Forever Knight

Tying up Loose Ends

It had been a terrifying two days. First, a dear friend of Natalie's had committed suicide, then, last night Nick's partner and a friend of both of them had been critically wounded in a shootout and died. Now, he had tried to make love to Natalie and failed. She, too was dead. He planned to join her. He handed the shillelagh to Lucien LaCroix.

"Do it." He said. "You are my best friend."

Nicholas Knight lay across the prostrate body of his friend / confidant / lover Natalie Lambert.

"Damn you, Nicholas." LaCroix said as he raised the walking stick above his son. With a mighty thrust, he plunged it into the flesh of his back and through the heart.

Nick screamed as the wood tore through his lungs and exited through his chest.

He was still screaming as he sat upright. He was drenched in sweat. His breath was rapid and ragged. He felt his chest. No stake. No wound. He looked around. He was in his bed in the loft. He grabbed his bathrobe and practically flew down the stairs to the living room. Natalie was nowhere in sight. Everything was as he had left it that morning. No bodies, no blood. "It was a dream. Thank goodness. Only a dream. It was all some ghastly nightmare." Slowly, his breathing returned to normal.

He went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle. In one motion, he removed the cap and drank half of it in one gulp. He was still shaking. It had seemed too real. He finished the rest of the bottle and went into the bathroom to shower. The hot water cascading over him helped to calm him down. It always did. By the time he had dressed, the incident was relegated to what it was, a dream, although he could still vividly recall everything that happened.

He dressed and had another bottle to finish the calming.

As he headed toward the door to go to the hospital to see if there had been any change in Tracy Vetter's condition, he heard the sound of the elevator rising. Even before it stopped, he knew that Natalie was on it. He breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving that she was still alive.

"You will never believe the dream I just had." He said taking her into his arms and kissing her as soon as the door opened. "Actually, it was more like a horrible nightmare. I dreamed that you came here to tell me that Tracy was dead. That she had died while I was asleep. I told you that I had hurt too many people and that I had decided to move on. We argued about that, and, in the end, you asked me to make love to you. As I had done a thousand times before, I told you that I could not. You begged me, and against my better judgment, I agreed. The moment I tasted you, I knew it was too late. I couldn't stop. I took too much. You were dead. I did not want to go on without you. The only way I could be with you was to join you in death. LaCroix was here. I asked him to put a stake through my heart. As he did, I woke screaming."

"Nick! You're scaring me. The reason I came here was to tell you that Tracy died a half hour ago." She held him tight, burying her head in his chest. "Oh! God! Will the rest of your nightmare come true as well?"

He held her for a long moment before continuing. "In a manner of speaking, it will. Just as Laura's suicide note was a wake-up call for you, this dream is a wake-up call for me. I have come to a decision. I've stayed here far too long. It's well past the time to move on. I'm leaving Toronto at the first opportunity."

"Nick. NO!" Tears welled in her eyes. "You can't do this. Not now! There are so many people who need you. I need you. You can't just walk out of my life like that. I won't let you. Not now!"

"I'm not walking out on you." He went to an ornate chest sitting on the end table behind the couch and took out a small jewelers box from it. He opened it. Inside was a gold band with two large diamonds set in two intertwined hearts outlined in smaller diamonds. A second band with two tiny diamonds in carved intertwined hearts was below it. "I am leaving and I want you to come with me. For the record." He got down on one knee and took her hand. "Natalie Lambert, I love you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Nick, I don't know what to say."

"Before you say anything, let me continue. I know we never talked about marriage. I wanted to so many times, but I wanted to wait until I could love you the way you deserve to be loved. I wanted to make love to you as a mortal man, not as a vampire. I bought these rings over a year ago, so I would be ready when the time came. That time is now. Nat, this dream opened my eyes. I don't want to lose you. Ever. If I move on alone, I could lose you forever. I could not bear that. Not after I lost you in that dream. I want to be with you for the rest of your life as your husband. Whether that is as a vampire or mortal is immaterial. I cannot spend the rest of my life without you. So, I ask you again. Natalie, will you marry me?"

"With that kind of logic, what else can I say but YES! Yes, I'll be happy and proud to be Mrs. Nicholas Knight."

"No. Not Mrs. Nicholas Knight. 'Nicholas Knight' does not exist. It is only one of the many names I have used over the centuries. I want to give you my name. My real name."

**********

The day after Tracy's funeral, Nick asked for and was granted a month's Trauma Leave. He said he needed the time to get his life back into some sort of order after Tracy's death. He said he was going to spend it 'home' in Chicago.

That night, it was reported on the news that witnesses on an ore ship had seen a small private plane catch fire and crash into one of the deeper parts of Lake Michigan. According to the flight plan filed at the airport in Toronto, the only people on board were the pilot and his passenger, Toronto Police detective Nicholas Knight. An exhaustive search and rescue mission was begun. For days, an armada of planes and boats scoured every inch of the Lake. Finally, after they had failed to turn up any sign of the bodies and only pieces of the plane, it was called off. There were no survivors.

The memorial service for Nicholas Knight was dignified and reverent, just as he would have wanted it.

**********

"No, Grace" Natalie told her assistant and long time friend, Grace Balthazar. She put the letter of resignation in an envelope. "I can't just take a leave of absence. Too many things have happened too soon. First there was Laura's suicide. Then Tracy. Now Nick. I have to get away. I can't handle it."

"Will you at least be coming back to Toronto?" Grace asked.

"No. I can't do that either. There's nothing here for me but painful memories. I have to start all over someplace new." With tears in her eyes, she hugged her friend goodbye.

She put her apartment up for sublease with a real estate firm, packed her things, including Sidney, and booked a one-way flight to Paris.

**********

He was waiting for her as she stepped off the plane. She ran to him and they stood in the airport waiting room locked in each other's arms.

Several months later, a small article buried in the society pages of the Toronto Sun reported the wedding of former Medical Examiner Natalie Lambert to reclusive philanthropist Nicholas De Brabant at his restored ancestral castle in Belgium.

**********

Not The End