From hawksrdg@PACBELL.NETThu Dec 12 16:52:17 1996 Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 22:31:28 -0800 From: Cat MacLean To: Multiple recipients of list FKFIC-L Subject: Christmas: The Devil's Knell (01/2) Disclaimers: The usual disclaimers apply. No copyright infrigement is intended or implied. Author's Note: This little story is in response to Mel's Christmas Challenge. Warning: contains material which may be hazardous to your health if you must restrict your sugar intake. This one is a Nick and Nat Packer's Christmas wish come true. Also, contains references of a Christian nature (if that is not your religion of choice, no offense is intended). Have a great Holiday Season! The Devil's Knell (01/2) "Carol! Carol!" Natalie had to shout to make herself heard over the caucophony of "Jingle Bell Rock" blaring from the CD player accompanied by Carol's less than on key contralto. Oblivious to Natalie presence, Carol continued to rhythmically transfer the stack of reports in her hands to the file drawers, along with the occasional bump and grind in tempo with the music. She slammed the last drawer shut with a swing of her hip, pivoted around on one foot, still singing at the top of her quite generous lungs and spotted Natalie standing open-mouthed at the open door. "Hi, kiddo. Sorry, let me just turn this down a bit." Carol swiped at the volume button on the tabletop system and Johnny Helms receded into relative quiet. "I'm going to get in the Christmas spirit if it kills me." Carol grinned at Natalie and waved her hands to draw her attention to the decorations which had magically appeared since Natalie had been at the latest crime scene. ""And me too, huh?" Natalie slowly turned in a circle, taking in the sight of what had been, until recently, her lab. "Geez, Carol, it looks like the North Pole blew up in here." Natalie could have sworn that she'd been gone less than an hour. Multi-colored, tinsel hung garlands were strung from every corner of the room nearly obscurring the overhead lights, giant snowflakes were shedding sparkles on the once sterile tiled floor and it looked as if Carol had raided her childhood stuffed animal collection and brought them all to the morgue. Large and small teddybears of every description perched on and in every available nook and cranny in the room. Each and every bear was dressed for the occasion, sporting a satin bow, a hand knitted vest or hat, all in red or green, of course. Natalie stopped counting stuffies when she got to thirty. All of this paled in comparison to 'the tree'. "How in the world did you get _that thing_ in here?" demanded Natalie, pointing accusingly at the eight foot noble fir, surmounted by what looked to be an antique blown glass angel, standing next to her desk. At least, that's where her desk had been when she'd left. All Natalie could see of it was a huge overstuffed reindeer sitting in her already overflowing in-basket, wearing a huge red bow, a smile and eyelashes that would be the envy of a certain religious personage's ex-wife. "Isn't it great?" Carol beamed like a proud parent and lovingly rearranged an errant piece of tinsel or two on the already laden tree. "This is too much. It's got to go." Natalie shook her head and took a firm tone. "Nope. No way, not doing it." Carol just kept smiling and tucking ornaments more securely on the drooping branches of the tree. "I mean it, Carol." Natalie had on her stern 'I am the boss' face. "Nope. I'm going to be in the spirit and so are you. If I have to drag you there kicking and screaming." Carol deftly plucked Natalie's purse and bag from her, steered her towards the desk chair and gave her a small push. Natalie sat down warily, afraid she might sit on one of Carol's furry friends and surveyed what used to be her domain. She cast her eyes heavenward in exasperation. "Carol. What is _that_?" There was a beribboned ball of greenery hanging ominously over her chair. "Misteltoe, as if you didn't know." Carol smirked and pursed her lips together in an exagerrated kissing pose. Natalie just put her head in her hands and groaned. "Here, have some of this; you'll be singing along with me before you know it." Carol thrust a large steaming mug into Natalie's hands. The fragrance of cinnamon spiced cider rose up to her and she sniffed appreciatevly, then sipped carefully. "Umm, this is good, Carebear." Natalie savored the feel of the hot mug in her hand and the taste of the sweet cider on her tongue. "I guess you can leave this stuff up, since it's already Christmas Eve." Idly, Natalie ran her fingers over the plushy fur of the reindeer in residence on her desk and flicked the tiny bell on the bow. She smiled in spite of herself. "Yep, it's already Christmas Eve." Carol sighed and then cast a sideways glance at Natalie. "What are you doing tonight?" "Nothing." "Yes, you are. You're coming to midnight mass with me." "Oh, I am, am I?" Natalie peered at her over the rim of her mug. "Yep, I figure we can just go from here." Carol forestalled Natalie's objections. "And, you look fine. So, that's all set." Carol turned up the music again and smiled at Natalie, just daring her. "All right, Carebear, you asked for it." The twice as loud, but still off key rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" echoed throughout the now appropriately festive