Vampire love story

Driving into the precinct, Tracy stole sidelong glances at the vampire sitting next to her. He looked so unconcerned, so blase'.

"Looking again, Vetter? Is it my good looks, or is there something you want to ask?"

Tracy kept her lips shut tight and kept driving...for all of three seconds. "You're damned right there's something I want to ask. Like for starters, when, how and why did Nick find out about you, and why hasn't he said anything to me if he knew, and who the hell is he to 'warn you off' and why didn't YOU tell me sooner?!"

"Sorry I asked."

Tracy turned into the precinct lot, and turned towards Vachon in a huff. "Well?"

"Well, what?" The eyes she loved so much stared at her, unshakably stubborn. She stared right back, trying to outstubborn him. Yeah, right!

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" The trademark silent 'no' appeared. Why does he have to be so gorgeous? "You really piss me off, you know that?" In a blink of an eye, he was out of the car and opening her door, ever gallant. "Show-off."

"Let's go." He was amazed at how happy he felt. He realized he couldn't remember feeling this way, and wondered why this was so new to him. He'd been in love before, but it was more than that...and that's what he needed to talk to the Doc about.

Looking about the lot, Tracy spotted the pale blue Caddy, and nudged Vachon. "He's here. You sure you don't want to explain?"

"Ask Knight."

"Okay, let's go." Tracy was feeling infinitely better after her shower and four Motrin, good enough to be having flashbacks. That was such a delicious feeling, she thought. To be doing nothing more than driving down the road, and suddenly be back in her bed, with the feel of Vachon's hands gripping her hips hard enough to bruise her as he gave himself up to the passion he tried so hard to control. God, last night was incredible. She'll give up walking comfortably to spend her days like that!

Walking into the precinct, they noticed an extremely distressed man muttering to himself about "not going back there." "What's with him?" Tracy asked Martin, the new front desk officer.

"Some loon, transferring back to prison. Name's Dawkins, pretty tame, just a little off." He studied the man with Tracy, deciding if she needed assistance. "So what's with him?" Martin asked, nodding towards Vachon. "You bringing him in?"

Tracy smiled cattily at Vachon, "Not this time." Walking away, she couldn't help teasing, "I told you you looked like a criminal." Vachon reached out to grab her, but instead ran into her when Tracy stopped short. Standing in front of them, with hell to pay written all over his face, was Knight.

"Good evening, Detective Knight. Sleep well?" Vachon asked, loving this. He could feel the rage in Nick, and wondered how he was keeping the vampire from emerging in front of everyone. "I did." Tracy elbowed him, mortified.

"I want to talk to you, Nick." Tracy tried to steer him into the questioning room, but Nick wouldn't budge.

"Not now. Vachon and I need to talk."

"This is none of your business, Nick. Now, would you like to continue this in private?"

He motioned Tracy ahead, then stayed where he was. "Let's go," he told Vachon, his eyes beginning to glow an ungodly yellow. "Now."

They went into the next room, Vachon wondering how pissed Tracy was going to be when she realized she was alone. Before he could say anything, Nick slammed him up against the wall. "How could you? You know what this means."

"Back off, Knight. Tracy's right, this is none of your business. Or maybe you're just pissed that we finally did what you've been afraid to...and how is the good Doc, by the way?"

Nick's eyes blazed as he struggled with wanting to kill Vachon and wanting to ask questions. An image of Natalie beneath him, arching her back, burning him, came blazing across his thoughts. He let Vachon go, and turned away dejectedly. "Is Tracy okay?"

"You saw her Knight, what do you think?"

"Did you tell her about me? It was obvious I know about you."

"I told her to ask you. It's your decision, but I think you should tell her. She's going to get herself killed one day trying to protect you from some stupid gunshot wound, when you could have stopped it."

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside. Rushing from the room, Vachon looked for Tracy, only to find her gone.

"Knight, get over here." Reese waved him over, agitated beyond his normal fits. "Dawkins got loose, grabbed a gun, and is trying to run. Tracy went after him." Knight took off, using all his vampire senses to locate the scared, unstable man. Sensing the man in the lockers, he raced in, finding him hiding behind a clothes rack. He could sense Tracy flanking him, and had to diffuse the situation before she arrived.

"Dawkins, you don't want to do this."

"I won't go back, just let me go." Nick could tell the man's hold on reality had completely snapped. He tried to hypnotize him.

"Put the gun down, Dawkins. You don't want to do this." He saw the arm shaking, hesitating. "Put it down," he pursued. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tracy emerge, gun drawn. So did Dawkins. He turned and fired.

Too fast to see, Tracy fell to the ground as Vachon covered her body. Taking the bullet for Tracy, his body jerked as the metal ripped through his side. Nick attacked, slamming the man into the wall, then turned, vampire full blown in his eyes, and looked into Tracy's.

