His Voice on the Radio

Chapter 3

The caddy was gone after I left the Raven. It really was a beautiful car.

It wouldn’t be too hard to find Nicholas. A Homicide detective that worked nights. A trip to an precinct would eventually lead me to him. But there was a MUCH easier way. I closed my eyes and opened my mind to the city. Even though I had met him for only a few minutes, I still remembered his sent. I walked into a convenient back alley and took to the air, honing in on his veritable signal.

Making sure no morals were around I landed about a block away from him. He was in a building with few mortals. That was good. I walked around to the front of the building and smirked. The Coroner’s building. He was hanging out in a morgue. How trite. What did catch my eye was the light blue caddy. So, my brother DID have some taste after all. I spent a few more seconds admiring it before letting myself inside.

He had sensed my presence since I had touched down. He was on edge and the mortal’s heartbeat had gone up.

I stuck my head in the door. “Boo,” I said.

Nick let out a visible breath. “What are you doing there?”

The mortal looked confused. She was really quite beautiful. I liked her hair, long and with lots of curls. I gave her my best smile.

“Who are you?” The mortal folded her arms across her chest. She knew me for what I was.

I cocked my head to the side and gave him a questioning look. He read it right.

“Nat, this is Casey. One of LaCroix’s children.”

Her shock was evident. Her eyes widened.

“Yeah, I know. God, I NEED therapy.”

Nat tried and failed to suppress a laugh.

I grinned again, just a little flash of fangs. “It’s a wonder my sanity is sound. So how do you know about our dear Nicholas here?”

“He showed up on my table. A bomb blew up with him right on top of it.”

I flinched, “Ow.”

Nick didn’t seem to be falling for my charm. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Nick. I come in peace. I swear. I just wanted to find you. I wanted to talk to you. We have a lot to talk about, don’t you think? And ride in your caddy. That is a brilliant car.”

“So, when did he...bring you across?” Nick asked.

“If memory servers it was around your year 180 AD. Somewhere there abouts.”

“That was just after he,” Nick stopped himself, a little bit in awe of the implications.

“He what?” Nat asked.

“Killed Diva.” Nick replied solemnly.

“Oh, wow.”

I nodded. This mortal knew a lot about Nick. It was obvious they were close. I found it really endearing. “Maybe you can bring me up to speed about what’s going on currently. I don’t know much about him,” I admitted without any feelings of remorse or guilt. “Nick’s the first sibling I’ve ever run across.” I gave him a hopeful smile. “I had always wondered if he had made others.”

Nick nodded. “Ok. Thanks, Nat. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.” She gave him a smile.

“Nice to meet you, Natalie...?”

“Lambert.”

I went over and shook her hand and gave her a bow. “My pleasure. Now I must go before Nick gets any wrong ideas. Cheers.”

We walked upstairs to the street. Nick was giving me little looks that had nothing to do with my actions towards Nat. I didn’t fancy her. I had an idea of what was bothering him so much.

We got into his car and he called off at work. “I really do love your car.”

“Lots of trunk space.” He said and put the car into motion.

“Must come in handy.”

“Yeah.”

“Does it bother you that much?”

“What?” Nick tried to play dumb. I don’t think he wanted to deal with it. But it had to be done.

“That we had sex.” I’d always been blunt. I knew he could smell Lucien on me, even with a shower. “We’re not in love, if that’s what you are worried about it.”

“I’m NOT worried.” The ‘but’ was not voiced.

“But?” I pressed.

“Nothing.”

He didn’t want to voice his own emotions. I let it go, now was not the time to press.

“Ok, getting off the awkward moment here, let me know a bit about you. When were you brought across?”


“1228 in Paris. I was a Crusader.”

“Awww, you’re so young,” I teased.

He gave me a glare that wasn’t real. There was a hint of a smile on it. “Are you always like this?”

“Pretty, much. Yep.”

“How did he ever put up with you?”


“He didn’t. He wasn’t around.”

“Oh.”

I shrugged. “No big deal. He gave me the gist of it and that was that. We run into each other every now and then.”

“Where did you meet?”

“Britannia, near the Welsh border. He was a Roman General. He came into our village one night. There were talks among us about retaliating against the Romans. We may have been under their control, but we didn’t like being conquered. I was sent in to appease him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”

“You went willingly?” Nick said incredulously.

