All the characters, except Claire Brienne, are the 
property of TPTB.
I'm only borrowing them, I'll give them back when I'm 
done. Promise!
Claire Brienne is the property of my imagination.
	
This story takes place somewhere in the Third Season, 
before LK.
Special thanks to Heather Markle, my beta-reader.


Justice Better Served
by Rosemary Beard
Copyright 1997

Parts 7-8


	
        Lucien stood over her broken and twisted body. 
His eyes glowed red.
Ignoring his own injuries he knelt down and gently took 
her in his arms.
"Claire", he whispered, "Can you hear me? Speak to me."
        Opening her eyes she looked up at him. 
"Lucien", she gasped. 
"I love you. Never forget that." She reached up and 
touched his face 
tenderly. "I wanted to spend eternity with you." Her 
face contorted in 
pain as she closed her eyes. Her breathing became 
labored as she clung to
life.
        "No!" he growled. "I won't lose you. I can't 
let it happen."
        Only moments before Claire had been laughing, 
her eyes sparkling 
with life. In the blink of an eye this had all changed. 
A bomb had ripped 
through the room where they were standing, crushing and 
mangling everything
within reach. Claire had been standing between him and 
the blast. She was 
lifted and tossed across the room like a rag doll, only 
to be left at his 
feet a crumpled mass.
        Pulling her closer, Lucien bared his fangs and 
sunk them into the 
soft flesh of her neck. He could feel her slipping away 
from him as he 
drank of her life's blood. "Please," his mind begged, 
"Don't leave me." 
He opened his wrist and held it to her still mouth. He 
had brought many 
people across, all of them far less worthy than Claire. 
This had to work, 
it couldn't be too late. Raising his head, he looked at 
her. She was on the
brink between life and death. "Claire", he whispered. 
"Come back to me."
        She stirred slightly, her mouth slowly 
beginning to suck LaCroix's 
blood. The pressure of her mouth became greater as 
Lucien felt his own 
blood being drained away. He would not pull his wrist 
away, not matter how 
much she took.
        Finally her drinking slowed and then she sagged 
in his arms. Her 
heart had stopped yet she still breathed. She had 
returned to him. She 
would sleep, then he would introduce her to this new 
life he had given her. 
Lucien could hear the police sirens coming closer. 
Wrenching her free of the 
wreckage, he pulled her up into his arms, and hurried 
outside into the darkness. 
He needed to find a safe place for her. Then he would 
deal with James. A
movement caught his eye as a car pulled away from the 
curb and sped off
into the night.

****************************************** ******

        Nick was sitting at his desk going over some 
reports and catching 
up on some long overdue paper work. A sensation like a 
bolt of lightning 
flashed through him. He was overcome with a wave of 
rage and pain that 
gripped him like a vice, leaving him breathless. He 
tried to stand, but 
could not feel his feet. This was unlike anything he 
had felt before. He 
could feel himself beginning to change, his jaw aching 
as he struggled to 
keep his fangs from descending. Summoning all his 
strength, he managed to 
pull himself out of the chair. "LaCroix!" his mind 
shouted.
        At that moment Capt. Reese popped his head out 
of his office. 
        "Knight,Vetter," he shouted. "In my office."
Tracy and Nick hurried from their desks and went into 
the Captain's office.
        "We've had an explosion, may be a bomb. Some 
little off the wall 
club called the Raven." Reese explained. "Fire 
Department and ambulances 
are there now, ME's in route. I need you there asap. 
Get moving"
        "We're on it", Nick said, rushing out the door, 
coat in hand.
        "Why would anyone want to bomb the Raven ?" 
Tracy asked, pulling
open the door to the Caddy.
Nick already knew the answer. He only hoped he could 
find James before
LaCroix did.

************************************************

        LaCroix gently laid Claire on the bed. He had 
not used this house 
in many years, she would be safe until he returned. He 
now could turn his
attention to James. He would pay for this and pay 
dearly.
        Lucien summoned Alma to stand watch and took to 
flight, the image 
of that car and driver burned into his memory. He would 
find this man and
he would have his revenge.
        Flying over the city he spotted the car parked 
outside a small hotel.
Landing quietly in the shadows, he made his way into 
the lobby. The desk
clerk was easy to persuade and soon Lucien was on his 
way with a name and
room number.
        Moving at top speed he made his way onto the 
balcony. Slowly he 
slid open the glass door and entered the room. James 
was sitting with his
back to the door, phone in hand, barking out orders to 
his secretary.
        LaCroix pulled the cord from the wall and stood 
behind him. 
James turned and looked at him. 
        "Who are you? How did you get in here?" 
Reaching for a gun, James
pointed it at him. LaCroix laughed and moved towards 
him.
        James pulled the trigger again and again, 
emptying the weapon into 
Lucien's chest. LaCroix growled, his eyes flaming with 
anger. Grabbing the
gun from James' hand he threw it across the room and 
picked him up by the 
throat.
Crossing the room, he took to the air dragging James 
with him.


