Finishathon fic: Still in the Dark
(I think they're not actually due for another couple of days, because of an extension, but what with LJ scheduled to go down tonight, I'm going to post it now.)
OH, the master list is up!
Title: Still In the Dark
Fandom: Blakes 7/Forever Knight
Description: How could a vampire affect Blake's 7?
Type: Almost 3900 words. Blake oriented- angst-mobile. Might as well call it slash.
Rating: There's one male/male encounter (a couple lines, no anatomy or 'dirty' words). And I really do think Blake loves Avon.
Author's Notes: Refers (sometimes quite obliquely) to the Blake's 7 episodes Duel, Pressure Point, Trial, Aftermath and Blake so it's spoilerish to varied degrees if you haven't seen them. This is a crossover with Forever Knight, a vampire police detective (he had many careers during his long 'unlife', but at the time of the series, he was a cop in Toronto, Canada.)
I forgot to thank my beta-readers! Many thanks to vilakins and k_haldane. I am brainless, but not ungrateful for your help.
Still in the Dark
Blake woke and looked, startled, into the glowing golden eyes of a fanged humanoid. Instinctively, he brought up his hand to fend it off. It snarled and bit into his wrist. Blake shouted and started to struggle, but a false euphoria stole his will to resist. The anger was still there as he recognized an artificially induced ecstasy, but he was physically unable to fight it. His whole being craved the sensation. It would have been easier to thrust his hand into open flames than to pull away from the source of this feeling.
After a few minutes the creature released Blake's arm. Blake found he had control over his voice at least. "What have you done to Jenna?" He looked past the creature to see her slumped against the tree trunk. He didn't really expect an answer.
"Nothing." The golden eyes faded to blue and the fangs retracted to teeth. What now looked like a normal man smiled at Blake. "I don't trust my self-control with beautiful women. She's only ... asleep. What are you doing on this paradise planet?"
Blake rubbed at his wrist. "We were brought here by the beings that live on this planet. Are you one of them?"
"Neither."
"What?"
"I'm neither alive, nor a native."
"What are you, then?" Blake was curious now.
"Something your people haven't believed in for a very long time."
"That covers a lot of territory. We're very good at disbelief. So, you're not going to answer any of my questions?"
The creature stared at Blake for a long moment. "I was misled here. Tricked by a ...former friend." There was a flash of teeth. "I've been hunting him for a long time. Ever since he refused to kill me."
"Mmm..." Blake rubbed his wrist again. "I see." Maybe he had overestimated the being's intelligence. Or its sanity.
"No, you don't. But it doesn't matter. I want off this planet, and I think you can help me."
"Why should I? Barring the fact that I've got concerns of my own, you did just bite me, you know." Blake kept his tone civil, but he was wondering if the being was not quite so confident as it seemed. If it wasn't afraid of humans, then why did it put Jenna to sleep? Perhaps between the two of them, they could destroy it.
"I could have killed you. I could have killed your friend. I still could."
"That wouldn't get you off the planet."
"Oh, yes it would." Abruptly, the blue eyes went hazy with distance. "But I'd prefer not to do that." The eyes focused on Blake again. "My name is Nik Cheval."
"Roj Blake. Look, it's been... well, interesting meeting you, but I do need to get some sleep." Somehow, Blake couldn't believe this man would actually harm him. "I have a duel in the morning, you see. If I get killed, my ship and crew are going to be destroyed."
"Ah. So that's the game Sinofar's playing. Look, Blake, if you free me from this trap, I'll owe you. I can pay."
"Liberator isn't for hire," Blake said, irritably.
"I can kill your enemy for you."
"I don't hire assassins, either."
"Picky, picky." Nik paused. "Wait a moment... I've heard of you and Liberator. You're fighting the Federation."
"And what does that matter to you?"
Nik's eyes unfocused again. Blake was beginning to wonder where he went when he did that. "It matters. I was once a crusader myself. I still... have debts to pay." His gaze sharpened again and he looked at Blake. "Whether you believe it or not, I'd like to help you, Blake. I was human once and I don't like what humanity's become." Apparently moved by emotion, his fangs were showing again, and his eyes turned to gold.
Jenna moaned and reached out to Blake. She opened her eyes and saw his bleeding wrist at almost the same moment she saw Nik. She screamed and brought up her hand with a knife, burying it in Nik's belly. Nik roared and picked her up by the hair.
Blake shouted and grabbed Nik's arm. It was like clutching herculaneum. "No!"
Nik paused, fangs only an inch from Jenna's throat. Blake could see the struggle going on behind his golden eyes, reflected in them. Nik pulled the knife from his gut and while Blake watched in fascinated horror, the wound healed. Nik handed Blake the knife and put Jenna back down on the branch. He stared into her face. "It was an animal you saw. A bat. A bat bit Blake, but you chased it off before any real harm was done."
Jenna stared at him, dazed. "A bat. I saw a bat." Then she slumped, unconscious.
Blake looked at Nik. "Thank you."
Nik said softly, "I didn't do it for you. I did it to prove to myself that I could." He touched Jenna's hair lightly and then turned to Blake. "Now you owe me, don't you?"
Blake frowned. "If I win the duel, I'll take you with me, but only to the nearest neutral planet."
