Part Fourteen
 

Mark eased his way back into the car as thunder roared through the cloud
darkened pre-dawn sky.  After discovering Natalie's car parked outside the
precinct, and finding out that Nick had booked off for the night, he thought
that she might be with him.  His eyes scaled the bricks of the tall dark
building, and grief caught up with him and seized his soul.  Tears rolled down
his face as he pictured what his wife and Nick Knight were now doing in his
darkened loft apartment.  They had been in love before, and now they were
lovers.  And even as he futilely tried to believe that she would walk out the
door in the next moment, he knew that he could not fight fate.  The same power
that had determined his wife and Nick Knight's actions had also decided his
destiny.

Tears choked him, and he grabbed for several tissues from his pocket as his
suffocating cough re- emerged.  He gasped for breath as if he were drowning
then regained control and pulled the tissues from over his mouth.  Bright red
blood soaked the tissues; the blood had even permeated through, wetting his
hands.  Wearily, he stuffed the used tissues back into his jacket pocket, then
retrieved some clean ones to dry off his hands.  Time was becoming scarce, he
knew that.  It was doubtful that he would see the next season.  But even
though the chemicals and radiation that he used, to find Natalie's cure, were
destroying him, he was close.  He was so very close to finding her cure.  When
she will be released from her doomed fate as a result of his work and
sacrifices, then she will love him too.  He looked longingly at the building's
door, but it stood cold and still.  Sadness ran down his body.  Natalie may be
with Knight tonight, but after she is cured, she will forever love all that he
gave up for her.  Knight may have her now, but he will be the one to live on
forever in her memory.  Putting the car into gear, he backed out of the
driveway and onto the street.

Carrie pressed her lips together and smiled as she watched the red glow from
Mark's taillights disappear into the night.  This was perfect, everything was
perfect.  Even though she knew that Mark Harmond would never be man enough to
kill Nicholas for his infidelities with his wife, he would still be a
wonderful character witness if it came to that.  What jury would convict her
if she walked in on such a shocking act of betrayal?  And if she shot him with
his own service weapon, it would never be considered premeditation.  An act of
passion, why some jurors may even want to give her a medal.  Their marriage
had been a complete mockery, but they were the only two who knew that.
Thankfully, he had finally succumbed and had his little affair.  Maybe he
would be less moody around her before she got rid of him.  He rarely slept
with her, which she did regret, but at least the occasional encounter was
satisfying.  He had told her that he wanted an offspring, and she knew that
the only reason he ever got near her was so that she would conceive his child.
It was also the reason that he told her that he remained with her, and she had
to keep his interest until she could safely provide for an alibi when his
accident happened.  So, if he wished to believe that she would sire an
offspring for him, then so be it.  The pills that she had swallowed every day
of her married life would prevent any surprises from coming up, and what he
did not know would not hurt her, or was that him?  She smiled again.  It was
getting late, and this little affair that he was having would only be used as
a backup.  Accidents were far less messy to explain and much less complicated
too.  Sitting quietly in her car, she wondered what type of vehicle it would
take to run a large old Cadillac off the road.

                                   --------

The day was half over by the time Mark woke up and reached over to Natalie's
side of the bed.  Her side was still neatly made and cold.  He wistfully
patted the soft covers and remembered why she had not made it home last night.
Sitting up, he took in several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself and
shove down his overwhelming emotions.  His morning coughing spell began, and
he ran into the bathroom to catch all the blood that was certain to come.  He
closed the door and twisted on the hot water tap in the bathtub.  The steam
always soothed his dry irritated throat after a bout from his illness.  His
oncologist had told him that if he would undergo treatment for his cancer,
then his life might be prolonged.  However, it would drain him of the little
strength that he had left, and would rob him of the precious time that
remained before Natalie would become a vampire and his vampire subject would
arise.  He was so very close now, if only he could hang on for a few more
months then he could cure her.  Just a few more trials, just a few more
experiments using the vampire woman's valuable specimens.  Dropping the
blood-splattered tissues into the now swirling waters of the toilet, he
watched them as they were pulled down and vanished.  All of his blood loss was
making him weaker each day.  He knew that the only reason he stayed alive was
because of his drive to cure Natalie before she became one of the undead.  He
would gladly trade away a few chemotherapy filled months to save her from such
a fate.

