Halloween. The night of myth and legend turned into an evening of frolic and games. A night for common humans to reveal the monsters and princesses that linger beneath the surface. The night for demons and devils to show their true colors.
"Oh, come on Nick. It's just one night," Natalie pleaded.
"Nat, it's too risky. I mean, what if the Enforcers find out?"
"They won't," Natalie assured him. "There won't be anyone there to tell them. I mean, Tracy will be gone and Vachon wouldn't be there without her. Who else could possibly rat you out?"
"Okay," Nick succumbed to her pleading. "But only tonight. Never again."
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Leave it to Captain Reese to throw an incredible Halloween party, in the police station, no less. With exception for several officers and some unfestive detectives, every member of the precinct was present.
Reese occasionally mingled, receiving many compliments on his Zorro costume. He had to thank his wife for the idea, but at the moment she was busy chatting with the tiger formerly known as Officer Crane.
Just as he began to wonder where the hell Detective Knight was, a crowd began to form around the front door. Reese walked over to find Dr. Lambert stroll in, wearing a flowing white Victorian dress that complimented her figure perfectly. Her long auburn hair was upswept in a tight bun with tendrils framing her face. Reese believed that she had never looked prettier.
Following her was Knight, black cape flowing behind him. He wore a pair of jet- black pants and a charcoal silk shirt. To continue the Victorian illusion, he wore a black top hat and in his right hand he carried a gold-headed cane. What finished his outfit was the fake fangs and colored contacts.
"How perfect," thought Reese. "A vampire and his victim."
The couple moved through the crowd, smiling as they received praise on their costumes and pats on the back for their wonderful portrayal of the classic movie characters. Natalie, being the ham that she is, made it a point to mock faint, and Nick, being the seasoned actor that he is, made a big show in catching her. A huge round of applause followed them as they headed toward the punch bowl.
"Great choice, you two," Reese said as he approached them. "Especially you, Knight, with your reputation."
Nick gave the captain a huge grin, fangs and all. "Thanks Captain, but it was Natalie's idea."
"I figured so much." Reese looked Nick over. "Where did you find such old-fashioned clothing?"
"Stuff from my grandparents' attic," Natalie interrupted. "Fortunately, Nick wears the same size that my great grandfather wore."
"The fangs and eyes?" the captain asked.
"A small magic shop at the edge of town. The fangs mold to you teeth."
"They look difficult to talk with," Reese observed.
"Sometimes they are," Nick quirked.
The captain smiled. "Okay then. You two have fun now." With that, he walked off.
"I can't believe you talked me into this," Nick mumbled to Nat.
"Oh, be quiet," Nat slapped him on the chest. "Everyone thinks they're fake fangs and colored contacts. No one knows that they're real. So, enjoy yourself." She then walked off to mingle.
Nick then became the center of attention. Many people, especially females, came over to see Nick, commenting on how real the fangs looked and how they couldn't see the edges of the contacts. One couple commented that he truly looked the part. To humor them, Nick brandished his best French accent and turned to them.
"But I am, madam and monsieur," he said. "Very much so."
Everyone chucked and strolled off. Nick took his brief moment of freedom to grab a glass of punch and to bring it to Natalie.
++++++++++
Unfortunately, no one noticed that the punch was heavily spiked. Four hours later, everyone, excluding Nick, was pretty smashed. He and Natalie were dancing on the makeshift dance floor, the beat of YMCA playing on the overhead PA system. Several officers were standing on a desk, imitating the Village People. Everyone laughed when one of them fell off the desk. Ironically, it was the one dressed as the cop. He quickly stood up, brushed himself off, and then, for some reason, dropped his pants. Roars of laughter continued as he got back onto the desk and picked up the beat again with his friends.
The music kept playing as Nick went to get Natalie another drink. He thought that she had drank enough, but she insisted. He was actually having a great time, so he didn't want to ruin the good mood by arguing.
Fortunately, the fascination with his costume had worn off. Every once in a while, someone came over for one final look, but they never stayed long. Nick had considered going back to his normal form, but Natalie had said that is would ruin the effect. Besides, what would happen if someone asked to see his "fake" fangs?
Nick picked up a glass of punch and turned back to Natalie, only to see some other guy attempting to "dance" with her. It was more like clinging to her. Nat was trying to push him away, but was failing miserably.
Nick's protective instinct clicked in. He slammed down the cup and stormed over. He grabbed the guy's shoulders from behind, using a little too much strength. The guy spun around to face Nick, who didn't recognize the intruder. Probably someone's date from another precinct.
"What the hell do you want?" the man asked the vampire who stood before him.
"It's not what I want. I think she wants you to leave her alone," Nick replied, grabbing Natalie's hand and pulling her toward him.
"What are you, her father?" the guy remarked. "Mister Big-Bad-Vampire?"
"Look, we'll just leave," Natalie said, slurring her speech a little.
She and Nick started to walk for the door. Just as the music changed to "Kung-Foo Fighting," someone yelled, "Jim, don't!" Nick then got slammed in the side of the head with a hard right punch. Nick turned to face his attacker and stepped toward him, but Natalie grabbed his arm.
