Wednesday, November 8, 1995


FISHY MESSAGES
by Selma McCrory

Time: 3:30am EST
Place: Nick's loft

It was empty.

Selma looked around Nick's loft, now restored from its bricked state, and carefully checked again. Finding no one around, she set the shopping bag down and took several things out of it. One was a source of pure water. The other items were a bag containing a fish, a fish bowl, and a tape player with a tape inserted.

She carefully set the fish up in the bowl, and was setting the tape player up when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped, and looked around to find Vince standing there.

"Don't *do* that!" she hissed at him.

"I came to see if you needed any help," he replied, just as quietly. "I was watching this place anyway, and saw you come in."

"I don't need help. I'm setting Spikey here in his little home. And I've got this recording of his owner to keep him company."

Vince kneeled down with her as she plugged the tape recorder in. "And how about keeping me company?"

"I think we've had the mortal-vampire sex discussion before."

"Except you keep being irrational about it!"

"Me? Irrational? Mortal, more like!"

The vampire frowned, and ran his fingers over her neck. "It doesn't hurt *that* much."

"Never mind. I don't have time for this," Selma said, catching Vince by surprise and knocking him senseless. Proud of her accomplishment, she turned the tape on. She giggled as the tape of LaCroix doing baby-talk to his goldfish sounded through the loft.

Too bad that wasn't LaCroix's goldfish.

"Well, at least I've left a brick," she said, looking back at the stunned Vince.


HOOK, LINE, AND SUCKERS
by Sharon Himmanen

Time: Early morning
Place: The Raven

On her way out of the hospital, Sharon ran into Natalie.

"How are they?" she asked, her brow wrinkled with concern.

Sharon turned to look back toward the ward that contained the wacked-out NatPackers. "Well," she began, somewhat helplessly. "The situation seems a bit more under control. Jennie's out like a light, and the rest of them are restrained."

Natalie nodded. "Good," she said, holding up a small kit with vials and slides. "I'm going to draw some blood samples of my own."

"You may want to get Tracy to give you a hand," Sharon cautioned. "They may be restrained, but . . ." She let her voice trail of knowingly.

"Got it," Natalie said. "Where are you off to?"

"The Raven. I've got to do something about Amy," she said.

"Good. I think GT and Kim are still there. They can help." Then Natalie paused and looked carefully at Sharon. "You aren't showing any of the same psychosis as the others, although I did hear that you, ah, called LaCroix a lot of . . . interesting . . . names earlier this evening."

Sharon looked away and shuffled nervously. "Yeah," she sighed. "I'm not quite sure what got into me. Could have been some minimal effect of whatever's causing this, could have been me being stupid, could have been me taking advantage of the fact that everyone else was going a little crazy so I could get some stuff off my chest," she shrugged and smiled. "Guess we'll never know."

"Well, just in case, let me get a sample from you while I have you," she said. "Sleeve."

Once Natalie had the sample in hand and labelled properly, Sharon ducked out and headed back toward the Raven, wondering just how in the world she was going to undo whatever had been done to Amy Hull.

*****

She arrived just in time to see a flock of people, Ravenettes and Cousins and Die-Hards swarming from the Raven. Ducking inside quickly, she saw Amy, impeccably coiffed and dressed, holding court in the corner, engaged in a heated discussion with Susan Garrett. GT and Kim were nowhere to be seen.

Hoping to enlist Susan's aid in attempting to unhoodoo Amy, Sharon began heading over in their direction, only to be stopped short by Nick, who placed a hand gently on her arm. His face was concerned.

"I need to ask you a few questions," he said.

"I don't have time," Sharon said shortly, attempting to push past him.

"It's important," he insisted, then took her arm and led her, more or less gently, over to a table near the wall. "Some of my . . . some of the Knighties are saying you guys stole money from the de Brabant Foundation. I want to know if that's true."

Sharon swallowed and looked away. "I just got back from the hospital," she said, turning to look back at him accusingly. "Everyone's fine. In case you're interested."

His eyes narrowed in irritation. "I know," he said evenly. "I called Tracy a few minutes before you got here."

Sharon leaned back in the chair, and glanced over at Susan and Amy. "Look," Nick continued, pressing his palms together in front of him. "I just want to know the truth," he said. "I'm not sure how you did it, but you took money from the main accounts of the de Brabant Foundation," he said. "I have the records to prove it."

