“Lucas North, Nightwalker,” Ch. 1-3End (R-rated; V & S): A Spooky Tale for Halloween 2013, October 31, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #464)

Lucas North, Nightwalker, Ch. 1-3 (R-rated; V & S):  A Spooky Tale for Halloween 2013, October 31, 2013  Gratiana Lovelace (Post #464)

[This is an original fan fiction story by Gratiana Lovelace;  All rights reserved.
All Spooks characters are the property of the BBC, no copyright infringement intended.]  [(1) story logo]

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story with my Spooks dream cast of:
Richard Armitage as Lucas North; Paul Bettany as Klaus Gehrhardt, Peter Firth as Harry Pearce; Hugh Simon as Malcom Wynn-Jones; Hermione Norris as Ros Meyers; Paloma Baeza as Elizaveta Starkova, Emil Hostina as Oleg Darshavin, and others, etc.]

Author’s Mature Content Note:   This is a short story with mature themes of violence (V), sensuality (S), relationships, and the supernatural–more on the dark side than my other stories.  And I will label the chapters’ maturity rating accordingly.  If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings I provide, then please do not read that chapter.  This is my disclaimer.

“Lucas North, Nightwalker”: Prologue

When Lucas North was freed from his eight years of hell in a Russian prison with a prisoner exchange last year, he returned to England a forever changed man.  And forever is a very long time.  Lucas had eight years to build up resentments and anger for his incarceration–and he vowed to seek justice were he ever to be freed.  And Lucas is not alone in the quest for justice.

“Lucas North, Nightwalker,” Ch. 1 (PG-13, V):  While I Breathe, I Hope

When Lucas North was freed from his eight years of hell in a Russian prison with a prisoner exchange last year, he returned to England a forever changed man.  And forever is a very long time.  Lucas had eight years to build up resentments and anger for his incarceration–and he vowed to seek justice were he ever to be freed.  And Lucas is not alone in the quest for justice.

Lucas’ transformation had begun two years before his release from prison, while recovering in his cell after yet another interrogation torture session at the hands of the interrogator devil Oleg Darshavin.  Battered, bruised, cut, starved, shocked, denied sleep, and soaking wet, and without even a t-shirt to cover his torso–the freezing cold damp hardly registers in his consciousness–and Lucas stares at the wall as he lies on the floor of his cell [(2) right]. The guard had haphazardly tossed a rough fabric over him–that no one could mistake for a blanket–in a half hearted gesture to keep him alive for a future interrogation session.

Lucas drags himself over to his cot and lies down upon it.  But before Lucas can succumb to much needed sleep, a feverish tapping sound breaks through the pain and anguished filled haze in his mind.  The rats seem to be getting rather more insistent, he muses.  Then the tapping stops for several moments–the rat must be chewing on a cockroach.  Then the tapping begins again, then stops.  Tapping then stops, tapping then stops.  Either the rat is getting very lucky with his meal, or?  Lucas doesn’t know what. Then after the third silence–that lasts much longer–the tapping begins again, but very slowly, and with clear pauses.

….   ..                    .-..          ..-           -.-.          .-             …           

Lucas finally recognizes what the tapping sounds are:  Hi  L U C A S   The tapping spells out his name in a phrase. Lucas sits bolt upright–listening [(3) right].   Either the rats have learned Morse code [(4)] –and English–or a fellow prisoner is trying to communicate with him.  Lucas looks up and sees that the hallway light is still dark–the guards can not see what he was doing through the small window in his cell door–but some moonlight shines through a tiny air vent in the corner where the wall joins with the ceiling.

Cautiously, Lucas lowers himself onto the much colder stone floor.  He shivers with hypothermia and drags the scratchy sorry excuse for a blanket close around his naked torso. Quietly, Lucas crawls near to the place on the crumbling and moldy brick wall where he thinks he had heard the tapping coming from.   He knows that this could be a trap. But he doesn’t care anymore.  Lucas has been in isolation for so long–except for the inhumane interrogation sessions where they keep asking him about something called Sugarhorse, which he knows nothing about–that he longs to connect with another human being.  He waits for several minutes to hear if the tapping resumes.  Nothing.   So Lucas shakily reaches out his arm and taps once on the lower part of the wall.  Silence.  Then Lucas taps twice.  Nothing.

Then from some well of mirth buried deep within him, Lucas taps five times rhythmically:  tap tap tap-tap tap.  And the response from the other side of the wall is:   tap tap.   Stunned, Lucas leans back, sitting against the wall.  Who can this person be?  What do they want?  But soon, Lucas finds out–as a feverish night of Morse code messages are exchanged between himself and the other inmate. These communications continue the next night, and the next night–telling each other how they came to be here, and of a way Lucas can gain some protection.  Klaus Gehrhardt is the other inmate’s name.  Lucas is not alone.  He is not forgotten. And he begins to rekindle a glimmer of hope.