"Good enough." Nik leaped upward and to Blake's astonishment, flew away.
~\/~~\/~
Sinofar frowned when Blake claimed Nik as another friend and insisted on taking him along. "Of course, if it is your wish, Blake. I would advise against it."
Blake smiled and shook his head. "I'm doing the right thing, I know."
Giroc chuckled. "Oh, I wish I could watch what happens next."
Sinofar scowled and sent Jenna, Blake and Nik to Liberator. "Giroc, you go too far."
Giroc snorted. "I'm not the one who just threw the cat amongst the canaries."
Sinofar shook her head. "Where do you pick up those vulgarisms?"
~\/~~\/~
They appeared on Liberator in the middle of a circle of guns. Vila's was held in a shaky hand, but Avon's and Cally's were steady.
"Stand aside, Blake," Avon said. "We're going to destroy it."
"No." Blake shook his head. "I promised him safe passage, and that's what he's going to get."
Jenna looked at Nik in puzzlement. "Who is he?"
"A friend," Nik said. "Blake has offered me a lift. You don't mind, do you?" He looked around at the crew and his voice dropped into the seductive timbre that he had used on Jenna before. Guns began drooping.
Vila snapped, "NO!" and shook Avon's arm.
Avon backed up, snarling and raised his gun again. "Try that again and..."
Nik moved so fast he was a blur and got behind Avon, picking him up and holding him with an arm across his throat. His eyes were molten gold and his fangs glittered. "Blake..."
Blake cleared his throat. "Everyone will put down their weapons. I trust Nik."
Avon tried to say something, but lack of air prevented him. He was turning an odd shade of gray.
Nik said, "They must have seen me on the planet."
"The whole thing was transmitted to us," Gan admitted. "Blake, you can't trust that... he's not human."
"No, but I trust him, anyway. Cheval, would you kindly stop choking Avon?"
"Nik. Call me Nik." Nik whirled Avon away from himself, but kept the gun. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Cally said in his mind, You are a creature of evil.
Nik hissed at her. "The hard way, then."
"NO!" Blake shouted and got between Nik and the others. In that instant, Nik leaped over Blake and flew down the main corridor.
Cally aimed at Nik, but Blake was in the way. Avon snatched up his gun, gave Blake a glare and went after Nik. The others followed, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
~\/~~\/~
Hours later Blake turned around and Nik was standing behind him. Nik held up a hand. "Before you ask, your crew are all unharmed. I caught them separately and convinced them of the bat story." He shrugged. "I'm not sure it worked with Vila, but I am sure he understands that if he talks, I'll kill him."
"And would you?"
"Probably not. I don't need the aggravation. What I need is a place to stay out of sight until I can get off your ship. And a supply of blood."
Blake nodded. "I don't know why I'm doing this for you."
"Don't you?" Nik smiled.
Blake gave Nik an impassive look. "No, I don't."
"You do realize I'm straight, Blake, don't you? I need your blood, but it's nothing personal."
~\/~~\/~
Blake leaned against the bulkhead in his quarters, head back and eyes shut, moaning softly as Nik fed at his throat. He ran his hand through Nik's hair.
"Avon." Blake murmured, so softly he didn't hear it himself.
Nik heard. His golden eyes flickered for a moment, and then he reached down to Blake's trousers while still feeding. Blake moaned and thrust into Nik's hand until he came. A moment later Nik finished feeding and pulled away from Blake. Without fuss he wiped his hand off and sat on the bed next to Blake.
Blake opened his eyes and stared at the opposite wall.
Nik said, "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Blake. You aren't interested in me, not really."
Blake said nothing.
"I'll be gone in a week."
Blake looked at Nik. "I should have destroyed you."
Nik smiled sadly. "I've tried. It's not easy to exchange immortality for eternal damnation."
"And that's what you believe would happen to you?"
"It's what I was taught as a child." Nik looked at Blake. "Belief is what makes me what I am."
"Well, we have that much in common," Blake said as he rose to put a healing pad to his neck.
"I once met a vampire who thought she was human. Her belief made her immune to our usual weaknesses." Nik added, "If you were a vampire, religious symbols wouldn't bother you, because you don't believe in them."
"So if you could stop believing you were a vampire...?"
"I'd stop being one." Nik smiled. "Well, that's the theory at least." His smile faded. "But I can't convince myself."
~\/~~\/~
"Gan?" Blake looked down at Gan's corpse. A wave of grief and remorse rolled over him. Oddly his mind flashed back to Nik, months gone on a planet whose name Blake didn't even recall. He'd justified releasing Nik by telling himself that in a universe ruled by monsters, a monster with a conscience was hardly evil at all.
"No." Blake left Gan and turned to escape, his heart a cold stone within. He had believed he was invulnerable, believed that the rightness of his cause would somehow act as armor. Maybe it did. But only for himself. He was like Nik, bringing death to those he loved because he couldn't stop using them.
He had to think. Had to decide what to do. Should he go on so all the deaths would not have been in vain? Should he give up and leave the responsibility to someone else?
