From: Forever Knight TV show stories [FKFIC-L@lists.psu.edu] on behalf
of E.A. Shovelton [blot30@HOTMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 4:09 PM
To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU
Subject: Wild for to hold 1/3

Wild for to hold 1/3

Disclaimer

The usual disclaimers apply.  The characters and ideas of Forever Knight are
not mine.  They belong to Messrs Parriott and Cohen and Sony/Tristar.  No
infringement of their rights is intended.  This story is mine and I assert
copyright hereto.

Archive permission is given to Mel for the fkfanfic site and to Cousin Mary
if she wants it.  Anyone else who wants it is welcome, but please ask first,
out of courtesy.  Constructive feedback is welcome at blot30@hotmail.com but
flames will be ignored.  I would rate this one as PG-13 as there is some
mild innuendo.

This is the next story in my series which began with "Lucifer in Starlight."
  This one follows "The Listeners."  It might make more sense if you read
the others first.  They are archived at Cousin Mary's Cerk Perk website.
The series contains spoilers for "Ashes to Ashes."  There isn't a whole lot
of action, it's more people thinking.


Wild for to hold 1/2

By Spike Shovelton


Tracy looked up from her preparation for class.  The phone was ringing and
she picked it up.  "If you're my anonymous silent caller then go away."  She
snapped.  She was seriously annoyed about these calls.

"I am not anonymous."  The voice was amused.  It was female and faintly
foreign.  "My name is Janette.  Miklos intimated that you are considering a
change of scene."

Tracy paused, Janette from the Raven?  This was more and more interesting.
Miklos had said that he would contact someone and that she would hear.  She
had almost given up on hearing from anyone.  "Sorry about that, I think
someone is after me."

"Pas de problem."  Janette smiled.  "I am quite intrigued.  I understand
that mon pere is interested in your joining us."

"I think so."  Tracy said quickly.  "I just don't think I can trust him so
much.  I know he'd have power over me.  I have a control freak father, I
don't want another."

Janette considered the issue.  "I think it would be better if we get to know
one another then if you are of the same opinion in a few months we can make
an arrangement."

"Okay."  Tracy said quickly.  "Do you have email?"

"Of course."  Janette smiled quickly.  "Tell me about this anonymous
caller."  Tracy complied and the French vampire frowned.  She did not like
the sound of this at all.  She would have a word with Miklos and get the
community to solve the problem.  Not something she normally did for mortals
but anyone who could intrigue Lacroix so much deserved a vote of thanks from
the community.

Lacroix studied the dead mortal on the floor. The mortal shouldn't have done
that.  Tracy was under his protection.   It had been very easy for him to
find this man, one who had been arrested by Sonny Vetter and who had sworn
vengeance on him.  Lacroix had found him with no difficulties, using his
influence on Thomas Constantine to locate the individual involved.  The
police were pathetic.  It had taken him so little time to find this stalker.
  The stalker had been intending to frighten her severely and then kill her.

Lacroix wiped his mouth and arranged the crime scene to resemble an
accidental death.  Not very much style in that, but then being stylish would
only draw attention to him.  It was a pity, there were so many more amusing
ways of dealing with someone of that kind, but this was not the time or
place for anything too obvious.

Tracy would owe him now.  That thought did please him.  It would serve her
right for not having told him about her problem.  Still he did like her
spirit and intellect.  He would enjoy spending a few centuries travelling
with her, arguing about crime and punishment and showing her eternity.  She
had a nicely shaped body too.  He could think of several other things he
would enjoy doing with her.

Three weeks later Tracy sighed as she walked up the path towards the front
door.  She had got to know Janette through email and telephone
communication.  Now they had decided to meet up for a face to face
conversation.  Tracy had gone to Montreal to see the vampire.  She just
hoped it would be okay.  She did not know many female vampires so she was
not certain whether they would get along face to face.  They seemed to get
on well in emails.