***
After a week has passed and no more interrogations–his jailers probably resting from the strain to themselves–Lucas is allowed some time in the exercise yard outside and to eat in the cafeteria with the other prisoners.  These are privileges that have rarely been granted to him in the six years he has been in this prison.  And he wonders why he is receiving them now.  Suspicion is a natural cautious and self-preservation attribute found in most living spies like Lucas.  But Lucas’ existence can barely be called  living.

Lucas steals glances at every inmate he sees, not knowing who might be his nighttime confidante.  Sitting on a cafeteria table bench in the far corner, against one wall, Lucas can see the whole room before him.  And he is is wary and observant. Lucas notices that there are several clusters of inmates sitting together at tables–not looking at each other and talking, or the guards would put an end to that.  But Lucas sees the inmates’ lips move and he suspects that some communication is taking place. Lucas also notices that some people are eating the food on their plate and some are not.  He can hardly blame them for declining food that is unfit for a dog.  But Lucas must take some nourishment, so he methodically eats several bites of each nondescript clump of food on his tray–hoping that some variety of nutrients are present.

About midway through the 30 minute lunch break, Lucas sees a blond bookishly pale looking inmate [(5) right] approach him and sit down across from him to eat his meal at Lucas’ table.  They barely acknowledge at each other so as not to draw the guards’ attention.   The pale man eats for a few moments.  Or rather, as Lucas observes while trying not to stare, as the blond man pretends to eat as each forkful of food is mouthed, lips seem to squeeze the food off of the fork, but then the mouth opens and food remains upon the fork tines and is returned to the food tray.  Lucas wonders about this strange feeding ritual–having nothing else to occupy his mind.  Then pretending to be pausing in his eating, the blond man casually lays his pale hand upon the table surface and drums his fingers, he taps them: tap tap tap-tap tap.  It is Klaus–Lucas’ nighttime confidante.   Lucas dare not look at the man directly, so as not to draw the guard’s attention.  But Lucas taps back:   tap tap.

After lunch, several of the men–including Lucas and Klaus are sent to a work detail in the prison laundry. Lucas wonders what is being washed in the laundry since the prisoners rarely see clean sheets or towels–let alone, clean prison clothing.  Once there, the paid off guards are not quite so attentive to their duties and the prisoners chat.  Lucas discovers their names and backgrounds–all spies, like him–with wives or sweethearts and families whom they yearn to return to, even as Lucas yearns for his wife Elizaveta Starkova.

They are a laundry gang called the Stokers–paying off the guards for this little bit of freedom to be supportive of one another, with money sent by gang members who have already been released from prison.  The gang’s motto, if you will, is Dum Spiro Spero, “while I breathe, I hope” [(6)].  And they each have the quote tattooed on their backs below their necks.

Lucas gradually comes to understand what the Stokers are over the next few weeks–a three tiered group or prison gang of high status, low status, and honorary members.  They give him a choice–to join them fully in either the high or low status groups, or merely accept their protection as an honorary member.  Seeing no end in sight for his incarceration–and a need to belong again to something–Lucas opts for the high status gang tier, of course.

The Stokers gather in the laundry room for Lucas’ initiation with their paid off guards being less than attentive in another room.  Lucas is uncertain as to what to expect of the Stokers’ initiation rite.  The Stokers’ initiation ritual begins with Lucas being tattooed on his back below his neck with their motto of “Dum Spiro Spero”–meaning “while I breathe I hope” [(7) right]. This choice of phrase seems rather paradoxical, oxymoronic, and/or just plain ironic to Lucas–but one must acquiesce if one is to belong.  So Lucas submits to the painful procedure.  It is several days later after the pain of being tattooed has subsided, that Lucas completes his rebirth as a Stoker in a veil of shadows, vows of loyalty, and the drinking of blood–both his and theirs.  Sharing bodily fluids such as blood is not wise in the age of AIDS.  But then, the Stokers are immune to this disease–or any disease for that matter.  For having ritually died from their former lives of hardship, Stokers high and low status members are reborn into a new life from which there is no going back–only moving forward.

Thus, after Lucas is secretly initiated into the Stokers–with their blood ritual initiation seeming rather tame to Lucas compared to the endless torture he received during his interrogations–Lucas finds that his strangely now less brutal interrogations continue, and he can tolerate them more, with less damage to his body and to his psyche.  However Lucas finds the adjustment to his new way of life as a Stoker somewhat unsettling at first–finding distasteful the feeding rituals between the gang and the paid guards as their livestock, if you will.   Lucas finds the aspect of males feeding on males unnerving and eschews it. So Lucas begins by drinking blood out of a receptacle, a goblet of blood.  But Klaus convinces Lucas that there were important nutrients lost by not drinking straight from a vein.

