Natalie had awoke in her apartment a couple of hours before dawn.
 Chills running down her spine, she had a very bed feeling about
 something. The only question now was, 'what'? She moved around her
 apartment with an increasing feeling of uneasyness. Even Sidney
 felt it as, he hunched and hissed at her. That was treatment he
 normally reserved for Nick, she wondered if maybe she had been
 hanging around Nick so long the vampire 'scent' had worn off.

"Easy Sid, I'll just feed you okay?" Natalie edged her way to his
 food bowl and filled it with 'curdled kitty crunchies' to use
 Nick's terminology. Sid's eyes had been wild as he followed her
 every movement through the kitchen. 'Weird, really weird' she
 thought as she rose and moved towards her fridge. She was famished
 but the strange thing was she couldn't make up her mind as to what
 she wanted. Sighing heavily, she moved to her bathroom and
 proceeded to shower. She took her time here, enjoying what little
 tension relief the warm water spray offered her and wishing that
 she had a partner to enjoy it with her, 'At least running water
 doesn't repulse them' she thought to herself and giggled. 

She climbed out of the shower, beginning to towel dry her hair, and
 pat down her body. She looked up into the mirror, critically eyeing
 herself for grey hairs and/or an increase in wrinkles. Each one she
 would find was a day closer to Nick leaving, 'if only..' the
 thought began to cross her mind and then she banished it. Looking
 away from the mirror for a moment, she turned to pick up her hair
 stuff and as she turned back, a flash of gold eyes and a faded
 reflection greeted her in the mirror. The only problem was, they
 were hers.

****************************************************

Natalie drove quickly to Nick's loft. Unsure of the state she was
 in, she had to brave the sun somehow, that she knew. She had to get
 answers from Nick now. She had barely stopped herself from
 collapsing, whether in tears or in joy she didn't know, when she
 had seen her reflection in the mirror. Then as quickly as the
 change had come, it went back to normal. She would have dismissed
 it as a hallucination or as wishful thinking, except for the
 difference in the way she had felt when she had been a 'vampire'.
 She had bundled herself into all the heavy, most covering clothes
 she could find in her closet, luckily it was a bad week in late
 January so that was explainable, tossed on a pair of sunglasses,
 recoiled from a mirror when she saw that she bore a striking
 resembalance to Janette in this outfit, and ran out to the parking
 lot where she kept her car. Now as she drove to the loft, her mind
 raced, she couldn't be that far gone, the sun hadn't hurt and she
 hadn't smoked through all her layers, so that was a good thing. 

How could this have happened? Who could have done it? Janette as
 revenge on Nick for his indiscretion in turning her again, LaCroix
 finally fed up with Nick's quest and giving Nick someone/thing else
 to focus on, or someone she didn't know like an enforcer who had a
 different style of doing things than most of them who just killed
 without question. As she turned a corner into the sunset, the
 change happened again, and the fading sunlight seared her with a
 pain that made her scream in agony nearly losing control of her
 car. Again as quickly as it came it faded but Natalie unwilling to
 feel that pain again sped all the way to Nick's loft.

Natalie pulled into Nick's garage and rushed to the elevator,
 stamping impatiently for the elevator to make it's trip, she again
 felt the strange sensation flood over her and the burn marks on her
 face from the sun healed but left her even hungrier. Finally, the
 elevator stopped and Natalie pulled open the doors, not judging her
 own strength they flew into their housings with a metallic crash of
 bending metal. Nick was standing naked in a circle drawn of strange
 squiggles and shapes that made Natalie feel incredibly uneasy. He
 turned towards her and smiled broadly, "I did it, Nat. We can be
 together. I'm human."

****************************************************

The sun was setting as LaCroix roused, an uneasyness pressing down
 on him. He rolled out of his bed and looked around, there was a
 wrongness with the very room. He heard a heartbeat. He looked
 around wondering if one of the 'children' had brought him a gift.
 Then the wrongness glared him in the face, he knew where the
 heartbeat he heard thundering in his ears came from. It was his
 own.

****************************************************

"I found a book, Nat." Nick said as he stepped out of the circle and
 stretched out kinked muscles, "I don't know how I managed to keep
 it from LaCroix but I did." There was no answer from Natalie but in
 Nick's enthusiasm he didn't notice. "It was a magic book, hear me
 out Nat, it did it, I'm human, I have a heartbeat, I'm hungry and
 it's not for blood. We can.." Nick let his words trail off as he
 walked towards Natalie preparing to scoop her into his arms and
 carry her to his bedroom. As he approached the phone rang, Nick
 grumbled and almost didn't answer it but something made him. "Nick
 Knight's residence, Knight speaking."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, NICHOLAS?" LaCroix's angry voice 
answered him  from across the telephone lines.