~\/~~\/~
Avon had been vicious about Gan, but Blake was too heart-sick to argue with him. Avon's viciousness was fueled by fear; Blake knew why. No matter what Avon said, he stayed and never quite refused to risk his neck when Blake asked it. Maybe they'd all be better off if he left. What were the odds ... he winced at his mind's choice of phrase... what were the odds he'd defeat the Federation anyway? If he left, his friends could find their own way, maybe even find safety and happiness.
Blake left a message and then, without giving himself a chance to change his mind, teleported down to the uninhabited planet Liberator had been orbiting. He didn't even bother with a weapon. Why should he? He was death, all by himself.
He was reluctantly prodded out of his nice, comfortable pit of despondency by the adrenaline rush of having his life threatened, yet again. Well, so be it. If the whole damn universe was after him, Roj Blake was going to go down fighting. He returned to Liberator determined to make Gan's sacrifice count for something. Gan had believed in him. He couldn't give up.
He had to find Star One.
~\/~~\/~
"Blake?"
Blake opened his eyes. His head pounded and his whole body ached. Jenna was sitting next to him, holding his hand. He was lying on a narrow bed in what gave every appearance of being a makeshift hospital ward, crammed in a ship's corridor. "Why?" she asked.
"I d..." Blake coughed. Jenna brought him water and helped him to drink. "I don't... know what you mean."
Jenna stroked Blake's hair back from his forehead. "Why did you tell ..." Jenna glanced around- the people surrounding them were mostly preoccupied with their own pain, but one or two watched her. "...the ship you weren't hurt."
Blake sighed. "I promised Avon the ship. But if they picked me up... Jenna, I didn't quite trust myself not to ask to stay."
Jenna said softly, "Avon never believed in you. I do."
Blake gave her a weary smile. "I've got to keep fighting. At least until I know what's happened. Maybe I've won."
"Maybe." Jenna smiled at him. "Rest now. I'll stay with you. I didn't tell them where I was, either."
"We have to keep fighting, Jenna. There's no meaning, otherwise." He closed his eyes.
~\/~~\/~
Blake's new group joined forces with a group recommended by Avalon. For security reasons they hadn't met before the attack, a night raid on a remote installation. Blake went ahead of his people, looking for anything out of the usual - between Avon and Vila, Blake had learned a great deal about security systems. He heard a scuffle ahead and paused, then proceeded cautiously forward, gun at the ready. He glanced around a corner.
And saw Nik.
Nik looked up at Blake with golden eyes. For a long moment, Blake thought about fangs at his throat, about dying at the hands of a friend, at a moment of his own choosing. And then he shook himself free of the morbid fantasy. "Nik. We'll talk later."
Nik nodded, eyes still hard and metallic. Then he flew past Blake's shoulder and there was weapons fire and screams. Blake ran forward, intent on planting his bombs. The men had to die, what difference did it make how? It bothered him on some deep level, but not enough to make him hesitate to seize the opportunity Nik gave him.
~\/~~\/~
Jenna joined Nik and Blake for the debriefing. She smiled at Nik and then moved possessively close to Blake, one hand on his shoulder. Blake wished she wouldn't do that.
"Blake motivated me to join the rebellion, Jenna," Nik said, smiling at her in a charming way that Blake found amusing. For all his hypnotic abilities, Nik was a poor judge of humanity, even after all his centuries of practice.
"Yes, Blake has been known to do that. You met him back on Earth?"
Blake cut in, "It's rather a more involved story than we have time for, Jenna."
Jenna took her hand off Blake's shoulder and moved slightly away from him. "We have time. You just don't want to talk about it." She turned towards the door. "I just realized I have other things to do. I'm sure Blake will tell me what he thinks I need to know later."
"Jenna!" Blake got up quickly and intercepted her before she reached the door. "It's not whatever you think it is."
"Don't insult my intelligence, Blake. I knew about you and Avon, but..."
"There was never..." Blake glanced back at Nik, who was politely pretending to be deaf. He lowered his voice. "Never anything between me and Avon."
Jenna sighed. "Oh, I know. But it wasn't for lack of desire, was it, Blake?" Jenna read the answer in his face. She pushed on his arm. "Now, get out of my way."
Blake let her go. He returned to his seat and looked at Nik. "The raid will increase security on the planet, but it will take some time before it can be implemented as replacement troopers will have to be sent. I propose we ..."
~\/~~\/~
It was his worst nightmare all over again. Blake could hear the screams and the whine of blaster-fire even before he reached the meeting place. Nik's group were being slaughtered.
"Blake! Stop!" Jenna pulled at his sleeve. "You can't do anything for them."
"Get out of my way, Jenna." Blake pulled his gun and looked around the corner of the alley leading to the deserted warehouse. There weren't many troopers outside, and all of them were concentrating on the building. There was a chance... well, enough of one that Blake was damn well going to take it. He started forward, but stopped when he felt something dig into the small of his back. He looked back to see Jenna holding a stun-gun against him.
"Don't, Blake," Jenna said softly.
"I have to, Jenna. Don't you see? It's my fault..." Blake caught a flicker in her eyes. Just a hint of darkness. "Jenna? You didn't..." He closed his eyes a moment as grief tore at him. "It's still my fault. You wouldn't have done it if it weren't for me." Blake turned back to the warehouse.
"Blake. I'll fire."
"And then they'll come and kill both of us. I don't want you dead." The words were dust in his throat, choking him. "You've just killed everything I felt for you, but I still don't want you dead."