So a woman was brought into the prison laundry for Lucas to practice feeding on–one of the guard’s sisters who is paid handsomely for her services.  And though the blond woman was not to Lucas’ tastes sexually–him preferring his brunette wife Elizaveta–Lucas found himself becoming enthusiastic in his feeding as the nutrients Klaus mentioned coursed through his veins.  And Lucas got a little carried away–as most first timer’s do–spilling her blood everywhere [(8) right].  But Klaus intervened in time and the woman was rushed to a hospital for a blood transfusion–and she received double the payment for her troubles.  Understandably, she never came back for seconds.  So Lucas stuck with goblets after that episode–once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes [(9)]–even though, he was the one doing the biting.  Gradually, Lucas comes to accept that the feeding rituals are what need to be done for him to survive. And survival means hope–if the Stokers’ motto is to be believed. And with that sense of renewed hope, Lucas finds that he grows stronger every day.

Life continues in the Russian prison for Lucas for two more years–now with all of his senses heightened–including a few senses that he was not previously aware of, such as the gift of being able to bend persons to his will with mind control.  And Lucas tests this new power upon guards not bound in loyalty to the Stokers through a series of amusing games targeting particularly pompous and overbearing guards–since one of the deaths of prison is its endless boredom.  So Lucas has one guard wear his gun holster the wrong way round, another guard on a different day skips through his rounds, and yet another guard on another day speaks only in rhymes (in Russian mind you)–all of which get those particular guards in trouble with their superiors.    Childish behavior on his part, Lucas admits–but endlessly entertaining. And yet, Lucas can never seem to totally impose his will upon his devil of an interrogator, Oleg Darshavin–except that when the truly gruesome torture might start, Lucas stops it by Darshavin being distracted and losing interest. Yes, all in all, being reborn as a Stoker has its advantages.

To be continued with Chapter 2

Ch. 1 References, 10/31/13 Gratiana Lovelace

1)  Lucas North, Nightwalker story logo image (cropped, recolored) is of Richard Armitage portraying Lucas North in Spooks, series 7 (2007) was found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/spookspromo/album/series7-45.jpg

2) Lucas North  was portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks 7-9 (2008-2010); and this image was found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/spooks8/album/Episode4/slides/ep4_272.jpg

3) Lucas North  was portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks 7-9 (2008-2010); and this image was found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/spooks8/album/Episode4/slides/ep4_277.jpg
4) International Morse Code chart was found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

5) Klaus  Gehrhardt image is Paul Bettany at  a promo for his film “Legion”; image was found at http://www.gonewiththetwins.com/pages/features/2009/images/comiccon2009/friday/legion/legion02.jpg

6) The meaning of Dum Spiro Spero is “while I breathe, I hope” found at   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dum_spiro_spero and richardarmitagenet.com/career/93.html

7) Lucas North was portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks; image was found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep1/slides/spooks701_034.jpg

8) Lucas spilling a woman’s blood is Richard Armitage in Spooks; image found at  richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/Spooks9/album/episode6/album/6_211.jpg

9)  “Once bitten, twice shy,” is an idiom that refers to being cautious’; for more information, visit http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/once_bitten,_twice_shy

“Lucas North, Nightwalker,” Ch. 2 (R-rated, S):  Home is a Place Where they Accept  You

Then amazingly, two years later, Lucas is released from eight years in his hell hole of a Russian prison in a prisoner exchange and returned to England [(2) right]–with Lucas promising to help out those Stokers members left behind by sending money to pay off the guards.  Klaus is also released.  And he and Lucas begin the long process of reacclimating into society over the next twelve months–their minds always focused on procuring justice for themselves and their fellow Stokers.

Lucas’ transformation to a Stoker occurred three years ago now, and Lucas has settled in well back at Section D this past year.  Ros Meyers is Section D Chief–Lucas’ old job.  But Lucas has no anger in him about that.  In fact, after an assimilation period, Lucas finds that he has quite gotten back into the groove of life at MI-5. But there is a change in him in that he does not like crowds–perhaps due to the crowded conditions in the prison.  And he eschews daylight hours, for obvious reasons since he is now photosensitive.    So Lucas elects to work the more quiet and darker night shift of 7:00pm to 5:00am weekdays.  The reasoning that Lucas gives Harry Pearce is that bad guys don’t sleep and neither does the nation’s security force.  Harry seems to accept that explanation, at first–him wanting to give Lucas a wide berth.

So, it is a usual Thursday night, the last day of October as Lucas saunters onto to the grid to start his last 7pm shift before the weekend.  He brings a box of chocolate donuts and offers some to Malcom, their computer tech guru–who declines.

Lucas:  “What?  Don’t like the calories, Malcom?” Lucas gently teases.

Malcom:  “No Lucas, I just can’t eat donuts when it is dinner time for me.  Have you eaten?”

Lucas:  Lucas smirks.  “Oh yes.  I’ve been well fed.”  Lucas licks his lips and his fingers with a cat like precision [(3) right]–wanting to get every drop of chocolate icing.  Chocolate is his one vice in what is now a strictly regimented diet for him.