This could be quite interesting.  She knocked at the door and waited.  There
was a long pause before the door opened.  She stepped through and looked at
the figure in the hall.  Tracy sighed, the other woman was stunningly poised
with a sculptured beauty that made Tracy feel gawky and plain.

"Janette?"  She asked, extending one hand.

"Oui."  Janette studied the other woman.  "How was your journey?"

"Not bad.  I brought you some flowers."  Tracy handed the other woman a
bouquet of velvety lilies.  Janette smiled and motioned for Tracy to enter.

"Do you want something to drink?"  Janette asked quickly.  "I believe you
like coffee."

"Yeah."  Tracy tried to remember if she'd mentioned that.  "Does everyone in
the community know all about me?"

"Non."  Janette smiled.  "But you do have a certain notoriety.  It is not
every woman can captivate an elder."  She looked at Tracy, such a delicate
little thing to have such power.  "I am most impressed."  She walked into
the kitchen and Tracy heard the kettle go on to boil.  Janette returned,
cradling a glass of wine.   She settled down and began to sip the red
liquid.  "So what do you want to know?"

"How do you manage not to get lipstick on the glass?"  Tracy asked suddenly,
her gaze fixed on the glass before looking at the red lips of the other
woman.  Not one iota of the red lipstick stained the goblet.  Tracy had
never managed that. Every time the mortal put lipstick on it wound up all
over the glass or plate or man in question.

"Years of practice."  Janette said and Tracy sighed enviously. Janette
chuckled softly, a warming sound.  "How is Nicolas?"

"Fine.  He's happy for once."  Tracy smirked.  "Walks around with the most
annoyingly smug expression on his face, actually does the paperwork and I
heard him singing in the car."

"What was he singing?"  Janette asked.

"Cream."  Tracy grinned.  "It was one of the funniest things.  Nick was so
unaware anyone was able to hear him he was singing "I feel free" loudly.
I'll bet he was fun in the seventies."

"Oui."  Janette smiled.

"Did you have fun?"  Tracy asked and Janette chuckled.

"I did go to some interesting parties.  I have a photograph of Lacroix and I
at one of the infamous rock and roll parties."  Janette sighed softly.
"Lacroix was wearing an imperial purple toga and nothing else. Mais, he
could look good in anything."

"Mmm."  Tracy said appreciatively, remembering the old vampire's casual
grace.  "I'd like to see him in colours.  He always wears black."

"It suits him."  Janette said and smiled.

"What were you doing at the party?"  Tracy was curious now.

"Looking for Nicolas as usual.  We heard that he might have been at the
party so we decided to attend."  Janette smiled and walked to a cupboard.
She pulled out a photo album and returned.  She opened it gently and smiled.
  "Look."

Tracy whistled softly.  Lacroix looked gorgeous in a toga.  The indigo
fabric clung to his pale, muscular form.  He looked regal, a true emperor,
old, powerful and dangerous.  She felt a fluttering of desire run through
her.  Janette stood beside him, dressed in a black silk maxi-dress that
clung to every curve and was more seductive than anything revealing could
have been.  Then there was another picture, Janette standing with a man in a
red shirt. Tracy flicked through the photo album, seeing pictures of Janette
flirting with a man who looked a lot like Mick Jagger, Lacroix with a Sex
Pistol and Lacroix again eyeing a woman with long dyed red hair.  The
photograph had caught him studying her neck intently.

"He looks gorgeous."  Tracy said, her eyes returning to the togate form.
"He looks like he stepped out of a fresco."  The skin was pale and seemed to
glow in the faded photograph.  "So Roman.  He really hasn't changed."

"I am glad you see that."  Tracy did not quite understand that comment.
Janette sighed and tried to explain.  "Many women find Lacroix attractive,
that is normal.  A great many wish to change him, to make of him something
else."  Her voice became even quieter.  "Lacroix is many things but he can
only be what it is in him to be."

