The Return of Nicholas Collins

A solid rock of cold fear filled his stomach and dropped to his feet when he quickly glanced to his right and saw Rachel's upper body sliding over the side of the cliff. In that second his plan to help Chad, changed. There was no way he could let the true love of his life fall into the gorge, along with Roni, and die.

Nicholas slung his head and dislodged the bloody tears that stung his eyes and blurred his sight. He lunged forward as Chad tried to stab him. With blood soaked hands, he grabbed the stake and tore it from Chad's grip, tossing it into the darkness of the surrounding woods.

Chad's fear radiated from his body and fed the beast inside Nicholas. It gave him the strength and ability to reach out and snag the frighten man by his throat and lift him off his feet. Through the rage, he still had it in him for one last kindness to the boy that he once loved. "I love you, Chad, and I'm sorry. I hope your mother is there to greet you with open arms." Then, with a sharp jerk, he snapped Chad's neck and let him drop to the ground.

He didn't have time to think about what he'd done. He streaked toward the cliff's edge and caught Rachel by her ankles. His grip firm, he pulled her backwards carefully until every last inch of her body was on solid ground. He tried to take the rope away from her, but she refused to let go.

"Let go of the rope, Rachel." Her fingers showed no signs of releasing it. "I promise you that nothing will happen to Roni. Just let go of the rope."

When she didn't respond he tried to jerk the rope from her grip, but her hands were locked around it. "I can't save her, Rachel, if you don't trust me and let go of the rope."

While he held the rope with one hand, he used the other to gently pry away her fingers one by one. As he loosened each digit, the proof of just how desperate a grip she'd had, in her effort to save Roni, was revealed.

The skin on her palms and fingers was torn. Her blood soaked the rope and dripped onto the ground. When the air began to blow across the ripped flesh it brought Rachel out of the deep state of shock and concentration she'd been under with an angry hiss.

Hand over hand, Nicholas walked toward the edge of the cliff and began to pull the crying young girl to safety. The closer to the top that the cross came, the more he had to rely on his mental strength because the smell of fear was strong, stronger than the fear that Chad had emitted before he'd grabbed him by the throat.

What made it worse for Nicholas was her pain. Both emotional and physical. It seeped out of her pores like rain. To the beast in him she was the proverbial wounded animal that needed to be hunted down and killed.

But somewhere along the way, in the short period of time that he'd known her, she'd found a way into his heart. What he felt sparked a fierce protectiveness inside, just as it did when Chad had been a young, sweet boy.

When the intersected pieces of wood came within reach, he bent down and wrapped his hands around the horizontal branch, pulling the cross above the rim of the cliff and laid it flat on the ground with care. Rachel came to her knees beside Roni, fumbling with the rope as she used her raw fingers to try and untie her.

Rachel looked up at Nicholas, her eyes full of pain, and pleaded, "Please, help me get her off this cross."

Efficient as a knife, he quickly snapped the rope into pieces with his hands and soon had Roni's arms and legs free. Together, Rachel and him removed the ropes that held the girl's chest and hips to the wood. No sooner had the restraints dropped away, Rachel pulled her into her arms and cried.

Quietly, Nicholas retreated to give the ladies some privacy and went in the direction of Chad's body. Slowly he moved around him then knelt down. Lifeless eyes stared back at him from and un-natural pose. His hand shook as he lowered his eyelids into place.

Tears streaked down his cheek and he wondered how different things might have turned out if he had acted upon a small boy's heartfelt wish to save his mom. But deep within he knew what would have happen, though. Susan would have hated him for forcing her to become like him and, in the end, he would have still lost both of them.

A lock of hair lay on Chad's forehead and Nicholas brushed it back with his fingers. Then, just as he had done when Chad was a little boy and had nightmares, he scooped him into his arms and held him close, rocking him one last time.

***

"It's over, Veronica." She used the teenager's formal name to get her attention. "You're safe now, I promise." Rachel's voice was quiet, but still trembled from how close she came to losing the young girl. She stroked a soothing hand along the back of her head. "It's really over, sweetie. He can't hurt you ever again."

