this, the vampire priest
seemed to calm. One night, Nick found him capable of intelligent conversation
once more.
"Before I go, Nicholas," he said "I have a
few questions."
"Before you go, Vittorrio?" Nick smiled indulgently.
"Where are you off to?"
"On my way, my path. God's mission.
I will not let *this* deter me from my course."
Nick stepped back. The man was not as sane as he had thought.
The sheer absurdity of his words confused Nick.
"My questions are these," Vittorrio began,
"How long have you existed as you are?"
"A little less than 400 years".
The priest nodded. "And LaCroix?"
"1600"
"And the oldest among you?"
"I'm not sure, really. Probably thousands of years."
"And last, what things can end our existence other than
sunlight?"
Nick listed them and Vittorrio acknowledged.
"Well then, it is time to be off. I would start
here at home as we say, but I'd like to find a more receptive audience
to begin with."
To LaCroix who lingered in the doorway, Vittorrio merely
observed him with a look akin to sorrow and said, "LaCroix, I want
you to know, I bear you no malice."
LaCroix simply nodded.
"Wait," Nicholas said, "I have questions too."
"The answers have not changed, my son," Vittorrio replied.
"But how can you believe in a higher being that
allows you, allows us, to become what we are?"
"What we are," Vittorrio mused.... "and are we any more
of a monster than the drunk of a father who spends his last coins on beer,
while his wife and children go begging for food in the streets? Or
more monstrous than the pedophile who takes all innocence, all hope of
a normal childhood away from his small victims?"
"I agree with you," LaCroix said stepping out of
the shadows. "But sins they are, Father. And doesn't that holy book
you believe in so strongly state what the most grievous sin is of all.
Isn't it shedding the blood of the innocent?"
"Yes," Vittorrio stepped forward eagerly, smiling.
"There, you have the very thing I'm trying to say. Everyone
in this world has their temptations, their desires to overcome.
Especially us, vampires. Should we be exempt simply because our desires
are stronger? Was God tempted any less? He was offered the
world."
"If he created it, doesn't he already claim sole possession?" LaCroix asked.
Vittorio continued on, "We are only immune from his
atonement if we refuse to accept it."
"We can exist as I do without taking mortal life.
I believe in time the bloodlust will diminish and we can return to God."
Nick wondered how long LaCroix would be able to remain silent. Not nearly long enough.
"Vittorrio," LaCroix began, "What you say is not
only the largest collection of misplaced zealotry I've had the misfortune
of hearing in a century, but also dangerous to our whole community.
In addition to that, there are fundamental holes in your logic. I
feel I should enlighten you.
First- the blood of the innocent. In the centuries
I have existed as the magnificent creature you see before you now, I've
had yet to have found one innocent person. No one. That includes
you. As you have not yet had the exquisite delight of partaking of
mortal life yet, let me share with you."
As LaCroix spoke he used every fiber of his being to hypnotize
the young priest.
"As the liquid you savor fills you, so does the person's
life, their hopes, dreams, desires, indulgences, and sins. And yes,
they all have them, let me assure you of that," He laughed. "Some
more grievous than others, but if the atonement you speak of works so well,
than why are the sins still present? I am no more guilty of shedding
innocent blood than an animal is. I am merely hungry and enjoying
the hunt."
LaCroix looked directly into Vittorrio's sorrowful eyes.
"Come with us. Play *God* if you will. Read their
thoughts and take from this earth, the most depraved of sinners.
Make this your mission." LaCroix stepped back, confused by the eyes
that stared back into his own. This man was not able to be hypnotized,
but not because he was a resistor. It was because he already had
a master. He had clung to that illusion, even after crossing over. He already
was hypnotized LaCroix finally concluded. Disappointed, he stepped
back.
Vittorrio was undeterred. "No, you don't understand," he said excitedly. "The sins you sense are in the mind but not in heart. They have forsaken, not forgotten."
"Yes, well speaking of forsaking, as much as I've enjoyed our little chat, my son and I do have to be going. Nicholas?"
"I'm staying."
"Surely, you have the answers you seek by now or the good
sense to know- he doesn't have them?" LaCroix grew impatient.
"Fine," he snapped.
Nicholas had stayed as Vittorrio began his vampiral
ministry. He followed him and listened as he spoke to those few vampires
who were interested. A few even tried to only exist on animal blood as
he did.
It was only a few brief months, however. One
night as Vittorio as fed on what he thought to be a lone cow in a field,
a hunter had surprised him. Rather than take another's life, he allowed
himself to be killed.
Nick felt rather than saw his untimely death. Nick
longed to run to him and perform the last rites as he'd seen Vittorrio
do for so many others, even vampires.
The morning light had taken care of his mortal shell, just as Vittorio was embracing the light, Nick hoped. Good-bye, Vittorrio. You were the best person and worst vampire I have ever known. May you find peace.
--end of flashback--
And with Vittorrio's passing and his return to LaCroix, Nicholas had chosen to forget about the possibility for survival on anything other than mortals. Then there had been the night, he decided he would only take the lives of the guilty. Now, he worked with Natalie, as she tried so desperately to find a cure. Yes, he was making progress......
End of Chapter 5.
Back to Part Four! / Onto Part Six!
