First of all, a little explaining.  I had to write a story for English, and
decided to do it on my favorite subject, FK.  Hope you like it.  It'll be on
my site soon, permission to archive given.

A Touch of Evil
by Cousin Raven (raven@naturesong.com)

The vampire examined his fangs in the mirror, appreciating their lethality.
He ran his tongue over them carefully to avoid drawing any blood.  No, that
would come later.  He gaze shifted to his hair, white with mortal age.  He
wore it close cropped to his head, like the old Romans.  It made sense;
after all, he was Roman before he became a vampire.  It was the one thing he
continued from his mortality.  Everything in his world had changed so much
since his fateful day.  He gazed into the mirror and smiled, appreciating
these mortal pleasures.  He checked his black Armani suit to be sure there
was no lint on it.  He smiled again.  Only the best for him and black was
definitely his color.  He gazed one last time into the mirror.  His thoughts
returned to the night's meal.  He slowly saw his reflection fade from the
mirror.  Such was the nature of his affliction.  The sun had finally set.
He sighed.  Time to get on with it.

\(^^)/

The vampire slowly walked up the steps and through the graveyard gate.  A
soft fog made the whole scene seem almost surreal.  He passed rows and rows
of mortals, finally stopping at a single stone which said, simply, "Nick
Knight, Beloved Son."  The vampire stared at the stone and was silent.  He
began to think of why he was really here.  It wasn't to visit his son,
Nicholas.  This grave was cold and empty.  His son was far away in
California, with his new child/bride Natalie.  He stared at the stone and
placed a single white rose on the grave.  He decided he needed to say a few
things, even though he knew he could not be heard.

He whispered slowly, "I'm so sorry, Nicholas.  I wish things had turned out
differently.  It's really a pity that you can't still be here.  All the
officers from the precinct have called me to share their condolences.  It's
really tiresome.  Sometimes I just want to tell them to go to hell that
you're alive and well, and they should save their condolences for their
silly mortal lives, but I don't.  I know you wanted to get away.  You wanted
to get away from these other mortals that made your life so unbearable.  You
wanted to get away from me.  That won't happen.  I will be with you again,
my son."  He stroked the petals of the rose. "We are eternal."

"Not quite eternal." A voice broke the stillness.  How dare someone
interfere with his reverie.  He turned, intending to make a meal of the
interloper.

He was not prepared for what greeted him.  There stood a lovely blond woman,
in a white dress.  She looked oddly familiar, and almost ethereal.  The
vampire looked closer.  Yup, definitely, she was a ghost.  He could see
right through her.  She seemed to glow with luminescence he'd never seen
before.  She seemed...oddly familiar.  He started to speak, stuttered, and
started again, "Aren't you Tracy?  Didn't I see you with my son?"  She
smiled a sad smile.  "Yes, and if he'd told me the truth about what he was,
I wouldn't be here now, and he wouldn't be where he is, but that is done.  I
am here to speak with you."

The vampire seemed startled.  "Why would you want to speak with me?"

Another voice interrupted the conversation.  "YES, INDEED."  It was a loud
and deep voice, like a bass drum.  The vampire put one eyebrow up and
glanced around for the second interloper.  A man stood just beyond the
bushes, at least the vampire thought it was a man, but when he tried to
listen for a pulse, there was none.  The man came out of the bushes and
presented himself.  He looked directly at Tracy.  "I am Lucifer.  Be gone
from this one, he is mine."  The vampire looked at Lucifer in shock.  He had
never considered himself anyone's property, servant, or anything else.

Tracy responded with a loud and commanding voice, "No.  I am here to protect
this one; you have no place in his life.  Begone now, and return to your
hell."  She spread her arms wide and a sparkling light, almost like sunlight
sprinkled toward Lucifer.  It seemed to burn him where he stood, and he
shrank from it.  "HOW DARE YOU!"  "Begone, I said," Tracy responded.  Out of
habit, the vampire shrank from the light.