There was a click. Blake glanced back. Jenna had put the safety on the gun. "I'm sorry, Blake. I... I could put up with Avon, but Nik... there's something ...wrong about him. I..." She shook her head.
"We all have our demons. Go now, Jenna. And don't look back." Blake stepped out of the alley and headed for the troopers. He didn't hear anything behind him. Maybe Jenna had obeyed him. He dismissed her from his mind.
And began shooting as he ran. The night was lit up by laser-flashes, troopers backlit by fire from the loading dock doors of the warehouse, slid fully open on their tracks. Doors left open to facilitate picking off any rebels who tried to flee via the only exit. Doors left open in Blake's mind on similar scenes repeated too many times. Too many times. Never again. Blake was never again going to be the sole survivor. He shouted defiance and shot down troopers, ignoring the blaster fire surrounding him, ignoring the rain of debris from near-misses, ignoring the agony as a flying shard of red-hot metal sliced the left side of his face, cauterizing.
Loss of depth perception wasn't a problem. No, they were all in range, he didn't have to account for that. He was centered now, at peace amid the confusion and noise. It would end without guilt. And regrets... well... they wouldn't matter, either.
Then the large window on the second floor of the warehouse shattered in a fountain of dirty glass turned for a frozen instant into topaz, glittering from within. The warehouse was on fire. And in the center of the glass, Nik.
Instinctively Blake and the troopers followed the arc of the glass, expecting to see Nik fall. Nik didn't fall. Blake was suddenly very tired. He let his gun drop to the ground and sank to his knees, watching without really caring as Nik killed the troopers with his bare hands and flung the corpses into the inferno that used to be a warehouse.
Within moments the only sounds were the crackling of the blaze and Blake's labored breathing.
Nik came up to Blake, bloody and excited, eyes wide, wild and purest gold. He blinked and paused, shaking his head before kneeling beside Blake. "You're dying."
"Yes." Blake thought of something as he slumped against Nik's cold strength. "Put... me in the fire... don't let them know. Let them... worry."
Nik looked down on Blake. "Your rebellion still needs you. You're a rallying point, a legendary hero."
Blake closed his good eye for an instant. "They'll have to... make do... with the ... legend."
"Blake... they could have you. I could give you all the time you need to bring down the Federation. But... there's no going back."
Blake looked at Nik, at Nik's fangs, and understood the offer. "I can't. It's... not fair...haven't I done enough?"
"Yes," Nik said softly. "You deserve to rest."
Blake shuttered his eye again, and saw again the parade of faces without names, all the ones who'd died not for the cause, but because they believed in him. And he saw Gan. He opened his eye. "Do it. I have to... finish this... no matter... what it takes."
Nik bent over Blake's throat, fangs extended.
~\/~~\/~
In the tracking gallery Blake saw Avon, really saw him, and all his careful plans flew out the window in an instant. Avon's eyes were haunted, and the tautly controlled theatricalism of his voice and gestures told Blake how close he was to snapping.
"It's me," he said, forgetting mesmerism and his strength and speed and even what he now was. All he could see was Avon. He couldn't resist moving closer. Once he held Avon in his arms, the way Avon had held him at Central Control, everything would be all right.
Avon shot him. Damn. Blake moved slower, trying to capture Avon's mind now, but it was too late, there was nothing there but blind panic, frozen in place. Avon shot him again. Blake advanced steadily, trying desperately to show Avon there was nothing to fear. A third shot. How mad was Avon? Did he even realize what he was doing? Blake reached Avon and grasped his arms. "Avon." There was a barely perceptible shudder under his hands, and the horror in Avon's eyes increased.
Damn. Blake couldn't get hold of Avon's mind, and the longer he stood here, the worse it was for Avon, he could tell. If Blake didn't break the moment, Avon might decide on a mercy shot to Blake's head, which would take far too long to heal, or he might even kill himself. Once Blake would have laughed at the very idea of Avon committing suicide, but the pain behind those eyes was too great to be borne. Blake slid to the ground to play dead, staring upward.
The troopers fired, and Avon fired back, staying on his feet long enough to take out quite a few of them. Then Blake felt a warm weight land across his body. He heard Avon's heartbeat, stuttering and weak.
"Bastards!" Blake rose up in a fury. The troopers were startled, and then totally panicked when he flew at them, ripping and rending, tearing helmeted heads loose and using them as ammunition. It took less than a minute to account for them, and then he returned to Avon.
Through the haze of vampire sight, Blake saw Avon's life-force dimming. "Avon." The troopers' weapons had been set on stun, but Avon had taken too many hits. His body was rapidly failing.
Avon smiled and half-lifted his hand. He whispered, "I didn't kill you? I'm glad..."
"I died a long time ago, Avon."
Avon's eyes flickered in confusion.
"And now I can't die. Avon... I could give this to you, too. But it's forever." He stroked Avon's hair and bended close. "I love you, but I'll let you go, if that's what you want."
Avon studied Blake's face for a long moment. "Forever... doesn't seem long enough." He gestured with his hand. "I... want to ... continue to follow." He closed his eyes. "Give me..."