morgue. ************* /\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Outside in the hallway, Nick stopped short, his hand on the door handle. Was that Natalie singing? He recognized Carol's voice not only from the tone, but more definitely from the sheer volume. He winced as the duo rendered a particularly discordant passage, giggling all the while. Quietly, he pushed the door open just a fraction. Natalie and Carol were standing, arms around each other, toasting each other with mugs of what smelled like spiced cider, evidently very much in the Christmas spirit. Nick had to smile; he was glad that Carol had managed to cheer Natalie up, even if it was just for a while. Christmas wasn't exactly the most convenient time of year to be a vampire, or be involved with a vampire. They had both been through so much in the past few months, he was glad that Natalie could relax and let herself go with Carol. Watching the two friends, Nick felt weighed down with centuries of memories, Christmases past and friends lost, time passed, people came and went, but he was still here. The memories were especially painful this time of year, but, some things were worth remembering. He remembered the blazing heat of the yule log as he stood warming his hands, the look on his sister's face when she beheld the first snowfall of the winter, the taste of heavy, spiced wine drunk with friends and family in celebration of Christmas Eve. ********** /\/\/\/\/\ Her fingers trembled she proferred the welcome cup of heated wine to him. The heady scent of good wine and foreign spices rising from the goblet was intoxicating, but not as alluring as the lady who stood before him. She was an angel come to life, spun from his dreams. "Sir Nicolas de Brabant, this is my only daughter, Annalee, mistress of my house." The baronet stood, watching his only daughter fondly. "My thanks, lady." Nicolas took the goblet from her hands, brushing her delicate skin with the rough leather of his glove. "Thanks to you for the welcome and the wine." He drank deeply, holding her gaze with his deep blue eyes, smiling a slow, disconcerting smile. He placed the goblet back into her shaking grasp and gently closed her fingers around the bowl to keep it from clattering to the flagstones at their feet. As if suddenly aware that she had been staring at him in a most disgraceful way, Annalee hurridly cast her eyes down demurely. The lord of the manor clapped Nicolas heavily on his mailed shoulder. "Pay no mind to my daughter, Sir. She is young and unused to the worldly ways of men." "Then it is the loss of men everywhere, my lord...my lady." Annalee wasn't the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but there was an ethereal quality, a fragile tenderness about her; looking into her clear, hazel eyes he could tell that she had a most beautiful soul. She was real, not a mere figment of his imagination, this angel in womanly form standing before him was as solid as the castle walls rising around them. He appreciated her high cheekbones, a faint blush upon them, her lush lips, ripe for kissing. The barest wisp of a chestnut curl escaped endearingly from her maidenly coif and made him want to reach out and wind the strand around his finger, binding him to her. But, he did; he had seen her countless times in his dreams, both waking and sleeping, but had despaired of her actual existence. He had looked for her in vain in every woman he had met, and found them wanting. Nick shook himself out of his reverie, eased the morgue door shut and quietly made his way back the way he had come. The filtered sounds of a rollicking chorus of "We Need a Little Christmas" drifted out to him, the singers still off key, but no less sincere in the effort. to be continued, comments, etc. to: -- Cat MacLean hawksrdg@pacbell.net **************************************************** *N&N Packer with Shades of Grey/Closet Vaquera * *2nd Cousin of the Knight/Lonely Hearts Sympathizer* *Writing Is Easy, Just Stare at a Terminal Until * * Drops of Blood Form on Your Forehead * **************************************************** From hawksrdg@PACBELL.NETThu Dec 12 16:52:22 1996 Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 22:32:40 -0800 From: Cat MacLean To: Multiple recipients of list FKFIC-L Subject: Christmas: The Devil's Knell (02/2) The Devil's Knell (02/2) See disclaimers and notes in part 1. The night was breathtakingly still, the traditional midnight clear of Christmas Eve. The old church stood, a gothic monument of stone paying man's tribute to God; many faithful hands had carved and placed each stone along with their prayers. He watched, a shadow among others, waiting for Carol and Natalie to appear. He knew he would have no trouble discerning Natalie's telltale heartbeat in the crowd, it was so dear to him, as she was. Besides, Carol knew he would be there, waiting for them, for Natalie. He held no parcel in his hand, but held a gift for Natalie in his heart. "Nick? What are you doing here?" Nick stepped quietly into the pool of light spilling from the church doors to greet Carol and Natalie. Natalie was more than a little surprised to see him, trying not to betray just how alarmed she was to see him so close to the church and all the dangers it held for him. "Waiting for you.". He smiled at them both but it was a special warming smile for Natalie, a reassurance. "See