Hi everyone.

Well, I knew it would happen. Lucien and the enforcers have found me.  But fear not, and read on. It all gets taken care of. And in my humorous style, believe it or not.

This is a sort of ADULT N&N tale, a continuation in my saga of Nick's re-claiming of his mortality. It fits in behind "Turnabout", but could stand alone. I will post to JADFE, Mortal Love, the fkfanfic site and Mel's site so those who have (hopefully) been following this gooey soap can read the latest installment. All others, just ask.

If you are offended by happy endings or a mortal love, then please return to your lair.

Once again (how TPTB must hate me by now!), I do not lay claim to any of these characters, I have just taken them on an excursion.  Don Schanke is alive and well, so is Vachon (and Tracey, but she's home doing her nails for the sequel to this story...)

Comments, hate mail, sexy Welshmen, etc, to pasvee@yahoo.com. Enjoy!!!

The Wedding Present             BY Mistress V

"Oh the times, they are a-changing..." Bob Dylan

"I'll see your 10," Javier Vachon puffed on his Havana stogie, "and raise you---50."

One by one, the players around the table---Nick, Schanke, Reese, Jerry---folded. "Too rich for me," Reese muttered.

Vachon hooted, mortally, as he put down his cards. The pot was his, all $87.50.

"He was *bluffing*!" Don Schanke sputtered. "No fair!"

Vachon raised an eyebrow as he counted his winnings. "Care to play another hand?"

Nick's bachelor party broke up soon after that. It had been a quiet affair---Natalie, Myra and Tracey had exerted a, ahem, subtle influence. Besides, Nick thought, he didn't want a hangover to
accompany him down the aisle.

"See you tomorrow night, lover boy," Schanke punched Nick's arm playfully. He leered. "Gonna practice?"

Nick gave Vachon a lift to the flat Javier had been renting. Since his own quest for mortality had begun, he had taken a night job as a recording tech at a local studio, and was slowly becoming civilized, as well as mortal.  Except for nights like this. He'd had one too many cuba libres and was definitely showing his newly-emerging mortality.

Nick knew he'd have to haul Vachon's sorry ass inside before he passed out. The sun could still harm him. Besides, Tracey would have him garroted if anything happened. He sighed with a grin, remembering his own first stirrings of mortality. (They'd been more of the erotic nature, he smirked. He remembered his first reaction to Natalie. He'd still had that same reaction, every day since they'd met.)

He parked the caddie, pulled Vachon to his feet and started towards the building. "C'mon, sleeping beauty, it's beddybye time for you."

Hello..." a familiar, hated voice began, "Nicholas."

Nick's mortal heart threatened to stop beating. He knew who the voice belonged to without looking.

"LaCroix."

"How touching to see your---mortal---side in evidence," LaCroix said sarcastically as he walked around the two of them.

Vachon opened his eyes. "Hey!" he began.

"Sleep, you disgusting, drunken, half-breed!" LaCroix's voice dripped venom. Javier slumped to the ground, mega-whammied.

"LaCroix, please..." Nick began desperately. His sire had him in an iron grip within a breath.

"What, Nicholas?" he whispered disdainfully. "What could you possibly want of me, my errant, errant child?" He grinned. "How convenient to find the both of you. Now I can dispatch two rotted fowl at once, as they say."

Nick knew it was useless to struggle. LaCroix's fetid, icy breath was on his cheek and neck. "I have been waiting, Nicholas," he intoned slowly, "waiting for my revenge. I'll wager you thought I'd forgotten our little deal?" He laughed. "No, Nicholas. I knew you loved the good doctor, just as I loved Fleur. Your lies were easy to see through. So now I have come to collect my debt."

LaCroix continued his diatribe. "Now we shall visit your---fiancee'--" he spat the words. "And you shall kill her." He laughed again as Nick thrashed about, tightening his grip so hard that Nick could not even utter a sound.

"Oh yes, Nicholas," LaCroix said gleefully. "I shall make you mine again, and when your first hunger strikes, you shall have no other choice but to satisfy it...with your Natalie. How I have awaited this
moment! And as for your friend here," he prodded Vachon with his boot," he shall die as the sun rises, and we will at last be rid of the vermin in our midst."

"SILENCE!!!!!" A disembodied, authoritative voice boomed. It came from the window of a black stretch limo that had pulled up next to them.

"Release him," the voice intoned as a door opened. Nick struggled to turn as LaCroix released his grip. He fell to his knees, dizzy and gasping.

"Lucien," the voice said. "This is not your affair." Nick looked up and saw a distinguished older gentleman emerge from the limo's depths. He was dressed in an expensive Loden cape and carried an ebony walking stick.