"That is absolutely, unequivocably, irrevocably and redundantly wrong, wrong, wrong!" boomed a suspiciously accented voice from somewhere nearby. Both Sharon and Nick looked around in confusion for a second, then saw a white hand waving expectantly from a darkened corner a few feet away. They rose, and joined a small crowd of Knighties who had also moved in that direction. "You couldn't possibly have *any* records whatsoever because we didn't take any money from the de Brabant Foundation proper!" MaryGT continued, oblivious to Sharon's attempts to silence her. "We'd never be stupid enough to leave a trail *that* obvious to follow. We *are* NatPackers, after all." Mary paused and looked about wildly. "Now, if you were to take a close look at the interest accounts, and track them to a rather large petty cash account we set up using that asset, well then," she said, laughing conspiritorally, "then you'd have us *red-handed*."

Sharon groaned, and rubbed her forehead. Then looked up quickly at a triumphant shout from several Knighties.

"I *knew* it!" Perri exclaimed excitedly. "I knew one of them would fall for that trick!"

Amy Denton chuckled. "We *knew* you'd never tolerate misinformation, being NatPackers."

"Or any underestimation of your abilities," Perri added. "And you fell for it. Hook, line and . . . "

"SUCKERS!" all the Knighties shouted, feeling very pleased with themselves, stamping their feet and clapping their hands.

Sharon was about to protest loudly, reminding them that most of the NatPack was certainly not at their best at the moment, when she saw Amy move toward them purposefully. She quickly moved over to GT, hauling her up to her feet and finding herself encased in a bear hug that nearly took her breath away, she began pushing and shoving the giggling Aussie toward the sound booth.

"OUT!" Amy bellowed, just a hint of a french accent coloring her voice. "All of you. NOW!" The noisy group became abruptly silent. "Except," Amy said, her voice dropping to a low purr, "for you, Nicolah."

Nick opened his mouth, then quickly closed it again as about fifteen pairs of hands, all belonging to various Knighties, suddenly clutched at various parts of his anatomy and Nick was borne aloft to another part of the club club, where the Knighties surrounded him protectively.

*****

Sharon stuffed GT into the broadcasting booth, where she immediately gathered Kim up into a stealth hug that caused the poor woman to squawk loudly. "Kimberly!" GT shouted. "It's *so* good to see you! I'm so glad you've joined us. You have exceptional taste!"

"Shhh!" Sharon said, putting her hands on GT's arm. "I was kind of hoping that stuff would have worn off by now!" she said. "Maybe you should've gone to the hospital!"

"Nonsense!" GT assured her. "I'm always like this. Full of exuberant good cheer. Besides, I spend most of my life in hospital. I'm here to have *fun*!"

Kim glanced out the booth's window. "Hey, it looks like everyone's leaving," she observed.

Just then Susan entered the broadcast booth, closing the door hastily. "People are clearing out," she said. Then she glared at Sharon. "I don't care *how* you do it, but get her out of here!" Susan punctuated those last words by jabbing her finger in the air in Amy's general direction. Sharon couldn't remember ever seeing Susan so aggitated. "I've tried everything I can think of. You're NatPackers. Do something about her, please!" There was a slight note of desperation in Susan's voice.

Sharon nodded, glancing over at GT. "As soon as the club clears out," she said. "Leave us alone with her." Susan narrowed her eyes suspiciously at that, but Sharon continued to stare calmly back at her. Finaly Susan nodded. "But I won't be far. And *don't* get any ideas!"

All three NatPackers tried to look innocent, GT and Kim succeeding slightly more than Sharon who could never quite pull that off anyway even when she *was* innocent, then Susan turned on her heel and left the booth.


LIGHTS, CAMERA, INHALERS
by Sharon Himmanen
(with input from Jennie Hayes and Amy Hull)

Time: Early morning
Place: The Raven

"The key here," GT said, suddenly lucid, "Is to confront Amy with all the things that make her *not* Janette."

Sharon looked thoughtfully at her for a moment. "That's good," she said. "But what? She's *absolutely* convinced she's Janette."

"What does Amy have that Janette wouldn't?" Kim asked.

The three women looked at one another for several moments, then GT's face lit up. She snapped her fingers and crowed, "Allergies! Vampires don't have allergies!"

"But Amy has a *slew* of them! Even she's not sure exactly what she's allergic to," Sharon added. "Smoke is a big one. GT, I think the urge to have a cigarette is going to strike you any minute now," she said, looking at GT pointedly.

"I suppose I could make the sacrifice, even though I've given it up. This *is* for medicinal purposes, after all."

"Good," Sharon said. "What else?"

"Dairy products?" Kim asked. "Lots of people are allergic to dairy products."

"OK, we can try to get some milk or something into her, but cheese would be better. Something tells me I don't want to try to force feed Amy when she thinks she's Janette. Maybe use that as a last resort or something."