you later, kids." Before Natalie could turn around, Carol was gone, slipping into the crowd moving into the church. Natalie spun back to Nick, wonder and questions on her face. "What's going on, Nick? What _are_ you doing here? I mean, isn't it...?" Her voice trailed off selfconsciously; she didn't want to hurt Nick by her thoughtless words. Nick slipped her arm through his and smiled down at her. "Come on, take a walk with me." So saying, he led her past the churchyard and up a narrow walkway to the crest of a small hill. Their breath frosted in the cold air as they climbed the embankment, Natalie's heels slipping on the icy steps once or twice, but each time Nick was there to steady her and hug her closer to him. As they reached the summit, Natalie caught her breath at the spleandor laid out before them. Multicolored lights sparkled like raindrops on the city streets, she could see forever, the peace of the scene below stilled and soothed her weary heart and brought a single tear to her eye. "It's beautiful, Nick. Thank you for bringing me up here." She gazed up at him and blinked the moisture from her eyes. "So are you, Nat. I just don't tell you often enough." Nick leaned down and kissed her softly, a featherlight carress. Surprised at Nick's sudden show of affection and not knowing what to say or do, Natalie looked back at the church and then asked him again, "What are you doing here? You didn't just come to show me the view, did you?" Her tone was light, but she couldn't keep the emotion from her eyes. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did, come to show you the view. And to tell you a story." He pulled her back against him and wrapped both arms around her, protecting her from the chill wind. "A Christmas story?" Natalie settled into his embrace, resting her head trustingly on his shoulder and folded her hands on top of his, holding him to her. "You might say that. Once upon a time..." Nick's breath tickled her ear and ruffled a stray curl on her neck. She twitched and shivered. "Stop that, it tickles." Nick ignored her and continued, "As I was saying..." "I know, long, long ago, in a land far, far away. Is that how it goes?" Natalie chuckled over her shoulder at him. Nick breathed in the scent of her and doggedly went on with his story. "Yes, long, long ago, in a land far, far away, on a Christmas Eve much like this one, a man met an angel." "Uh, huh. An angel. A real angel, Nick?" Natalie twisted a bit in his grasp to look him in the eye, daring him to go on. Nick was more than up to the challenge. "The man was a knight on his way to the Crusades and the angel was the daughter of his friend. She was very beautiful..." "Aren't all angels beautiful, Nick? I thought that went with the territory." "Shhh, Nat. Do you want to hear the story or not?" This time Nick blew cold breath down the collar of her coat in earnest, making Natalie jump with the sudden chills running down her spine. "OK, OK, I'll shut up. Tell me the story, Nick." She sounded repenitent but there was still the sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "Her name was Annalee and before she sent the knight off to face his destiny on the battlefield, she told him that they would meet again. He had imagined an angel, in his dreams and looked for her everywhere, but he never found her until that Christmas Eve, long, long ago." Natalie closed her eyes and let herself be caught up in the tale that Nick spun. Mesmerized and lulled by his soft and compelling voice, she was vaguely aware of church bells ringing, solemnly, slowly from a distance. They stood silent, expectant, listening to the devil's knell. Their breath mingled in the promise of love, frosted in the midnight air and hung between them in frail wisps. They were strangers, yet bound by a mystical power that neither understood. They only knew that each was the mirror image of the other, the missing half of their soul, the love they had sought in vain. "Do you hear it?" The fair haired knight and the angel in his arms gazed up at the sky, listening for the silvery peal of time being marked. "Aye, the bells ring out the years of Christ." "And count the days of our lives." "I fear I shall not have many more days. War is a hungry master, my blood may be demanded of me on the field." The knight bowed his head before his fate, as if he knew that no good would come to him in his venture. "And yet you go?" She questioned him, questioned his faith to follow blindly on this, doubtless yet another bloody and foolish crusade. "Willingly, lady. For the Church and my salvation. For the message Christ brought us mortal souls, for the redemption of our spirits." It was his destiny to go, to fight, to preserve the honor of the Church, the honor of his soul. "You will leave me, just when God has brought us together?" Tears stood in her hazel eyes, witness to the grief in her heart, the shattering of her hope. "But, unwillingly, lady. I shall carry your memory with me to the battlefields and beyond, through all my days until we shall meet again." A righteous God would not bring him to the angel of his dreams, the only woman he would ever truly love and then take her from him. There would be a tomorrow. He had faith, he had been lessoned well in it. "Take this." Annalee reached up to the jewel ornamented clasp of her knight's cloak and tenderly