Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 06:00:37 -0400 
Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories <FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu> 
From: Lady Selinthia <zelna@sprint.ca> 
Subject: No Angst Challenge: Pain 
To: FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu 

Disclaimers are here. I don't own the characters and such. Permission to 
archive on the Site. Comment are welcome, as always.
I have decided to issue a challenge as I take a small break from my 
Apocalypse series. Perhaps not the best idea when there are other 
activities such as the Round Robin happening, and this may get ignored, but 
I'm writing it anyway. 
And counting on it not be ignored.
Challenge: Write a story in which Nick does something vampiric and does 
*not* angst about it.
So, take it and run with it!
* * *
Challenge: Pain 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Selinthia Avenchesca 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
zelna@sprint.ca 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blood dripped from his fangs, ran over his lips, dripped down his chin. 
It was red, warm, wonderful. Human. He had taken in the thoughts and 
emotions, the being, of the person he had drawn it out of. He had savored 
the pain, the pleasure. The release. 
And the gratefulness of the being that now lay dead before him. 
And he did not regret it. 
* * *
Schanke and he had been on a case, a standard affair. So and so killed so 
and so, and now, all they had to figure out was who the first so and so 
was. 
Aqaintances had been questioned about the victim, who may have had 
motivation to kill her. The woman's sister had spoke of the victim's 
boyfriend, about how violent he could be at times. The boyfriend had been 
questioned, and the known evidence had been matched up. There, case closed. 
But, something had told Nick that may not be the case. 
More searching had ensued, on Nick's own time, as everyone else moved to 
close the case. And that searching had led to. . .Nick gazed forward, eyes 
lifting from the body, as the memory washed over him. 
* * *
"Why?"
Nick gazed forward at the small, frail woman before him. Her skin was 
light, contrasting with her long, black hair, and dark brown eyes. Her 
figure wasn't stunning, but it was nice. 
Her face was set, expressionless, as she answered in a hollow voice.
"I am surprised, Detective. I would have thought things over and done with 
by now. Giving me the time to go back to my lamenting, I suppose. Ah well. 
You were clever enough."
"You didn't answer my question. Why would you do that, kill your own 
sister?"
"I did not lie to you about her boyfriend. She was going to marry him, 
soon. I know. She would have been locked in a life of abuse, and grief. I 
want to preserve her spirit, save her from that fate. It was simple. A bit 
of poison in a glass, and she was gone. Forever. And he could not take 
her."
Nick was silent, wondering at this. The woman was no longer even trying to 
hide it from him. She was telling the truth, he knew.
"You see, Detective, there are many meanings, many definitions to love. But 
I did love my sister, and no matter what you may think, what I did was an 
act of love. I could have killed myself, after killing her, but I need to 
preserve her memory, you see. No one else knew her as I do."
The woman drew behind her, took out the loaded gun that had hidden in a 
cushion.
"You see, I cannot let you take me to jail. Not because I am afraid of 
loosing my freedom. No, freedom is what you make of it. But because, if you 
do, my love will be distorted by others into an expression of hate, of a 
mad mind, of what have you. You should not have found out."
The gun was aimed, carefully, at Nick's head. 
A flash of vampiric speed, and Nick had grabbed the gun away, had grabbed 
onto her arms, and looked into the woman's deep brown eyes. What he saw 
there inspired sorrow, and something else. 
The woman truly did believe that she had done her sister a favor. She was 
not lying in any capacity. And there, also, resting in her eyes, was a 
grief, a horrible, heart wrenching pain. It drew Nick in, drew him near, 
slowly, surely. The pain. . . 
It's own twin rested in his own soul. For everything he had lost. 
Carefully, surely, he turned her, not knowing why he was doing this, not 
clearly thinking, but knowing that this woman was already dead--inside. It 
seemed a boon, a "favor" to complete things for her, in the most dignified 
manner things could be. And then, his teeth plunged into her neck, and his 
mind was overwhelmed. The moment before all thought was lost in the 
pleasure, he was hit by the feeling that he was correct, that what he was 
doing was--right. 
* * *
Sighing, Nick collected the body, knowing that the task of disposing of it 
was now what he must do. He was rather shocked at himself however. He had 
broken his vow, had killed again. Why was he not now agonizing over it? But 
he knew, to himself, that this had not, in fact, been done for the blood 
alone. That would have been breaking the vow. This had been done for 
different reasons. 
This had been done to ease another's pain. 
* * *
Detectives Knight and Schanke scrutinized the body that had washed up from 
the lake, rotted and decayed, but still recently dead. 
Natalie Lambert stood up from her kneeling position over the body, waving a 
had in front over her nose to indicate the atrocious smell of decay.
"I'd say she's been dead for about three weeks. The cause of death isn't 
immediately discernable. I'd have to do the autopsy to figure further," 
Natalie said.
"Huh,' Schanke said. "So, I guess that tonight is suspect questioning free. 
Hey, I like to get the killers of the street as much as anyone, but I can't 
say I love the questionings. What sit all the evasions and lies and all. 
Then again, I guess that means tonight's a paperwork night. That reminds 
me, Knight. There's a bunch of paper work hanging around that you have no 
had any part in helping with."
"I guess I was just preoccupied," Nick said distractedly.
Schanke began to ramble off some retort, but Nick was not listening. He 
recognized the body, as decayed as it was. The body of the woman he had 
killed, drained dry. Searching his feelings, Nick waited for the guilt to 
descend. It did not. As much as it may linger and torment him in so many 
other things, it was not coming for him with this. He was grateful for 
that. 
Natalie, recognizing the preoccupied look, questioned softly,
"Nick, do you know something about this?"
"No more than you do," Nick answered impassively, knowing that no matter 
the rightness, he would not tell her. She would not understand. Natalie 
gave him her "not-quiet believing" look, the one that said that she knew he 
knew something and that she also knew that he would come out with it later, 
that she could wait a while. 
This time, that was where she was wrong. 
* * *
Driving, Nick turned on the radio. LaCroix's velvet voice bled over into 
his consciousness. His master had been conspicuously absent after Nick had 
killed the woman. Usually, when Nick did something in regards with the 
vampire nature, he would expect LaCroix to be right there, to urge back 
into the fold. But perhaps LaCroix knew that hunger was not the reason for 
this, perhaps his sire understood the reason, after all.
"What is pain?' the voice questioned, soft, breathy. "Why do we while away 
so much of our lives because of it? Why do we allow ourselves to be 
possessed by it so very utterly, when all it can conceivable bring is 
simply--more pain? And yet, in the darkest of time, in the most fragile of 
moments, pain can act as a catalyst, in which we are brought not to more 
pain but to ourselves. You know why you acted upon it. You understood her. 
And for a moment, understood yourself. I wait, here, now, of the day when 
that understanding shall be yours--forever. And then, you will return."
END