Background: I've sometimes wondered at a comment Janette made during Dark Knight. When Nick refused her offer of a drink, she said something to the effect of, "Oh, that's right. You're probably *on duty*." I'm curious how she knew that he was a cop. Was it simply another piece of information passed along the vampire grapevine, or did she did find out some other way? Here's one possible answer. Time is after Nick became a cop, before Dark Knight.
Reflections on a Dark Knight
by Time Jordan
A cop. A homicide cop, if the body below was any indication. Janette laughed silently at the irony. Trust Nicolas to choose such a profession. Guarding mortals against the dangers of the night. Rather like setting the wolf to guard the flock. Still, it could prove useful if any of the younger members of the Community got out of hand. Nicolas might prefer to live among mortals, but he wasn't fool enough to betray the Community.
One of the uniformed officers came up to him and spoke to him, gesturing towards a nearby building. Nick nodded and waved the woman towards one of the witnesses, then frowned. He took a few steps away from the body and cast a searching glance towards the sky, as if he sensed...something. Janette pulled herself farther into the shadows, and willed herself into stillness. Calming the internal rush she felt at seeing him again was harder, but she blocked it from him as best she could. He would know that she was in the city, of course, just as she had known when he arrived, but she was hoping to avoid detection just now. After a moment, Nick turned back to the bustle of people around the crime scene. Janette relaxed slightly and returned to watching him.
He looked well, as healthy and handsome as she remembered. Of course he does, she scolded herself. Vampires do not age, and Lacroix has already said that his quest for mortality is futile. Still, she could not repress a shudder of fear at the thought. To see that smooth face wrinkle, the bright blue eyes grow dim with age--such was the stuff of nightmares. To stand by his deathbed and face endless centuries of darkness alone was something she dared not imagine. Nor was there any need to think about it. Lacroix had assured her that it could not happen, and though she didn't always trust him, in this she felt he was telling the truth. Or so she told herself when she woke shaking in the middle of the day.
She would tease Nicolas about this new profession of his when he finally came to see her, but for now she admired the smooth way he insinuated himself into the lives of mortals. He walked among them, and none knew what they truly dealt with. So much harder, when you had to spend so many hours with them and no chance for an escape. She had pled illness often over the centuries to escape early from the balls and parties. She didn't think that mortals would allow you to do that every night when they paid you, though. Not that Nicolas needed the money. Of course, he wouldn't end his evenings as she had all those years before, either, returning to haunt the steps of the mortals she had danced with. Amazing how even the strongest man breaks down when confronted by a creature of legend and darkness.
She had felt his presence when he first arrived, had listened with careful indifference to the rumours which floated about. They might have been discussing the newest fledgling for all the concern she showed. At least, publicly. Inwardly she had rejoiced at the news. She had missed him, more than she would ever admit to anyone. She had gone secretly to see him a few months after his arrival, had watched from a distance as he walked down the street and promised herself that she would not visit him again until he sought her out. Now here she was more than two years later, watching him as avidly as she had before. Rejoicing in the fact that her Crusader was alive after eight hundred years, and wondering if he would ever break the silence. Nicolas does as Nicolas wants, she reminded herself. I should have more patience after a thousand years. He had to come to her on his own. That had always been Lacroix's mistake; he tried to force himself on Nicolas and Nicolas rebelled against that.
They seemed to be nearly finished below. The body had been packed up and moved to a van. The people were slowly dispersing. Nick stood by himself, staring at the bloodstained ground, apparently lost in thought. Janette found herself reconsidering her thoughts on this new career choice. Perhaps it was not so incongruous after all. Really, it was just another form of hunting. An old sport in new clothes, and with a different prize. No more the savouring of sweet blood at the end of a chase, but instead the praise and commendations and promotions of the mortal world.
"Can you truly gain satisfaction from that, Nicolas?" she wondered. "Does what these mortals think, what happens to them, mean so much to you?"
Nick walked over to his car and opened the door. Only a handful of people now remained on the scene. In a few weeks, when the tape had come down and the rain had washed away the blood, no one would know that a life had ended here. The scene was as temporary, as transitory as the life of the woman who had died. As brief as the life of any mortal.
Janette cast one last, longing glance towards the blond man below her, then took to the sky. She could wait for him. He was alive, she could wait. On the ground, Nick leaned against the open door and looked upwards into the starry night.
end part 01/01
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Time Jordan
Dark Knightie/Immortal Beloved/RavenetteComments, praise, and criticism are all welcome.