"Nick, let's just go, okay? This isn't the place," she said, looking around.
Nick sighed, nodded, and continued to walk with Natalie to the door. He didn't tell her that Jim was following them out. Hopefully, they would make it to her car before he faced a confrontation.
As Natalie put her key in the door, Nick spun around just as Jim rushed him and slammed him into the car. Nick pushed him off, barely remembering to use mortal strength. Nick looked behind Jim to see four of the man's friends watching to see if Jim would take down Knight.
Nick wouldn't let that happen.
As Jim swung a sharp left, Nick caught his fist, holding it still and applying pressure. Jim's face contorted in pain, and just as he was about to fall to his knees, he brought up his right leg and kicked Nick in the groin. Nick released Jim's hand and doubled over, eyes squeezed shut, and he groaned in agony.
Natalie tried to rush to his side, but Jim's friends held her back. "It's better not to get involved," one of them told her.
Jim stood over Nick. "You know, I almost thought that you would beat me," he told Nick. "That would be a first." Jim checked to see who was watching then turned to his friends. "Grab the girl and let's go."
"What about him?" one of his friends asked, pointing at Nick.
"He can't do anything to us," Jim chuckled. "He's just like the others." Jim walked over to his friends, and they started to walk off, dragging a struggling Natalie behind them.
"Not like the others," came Nick's voice from behind them.
They spun around to watch Nick slowly rise from the ground and snap his eyes open. His normal vampiric green eyes were now changed to a furious red. "Let her go," he demanded.
Jim laughed. "What are you going to do when I don't?"
"Wrong question," Natalie said.
Nick charged right at Jim and threw him into the brick wall of the police station. Nick pinned Jim to the wall by squeezing Jim's neck between the wall and his arm.
Jim quickly looked at Nick's eyes, and then started laughing. "You're really lost in the part. I mean, color-change contacts and moldable fangs. Please." John scoffed. He reached up to pinch one of Nick's fangs. "Let's break the illusion, shall we?"
He tried to pull out Nick's fang. When it didn't budge, Jim concentrated harder and gave it a better try. His smile slowly vanished from his face. Suddenly, Jim's fingers slipped, and Nick's fang sliced Jim's thumb.
Jim pulled back his fingers in pain and watched as Nick traced the line of Jim's blood on his fang with his tongue.
"Oh, shit!" Jim cried, a look of dread on his face.
Nick smiled a sly, devilish grin then grabbed Jim by the throat and lifted him off his feet. One of Jim's friends screamed and they all ran off, leaving Natalie by herself. After they were gone, Nick lifted Jim above his head and, with a ferocious roar, threw Jim about twenty feet away from himself and Nat.
Jim landed with a thud in a dark alleyway. Nick turned to Natalie. "Get in the car," he hissed. When she complied, he faced Jim's direction again and headed into the alley.
Originally, he only intended on hypnotizing Jim, making him forget about the entire conflict. But then he remembered Jim's word: "He's just like the others." How many people had he done this to? Nick's rage returned full force. He had to put a stop to this. Against his better judgement, he called for Natalie to drive away, even though she had drunk a little too much. He waited until he knew that she had driven off.
As he walked down the alley, he couldn't see Jim's body, but he could hear his heartbeat.
"I know you're hiding," he called to Jim. His eyes glowed with a more intense red. When he had first tasted Jim's blood, the beast inside had been aggravated, and it was yearning for more. Since he was already in his vampire form, he possessed less control over his urges. Nick hoped that Jim had a chance to get away before he got a hold of him, but Nick hated to admit that he secretly wanted a chance to get at Jim.
Suddenly, Jim jumped out from behind a dumpster with a gun in his hand. He aimed it at Nick. "I don't know who you are, but you're not getting anywhere near me again."
With that, he pulled the trigger.
++++++++++
Between the screaming and the gunfire, the fight outside had caught the attention of the partying cops. Four of them, including Captain Reese, grabbed their guns. They went outside and stood in front of the alley, unable to see into the darkness.
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Nick looked down at the hole in his shirt where the bullet had hit him. He then gazed up at Jim, red eyes shining. Jim gulped as the vampire walked toward him, but felt relieved when a voice sounded from outside the alley:
"We have the alley blocked off. Drop your weapons and come out with your hands up."
Jim smiled at Nick. "Game's over. You can't touch me now."
His smile vanished when Nick gave him a chilling grin that made Jim's blood run cold. Nick, of course, noticed the change.
++++++++++
"I repeat," Reese said. "Come out with your hands up."
Suddenly, a man came jumping out of the dark, gun in hand. Instinctively, the cops opened fire. However, they realized, too late, that the man hadn't jumped at them but had been thrown at them. As the man's dead body plopped to the ground with a sickening thud, two of the officers cautiously entered the alley. Except for a faint whooshing sound, the pair heard and saw nothing. They returned to the captain.
"I can't believe it," Reese said.
"What is it, sir?"
"Jim McKay. That's who this man is," the captain replied. "He's wanted for the rape and murder of four women in Vancouver."