“Oh, yes. I saw him riding into camp. There was something about him. Dangerous, I know, but...alluring. We made eyes at each other. A few nights later he called me into his tent. I surprised him with no fear. A few months later he brought me across. When you say Crusader, are you still religious?”

“No, I lost my faith in God.”

“Because of Lucien?”

“Yes, and what I’ve seen over my lifetime. Why do you call him Lucien?”

“Why do you call him LaCroix?” It was answer enough. Our views of him were quite different. He saw Lucien as an oppressor and I saw him more of a lost soul. “Why do you hate him so much?”

“He never leaves me alone! He won’t let me live my own life! I can’t be free of him!”

“He must really care about you.”

We pulled into Nick’s garage. He looked at me, almost hurt by my words, “How can you say that?”

“He stuck around to care.”

Nick didn’t respond. He parked the car and showed me up to his studio flat.

“Very posh. I love the fireplace. I didn’t think you still had them, what with central heating and all.” I ran my hands over the grand piano. “Do you play?”

“Yes, it helps me think and relax. I can forget about everything...for a while.”

I plopped onto the sofa and eyed the huge TV. “Over compensating for something, Nicky?”

Nick laughed, “I shouldn’t think so. I don’t have any human blood to offer you...just pig.”

“PIG? What’s wrong with human?”

“It’s human. I don’t feed on humans anymore.”

“They have blood banks for that, Nick. But, to each his own.”

“LaCroix disapproves.” Nick sat down on the sofa next to me.

“Lucien disapproves about everything. You can’t let him get to you. He didn’t want us to talk. He is afraid I’d soil his disposition. I can’t IMAGINE why.” I was still looking around his flat. It was such a weird cross of modern and antiquity. I noticed a small photograph with a women’s picture in it. It wasn’t Nat’s. I picked it up off the table that was next to the sofa. “Who is she?”

“That’s Janette. My sister...ours, really.”

“Good, god, he’s breeding like rabbits! God, help the rest of the world. She’s lovely.” I handed the picture to Nick. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” there was immense sadness in his voice. “She left, a year ago. Had to find her own way, I guess.” He ran his fingers over her image.

“You miss her very much.” I put a comforting hand on his knee.

“I loved her.” He was silent again and put her photograph back on the table.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Oh, I’m fine.” He gave me smile. That smile was just too cute. It was a smile that would make you let him get away with anything. Or make you want to do anything just for his smile. I could see now why Lucien loved him. Not just his smile, but Nick’s deeper emotions. He cared so much for those around him. He had all that Lucien lacked. That must really make Lucien burn. No wonder there was so much trouble between them.

So we started talking. Out his life. About mine. They were so vastly different. His view of us and humanity were night and day, good and evil. He talked about the cat and mouse game that he and Lucien played. How it drove them apart. How only recently had they started coming to terms with each other, and even that was on rocky grounds.

I could not imagine it. Almost 800 years of running from each other? How blind was Lucien? I was amazed that Nick was still sane and alive. I was amazed that they both were alive. But it said so much about Nick’s character. He hadn’t given in. Lucien must have really appreciated that.

“He wasn’t always like that, you know. He didn’t have those walls up. Not as many as he does now. He’s just so...disappointed? I don’t know if that is the right word. He lost so much trust in Diva. He finds it hard to trust again.”

“I wish I could believe you. I just can’t see that in him.” Nick shook his head.

“Well, maybe one day you will. Maybe one day he’ll surprise you.”

“It’s getting near sunrise...do you need a place to stay for the day?”

“I’ll be fine, but thanks for the offer. I’m good.” I surprised him with a hug. I don’t think he gets many of those. It was a real shame.

“What was that for.”

“You don’t need a reason to hug someone. We should do this again. I like you. I think we’re going to be real good friends. That’ll really piss Lucien off. I’ll start spilling all of his little secrets.”

“I shudder to think that you think that will be fun.”

“Oh, it will be. Playing with Lucien is my specialty. Soon you’ll be having these crazy ideas and getting all kinds of rebellious thoughts into your head.” Shaking my finger at him I said very sternly, “Thinking is very dangerous.”

“Duly noted.” He chuckled.

I gave him a wink and flew off. Sunrise wasn’t for about hour. A quick stop home to apply liberal amounts of suncream (spf 100) and I was off to woo Natalie Lambert. So to speak.