From: Catherine Boone Subject: DTD: An Unexpected Circumstance Nick heard the elevator about to open, and knew with immediate certainty exactly who it would be, and cursed to himself, *Stupid, Nat! Very, very stupid!* He dove through the doors even as they opened, knocking her to the floor, just as a small ball of fur shot overhead exactly where her neck had been. Stunned by the abruptness of the attack, Nat was less than coherent. "What...?" Nick had managed to corner Sydney in the elevator. Its fur was on end, and it hissed, its eyes turning red. "Nat, will you get out of the elevator and shut the door, before it decides to try to go *through* me to get to you?" "But, Nick... are you sure..." Nat looked hesitant. Nick turned on her, his eyes turning a bit yellow, as well. "Natalie, this is not up for debate! *Get* *out*!" But in turning, he took his eyes off Sidney. Nat saw he was about to leap, so with an instinctive yelp, she fell backwards and slammed the door shut with her foot. She heard a thump as he hit the inside of the door. Then she finished her sentence, "Nick, this is ridiculous! You can't make a cat a vampire! It just doesn't happen! This is the silliest..." Nick's growl was audible through the door, "This is *not* silly! Ow! Damn! Stupid cat!" "Don't hurt him, Nick, this isn't his fault!" This all seemed to be just too unreal to her. Not two hours ago, she called Nick because Sidney had gotten hurt in a catfight and had lost a lot of blood. Nick came by and was going to pick it up to help Nat take it to the vet, when Sidney did what all wounded animals do: it bit. With disastrous results. "Nat, why did you come here? I told you I'd call once I found him." "The sun was coming up! Do you think I'm just going to sit at home and do nothing? Speaking of which, why didn't you get some help to find him? Time was running out!" "I almost called Janette, but then realized if she ever knew about this mess, I wouldn't hear the end of it till the end of the millenium!" "That's only five years, Nick." "I meant the next one." "Oh." She decided to change the subject. "Nick, how did you know Sidney would go to your loft, again?" "Because I have lots of nice, juicy mice in here." "Eww! Why don't you get rid of them?" Nat almost couldn't hear Nick's reply. "Because it's in my contract." "What?!" "I *said*, it's in my contract to have mice in here. It's an authentic loft, so it has mice. I've also got a bat around here, somewhere." "You're kidding me!" "I'm perfectly serious! Why do you think I never bring any other vampires here? It's too embarrassing! Bats - God, how cliche!" She decided that it would be somewhat less than tactful to burst out laughing at this point, so she asked instead, "So, how's it going in there?" Her answer was a shriek from Sidney, as Nick opened the door, with it wrapped in his coat. He looked like he'd gone one-on-one with Freddy Krueger, but his cuts were shallow, and already healing. Wearily, he asked, "Did you at least bring the holy water?" "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Yes, I did." She fought an impulse to throw the vial at him, instead handing it to him carefully. Holding Sidney with one hand, he took the holy water gingerly, and poured it into Sidney's still-healing wounds. He yowled and screeched, sounding just like, well, a dying cat. But finally he was quiet, and simply meowed softly. Nick heaved a big sigh. "Good, we were in time. He's the equivalent of a hunter, now. And since cats are hunters anyway, he's just going to live a good long life, and start climbing the walls whenever I enter the room." She rolled her eyes. "Wonderful. When I need new wallpapering, I'll let you know." Nick had a truly evil grin appearing. "Oh, I don't know, Nat. Just think, you almost had another guinea pig to test on." Her outraged gasp was worth the punch on the arm. "Nick! How could you even think it?! Sydney's my baby! Aren't you, sweetie?" She cooed over Sydney until Nick started getting jealous. "Why don't you go home and get him something to eat? He must be hungry after all this." "Good idea." Half an hour later, Natalie was just about ready to go to sleep after a very... unique day. Turning out all the lights, she saw Sidney sitting in the middle of the hall, his eyes glowing brightly. Natalie stared, frozen immobile by his eyes for a moment. Then he began to run toward her. With an almighty shriek she dove into her room and slammed the door, locking it. She grabbed the phone next to the bed and dialed Nick, babbling hysterically. "Nick? It didn't work! His eyes, they were glowing, and he..." Was that laughter? She took the receiver from her ear and stared at it, incredulous. She'd stake him. Then she'd take it out, and stake him again. She put the receiver to her ear again, while Nick, still laughing, was trying to say something and failing miserably. "Nick, if you don't get your vampiric butt over here RIGHT NOW, I'll... I'll... I'll call Janette and tell her you weren't *man* enough to come catch a cat!" But that only made him laugh harder. She shook her head. Staking was too good for him. She could put crosses all around the loft, so he couldn't go home... nah, he'd just go to Janette's. Wait. Put the biggest cross in her apartment. No, right in her bed. Oh, yeah. She smiled. Now *that* had possibilities. Meanwhile, Nick had gotten over his laughing fit and was saying, "Natalie! Cats' eyes *always* glow in the darkness! Haven't you seen it?" At this point, Nat was ready to snarl herself. Not only did he have to be smug, he also had to be *right*. Ooh! Without bothering to respond, she viciously slammed down the phone and stewed for long time before finally going to sleep. 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 In the middle of the night, a soft scurrying could be heard as a mouse peeked out from a corner of the living room. Its gaze met Sydney's. Before it could react, he pounced, biting it on the head, immediately killing it. Slurping hungrily, he finished his meal all too quickly, and went to sit in front of the bedroom door, waiting. He licked his chops in anticipation. Soon.