Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 13:55:02 -0600 From: Julie Randolph Subject: Justyce (1/2) ** I have this image in my mind, so if you'll just indulge me, I would be appreciative. ** JCR Justyce Julie Randolph She was sitting on the curb, watching water flow into the gutter. Her dark hair was pulled back away from her face, but obviously dirty, as if perhaps she had not showered in sometime. Her clothes were a pair of dirty blue jeans and a t-shirt that could not have been much protection from the cold. She didn't seem to notice. Vachon was standing in the church, watching her. She had not moved from the position in over a hour and it amazed him that she could be so completely and utterly still. He had considered several things while he watched. Considered having her for dinner, considered taking her a coat, considered bringing her across so she would not have to deal with the howling winds that frequented Toronto at this time of year, and still, he did nothing. He could not quite place it, she seemed...he paused, his mind drifting back several centuries to the panicked and desperate face of Urs as she asked him to let her die. That was what he felt, that young woman, she wanted to die and she was bound and determined to sit there until she froze. Something in him went out to her and he wandered downstairs and out into the cold. She didn't seem to notice his approach and when she finally did look up at him, she didn't seem to care that he was standing there. He saw it in her face...resignation, pain and that overwhelming desire to end it in the only way she knew how. That feeling that nothing in this God forsaken world could save her, and she was better off dead. He lowered his voice to a whisper as he saw her hand clamp defiantly over her knees, covering the holes in her jeans. "Might I offer you some warmth?" She stared at him,"Why?" "It is cold out here, I live just inside that church, certainly it is warmer." She shook her head and the rubber band slipped out, allowing long strands of chestnut hair to gather aroundher shoulders, "No, why would you even want to help me?" He paused...he was unsure why, he knew only that he wanted to add some light to the misery he could see behind eyes that were as dark as the night itself. He answered honestly, "I don't know." "I appreciate it, but please, leave me here." What else could he do? He simply turned and walked back into the church, immediatly heading for the phone. The conversation was brief,"I need your help." ******************************************* At the station, Nick hung up the phone. Vachon wanted his help? For what? Did he dare go and chance that Tracy would show up while they were together? He looked around and finally gave up debating, picked up his coat and headed out the door. When he arrived, she was as she had been before. Staring into the gutter, uncaring of who came upon her, what they did or what they wanted. Her limbs were beginning to take on the early bluish color of frostbite. Vachon waved him over. "What is it?" "You're a cop, can't you do something?" "Get a vagrant off your street?" Vachon sighed, 'Look at her Knight, she's not a vagrant, she's alone, she's in pain...I....I couldn't talk to her, but you can make her go to the station. She only looks about seventeen, isn't that reason enough?" "this is important to you." There was no need for an answer, Nick could see very clearly that Vachon felt sorry for the young woman. "Okay, I take her to the station, then what? Social services? I don't think she'd stay." "At least get her out of the cold." Nick nodded and approached, he too lowered his voice, squatting down in front of her, lost momentairly in the darkness ofher eyes, "I'm Detective Nick Knight. I'm going to take you somewhere safer than this." Her eyes actually filled with fear, "No, please don't...just leave me here. I'll be dead tomorrow and you can take my body and stick it in an oven. I have no desire to be spared." Nick gave her his best lopsided smile. She did not react, "You have no choice. Come on, let's go." She sighed and stood, turning to pin Vachon with a look that might have reflected hatred. He saw the question in her eyes. *Why couldn't you leave well enough alone?* He shrugged at her, nodded and reentered the church. He hadnever thought himself the mercinary type, but there was something... ******************************************* Nick was getting no where. They had wrapped the young woman in a blanket, but her silence was beginning to grate on his nerves. She wouldn't give a name, address, nothing. She was angry at having been brought here, she wanted to die and he didn't know how to help her. Perhaps it was him...maybe what she needed was another woman, someone closer to her age to talk to. Obviously he couldn't understand what she was going through. He wanted a cure, but he did not want death. He couldn't imagine wanting death this much. As Tracy walked in, he nodded over to her, "Go see if you can talk to her." tracy approached with caution,"Hi." There was no response. "If you don't want to talk, that's okay with me. Mind if I do?" Still no response. "I'm Tracy Vetter. You have that look on your face like you know what its like to be controlled." That brought the brown head around to look at her. "Yeah, my dad is the same way, a control freak." "At least you have a father, Tracy, be grateful and