Then their fearless leader Harry Pearce interjects, motioning for Lucas to join him in his office.

Harry: “A word, Lucas.” Harry always sounds so pompous–as if he is the school principal calling Lucas into his office.

Lucas blanches at Malcom–who smiles back at him.  Then Lucas heads into Harry’s office.

Harry closes the double doors behind them for privacy [(4) right].

Lucas: Leaning against a tall bookshelf, Lucas asks laconically.  “Well?”

Harry:  “You had better sit down.” He waits until Lucas does so.  “Oleg Darshavin’s been picked up on surveillance cameras.”

Lucas:  Instantly on edge, Lucas’ eyes flash to Harry’s.  “Where?”  Lucas’ mind races, wondering why his interrogator/torturer is in London.

Harry:  Placing a file on the table and sliding it to in front of Lucas, Harry says.  “You’re not going to like this.”

Lucas:  “Tell me anyway.”  Lucas crosses his arms and narrows his eyes onto Harry with laser like precision.

Harry:  “He’s been spotted near your ex-wife’s townhouse.”

Lucas:  “What?”  Lucas stands up agitatedly.

Harry: “Sit down, Lucas.”  Harry waves offhandedly.  “We have guards posted for Elizaveta’s and her daughter’s protection.”

Lucas: “Oh?   So you’re not interested in protecting Elizaveta’s husband, as well?”  Lucas sneers.

Harry: Harry’s eyebrow raises.  “Haven’t you heard?”  Lucas tilts his head quizzically. “They’re separated.  The divorce becomes final next month.”  Lucas looks shocked.  “I thought you knew.”  Harry offers quietly.

Lucas:   Covering his mouth and trying to collect his thoughts–not the least of which his eye teeth hurt from the sugar shock of the chocolate donut he ate earlier–Lucas looks up at Harry.  “Clearly, my intel has been sorely lacking of late.”

Harry:  “Maybe if you deemed fit to join us on the day shift, you might be privy to some of this information.”  Harry chides him unnecessarily childishly.

Lucas:  “Can’t.” Lucas intones blandly.

Harry: “Or won’t?”

Lucas:  “Does it matter?”

Harry: “I think it does.   When my best agent chooses to bury himself in working the graveyard shift, I begin to ask myself why?”

Lucas:  “And did you answer yourself, Harry?”  Lucas smirks sarcastically [(5) right].

Harry:  “Only you can answer that question. But I suspect that you’re not going to–evasive as usual.”

Lucas:  “Leave it, Harry. I have my reasons.”  Lucas waves his hand dismissively, annoyed with Harry’s continual brinksmanship.

Harry: Changing the subject, Harry asks.  “I don’t suppose my ordering you to stay away from her will do any good?”

Lucas:  “Damn right!” Then Lucas softens.  “Maybe I’ll check on her security detail tonight–make sure that they’re on their toes.”

Harry: “Lucas?” Harry shakes his head.  Then a thought occurs to him.  “And what about Darshavin?  What if you run into him?”

Lucas:  His eyelids only half open, Lucas responds with barely controlled fury. “Darshavin will know fear and pain and despair before he dies … horribly.”

Harry: “I didn’t hear that.” Harry shakes his head, knowing the revenge quest that Lucas is bent upon.  And Harry can’t blame Lucas for it.   “Just make sure that nothing can link back to you or to MI-5.”

Lucas:  Smiling affably now, like a panther who just sipped some honeyed milk, Lucas jests.  “Of course, Harry.  Not a trace.”  Then Lucas leaves Harry’s office to make some arrangements.

***

After checking in with Elizaveta’s security detail around 10pm, Lucas slips into her home via the back door.  The door isn’t unlocked–but then, Lucas never lets a little thing like a lock deter him.  He finds his ex-wife sipping tea sitting on a chaise lounge by the fireplace.  Her sleekly straight brunette hair is tucked just behind her ears.  Some things never change, Lucas smiles.    She lifts her head but doesn’t turn around.

Elizaveta:  “Lucas. You are visiting me quite late.  Why are you here?”  She asks curiously, not accusingly.

Lucas:  Startled that she knew it was him.  “How…?”  He stops.

Elizaveta:  She turns to face him with a slight smile on her lips.  “You still wear Armani Code.”

Lucas: “Oh!”  He smiles broadly.  “Well, I like the fragrance.” He shrugs his shoulders.

Elizaveta:  “You’re looking well, Lucas.  I’m glad.” She gifts him with a small smile.

Lucas: “Complimenting me? This is novel.  Are we having a conversation? Don’t you want me to leave before your husband gets home?” He asks teasingly.

Elizaveta:  “My husband … he is away.”  She says benignly, betraying nothing about the current state of her marriage.

Lucas slowly walks toward his ex-wife.