"Your--your *excellency*!!!" LaCroix gasped, bowing.

The figure was soon flanked by four snarling vampires. Enforcers. Nick's heart, which had threatened to stop, now sank. Then he stared as a caped, exquisite woman came up to stand by the council member's side. Jeanette???

"No, Lucien," the authority said, "no, this is not your affair."  LaCroix began to smile. His job would be taken care of!

"Nor is it ours."  Nick jerked his head up.

"But---your GRACE---" LaCroix's voice wheedled.

"Lucien, Lucien," he continued. "We have seen your vengeful ways through the centuries. Sisters. Dogs. Healers. But this---" he spread his gloved hands, "this verges on the absurd." He thrust his cane at LaCroix. "Our people have, on occasion, re-claimed mortality without breaking the code. Times change. We have come to accept this. But you---" he tapped his cane against LaCroix's forehead, none too gently, "you insist on living in the stone age."

Nick told himself he was dreaming.

The council member looked at Nick. "Please, Nick," he entreated, "please, get up." Two enforcers helped him to his feet. Nicely.

"I am Florian," he said, "a member of the high council. May I offer our congratulations on your upcoming marriage to Dr. Lambert?"

Nick gulped. "Thank you, excellency," he replied, managing a bow.

LaCroix began to babble. "Excellency, I protest! He has broken the code, he must be brought to rights!"

Florian turned him a cool gaze. "In what way, Lucien? To whom has he told our ways? Has he written a book? A screenplay? Been on Letterman? No, no..." he shook his head, "he has done nothing except re-discover his mortality. He has preserved the code, he is without blame."

He continued. "And his affianced? What has she done, Lucien, to incur your wrath? The past is the past, and the situation is not the same. She has saved our people from fever. She has helped our kind in silence, never once complaining. And she wanted nothing for her troubles...except Nick. And now he is hers. "

Nick stared. How had he possibly known that?

LaCroix was not about to give up. "The Spaniard!"

Florian looked thoughtfully at the inebriated vampire for a moment, then spoke.  "His sire is dead, as are most of those he knows. He always was alone, yet he has never questioned our ways. Until now.
Their lives are intertwined," he indicated Nick, " and the decision is his. He will make the choice. Not you."

He turned his attention back to LaCroix. "Perhaps, Lucien, you need to spend time at the Council Chambers. This new generation is less discreet, more disrespectful, especially after those ridiculous
movies," he said disdainfully. "We are contemplating a--re-education--of sorts, for many. Who better to instruct them than one of your renown? After you yourself have been...re-trained?"

LaCroix was thunderstruck. Florian put his arm around him. "Come along, Lucien." To Jeanette, he said, "We will wait for you, my dear, but hurry."

Jeanette moved forward to Nick. "My *dear*?" he asked, stupidly. She smiled. "It's a good life."

"Jeanette runs our Council entertainment club," he overheard Florian tell LaCroix, "and she needs a bartender. Perhaps...?"

"Nikola," she said, giving him a gentle kiss, "enjoy your life with Natalie. May you know nothing but happiness." She handed him a parcel. "From all of us."

"Get him upstairs, quickly!" she nodded at Vachon. Two enforcers swiftly moved to comply. Dawn was coming.  "Good-bye...Nick," she said softly. "Be well."

And they were gone.

                    -000-

Natalie stared at the antique silver frame. It was beautiful, delicate...and a present from the High Council of Vampires?

"That's it?" she asked.

Nick sighed and pulled her closer. "I guess. I still can't believe it happened."

They read the frame's inscription. "May your future together be without limits. In peace."

Life was strange, no doubt about it. As if reading his mind, Natalie spoke. "LaCroix---a bartender? Can you see it?"

They laughed together, then Nick gave her a kiss that told her exactly how he wanted to start their wedding day.

"Nick! We CAN'T! We aren't married yet...ohhhhh!" she gasped as his tongue unerringly found that spot on her nub that sent her into instant orgasm.

The phone rang incessantly, but neither heard it.

..."Her, lover boy, it's Schanke. I'll pick you up at 5pm. Remember to have the rings!"

..."Nicholas B. Knight, this is Tracey. Javier is sicker than a dog---and still drunk! If you weren't getting married today, I'd kill you!"

..."Hey, man, it's Vachon. Shit, what was in those drinks? Last night is a complete wipe. How'd I get home? I don't know if I'm gonna like mortality as much as I thought, man..."

<fin>

Comments, bouquets, razzberries to pasvee@yahoo.com

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