"Just released myself from you. I'm mortal, LaCroix", Nick replied
 triumphantly.

"As are we all, Nicholas", was LaCroix's only reply. Nick looked up,
 confused at his former sire's comment, only to catch sight of
 Natalie.  She had removed her outer garments and as he watched her
 she slowly removed her sunglasses to reveal glowing yellow eyes,
 that dispite ruby trails of tears beginning to come from them, were
 fixated on his throat.

Natalie began to stalk forward on Nick, she heard an inhuman growl
 come from her throat. Nick just stood there like a deer in the
 headlights, 'please Nick run', Natalie thought, 'I'm in first
 hunger I don't think I can control, I don't know how to bring you
 across, Oh god Nick run!' Natalie tried to force herself to say
 something to push him into running but it was no good, anytime she
 opened her mouth only a rumbling growl emitted from it. She could
 hear LaCroix's voice calling Nick through the telephone line, but
 Nick just stood there like a mouse cornered by a cat his hand
 holding the telephone limp by his side. 'I won't kill, especially
 not him. I love him', Natalie's mind thought, the mind of the
 person not the vampire began to fight the hunger. Realizing the
 power of that statement, Natalie began to use it as a mental mantra
 to force herself into the kitchen where she knew Nick kept his
 cow's blood, better a caroushe than killing Nick.

Nick came out of his stupor to see Natalie standing in his kitchen,
 in front of his fridge, drinking from one of his green bottles, "Oh
 god, what have I done?"

"S'okay Nick", Natalie mumbled past her fangs, "I'm under control
 now. Just don't come to close or go shave or something alright."
 She was trying to put a little humour into a very bad situation,
 typical of her, and it brought Nick back to himself. Nick refrained
 from following his urge to go to Natalie and hold her, knowing that
 her control was fragile at this point and he had no interest in
 having Natalie damn her immortal soul by killing him. Natalie
 pulled another bottle from the fridge and chugged it down, "mmm,
 that one was better than the others. Present from LaCroix, huh
 Nick", she commented wryly.

Nick winced and nodded, "I'm so sorry, Nat. I didn't know, the
 explanation of the spell had been burned, it was incomplete."

"In the immortal words of Dr. Venkman, 'What have you done Ray?'"
 Natalie asked still trying to keep a bit of humour in her voice,
 but Nick could tell by the look on her face that she was annoyed,
 worried, angry, and most of all still hungry and fighting for
 control. Nick started to walk towards her and she shook her head,
 "keep your distance, Nick. I don't have your self-control, yet."

Nick took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and then began to
 speak, "I found a book, Nat. It had a spell in it, the spell
 instructions were complete but the explanation of exactly what the
 spell would do was burned. All I could see was that it would make
 vampires human.."

"Where's the book, Nick?" Natalie asked, she had managed to drink
 enough blood to make her eyes change back and her fangs recede. 

"Over there", Nick pointed and Natalie walked to where the book was.

"Latin, huh? Oh well guess there are some advantages to medical
 school." Natalie moved to a couch and sat down with it and began to
 read. "Oh and Nick..." Nick looked up at Natalie from where he was
 pacing a look of sheer agony on his face, "Do me a favour and get
 dressed, you above all people should know how hard it is to control
 when you're being constantly arroused."

*****************************************************
Natalie shook her head, "Well Nick, I don't normally believe in
 magic but I guess, well, I'm going to have to re-evaluate my
 beliefs. Why do you keep doing this to me, Knight?" Nick looked
 over at Natalie from his breakfast nook sheepishly, she noted
 somewhat amusedly that Nick had found a cross somewhere and had put
 it on. She didn't have the heart to inform him that it wasn't
 bothering her in the least. Having faith in science and being
 agnostic did have it's advantages when you're a blood sucking
 monster. "As far as I can tell, Nick, well just how good is your
 latin?"

"As good as ever I suppose, I mean I speak alot of languages Nat
 why?" 

"Well, conjugation is touchy in Latin and even experts quarrel over
 it at times. Besides this is fairly old, so you'd probably know
 better than I would..." Natalie seemed to be avoiding saying what
 she wanted to.

"And.." Nick looked at her impatiently.

"I think you made a mistake, Nick", as Nick gave her an 'oh really'
 look, Natalie quickly amended, "I mean with the conjugation of this
 phrase here Nick. I think what it means is that because of this
 spell all vampires everywhere are now humans.."

