Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 03:14:45 -0000
From: Michelle David <schattenjager@HOTMAIL.COM>

Hello!

The song used in this story is from the album "Dive" (there's a tilde
abouve the I, actually), sung by Sarah Brightman. We all know the usual
disclaimers. 


The Second Element
By Michelle David
*****

<Eyes were glancing
<Hopes set high

Nick was coming tonight. Natalie could sense it in her heart. The hope was
there, as it had been for years. Why wouldn't he come? He had promised
her, all of those years ago. Tonight was as good as any. 

She looked out the window, hoping to see his face. She had thought she
would grown old by now, after fifty years, but like him, her face was
young. That face... the face she remembered so well, a photograph in her
mind. The warm eyes, the golden hair... 

She thought to herself. Quiet thoughts, memories of when she and him had
been together. She remembered lying on the floor of Nick's loft. She
remembered LaCroix breaking the spear, and dragging Nick away. And Nick
had returned. 

A miracle when he had come back. When she had barely been concsious, only
hearing soft voices. 

<But just another day went by

The hours ticked by, and Natalie kept her eyes on the full moon. It would
be like him to come to her on a night like this. But she traced the course
of the moon until she first morning rays came, and she had to shut the
drapes and sit alone. 

LaCroix had tried to help her, in her first few years as a vampire. But
LaCroix was only doing his duty, when Nick had asked him to before
leaving. So after a few years, LaCroix had left Natalie also, knowing he
could do nothing for her.  And she had left Toronto herself, retired to
Boston, where she lived off the money Nick had left her. A quiet solace by
herself, waiting for him to return. 

She had abandonded her quest for a cure the day Nick had brought her
across. 

She sensed the morning burning brightly. He had not come. 

*****

<Tears were falling
<Like never before

She just broke down. Right there on the sofa where she kept her vigil.
Bloody tears, pouring down her white cheeks. All of those tears she
wouldn't admit to herself for 50 years, flowing out. She asked herself
many questions. Why had he left her? Where was he? Why hadn't she killed
herself years ago? 

She only knew the answer to the last question. She wanted him. She needed
him.  But she couldn't have him. The hope that he could come back was
almost a substitute for the sweet red drink she needed to live. 

<Still she's staring at the door

She remembered his last words to her. He had hugged her, kissed her
tenderly on the lips. Then, "Farewell, Nat. I love you. I'll come back." 

He had yet to come back, so she waited, quietly, for him to come back. He
had to come. Because if he didn't, what was left for her? Nothing. 

<Broken promise
<Will you understand
<My heart is in your little hand

Couldn't he see how much this tortured her, to waste away in her little
apartment, waiting for the glorious night when he would come back??? Could
he feel her through the bond between the father and daughter? Two lovers? 

Why did he deny her? Why did he keep himself from her? She couldn't
understand. 

She remembered when he had brought her across, the first thing she had
seen was his face. The first thing she had felt with her newly aquired
vampyric powers was the incredible love her held for her. The unspoken
love that had hung between them over the years, which he now left loose. 

She had felt that love for only the three days they had been together. 

<I hear you call my name

It was night already. She must have dozed off. She didn't sleep much,
afraid of the dreams she might have. 

"Nat..." his voice, soft and entreating. Coming from outside. She was sure
of it. 

She stood, dressed only in her silken robe. She opened the windows. 

"Nat..." It was the wind. Had to be. 

"Natalie..." No, it was him. Nick. Nicholas. He had come back.

Over there, in the trees. She could see him. She knew she could. 

"Nick?" she called. That figure, over in the shadows. 

She ran to the trees, crying. "Nick..." 

There was no one there. And she collapsed, a heap of nothingness, crying.
The shadows blurred, and she wasn't sure what was what. She just knew that
the hollow, empty pit inside was deepening with each sob. 

<Always you'll be
<Blood and soul part of me
<The second element

When he had left her, after their three days, she had sat by herself for a
week. Locked herself in her apartment, drinking barely enough bottled
blood- cow's blood, which Nick had given to her- to stay alive. She was
like him, not wanting to harm a mortal. To depriver herself of the
pleasures so many wide eyed mortals thought lay within vampyrism. If she
didn't have him, she wasn't worthy of being a vampire. Or of living. Most
of the time, in fact, she wished he had left her to die on the floor. 

<I am longing for you

She lay by the trees for the entire night. Listening to the wind. Crying. 
Wanting him by her side again. 

<Always you'll see
<That you reflect on me
<My second element

And she remembered her last words to him. 

"Goodbye. If you don't come back, I'll..." She never had finished her
sentence, but had simply held him. For a second. For an eternity. And she
never had let go. 

<Are you missing me, too

She wondered where Nick was. Was he longing for her also, waiting? Waiting
for what? Waiting until the last part of her sanity was gone? No, he would
never do that. But what *was* he doing? Pining away? Rotting? Did he still
even love her? Had he gone back to Janette? 

No, not that last one. Couldn't be.

<Time keeps moving
<She's in so deep

After fifty years, she had yet to let go. She had yet to cut the chains
that bound her heart. 

Why did he torture her? Why hadn't he let go of her, or vice versa? 

<And she cries herself to sleep

The sun was coming up again. She pulled herself up, and dusted off her
robe. She went back inside, and slept restlessly on her bed. 

<Angels dancing
<In the night

She dreamt that night. The dream she had every night.

Nick had come back to her, in bed. He had brushed away the hair covering
her face. 

She had clapsed him to her chest. "Nick, you've come back." 

He had gazed into her eyes. "Yes, Nat... I've come back for you. I love
you. It was a mistake you let you go." He kissed her passionately on the
lips. 

Natalie began to cry, half angry at herself for messing up Nick's jacket. 

They stood. "Where are we going, Nick?" she asked. 

"Wherever you want, Nat. I'll go to the ends of the earth, if you want
to." 

She laughed. "Yes, we'll be together forever..." 

And then she woke up.

The tears were staining the sheets. Damn! She cried every night, she
dreamed every night. Why wouldn't it stop? 

<And she cuddles up real tight

She curled up into a little ball of anger and frustration and hope and
sadness.  Nick... come back... I need you... 

<Children's laughter
<Sunny day
<Never more I go away

Every day she wanted to leave her world of unending night. She would think
of everything she left behind, her friends, her family, simple pleasures
like a day at the beach. All for a man who she knew she would never see
again. 

<Just like an endless dream

Her entire life was one living nightmare. Why wouldn't it stop? Why
wouldn't Nick come back? She even wanted to be with LaCroix. Just anyone.
But anyone and everyone was gone. 

<And always you'll be
<Blood and soul part of me
<The second element

It was like part of her sould had been stolen.

<I am longing for you

Come back.

But he hadn't come back.

He wouldn't.

Natalie faced this.

But it didn't stop her from hoping, waiting, and crying.

*****
All feedback appreciated. Just WRITE! :-)

Does anyone have an idea why Nick would leave her? I don't! So don't ask _me_.
I may write a sequel, though.

Michelle
Schattenjager@hotmail.com
dandavid@earthlink.net

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