Dusk to Dawn: "So, what's your sign?" by Dianne T. DeSha (the original "DTD" ;-) As he turned to face Nat, he could see by the expression on her face that she *knew*--it might not have all sunk in yet, but the game was over. "Is what Grace told me true?" Nat asked flatly, an unreadable expression on her face. "Grace?" he fumbled lamely. he thought, Nat's assistant _had_ finally made good on her threat and called it all off. "Why? What did she tell...." "I've seen *pictures*, Nick," Nat's voice was almost menacing. "But I want to hear it from *you*...." "*Are* you a vampire?" After a moment's pause he shook his head slowly, unable to meet her eyes. He therefore missed the full effect of Nat's incredulous expression as she sank into a chair. "But what about all the blood I've seen you drink?" " 'Bikaver.' It's a Hungarian wine," he explained. "The name means 'bull's blood' you see, so we always joked about it. Then this one time we added vodka and put it in these empty donor bags a buddy of mine in med school got and we called it...." " 'We'?" she interrupted. "Lou and Jan and I, ...back when we were in college." Nat nearly choked. "You went to _college_ with... 'Lou' and 'Jan'?" "Yeah," Nick smiled at the memory. "Of course, Lou was in grad school--getting his M.A., you know--so Jan and I started calling him 'Master' and it just kind of stuck." "But I've *seen* you! Your eyes, the fangs...." Nick looked at the ceiling, "Well, you see...I know these guys who do special effects for movies...." "They're *props*?!?" "Well, yes," he admitted, "But very state-of-the-art! You'd never know just to look at them." Nat just stood there, her mouth hanging slightly open. Nick continued in a nervous babble, "But then, of course, when they insisted on having a turn playing along _they_ had to go in for the really *big* showy fangs. I mean, I don't think those look as realistic, do you?" "The 'Enforcers'," Nat said with surprising calm. "Yeah, they insisted they have a really cool name. I thought it was kind of dumb, but they threatened to cut off my supply of those vests that have little explosives in them so it looks like you got shot,...." "Wait!" Nat jumped to her feet. "*Speaking* of getting shot, I've dug bullets out of you! I've seen you heal before my eyes! Pull doors off their hinges! *Fly*!" She turned on Nick so suddenly he tripped backwards over the coffee table, smashing it rather badly. Ignoring his groans, she continued accusingly, "You *are* a vampire! I've seen proof! What, were you trying to do, hypnotize me?" "Uh...well...sort of...," Nick mumbled from the general vicinity of the floor. "What do you mean 'sort of'?" Nat demanded, kicking debris out of her way as she moved to glare down at him. "I mean," said Nick, carefully extricating himself from the ruins of the coffee table, "That _yes_, I did hypnotize you--quite a lot actually." "But you can't...," Nat started. "Sure I can," Nick corrected her. "That's where Grace found me, you know," his eyes glazed over as he began to reminisce. "I was doing a nightclub act in Moosejaw...hypnotizing audience members. I'm really *very* good at it, but it's just a way to pay the bills while I work on my acting career. That's why this was such a great opportunity, a way to get some great experience and pay the bills all at once." "But that still doesn't explain how you move so fast, or how you can heal yourself, or how...." "Yeah, actually, it does. See, I would just hypnotize you to stand still with your eyes closed. I'd move, then have you open your eyes and forget closing them. Kind of like a stop-action movie--like the really old Godzilla flicks, you know?" His grin faded at her look of horror. "I mean, you wouldn't *believe* the stuff we could pull off with that. Sometimes we used it so much I was starting to think you spent more time forgetting then actually awake." Nat shook her head suddenly, as if just coming out of a trance. "But I've tested your blood! Samples I took myself!" "Yeah, you're awfully quick with the needle don't you think? I mean _geez_! I was starting to feel like the human pin cushion. Try doing a quick switch on blood samples with a really sore arm sometime and see how easy it is!" "So where did you get that blood like _that_!" "Well it was Sparky...," at Nat's look he clarified, "That's what we used to call Lou's twin brother. See he works at a lab over in Chicago, so anyway... he got us some chimp blood. Then he decides to start getting creative and puts in this virus that apparently only shows up occasionally in this rare strain of Ukrainian gerbils...." "Gerbils," Nat said, again with a surprising air of calm that was almost akin to coma. "_Ukranian_ gerbils, they're the best for this particular experiment they're running over at the lab, you see, and so...." "But the litovuteraine treatments...." "Ugh!" Nick turned slightly green. "That stuff gave me a stomachache like you wouldn't _believe_! But then I kind of got into it you know...I could wander around during the day again, act all drugged out...it really gave me a chance to stretch my repertoire...." "So you _aren't_ 800 years old." Nick laughed outright, then tried to cover by looking at the floor. "No, I'm 35. Just like it says on my records." "And the flashbacks?" "Well, I've always had this attention-span problem, ever since I was a kid. So that part was actually kind of handy...," he frowned suddenly, "Except when I had to look up all those names and dates and stuff on my CD-ROM encyclopedia--I _hate_ research." "Joan of Arc's cross?" He looked at his feet as he shuffled them on the floor. "I did that as an Easter project in the third grade. My mom keeps *everything*...I _never_ thought it'd come in handy." Nat paused, trying to absorb it all, then gave it up as hopeless and just plunged back in. "You were born 'Nick Knight' in Chicago, on New Year's 1960?" "Well, no," he admitted, looking now somewhere over her right shoulder. "I've had some...um...trouble with the authorities, you see.... 'Nick Knight' is really more like a stage name. Kind of catchy, don't you think?" He made the mistake of looking directly at Nat, then quickly shifted his gaze to the air above her left shoulder. "So who _are_ you really?" His gaze shifted uncomfortably once again, finally settling somewhere in the vicinity of her knees. "I'd really rather not say." Nat just stared at him until the silence was more uncomfortable than the confession. "Elmer Hieschlop," he admitted. A silence descended upon the loft for a few long moments. "All I want to know is why." Nick took a deep breath and stalled vainly, "She just thought you needed a bit more excitement in your life. You were in a rut...." Realizing, albeit belatedly, that he was not scoring points that way, he lapsed into silence. "I know Grace _started_ it. She told me all about that first night, how it was all planned. A little practical joke. What I want to know is why _you_ insisted on keeping it going all this time." "I...uh...," Nick stammered. "And all the people who knew, all the people you had to get involved...." "I don't know, it just sort of happened...." "Why go to all that trouble? Why spend all that energy pretending to be a _vampire_? *Why*, Nick?" Nick paused. If there was to be any future in this relationship, he would have to do it. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and gave her the truth. "It's a really *great* way to meet women." For once, Nat didn't pause at all. Her right hook caught Nick (Elmer?) squarely on the jaw and sent him crumpling to the floor. Nat then dusted her hands, turned on her heel, and walked out into the night. ***The End*** Dianne Dianne la Mercenaire... -*- -*-"We must be powerful, beautiful, and without regret."-*-