Comprehension filled her eyes. "You could have trusted me," she whispered, before turning her attention to Vachon. "You can get off me now." She looked down at her hands, covered with blood. "Vachon, you're hit."

"I'll be okay, just don't rush me." He bit back a grunt of pain as he tried to move.

"Still a smartass, huh, Vachon?" She tried to help him, then held him close and whispered, "Thank you. I don't want to leave you yet." She looked in his eyes, and even in his pain, she saw the desire that was never fully banked.

Nick was instantly at their side. "Take him to Nat. She'll take care of him." Helping him up, he looked at Tracy. "We'll talk." She turned to him, anger and hurt in her eyes.

"Damn right, we will." Nick Knight, 800 year old vampire, suddenly felt like he was going to the woodshed. What is it about mortal women? I could kill her in an instant, yet she's scolding me?! Just like Nat, he thought, smiling to himself.

Tracy led Vachon to Natalie, who was quietly whistling while weighing someone's spleen on her little scale. She looked up, and tried to remember who she was supposed to know and how. This is too damn complicated, she thought.

"Bring him here." Tracy helped Vachon up on the table, and removed his shirt for Natalie to work. "Lock the door."

"So, Tracy, I guess we should talk." She turned to Vachon. "Are you okay? Do you want something for the pain?"

"Just get the bullet out, okay?" He looked so affronted that she would think he couldn't handle pain, she had to laugh.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend your macho-vampire sensibilities. Men!" she muttered, rolling her eyes. She turned to Tracy as she began probing the wound. "So talk."

"How long have you known?" Tracy looked in Natalie's eyes, seeing them measure every word. "And I know about Nick, too." Nat looked up at Tracy with relief. She could finally tell the truth, finally talk to someone.

"Six years, since the night I met Nick. I just met Vachon during the fever, though I'd known about him since you met him." Finding the bullet she pulled it out and watched his body start to heal.

"I'm hungry," Javier said, looking at Tracy.

"I'll get you something," Natalie said, turning to the fridge where she kept the special bottle for Nick. Even though they were working on the cure, she knew there were times he still needed blood.

"Like hell!" Tracy snapped, jealous of the thought of someone else's blood in Vachon. She walked over and offered her wrist. Natalie's eyes grew even larger than normal as she watched Vachon feed. She saw the fangs descend, then pierce Tracy's veins. She saw the sucking, and she saw the change in Tracy, her head slumped forward, her breathing quickened. It was the most erotic thing Natalie had ever witnessed and she was intruding. Turning away, she went to the fridge to get Tracy a glass of orange juice.

"You better start carrying some with you if this is a common occurrence." So many questions were racing through her mind, so many things she needed to know. Thoughts of Janette and Robert kept coming to her, and images of her and Nick, her constant yet impossible fantasy, almost drowned her.

Vachon was licking Tracy's wounds, and the heat in the room was palpable. They were lovers, Natalie realized, and she knew she was going to be unutterably rude. "Tell me about it."

"About what?" Tracy's head jerked up, and Natalie finally got a good look at her neck.

"Good lord, woman, are you okay?" Tracy blushed as Natalie came to look closer. "Well, obviously you're 'okay,' but do you mind if I ask you some questions? I take it you've had sex." Tracy blushed even more, and Natalie scolded her. "Tracy, you and I are going to sit down and have a nice little talk about sex with a vampire. Don't you think blushing is a little, oh, let's say, past the point?"

"Can we do this when we're alone?" Tracy asked, motioning to Vachon. Natalie laughed.

"Okay, Trace, you better get back out there. I'll keep him here for awhile." Tracy bent to kiss Vachon, whispering something Nat couldn't hear. This is going to be good, she thought to herself. Then Tracy went to check on Dawkins.

"Okay, young man, what do you have to say for yourself?" Nat was enjoying this. She felt as if she'd caught her younger sister in a tryst, and she gets to question the young man. Standing there with hands on her hips, she turned to him, only to see a very disturbed look on his handsome young - well, not so young - face. "What's wrong, Vachon?"

Vachon sat up gingerly, reaching for his shirt. Looking at Natalie, he took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts. "I was coming to talk to you today, anyway. I don't know who to talk to about this, I mean, I want to talk to somebody who won't tell me to just kill Tracy and get it over with."

Natalie was suddenly afraid for Tracy. "What are you talking about, Vachon? Why would you even think that?"

"You know our life, Natalie. Every vampire who sees Tracy will know she's mine. And that puts her in danger."

"How will they know?" Natalie's curiosity was greater than her concern for her friend.

"When I drank from her, I marked her. No vampire will go near her now...at least not to drink. But I'm afraid the Enforcers may have other plans. But that's not even what I came to talk to you about." He paused, trying to find the right words.