enjoy it while it lasts." "Want to tell me what happened?" "No, but if I do, will you go away?" "Okay." "I'm Justyce...Justyce Anne Caprice. I'd been living in Austin, Texas in the states until I got news that my family was killed in a plane crash. I didn't have any money to attend the funeral, so I started hitching rides to get there. I wanted so much to be there for them, but I was too late, I took too long. I didn't even get to say good-bye. Do you have any idea what it's like to be alone, Tracy?" Tracy shook her head, "No." "then you cannot understand." tracy stood, making good on her promise to leave the girl in peace and relayed the story to Nick. He looked over at her quizically,"Something happened in Austin, something that drove her to come here." "How do you know that?" "I'm not sure. But that was a fabricated lie, and she knows it. She's running." "From what?" "I don't know." Nick walked back toward her and Justyce sighed, "What is it now?" "Why did you tell my partner that nicely depressing lie?" Justyce laughed, "Because she wouldn't believe the truth." "Well, why don't you try me?" "Mr. Understanding are we...am I under arrest?" "No, we've called..." "Oh, monorail social services to the rescue...if ever there is a problem you cannothandle, call the SS and they will fix it right up for you. Brilliant idea, Detective." "I can cancel the call if you'll tell me the truth." Justyce smiled for the first time that evening, looked into his blue eyes asif trying to see something and then nodded, "Fine, you want the truth...you've got it." the dark black of her eyes glimmered, changed and turned gold as Nick stood there, sharp ivory fangs dropped out from her upper jaw and a glimmer of evil dances across her features. "Maybe we better take this to my loft." "Why?" "I'll explain later." ******************************************* Later, after a few bowls of soup and fresh bred that natalie had given him, he turned to face Justyce Anne Caprice. could she be a vampire? He didn't feel it, and yet everything about her said that she was, excpet that she ate, and she obviously believed herself capable of dying. "Justyce...what are you?" She sighed,"You know what? I have no idea. I was always interested in vampires, don't get me wrong. I met a group of people in Austin who claimed to be vampires." "Did you ever trade blood with any of them?" Justyce looked disgusted, "No. I found them interesting. I have a friend who is a Medicine Doctor for the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina. he said that sometimes, when something is a part of you, and you are exposed to that thing, you can transform from what you were into what you are inside. Usually, it is a spirit animal, in this case, he believes i am transforming into a vampire. A vampire of all things...s mythical creature that doesn't exist, but let me tell you...something's happening, because I am definately changing, as you can see. her eyes had returned to gold, her hands grew long, sharpened fingernails, her teeth elongated into the kind capable of killing. "I don't know how to help you." "Let me die. I can't be a killer, Nick. I can't. I'm already alone in this world, I don't need to take others lives on top of that. I won't allow it." Nick smiled, "If only I had your resolve 800 years ago." "What?" Justyce did not look in the mood to share any sort of fascinating conversations, but that statement was beyond the realms of reality and lept her right back into the fantasy world shehad been struggling to get out of for months. Nick had turned his back to her, staring absently at his refrigerator, wondering if perhaps this weren't a mistake. then he must have made a decision because he turned back around to face her. Jastyce simply stared. No emotions crossed her face, nothing. No fear, no surprise, nothing. Nick stood much as she looked now, his eyes the golden amber of hungerlust, sharpened teeth filling his upper jaw. He had no fingernails, but then again, he never did have any fingernails. Justyce looked...well, she really looked quite unimpressed. "So what? Are you trying to make me feel better, because if you are, you're failing miserably. Really, I didn't need to know this." "Are you so hardened, so alone that you cannot accept there are others like you. I don't kill Justyce and however you came to be what you are, whatever happened in Austin that you are unwilling to tell me, you can live this life, I have done it for 767 years." "Nick, I appreciate your trying to help, but I don't want to live 767 years...hell, I don't want to live 50 years. I had always thought I would be granted to gift of death at an early age. I hate this world, I hate this life and above all I'm a zenephobe and I hate being around other people, so I stay alone...you know where I find peace Nick? I find it only when I am asleep, and now can't even hold down a regular job because the sunlight is too bright for my eyes. Do you have any idea what it's like to have to give that up without a choice in the matter, against your will?" She took a ddep breath, her voice was raising in pitch, her anger, the pain inside coming to the forefront, "You did have a choice didn't you? If you gregret what you are it's your own damn fault...I regret what I am, but it's not my fault I'm this way. I don't deserve this Hell. What could I possibly have done to deserve this?" Her voice lovered once again and Nick didn't know what to say. She was hiding something, but he was unsure what it was. Obviously she was very young, in fact he was not sure she was a vampire at all. Could she be a hunter...this had really never come up before and now that it had, he was quite sure he had no idea what to do. Perhaps...no, he wouldn't expose her to that on top of everything else, but at least he could ask. "Do you want to kill me?" Justyce actually looked flabbergasted, "Didn't you hear what I said...I don't want to kill anyone, damnit. For a vampire you have horrible hearing." 