Blake pressed his lips against Avon's throat and then carefully slid his fangs into the vein. Avon gasped in surprise, and Blake nearly did, too. Avon tasted ... like love.
OH, the master list is up!
Title: Still In the Dark
Fandom: Blakes 7/Forever Knight
Description: How could a vampire affect Blake's 7?
Type: Almost 3900 words. Blake oriented- angst-mobile. Might as well call it slash.
Rating: There's one male/male encounter (a couple lines, no anatomy or 'dirty' words). And I really do think Blake loves Avon.
Author's Notes: Refers (sometimes quite obliquely) to the Blake's 7 episodes Duel, Pressure Point, Trial, Aftermath and Blake so it's spoilerish to varied degrees if you haven't seen them. This is a crossover with Forever Knight, a vampire police detective (he had many careers during his long 'unlife', but at the time of the series, he was a cop in Toronto, Canada.)
I forgot to thank my beta-readers! Many thanks to vilakins and k_haldane. I am brainless, but not ungrateful for your help.
Still in the Dark
Blake woke and looked, startled, into the glowing golden eyes of a fanged humanoid. Instinctively, he brought up his hand to fend it off. It snarled and bit into his wrist. Blake shouted and started to struggle, but a false euphoria stole his will to resist. The anger was still there as he recognized an artificially induced ecstasy, but he was physically unable to fight it. His whole being craved the sensation. It would have been easier to thrust his hand into open flames than to pull away from the source of this feeling.
After a few minutes the creature released Blake's arm. Blake found he had control over his voice at least. "What have you done to Jenna?" He looked past the creature to see her slumped against the tree trunk. He didn't really expect an answer.
"Nothing." The golden eyes faded to blue and the fangs retracted to teeth. What now looked like a normal man smiled at Blake. "I don't trust my self-control with beautiful women. She's only ... asleep. What are you doing on this paradise planet?"
Blake rubbed at his wrist. "We were brought here by the beings that live on this planet. Are you one of them?"
"Neither."
"What?"
"I'm neither alive, nor a native."
"What are you, then?" Blake was curious now.
"Something your people haven't believed in for a very long time."
"That covers a lot of territory. We're very good at disbelief. So, you're not going to answer any of my questions?"
The creature stared at Blake for a long moment. "I was misled here. Tricked by a ...former friend." There was a flash of teeth. "I've been hunting him for a long time. Ever since he refused to kill me."
"Mmm..." Blake rubbed his wrist again. "I see." Maybe he had overestimated the being's intelligence. Or its sanity.
"No, you don't. But it doesn't matter. I want off this planet, and I think you can help me."
"Why should I? Barring the fact that I've got concerns of my own, you did just bite me, you know." Blake kept his tone civil, but he was wondering if the being was not quite so confident as it seemed. If it wasn't afraid of humans, then why did it put Jenna to sleep? Perhaps between the two of them, they could destroy it.
"I could have killed you. I could have killed your friend. I still could."
"That wouldn't get you off the planet."
"Oh, yes it would." Abruptly, the blue eyes went hazy with distance. "But I'd prefer not to do that." The eyes focused on Blake again. "My name is Nik Cheval."
"Roj Blake. Look, it's been... well, interesting meeting you, but I do need to get some sleep." Somehow, Blake couldn't believe this man would actually harm him. "I have a duel in the morning, you see. If I get killed, my ship and crew are going to be destroyed."
"Ah. So that's the game Sinofar's playing. Look, Blake, if you free me from this trap, I'll owe you. I can pay."
"Liberator isn't for hire," Blake said, irritably.
"I can kill your enemy for you."
"I don't hire assassins, either."
"Picky, picky." Nik paused. "Wait a moment... I've heard of you and Liberator. You're fighting the Federation."
"And what does that matter to you?"
Nik's eyes unfocused again. Blake was beginning to wonder where he went when he did that. "It matters. I was once a crusader myself. I still... have debts to pay." His gaze sharpened again and he looked at Blake. "Whether you believe it or not, I'd like to help you, Blake. I was human once and I don't like what humanity's become." Apparently moved by emotion, his fangs were showing again, and his eyes turned to gold.
Jenna moaned and reached out to Blake. She opened her eyes and saw his bleeding wrist at almost the same moment she saw Nik. She screamed and brought up her hand with a knife, burying it in Nik's belly. Nik roared and picked her up by the hair.
Blake shouted and grabbed Nik's arm. It was like clutching herculaneum. "No!"
Nik paused, fangs only an inch from Jenna's throat. Blake could see the struggle going on behind his golden eyes, reflected in them. Nik pulled the knife from his gut and while Blake watched in fascinated horror, the wound healed. Nik handed Blake the knife and put Jenna back down on the branch. He stared into her face. "It was an animal you saw. A bat. A bat bit Blake, but you chased it off before any real harm was done."
Jenna stared at him, dazed. "A bat. I saw a bat." Then she slumped, unconscious.
Blake looked at Nik. "Thank you."
Nik said softly, "I didn't do it for you. I did it to prove to myself that I could." He touched Jenna's hair lightly and then turned to Blake. "Now you owe me, don't you?"
Blake frowned. "If I win the duel, I'll take you with me, but only to the nearest neutral planet."
"Good enough." Nik leaped upward and to Blake's astonishment, flew away.