Roni burrowed closer and Rachel held on tighter as her tears soaked her dirt and blood stained shirt. She kissed the top of her sweaty head and then looked to where Nicholas stood, his eyes downcast, staring at Chad's body. In all honesty, she wasn't sorry that he was dead, but she was terribly sorry that Nicholas had to be the one to kill him.

Rachel wished that she could take his pain away, but she knew that he wouldn't let her do that for him. As she looked down at Roni, heard her pain filled sops, she knew that she could at least help one person forget this horrible night.

"Veronica, sweetie, listen to me." Her cries softened in their intensity. "Veronica, I can help you. I can make this night disappear for you. I can make you forget, sweetie. Will you let me help you, please?"

Roni's sniffles grew fainter and further apart, but her body still quaked from the shock of the night's events.

"Rachel, will, will I forget you if you try and, you know, erase my memories?"

Tears filled Rachel's eyes and she kissed the girl's head once more. "Oh, honey, no. You won't forget me." A sudden thought came to her and she voiced it. "That is, unless you want to forget me."

"No, I don't ever want that to happen."

Rachel hadn't realized that she'd been holding her breath until Roni answered, then it came out in a whoosh. "I'm so happy to hear you say that."

"I know that you're tired and hurting, Roni, and I don't want you to think I'm rushing you, but the sooner you let me do this for you, the better."

Breath after breath shuttered out of Roni before she shifted in Rachel's arms. "What, what do I have to do, Rachel? What do I need to do to get this shit out of my head?"

One thing that Rachel needed was more light. A scan of the area around her found nothing until she looked to where Nicholas knelt on the ground by Chad's body. Quietly she walked over and picked the flashlight up. Her heart broke for him as she heard what sounded like Nicholas telling a bedtime story.

She wiped a tear from her cheek and returned to Roni's side. A click of the switch powered on the bright light and momentarily blinded her. The beam lit the area more than enough for what she had to do.

"Okay, Roni, I want you to think of something pleasant. Something that makes you happy, like a fond memory of your parents or a favorite toy from when you were a child." Rachel watched Roni's tired eyes drift shut and the play of emotions on her strained face. Whatever she'd found to use worked wonders. The tension seemed to drain from her completely.

"Now that you have it in mind, keep your thoughts on it and look into my eyes." Rachel saw the hesitation and the shy glance. She reached out and held Roni's hand. "This is easy, Roni, very simple, and I promise you won't feel any pain."

"I know, I know," she said, and then her nervousness left her and her gaze locked onto Rachel's like a lifeline.

"Just look into my eyes, Roni. Think of them as a doorway that leads you back to your happy memory. Let my voice show you a path and take you right to that memory." Rachel monitored everything about Roni from her heart, to her lungs and to her mind as she calmly slipped into Roni's thoughts.

The memory that Roni used, shocked and amazed Rachel. It was fresh and very recent, filled with so much sunlight that Rachel reacted instinctively for a second and made a move to run for cover. A photograph could never recreate the true colors that were in Roni's thoughts.

Everywhere in the memory splashes of green and blue filled the vision. A pallet of yellow, red and purples popped here and there in forms of flowers, butterflies and birds. It was breathtaking and Rachel wanted to get lost within it.

Then, as Roni allowed herself to be pulled deeper into the memory and looked around, Rachel caught sight of a form hidden in the foliage and knew exactly who it was. "Okay, sweetie, this is so beautiful, no wonder you thought of it. The water certainly has a calming effect, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. I liked it because it was so quiet. No one around, and it didn't reminded me of the city."

Roni's reply was slow and kind of mono toned, which is what Rachel wanted to hear. It meant that Roni was ready to let her erase from her mind what had happen.

While Roni enjoyed the peacefulness of the moment, Rachel worked quickly, but not quick enough. To extract each memory meant she had to view it and live it. More and more, she became enraged by what Chad had put this sweet girl through. If he hadn't of been already dead, she would have made it her main priority to see him killed.

"You did wonderful, Roni, you really did." At her praise, Roni's happiness seemed to brighter. "Now, you need some rest, so just lay back and close your eyes. I promise that you'll have pleasant dreams to greet you."

