When Day Breaks, Part 6
Nick eventually made it back to the loft before morning struck. He couldn't remember where he'd left the caddy; he'd spent hours driving that night, even more walking. No aim, no purpose. He smiled bitterly. A fine metaphor for his life, at the moment. But it seemed like all the time in the world would not be enough to decide what his next step should be.
He could chase Natalie down, find out where she was hiding and *make* her listen... but that would only drive her farther away. Right now, what she needed most was some time to herself. Time to think. Besides, even if he did find her, she had already made up her mind.
And he knew Natalie. A tender smile inadvertently lit his face. Once she had made up her mind, God help whoever tried to tell her different.
God help her.
He brushed the tears impatiently from his face, and rose to get a bottle from the fridge.
"Surely you knew this would happen, Nicholas," Lacroix spoke from behind him. "At some point, she was destined to move on, and leave you here alone."
Nick was in no mood to hear this. "Get out," he snarled, without turning to look at him.
"You didn't really want her to stay and waste her life waiting for you, did you?"
Nick continued to stare stonily at the floor. Minutes passed. Finally, he muttered, "No. Of course not."
"She's gone and made a better life for herself. You should be happy."
Nick spun around and glared at his mocking conscience. "What do you care?" he spat. "She means nothing to you."
To his surprise, Lacroix had no arrogant smile, no smugly lifted brow. "Ah, but she means everything to *you*, Nicholas. And that is what matters to me."
"Yes, well, your concern is touching, but unnecessary. What are you really here for?"
"Merely to keep you company." At Nick's cringe, he snapped, "It's only till sunset, Nicholas. Surely you can bear my presence for that long." Just as quickly, his features smoothed. "I didn't think you should be alone today. I wanted to be sure you didn't do anything... rash. I recall how despondent you were over that dancer, Sylvaine..."
So quickly did Nicholas attack, Lacroix didn't even see him coming. One moment he was talking, the next he found himself flying across the room, crashing heavily into the wall above the fireplace. "Don't ever, EVER speak that name to me, Lacroix! You don't have the right!" Nick was incandescent with rage.
Faster than the eye could see, Lacroix had Nicholas by the throat, his eyes yellow as well. Bringing Nicholas' face about two inches from his own, he snarled, "You will be *silent*, boy, while I'm trying to apologize!"
Stunned, Nick sank into the chair he'd been thrown into and stared while Lacroix crossed his arms, frowning, and looked profoundly annoyed.
"Whatever you may think of me, Nicholas, it was not my intention to drive you away. I was trying to do you a favor." Lacroix calmly withstood Nick's murderous glare. "I had seen that you were beginning to fall in love with her, someone you had never even met." He frowned, even in the memory. "I had hoped to forestall your infatuation before it took root." His frown grew more pronounced, almost a grimace, as he looked to the far wall. "I was wrong."
But when he looked back at Nicholas, his face was still and calm. "She would have left you, eventually. I knew, even if you were too blind to see. New horizons would catch her eye, and she would be gone. Just like Natalie. And Janette."
Nick abruptly rose and stood before the window, watching the skyline glow with the coming of morning. And as Lacroix came up to watch silently beside him, the words he didn't say echoed in Nick's mind. But I would never leave you, Nicholas. Never.
And as he watched the sky swell brighter and brighter, Nick wasn't sure if he should be furious, or glad.
He decided to be glad.
***
One month later.
It had taken her a full week to keep the tip up for any amount of time, and she felt perfectly arthritic with pain the first few days she tried. But Natalie was slowly making progress, hounded unmercifully by Adam, who appeared without fail at her bedside every morning at five sharp, coffee in hand. Actually, switching from a night schedule to a day schedule was simplicity itself, as it turned out. Skip over a few time zones, and you're done. Not that Scotland days were all that spectacular: it was cloudy and cool nine times out of ten, and the ground hadn't dried out yet from the melted snow, so the road to town was still totally impossible.
But she couldn't argue with Adam's logic for being far away from civilization right now, to cut down distractions, Immortal or otherwise. "Not good for PR to have the locals watch us crashing about with swords, now is it?"