"No kidding."  Tracy said and Janette returned her smile.  "I know that.  I
mean the first time I saw him he tried to whammy me, after that at the
evening class I listened to a detailed description of his crucifixion of an
enemy spy."  A shiver slid through her form.  "I checked my old school
notebooks after that.  Our Religious Studies teacher told us about
crucifixion in nauseating detail.  It could take up to three days for death
to come, slow agonising death by suffocation."  Tracy shivered.  "Gave me
nightmares at the time and sometimes when I see him I can only think of the
spy and the crosses. I told him I would try to get over it but sometimes I
wonder."

"I know."  Janette sighed.  "Lacroix was raised in a different society.  His
reaction to a situation, to a moral point may be different from mine, and
certainly will be different from yours."  She touched Tracy gently on the
arm.  "It was a little easier for me.  My time was closer to his.  As a
child my father took me to see an execution.  The man was convicted a
traitor and broken on the wheel. Pour encourager les autres as Voltaire
would say."  She shrugged elegantly.  "It was not unusual."

"I read about that."  Tracy sighed.  "What can I do?  I mean accepting that
he's a vampire, that I can live with.  Accepting what he was, is hard.  It's
odd but it is easier to accept Nick.  Lacroix doesn't try to apologise or
excuse what he did.  That is the frightening thing."

"Understandable." Janette sighed.  "He is not an easy man to love.  He has
changed over 2000 years, who could not?  He is not General Lucius any more,
but neither is he the same as a man of this era and you cannot make him so."

"No."  Tracy saw Lacroix in her mind, helping her, letting Nick go in a game
of chance, paying for his cleaner's son to fulfil his potential.  Then came
the sharp mental image of herself as Xena holding power of life and death
over her Roman captive, the even sharper image of the Roman soldier in the
shadow of the cross, a Syrian peasant gasping for breath and dying by inches
above him.  For a long moment all she could do was swim in the ocean of
images.

Tracy broke the silence with a question.  "Do you trust him?"  Tracy asked.

"Lacroix?  Bien sur."  Janette said and paused for a moment.  "My mortal
life was bad.  I was nothing.  Lacroix gave me life and asked nothing in
return, nothing more than I could give.  I didn't believe it that he would
not want my body."  Her shrug was not quite as casual as it seemed.  "Non, I
could not believe that he would not demand it."

"Did he?"  Tracy asked and Janette shook her head.

"No, but that did not stop me thinking he would."  Janette said eventually.
"I was born in an age where human life had very little value, women were
worthless, property.  A man would no more befriend a woman than he would a
slave, or a goat or a dining table."  Her voice was soft.  "I did not esteem
human life, including my own, as being of much worth.  It is why I was more
ready to hunt than Nicolas.  I did not kill children or whores but apart
from that I accepted the cost."  She looked at the other woman.  "I was glad
when bottled wine became a safe alternative."

The two women sat in silence a while longer as Tracy sought for something to
say.  "Do you still hunt?"

"Parfois."  Janette murmured.  "Sometimes I see those who remind me of my
pimp, my abusers and it makes me feel powerful to deal with them, to know
that they will hurt no more women."  Her eyes gleamed.  "We are rather
inclined to use our own justice."

"I know."  Tracy shivered as she remembered the body they had discovered,
the man who had tried to burn her flat down.  She had known that Lacroix had
done it and the mixture of disgust and delight that she had felt shocked
her.  She had not mentioned it and neither had Lacroix but she had known
without a word who had done it, even though it had been staged well to pass
for an accident.  "This guy tried to kill me, burnt my flat and when my
colleagues went to question him they found him dead, very dead."

"Lacroix?"  Janette asked

Tracy nodded.  "I think so, I didn't ask him because I don't know that I
really want to know.  Actually I know the answer."

"It bothers you?"  The French voice was soft, almost sultry.

"What worries me is that a part of me was glad.  A part of me felt pleased
that he wouldn't come after me again.  I shouldn't feel like that."  Tracy
sighed.  "Nick thinks I'm this little blonde innocent who needs protecting.
Sometimes I'm more afraid of my own darkness than anything else."