Lucas:  “Oh?  And when is he expected back?” He asks coolly.  “Or didn’t you want me to know that you were getting divorced?”  There is a tinge of hurt in his voice. Because although he was faithful to her for eight years, she had him declared dead and remarried four years ago–and bore that man’s child.

Elizaveta: “It doesn’t concern you, Lucas.”  She turns away from him in shame and regret.

Lucas:  “So you’re dumping him as easily as you dumped me?”  He huffs.

Elizaveta:  “It wasn’t easy!” Elizaveta hisses as she looks back at him.  “I waited for you–for years!  No one told me anything.  But I tried to have hope.  Then Harry Pearce told me you had died and I had to move on.  But I couldn’t for so long.”  Tears well up in her eyes, but they do not fall.

Lucas:  Taken aback by her vehemence, but still needing answers, he scolds her.  “And then you married another man and had his child.  If you had only waited a little longer, your child could have been my child.”

Elizaveta:  She takes one step toward him.  “Don’t you think I know that, Lucas?  Why did Harry Pearce tell me you were dead, when you were alive?  Why, Lucas?  Why!”

Lucas: “I don’t know!”  He balls his fists at his side in frustration.  Harry will have to answer to him for that.

Lucas and Elizaveta are standing next to each other–Lucas leaning so far over to her that they are almost touching [(6) right].   Their breaths can be felt by the other. Lucas drinks in the scent of her and his hunger, his desire awakens.  The room is filled with the tension of their thwarted past and their unknown future.

Elizaveta: “Oh God, I wish ….”   Elizaveta reaches up to touch Lucas’ face, and finds his slightly pale (for him) skin cool, but not unpleasantly so.

And Lucas’ willpower to refrain from taking her crumbles as he pulls her into his arms and kisses her tenderly, gently.

Lucas:  “Elizaveta!” He sighs.  “I dreamed only of you when I was in that prison hell for eight years.  The hope of seeing you again, being with you again, helped me to get through it–to do what I had to do.”   Lucas weeps, his tears running down his cheeks onto her cheeks.

Elizaveta: Elizaveta does not know the full measure of Lucas’ suffering, nor his sacrifice, but she was his and he was hers and any suffering on his part breaks her heart. “Lucas, my Lucas.”  She whispers tenderly as she embraces him and kisses him back through her own tears. Then she takes his hand and guides him into her bedroom adjacent to the sitting room. “Come to bed, my Lucas. Make love with me, my husband.”

Lucas: “Make love with me, my wife.”  Lucas’ anguished cries of joy betoken a hurting heart that is finally beginning to heal by being with his Elizaveta again.

With aching tenderness of nine years of want and desire suppressed no more, Lucas slowly lowers his mouth to Elizaveta’s lips.  Their kiss sets off thousands of tiny electric shockwaves throughout Lucas’ body as she kisses him back–the only tenderness he has known  in nine long years.  She kisses him tentatively at first, then with more urgency as her own need for him awakens.  These two lovers, so long denied–despairing of ever loving each other again–now seek to heal their loneliness, their sadness, their sorrows in making love together.  Not wanting to lose contact with his wife’s lips, Lucas quickly removes his coat as he sucks in to keep their lips touching–even as Elizaveta begins to unbutton his shirt.

Elizaveta is very petite to Lucas’ tallness, so their bodies’ attitudes  of her reaching upwards and him leaning downwards in their kissing shows the strain of that height differential.  However, Lucas backs up to the bed leans back laying down upon it–pulling Elizaveta to lie upon him as they kiss with feverish abandon now that they are the same height lying down.  Lucas hands roam freely over his wife’s clothed body–delighting in her soft curves–taking his time to caress and kiss her before gently removing her coverings.  Then, when they are both naked and lying in each others’ arms, their arms and legs intertwine in an entanglement only surpassed by their tongues plundering each others’ mouths.

However Lucas must be careful in his kissing since his eye teeth are so pronounced–by virtue of his transformation. And he does not want to accidently bite her in a hunger more primal than his love for her.  When the time is right, he will tell her about what he has become.  And she may choose to join him, or not–he will still love and cherish her all the same. However, Lucas cannot help but nibble a little bit upon her body that he has been dreaming about for all these years–at her slender neck, her ripe breasts still firm and round, her womanly hips made curvier now that she has born a child.  Lucas becomes lost within her remembered and now reacquainted beauty as his heightened senses love her again, and again, and again, and again.