She was even able to swing the stupid thing now with some semblance of control. She smiled, remembering her first few tries; spectacular disasters that sent Adam diving for the ground, sword flying wildly off in some direction. But he never got upset at failure, and refused to let her, either. His patience would eventually start to irritate her, if he didn't offset things with the occasional story of someone else, usually him, who had done something far more spectacularly stupid at one time or another. She was fairly sure he made them up on the spot, but that didn't keep them from making her laugh. As time went on, they were getting more and more used to each other's quirks, and she actually found herself beginning to look forward to the future.
"Enjoying the view?"
She turned and smiled. "Absolutely. How did you find this place?"
"A friend of mine recommended it." He smiled wryly. "Even if I did remember where I learned to fight, it's undoubtedly covered by a shopping mall or some other ghastly thing by now. One of the few things progress is not good for."
She smiled up at him, then returned to watching the view. Suddenly she pointed. "Look, there's the sunrise." Clouds did make for spectacular sunrises and sunsets. She learned that early, as well. For a while, she simply sat and enjoyed the beauty of the moment. Every morning, though, the sunrise inevitably reminded her of Nick.
The next time Adam looked down at her, she wasn't even looking at the sunrise anymore. Her face had saddened considerably in the morning light as she stared into nothing. Adam sighed. It didn't take a mind reader to figure out what she was thinking about. Or who. Seemingly of its own volition, his hand fell lightly to her shoulder. "You won't feel this way forever, you know. I know it's kind of cliché, but absence really does make the heart grow fonder." He smiled gently. "In a few decades, you may run across one another, and have a good laugh over it all. Life's too short to hold a grudge, Natalie. Even for us."
Natalie sighed, smiled gratefully up at him, laid her hand over his own, and looked back at the horizon. "I hope you're right."
"I am. Trust me." The two stood for a moment more, and watched the sun lift into the sky, before going back inside to start another day.
****
The lone figure swept through the airport, a small cloud of darkness against all the bright lights. It was too warm inside the terminal, the heaters had yet to be adjusted from last week's cold spell, but she seemed perfectly comfortable in the heavy cloak with its deep hood obscuring her face. She had little luggage, only a small purse on her shoulder. She coolly scanned the crowd, but she recognized no one, and none seemed to take any interest in her. Good.
Her limo was waiting for her when she stepped outside. She didn't hesitate, but stepped quickly in. She prepared to give directions to the driver, when he turned to her, and she sank into the back seat in alarm.
"Janette," Lacroix murmured, "don't you know it's polite to call before dropping by to visit?"
Recovering quickly from her initial reaction, Janette calmly took off her dark concealing sunglasses, and began to remove her gloves. "How did you know I was coming?"
He gestured vaguely around him. "Your taste has always given you away."
She smiled luxuriously for a moment. "Ah yes. I had thought it might be fun to come back in style."
"Which begs the obvious question, Janette," and she heard as well as felt the edge in his voice, "why have you come back at all?"
"You no longer have a hold over me, Lacroix. Don't you keep abreast of these things?" Could Lacroix possibly not know his own mistake? From the moment she heard of it through their small grapevine, she had intended to make the most of it. It seems she would have ample opportunity. He should have known he wouldn't be able to hold her for long...
***
Toronto, one year ago.
"Janette." That was all she needed to hear, even in the noise of the Raven, to know it was him. She turned, and was studiously unsurprised. He always enjoyed it when his children pretended to predict him. She motioned silently for Lacroix to follow her to the office behind the club.
She passed through the door without stopping, immediately opening a new bottle, allowing Lacroix to shut the door behind him. Once she had poured him a glass, and one for herself, she finally spoke. "So. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Lacroix sipped at his drink for a moment before answering. "I would ask... a favor of you." He set his drink down. "I want you to leave Toronto."
A slight widening of the eyes. Surely he wouldn't notice. "That is quite a thing to ask. I have connections here, a place, people who depend on my services..."
Lacroix nodded, having anticipated the counter. "They will be cared for. If necessary, I will run the Raven in your absence." He caught her eye and gazed at her intently to emphasize the importance of his words. "But you must leave quickly, and under no circumstances will you tell him neither that you are leaving, nor where you will go."
Caught in the middle again. Janette frowned. There was only one reason for her to be required to leave without notice. Lacroix was scheming again. For once, it wasn't hard to look bored. "What do you have in mind this time, hmm? Are you going to try to force him to leave again?" She smiled. "As I recall, your last attempt was something less than a success." She knew she would regret the words, but it was too much of a temptation. Lacroix so rarely failed, it was an occasion to be remembered.