'Actually,' Nick thought wryly, "She and LaCroix would probably get along great' "If I leave will you stay here? I need to talk to someone, perhaps we can find a way out of this for you." For the first time her eyes actually glimmered with hope, "Really? Get me out of this?" "I can try." "then I'll be here." "Good." He left rapidly, hoping against all hope that LaCroix would not suggest anything gruesome to end the girls suffering. Nick had the impression that she had been attacked, and had blocked the memory out ofher mind, but then why was the transformation taking so long and why was she not yet a full vampire. For once, Nick got the impression that LaCroix would know the answers. ******************************************* "Nicholas, how delightful, new murder scenes that are connected with my club?" "No, can we talk for a minute." LaCroix raised an eyebrow, but led him to one of the rooms off toward the back, "What is it?" "I seem to have a strange burden on my hands." "Nicholas, you always have burdens..." "Please..." LaCroix fell silent, waiting. "A girl, vachon found her trying to freeze to death outside the church. She's a vampire...sort-of. But she eats, it's as if she didn't come fully across, but she's not a hunter either, she seems to be under the impression that the transformation from human to vampire is still taking place and is trying to kill herself before she loses sight of her humanity." LaCroix stared at him in silence for several minutes, "She had the eyes and the teeth?" "Yes." "But she can control them, changing her eye color from black to gold?" "How did you know her eyes were black?" "Amazing...." LaCroix was gone somewhere else and Nick cleared his throat, 'Hello? Work with me." "I had heard the legends but never really believed they were true." Nick was losing patience, "What LEGEND?" "Nicholas, there is a legend, a child, born into a world of darkness, who strives in darkness, who will finally end up alone, will seek out people who claim to be our kind. This child harbors in her soul what it is to be a vampire, everything she is, everything she always was is vampire, and eventually, as the obsession with our kind grows, the child transforms, shape- shifting into one of us. You are correct, her transformation is not yet complete, and she is also correct, if it finishes, she will go insane and start killing, that is the way." 'What can I do? I can't just let her die." "You have two options, kill her before she becomes too strong for you to control, or bring her across completely now, before she has the chance to turn against a world that in her mind she beileves betrayed her." "That's it?" "I should like to meet her." "Actually, she's just your type, but do you think that would be wise. She doesnt need another vampire telling her shes going insane." "Nicholas, do give me some credit for tact." Nick raised an eyebrow and LaCroix shrugged, "I will practiceit in this instance." "Is there nothing else we can do?" LaCroix thought for a moment, 'Perhaps I need to first meet her and then I can better judge this situation." Nick shook his head as they walked out of the raven 'I hope I know what I'm doing' Justyce paced inside Nick's apartment. He had said he was going to help her, but help her do what? Kill herself? She could do that on her own, and if the predictions about her condition were true, she didn't have much longer before she'd be forced to spontaniously combust in the middle of the street. And how lovely that would be. She wandered across the room and stood staring into the mirror. Okay, she had to admit to fascination as she forced her eyes to turn to gold, back to black and back to gold again. She was still very much involved in this practice when a loud voice shattered the calm she had instilled around her. "Don't do that." She turned, looked first at Nick, since he was the one she recognized, and then at the older man who stood at his side, the one who had screamed at her. "Is it your custom to walk into a room and give the occupants cardiac arrest?" LaCroix approached her, looking into her eyes, staring, as if in wonder, at this child, "So, you're the one." "Uhm....I'm the one what?" Nick shook his head indicating he haden't the least idea what LaCroix was talking about. For his part, laCroix was talking to himself as he circled her, slowly,"They had said you would come eventually, it had always been told that you would come, but...how can this be?" Justyce took a step away and looked at Nick, "This is your psychotic father from a nursing home, right?" "I'm beginning to think so, yes. Lucien LaCroix, Justyce Anne Caprice...if that's her real name, we're not sure." LaCroix actually smiled, "It's her real name, Nicholas." Justyce began to take the older vampire seriously for the first time, "How do you know that?" "You