Elizaveta moans with pleasures now and remembered from long ago.  Memories of her Lucas, seeming to be even more muscular and more engulfing of her small frame now as he hovers over her and seeks to be one with her again, and again, and again, and again.  Their bliss almost joined in one, Elizaveta now seeks to engulf Lucas. She gently pushes back against his chest and she guides him to lie flat on his back.  Their lovers’ pleasures are not yet half begun as she leans back and guides him to her again, slowly, carefully, until he fills her with his love as she begins to rock with him in their lovers’ dance.  Lucas’ strong hands are upon her supple breasts, holding her up and caressing her sensuously as she strokes his slightly hairy forearms.  Then she stops her rocking motions, clenches, and Lucas gasps in pleasures remembered and reborn.  Elizaveta leans forward to kiss his eyes and cheeks and mouth–just enough to give him access to kiss her  loveliness, first one and then the other–even as his  hands upon her rump pull her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,  slowly at first and then more quickly, urgently, as their desires explode in blissful pleasures so profound that their breathing hitches for several moments as they forget to breathe.  They are too overwhelmed to even cry out their joy until their waves of pleasure tumble over the crest and they each sigh their bliss with final adoring kisses.  They smile as they gently caress each others’ faces–committing the feel of each other to memory again.  Then they cuddle together, speaking words of love for each other in her native tongue, before they fall asleep in each others’ loving arms.

Elizaveta: “Я так люблю тебя, мой муж.” (I love you so, my husband.)

Lucas:  “Я люблю тебя вечно и всегда, моя жена.” (I love you forever and always, my wife.)

To be continued with Chapter 3

 

Ch. 2 References, 10/31/13 Gratiana Lovelace

1)  Lucas North, Nightwalker story logo image (cropped, recolored) is of Richard Armitage portraying Lucas North in Spooks, series 7 (2007) was found at http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/spookspromo/album/series7-45.jpg

2) Lucas North walking to freedom is Richard  Armitage in Spooks (2008-2010); image found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep1/slides/spooks701_002.jpg

3)  Lucas North with donuts was portrayed by Richard Armitage, and Malcom was portrayed by Hugh Simon; image found at  richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep2/slides/cap080.jpg

4)  Lucas north was portrayed by Richard Armitage, and Harry Pearce was portrayed by Peter Firth in Spooks (2008-2010); image found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep5/slides/5_02.jpg

5) Lucas North smirking was portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks (2008-2010); image found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep3/slides/03_107.JPG 

6) Lucas North was  portrayed by Richard Armitage and Elizabeta Starkova was portrayed by Paloma Baeza in Spooks(2008); image (Grati’s manip) found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep4/slides/4_191.jpg

 

“Lucas North, Nightwalker,” Ch. 3 (PG-13, V):  Justice for One

Several hours later–after making love with Elizaveta a third time and falling asleep spooning again–Lucas begins to slip out of their embrace and out of her bed.

Elizaveta: Drowsily awakening from Lucas stirring in their bed, she pleads sleepily, seductively. “Don’t go, Lucas.  Stay with me.”

Lucas:   “Always, my love.  But I have some unfinished business I have to attend to.  And then I’ll be back–and nothing will ever come between us again.”  Lucas leans down and kisses her lips and then her neck where he had nibbled earlier–licking up the small amount of blood that he spilt.   He was careful and it was not out of the ordinary of love play.   Then he slips out of bed to make his meeting.  But first, Lucas makes a necessary phone call.

***
Forty-five minutes later, Lucas walks into an abandoned warehouse [(2) right] next to an unused boat dock.  It is a familiar area for him–having been exchanged near here when he was released to Harry Pearce one year ago.  Lucas walks to a back door and raps his knuckles on the door five times:  tap tap tap-tap tap. He hears a reply from within on the other side of the door: tap tap.  Then the door is unbolted and Lucas is let in. The back room is lit by only one bare bulb.

A pale blond man standing guard–Lucas’ inmate and Stoker comrade Klaus Gehrhardt–admits Lucas to the  room.  Several  man wolves are growling hungrily in the shadows.  And two men are bound and gagged, lying on the wet and filthy floor.  The men struggle with their bonds and try to vocalize against their gags when they see Lucas. Though the second bound man looks initially glad to see Lucas, that quickly fades with realization. Lucas does not acknowledge either of them.  Lucas asks the unyieldingly stern looking Klaus [(3) right] for a status update.

Lucas:  “Have either of them talked yet?   Have they revealed what Sugarhorse is?”

Klaus:  Klaus replies slowly, menacingly, in his heavy German accented Russian accent.  “Nyet.  And we were so patient with Darshavin.”  Klaus’ eyes narrow like slits.  “It has been difficult to keep the werewolves at bay.  They so want to eat their fill.”

Klaus  cocks his head over to the corner where three man sized wolves are growling and salivating–the bigger one in the center being their leader–though, the werewolves all serve the Stokers vampires Lucas and Klaus.  Lucas slowly turns his head to look at the werewolves [(4) right] and nods as they come out of the shadows briefly to acknowledge Lucas  with respectfully bowed heads, then they retreat back into the shadows.

Lucas: “They will get their chance.”  Lucas replies with barely disguised rage.

Oleg Darshavin and Harry Pearce struggle against their restraints, but it is to no avail.  Then Klaus walks over to their guests and effortlessly hauls them up onto chairs with one hand and pulls out each of their gags.

Oleg: “Lucas! You MI-5 scum!”