"And petrol, or something," GT said.

"Motor oil. Jennie mentioned that to me once."

They quickly made plans to gather the necessary materials. "OK," Sharon said after a few moments. "Here's the plan. I'd rather not hit her with the allergies. We don't want to hurt her. We'll try the direct approach, then the phone bills, and if neither of those work, we go to plan C."

They scattered quickly, with plans to meet at the bar where Amy was sitting and drinking a glass of liquid that Sharon noted looked suspiciously like blood.

*****

Why is it I always end up with the dirty jobs? she asked herself as she walked carefully over to where Amy was now seated, a glass of red liquid sitting on the bar in front of her. Since Amy, thinking she was Janette, had gotten that drink for herself, Sharon had a pretty bad feeling as to exactly what type of liquid that glass contained. She'd need to find some way to dump that, at first opportunity, even though she'd seen Amy take several sips.

"Amy?" Sharon said, moving to stand next to Amy, facing her. Very quickly, not with vampiric reflexes certainly, but fast enough, Amy's hand shot out and grabbed the fingers of Sharon's right hand. With a sharp twist she bent them painfully backward and held Sharon there tightly.

"Ow!" Sharon said, wincing and bending backward to relieve some of the pull on her bones, muscles and tendons. "Amy! Take it easy!"

Amy simply responded by pulling even harder. "Call me *that name* again," she said in a soft voice, picking up her drink with her free hand, "and I'll tear your throat out." When she moved to take a sip from the glass, Sharon acted quickly, pushing herself forward and ignoring the pain. Caught only slightly off balance, Sharon still managed enough momentum to cause Amy to loosen her grip on the glass and the contents tumbled down the front of her very expensive dress.

"You idiot!" Amy screamed, giving Sharon such a rough shove that she was propelled backward and landed quite hard on the floor. While Amy brushed frantically at her dress and bellowed orders at Kim, MaryGT loomed over Sharon. "How's the weather down there?" she called out through cupped hands.

Wincing, Sharon scrambled to her feet, deciding that plan A had ben a very bad idea.

"Get me another drink," Amy demanded of Kim, then tossed a glare over at Sharon. "And keep *that* away from me!" she added.

GT reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, getting one ready for plan C. Amy saw her, and rapidly snapped her fingers. "No smoking," she exclaimed haughtily. "Give!" Sharon rolled her eyes, then quickly grabbed the pack from GT. "Today!" Amy snapped.

"The phone bills," Sharon added. reaching into her pocket and removing the AT&T bills she'd removed from the secret compartment in Amy's purse earlier in the day.

With an exasperated sigh, Amy reached to take the pack of cigarettes from Sharon's hands, then turned to glare at Kim as she took her time behind the bar getting Amy another drink. She was taking the opportunity to get a wineglass full of milk and red food dye ready. It didn't really look like blood, but hopefully Amy would be reacting to the other allergens too badly to notice.

"Here, I'll do it myself. Even I don't have time to wait all day for good help!" Amy said acerbically. At that point Sharon thrust the phone bills into her hands. "What's this?" Amy demanded, shuffling through the bills quickly. "That's *all*?" she asked, with disdain, looking at the total of each bill before tossing each one so that it floated through the air and landed on the floor at their feet. "Don't waste my time with these trivial matters. Send them to the accountant where they belong!"

Giving up, Sharon just looked at the other two. "Plan C," she said in defeat. "Get the inhalers ready."

Amy snapped her fingers again. "Out of my club!" she ordered, snatching the pack of cigarettes from Sharon's hands. Wordlessly, Sharon handed her the pack of matches, just as GT walked up beside her, talking a long drag from the cigarette. There was a look of complete satisfaction on her face, as she exhaled, in Amy's direction.

For her part, Amy was contemplating the pack of cigarettes, and possibly thinking about giving this another try, when the smoke from GT's hit her directly in the face, making her reflexively wrinkle her nose in disgust.

Blindly she reached for her drink, and Kim thrust the wineglass of milk into her hands. She took several long gulps before gasping in disgust and dropping the glass, again spilling the liquid down the front of her dress. Sharon took that opportunity to pull out a gasoline and motor oil soaked rag from her pocket which she used to wipe down the front of Amy's ruined dress.

The results were quite dramatic. Already wheezing and coughing, the combined effects of the gasoline and oil and the milk made her all but collapse onto the floor. A rash began to appear on some of the exposed parts of her skin. Sharon and GT managed to catch her as she went down and eased her gently onto the floor.

Amy then found herself staring into three inhalers that were suddenly thrust into her face by the gathered NatPackers. Gratefully, she grabbed the nearest one and took several large puffs. Then she sat there, huddled and gasping for breath and trying not to scratch, all at the same time.

