Discovery
By StormyNite
Written in March 1999


Chapter 1



There were white rose petals in her hands.  Natalie slowly, 

meticulously removed them from the victim's fingers.  Instantly, 

a horrible pain washed through her eyes like a knife slicing into 

her brain.  Nat staggered, dropped the scalpel from one hand and 

the evidence from the other.  She screamed as the pain continued, 

crushing her to her knees.  Sharper, deeper, the pain engulfed 

her until Nick's voice echoed into her ears.



"I don't love this woman!"  His words were angry, filled with an 

evil she'd never felt from him before.



Nat sat on the floor of the morgue as the images flashed through 

her mind.  LaCroix's evil surrounded her until she couldn't 

breathe.  She could feels Nick's hot breath on her neck as his 

fangs brushed the delicate skin.  This wasn't Nick.  This was the 

beast he'd tried to hide from her. 



"Nick!"  Natalie screamed in pain as the whole night of 

Valentines Day flashed inside her brain.  "No!  No!  Nick don't 

give into it."  Natalie clutched her arms about her while she 

rocked in agony as the hateful words, and the scene of that 

night, flooded her memory.  She could feel the hate, the need for 

revenge from LaCroix.  It was like a solid object.  Each breath 

she took, each word Nick spit back at his master hurt her in a 

way she didn't know was possible.



LaCroix disappeared and the evil with him. The Nick she loved 

returned immediately.  He held hair, caressed her hair, melded 

her body into his in an effort assure himself she was still 

alive.  He traced gentle fingers down her face. She could feel 

the pain within him, the struggle to free himself from the evil 

of LaCroix and his own beast as he whispered the word she'd 

longed to hear.



"Oh God, you know I love this woman.  Forgive me for jeopardizing 

the only thing that's made my life worth living in 800 years."  

Blood tears streaked his face as he buried his face into her mass 

of auburn curls.  "I shall love you for eternity, Natalie 

Lambert, but it cannot be.  My love will destroy us both.  He 

will never let me go, never free me from the debt and I will not 

let you be the price of my freedom."  He brought his lips to 

hers. She could feel the warmth within him, the sweet passion 

filled with need, lust, desire, and emptiness.  His love for her 

held her captive as the magic of his lips made her yearn for more 

physical contact. His love was stronger than the evil from within 

and he was warm.  



Reluctantly, he broke the sweet embrace, then placed her head 

between his hands and locked onto her heartbeat.  "You must not 

remember any of this.  We are friends, just friends, as we have 

been from that first night.  You do not love me, you cannot love 

me."  



She watched the tear slip from his eye, but she couldn't resist 

the magnetic pull in his voice.  She fought the words and he 

pressed harder into her mind as she fought it.  He loved 

her...She loved him.  How could he expect her to walk away from 

that?  She felt the fear within him instantly and knew what he 

feared.  If she remembered, they were doomed and she would lose 

him forever.  A single tear escaped her eye and she gave into the 

control in his voice.  She would not hurt him.  She wanted the 

pain in his voice to disappear and the love to return.  If this 

was the price for him to stay...She would pay it.



The pain disappeared as Natalie sat rocking herself on the floor 

and Nick's words echoed in her mind.  "I will love you for 

eternity, Natalie Lambert."  



Relief flooded her senses and she was finally at peace with 

herself.  She used the morgue table to steady herself as she 

pulled herself to her feet by the young woman who lay silently on 

her table.  "I love you, too, Nick."  She whispered to herself 

and finally pushed away from the autopsy table.



She striped her gloves and labcoat, then tossed them on the back 

of the chair.  She pulled the drawer open on her desk and grabbed 

her purse and keys.  Without turning out the lights, she closed 

the door and ran to her car in the parking lot.  It was almost 

dawn and she had to make a decision...a life of denial or one of 

fear.  She turned on the engine and the decision was made.





Chapter 2





She drove silently trying to find that feeling of warmth and love 

that she had a brief taste of.  It would have to be enough.  She 

found strength in that warmth she never knew she possessed and 

she would die before she lost it.  It was near dawn as she pulled 

up to the Raven and turned off the engine.  She looked at the 

keys in the ignition, took a deep breath, then jerked them free.  

She would need them after all.



Without a knock, she pulled open the door and stepped into the 

dark confines of the bar.  The loud music had stopped long before 

and only the soft mellow music of the rebec could be heard 

drifting on the air like a breath of clean air after a heavy 

rain.  The music made the place seem less tawdry, less evil than 

she knew it really was.  She listened intently and could feel the 

passion, the loss, the need in the song that echoed throughout 

the room.  It was an extension of the man that was so carefully 

concealed behind the rage.  



Natalie continued on and stepped quietly into LaCroix's private 

chambers.  She listened intently as he played and learned more in 

than 3 minutes than she had in the past seven years.  She noticed 

the white roses in the vase on top of the dresser.



