The pale haired man sat down across from the darker haired one, motioning to the waitress.  "It's been ages."

"Fifty since I was last in this country," the other replied.  "Your quest?"

"I almost escaped him once, about ten years ago.  But he found me, as he always does.  Yours?"

"Still no cure," the darker man sadly.  "And my father has returned as well."

"Father," the first said with something of a laugh.  "I never called him that.  It would have been... too strange for me."  He leaned back in his seat, swirling the liquid in the glass he'd been given.  "Nick....  Have you ever wanted to go back?"

"To soullessness?  Shido, think a moment."

"I've never thought of it as soullessness," Shido answered, taking a drink.  "It's... forgetfulness.  You forget who you are as much as I forgot my past.  You forget the humanity of others.  You forget your own humanity.  You forget that what you do has consequences."

"Precisely.  You can't be human and forget what your action causes."

"Humans often forget.  Or don't think about it to start with."  Shido took another drink.  "Last time he found me, I wanted to go back to him.  He said he loved me, and for a moment that was more important than anything else."

Nick looked shocked.  "I would never go back to LaCroix.  Because of him I've become this."  He raised his own glass in a mocking salute before downing the animal blood.

"I think," Shido said softly, swirling the drink again.  "I think there comes a time when you have to leave your parents, whether they want you to or not.  LaCroix is wrong to keep trying to rule you.  But Cain and I... we were more than parent and child."

"So why didn't you?"

"I wasn't sure," the paler man said with a shrug.  "And there was Riho.  The others are taking care of her so I can go on a different search."

Nick was quiet a moment.  "I hope you're successful."

"And you."



Across the room another pair of vampires sat.

"Children," one of them said in a low, smooth voice.  "You sire them, spend time training them, and then they think they can walk away from everything as if you were a disease that needed curing."

His companion laughed, leaning back in his seat.  "Only if you let them," he said.  "Children, as you call them, need to be disciplined."

"And has your discipline worked, Kain?" the first one asked, voice faintly mocking.  "I do not see him with you now."

Kain scowled.  "Time, Lucien.  He will come back of his own will.  I don't see your Nicholas returning to your fold or having any thoughts to."

"True," Lucien agreed with a sigh.  "His is a stubborn boy and doesn't see his true greatness for his ridiculous wish to be human again."

"As if humans were something other than cattle," Kain agreed, swirling the drink in his glass.  "Shido has a fascination with what it means to be human.  He claims that he is one."  The vampire drained his glass.  "And it makes him more beautiful than ever, though it makes him weak."

"Shido is as... stubborn as Nicholas," Lucien said.  "Although perhaps more inclined to come to his senses."

"We were always close," Kain said with a small smile.

"Indeed," Lucien answered in dry understanding.

The conversation seeming over, the pair of old vampires glided toward the door seperately.  Lucien, walking slower, saw a familiar fair head move toward his companion.  A moment's soft conversation was all it took to bring the two together in a kiss.

Lucien smiled and looked around the bar before leaving.  He caught sight of Nick, who scowled and turned away.  It didn't dampen his pleasure.  With the scene he had just witnessed, anything seemed possible.  Even that his own son might return to him some day.

Disclaimer: I don't own Nightwalker or Forever Knight.