~\/~~\/~
Sinofar frowned when Blake claimed Nik as another friend and insisted on taking him along. "Of course, if it is your wish, Blake. I would advise against it."
Blake smiled and shook his head. "I'm doing the right thing, I know."
Giroc chuckled. "Oh, I wish I could watch what happens next."
Sinofar scowled and sent Jenna, Blake and Nik to Liberator. "Giroc, you go too far."
Giroc snorted. "I'm not the one who just threw the cat amongst the canaries."
Sinofar shook her head. "Where do you pick up those vulgarisms?"
~\/~~\/~
They appeared on Liberator in the middle of a circle of guns. Vila's was held in a shaky hand, but Avon's and Cally's were steady.
"Stand aside, Blake," Avon said. "We're going to destroy it."
"No." Blake shook his head. "I promised him safe passage, and that's what he's going to get."
Jenna looked at Nik in puzzlement. "Who is he?"
"A friend," Nik said. "Blake has offered me a lift. You don't mind, do you?" He looked around at the crew and his voice dropped into the seductive timbre that he had used on Jenna before. Guns began drooping.
Vila snapped, "NO!" and shook Avon's arm.
Avon backed up, snarling and raised his gun again. "Try that again and..."
Nik moved so fast he was a blur and got behind Avon, picking him up and holding him with an arm across his throat. His eyes were molten gold and his fangs glittered. "Blake..."
Blake cleared his throat. "Everyone will put down their weapons. I trust Nik."
Avon tried to say something, but lack of air prevented him. He was turning an odd shade of gray.
Nik said, "They must have seen me on the planet."
"The whole thing was transmitted to us," Gan admitted. "Blake, you can't trust that... he's not human."
"No, but I trust him, anyway. Cheval, would you kindly stop choking Avon?"
"Nik. Call me Nik." Nik whirled Avon away from himself, but kept the gun. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Cally said in his mind, You are a creature of evil.
Nik hissed at her. "The hard way, then."
"NO!" Blake shouted and got between Nik and the others. In that instant, Nik leaped over Blake and flew down the main corridor.
Cally aimed at Nik, but Blake was in the way. Avon snatched up his gun, gave Blake a glare and went after Nik. The others followed, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
~\/~~\/~
Hours later Blake turned around and Nik was standing behind him. Nik held up a hand. "Before you ask, your crew are all unharmed. I caught them separately and convinced them of the bat story." He shrugged. "I'm not sure it worked with Vila, but I am sure he understands that if he talks, I'll kill him."
"And would you?"
"Probably not. I don't need the aggravation. What I need is a place to stay out of sight until I can get off your ship. And a supply of blood."
Blake nodded. "I don't know why I'm doing this for you."
"Don't you?" Nik smiled.
Blake gave Nik an impassive look. "No, I don't."
"You do realize I'm straight, Blake, don't you? I need your blood, but it's nothing personal."
~\/~~\/~
Blake leaned against the bulkhead in his quarters, head back and eyes shut, moaning softly as Nik fed at his throat. He ran his hand through Nik's hair.
"Avon." Blake murmured, so softly he didn't hear it himself.
Nik heard. His golden eyes flickered for a moment, and then he reached down to Blake's trousers while still feeding. Blake moaned and thrust into Nik's hand until he came. A moment later Nik finished feeding and pulled away from Blake. Without fuss he wiped his hand off and sat on the bed next to Blake.
Blake opened his eyes and stared at the opposite wall.
Nik said, "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Blake. You aren't interested in me, not really."
Blake said nothing.
"I'll be gone in a week."
Blake looked at Nik. "I should have destroyed you."
Nik smiled sadly. "I've tried. It's not easy to exchange immortality for eternal damnation."
"And that's what you believe would happen to you?"
"It's what I was taught as a child." Nik looked at Blake. "Belief is what makes me what I am."
"Well, we have that much in common," Blake said as he rose to put a healing pad to his neck.
"I once met a vampire who thought she was human. Her belief made her immune to our usual weaknesses." Nik added, "If you were a vampire, religious symbols wouldn't bother you, because you don't believe in them."
"So if you could stop believing you were a vampire...?"
"I'd stop being one." Nik smiled. "Well, that's the theory at least." His smile faded. "But I can't convince myself."
~\/~~\/~
"Gan?" Blake looked down at Gan's corpse. A wave of grief and remorse rolled over him. Oddly his mind flashed back to Nik, months gone on a planet whose name Blake didn't even recall. He'd justified releasing Nik by telling himself that in a universe ruled by monsters, a monster with a conscience was hardly evil at all.
"No." Blake left Gan and turned to escape, his heart a cold stone within. He had believed he was invulnerable, believed that the rightness of his cause would somehow act as armor. Maybe it did. But only for himself. He was like Nik, bringing death to those he loved because he couldn't stop using them.
He had to think. Had to decide what to do. Should he go on so all the deaths would not have been in vain? Should he give up and leave the responsibility to someone else?
~\/~~\/~
Avon had been vicious about Gan, but Blake was too heart-sick to argue with him. Avon's viciousness was fueled by fear; Blake knew why. No matter what Avon said, he stayed and never quite refused to risk his neck when Blake asked it. Maybe they'd all be better off if he left. What were the odds ... he winced at his mind's choice of phrase... what were the odds he'd defeat the Federation anyway? If he left, his friends could find their own way, maybe even find safety and happiness.