But, surprisingly, Lacroix wasn't angry. He even smiled, and Janette began to feel the first threads of worry. He must be very confident of his plan indeed, to be in this good a mood. "Nothing of the sort. Nicholas has already set himself up for a fall. I merely plan to be there to watch it happen."
Janette set her glass down, puzzled. "What are you talking about? What fall?"
"Surely you've noticed how he dotes on that girl... Natalie, I think."
"Of course." Janette didn't like where this was going. She knew perfectly well how much she meant to Nicola, no matter how much she might wish otherwise. "You're not going to kill her, are you?" She shook her head in irritation. Sloppy. That couldn't be what he was planning. "He'll hate you all the more for it, make no mistake."
Lacroix snorted in disgust. "No, of course not. Why should I do anything, but let time take it's course?" He was already smiling again. It had been at least fifty years since she'd seen him so pleased with himself. "The result will be the same, and he won't have a reason in the world to place the blame on me. Because this time, I will have had nothing to do with his misery. All I have to do, is be there to pick up the pieces."
"You want him to fall in love with her!" She would have never suspected him to take this strategy. Therefore, neither would Nicola.
"Of course I do. The more lovestruck he is, the better my point is made in the end." Yes, of course. No wonder he was so pleased. It was simple and marvelously elegant. If he continued working steadily on his kinder and gentler image, as he had been since returning to them last year, he would be in the perfect position to comfort Nicola when the time came, to advise him when he was at his most vulnerable. Lacroix could tell him practically anything. It would be simplicity itself to pull him gently away from mortal life. Depending on how careful Lacroix was about it, Nicola might even be able to believe it was his own choice.
But he should have known better than to tell her his plan. The only time she ever refused him was when it came to Nicola. "Lacroix, don't do this. When the time comes, he'll need me." But she had a strong feeling that her small rebellion would futile. He would not have given her an avenue of escape; he knew perfectly well where she would stand on the matter. But she had to try.
He tilted his head toward her, raising the glass to his lips again. "Exactly my point. He's become entirely too dependent on you, my dear Janette. It is time that he came to depend on me."
She used her eyes and the tone of her voice to reinforce her words, as if they were the most obvious thing in the world: "He won't turn to you for help. He hates you too much." Believe it, Lacroix. Leave him alone. He'll be miserable enough without your help.
He lifted his eyebrows and nodded, conceding the point. "Perhaps not, but this is the best opportunity to find out that I'll have in a century."
She had no more cards to play, and she was out of options. All but the last, and the most dangerous. Janette watched him coolly. "And if I refuse?"
Lacroix stood and gently caressed her chin. "Then poor Natalie will die all the sooner. Nicholas will come to me with the blame, of course. And I, as you might expect, will have an alibi and witnesses. You, however, are a woman scorned." Lacroix shook his head in mock sadness. "It won't take much to convince him of your guilt." Then he smiled. He really was amused by this game. "And once the idea is fixed in his mind, nothing you say could possibly make him believe otherwise."
She knew immediately that it was true. Even if she went to Nicola now, right this instant, he would still be faster. Lacroix smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, my dear. Once the deed is done, you're perfectly free to come back. A head start is all I require."
His expression was patiently amused, hers was patiently bored. But their eyes, when they met, were anything but patient, and sparks flew. He knew exactly how much it would hurt her to watch Nick suffer, with only Lacroix to turn to, though that wasn't entirely his intent. And she knew how very much Lacroix wanted this moment, and how much he would give for its smooth completion.
There was really no contest. She was trapped; they both knew it. She hesitated a moment, then sighed. Well, there were aspects in his plan that were advantageous to her, no matter what happened. Besides, she had gained Nicola's trust before. In time, if need be, she could gain it again.
He must have seen the acceptance in her eyes, because he smiled just a little more, and said, "I knew you would come to see things my way."
He kissed her lightly on the cheek, and was gone.
***
Janette smiled. That was only a year ago. Nowhere near the amount of time Lacroix would require to bolster himself in his son's eyes. It was his fatal error, to assume that he would have decades; a mistake that no one, not even he, could have predicted. He had failed again.
And Janette felt like celebrating.
"Your time is up, Lacroix. He is mine again."