"And if you're a vampire then..." Nick said comprehension lighting
 in his eyes.

"Yeah, I think all of us have become like you were..." Natalie
 nodded.

***************************************************

Nick had had to do some fairly intense tutoring so that Natalie
 could learn to fly. It was still risky for Nick, but there was no
 other choice, going out on the streets, one of maybe a thousand
 humans in a city full of vampires experiencing first hunger was
 suicide. Even if Natalie did have an advantage over most of them in
 a tutor and knowing what to expect from her condition, she wasn't
 likely to be able to fight off the hoards that would attack to
 claim one of a very few human victims available. They could see
 milling hoards of 'undead' wandering the streets, some noticed them
 and tried to follow but without the training that Natalie had
 recieved they just couldn't lift off.

"I think I could get used to this part of being a vampire", Natalie
 said thrilled with her ability to fly and carry Nick with her.

"I hope you won't have time to get used to it, Nat", Nick replied
 guilt heavy in his voice, "No offense."

"I know", Natalie paused, "I just wish there was a way to have you
 stay human if we manage to reverse what you did to everyone. It
 just seems like we're always on opposite sides of the fence and
 neither of us can build a ladder to get to the other."

Nick nodded, "I know Nat", was all he could say.

"So you really think, LaCroix will have an answer Nick?" Natalie
 asked changing the subject.

"He's got a library. That much I know. He won't let me anywhere near
 it, so there must be answers there. In this case he'll have to at
 least let us see if he has a copy of the same book." Nick swallowed
 knowing his life as a vampire was basically shot anyhow if the
 enforcers found out who had pulled this little stunt off.

They settled near the back door of the Raven and Nick used a key
 that he had been given to let himself in. "How dare you come here,
 after what you've done Nicholas", LaCroix greeted his 'son', "And
 bringing her here in that condition would be tolerable any other
 day but not now."

"We're trying to fix the problem Nick created, LaCroix, and I've fed
 so there shouldn't be too much of a problem", Natalie replied
 defiantly thinking how easy it would be to reach out and twist her
 nemesis' neck until it cracked. The light in her soul however would
 not allow that kind of behavior even in respects to LaCroix. "You
 do have blood around here, right?"

"Of course", LaCroix answered a slight sneer on his face.

"I know, dumb question", Natalie conceded, "Bring me a bottle please
 and let's talk."

**************************************************
"It seems Nicholas, that you have 'lucked out'. The spell you have
 used will only last til sunrise. So at that point all will return
 to normal." LaCroix's face took on a superior look, "Of course
 there will be a price for my silence."

Nick nodded, knowing already what his master would ask. "I'll pack,
 LaCroix."

"NO!", Natalie cried out in anguish, her eyes changing and fangs
 descending in her rage, "You can't LaCroix. I'll kill you." Natalie
 began to advance on LaCroix but Nick interposed himself between his
 true love and his master.

Natalie looked into Nick's eyes and stopped, the rage going out of
 her all at once. "There's no reason he can't take you with him, Dr.
 All he has to do is bring you across in the morning. You've aquited
 yourself quite well, I'd welcome you to the community. It's odd
 that of all the vampires, Nicholas created tonight that the only
 one of them, I will regret seeing return to humanity is you."

Nick and Natalie flew back to the loft, she landed them in his
 living room through the skylight. "You won't will you, Nick?"

Nick's answer was silence. He took off the cross, "Don't want that
 around my neck when the sun rises when we all return to what we
 were." Nick continued to pack some of his belongings into a large
 trunk. "I'll send for the rest later."

"I'd bring you across, if you'd ask me Nick, if I were in your
 position. It's not that bad, I can handle it, I won't kill, I
 promise", Natalie begged.

Nick looked at Natalie with sorrow in his eyes, "You've only been
 one for one night, and you're not trapped. I've been like that for
 over seven hundred and fifty years. Tommorrow everyone who was a
 vampire tonight will wake up a human."

Natalie stood there for a moment as if digesting what he had just
 said, bloody tears pouring from her eyes, then suddenly she mumbled
 to herself, "Vampire tonight. Human tommorrow." She looked up at
 Nick who was trying not to look at her and asked, "How many hours
 til sunrise?"

"Only about one", Nick said quietly.

"And how long does it take to be brought across", Natalie asked.

"Not long, a few minutes occasionally it'll take longer, an hour at
 the most", Nick looked at Natalie confused, "Why are you asking?"

