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Secrets 
by Debra Ann Fiorini
Copyright 1996.

     A figure in black stood calmly and quietly half-hidden in 
shadows on a semi-deserted street corner.  It was late, not many 
people were out.  He had the night off from work or he 
wouldn't be out right now either.  He stepped further back into 
the shadows as two young women approached.  Up-town 
club-goers, he could tell from their manner of dress. They 
walked by, chatting and giggling, oblivious to the dark figure 
watching them.  He started to wonder if they would be missed.  
"Appetizer and dessert", he thought but then dismissed the 
notion quickly when a familiar car turned the corner up ahead, 
pulling into view. He stepped out from the shadows and 
crossed over to where the driver could notice him beneath a 
street light. The car jerked to a halt before him and a voice 
hissed out the window.
     "Get in! Fast!"
     "Okay, okay..."
     "Now!"
     He hardly had time to shut the door when the driver hit the 
gas pedal with such force the car flew forward and he half-flew 
into the back seat.
     "Sorry."
     He growled. "Good thing we're friends or you'd be sucked 
drier than the Mojave desert right now."  
     He pulled down the vanity mirror and checked himself. He 
couldn't be a combination of cool and menacing if he was 
disheveled. He removed the belt of his trench coat from around 
his head where it had lodged itself after the car's take-off 
momentum tossed him partly into the back seat.
     "Did we suddenly qualify as the pace car for the Indy 500 or 
did they raise the city speed limit and no one bothered to tell 
me?" he asked.
     "I'm sorry. I just didn't want...you know, him...to see us 
spending time alone together. You know how he gets. You saw 
what happened on Valentine's Day."
     "Don't be silly. He's not my owner. I'm not chained to him 
although he thinks I am. I can choose my own friends. I'm not 
afraid of him knowing how close we really are."
     "Maybe you're not but I certainly don't want to hear his 
whining. I don't know how you took it all these years."
     "I'm a saint."
     "Yeah, right. In your dreams."
     "Actually, in my nightmares."
     The driver pointed ahead at an empty parking lot. "What do 
you think about that one? Big enough for you to not run into 
any inanimate objects this time?"
     "It was an accident. I didn't see it."
     "Yeah. You go on all night about your great vampire vision 
and then you drive my car into a building. Anything to not 
admit you confused the gas and brake pedals. Men! Can't live 
with them, can't kill them. Especially not your kind."
     "Are we going to talk all night or are we going to start my 
lesson?"
     "Okay, okay." Nat threw the car into park in the middle of 
the lot and got out. By the time she walked around the car, he 
was already in the driver's seat. She took a deep breath and 
insisted he not touch anything until she strapped herself in.  She 
didn't know how she got herself into these predicaments, but if 
she thought she needed nerves of steel to be a coroner, she 
needed twice as many to teach Lucien LaCroix how to drive.

     So many things in her life came unexpectedly. Meeting Nick 
in the morgue on her birthday was one. A person can't prepare 
for that. This was the same.  Being tricked into going to the 
Azure with LaCroix. Who would have expected that? Who 
would have expected they would hit it off almost instantly?
     "Watch...watch...watch!" Nat was pulled from her reverie 
when she noticed just how close LaCroix was driving to a 
cement lamp post in the lot.
     "I see it. Natalie, if I'm going to kill you, it's not going to be in 
a car accident."
     "Very funny. Just look at where you are driving, not at me."
     "Sorry. I was just mesmerized by your exquisite beauty."
     "Uh huh. Keep it for your radio show. Cheap flattery is not 
going to make me critique your lousy driving skills any less 
harshly."
     "Well, it was worth a shot."

     Nat had been truly surprised that night at the Azure to see it 
wasn't Nick. But it turned out LaCroix wasn't really as bad as 
Nick made him seem.  She realized she should have known sons 
exaggerate their father's weaknesses and strengths.  They got to 
talking and were both shocked to find not only did they have 
much in common - which went by the name of Nick - but they
actually liked each other. Once she accepted he meant it when 
he said "If I really wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have invited 
you here", she ordered lobster. Why not?  He was paying and 
she wouldn't get a lobster dinner out of Nick. She couldn't even 
get something on the level of the little plastic lobster bib out of 
Nick.
     They talked while she ate and the conversation soon turned 
to "Have you ever noticed how Nick does this" and "Don't you 
hate it when Nick does that" and "Did you know there was this 
one time when Nick actually..."  Luckily LaCroix had bought out 
the whole place or they would have been thrown out for the 
noise they were making laughing and jumping up and down 
taking turns imitating Nick.
    "You know Nicolas is going to come after you soon?" LaCroix 
suddenly asked in the middle of Natalie's dessert.
     "Well I would hope so! Actually this could be my chance to 
learn Nick's true feelings for me. Would you help me?"
     "Why not? This evening has been delightful so far. I wouldn't 
mind finishing it off with a floor show."
     "Okay, here's the plan. I pretend like you drugged me and 
you pretend like you're going to bring me across and we get to 
see what Nick does."
     "I only get to pretend to bring you across.  After all, I am 
buying you dinner."
     "Watch it, Lu. I have garlic in my purse and I'm not afraid to 
use it."
     "We really should move the table over a bit before Nicolas 
gets here."
     "Why?"
     "Because the dear boy is going to come right through the sky 
light."
     "Nah. He's a well-bred gentlemen, he'll use the front door."
     "I bet you he'll use the sky light."
     "What shall we bet?"
     "Your life?"
     "Actually I was thinking something a little less permanent."
     "Okay how about...shhh - I sense him coming. Get ready."

