Ashes to Ashes
a forever not story
by darkangel
copyright 1995 s. osborne
 
 
        Something was wrong.  It was only mid-afternoon, yet I was
awake.  Something had interrupted my sleep, something was missing...
        Nicholas.  I couldn't feel him anymore, couldn't sense his
feelings, or even his presence.  It was wrong, something was wrong.
        Yet I had not fed, and the sun was shining.  There was nothing I
could do until sunset.
        I lay back down, determined to rest.  I had a feeling I would
need all my strength for this.
 
        The moment the sun disappeared below the horizon, I willed myself
upwards, into the sky.  I still could not feel Nicholas, and the empty
place in my mind troubled me.  I crashed through the skylight of my son's
loft, uncaring about the damage.
        The Enforcers snarled at me, each looking up from a cooling
corpse.  With a shock, I realized that one of them was my Nicholas.  The
other was his doctor friend, Natalie.  The Enforcers looked at me for a
moment, perhaps in warning, before disappearing through the gaping hole
in the skylight.  I stared at the bodies, feeling numb.  He had done it,
the fool.  By finding his cure he had destroyed himself.
        Janette had landed next to me; I hadn't even noticed.  But her
screams jarred me out of my stupor, and I knelt next to my dead, foolish
child.  Janette was sobbing, blood tears staining her face as she held
Nicholas' head to her breast and rocked him, saying his name over and
over.  I felt wetness on my cheeks and was surprised to find tears there.
I had not cried in centuries.
        I looked over at the body of Dr. Lambert, and knew that we had to
dispose of the corpses.  I knew just the thing.  I picked up the woman's
body and looked to Janette, whose tears were staining Nicholas' cheeks.
It made him look as if he was crying as well, and it took all my control
not to dissolve into my grief.
        "Janette, come."  I tried to sound stern, but failed.  Damn
Nicholas for making me feel weak!
        "Where are we going?"  She used the lace of her sleeve to push
away the tears, only smudging her cheeks further.
        "To say goodbye."  I flew upwards, out of the skylight.  A moment
later Janette followed, bearing the body of Nicholas.  I led her to a
clearing in the woods, far outside the city.  I would have rather buried
him in Paris, or my old hunting grounds in Rome.  But we could always
move the remains.
        I pulled down trees, fighting for control from the cold grip of
sadness.  I piled the dead wood together, and laid Natalie Lambert on the
pyre.  Then I took Nicholas from Janette.  He was pale, as he had been
during his life with us.  I almost expected his eyes to open, and for him
to smile.  But he didn't, he just lay there lifeless in my arms.  I felt
the tears come again.
        "You're going to burn him?"  Janette was shaking her head, still
crying.  She tried to take him from me, but I held him close to me,
knowing I would never hold him in my arms again.
        "There are always ashes when our kind die."  I stroked his hair.
Yes, his remains would be the way they should be, all fine, gray powder.
Our kind always died in flames.  Nicholas would be no exception.  I held
him close, hugging him tightly one last time before laying him next to
his doctor on the pyre.  I pulled from my pocket the coins to pay Charon,
placing them on his eyelids.  After a moment's thought, I did the same
for Natalie, knowing that he would never be alone in the underworld if
she was there.  Janette was watching me, puzzled, but said nothing.  I
bit back a sob, and lit the wood beneath them.
        When I was a fledgling, we were the minions of Pluto, bringing
Death fresh souls to fill the dark spots in the world below.  I had served
him well back then.  As I watched them disappear in the flames, I did
something I had not done in nearly two millenia.  I said a prayer, that
the god of Hades treat them well.  After all, he owed me one.
 
--
darkangel         "well, i do like my whims catered.  my last whim was a
steff@jbx.com   buffet-style, which wasn't bad.  but i prefer a sit-down
@>--'--,---     whim.  it's somehow... classier."              --'ellen'