Title:       I, LaCroix
Author:      DCE aka ViciousGurl
Email:       geek-tastic AT gmx DOT com
Archive:     Nowhere without my written permission.
Disclaimers: This is a FK/HL xover. All the FK characters and concept 
             belong to TriStar, Inc. and the HL characters and 
             concept belong to Davis/Panzer Productions, Inc. No 
             infringement is intended. The rest of the cast and this 
             story are created and copyrighted by me. 
Notes:       Mindi and Dawn, my wonderful beta readers, thank you 
             kindly for volunteering :)
Feedback:    Always cherished

This story follows my previous one, 'The Doors', which along with the 
rest of the stories in this series can be found on my web page at 
http://www.dlc.fi/~dce/fic/index.html


I, LACROIX
by DCE aka ViciousGurl
<geek-tastic AT gmx DOT com>
(c)2001



"I have been one acquainted with the night...."

That is arguably the best line Frost ever wrote. We are acquainted
with the night. Intimately. You may keep your blistering sun and the
delusions of safety brought on by the daylight. The night belongs to
us, to a race that dare not speak its name.

We are a motley crew, as diverse as the humanity from which we spring,
yet united in our secrets.


I have loved few creatures during my lifetime but I do love my
children, troublesome as they may sometimes be. They are each and
every one exceptional and irreplaceable.

My son, the original rebel without a clue. He has loved me and hated
me in equal measure. He has depended on me and he has despised me. He
has despised himself for his feelings for me. He craves for
independence, for 'freedom'. For death. For that is what his foolish
quest for mortality is ultimately all about. A pretty thanks for the
eternal life I gave him. A slap across a father's face.

Children. One does what one can for them but too often a parent's lot
is ungratefulness and disobedience. Still, a father cannot turn his
back on his children. He loves and cares for them, protects them, even
when they bemoan against that protection, in hopes that one day they
shall see the error of their ways.

It is my hope that as Nicholas has taken over the parental duties as
far as Natalie's education is concerned he will learn the necessity
for guidance and discipline. I also hope Natalie won't blindly follow
her heart as far as Nicholas is concerned. I hope they will butt heads
like two stubborn bulls over their lessons. Let the boy taste his own
medicine, for a change. If nothing else, this new duty he's taken on
will certainly teach him responsibility, responsibility towards his
own kind, something he sadly seems to lack at times.

Natalie, then, is an altogether different story. My youngest daughter
will surely provide a challenge in the future. As strong-willed as her
siblings she is truly the product of her own time - strong and
independent, to a fault. I honestly believe that in time she shall
embrace her new nature and revel in her own power. However, before she
is ready to truly shine I foresee trials ahead; I suspect her
rebelling may even exceed that of my errant son's. Obedience, I fear,
will be one of the hardest lessons for her to learn. But learn it she
shall. All in good time.

As for my eldest daughter, I am aware there are those who think I have
neglected her in favour of my son. Personally, I beg to differ.

Janette has always been comfortable with whom and what she is, and
thus our relationship has been far more harmonious than the one
between Nicholas and myself. However, simply because Janette hasn't
felt the need for endless grand gestures of defiance doesn't mean she
has meekly taken everything I have put on her plate. Oh, no. Janette
is as formidable in her anger and displeasure as she is in everything
else she does, but she is wise enough to choose her battles.
Something, I'm afraid, her brother still hasn't learned.

On account of appearing, on the surface, at least, to be the calmest
of my children Janette has often been called my 'dutiful daughter'.
The phrase should be a compliment but, bizarrely enough, it is
sometimes used with mocking disdain.

I'm not certain when exactly it happened, but sometime while I wasn't
paying attention 'duty' became just another dirty, four letter word.
'Duty' used to be an honorable word, a strong and respected word. A
man's measure could be determined by how diligently he executed his
duty. I feel the modern world would do well to restore the value of
that little word; after all, we all have a duty towards someone or
something whether we like to admit to it or not. And no matter in what
era we live, children always have a duty towards their parents.

So, yes, Janette is a dutiful daughter. She is that, and infinitely
more. She has made me proud. What more could a father ask for?


Different as my children and I are, we are all alike in one important
aspect: we are all creatures of the night. My beloved wife, on the
other hand, is of an altogether different breed.


"And all that's best of dark and bright..."

That is Antonia, perfectly described by Byron. She is the light in my
darkness, I am the shadow cast by her flame.

We are the same, and nothing alike, all at once.

She toys with me, laughs at me, torments me. She reminds me of what
utter fools love makes of us. She soothes me, laughs with me, comforts
me. She makes me glad to be a fool. She breaks apart in my arms, she
restores me. She dissolves my resistance, and she fortifies me. She
burns me with her touch, intoxicates me with her blood; she cries out
my name in the darkness of the night, in the light of the day. She
blends the sun and the moon in her eyes and casts the stars in my way.
And her motto, the maxim of her race, has been forever branded upon my
very soul: There can be only one.


As for myself -- I am Lucien LaCroix. 

I have sailed the seven seas and seen the five continents of the
world. I have witnessed the rise and fall of empires. I have helped
install rulers, and I have brought them down. I have savoured the
taste of the greatest philosophers of our history, drunk the blood of
the finest artists the world has ever known.

Yet, for all I have seen and done, my greatest achievement thus far
has been my own survival throughout the ages.

The first rule of my kind - survival. No matter what.


We are a motley crew, a small band of outsiders, but we are here to
stay. We will survive in the night for we are acquainted with it.
Intimately. You may keep your scorching sun and the delusions of
safety brought on by the light of day. The night belongs to us, to a
race that dare not speak its name.


Come to us. We are waiting for you.



- the end -