Blake left a message and then, without giving himself a chance to change his mind, teleported down to the uninhabited planet Liberator had been orbiting. He didn't even bother with a weapon. Why should he? He was death, all by himself.
He was reluctantly prodded out of his nice, comfortable pit of despondency by the adrenaline rush of having his life threatened, yet again. Well, so be it. If the whole damn universe was after him, Roj Blake was going to go down fighting. He returned to Liberator determined to make Gan's sacrifice count for something. Gan had believed in him. He couldn't give up.
He had to find Star One.
~\/~~\/~
"Blake?"
Blake opened his eyes. His head pounded and his whole body ached. Jenna was sitting next to him, holding his hand. He was lying on a narrow bed in what gave every appearance of being a makeshift hospital ward, crammed in a ship's corridor. "Why?" she asked.
"I d..." Blake coughed. Jenna brought him water and helped him to drink. "I don't... know what you mean."
Jenna stroked Blake's hair back from his forehead. "Why did you tell ..." Jenna glanced around- the people surrounding them were mostly preoccupied with their own pain, but one or two watched her. "...the ship you weren't hurt."
Blake sighed. "I promised Avon the ship. But if they picked me up... Jenna, I didn't quite trust myself not to ask to stay."
Jenna said softly, "Avon never believed in you. I do."
Blake gave her a weary smile. "I've got to keep fighting. At least until I know what's happened. Maybe I've won."
"Maybe." Jenna smiled at him. "Rest now. I'll stay with you. I didn't tell them where I was, either."
"We have to keep fighting, Jenna. There's no meaning, otherwise." He closed his eyes.
~\/~~\/~
Blake's new group joined forces with a group recommended by Avalon. For security reasons they hadn't met before the attack, a night raid on a remote installation. Blake went ahead of his people, looking for anything out of the usual - between Avon and Vila, Blake had learned a great deal about security systems. He heard a scuffle ahead and paused, then proceeded cautiously forward, gun at the ready. He glanced around a corner.
And saw Nik.
Nik looked up at Blake with golden eyes. For a long moment, Blake thought about fangs at his throat, about dying at the hands of a friend, at a moment of his own choosing. And then he shook himself free of the morbid fantasy. "Nik. We'll talk later."
Nik nodded, eyes still hard and metallic. Then he flew past Blake's shoulder and there was weapons fire and screams. Blake ran forward, intent on planting his bombs. The men had to die, what difference did it make how? It bothered him on some deep level, but not enough to make him hesitate to seize the opportunity Nik gave him.
~\/~~\/~
Jenna joined Nik and Blake for the debriefing. She smiled at Nik and then moved possessively close to Blake, one hand on his shoulder. Blake wished she wouldn't do that.
"Blake motivated me to join the rebellion, Jenna," Nik said, smiling at her in a charming way that Blake found amusing. For all his hypnotic abilities, Nik was a poor judge of humanity, even after all his centuries of practice.
"Yes, Blake has been known to do that. You met him back on Earth?"
Blake cut in, "It's rather a more involved story than we have time for, Jenna."
Jenna took her hand off Blake's shoulder and moved slightly away from him. "We have time. You just don't want to talk about it." She turned towards the door. "I just realized I have other things to do. I'm sure Blake will tell me what he thinks I need to know later."
"Jenna!" Blake got up quickly and intercepted her before she reached the door. "It's not whatever you think it is."
"Don't insult my intelligence, Blake. I knew about you and Avon, but..."
"There was never..." Blake glanced back at Nik, who was politely pretending to be deaf. He lowered his voice. "Never anything between me and Avon."
Jenna sighed. "Oh, I know. But it wasn't for lack of desire, was it, Blake?" Jenna read the answer in his face. She pushed on his arm. "Now, get out of my way."
Blake let her go. He returned to his seat and looked at Nik. "The raid will increase security on the planet, but it will take some time before it can be implemented as replacement troopers will have to be sent. I propose we ..."
~\/~~\/~
It was his worst nightmare all over again. Blake could hear the screams and the whine of blaster-fire even before he reached the meeting place. Nik's group were being slaughtered.
"Blake! Stop!" Jenna pulled at his sleeve. "You can't do anything for them."
"Get out of my way, Jenna." Blake pulled his gun and looked around the corner of the alley leading to the deserted warehouse. There weren't many troopers outside, and all of them were concentrating on the building. There was a chance... well, enough of one that Blake was damn well going to take it. He started forward, but stopped when he felt something dig into the small of his back. He looked back to see Jenna holding a stun-gun against him.
"Don't, Blake," Jenna said softly.
"I have to, Jenna. Don't you see? It's my fault..." Blake caught a flicker in her eyes. Just a hint of darkness. "Jenna? You didn't..." He closed his eyes a moment as grief tore at him. "It's still my fault. You wouldn't have done it if it weren't for me." Blake turned back to the warehouse.
"Blake. I'll fire."
"And then they'll come and kill both of us. I don't want you dead." The words were dust in his throat, choking him. "You've just killed everything I felt for you, but I still don't want you dead."
