===== 

  
<<<Nick set down from his flight in front of the park entrance. This was 
where he had felt Janette calling to him from. <what the hell is she doing 
here?> Nick stopped and felt for the link between Janette and him. He felt 
her, but it was more faint. Nick then felt the telepathic pull of his 
master. <LaCroix?>He saw them then. LaCroix, with a stricken look on his 
face, sat on the ground, holding Janette in his arms. Nick rushed to her 
side. And then he saw the blood. Rivers of it, pouring from Janette and 
soaking the ground.>>> 
  
Part Five 
by Valerie Horton 
  
         The stake protruded sharply from her chest, blood flowing freely 
from where LaCroix had tried to pull it out. The crimson liquid staining the 
ground glistened in the moonlight, and Nick was overcome by a sudden wave of 
hunger. The urge to stick his finger into the pool of blood and bring it up 
to his lips was overwhelming, but Nick pushed it away, trying to focus on 
the problem at hand. 
  
         "Lacroix, what have you done?" Nick pleaded with the master vampire, 
as he took one of Janette’s cool hands in his own. 
  
         "Nicholas, I would never harm Janette." Lacroix spoke in a quiet and 
controlled voice. "How can you believe otherwise? I arrived just moments 
ago. I felt her pain and came as quickly as I could." 
  
         "Why have you not pulled the stake out? She is dying, we must do 
something." Nick shouted as he stood up. 
  
         "Nicholas, I started to pull the stake out, but it is too close to 
her heart. I’m afraid that if we move it some shards of wood will become 
embedded in her heart, and then she shall surely die." 
  
         "We can not just leave her here. We must get her help. Someone needs
to remove the stake before her body can even attempt to heal itself." Nick 
said as he paced back and forth next to his dying sister. 
  
         "What is it that you suggest?" Lacroix questioned his son. 
  
         "Natalie. If we take her to Nat, I’m sure that she can help us. She’s 
helped the vampire community before, and I know that she will help Janette." 
  
         Nick gently lifted Janette into his arms- careful not to move the 
stake too much- and then took to the air, flying towards the morgue and the 
one person who could help them. 
******** 
         Natalie turned off the tape recorder as she finished up her last 
autopsy of the evening. She would have been done sooner if Schanke hadn’t 
stopped by for the reports on the victims of their latest case. Nick hadn’t 
been with him, and when questioned, Schanke had just said that he had run 
off mumbling about needing to check something out. After a short visit and a 
briefing on the latest victims, Schanke had left her to her work. And now she 
was done, and wondering where the hell Nick was, and why she hadn’t heard 
from him yet. 
  
         Just then the doors flew open and Nick entered carrying a very 
injured Janette. He walked over too an empty table and layed her gently down 
before turning to Natalie. "Nat, I need your help, she is dying. You are the 
only one who can save her. The stake is too close to her heart. I can’t 
remove it without risking the chance of more wood shards getting stuck there." 
  
         "Nick! Are you okay? What happened?" Natalie asked as she moved to 
get her equipment. 
  
  
okay, who was next????? 

~~~~~~~~~