“Lucas North, Nightwalker,” Ch. 3 (PG-13, V): Justice for One, October 31, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace
[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,” 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.jpgand richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Spooks/album/ep2/slides/cap123.jpg
Link for Chapter 3 images on my Wattpad site:
http://gratianads90.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/balucasnorthnightwalkerimagesch3oct3113gratianalovelace.jpg
Link for Chapter 1-3 with embedded illustrations:
http://gratianads90.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/lucas-north-nightwalker-ch-1-3end-r-rated-v-s-a-spooky-tale-for-halloween-2013-october-31-2013-gratiana-lovelace-post-464/
Happy Halloween!