There was a click. Blake glanced back. Jenna had put the safety on the gun. "I'm sorry, Blake. I... I could put up with Avon, but Nik... there's something ...wrong about him. I..." She shook her head.
"We all have our demons. Go now, Jenna. And don't look back." Blake stepped out of the alley and headed for the troopers. He didn't hear anything behind him. Maybe Jenna had obeyed him. He dismissed her from his mind.
And began shooting as he ran. The night was lit up by laser-flashes, troopers backlit by fire from the loading dock doors of the warehouse, slid fully open on their tracks. Doors left open to facilitate picking off any rebels who tried to flee via the only exit. Doors left open in Blake's mind on similar scenes repeated too many times. Too many times. Never again. Blake was never again going to be the sole survivor. He shouted defiance and shot down troopers, ignoring the blaster fire surrounding him, ignoring the rain of debris from near-misses, ignoring the agony as a flying shard of red-hot metal sliced the left side of his face, cauterizing.
Loss of depth perception wasn't a problem. No, they were all in range, he didn't have to account for that. He was centered now, at peace amid the confusion and noise. It would end without guilt. And regrets... well... they wouldn't matter, either.
Then the large window on the second floor of the warehouse shattered in a fountain of dirty glass turned for a frozen instant into topaz, glittering from within. The warehouse was on fire. And in the center of the glass, Nik.
Instinctively Blake and the troopers followed the arc of the glass, expecting to see Nik fall. Nik didn't fall. Blake was suddenly very tired. He let his gun drop to the ground and sank to his knees, watching without really caring as Nik killed the troopers with his bare hands and flung the corpses into the inferno that used to be a warehouse.
Within moments the only sounds were the crackling of the blaze and Blake's labored breathing.
Nik came up to Blake, bloody and excited, eyes wide, wild and purest gold. He blinked and paused, shaking his head before kneeling beside Blake. "You're dying."
"Yes." Blake thought of something as he slumped against Nik's cold strength. "Put... me in the fire... don't let them know. Let them... worry."
Nik looked down on Blake. "Your rebellion still needs you. You're a rallying point, a legendary hero."
Blake closed his good eye for an instant. "They'll have to... make do... with the ... legend."
"Blake... they could have you. I could give you all the time you need to bring down the Federation. But... there's no going back."
Blake looked at Nik, at Nik's fangs, and understood the offer. "I can't. It's... not fair...haven't I done enough?"
"Yes," Nik said softly. "You deserve to rest."
Blake shuttered his eye again, and saw again the parade of faces without names, all the ones who'd died not for the cause, but because they believed in him. And he saw Gan. He opened his eye. "Do it. I have to... finish this... no matter... what it takes."
Nik bent over Blake's throat, fangs extended.
~\/~~\/~
In the tracking gallery Blake saw Avon, really saw him, and all his careful plans flew out the window in an instant. Avon's eyes were haunted, and the tautly controlled theatricalism of his voice and gestures told Blake how close he was to snapping.
"It's me," he said, forgetting mesmerism and his strength and speed and even what he now was. All he could see was Avon. He couldn't resist moving closer. Once he held Avon in his arms, the way Avon had held him at Central Control, everything would be all right.
Avon shot him. Damn. Blake moved slower, trying to capture Avon's mind now, but it was too late, there was nothing there but blind panic, frozen in place. Avon shot him again. Blake advanced steadily, trying desperately to show Avon there was nothing to fear. A third shot. How mad was Avon? Did he even realize what he was doing? Blake reached Avon and grasped his arms. "Avon." There was a barely perceptible shudder under his hands, and the horror in Avon's eyes increased.
Damn. Blake couldn't get hold of Avon's mind, and the longer he stood here, the worse it was for Avon, he could tell. If Blake didn't break the moment, Avon might decide on a mercy shot to Blake's head, which would take far too long to heal, or he might even kill himself. Once Blake would have laughed at the very idea of Avon committing suicide, but the pain behind those eyes was too great to be borne. Blake slid to the ground to play dead, staring upward.
The troopers fired, and Avon fired back, staying on his feet long enough to take out quite a few of them. Then Blake felt a warm weight land across his body. He heard Avon's heartbeat, stuttering and weak.
"Bastards!" Blake rose up in a fury. The troopers were startled, and then totally panicked when he flew at them, ripping and rending, tearing helmeted heads loose and using them as ammunition. It took less than a minute to account for them, and then he returned to Avon.
Through the haze of vampire sight, Blake saw Avon's life-force dimming. "Avon." The troopers' weapons had been set on stun, but Avon had taken too many hits. His body was rapidly failing.
Avon smiled and half-lifted his hand. He whispered, "I didn't kill you? I'm glad..."
"I died a long time ago, Avon."
Avon's eyes flickered in confusion.
"And now I can't die. Avon... I could give this to you, too. But it's forever." He stroked Avon's hair and bended close. "I love you, but I'll let you go, if that's what you want."
Avon studied Blake's face for a long moment. "Forever... doesn't seem long enough." He gestured with his hand. "I... want to ... continue to follow." He closed his eyes. "Give me..."
Blake pressed his lips against Avon's throat and then carefully slid his fangs into the vein. Avon gasped in surprise, and Blake nearly did, too. Avon tasted ... like love.