"We all have darker sides, it is simply necessary to accept them."  Janette
responded.  "Nicolas has problems with his.  He cannot accept that someone
flawed should be happy."  Janette sighed and studied the blonde.  "He was to
believe that joy and pleasure are things that he does not deserve."  Janette
smiled suddenly.  "A sense of guilt is a difficult thing to overcome, non?"

"Yeah."  The women fell silent again.  It was a comfortable silence,
companionable.  Tracy felt that she could get used to having this one for a
sire.  Accepting and becoming comfortable with her relationship with Lacroix
was a harder thing.  She had the feeling that she ought not to want a
relationship.


End Part One


Wild for to hold 2/3

By Spike Shovelton

See Part One for disclaimer

"I still say $50 that it's next month."  Alma said to Miklos as they sat at
the bar.  "She can't hold him off much longer."

"He is a most patient man."  Aristotle argued, smiling at his sister.
Miklos looked at them.  Nobody would have taken the seductive Alma and the
pedantic Aristotle for siblings but they were close.  Aristotle was the
oldest childe of an ancient, sired twelve centuries ago and Alma was one of
the youngest, barely a score of years old.  As their sire was out of town,
Aristotle protected his baby sister.  They had very little in common but
seemed to get on surprisingly well.  "He will be well able to wait for the
appropriate moment.  I have never known the General to strike before the
time is right."

"You haven't seen the look on his face of late, sheer sexual frustration."
Alma smiled.  "Speaking of betting pools, how's the one on when Nick will
find out?"

"Going well."  Miklos wondered how Tracy was getting on with Janette.
Perhaps he should have introduced her to Alma, but Alma was not good at
bringing people across.  He looked up to see the crowds by the door to the
Raven parting suddenly.  Normally it took Lacroix to have that effect and he
knew for a fact that Lacroix was in a meeting most of the night.  He looked
up and saw a tall man with white hair and pale skin step forward.  The man
was dressed in a grey suit and an expensive shirt.  He walked towards the
bar and smiled.  "What can I get?"  Miklos asked and the man turned to him.

Miklos looked at him, seeing pale pink eyes set into a bleached white face,
paler even than Lacroix.   His hair was long, falling to mid back and
clipped at the nape of the neck with an embossed clasp set with rose quartz
to match the unusual eyes.  On many other people it would have looked
effeminate but on him it seemed fitting.  The long white mane was not the
silvered colour of hair turned grey through age, but pure white, seeming
never to have known another colour.  "Something non alcoholic."  The man
said quickly, his voice having a faintly lilting accent.

"Sanguinello?"  Miklos suggested.  That was blood orange juice, grapefruit
juice and lime, mixed with blood.  The albino vampire nodded.  His face was
striking and he exuded the same sense of age and leashed power as Lacroix.
"You're new in town."

"Passing through merely, isn't it, Miklos."  The man responded and smiled.
"I understand you have a betting pool on, with regard to Lacroix and a
certain mortal police officer.  The pool will be closed by the end of this
week.  Today is Monday and by Friday she will be changed."

"Is that right?"  Alma asked and the other smiled at her.  Miklos saw the
sexy vampire shiver for a moment under the intensity and cloaked cruelty in
that smile.  Aristotle growled softly in his throat and moved to flank his
sister.Then the smile faded and the stranger looked almost benevolent,
kindly.  "Sorry."  She murmured and tried to back away.

"Do not be worrying."  The other smiled and this time it was a gentler
smile, pale lips curving upwards.  "Say hello to Lacroix from me."

"What name shall I give him?"  Miklos asked.

"You don't think the description suffices?"  The stranger said with a note
of irony.  "Tell him Iestyn Ap Daffyd called in."  He turned and left, the
crowd parting for his departure.

"So you think we can get along?"  Tracy asked the older vampire and Janette
nodded.

"I think you will make an interesting fledgling."  Janette said finally.
"Lacroix will not be happy but he would not be the right sire for you."

"Have you made many children?"  Tracy asked and Janette shrugged.  "I want
someone who can do it right."