He stopped, but never spoke as she silently walked over the 

antique vase and pulled a single open flower from its confines.  

She inhaled the sweet scent and wondered how he managed to find 

them at this time of the year, then her eyes met his.  Fear 

overwhelmed her as his cold eyes roamed her body with 

anticipation.  She gasped slightly as tiny knives of electricity 

danced over he skin.  Power flooded the air until she could feel 

the evil within him and the joy it gave him to make her doubt.  

She watched a smile cross his lips and it angered her.  She 

reached into her heart and found what she searched for and pushed 

out with it.  Instantly the evil disappeared.  When her eyes met 

his, the smile was gone replaced with something unreadable on his 

face.



She walked slowly to his side, snapped the stem of the rose in 

her hand and placed it in the buttonhole of his jacket.  Her fear 

was replaced with faith and acceptance.  She would not turn back 

now…no matter what the price.  Tonight she started over or she 

died.  He read it instantly in her eyes.



"I see your memory has returned, Doctor.  I see Nicholas' skills 

are faltering and shall have to be corrected."  He let the 

implied threat hang in the air.



Undaunted, she picked up the stem in her hand and used the thorn 

to slice her finger.  The sweet, salty smell of blood flooded the 

room causing the gold to flash in his eyes.  "It's what you want.  

It's what you've always wanted.  To possess what Nick brings 

forth in people.  You don't want me as a repayment of an old 

debt.  You want to feel the love you were denied.  You want it to 

warm your cold heart and give you a part of the life you never 

had."  



She raised the fingers to his lips as the blood trickled down her 

finger.  "I give it to you freely, LaCroix, because all creatures 

deserve to feel the happiness and joy that only love for another 

can bring.  You would deny your son the only real gift any of us 

have to offer out of jealousy.  You did not bring Fleur across 

because of anything Nick said to you on that night so many 

centuries ago.  You were afraid, a coward to take a chance that 

could make you feel what you'd left behind all those years ago.  

If the only way Nick and I can be together is to share that with 

you, then I do it willingly."  She pressed her bleeding finger to 

his lips and wiped the blood across the soft texture of his 

supple mouth.



Without hesitation, he sucked it into his mouth and drank.  Such 

strength overwhelmed him, filled with something he couldn't 

identify.  Warmth surrounded his cold heart and crushed it like a 

twig under his footsteps, but it wasn't painful.  It felt good, 

something close to erotic and he gave into it.  Images flooded 

his mind of her life, the good, the bad, life and death, pain and 

joy followed by denial and acceptance.  Her love of his son 

overwhelmed him, cradled him in a soft cocoon of pleasure and 

hope and he wanted it for himself. 



He reached out to it and she didn't pull away.  Amazed at her 

response, he reached out with his senses as he sucked the blood 

freely flowing from her finger.  He pulled her into his arms and 

still she refused to break contact, but he could feel no desire 

for him only his son.  Her heart belonged to Nicholas, now and 

forever, and nothing would break the faith she had in his love 

for her.  She would share the warmth and love she felt for Nick 

with him, but he could never possess her heart.  She would risk 

it all instead of living in denial.  Her blood challenged him, 

caressed him as a living creature worthy of love until he wanted 

to possess it for himself.  She pulled her finger from his mouth 

and stepped out of his embrace.



Silently she watched him battle the beast within himself for 

control.  Blue eyes finally met hers.  "Everyone deserves to be 

loved, LaCroix.  It's what makes life worth living.  The evil 

within us is not stronger and will never replace our need for 

love.   It's what makes us human and like it or not...you are 

still human.  Release us all, LaCroix.  Let the man inside you 

have control once more and live again."  She stared at him 

intently and waited for him to attack, but he didn't.  She 

smiled, then turned for the door.



"Doctor?"  His voice stopped her as she felt the electricity 

dance across her skin once again.



It was a part of him, the part of Nick that surfaced when he 

fought for control and she recognized it instantly now.  It was 

the conflict within the human heart between the vampire and the 

man.  She turned to him slowly and let the feeling surround her, 

then gently she crossed her arms and ran her hands over the bare, 

exposed skin.  Tiny sparks flashed as she rubbed, erasing the 

conflict within.  She knew what was in her heart and nothing 

could shake her faith in the love that she held there.  



"It is worth the price no matter how long it lasts."  Her voice 

whispered before he asked.  She turned and walked out the door.



The End

Author's Note:

If you enjoyed the story, why not read some more?
Come join the fun and visit my Fiction page at:
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Better yet go UNDERCOVER & enjoy the ride with my new novel!
Available NOW in paperback, pdf & CD versions: See my webpage above!
Or go direct to the sources at:
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>http://www.amazon.com   Type in B.W. Starmer or UNDERCOVER
>http://www.barnesandnoble.com  Type in B.W. Starmer  

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