She lay back with her hand tucked under her head. Rachel took the flashlight and lay it next to Roni just incase she woke any time soon. When she turned away she heard the girl's tired voice. "Thank you, Rachel, for everything."

She bent down and kissed Roni's warm cheek and brushed a hand over her hair. Motherly instincts ran wild inside her. An emotion that she never thought she would feel again. It was just as strong now as it had been all those years ago when she had been pregnant with Dunn's child.

The stars shined bright above as she tilted her head up to them. Back in the times when she'd been a little girl, people had called the stars and planets the heavens. She'd always thought that heaven was beyond the visible, and that was where she sent her thoughts to now. Thank you. I don't know if it was an accident or not that Roni came into my life, but thank you.

A last glance at Roni showed her that that she was in a deep sleep. Rachel came to her feet and turned her eyes toward Nicholas. He still held on to Chad's body but he was no longer talking. Her steps light on the ground, she went to him. "Nicholas, is there anything I can do, someway that I can help you?"

When he lifted his gaze to her, she was surprised at how deeply haunted he looked. He didn't say a single word to her, just shook his head and then looked away.

Rachel sat near him and remained silent. Nicholas' misery pounded like a sledgehammer on her mind, her heart. She wanted to touch him, hold him and pour her love into him and help him heal. She didn't do any of those things. She was afraid that if she offered one word of comfort, or touch that he would blast her with hateful words, blaming her as the reason he had to kill Chad.

After a while, Nicholas placed Chad's body on the ground and then sat there, drawing one knee to his chest as he stared toward the cliffs edge. "How's Roni doing?" His voice soft, but rough as he spoke.

"I think she's okay in general. Her body aches and I saw bruises forming on her face and arms. She has cuts from the rope on her wrists, along with some other gashes in various spots." She peeked out of the corner of her eye and saw him grimace.

His gaze moved to the sleeping girl and then down to Chad in front of him. "Do you think she'll heal, not just physically, but also mentally, from what he's done to her?"

"Mentally, I think so. She let me go in and block her ability to remember everything that happen tonight with him." She sighed and turned her head toward him. "As for physically, that will take time. I thought about offering to use my saliva on her cuts to help them heal quicker but I didn't want to push her. She's had enough trauma for one night."

He nodded. "I think that was a wise decision. What's the story I'm to tell her if she asks me how she got hurt?"

Rachel pulled a long blade of grass from the dirt and twisted it between her fingers. "Before Chad grabbed her this evening, she'd been near a stream not far from the house. So I planted a memory in her mind of her falling down on her way back."

"Okay." The muscles worked hard along his jaw line. There was a battle brewing inside him. The emotions that came at her from him were so mixed that she couldn't decipher even one of them. He violently jerked the leather string free that at the beginning of the night had held his hair in a neat pony tail. He raked his fingers from front to back through his hair, over and over and then retied it.

"We need to get her back to the house and into a soft bed."

He stood and then offered his hand to her. She hesitated and then placed her hand in his. "What are we going to do with him?"

Nicholas' face turned to granite and his eyes glowed like coals. "For all the pain and heartache he's caused, I should leave him out here to rot." He circled Chad's body and Rachel thought for just a minute that he was going to kick it.

"As much as I would like to leave him here, I can't. I just can't do it, Rachel." He crouched down, his hands dangling between his legs. He then looked at her. "He turned out to be an evil man, but once, he use to be a boy who I loved like a son. I can't leave that boy here. He needs to be beside his mother."

Nicholas started to pick him up, but Rachel stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Do you want me to take him back for you?"

He placed his hand over hers and then quickly dropped it. "Thank you, but I have to do this myself." He looked over at Roni. "Do you need me to carry her back to the house?"

"No, she feels light as a feather to me."

Nicholas gave her a weak smile before he bent and lifted Chad's body over his shoulder. Rachel hurried to Roni's sleeping body and gently placed her in the same position on her own shoulder. As she followed him along the path, dodging tree limbs and thorny bushes, she was extra glad that she'd gave Roni a mental suggestion to help her sleep.

At the house, Nicholas got on the phone while she tried to clean up a still sleeping Roni before putting her to bed. When she came outside she found Nicholas talking to two men. Both of them had slicked back dark hair and built like brick houses. As he introduced her, she felt both of them raking their eyes over her, but it didn't feel like they were admiring her form, she felt more like a specimen under a microscope.