"I once told Nicolas that I had not made any children as I was too greedy.
That was a lie.  I am selective.  I have only made a few children, all
women.  It is not something I undertake lightly.  I have brought across five
women in 1000 years of life, all of whom are still alive."  Janette looked
at her.  "It will also do Lacroix good not to get everything he wants."
Janette sobered.  "Although I do have to warn you."

"Okay."  Tracy said calmly.

"I adore mon pere.  If you cause him any unhappiness I will cut out your
heart."  Janette's eyes were roseate chips before the red faded.

"I understand."  Tracy sighed.  "I don't want to hurt him.  I just don't
know what kind of relationship we can make.  I mean I think we need to talk
a lot, and there is a trust issue."

"But."  Janette said, amused by this.

"But I know that I want a relationship.  I don't think I should, but I do
find him attractive."  Tracy sighed heavily.  "I guess once I have eternity
we'll have time to work the issues out."

"Bien."  Janette smiled.  "At least you admit to your confusion."  Janette
nodded finally and stood up.  "You do not have too many ridiculous ideas,
and you accept the situation enough, yes I think you will do quite well."

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind if anything happened?  I mean you were
involved with him, right?"  Tracy asked.

"Non cherie."  Janette laughed softly.  "Seven centuries ago I might have
objected but not now."  She saw Tracy look confused.  "In our lifetimes
passion fades.  Two or three centuries and the romance goes, the first
desire burns out.  If one is fortunate then the love will remain.  I will
love Lacroix all my existence but he is no longer my beloved."  Janette
responded.  "You are welcome to enjoy him as much as you wish."  Her face
became impish.  "In fact I think you will enjoy him very much."  Tracy
giggled softly and the mood lightened.

"He's that good?"  Tracy asked and Janette nodded.  "Come on, details and
some gossip on Nick too."

Janette studied the other before giving in to the impulse.  "Lacroix is very
appealing, seductive.  He has ways of making it impossible to resist, he can
cause ecstasy with a single touch, or even the sound of his voice.  No other
can compare to two thousand years of experience."  Janette's eyes had
flecked with gold and Tracy caught a glimpse of one white fang.

"Not even Nick?"  Tracy asked, more than a little intrigued.

"Non.  Nicolas was very inexperienced, unskilled and passionate.  With him I
was the teacher.  I commanded and that was good."  Janette licked her lips,
a very animalistic gesture.  "When I had done, there was nothing Nicolas did
not know.  He was my slave and I had the control." Her voice became softer.
"I needed to control, to have the advantage."

"Yes, that's the problem with a male sire.  I don't want to give him the
advantage."  Tracy sighed. "What should I tell Lacroix?"

"It does not matter.  He will not like it, whatever you tell him will
displease him.  In fact he will be very angry."  Janette looked at the other
woman.

Lacroix was none too happy at that moment.  "You are certain?"  He said to
Miklos and the bartender nodded.

"Who is he?"  Miklos had never seen anyone remotely resembling the pale
vampire.

"Iestyn Ap Daffyd is a senior enforcer.  He has quite the reputation.  He
was a warrior in the dark ages.  He is younger than I am, but incredibly
strong."  Lacroix smiled sadly.  "It would seem that the community has
spoken.  Now I must locate Ms Vetter.  I imagine she will be at work."
Miklos fidgeted and tried not to draw attention to himself.

Lacroix studied the other vampire.  Miklos was customarily graceful, even by
vampire standards.  For him to fidget indicated something was amiss.  There
was a long pause as Lacroix fixed the much younger vampire with his gaze.

"Miklos."  Lacroix said, in a soft, dangerous voice.  "Is there something
you are hiding from me?"

"Yes Lacroix."  Miklos looked away, glad that vampires couldn't wet
themselves.  Lacroix always managed to make him feel three years old.

"That would be?"  Lacroix waited, wondering what was going on.

"Tracy asked me about talking to a female vampire."  Miklos said finally.
"She was trying to learn about the community and wanted to talk to another
woman.  So I put her in touch with Janette."

