Disclaimer: None of the characters named belong to me.  I beg the
indulgence of TPTB for any perceived abuses.

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

************************************
Time Jordan 
Dark Knightie/Immortal Beloved/Ravenette

    Source: geocities.com/timejordan/Fanfiction

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