"Have you ever heard about vampires drinking the blood of the same mortal again and again, and not bringing them across and not killing them?" Natalie could tell how confused the young vampire was, and thoughts of Janette were aching to be released.

"I've heard of it, " she said evasively.

"It can change you. I think it's changing me." Vachon looked at Natalie, wanting answers, wanting absolution. "I feel different."

"Different how? Different as a man, or different as a vampire?"

"Both. Like the sleep. All through the day, when I usually sleep and can't wake up, I woke up again and again needing to make love to her. I kept needing her blood."

"No wonder she was walking a little slow," Natalie muttered under her breath.

Of course he heard. Giving her a truly irritated look, he asked "Are you going to help me or not?"

Natalie struggled. She wanted to help Vachon find answers, but she knew in her heart their motives were different. Her conscience battled her desires, but in the end, Natalie's honor won out.

"Vachon, I will help you all I can, but my reasons may be different from yours. First, tell me. Do you want to stay a vampire?"

Vachon studied Natalie, wondering what she was asking. "I'm not like Nick, Natalie. I don't go around wishing I was mortal." He thought for a moment about what being mortal would mean. "I can't honestly say I want to be mortal. But I don't want to give up Tracy, either."

"You may have to, Vachon. The only time I've heard about this, the vampire became mortal. Are you willing to risk it?" Javier thought of his golden girl, and of never tasting her again. Fear clutched his rarely beating heart, and he knew he couldn't do it.

"I won't give her up." Natalie was filled with envy of Tracy. What she wouldn't do to be in her shoes right now, but with Nick, of course. Although...with this sweet young thing....Natalie! Stop that, she scolded herself.

"Are you willing to answer some really personal questions?" A stare, a blink, and a nod. "Fine, but you better get a little more verbal if I'm going to figure anything out. First...tell me about the first time..." Vachon filled Natalie in on the details he could, not wanting to betray Tracy's privacy. "How did you stop? I thought that once you begin to drink, you can't stop."

"It was in her blood. She doesn't want to die, she doesn't want to be brought across, and she can't say no to me. What else could I do but stop?"

"Funny, I never thought of you as the noble type. No offense," she added quickly at his affronted look. "I just think of you as the typical 'eat and run' kind of vampire."

"You've got a sick sense of humor, Natalie. But you're right. It was her, it was her blood. I can't say it any different. Her blood made me stop, made me want to protect her more than gorge on her. I don't get it." He looked away, his confusion tangible.

"Hmmm," Natalie murmured. "Vachon, I don't KNOW anything yet, but this could be one of two things. My guess is it's either the man in you loving her so much you can protect her from the vampire, or her blood really is changing the vampire in you."

"Well, all I know is I'm MUCH too happy for my peace of mind. I LIKED being the carefree vampire with just a little angst." Natalie laughed. He and Tracy are good together. Now, to get to Tracy and get the real details out of her....

"Anything else, Vachon? I mean, we'll have to keep in touch, let me know if anything else changes. But do you have any questions now?"

"Yeah," he said, undaunted. "Why haven't you and Nick ever done it?" Natalie looked at him, and gave him her best 'I'm the doctor, mind your own business' look. "It won't work Natalie. If you get to know about me and Trace, I want to know about you and Nick."

"Well, smartass, since you're being so sweet about things..." Natalie turned away, and decided to tell the awful truth. "He says we can't, so we don't. But now I wonder if that's really the reason." She jumped when she felt his hand in her hair.

"Beautiful Natalie. Nick is a fool. Tell him about us." Vachon grabbed his jacket to cover the blood stained shirt he wore. As if on cue, Nick walked in. Vachon was just too amused. "I'll be in touch. Give him hell, Natalie." He walked out, leaving a very confused looking Nick with one purely pissed coroner.

Finding Tracy, he gave her kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for the snack." Tracy's eyes flared, wanting him.

"What are you doing to me?" she whispered. She was at his mercy, knowing all he'd have to do was ask and she'd walk away from work, family, everything.

"Come to the church after work. I've got something special planned." His eyes roamed her body, igniting wherever they touched. "I need you." His eyes blazed quickly, over so quickly she thought she imagined it. Watching him leave, she took a deep breath.

This was going to be a long day, she thought, trying to bring her traitorous body under control. She wanted to talk to Natalie, to talk to another woman who happened to be in love with a vampire. Just down the hall from the morgue, she jumped suddenly when she heard a loud crash from inside. What on earth could Natalie be yelling about? She rushed to look, but Grace, Natalie's assistant, stopped her. "Nick's in there."

Comprehension dawned on Tracy, and she walked back to her desk, smiling. Maybe she wouldn't have to take ol' Nick to the woodshed after all, she thought. If there's anything left. I wonder if Natalie keeps holy water in there?