Another Reality  (04/16), 
Jeannie Ecklund,


It was still night and Natalie couldn't sleep. She knew Nick had been called
into work on his night off and she was bored. 

She dressed in black and put on a wool cap, then blacked her face and flew up
through the skylight. She flew over the city and finally lighted on the roof
of the coroner's building. 

She looked out over the edge of the roof at the parking lot and noticed that
only Nick's car was there. It was Sunday and there was seldom a Sunday staff.
He was alone. She smiled wickedly. How would the coroner respond to a bit a
teasing. 

She went to the door of the roof and tried to open it. It was locked of
course. She used her vampiric strength to force the lock open. She slipped
into the darkened stair well and silently closed the door behind her. The
corridor at the bottom of the stairs was dark and silent. 

She walked the halls in silence. As she neared the door to Nick's lab, she
could see the dim light through the frosted window. She could also hear his
voice as he made notes on the audio recorder. 

She opened the door with an audible click and then floated up to the high
ceiling of the corridor and let the shadows engulf her. 

She heard Nick take a deep breath and his instruments quieted. "Anyone there?
Schanke, if that's you sneaking up on me I'm going to slice you open." There
was only silence as Nick came forward and peeked out the door into the dark
corridor. He stepped out into the corridor and stood for a moment right below
Natalie. She covered her mouth to keep from laughing at him. She could smell
his fear. 

He moved away and down the corridor to the front of the building to check the
lock on the front door. 

Natalie floated down and ducked through the door into the lab. She noted that
Nick had a body uncovered on the table and another body filled a body bag on
a gurney across the room. An idea quickly took hold. She grabbed the occupied
gurney and pushed it down the hall out of sight. Then she grabbed an empty
one and a body bag and with vampiric speed laid it out and climbed into the
bag and zipped it closed, snuggling down inside to wait for Nick to return. 

A couple minutes later she heard him come back, "That's strange?" he said to
himself. "I know I heard someone." He picked up a scalpel and made a cut into
the body that had been brought in only an hour before. 

Natalie, who was smiling inside the bag ready to spring out and surprise him
suddenly got hit by the smell of nearly fresh blood. She felt the vampire
inside her stir. She felt panic. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. She
hadn't even fed well before going out. An involuntary low moan escaped her
throat. 

"What the..." Nick gasped, his hands freezing above the corpse. The sound had
come from the body bag across the room. He knew that person was dead. He'd
just finished the autopsy on the woman. Yet now there was movement and the
zipper started to descend very slowly. 

"All right. Who's playing a trick on me!" he demanded, getting angry. He
started to move toward the body bag. Suddenly the body sat up and turned
toward him. All he saw were blazing red eyes and white fangs. The entire
figure was covered in black. This couldn't be human. A low deep growl came
from the creature. There was a movement. 

Suddenly Nick found himself lying on the floor and the creature was holding.
him down with its body. Was this LaCroix? It was certainly a vampire. He
pushed with all his strength against its shoulders, trying to keep its
viscous fangs away from his neck. 

There was a struggle and the body twisted away. Nick grabbed at it trying to
get a hold again and his fingers snagged the wool cap and it pulled free.
Rich brown hair tumbled into his face. He smelled Jasmine and Rose. 

"Natalie!?" he shouted, recognizing her scent. "Is that you?" 

Having lost all rationality, she fought on. 

Nick felt her cold breath against his neck and her fangs scrapped at his skin
before he was able to force her back. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. 

Then an idea occurred to him and he stopped struggling. "Natasha," he
whispered, "If this is what you want then so be it." He relaxed under her and
caressed her hair. He turned his face toward her and kissed her deeply, his
tongue teasing her fangs. 

She suddenly froze. "Nick?" 

"I am here for you, Natasha," he said softly. She pulled away and stumbled
back against the refrigerated body units. "Oh God, Nick!" 

She turned away and went to where she knew he kept the units of blood. She
grabbed one from a frig and gulped its contents down and grabbed another one,
gulping in long shuddering gulps. 

Nick struggled to his feet. "Nat, what the hell's wrong with you. Why are you
doing here dressed like that?" 

She continued to gulp, pacifying the out of control vampire. Finally it
retreated and she slid to the floor against the fridge and pulled her knees
up to her chin, resting her forehead against her knees. 

Nick stayed where he was just staring at her, totally confused and
dumbfounded. 