"I see."  Lacroix studied the other vampire.  "She is with Janette now?"
Miklos nodded but realised that Lacroix had gone.  As soon as he was sure he
was alone he rushed to the telephone.

Janette hung up and swore richly in French, German and Cantonese.  "Lacroix
is on his way.  It seems the enforcers have set the pips on you."

"Oh."  Tracy looked at the other vampire.  "Is this going to get violent?  I
left my stakes at home."

Janette chuckled.  "You carry stakes?"

"Since I learnt about enforcers."  Tracy responded.  "I didn't bring them
tonight as a gesture of trust."

"Thank you."  Janette said dryly.  She began gathering up the ornaments on
the mantelpiece.  "Could you fetch the Lalique bowl?"  Tracy looked around.
"The Lalique, it's the large bowl, glass tinged with blue and shaped."

Tracy picked it up and followed Janette.  "What are you doing?"

"Lacroix throws things.  I prefer not to lose my favourite ornaments."
Janette sighed.  "It is necessary to duck.  I will try to remind him that
you are currently only mortal."

"Thanks."  Tracy looked at the other.  "Tactics?"

"Let me explain, then he will shout and possibly throw things.  Once he has
stopped throwing things he will storm out."  Janette sighed.  "Then we wait
and he comes back for reasoned discussion."

End Part Two


Wild for to hold 3/3

By Spike Shovelton

See Part One for disclaimer

The situation was one of the most uncomfortable, painful and awkward that
Tracy had ever felt.  Lacroix was incandescent with fury to learn that she
did not want him to sire her.  She had tried to explain but Janette had
forestalled her, beginning to talk with him in swift, incomprehensible
words. Tracy watched as Lacroix and Janette argued.  Tracy had studied
French most of her life.  In Canada it was a necessary part of life, not
particularly in Toronto but generally.  She was actually quite good at it.
However even after all her years of studies she could hardly pick out one
word in ten of the fast, angry conversation between the two vampires.

Finally Lacroix turned and flew out of the closed window.  Tracy studied the
Lacroix shaped hole in the glass and burst into giggles.

"You find it amusing?"  Janette asked softly and laughed incredulously.

"It just reminds me of a spoof movie."  Tracy said softly.  "I couldn't
follow half of it.  What was said?"

"We argued.  He wished to bring you across.  I informed him that you
refused.  He was not pleased."  Janette chuckled.  "At least he did not
throw anything."

"No."  Tracy looked at the other woman.  "I'm sorry if I am making trouble
for you."

"Non."  Janette smiled.  "You have the right to a free choice of sire and to
control your destiny.  Lacroix has not the right to interfere."  She smiled.
  "You and he have both very strong wills, I think you would come to hate
his control over you and cause misery to each other."

"I think so."  Tracy looked at her.  "Did he agree?"

"No, but when he has considered the issue he will return in a calmer frame
of mind, or not."  Janette sighed.  "I do not think he will force you to
accept him.  He may not speak to you if you do not."

Tracy considered this.  "I understand.  I just know that if I do let him
bring me across, we will probably wind up as badly off as he and Nick."

"You may be right."  Janette examined one manicured fingernail with studied
concentration.  "I do not know."  They sat in silence for a while.

Lucien Lacroix studied the two women.  Tracy was asleep on the settee.  She
moved uneasily in slumber and seemed restless.  Janette sat still in an
armchair, cradling a glass of wine in one hand and looking into the fire.
She turned to him.

"You are as usual quite right."  Lacroix sounded old, and somehow incredibly
tired.

"Mon pere."  Janette walked over to him.  "I am sorry.  For most other women
this problem would not arise."

"Tracy is not most women."  Both vampires spoke very softly so as not to
awaken the sleeping mortal.  Their voices were almost inaudible to mortal
voices.  "She is different.  I do not wish to repeat my struggle with
Nicholas.  My upbringing would tell me that the appropriate solution is to
beat the rebellion out of her with a strong whip, but I find myself
reluctant to do so."