Lucas: “Typical.”  Lucas rolls his eyes blasely.

Harry:  “Lucas!  I demand to know what you are doing? Do what you want with Darshavin, but why am I tied up?”  Harry is battered and bloody already from his capture [(5) right].  And the werewolves are salivating and growling their discontent at being held at bay from their meal.

Lucas: Lucas smiles.  “Oleg, would you like to explain to Harry Pearce why he is here?”

Oleg: “I’m sure I don’t know.”  He sniffs in a snit.

Klaus:  Looking wryly at Lucas, Klaus remarks.  “Maybe there is honor among spies such as these.”

Lucas:  “Or collaborateurs, in this case.”  Lucas fumes.

Harry: “Lucas, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Harry tries to get personal with Lucas by using his name.  It doesn’t work.

Lucas: “No?  Then let me enlighten you.  You left me to die in that Russian prison, Harry.  You told Elizaveta that I was dead.   You stole my life from me!  You stole my wife from me!”  Lucas’ hostility is unrestrained [(6) right], his eyes are blazing, and his eye teeth glint when the light from the single bulb hanging bare from the ceiling hit them just right.

Harry: Trying to sound conciliatory, Harry reasons.  “That’s not true!   I tried to get you out.  But the Russians wouldn’t budge.”

Oleg:  Sneering sarcastically, Darshavin deflates Harry’s attempt  to reach Lucas .“Sure you did, Harry.  Or did you forget the prisoner exchange we proposed after Lucas was with us only one year and you didn’t want to return our man for Lucas?”

Harry: Pannicking, Harry looks back and forth between Darshavin and Lucas as he pleads.  “Lucas, it wasn’t like that.”

Klaus:  Tauntingly. “Wasn’t it?”    Then he winks at the werewolves with a slight hand gesture–as if to say, dinner won’t be long now.

Harry:  “No!  Lucas, you have to understand.  We couldn’t let the other spy go–not even to get you back.  We had to protect our asset.”

Lucas feels as if a shockwave has just hit him with the confirmation of Harry Pearce’s collusion in his imprisonment as he leans forward–holding his hand to his mouth, trying not to vomit [(7) right].  Lucas could have been spared seven of his eight years of hell and spared an eternity of regrets, but for these two men–one his former friend and mentor, the other his tormentor.

Klaus: “Do you need to hear more?”  Klaus dispassionately asks Lucas.

Lucas: Standing up straight, with a seething look of fury on his face, he pronounces their fate.  “No. We’re done here.”  He walks over to stand four feet in front of Harry Pearce.  “Harry, do you want to know why I survived so long when I was tortured nearly every day by this sadistic devil?”  Lucas gestures to Darshavin–but does not look at him. Harry just looks up at him with a pained look on his face.  “I didn’t survive.  I died in that prison.”

Oleg:  “But you’re standing here, alive.”  He sputters.

Lucas:  Smirking at Klaus, Lucas asks facetiously. “Klaus, should we tell them now, or just before the werewolves eat them alive?”

Harry: “What?” He looks up at Lucas incredulously.  This cannot be happening to the great Sir Harry Pearce.  But yes, yes it is.

Lucas: “I joined a prison gang called the Stokers, Harry–after Bram Stoker, the author who wrote Dracula. We are a coven of vampires and werewolves …”  Lucas gestures to the trio in the shadows. “… intent on revenging what happened to each of us.”

Harry: “You can’t be serious.”  Harry looks aghast at Lucas.  But he can see now that Lucas’ incisors are longer than normal.

Oleg:  “You have lost your mind, Lucas.”  He shakes his head.

Lucas:  “No!   My mind has never had greater clarity.”  Lucas [(8) right] turns slowly to Klaus with a small smile.  “Oh and Klaus?  Harry wants to make sure that no connection can be made to me or to MI-5–not a trace.”  He intones with absolute irony.  Klaus nods.  “So tell the boys to clean up after themselves.  Then plant some of Harry’s personal effects at the Russian Embassy to make everyone think Harry has been kidnapped over Sugarhorse.”  Lucas smiles with thinly veiled malice.   Then Lucas switches moods and feigns ennui. “I’m going back to bed.  The night shift can be so fatiguing.”

Oleg:  “Well, well.” Is all Darshavin says–resigned to his fate.

Harry:  “No!   Lucas!   Please!   You cannot do this!”  Harry pleads in an undignified whine.

Klaus:  “Yes, he can.”  Klaus scowls menacingly at Harry Pearce, even as he motions to the werewolves to rise  and walk toward their guests.

Then Klaus slowly turns his head and nods at Lucas–who turns and walks out of the room. Almost as soon as Lucas shuts the door behind him and starts walking through the abandoned warehouse, he hears muffled screams of terror and then of agonizing pain for several minutes.  And then silence, punctuated by chewing sounds that only Lucas’ heightened sense of hearing can discern.   Lucas grimaces in disgust–seeking justice for himself has been necessary, but also unnerving to Lucas.  He has not lost all of his humanity to his transformation–yet.   But Lucas reminds himself  that though Harry had been his mentor in the early years, Harry’s betrayal of him was unforgivable.  And Lucas just keeps walking forward.  One person’s, his own, revenge quest concluded with justice served–two more yet to receive their justice.

