Date:         Fri, 1 Sep 1995 00:50:36 -0500 
From: Julie Randolph <randolph@TENET.EDU> 
Subject:      The Lost (Asteroid)

 **I do not highly recommend this reading for Knighties or 
Natpackers...actually, it's pretty depressing all around.  Just one of those 
moods I guess...should be rather short...kind of a "What IF" that popped into 
my mind during (of all places) Spanish.  Just goes to show how truly 
fascinating Spanish really is.**

JCR

The Lost based on the Asteroid Challenge Julie Randolph 

"81-Kilo, 81-Kilo...respond please...NOW GODDAMNIT!! NICK!!!"

Schanke's voice was blaring over the radio, and even with his close proximity 
to it, and his exceptional hearing, Nick Knight did not hear it.  His face was 
turned to the sky, clouds had begun to gather, lightening streaked across the 
sky...had it not been the last sky he would ever see, it might have been 
beautiful.  But it only served now as a reminder of what was to come, the 
inevitable that he had been promised was a hoax was reality.  6748 was coming 
for them, and for perhaps the first time in 800 years, he felt powerless.  He 
climbed back into his car, he could see the rains coming, just a prelude to 
the utter desolation and destruction that was perhaps an hour away.  He drove 
aimlessly, he did not want to go to her, he did not want to look into her eyes 
and deny her life that he was capable of giving.  He did not want to test this 
new found love for humanity.  He simply didn't want to know whether or not he 
had the strenght, in the face of certain death, to let her die, as her fate 
fortold.

Yet he found himself in her apartment complex parking garage, and then 
climbing the stairs and then standing at her door.  He was about to turn away, 
flee from this place to somewhere he felt safe, but the door opened, and as it 
always had, his heart reached out for her.

She was pale, terror shone in her eyes and he was helpless.

She attempted a smile,"Coming in?"

He didnot return it, but instead looked down at the floor, shuffling his 
feet,"I'm not sure if I should."

She breathed deeply before placing a hand gently on his shoulder,"Nick? Look 
at me."

His eyes left the floor to meet her own and the love he saw there brought 
scarlet tears to his eyes.

"No...no, please don't.  You are right.  I could never survive, even as a 
vampire.  I would be too young, to volitile.  Just be with me?  Until it's 
over?"

How could he possibly deny her that?  he swept her into his arms, carrying her 
to the sofa and sitting her on his lap, carresing her cheek gently,"What do I 
do, Nat?"

"Hold me, tell me you love me, and survive so you can keep my memory alive for 
eternity."

He pulled her closer, the red of his tears staining her white couch, but it 
didn't really matter.  Minutes was all they had.  He had had 800 years and 
she, barely 30 and somehow it did not seem fair.  She was right, of course, 
dying now would save her the pain of dying a slow death of starvation as a 
vampire, for she could not survive where the older members of the community 
could.  It was too late, for both of them.

Outside the windows the sky turned blood red, a grand irony from the final 
moments of their lives.  Perhaps, Nick thought absently as he stroked her hair 
and whispered claming, soothing things into her ears, he would die here as 
well.  A blast of this force could certainly kill a vampire...but they would 
still be standing on opposite sides of a river, for his eternity was damnation 
and her's he had no doubt, would be glory.

It was a high-pitched whiltling sound that caught their attention, flashes of 
light, barely seconds before the ground began to shake, fires opened up from 
the very depths of the earth, lava poured from every orifice, their building 
was going down in a heap of rubble and he covered her as best he could as they 
fell.

It was truly desolation at its highest, for they were still seated on the 
couch, but on the street.  He picked her up as he watched his car fall into an 
opening crack.  the temperature began to drop, Nat started shivering and 
Nicholas had nothing to offer her, everything, by now, was burnt to a cinder 
among the rubble that was left of Toronto.  Around the, parents left to die in 
the coldness moruned their small children and the children who were now 
orphans sat crying on the streets.  Nat continued to shiver until Nick finally 
took off into the air with her cradeled in his arms.  Where could he go?  Was 
there no where that was protected from this wretched inferno of death he used 
to call home.  No, there was no where, and he landed once again next to the 
sea shore.  the waves had already begon to rise, the tidal waves would soon be 
there to wash whatever was left into legend.  Natalie did not have much time 
left.  She was running out of air, her body shrivling with the lack of heat.  
He sat in the sand, pillowing her head in his lap and watched with despair and 
sadness as she slowly slipped away from him.

"Nick?"

He leaned closer,"Yes, my love?"

"Never forget."

"I do not think that is possible."

"I know you cannot bring me across...but I want you to take me anyway."

He looked striken,"what are you talking about."

"Nick, I am dying, I feel it coming...take my blood, let it fill you for as 
long as it can.  Please let something of me remain with you forever."

"Your soul remains with me."

She grasped at his head, pulling him down toward her neck,"Please."  She 
coughed, and then said it again,"Please."

He did not understand, nor would he ever understand, what drove him to do as 
she requested.  His lips touched her briefly and then his hunger overcame him 
and he slowly drained her life away.  It was better that she die this way, in 
peace, without pain.  Natalie Lambert groaed once in sheer extasy and then she 
was gone.  Nick never realized that half of what he tasted were his own tears.

When he looked up, the endless night of dust had settled over the sun, 
allowing no dawn, no life at all.  But Nick Knight had been lost in that 
moment.  For as her blood filled his veins, the animal inside him roared in 
anger, hatred and the need for revenge.  It took over without any resistance 
from the man that was once Nick Knight, and he was finally and forever the son 
LaCroix had always wanted.  He was no longer a man, he was an animal, any soul 
he had started with had died with the woman in his arms.  He finally stood 
from that spot, leaving the body and turned away too seek out new food in 
this, his eternal night.

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all spams, definitions of "irony", letters of recommendation and/or statements 
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"When it comes right down to it...I still win.--LaCroix 
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