     The next night at work, the phone rang while she was doing 
paperwork.
     "Natalie Lambert here."
     "Told you he'd use the sky light."
     "You were right. What do I owe you?"
     "Well it bothers me there is one thing Nicolas can do and I 
can't."
     "Be nice to people on a regular basis."
     "Nah. Why would I want to do that?"
     "So what is it then?"
     "I'd like you to teach me how to drive."

     Two hours of coming too close to the cement lamp post on 
every pass and Nat had enough for this lesson. She instructed 
LaCroix to put the car in park and call it quits for the night.
     As she unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door, she 
noticed LaCroix' eyes taking on a golden glow. "I'd really like to 
thank you for these driving lessons," he said, "I would be happy 
to give you some flying lessons in exchange."
     "Snap out of it. It is now officially time I take you home."
     "You're no fun." LaCroix muttered under his breath.
     "I heard that."

     Afraid Nick would see Nat drop LaCroix off at the Raven, 
they went to her place for a friendly chat, after which LaCroix 
was to leave from her roof. LaCroix took it upon himself to 
peruse her pitifully small CD collection while Nat got herself a 
glass of orange juice.
     "Sorry I can't offer you anything to drink."
     "It's okay. I'll just grab someone on the way home."
     "Lucien!"
     "Joking, I'm joking."
     After he let Nat check her phone messages, which included 
thirty-seven calls from Nick, LaCroix set the Disney Collection, 
Volume I CD to play and moved over to Nat's side of the room.
     "He loves you, he's obsessed with you and yet he's never 
romantic with you. Rather blows the mind. I'm more romantic 
handing you your mail than Nicolas is on an entire date."
     "And your point is?"
     "Nothing. Just an observation."
     "You know," she laughed. "If I didn't know you better, I'd say 
you were making a pass at me."
     "Don't be silly, Natalie," he answered, taking the glass of 
orange juice out of her hand and setting it down. "If I wanted to 
be romantic, I'd just do this."  With vampiric speed, LaCroix 
wrapped his arms firmly around Natalie and dipped her 
backwards, kissing her passionately. When he was finished, they 
were both laughing.
     "Okay," she giggled, "I get the point."
     While he had her leaning backwards in his arms, he besieged 
her most ticklish spot until she was laughing so hard, she could 
barely breath.  And then the inevitable happened.  Nick walked 
in.
     "Hope I'm not bothering anything, Nat, but your door is open 
and I.....Ahhhh!!!!"
     Shocked, LaCroix let go too quickly and Nat fell directly on 
her butt.
     "Nat??!!!" Nick was rather, well...surprised.
     "Nick??!!" Nat answered from the floor.
     "LaCroix??!!" Nick turned his gaze on his master.
     "Nick." LaCroix was playing it cool.
     "Lu?" Natalie gestured for LaCroix to help her up. She was 
sitting on his feet after all.
     "Nat." LaCroix helped her to stand.
     "Lu??!!" Nick was shocked Natalie was calling LaCroix by his 
pet name.
     LaCroix and Natalie looked at each other with a 
simultaneous "Uh oh."
     Nick took a step forward. "What is this?" he asked. Actually 
Nick's anger and jealousy made him vamp out and with his 
fangs in, it sounded more like he said, "Wha ith thith?" but Nat 
had learned to decipher fangism and understood him without 
resorting to a major case of the giggles.
     She grabbed LaCroix by the lapels of his jacket and said, "We 
need to tell him the truth. No more secrets." LaCroix nodded in 
agreement. 
     They turned to Nick, answering in unison, "Driving lessons."
     Nick shook his head. "Driving lessons, my  !!!"
     Natalie then did something she never expected to do and 
took a step behind LaCroix while saying, "Don't let him bite 
me."
     "Of course not." LaCroix assured her. "I'm saving that 
pleasure for myself."
     "Huh??!!"
     "Ummm. We'll talk later."
     "Lu, I mean LaCroix, you have to say something to make him 
understand."
     "Okay. Nicolas, it's like this..."


     A minute later, Nick went out the window screaming 
something about how the world is coming to an end while Nat 
yelled after him to come back, she could do a better job of 
explaining.
     LaCroix was relaxing on the couch, laughing. 
     "You think this is funny?" She crossed over to the couch. "I 
don't.  I love him and he'll never talk to me again." 
     "Calm down. I'll go to his place soon and clarify everything."
     "Why did you say what you just said in the first place?"
     "I figured if he didn't believe the truth, maybe he'd believe a 
lie. He has before."
     "What a lie! Where did you come up with that one? I can't 
believe you told him, 'Nicolas, it's like this. Natalie and I are 
having a torrid affair.  Care to join us? If not, it's okay, we'll just 
call Vachon. Nat already has his number on speed dial.'"
     "Don't worry. I will clarify and he will be your love slave 
once more."
     "Love slave - you can do that??"
     "No. I'm just trying to make you feel better. But I will clarify 
things with him."
     "You know something, Lu?  You are wicked." She chuckled.
     "Ah yes, I must admit, Natalie dear, that I am very, very good 
at being very, very bad," he chuckled in return. 


Finis.


Debra Ann Fiorini  
Knightie/N&NPacker/Valentine
Copyright, 1996.

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