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"I told you to watch her," LaCroix was growling at Vachon.
They had tried her apartment, the morgue, her cell, her beeper, nothing.
Nick.... Nicholas.... Nick?
How long had they been calling his name? Too long, he realized looking up.
Vetter offered to drive him home.
"No, No, I have to feed the cat. Sydney
will be hungry." he replied distractedly. He saw LaCroix's lips move as
he offered Nick- hope?, condolences? he wasn't sure. He had fed Sydney,
and then clutching the sweater she had worn the night before, he collapsed
on her bed sleeping fitfully. He awoke a few hour later only to find the
nightmare was real. The photographs of the victims and the word she'd
written came back to haunt him. Four days of abduction. Tortured,
bruised, beaten, starved, dehydrated, two of them shot, one stabbed
and 4 hung.
If only he had a link to Natalie like the
one he shared with LaCroix. Wishful thinking. Natalie was not
a vampire. Then he had an idea. Not a great one, but one that
could save her life!
"Here." He dropped the bag of blood onto
the bar in front of LaCroix. The bar was closed to mortals, only
vampires remained.
"A gift my son?" LaCroix queried.
"Drink it, her, I mean it's hers- Natalie's.
When you drink it you will have the link you need, you will be able to
sense her. Will this be enough?"
"Nicholas," LaCroix began gently," I.....
"For God's sake, LaCroix, do this one thing
for me. I never ask you for anything! Help me! Help me find her before
it's too late...."
LaCroix held Nicholas as sobs racked his body.
Tears sprang into his own eyes as he tasted, then finished the blood of
Dr. Lambert.
His head spun with the images, her memories,
her life, it was over far too soon.
"Well?" Nicholas said.
LaCroix frowned. "I'm sorry Nicholas, she
is asleep or drugged, but not in any pain."
That seemed to pacify Nick.
"My son, she rests, and you should be too.
I will wake you when I sense something."
Nick accepted the offer of LaCroix's
bed at the back room of the Raven. It was not a deep sleep.
Natalie had begun to come out of it,
and she was afraid, he sensed. For 3 days it had gone on like this.
He would feel her pain, and then before he could reach her, the link was
cut. The man repeatedly drugged her, or had hit her so hard she passed
out. LaCroix cursed.
This was frustrating. The link was supposed
to work both ways. It came about as a result of one vampire making
another. But Natalie was mortal, so he could not offer her the reassurance
that help was on the way, if she could only remain conscious a little
longer.
As if in answer a new pain had befallen Dr.
Lambert, and a new terror. He knew he had only seconds. With a crash
he burst through the window, spraying glass everywhere. He rushed
in horror to her side. She was hanging from a noose. Was he too late?
Had he saved her? She hovered on the brink of death. She shivered, her
lips almost blue. LaCroix wrapped her in his jacket. Nicholas came
in. LaCroix forgot he had followed. He surveyed the whole scene.
The noose, rope burns around her neck, her limp body cradled in his master's
arms as he tried to revive her.
Nick heard her heart beat and felt intense
relief. "LaCroix, thank you."
"She is not doing so well, Nicholas."
"I'll take her to the hospital. She wouldn't
be alive without you."
Was it a look of actual relief that played on LaCroix's
face as he looked at Natalie? She remained in his arms. He
seemed rather reluctant to part with her.
If LaCroix felt any sign of his son's jealousy,
he paid it no heed.
"Nicholas, you need to decide... if she doesn't
make it, if it looks like... Do you.....?"
"NO! Don't even say it. She's going
to be just fine."
LaCroix had his doubts as he heard the faint heartbeat
and the link that was all but gone.
Taking her from him, Nick took to the skies arriving
at the hospital quicker than humanly possible.
Arriving at the Raven, he told the crowd about Doctor
Lambert, and how it was up to modern medicine now to save her.
"But, she's okay, right?" Vachon asked.
LaCroix shrugged. They're examining her now.
He tested his new link to the Doctor. A barely audible heartbeat,
thin erratic. "They don't know...." The anger consumed him,
flaring suddenly. He grabbed a bottle and drank it all, and then
another. "Where's Owens?" he asked.
"Owens is in self-imposed exile, back in prison.
He plans on staying until he is cleared. He's going to be real happy
that Natalie is safe and you caught the real killer." With shock,
LaCroix realized that the sick human guilty of these crimes still remained
at large.
The arrogant idiot. Did he really
think he would get away with this? He had made enemies not just with
the police department, but with the vampire community. It wasn't
going to take another full moon to catch him, either, he vowed.
"He got away?" Vachon asked.
"Temporarily."
He felt it then, the soft heartbeat growing
steadily louder, stronger. "Dr. Lambert is going to be okay," he told Vachon.
"Something is still wrong, however. It appears Nicholas needs me."
Nicholas sat beside her, wanting to hold her
hand, but afraid he would hurt her. She was so pale. Bruises,
cuts and scrapes everywhere, and the red welts around her neck...
Anger flared again.
"We will find the man who did this to her,
Nicholas and he will pay."
Was LaCroix actually feigning interest in
Natalie? Was he genuinely concerned at all? The emotional toll was
too much to comprehend his own thoughts at the moment. Much less his master's.
"LaCroix, Nicholas looked up, tears swimming
in his eyes. "She's in a coma. They said brain damage or...."
"Nicholas." He placed a comforting hand
on his shoulder.
Then, turning to Natalie he probed her mind
gently. "She doesn't have brain damage, and she wants to wake up.
Talk to her, she can hear you."
"Natalie? Please wake up. I know
you must be in pain. But I have to know that you're still with me.
Just open your eyes for a minute, then I'll let you sleep. Please come
back to me."
Her eyelids fluttered. "Nick?" she whispered.
"Her vocal chords may have been damaged perhaps," LaCroix noted.
"Natalie." Nick kissed her hand.
End of Chapter 8.
Back to Part Seven! / Onto Part Nine!