Standing in the midst of the steam, he looked into the fog-covered mirror.
Then with his finger, he made a streak in the glass to create a clear line.
Slowly he traced the equation that he knew should be working to cure Natalie,
into the mist.  He wrote in the chemical abbreviations above and below the
line, he had made.  It should be the answer, but it was not working.  This was
the only obstacle that stood in his way for her cure.  Taking a step back, he
stared at the DNA sketch and he shook his head and sighed heavily.  He had
used this equation to create a serum that worked thousands of times in the
Jane Doe's blood samples, but it would never react how it should in the
vampire woman's body.  All his experiments had only caused him to poison
himself with chemicals and radiation in such high amounts, that the fact that
he was still alive was a miracle.  Over and over he created the exact
combination of chemicals, and had made a vaccine, that worked in all but his
experimental animals.  Each trial on living specimens would fail, within
seconds of injection.  So many of the animals that he had injected with the
vampire virus easily overcame his serum that worked so well in the test tubes.

He rubbed at his eyes as he looked hard at the glass mirror, and then the
answer suddenly became clear.  This was the breakthrough that he had missed.
His heart rate picked up another fifteen beats per minute in his excitement.
The mirror was the answer that he had overlooked.  He had been doing
everything backwards.  He needed to use the inverted image when preparing his
serum.  The inverted amounts of chemicals were needed, and that is how he had
to construct it - in its mirrored image.  Why had he not thought of this
before?  The vampire virus is the mirrored image of the normal virus
structure.  He had been treating it as if it were like mortal DNA.  It did
look similar, but it was not.  Incredible, the mirrored image!  He had to get
back to the lab right away.  If this theory was correct, and he could try the
new serum on his test animals, then Natalie could be cured within a week.
Using the sleeve from his robe, he wiped the mirror clean before leaving to
get dressed.

                                   --------

The telephone in Nick's loft rang loudly and startled them both awake.  Nick
pulled his arm out from under Nat and reached for the receiver, and with his
speech still sleepy with sleep, he answered it.

"Knight."

"Nick, It's Captain Reese.  Sorry to bother you on your night off, but I think
that you might want to take this call.  I tried to reach you at home, but
Carrie said to call you here.  I don't know what's going on between you two,
but if you feel that you need to talk to someone Nick, I'm here for you."

"No Cap, there's no problem.  Why did you call?"

"We received an anonymous call about a possible homicide victim over at the
University, and the caller mentioned Dr. Harmond's lab.  I already spoke to
the Doctor and he said that he will meet you there.  I figured that since your
wife is related to him, that you might want to check this out yourself.  When
I called your house, Carrie insisted that you be sent."

Nick looked over at Nat who had fallen back to sleep, and he smiled before
getting back to the Captain.

"She was right Cap, I should go.  I will check it out and speak with Dr.
Harmond when I get there."

"Keep me informed, and Nick... this sleeping apart thing?"

"I will talk to you about it later Cap."  He quietly hung up the telephone.

Careful so as not to wake her, he slid out of bed and got dressed.  Before
leaving the room, he could not resist the temptation to take one last look at
her before heading down the stairs.  Within a few moments, he left the loft
and was pulling the Caddy out of the garage.

It was four in the morning, but the expressway was still active with traffic,
which was mostly trucks at this hour.  As he pulled into traffic from the on
ramp, he let his thoughts drift to the recent months he had spent with
Natalie.  Loving her as a mortal man was more than he had ever dreamed
possible.  Hours after they would part each time, he could still feel the
warmth of her touch and the sweet fragrance of her hair.  His thoughts drifted
like the early morning fog that had wandered in from the lake, and he smiled.

Moving steadily with the traffic, he was suddenly startled as a large truck
pushed him into the next lane as it side swiped him.  Reacting quickly, he
regained control of the steering wheel and straightened the Caddy back into
his original lane.  The truck continued to move ahead as if nothing had
happened, and Nick reached for his flashing light and pushed it on top of his
dashboard.  Its rotating red and white lights and its siren reached out
through the darkness, and the truck began to slow down to allow Nick to catch
up with him.  As soon as he pulled along side, the driver swerved into him
again this time forcing Nick off the road and onto an off ramp.  With Nick now
away from the main highway, the truck pulled behind him and began to ram him
hard from the back.  Each jolt caused the Caddy's windows to rattle, and for
him to temporally loose control of the steering.  He had to get away, so he
cranked the steering wheel to the side and hit the brakes, sending the car
into a skid that stopped when he struck the guardrail.  As the Caddy slid
against the rail, his head jerked to the side and slammed into the glass on
the side door.  Blood dripped down into his eyes and lights from the street
spun around him as he tried to not lose consciousness.  He unsuccessfully
reached for his smashed police radio to call for help, and watched helplessly
as the truck driver stepped out of his cab with a crowbar.  Time seemed to be
moving in slow motion as he watched the driver who was masked and dressed all
in black slam the crowbar into his windshield sending glass fragments
everywhere.  The driver swung hard again, and this time completely broke
through the glass.  Nick tried to pick up his arm to protect his bleeding
head, but everything turned black as he lost consciousness.
 

End Part Fourteen

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