She finally looked at him and climbed to her feet. "I need you to hold me so
badly, Nick." 

He reached out and she came to him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.
He pressed a light kiss to her lips. "I'm here for you, Nat." 

She closed her eyes feeling his gentleness. Her sated vampire retreated
further giving back her tenuous control. She let him hold her. Finally she
whispered, "I'm sorry, Nick. You know I wouldn't hurt you for the world. But
IT might." 

Nick nodded. "I know, Nat." He stroked her dark hair gently. 

"I was trying to play a joke on you," she finally admitted. 

Nick pushed her back so he could look into her eyes. The whole situation
finally struck him as funny. Probably because he was exhausted and coming off
a huge adrenaline rush. He laughed and finally stuttered, "I guess the joke's
on you." 

She looked at him like he was crazy. "I lost it when you cut into the body. I
hadn't fed. I know it was stupid to come here like this. The vampire escaped
my control. I'm sorry, Nick" 

Nick, still laughing, hugged her to him. "Next time call before you drop in.
Come on, I'll drop you off at home." 

A figure stood on the roof of the precinct and watched as Natalie and Nick
came from the building. He got into his car with Natasha and drove away. The
figure rose into the air and followed the Ford Escort. 

Natalie punched the code into the door outside her warehouse apartment, then
waved goodbye to Nick. She entered the lift and rode it up two stories. It
opened to reveal a large room sparsely decorated. Overstuffed soft furniture
made the room comfortable and rather human normal. Tables showing different
works of art depicting the human condition were placed here and there. There
was a part of the room devoted to a studio of sculpture. 

Natalie shrugged out of her coat and went up the stairs. She changed into a
sweat suit, then headed downstairs to the fridge for a bottle of bloodwine.
She poured a generous goblet of the wine and drank it down. It was donated
from a young mother. 

Natalie felt her joy in the pleasure of the woman's emotions regarding the
caring and loving of her baby. A pain of sorrow coursed through her at the
thought of never having a child of her own. Only through blood like this
could she share the joys of motherhood. She shook the pain away and went
toward the large lump of clay sitting on the work table. Her fingers dug into
the lump and with Vampire speed she soon formed a bust of a certain young
blond coroner. Once the basic form was finished, she slowed her work so she
could enjoy creating the face with perfect memory recall. His features were
gentle and kind. She ran her hands over the cheeks, gently shaping them to
the memory of her touch. 

"How touching," came a sarcastic voice. "Natasha, do you never tire of
dipping into this human world. They all leave sooner or later and you are
left with nothing but these cold hard sculptures." 

She turned to face the intruder, "Do you never knock?" she said
sarcastically. 

There was a whoosh of air and the intruder stood close his hand gripping her
arm like a vice grip. "Do you never tire of your human pets? That new one is
weak and too emotional. He could destroy us with the knowledge you have given
him." 

"He won't tell. You have promised to stay out of my personal affairs,
LaCroix. When I let you drain my sister Urs in payment for my eternal life we
agreed that you would be my master in name only that we would be equals." 

LaCroix pulled her into his arms and crushed her lips with his. His blue eyes
flashed with amber. Natalie struggled against his grip. His fangs nicked at
her lips and he tasted her blood. She pushed with all her strength and broke
his hold, pushing him back. 

He stumbled back and laughed. "One day you will realize, Natasha, that we
belong together. For now I chose to hold to my word. But I warn you, I will
not allow you to cross back over. You are mine; you always will be. Have your
toys for now..." He flew up and out of the open skylight. 

Natalie sagged back against the table. She wiped her hand acrossed her lips
with disgust. He'd tracked her down again. Just when she thought she might
have come to the end of her search. Nick could be the one she had searched
for for centuries. She would have to be very careful. LaCroix could not know
her plans, or the legend. 

She had once found her master attractive and had let herself be wooed by him
and his power. As time went by she'd gotten tired of her life with him, of
his control and his desire for her, desire she no longer shared. He had
abused her too many times. Her feelings had turned to dust. She'd watched him
destroy countless lovers of hers and laughed at her tears. 

Nick's love could free her from his hold... free her from this life of
darkness. 

She turned back to the sculpture. "I will have him..." she thought, caressing
the full lips. 


End Chapter 4 

By Jeannie Ecklund Gersknightlady@cs.com