***

As dawn begins to peek through the blanket of the waning evening haze, Lucas dons his protective sunglasses, slicks back his unruly mane, and slides into his car with tinted windows to protect his skin.  Then he drives back to Elizaveta’s home, shrugs off his clothes, and slips into bed naked with her.

Elizaveta: She stirs as he embraces her.  “Lucas, you came back to me.   I didn’t dream it.”  She snuggles happily into his shoulder and kisses him adoringly with tears in her eyes..

Lucas: Lucas lifts himself up on his elbow and gazes at her soulfully [(9) right].  “I promised that I would come back to you, my Elizaveta.  And I always keep my promises.”

Lucas kisses his wife with loving tenderness and an all consuming lust.  Yes, a lust reflective of Lucas’ reawakened sexual desires for his sweet and lovely Elizaveta, but also a lust for life and all of its hopeful possibilities that he thought he had lost during his incarceration for eight long years.

Lucas embraces his wife–spooning with her tucked into his chest and his abdomen as she wraps her arms around his arms holding her–and then he falls blissfully asleep in her loving arms.   With his wife’s love, Lucas finds a peaceful contentment that he never thought he would have again.  They will have a future together now.  He will become a father to her daughter and hopes to give her more children–he has not been told that it is impossible for vampires of their lineage to  have children. Though it is not known if these children will be fully human or a hybrid.  And Lucas will have a life with his Elizaveta that he has only dreamed of for so many years.  Life?  Well, in a manner of speaking.

The End

Author’s Note:
Dear Readers,

I hope you enjoyed my “Spooky” tale for Halloween 2013.  Though it is my first foray into writing about the supernatural, or the *gasp* horror genre here on my blog, I  am not wholly without exposure to these types of tales.  Growing up, I endlessly enjoyed reading the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, and Nathaniel Hawthorne (The  House of the Seven Gables), and others.  I also enjoyed the tv and films of Alfred Hitchcock, and Rod Serling, and others.  So you might discern some of their sensibilities in my writing about the supernatural in my story above (especially Poe)–in the sense of my conveying an allusion to violence, but not traipsing it about on a silver platter dripping with blood as so many schlock horror films do today.  Ha!  I believe in engaging myself and my readers’ imaginations by letting you fill in some of the details.
And yes, there is a cliff hanger of sorts in that there might be additional short stories of this series, Lucas North Nightwalker in the future–maybe before Halloween 2014, maybe not.  Ha!
Thanks for reading and please leave comments.  I enjoy hearing from you.

Ghoulish Cheers!   Grati  ;->

“Ch. 3 References, 10/31/13 Gratiana Lovelace

1)  Lucas North, Nightwalker story logo image (cropped, recolored) is of Richard Armitage portraying Lucas North in Spooks, series 7 (2007) was found at http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/spookspromo/album/series7-45.jpg

2) Warehouse from Spooks (Grati’s manip to just background) was found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep1/slides/spooks701_003.jpg

3) Klaus  Gehrhardt image is Paul Bettany in Legion found at http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/01/qa-paul-bettany-on-faith-dwarf-tossing-and-why-angels-need-ak47s/_jcr_content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_blogpost/cn_float_container/cn_image_0.size.Paul-Bettany.jpg

4) Werewolf imagef rom the movie Van Helsing was found at http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110413021355/werewolf/images/a/a7/VanHelsingWerewolf.jpg

5) Harry Pearce roughed up  from the BBC show Spooks was portrayed by Peter Firth;  image found at http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Media/Pix/pictures/2009/11/4/1257338142337/Peter-Firth-as-Harry-Pear-001.jpg

6) Lucas North  enraged  (Grati’s manip)  in Spooks was portrayed by Richard Armiage;  original image found at richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep1/slides/spooks701_098.jpg

7) Lucas North is portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks; image found at  richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep2/slides/cap148.jpg

8) Lucas North is portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks; image found at   richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep3/slides/03_7.JPG

9) Lucas North portrayed by Richard Armitage in Spooks series 7 image is a composite of two Lucas images: richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep1/slides/spooks701_045.jpg

and richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep2/slides/cap123.jpg

Link for Chapter 3 images on my Wattpad site:
https://gratianads90.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/balucasnorthnightwalkerimagesch3oct3113gratianalovelace.jpg

Happy Halloween!

Grati’s manip for the Keep Calm poster is a Richard Armitage  portrait (sans vampire teeth) from 2010 and was found at  richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Richard/Promos/2010Promo/album/20Dec2010-Perou-01.jpg