This is a pre-first season story. I didn't get it written in time to
send it out on Halloween, but gosh darn it, I'm going to post it
anyway! It's only a day late, so maybe I can still squeak by. There
are very mild spoilers here for "I Will Repay."

The story is based on characters created by J. Parriott and B. Cohen
for the Forever Knight television series. All but one mentioned here
belong to TPTB. I'm merely borrowing them for a short time.

Permission granted to archive at Mel's FK fanfic site and Michael's
ftp site. Anyone else, please ask.



Shades of the Unknown
By Cindy Ingram

"Rowrrr!!! I'm Coun' Dwacuwa!"

The high-pitched growl, followed by the fierce but somewhat garbled
declaration, originated from the vicinity of Nick's left elbow.
Turning his head, he locked gazes with a pair of twinkling eyes that
stared up at him from a tiny face smothered in white greasepaint.

Lost in thought, Nick hadn't even sensed the boy's presence until he'd
growled at him. For a fleeting moment, he feared the precinct might
have been invaded by hordes of trick-or-treaters, but a quick survey
of the squad room eased his mind on that account. There were no other
children in sight, only his small visitor.

Seemingly perplexed by Nick's lack of response, the little psuedo-
vampire tried again.

"Rowwwrrrr!!!" He growled even louder this time. "I'm Coun' Dwacuwa!!"

For emphasis, he waggled his eyebrows while attempting to assume an
evil leer. But the overall effect was ruined when his plastic fangs
threatened to fall out, and he had to stop long enough to shove them
back into place.

A faint smile touched Nick's lips as he observed the little boy's
antics. It had been a long time since he'd been in close contact with
a child, and even longer since he'd been around one this young. From
his size and the sound of his voice, Nick judged him to be about 5
years of age, although the stark makeup, slicked-back hair and
voluminous black cape made it difficult to know for sure.

He supposed the boy must be the son of a uniformed officer or one of
the other detectives in the precinct. Although Nick had been a
homicide detective with the Toronto Metro Police Force for a few
months now, he kept to himself and was careful not to encourage any
unwanted friendships with co-workers. As a result, he knew as little
about his colleagues and their personal lives as they knew about his.

With one exception, of course.

As if his thoughts had conjured her up out of thin air, Natalie
Lambert's cheerful voice came floating across the room.

"Well, now. Is that really a vampire I see?"

Nick glanced up as the smiling coroner came to a halt next to his
desk. As with the boy, he hadn't detected her approach. That seemed to
be happening  more often these days, he realized. The preternatural
senses on which he had instinctively relied for almost eight centuries
appeared to be waning from lack of use. At the moment, he didn't know
whether to be pleased or annoyed.

Having failed to elicit the desired response from Nick, the pint-sized
Dracula turned his attention to the new arrival.

"Roowwwrrr!!!" he growled a third time. "I'm Coun' Dwacuwa!!"

"Oh, my!" Natalie gasped as she widened her eyes and pressed a hand to
her chest in mock alarm. "You most certainly are!"

"And I wanna dwink youf bwood!" he added, reaching up yet again to
adjust the uncooperative fangs.

Natalie assumed a serious expression as she leaned down, bringing her
face level with his own. "You know, I'm a little short on blood right
now," she confided in a conspiratorial whisper. "Do you think I could
get a raincheck? Maybe next year?"

She looked at him pleadingly as her hand rummaged through her purse
and pulled out a chocolate bar.

"How about this instead?" she offered.

The little vampire seemed to think it over for a moment, then nodded
agreeably and reached for the candy bar. Clutching it tightly in his
fist, he flashed Nick and Natalie a huge grin, fangs and all, before
scampering across the squad room in search of another victim.

Natalie smiled after him, watching as the boy stopped at a nearby
desk, then turned back to a bemused Nick who was also following the
child's progress. Her smile vanished as she suddenly narrowed her eyes
and aimed an accusing finger at him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "This is *supposed* to be
your night off."

Nick shrugged, turning back to the half-completed report on his desk.
"I thought I'd catch up on some paper work. I promised Stonetree I'd
have these finished by next week."

The truth was, he didn't have anything better to do. For once, Nick
didn't feel like brooding alone in the loft, and apart from Natalie,
he'd made no friends since coming to Toronto. There was Janette, of
course. He knew that she owned a club here -- the Raven -- but he'd
made no effort to contact her in all the time he'd been in the city.
He knew that when he finally did see her, she would gently berate and
charmingly ridicule him for the path he'd chosen to follow. He wasn't
ready for that yet. His life here was still too new, too fragile.

And he didn't want to do anything that might attract LaCroix's
attention.