"What's he doing here?"
"My first question exactly. My other question is who threw him out at us."
All of the officers shrugged.
++++++++++
Nick watched from the rooftop. While he watched the cops search the alley, he managed to calm down slightly. His eyes had faded back to green and were starting to go back to blue, until he heard about Jim's crimes.
His eyes flared red again. He cursed himself for letting the others run away without second-guessing their intentions as well as Jim's. He shot into the sky in order to find Jim's associates.
++++++++++
Jim's friends finally stopped running. Even though they were blocks away from the police station, none of them felt safe.
"What the hell happened back there?" one of them cried out.
"That guy nearly broke Jim in half," another exaggerated.
A third man bent over in pain from the stitch in his side. "Who was that guy anyway?"
Jim's fourth friend looked up in the air and gasped.
"Dude?" asked the first. "What is it?" He also looked up with the other two following suit.
All four of them screamed as Nick swooped down on them.
++++++++++
Captain Reese and several others were cleaning up the precinct after the party. Almost everyone had gone home, leaving these poor unfortunates to all of the work. Reese dreaded to think of the paperwork following the shooting. After the paramedics had taken McKay's body, every reporter had questioned him and the other three participants. Now, a couple hours later, the excitement had ceased and only clean up remained.
Just as Reese was about to leave, Knight came walking in with four men in tow. Still in some of his costume, Nick had substituted the cape for his usual leather jacket, zipped to hide the bullet hole. He also "took out" his fangs and contacts.
"Knight, what's the meaning of this?" Reese questioned.
"Captain, these four men are under arrest as the accomplices of Jim McKay. I think you'll find that they'll be very agreeable and cooperative."
Reese stood wide-eyed. Knight had done the impossible again. Reese quickly called on some of the uniformed officers to take the four men into proper custody. The captain noticed that the men actually hurried to be with the cops, as if eager to get away from Knight.
"Care to tell me how you did this?" Reese asked.
Nick smiled sheepishly. "Maybe at tonight's shift. Right now, I'm a bit tired." Nick made a big deal of yawning right then. "Plus, with my allergy, I have to get home before the sun comes up."
Reese smiled. "Right, the whole vampire/ no sun thing."
Nick almost gasped when he mentioned that, but then the evening's charade came back to him. He kept his smile. "Yeah, the whole vampire thing."
"Okay, Knight. You go home and get some rest, but I'll expect a full report tonight."
"Fine by me," Nick said, and then walked out of the building and flew back home.
++++++++++
When Nick landed in front of his loft, he noticed Natalie's car in the driveway.
"She made it here safely," he thought to himself.
Taking the elevator up, he opened the door and found her dozing on the couch. As quietly as possible, he closed the elevator door and walked to the refrigerator. He pulled out a bottle and removed the cork with his teeth. He had put the bottle to his lips when Natalie's voice sounded from the sofa: "You're supposed to lay off the hemoglobin."
"Well, I had a rough night."
Surprisingly, Nat backed off. "One drink shouldn't hurt. I mean, you were my knight in shining armor tonight. I think you might deserve it."
Nick smirked and gulped down the liquid straight from the bottle. He stopped when he noticed that Nat was beginning to get an annoyed look.
"I meant a small drink," she said. She changed the subject. "Did you take care of that jerk?"
"That 'jerk' was a wanted murderer," he informed her. "He and his buddies bet each other that they couldn't abduct someone from a police party. They spiked the punch so to keep everyone else distracted."
Nat interrupted. "Wait, he was a wanted murderer? As in past tense?"
Nick bowed his head. "I kind of lost control."
"Nick, you didn't…"
"Not directly," he said. "But I did assist in the matter. You'll probably read about it in the morning paper."
Natalie took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. It wasn't working. "Okay, so you nearly kill a guy and then decide to down a whole bottle of plasma? What were you thinking? Maybe, 'Hey, I'm sick of trying to be human. I'll just revamp myself.' Is that is, Nick?"
"He would have killed you, Nat," Nick defended himself. "I couldn't allow that to happen."
She quickly shut up, thinking about what he had just said. Calmly, she stated, "You don't have to protect me."
"I know that normally you could handle yourself, but for one thing, you were against five incredibly dangerous men and, two, you were drunk and not thinking straight."
Natalie sank back down into the couch. Nick replaced the cork in the bottle and put it back in the refrigerator. Then, he went back and sat next to Nat. She looked at him with an apologetic look on her face.
"I'm sorry, Nick. I'm just on edge. That whole experience was a little too much for me. You were just looking out for me, and I appreciate it."
Nick slightly nodded. "It's okay. I understand." He grabbed the remote and shut the blinds, just as the light of sunrise hit the edge of the windows.
"Not a bad Halloween," he jested.
Natalie laughed. "All Hallow's Eve. The night for monsters and heroes." She looked at Nick. "My hero."
Nick leaned forward and kissed Nat on top of the head. She smiled and rested her head on Nick's shoulder. Together, they fell asleep on the couch and had peaceful dreams.
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