Date:         Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:07:20 PDT
Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories <FKFIC-L@psuvm.psu.edu>
From: Debbie Chilson <dlchilson@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      After-Thoughts
To: FKFIC-L@psuvm.psu.edu

                           After-Thoughts

                     a post LK Uncle senario by "Fleurette"


Disclaimer:  Don't even ask me why I did this!  I really couldn't tell
you.  This story is the first in about 8 to 10 that sprang to mind while
I was secluded in italy for 10 months.  I had no tv (except in Italian)
and my only solace was the fantasies I kept having about my favorite
vampires.  Those fantasies became what I like to call the "Italy
Stories."  This, if you like, is Italy story #1.

       Anyhow, lets get on with it!

                                Part I


     <You are my closest friend...>  The voice of the late Nicholas B.
Knight echoed in the mind of Lucien LaCroix.
     <If this is what friendship is about,> he thought, looking
distastefully at Nick's dead body, <I want nothing further to do with
it.>
     He would have left the loft earlier, had it not been for the sun
which had risen unbidden while the night's tragic events had unfolded.
The only thing for him to do now was bide his time until nightfall.
     LaCroix shifted his eyes from Nick to Natalie Lambert, who also lay
dead at his feet.  At one point, LaCroix had wished her dead.  She had
represented the ever-widening gulf between Nicholas and himself.  Well,
in the beginning she had.  But that was before he had come to know
her... before the change.
     They had all changed during the passing of their years in Toronto.
<Well, no.  Nicholas didn't change.  Not really.>
     But surely both Lucien LaCroix and Natalie Lambert had changed.
Somewhere, somehow in the past six years, Natalie had come to understand
and respect... perhaps even desire... the vampirism she sought to cure
in Nick.  LaCroix did not think she would have been afraid to come
across.  Looking down at her pale, cold body stiffening with death,
LaCroix silently admitted that if it had been up to him, she would not
be dead now.
     That, perhaps, was part of *his* change.  Because he had come to
respect the doctor and see the potential she possessed.  The greatest
evidence of change, however, was the stake he had driven through his
son's heart.
     <You are my closest friend...> again the words of the dead man
haunted him.
     <When did I become like him?  When did I allow my heart to soften?
To care?  I should have made him suffer with his guilt.  I shouldn't
have given in just because he called me "friend.">
     His "closest friend"... Yes, they had been close.  LaCroix's
relationship with Nick had severed the ties between the ancient vampire
and most of his other "children." In the end, even Janette was no longer
a part of his life.  Ironic, wasn't it, that it had been Janette's wish
to bring him across?  It should never have been that way.  Never.
     <No, it is time I washed my hands of Nicholas de Brabant once and
for all.  He was never anything but trouble to me.>
     Perhaps Janette had been right when she left Toronto to escape his
guilt-ridden quest for humanity.  Maybe LaCroix should have taken the
hint and left as well?  It would have been better that way.  Then he
would not have had to take Nick's life tonight.
     <But I thought I could bring him back into the fold.  Nicholas
would need me to help him if he ever tried to come back...>
     <... my closest friend...>
     <Yes, Nicholas... I was your friend.>  LaCroix told the phantom
voice.  <I aways tried to be a friend to you.  But what did you ever
give me besides grief?  Heartache, pain... You could have given me you
sister, but no!  It had to be grief.>
     Now, what kind of friendship was that?  <But, I do suppose... in
the name of his "friendship," I'll do what I can to fix this mess.>
     He figured that once night came, he could make a few "anonymous"
phone calls... an ambulance, the police... But not until he was far, far
away.
     <Maybe I'll come back for the funeral,>  he thought.  No, maybe
not.  He had a feeling that once he left Toronto it would be forever.
      He was hungry.  Nicholas had drained Natalie... and LaCroix did
not want Nick's blood.  Whatever guilt-infested disease that had tainted
Nick's blood might also infect him.  We couldn't have *that*, now could
we?
     LaCroix went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.  One
unopened bottle of cow's blood.  How disgusting!  LaCroix uncorked the
bottle and took a hesitant sip, wincing as he did so.  A second later he
spit the awful-tasting animal blood into the sink.
     As he put the bottle back into the refrigerator, a thought came to
him.  These people... these foolish mortals considered Nicholas a hero.
His reputation would be severely tarnished if they thought he was a
vampire... or if they assumed *he* thought he was a vampire.
     The newspaper headlines flashed before his eyes, allowing LaCroix a
momentary chuckle.
          HERO COP PLAYS VAMP, KILLS LOCAL ME
     <Film at 11,> he thought.  <No good for Nicholas, and definitely
not good for the rest of us, I suppose.  I guess I could clean house
before I go... make Nicholas *look* respectable.>
     He looked back at the two dead bodies on the floor.  It wasn't
going to be easy making *this* look good.

     "Damn you, Nicholas.  Damn you.  Even dead, you are a burden on
me."

                                 Finis!


**********************************************************************
With Love,   Fleurette, devoted Cousin                           *
* also: Immortal Beloved, Vaquera and aspiring Valentine  *
*  Co-founder: Chevaliers de la Croix  (KoC)                        *

*"There is God in you, Nicholas," LC, Sons of Belial          *
*********************************************************************