"Amy?" Sharon asked, tentatively, moving her hands out of the way quickly, just in case.

Amy nodded, trying to breath deeply. "Benedryl," she managed to gasp out after a moment or two.

"Benedryl," Sharon said, looking to GT. The doctor reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pack of anti-histamines while Kim brought Amy a glass of water.

"Off!" Amy then croaked, pulling and tugging at what had once been a beautiful dress. "I want this off!" she said, just as the fabric began to tear. Hastily, Sharon pulled her sweater off and handed it to Amy who was busily tossing the ruined dress aside. GT handed her a long overcoat.

"Welcome back. Do you know where you are and what you've been doing for the last couple of days?" she asked, grinning mischievously.

"Oh, my goodness..."

Amy paused, her eyes growing wide. "Oh, dear... Oh, I didn't reall...oh, my, I did...oh, dear...I don't think I want to talk about this."

*****

They sat at a table. GT and Sharon were enjoying a bottle of 25 year old scotch, while Amy continued to drink water, and Kim was indulging in her favorite drink. They'd decided that Amy probably didn't need to go to the hospital, but Sharon and GT were keeping a close eye on her all the same.

"We've got the Raven," GT said. The others smiled, looking around at the club. At that, their smiles faded as they took in the aftermath of the evenings events, and the effects they had had on the club.

"You know," Sharon began.

"This place is a mess!" Kim finished.

"And we'll get it straightened up just in time for someone else to come in and take it," Amy added. "I'm *not* doing the dirty work for the other affiliations."

"I think you did enough as Janette," Sharon added, teasingly.

"I suppose it's enough that we can say it was ours for a few minutes."

"I suppose, but we don't really need to have it. Let the others wear themselves out, fighting for it. It keeps them busy and out of trouble," Sharon observed. "And they obviously need it as some sort of validation, or status symbol. It's kind of sad, really, when you stop to think about it."

With that, the foursome got up, gathered their stuff together, and headed out of the club, turning out the lights as they left.

Of course, Sharon and GT took the bottle of scotch with them.


IS IT AN EMERGENCY YET? (Part 1)
Or: Lana Makes a Call

by Lana G. Soward

Time: Early-afternoon
Place: DH HQ

By early-afternoon, it was confirmed. Nichole was missing. She'd only arrived yesterday, barely in time for the party. Several people had seen her there, but no one saw her leave.

Helen and Ariel had agreed to postpone their sightseeing expedition to call the hospitals and police stations. Lana had commandeered another phone to place a call to Nick. He'd promised to put an APB out on her and he said he would stop by tonight and pick up a picture if they could find one.

The other Die-hards scattered, to continue to carry out their own plans that had been interrupted by Nichole's disappearance.

Lana watched the flurry of activity with a worried frown. She'd seen Nichole in a heated discussion with Sandra Gray and Laurie Fenster, but the next time she had glanced at them, Nichole was gone.

There had been little, if any, reaction from Natalie and the NatPack about Natalie's journal. This worried Lana more than if there had been an all-out assault. Judging from their actions last night at the party, anything was possible. Amy Hull kept trying to wrap herself around Nick for a good part of the night. And Nick wasn't happy about it, especially when he found out that Amy had been using his money to pay for a substitute for her job.

She'd enjoyed talking with Perri and Dawn last night, at least until Dawn had started talking to Duncan McLeod. She'd even liked meeting Nick, although had a really hard time looking him in the eye, knowing what Natalie had fantasized about doing to him. She kept having these mental flashes of him in one position or another. Not exactly condusive to a serious war discussion.

Well, that was last night, she thought. Today, we have a missing Die-Hard and a DieHard organizer who may be going around the bend. Dawn had insisted on going shopping. She didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with actions last night. Indeed, she told them that it was all in *their* imaginations.

There aren't enough of us to really cover the city to look for her, thought Lana. That in of itself would interrupt the plans that the others were following.

Sighing, Lana got up and put on her coat. Leaving HQ, she got into her car and headed downtown. She stopped by a library and went inside to the public telephones.

She pulled out her address book and her calling card. She flipped though the pages, until she found the phone number she was looking for. She dialed the number, remembering to make sure that it was changed to her calling card. Patiently, she waited until the party at the other end answered.

"Hello, Brenda? This is Lana. Lana Soward. You're still a cousin, right?"

Lana pulled the handset away from her head at the explosive, "OF COURSE!"

"Okay," she said quickly. "I just had to make sure. Look. I need a favor."


END PART SEVEN

[NatPack War5 Stories]