        Nick surveyed the damage to the Raven. It was a 
small but powerful 
bomb. It had not only destroyed several rooms but had 
taken out windows in 
the surrounding buildings. Tracy walked over to her 
partner. 
        "No fatalities, only a few minor injuries. 
Luckily there was only a
small crowd here, they had only opened a few minutes 
before the blast."
        Nick looked around. "Where was LaCroix?" he 
wondered. "And where 
was Claire?" Nick closed his eyes and stretched his 
mind out along the bond
between them. He could feel the anger that emanated 
from his master.
        "Trace," he said. "Can you take care of things 
here for a few 
minutes? I have something I need to check out." Before 
she could answer, 
Nick disappeared around the corner of the building.
        Looking around to make sure that no one could 
see, he took to the 
air, following his link to LaCroix. He found him 
outside a small brick 
house.
Landing nearby he made his way to Lucien and his 
hapless victim.
        "LaCroix!" Nick shouted. "He's a mortal. Let 
mortal justice take 
care of him."
        "Mortal justice did not protect Claire. He must 
pay the price." He 
turned to the younger vampire, his eyes glowing blood 
red. "What you require
of me is mercy, Nicholas," he growled. "and that is a 
quality I do not 
possess."
        Before Nick could reach him, LaCroix lifted 
James over his head and
flung him into the brick wall. In the space of a 
heartbeat Nick placed 
himself between the two men. Lucien rushed towards Nick 
and cast him aside.
        Grabbing James, LaCroix picked him up and 
carried him inside.

****************************************** ******

        Claire opened her eyes. She felt pain, but it 
was beginning to ease. It was
being replaced by another feeling, a hunger. This was 
like nothing she had
ever experienced. It was an all consuming need that 
must be fulfilled. She
sat up and looked around. Alma was standing next to the 
bed. "Where was
she?"
        Claire looked down at her tattered, bloody 
clothing. "An explosion!" she
thought. "There must have been an explosion. James had 
found her." She
tried to get up only to be stopped by Alma.
        "You are to stay here until LaCroix returns." 
Alma told her. 
"He will explain everything and see to your needs."
        "Lucien!" Claire said, "Where is he? Is he 
alright?"
Alma shrugged. "All I know is that you're supposed to 
stay here until he
gets back."
        The women's attention was drawn to a noise 
outside the house. 
The door to the room where they were swung open and 
LaCroix entered carrying
his helpless captive with him.
        "James." Claire breathed, her eyes turning 
gold.
        "Yes," LaCroix said, his face contorted in 
anger. "It is time for 
your first feed, my love. I have brought you what you 
require."
        "First feed?" Claire asked. Suddenly everything 
made sense. 
"You mean?"
        "I'm afraid its true. I had to bring you across 
to save you. The 
explosion would have killed you if I hadn't." Lucien 
told her, his eyes 
returning to normal. "I know it is not what we planned, 
but there was 
nothing else I could do. He robbed us of that choice." 
he said, throwing 
James to the floor.
        Claire looked down at him. Her hunger was 
almost beyond control. 
The smell of his blood filled the room. Claire got up 
off the bed and 
walked to where James lay. Looking at Lucien and then 
at James, she kneeled
on the floor, and baring her fangs, sunk them into his 
neck. Claire drank 
deeply as she struggled to satisfy her thirst. The 
memory of all James 
victims flooded her mind, she shrank in horror but her 
hunger drove her on.
        Nick entered the room and realized he was too 
late. 
        "Claire!" he shouted.
        Claire raised her head and looked up at him. 
"It was what he 
deserved." she said. "He had taken so many lives, even 
more than I suspected
and escaped justice. Those lives have been avenged and 
I am finally free of 
him."
        "But the explosion." Nick said.
        "Your suspect escaped. Just another unsolved 
act of terrorism." 
LaCroix suggested. "I'll dispose of this." he said, 
pointing to James' body.
"After all you have no murder case detective. There is 
no murderer."
        Nick looked puzzled. "Claire, she. . . "
        LaCroix smiled. "If you check the records 
detective, I'm sure you 
will find that Claire Brienne died three years ago, 
shortly after her 
husband was acquitted of murder."
        Nick looked at LaCroix and then at Claire. 
Frowning sadly, he 
turned and walked away.

****************************************** ******

        It was a warm night. The moon was full and cast 
its light on the 
couple standing at the rubble that was formerly "The 
Raven". The man bent 
and tossed a single white rose upon the wreckage. 
"Goodbye," he whispered. 
The couple shared a loving embrace and flew off into 
the night.

END