"What makes you think he was ever yours to begin with, or ever will be, for that matter?" Lacroix's tone was icy, and she had learned to respect that look in his eye. She decided to change her attitude, and quickly.
"Have you made progress?" she asked innocently, as Lacroix pulled out and began to drive toward the Raven.
"That depends on what you call progress." he replied sourly. "Things have not gone as I would have liked."
"More in my favor than you would have hoped?" she asked softly, her tone carefully neutral.
His mouth quirked at her caution. Or for other reasons. "Less, actually."
Her heart froze for a moment, then fell like a stone. "What?"
Lacroix frowned at the road in front of him, as if it were the one thwarting him. "I'm not sure how to bring him out of this new stage of bitterness that he's found, or," he admitted, "even if I should."
"Lacroix..." she whispered, "what have you done to him?"
They slowed to a stop in front of the Raven, and Lacroix turned to look at her fully, and she saw the faint traces of concern that marked his face. His honest answer chilled her to the bone.
"I don't know. But he seems to hate all the world but me."
****
The first thing she did, of course, was visit him.
"Nicola?" She tiptoed through the loft. "You know, you should really be more careful to lock your skylight..." She caught sight of him, sitting at the table, working, of course. He looked at her, smiled faintly, but didn't rise to greet her. "Hello, Janette."
She firmly stamped down the fear that stirred within her, and managed to smile with some amount of normalcy. "Now that's not a proper greeting, Nicola," she teased. She remembered a time when that remark would make him smile. This time though, it had the opposite effect. His smile seemed to waver, then disappeared. His expression changed slightly, and Janette paled. She could not remember a time when he had looked on her so coldly. Then he looked away, and she tried to shake herself of the feeling of dread that had enveloped her.
"So, how long will you be staying?" he asked conversationally as he went to pour the wine.
She cocked her head, and smiled in polite confusion. She couldn't believe that that was all that was bothering him. Easily fixed, if that was the extent of it. "I was only gone a little while, Nicola. I'm not going anywhere now."
"Yes, of course," he replied flatly. Janette's mouth nearly fell open in surprise. He didn't believe her! Not only that, but he didn't even seem to question the fact that she was lying. What on earth did Lacroix say to him? What on earth *could* Lacroix have said to him? Janette felt her fear begin to worsen. But there was nothing, *nothing* Lacroix could have said to turn him against her, not completely. She knew that with a certainty that she thought was unbreakable. He still loved her.
Didn't he?
She no longer knew, and that was worst of all.
She decided to stop dancing about the subject. She was no longer in a condition to do it very well. "Nicola, what is it? What's wrong?" The words had never failed to bring her a deluge of Nicola's current list of troubles. He had always confided in her, always. Even when he shouldn't have. That was another thing that never changed. Never.
Nick lost all pretense of politeness, as his eyes grew steely. "You left." His voice was still conversational, normal. He was more angry than she had ever seen him, ten upon ten times more angry. The feeling of dread got worse, and her jaw tightened.
Janette looked him full in the eye and withstood his glare. "I came back." It was her only defense.
He wasn't convinced. "You'll leave again."
Honesty was all she had left, no matter how painful. "And I'll come back again."
Neither of them would budge an inch, and the stare lengthened into minutes, until Nick snapped, "You *left*, Janette! You *abandoned* me when I needed you most!"
"You, having never neglected me a day in your life, oui?" She acidly returned. "Don't pretend to play the martyr, Nicola. Recall that I know you better."
Nick's face reddened in fury, as all his anger unleashed itself at once. "I NEEDED YOU!"
"And, of course, I have NEVER needed YOU!" she shouted back. "Or does screaming it at the top of your lungs make your feelings more important than mine?" Janette snarled through gritted teeth, "Try again, Nicola. Try harder. You came up with better excuses seven hundred years ago."
"So did you," he whispered bitterly. But the anger was slipping, and his face was collapsing rapidly into despair, one deeper than she had seen, even from him, in a long, long time. His gaze fell to the floor, as he murmured simply, "I lost *everything*, Janette. Everything. It was all destroyed, in the time you were gone. Everything that meant anything to me." His brow furrowed as he looked back at her face. Tears had formed in his eyes, though not a single one fell. "Can you possibly understand what that feels like?"
"No," she admitted softly, and added to herself, but I had thought I was going learn, for a moment.