Natalie grinned ferally, it might work, it might not but anything
 was worth a try at this point, "You'll thank me in the morning!"
 and she began to advance on Nick with her fangs barred and eyes
 flashing.



"Hey, Nat, no wait..."

*****************************************************
Nick awoke sleepily on his living room floor with sunlight cascading
 around his body, warming his skin. There was a gently snoring
 Natalie Lambert lying next to him her chest rising and falling
 rythmically. There was something missing, and Nick grasped it
 instantly. He was lying in the rays of the sun, Natalie's beating
 heart was no longer a dinner bell for him in fact he could no
 longer hear it and her blood no longer sang to him like a bottle of
 good wine. The vampire was gone.

Nick remembered his mistake of last night and knew LaCroix would not
 be happy about this recent turn of events. His old master would
 either kill him or bring him back across for his indiscretion of
 becoming human again. Somehow Natalie, in her fledgling state, had
 lucked out and managed to bring him across. He had awoken hungry
 and his new master/lover had been there with a bottle to greet him
 so he could feed. Then they had layed down together holding each
 other to face what ever the sun would bring. As the sun had rose,
 they had fallen unconscious and only had awoken now. It seemed
 unlikely that they could run from LaCroix and he wanted to enjoy at
 least one day with Natalie, playing in the sun, making love. So he
 shook her awake.

"Nat, love", Nick gently jostled her.

"Nick, oh my god.. Get out of the light", she began to push him out
 from under the huge windows. Her hands brushed against the warm
 flesh of his face and she stopped, laying her hands on his chest.
 "You're breathing, you're HUMAN!" Natalie flung herself around him.
 "How?" Natalie then pressed a finger to his lips, "I don't care
 how, you're human."

"Don't you remember last night?" Nick asked. Natalie shook her head.
 "You cured me." Nick answered slowly, not wanting to upset Nat with
 the tale.

"Well I guess I'm not a threat to the community.. I have no idea of
 how I managed it." Natalie sat looking puzzled. "What about
 LaCroix, Nick... He'll try to take you back.. We have to run.."
 Natalie looked panicked.

"There's no where on the planet we could hide, Nat", Nick said,
 "Let's just enjoy today while it lasts."

"Oh Nick, no.." Natalie moaned and held him tightly. They stayed
 curled around each other for an hour or two more and then went out
 to enjoy the rest of the day. There were very few hours in the day 
 when they actually forgot about the impending doom of the evening.

They returned to the loft just before sunset, there was no use in
 angering LaCroix further by not being there when he arrived. Nick
 and Natalie held each other as the sun sank below the Toronto
 skyline. It was now only a matter of time before LaCroix arrived.
 There was no sound to announce him, just the sound of his angry
 voice, "So she managed it. How I do not know, but it will not
 last." LaCroix's eyes flashed golden and he stalked forward.

"I know LaCroix, I promised I'd leave with you tonight. I'll still
 go." Nick walked towards his master acquiesant.

"Has her cure adled your mind, Nicholas. I did not see you last
 night." LaCroix stalked forward slowly, "For her success, she'll be
 rewarded with being your first meal of your new life with me."
 LaCroix fixed Natalie with a glare that made her freeze in place.

Nick's mind was reeling. LaCroix had no recollection of his mistake,
 not that it made any difference as his master had no intention of
 allowing Nick to stay mortal. Nick picked up an old cane that sat
 as a decoration to the side of one of the windows. "I'm not going
 down without a fight, LaCroix."

"So much the better, my son", LaCroix sneered.

Then Natalie seemed to come to life and interposed herself between
 Nick and LaCroix. "Wait, LaCroix, I have a better offer. A more
 interesting game for you." 

LaCroix looked suspicious at first and then smiled encouragingly,
 "Oh really, do tell?"

Natalie looked guiltily at Nick, and then motioned for LaCroix to
 follow her up the stairs to Nick's bedroom. Time passed at a crawl,
 and then finally the two emerged. Natalie looked resigned, LaCroix
 looked intrigued and triumphant. "She has won you your freedom with
 her suggestion, Nicholas. I will check by from time to time. May  you
have a long and 'productive' mortal life, my children." LaCroix
 bowed ceremonially to Natalie and then with a rush of air exited
 via the skylight.

Nick and Natalie were silent for a moment, holding each other. Nick
 couldn't believe how easy it had been to get LaCroix to release his
 hold over him. Then a thought rushed into Nick's mind, 'If it seems
 to good to be true, it probably is.' A shiver went through Nick as
 he asked, "Who's soul did you sell, Nat?"

"Mine, it's the only one I had to offer", she replied quietly into
 the night. 

The End

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