She politely excused herself and cleaned up before she grabbed a plastic bag from the refrigerator and poured herself a drink. Weary, she sank down onto one of the kitchen chairs and snuggled into her robe.

Nicholas came in the room sometime later, his hair combed back, no shirt and in a fresh pair of jeans that were unbuttoned. Water droplets still beaded his skin and as one ran down his spine she found it hard not to go to him and catch it with her tongue, but she knew that now wasn't the time for anything like that.

Glass in hand, he pulled out a chair and turned it to face her. Instead of staring at her he seemed to stare right through her. She'd seen many sides of Nicholas during the early years, but this was a first and unlike the other times before, this time she didn't know what to do.

Robotic like he lifted the drink to his lips and swallowed. Rachel was thankful when she saw him flinch at the cold bland taste of the blood. It showed her that he wasn't totally spaced out as he appeared.

"Nicholas?" She said his name as she played with the belt on her robe. No response came from him that he'd even heard her. This is ridiculous, she thought, then leaned forward and touched his chest. He didn't even blink.

"Time for drastic measures," she murmured, then ran her hand straight down past his belly till her hand cupped his crotch. When she gently squeezed him, he squirmed in his chair. Rachel sat back and smiled. "Now that I have your attention, who were those two FBI wannabes outside?"

He sat up straighter in his chair. "Sorry about that," he said, then took another drink. "Those two wannabes as you call them really are FBI agents."

"They certainly look the part." She rest her ankle on her knee and began to massage her foot. "How do you know them?"

Nicholas reached out and removed her hands from her foot before taking it into his hand and placing it into his lap. "I've known Greg and Brian since they were in college years ago. They use to work for me until they graduated."

Rachel was in heaven. She moaned as he worked his fingers into the sole of her foot. He seemed to know all the right places to apply pressure and which not to. She struggled to pull her mind off of her pleasure and concentrate on what he was saying. "So, why did you call them, won't that get us too much attention from the authorities?"

The eyebrow over his right eye raised. "Why do you think I called them? Besides being friends, we have a working relationship as well these days. When anyone of us needs help we don't hesitate to call the other."

Her elbow on the table, she propped her head on her hand. "So, you got on the phone and called FBI headquarters asking for Greg and Brian and poof, they're here in minutes." She chuckled, "What are they time travelers?"

He switched to the other foot and moved the pad of his thumb in small circles on the ball of her foot. Rachel was ready to melt into a pool at Nicholas' feet.

"No smartass, they're not time travelers." She groaned as he stroked the arch of her foot. "Do you think I'm stupid enough to let the local police try and catch a killer like that? No. So I called them and asked if they could help when I knew that Chad was the one and that several attempts had been made on your life already. I wasn't taking anymore chances with losing you."

Sadness filled his eyes before he closed them, shutting her out. There was one thing that she had to know. She thought about waiting to ask Nicholas, but she needed to know now. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew who the killer was? How long had you known it was Chad?"

"Do you remember the night that I used John's office to make phone calls and check e-mail?"

She nodded as she pulled her robe tighter around her.

Nicholas repeatedly ran his hands up and down his thighs, and then dug his fingers in. "That detective who was investigating the other murders, Randal Sparks, found a print or something and they ran it threw their computers. When they found a match Detective Sparks faxed over a picture and that's when I found out it was Chad?"

He drank the last of the blood in his glass then surged to his feet. Standing behind the chair, his knuckles turned white as he gripped it. Rachel had no idea how or why the wood didn't splinter into a thousand pieces.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to believe it myself." The wood creaked as he twisted his hands back and forth. "I didn't want to believe that the only part of Susan that was still alive, was capable of killing and doing it so viciously."

He took their empty glasses to the sink and washed them. "I wanted to help him, Rach." He turned around, a glass in one hand, a dish towel in the other. "It didn't enter my mind to kill him. Even when he told me that he was the one who shot you, beneath my reaction to tear him apart, I still didn't want to kill him."

"Wait a minute, Chad was the one who shot me?"