tucked a tiny sprig of holly between the folds. "They say that holly holds eternal life. Bear this for me, in token of your promise to come back to me." "No matter what life may hold, we shall be together, forever. I swear it to you." Nicolas bent his head to hers and captured her lips in a kiss of warmth, of promise. The bells continued their tolling, ringing out their celebration of the devil's departure from the earth, the silvery chiming shimmered in the air around them as they clung to each other in the night. "Do you know what that is, Nat?" Abruptly, Nick brought them both back to the present, their uncertainty in each other, their wavering hopes and dreams. "The bells?" Natalie hurridly brushed the tears from her eyes. The story Nick had woven so vividly, so sadly, tore at her heart. She was well acquainted with tragedy, perhaps that was one reason that she understood Nick so well, even when he didn't understand himself. "It's called the Devil's Knell, Nat. At least that what they called it in the old days. The bells will ring once for each year since the birth of Christ. To chase the devil from this world, to keep evil in it's place. Or, so I was taught, so I used to believe." He still stood, holding her as if she was his rock, and he the stormtossed sailor in a sea of confusion. "You still believe, don't you, Nick? A little?" Natalie turned to face him, and lightly caressed the marble of his cheek with her hand. "I have to, Nat. I have to believe." His voice was full of longing, of dreams of the past and future as yet unfulfilled. "I do too, Nick. And you have to believe that even after all that's happened this past year, I love you, just as I did the first time I saw you. Remember?" Natalie smiled briefly in memory of the night Nick had come into her life and taken ten years off her life from the shock. "The first time I looked into your eyes, Nat, I knew that I loved you, that you were an angel. But, I've never felt truly worthy of your love. But, I have hope now, Nat. Hope and faith that you've restored to me." Nick folded her hand in his and kissed first her forehead as a benediction and then her lips in passion. "I'm hardly an angel, Nick." Natalie shook her head in denial. "I'd almost lost my faith, too." She fought to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. It had been so long that she had wanted, needed to hear these words from Nick, for the walls to be broken down and the honesty to come through. "But, even when you doubted, Natalie, you had enough faith for both of us. And love, and hope." He kissed her again, lingering, savoring the taste of her, the warmth of her, basking in the love that shone from her. Finally, Nick set her away from him and took a deep breath. He was close, so close to the end of his journey, to the fulfillment of his quest. The spell of the moment broken, Natalie began to rummage in her pocket for her handkerchief and her fingers instead encountered something else. "Oh, I almost forgot that I had this. Carol had this stuff all over the office and I put a little piece aside for you." Natalie held the tiny sprig of greenery in her hand and then carefully tucked the holly in the buttonhole of his overcoat. Natalie's eyes met his, hazel gazed into blue, the years between them vanished, the snowy air whirled around them, leaving them in a cocoon of magic. A sudden sense of wonderment filled her, Natalie gasped for breath, she felt filled with a light and the chiming of the bells filled her mind. "They did meet again, didn't they?" Her voice was the merest whisper; she yearned desperately for his answer and yet she already knew it, she felt it in her heart. "Yes, they did. You're my angel, Natalie, didn't you know that?" How many times had he wished for just this moment, an overlap in time, in the past that would remind her of him in that long ago. "It's not possible." She was stunned, unable to move, to breathe, to grasp the enormity of what she felt and knew in her heart. "Is it?" "Now, do you know why I never really stopped believing? Why I trust in your faith in me, our hope for a future? You asked my why I came here tonight, Nat. Isn't this where you come to pray for miracles? I prayed that you would remember, remember me, remember that Christmas Eve." "I do, Nick, but I can't." Natalie closed her eyes for a moment and then looked up at the midnight sky. She abandoned all her maybes and couldn't-bes and gave herself up the the mystery of the season. "But, I do, Nick. And you kept your promise; you came back to me." Natalie was heedless of the crystal tears coursing down her cheeks as Nick swept her up in his fervent embrace, holding her as if he would never let her go; his promise was indeed truly kept and never would the knight and his angel be parted again, come the ends of the earth. A miracle had taken place tonight; the miracle that faith and hope and love, eternal and everlasting will not be denied, cannot be lost in the waves of time and will ever endure to those who truly believe. finis -- Cat MacLean hawksrdg@pacbell.net **************************************************** *N&N Packer with Shades of Grey/Closet Vaquera * *2nd Cousin of the Knight/Lonely Hearts Sympathizer* *Writing Is Easy, Just Stare at a Terminal Until * * Drops of Blood Form on Your Forehead * ****************************************************