He solemnly looked at her, watched her for a little while, until he spoke at last. "I wish you could have been here." But this time he said it in sadness, without accusation.
She wondered fleetingly if her own eyes were going to well up with tears. "So do I." That, at least, she could admit. I would have stayed if I could, Nicola, I swear it. "I am here now." It was all she could offer as an apology, an apology that was not hers to give. She damned Lacroix as she had known she would, for forcing her to leave, and reached out to him with one hand.
He grasped it, and she pulled him forward, into a tight embrace.
"You'll stay?" he whispered.
"I promise." Lacroix's voice seemed to whisper in her ear that promises such as these were made to be broken. Janette held on all the tighter, and prayed that this would be one she would be able to keep.
END.
Nick eventually made it back to the loft before morning struck. He couldn't remember where he'd left the caddy; he'd spent hours driving that night, even more walking. No aim, no purpose. He smiled bitterly. A fine metaphor for his life, at the moment. But it seemed like all the time in the world would not be enough to decide what his next step should be.
He could chase Natalie down, find out where she was hiding and *make* her listen... but that would only drive her farther away. Right now, what she needed most was some time to herself. Time to think. Besides, even if he did find her, she had already made up her mind.
And he knew Natalie. A tender smile inadvertently lit his face. Once she had made up her mind, God help whoever tried to tell her different.
God help her.
He brushed the tears impatiently from his face, and rose to get a bottle from the fridge.
"Surely you knew this would happen, Nicholas," Lacroix spoke from behind him. "At some point, she was destined to move on, and leave you here alone."
Nick was in no mood to hear this. "Get out," he snarled, without turning to look at him.
"You didn't really want her to stay and waste her life waiting for you, did you?"
Nick continued to stare stonily at the floor. Minutes passed. Finally, he muttered, "No. Of course not."
"She's gone and made a better life for herself. You should be happy."
Nick spun around and glared at his mocking conscience. "What do you care?" he spat. "She means nothing to you."
To his surprise, Lacroix had no arrogant smile, no smugly lifted brow. "Ah, but she means everything to *you*, Nicholas. And that is what matters to me."
"Yes, well, your concern is touching, but unnecessary. What are you really here for?"
"Merely to keep you company." At Nick's cringe, he snapped, "It's only till sunset, Nicholas. Surely you can bear my presence for that long." Just as quickly, his features smoothed. "I didn't think you should be alone today. I wanted to be sure you didn't do anything... rash. I recall how despondent you were over that dancer, Sylvaine..."
So quickly did Nicholas attack, Lacroix didn't even see him coming. One moment he was talking, the next he found himself flying across the room, crashing heavily into the wall above the fireplace. "Don't ever, EVER speak that name to me, Lacroix! You don't have the right!" Nick was incandescent with rage.
Faster than the eye could see, Lacroix had Nicholas by the throat, his eyes yellow as well. Bringing Nicholas' face about two inches from his own, he snarled, "You will be *silent*, boy, while I'm trying to apologize!"
Stunned, Nick sank into the chair he'd been thrown into and stared while Lacroix crossed his arms, frowning, and looked profoundly annoyed.
"Whatever you may think of me, Nicholas, it was not my intention to drive you away. I was trying to do you a favor." Lacroix calmly withstood Nick's murderous glare. "I had seen that you were beginning to fall in love with her, someone you had never even met." He frowned, even in the memory. "I had hoped to forestall your infatuation before it took root." His frown grew more pronounced, almost a grimace, as he looked to the far wall. "I was wrong."
But when he looked back at Nicholas, his face was still and calm. "She would have left you, eventually. I knew, even if you were too blind to see. New horizons would catch her eye, and she would be gone. Just like Natalie. And Janette."
Nick abruptly rose and stood before the window, watching the skyline glow with the coming of morning. And as Lacroix came up to watch silently beside him, the words he didn't say echoed in Nick's mind. But I would never leave you, Nicholas. Never.
And as he watched the sky swell brighter and brighter, Nick wasn't sure if he should be furious, or glad.
He decided to be glad.
***
One month later.