are the child, the child from the legends...it can't be...but, here you are." "Okay...I'm out of here unless someone explains to me why this man is speaking in tongues." Nick moved closer to Justyce, not at all sure he trusted LaCroix any more than she did, the elder of the two seemed lost in his own thought and completely consumed by this legendary shild, whom he believed Justyce to be. "There is a legend, Justyce, that says...well, hell, I don't know, he wouldn't tell me, but he said he might be able to help you." laCroix turned and nodded, 'Indeed, I can help you. I am going to give you your wish." Justyce went pale, "Excuse me?" "You wish to die, do you not?" "Do I have another choice?" "Certainly, you can allow Nicholas or myself to bring you across in the correct manner and destroy your destiny." "Well...that sounds...pathetic..anything else?" LaCroix smiled, "Let the transformation finish, and become what you are destined to be." "I don't want to be a killer." "My dear child, you are not to be a killer, you are to be...a savior." Nick and Justyce turned together to stare at laCroix whom they were both convinced had obviously gone insane. "WHAT?" "The legend is told in this way, among our people. That one day a child would be born, not a vampire, not a human, neither, just an emotionless body. this child would have eyes the color of the night and would walk hand in hand with the darkness. At the age of assention, whever that might be, I don't know..." Justyce cut him off, "I'll be 18 in two days." "At 18 then, I would assume, the child would transform into a creature beyond vampire, beyond everything on earth, to become the one truly powerful entity on this world. Now, the legend says that without guidance, the child goes insane and a thousand years of pain and anguish are rained down upon our species, but guided thorough the transformation with love, the child would be a strong and able leader." "So basically what you're trying to tell me is that I'm...I'm...the vampire Messiah?" LaCroix profurred his arm, "Come and stay with me Justyce, i will care for you in these last few days. I will let no harm befall you, I promise." Nick was staring. Okay...LaCroix had lost it, he had had one too many nutcases for dinner. Justyce, however, took his arm. Nick started to speak but she stopped him, and he noticed for the firstt time, the power in her soft voice, "I don't know if he is right, Nick, but if he is wrong, he can kill me whe the transformation ends. It's better than being alone." ******************************************* TWO DAYS LATER-BACK ROOM OF THE RAVEN Justyce stared up with blind eyes at the face of a monster, it came closer and she screamed, sweating drops of blood that fell readily onto the carpet. LaCroix could do nothing to sooth her, she had been in this fever for several hours and struck out ot him each time he came close. Her eyes had glazed over permanently to gold the first night she had arrived, by the second night, the long slend teeth had emerged and the nails did not retract, it was almost over. Justyce screamed again, writhing in pain and began to cry, wanting more than anything else for this pain to end....she just wanted to die, why did she let him bring her here? Why was she going through this torment, why? what had she done? Her breathing grew shallow and husky and LaCroix moved to her side. It was almost over. She took one breath, and then a few moments later, another and finally, her golden eyes covered with the blindness of death and she stopped moving. LaCroix covered her with a blanket, knowing he could never see her again, she was beyond him now. Nick chose that moment to come in and stared at the body lying limply on the couch, 'What did you do? I thought you said she would be safe here!?!?!?" LaCroix only turned away and walked back to the bar, his part in this scheme was over and he haden't the strength to do anything else, nor look on that body again. "Do not despair, Lucien." He turned and the stubborn face of Justyce smiled at him, 'I thought." "Bodily, yes, dead as a doornail. But you were right, I see all now. I can protect you, I can help you...I can do anything." "You were the one." "Yes, the chosen, the one who is to make the vampire community whole again. What a crappy job to give someone." She smiled and touched his face gently, "You do have kindness in your heart Lucien, I can see it there, yet you do not show it to others. that is your choice, I cannot interfere, only guide and give advice. I hope one day you will find the capacity to love again." Nick emerged from the room carrying the small body in his arms. He did not seem to see justyce standing closely to LaCroix. He looked on his master with regret and then took the body out of the raven. LaCroix looked back at Justyce and smiled, "I believe I already did." She grinned, 'I don't think I count. Will you tell Nicholas?" "Only that you died during the transformation and there was nothing I could do." "Why?" "It's the truth." "truth is relevant, Lucien." he took her hand and kissed it gently, "Yes...isn't it?" ***************************************************************** ************ response blah, blah, blah to randolph@tenet.edu I do hope this wave of altruism passes quickly, it's quite...distressing."-- LaCroix, Night in Question ***************************************************************** ************