"I WILL RETURN!" He said before fading into nothingness.  The vampire
continued to shrink from Tracy.  She smiled and went toward him.  "Don't,"
he said.  She smiled a smile full of sweetness.  "No, I will not hurt you."
She embraced him, and he felt a tingling sensation start in his toes and
work its way up.  He closed his eyes to feel the sensation more fully.  It
felt good; incredibly good.  Finally, the feeling started to fade and he
looked around.  Tracy had gone.  He smiled to himself.  This certainly was
an interesting night.

\(^^)/
The vampire was so distracted he decided to walk home.  This night had
gotten the best of him, and he didn't think he could fly without hitting a
building.  That CN tower was pretty tall, and it would be just his luck to
get caught on the damn thing.

Before the ghost Tracy had interruped him, his appetite had been strong.
He'd been ready to find a hapless mortal, settle down, and feed it when she
appeared.  Since she'd touched him, he felt almost lightheaded.  His
appetite was gone.  He pondered this as he walked.

The streets of Toronto were busy this night.  It was still early yet, only
9:00 or so.  It sounded like there were parties going on at every block.
Crazy mortals having their fun.

He stopped at the corner and breathed the air.  He didn't have to, he just
wanted to.  There was so much to see in the city.  So much you never see
from the air.  A man stopped him and asked for a light.  Never having been a
smoker, the vampire sent him on his way, noting that on any other night the
man would've been dead where he stood, in an instant.  The vampire just did
not feel like it this time.

Traffic was heavy even now.  The vampire waited for an opening to cross the
street.  Taking another deep breath, he walked across the street, looking up
at the tall buildings.  They were so beautiful.  They didn't have anyting
like this in old Rome.  Well, they had some temples and such, but nothing as
grand as this.  He smiled to himself.  It was nice to live a long life.  His
eyes focused on the road infront of him just in time to see a car swerve
away, almost in time to avoid hitting the old vampire.

The vampire reeled in pain as it struck him, and then struck the pavement.
The pain was incredible.  He'd never felt anything like it.  As
consciousness ebbed away, he thought he heard an argument...A woman's voice,
"He's not yours.  Just go away and leave him alone..." and a gruff man's
voice "HE IS MINE, AND I WILL TAKE HIM AND DO WITH HIM AS I SEE FIT."  The
woman again..."Oh, no you don't."  The vampire felt the tug of war as if he
were the rope.  He just wanted to lash out at both of them, and tell them to
let go, but he could barely mumble a weak, "Ungh," before he passed out.

\(^^)/

He awoke to a bright light in his eyes.  His arms swung out before he could
stop them, and the light ceased.  Slowly he opened his eyes.  The light was
still bright but not unbearably so.  He smelled sickness and sterile
bandages.  A hospital.  Great.  They probably took blood too.  Damn.  He
looked around.  There was a number of bandages in a steel bedpan on a table
to the left of him.  Across the room was a sink with a mirror.  In front of
him was a young mortal woman doctor.  She appeared shaken.  In her hand she
held a small pen flashlight.  It was still on.  If it was possible, he
would've turned a shade paler.  "I'm so sorry, you surprised me."

She took a deep breath.  "Yeah.  You're pretty strong for an old guy.  I
wanted to know if you were conscious.  I guess you are now."

A small smile danced on the vampire's face.  He watched her shake some
imaginary link off her white coat, and straighten up.  When she looked at
him, his vampire's heart stopped.  She looked like a twin of the woman whose
ghost he had seen.  She, too, had blond hair, and the same facial features.
It was incredible.  She reached over and started dabbing gauze to his head.
When she touched it he winced, because he knew that's what mortals did.  He
could feel the skin healing already.  It would not be long.
He whispered slowly, "What's your name, cherie?"  She smiled and continued
to dab at his head, even though no more blood issued.  "You're looking at
Dr. Laura Sanderson, or you will be in a year when I finish this
internship."