So, except for the time he spent with Natalie and the hours he devoted
to his job, he suffered through his self-imposed isolation with a
certain grim satisfaction. He wouldn't contaminate the mortal world
with his presence any more than was absolutely necessary.

But tonight ...

He sighed, unwilling to put words to the vague sense of longing that
welled up in him. Instead, he watched Natalie as she perched a hip on
the corner of his desk.

"It isn't *natural* to want to work if you don't have to," she
admonished sternly, then grimaced as Nick looked pointedly at the file
folder she carried, silently questioning her own presence there.
"Okay. So I'm a bad example. But trust me, most people are not
workaholics.

"Besides, I'm only here long enough to drop this off, and then I'm
outta here. *I've* got plans," she loftily informed him.

"Oh?" He tried not to sound more than casually interested. He'd known
she had the night off, but until this moment, it hadn't occurred to
him to wonder what she might be doing with it.

"It's Halloween," she pointed out, rather unnecessarily, Nick thought.
"That means Halloween carnivals. I'm heading over to my brother's
house. We're all going to the carnival at Amy's school."

"Oh."

With that noncommittal response, Nick fell silent once again. In
truth, he had never understood the appeal of Halloween. Dressing up in
costumes and trying to scare each other. Weren't there enough *real*
monsters in the world already?

Nick's eyes lost their focus as he cast his thoughts back to a time in
the 15th century when he and LaCroix had crossed paths with Vlad the
Impaler. True to his bloody reputation, the infamous Walachian
nobleman had...

"Nick?"

Jolted out of his mental fog, he looked up to find Natalie staring
down at him, sporting a familiar gleam in her eyes. It was the same
gleam that appeared each time she devised a new treatment for his
"condition."

"I think I've got just the medicine for you." She regarded him with a
smug grin. "You've never been to a Halloween carnival, have you?"

With a sense of foreboding, Nick shook his head. "Nat --"

"Then it's about time you went," she decided.

"Nat, I don't think that's such a good idea," Nick protested.

"Well, I do. You spend waaay too much time locked away in your
fortress of doom, Nick. It's not healthy. You need to get out more.
And I *don't* mean to murder scenes," she said, anticipating his
response. "What you need, is something *normal*."

Nick's mind flashed to the garish costumes and spooky antics
traditionally associated with the present day celebration of
Halloween. He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Normal?" he asked.

Natalie grinned at him. "Don't be rude, or I'll make you a special
Halloween protein shake. And if you think last month's garlic
concoction was bad, just wait until you taste this one."

Nick gazed back at Natalie, an answering grin forming on his face.
He'd been doing that quite a lot lately. Whether she realized it or
not, in the few short months he'd known Natalie, she'd managed to
break through the thick barricades he'd placed between himself and the
rest of the world -- both mortal and immortal.

His grin grew larger as he contemplated her good-natured teasing. He
really liked it when she did that.

"Come on, Nick." Natalie dropped her dictatorial air and resorted to
coaxing. "I've been wanting to introduce you to Richie and his family.
I think you'd really hit it off. You and that brother of mine have a
lot in common, you know. You both have this overwhelming desire to
rescue people."

Nick opened his mouth to refute the comparison, but Natalie continued
speaking.

"Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you. We just found out that Richie's
been offered a position in the Crown Attorney's office. He starts two
weeks from Monday."

"That's wonderful, Nat," he said instead. "You must be really proud."

"Yeah, we're all pretty happy about it. It's something he's wanted for
a long time now." She smiled, obviously pleased at the thought.
"Anyway, since the two of you may be working together from time to
time, you might as well get to know each other."

She lowered her voice, glancing cautiously around to make certain no
one would overhear, before adding, "And besides, think of this as
practice for when you become mortal again and have kids of your own.
There's no way they're going to let you ignore Halloween."

Though he shook his head in rueful amusement, Nick couldn't suppress a
brief surge of hope that shot through him. *When* he became mortal
again ...

His eyes involuntarily sought out the miniature Dracula, now happily
reunited with his father in the far corner of the squad room.

Maybe it *would* be good for him, Nick thought. Maybe *she* would be
good for him.

He nodded in silent agreement. At her answering smile, he felt an
uncommon warmth originating from somewhere inside his chest.

He turned for a last look at the laughing little boy. A glimpse of his
future, perhaps? One filled with laughter and sunlight. And on each
Halloween, there would be gallons of candy and costumes of all kinds.

Except for vampires, he promised himself. Definitely no vampires.

With that settled, Nick turned and followed Natalie out the door and
into the unkown.

-------
FINI

Comments eagerly welcomed at cgi271@airmail.net
Cindy Ingram
What's another word for thesaurus? ("Say good Knight, Gracie." - G.
Burns)