Lacroix looked at her and for a moment neither spoke.  Finally he rolled up
his sleeve and extended his wrist.

Janette brought it to her lips and inhaled.  She could smell the unique
scent of her only true master.  For all that Nicolas had brought her back
across she was and would always consider herself to be a childe of Lacroix.
She had never been able to find words to define the scent of his blood,
fruit and spice and so clean.  After her time as a whore she had come to
value cleanliness.  There were heady undertones of power and age.  Finally
she could delay no longer, exquisite anticipation became too much.

She sank her fangs into his wrist and shivered as the link between sire and
childe flared up.  Letting him set the pace she received his images,
listening as he showed her exactly what he wanted to happen.

Once the bloodlink was dissolved Lacroix looked grave.  "Do you understand?"

"Oui."  Janette said and looked at him.  "I will obey."

"Then there remains nothing to be said."  Lacroix leaned over and kissed his
daughter gently on the lips, a butterfly kiss.  Turning to study the still
sleeping Tracy he sighed.  "I think I had better not remain."  As he left
the door banged behind him and Tracy blinked into wakefulness.

"What?  Did I miss something?"  Tracy asked quickly.

Lucien Lacroix realised as he flew back to Toronto alone that he was almost
afraid.  He had hoped that the bonds of sire and childe would keep her with
him for eternity, or at least until he worked out why she intrigued him.
Now he had absolutely no claim on her.  She could do as she pleased and he
had no power over her.  Now all he could do was wait and see if she came
back.  If not then he would come for her in the end.

"Lacroix said what?"  Tracy asked, trying to wake up.  "He agreed to let you
bring me across?"

"He said that he would tolerate the situation.  He was not happy."  Janette
sighed.  "I had to agree that once you were adequately well trained you
would return to Toronto."

"Anything else?"  Tracy did not trust this scenario.  It was unlike Lacroix
to give in so easily.

"A few things, that I will ensure that you can hunt, that I will ensure that
no other vampire touches you."  Janette heard the other woman snort.  "He is
a little territorial.  He made a few other demands but nothing of
importance."  That was a slight understatement but it did not matter.  The
rest was between herself and her sire.

"I can't believe I slept through it all."  Tracy sighed.  "I missed all the
good parts."

"Yes."  Janette smiled wickedly.  She had ensured that Tracy slept through
it through a little sleeping drug.  "You would only have roused his
passions."

"So what now?"  Tracy asked, her voice a little uncertain.

"Now I suggest you rest and then enjoy a final day of mortality."  Janette
smiled at the other woman.  "After that the fun begins."

Tracy studied her for a moment, trying to work out whether this was a good
thing.  No it was her decision.  She had known the price for a long time.
Now she would have to pay up.  A more pleasant thought struck her.  As a
vampire she would have eternity and possibly Lacroix.  She could live with
that.  After all she really didn't have a whole lot of choice.

The End

1) The title of this story comes from a poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt. The poem
is entitled "Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind" and it deals with
the pursuit of the unobtainable.  The poet describes a deer which belongs to
Caesar and is accordingly out of bounds to all others.  Wyatt is believed to
have been describing his own love for Anne Boleyn, the wife of Henry VIII.
It just seemed fitting for the piece.

"There is written, her fair neck round about
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame."

2) The phrase "pour encourager les autres" comes from Candide by Voltaire.
It means "to encourage the others."  One of the functions of execution as
public spectacle was the idea of discouraging others from following suit.

3) Lalique glassware is extremely expensive.  Rene Lalique designed a
special glazing process which gave the glassware a blue tinge.  He told
nobody how this was done and since his death it has been impossible to
recreate.  Accordingly modern Lalique is clear and less valuable than the
original Lalique.

4) I have taken the view that Janette has managed to bring people across but
just didn't want to say so to Nick.  I refuse to believe that someone of her
age would be unable to bring anyone across.

5) We're almost at the end now.  One more story to come.