"Well, well, doctor.  I'm sure you'll do well, you've done so well with me I
do believe I'm healed."  He rose from the bed away from the surprised
doctor.  He went to the sink and dabbed at his wound with a towelette.  Soon
no blood was left, and the doctor appeared quite shocked. "I was expecting
to have to stitch..."  He smiled and in a deep hypnotic voice began
speaking..."You didn't need to stitch...it was all superficial blood from a
small scalp wound.  Alot of blood, but no need to stitch.  I'm all set to
go."

The doctor's eyes appeared unfocused.  She seemed she was about to fall.
She repeated..."No need to stich..all set to go."

The vampire smiled.  "I do hope we see each other again."

The doctor appeared to shake something off.  "No, wait, you can't leave, I
just started...I...oh, damn.  I just wanted to ask what you're doing
tonight."

\(^^)/
The vampire wanted to fly to heaven with glee.  _She_ wanted to see him
again.  On a personal basis.  He started to say something, then remembered
the last time he tried to love a mortal.  Pain.  Pain and death.  No, that
would not happen this time.  Not again.  His son was nowhere around to stop
him this time.  This time was all his.  He smiled at the good doctor.

"Certainly, Cherie.  When do you finish here?" his voice was melodic, and
sweet with past memories.

She swallowed thickly. "Well, actually, I'm off now.  I just wanted to make
sure you got the care you needed..."

He smiled and offered her his arm.  She took it self-consciously and seemed
uncertain what to do with the other hand.  He allowed her to be
uncomfortable until they reached the parking lot, at which time he let her
go.  She seemed to shrink with relief.  "I'll go get my car."

He gazed up at the sky.  About 2 a.m.  Not much time until sunrise.  She
pulled up in her beat up, green gremlin, and he almost smiled remembering
other adventures in cars of the same style.   He stepped into the passenger
seat without hesitation, and she looked expectantly at him.
Self-consciously, he looked down at himself, brushing away dust and lint.
"What?  Do I look all right?"

She giggled. "You look great, I just wanted to know where you live so I know
where to drop you off, it's getting late.  Don't you have anyone to look
after you?"  A sad smile played on his lips.  "No one, cherie.  But, I must
get home before long, I have a long night ahead tomorrow..." The lie slipped
so easlily from his lips.  She nodded.  "Where to?"

He gave her the address and sat back to think.  He hadn't heard the voices
since he'd seen the doctor.  He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
He watched the cars passing outside the window, each one with happy mortals
going out or, more likely, coming home.  He watched a truck roll toward
them, and almost looked away when he happened to catch the face of the
driver.  It was the man who called himself Lucifer.  He had a crazed look on
his face.  The truck was coming right for them.

Time seemed to stop as the vampire considered his actions.  He could open
the door and fly out, no one would see him, and he would be safe, but the
doctor's mortal body would be crushed...He heard the argument start in his
head again, and did the only thing he could.

\(^^)/

The Fire Department seemed to take forever.  Finally, after what seemed like
hours, but was probably only minutes, they came with the tool they called
the "jaws of life."  They broke open the Gremlin like an easter egg,
expecting blood and guts to spill out everywhere.  They were pleasantly
surprised when none was there.  They couldn't believe what they saw.  A man
in black had shielded a woman with his body.  They extracted the man, who
didn't seem to have a steady pulse and began CPR.  To their absolute
amazement, the woman didn't have a scratch on her.  She appeared shaken, and
they treated her for shock anyway.  She watched the paramedics work on the
man who had saved her life, and watched them shake their heads.  A body bag
was brought out.  She started to cry, and turned away.

\(^^)/

Later, on the way to the morgue, the paramedics were quite surprised to find
a fully healed patient.  So surprised they had an accident.  The papers said
it was an accident.  Of course, they didn't mention that the blood had been
drained from them all, or that the victim of the car crash was not found.
No, they just put it down as an accident, and buried it on page 12.

In his slumber, the vampire smiled.  It sure was an interesting night.

<Fin>

Cousin Raven
raven@naturesong.com
Forever Knight - \(^^)/ - Because Fangs are Sexy!
Never say "Bite Me" to a Cousin.
Dark Knightie, Dark Nattie, Dark Perk, and Cousin! or is that just "Dark
Cousin"?