It had taken her a full week to keep the tip up for any amount of time, and she felt perfectly arthritic with pain the first few days she tried. But Natalie was slowly making progress, hounded unmercifully by Adam, who appeared without fail at her bedside every morning at five sharp, coffee in hand. Actually, switching from a night schedule to a day schedule was simplicity itself, as it turned out. Skip over a few time zones, and you're done. Not that Scotland days were all that spectacular: it was cloudy and cool nine times out of ten, and the ground hadn't dried out yet from the melted snow, so the road to town was still totally impossible.
But she couldn't argue with Adam's logic for being far away from civilization right now, to cut down distractions, Immortal or otherwise. "Not good for PR to have the locals watch us crashing about with swords, now is it?"
She was even able to swing the stupid thing now with some semblance of control. She smiled, remembering her first few tries; spectacular disasters that sent Adam diving for the ground, sword flying wildly off in some direction. But he never got upset at failure, and refused to let her, either. His patience would eventually start to irritate her, if he didn't offset things with the occasional story of someone else, usually him, who had done something far more spectacularly stupid at one time or another. She was fairly sure he made them up on the spot, but that didn't keep them from making her laugh. As time went on, they were getting more and more used to each other's quirks, and she actually found herself beginning to look forward to the future.
"Enjoying the view?"
She turned and smiled. "Absolutely. How did you find this place?"
"A friend of mine recommended it." He smiled wryly. "Even if I did remember where I learned to fight, it's undoubtedly covered by a shopping mall or some other ghastly thing by now. One of the few things progress is not good for."
She smiled up at him, then returned to watching the view. Suddenly she pointed. "Look, there's the sunrise." Clouds did make for spectacular sunrises and sunsets. She learned that early, as well. For a while, she simply sat and enjoyed the beauty of the moment. Every morning, though, the sunrise inevitably reminded her of Nick.
The next time Adam looked down at her, she wasn't even looking at the sunrise anymore. Her face had saddened considerably in the morning light as she stared into nothing. Adam sighed. It didn't take a mind reader to figure out what she was thinking about. Or who. Seemingly of its own volition, his hand fell lightly to her shoulder. "You won't feel this way forever, you know. I know it's kind of cliché, but absence really does make the heart grow fonder." He smiled gently. "In a few decades, you may run across one another, and have a good laugh over it all. Life's too short to hold a grudge, Natalie. Even for us."
Natalie sighed, smiled gratefully up at him, laid her hand over his own, and looked back at the horizon. "I hope you're right."
"I am. Trust me." The two stood for a moment more, and watched the sun lift into the sky, before going back inside to start another day.
****
The lone figure swept through the airport, a small cloud of darkness against all the bright lights. It was too warm inside the terminal, the heaters had yet to be adjusted from last week's cold spell, but she seemed perfectly comfortable in the heavy cloak with its deep hood obscuring her face. She had little luggage, only a small purse on her shoulder. She coolly scanned the crowd, but she recognized no one, and none seemed to take any interest in her. Good.
Her limo was waiting for her when she stepped outside. She didn't hesitate, but stepped quickly in. She prepared to give directions to the driver, when he turned to her, and she sank into the back seat in alarm.
"Janette," Lacroix murmured, "don't you know it's polite to call before dropping by to visit?"
Recovering quickly from her initial reaction, Janette calmly took off her dark concealing sunglasses, and began to remove her gloves. "How did you know I was coming?"
He gestured vaguely around him. "Your taste has always given you away."
She smiled luxuriously for a moment. "Ah yes. I had thought it might be fun to come back in style."
"Which begs the obvious question, Janette," and she heard as well as felt the edge in his voice, "why have you come back at all?"
"You no longer have a hold over me, Lacroix. Don't you keep abreast of these things?" Could Lacroix possibly not know his own mistake? From the moment she heard of it through their small grapevine, she had intended to make the most of it. It seems she would have ample opportunity. He should have known he wouldn't be able to hold her for long...
***
Toronto, one year ago.
"Janette." That was all she needed to hear, even in the noise of the Raven, to know it was him. She turned, and was studiously unsurprised. He always enjoyed it when his children pretended to predict him. She motioned silently for Lacroix to follow her to the office behind the club.
She passed through the door without stopping, immediately opening a new bottle, allowing Lacroix to shut the door behind him. Once she had poured him a glass, and one for herself, she finally spoke. "So. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Lacroix sipped at his drink for a moment before answering. "I would ask... a favor of you." He set his drink down. "I want you to leave Toronto."
A slight widening of the eyes. Surely he wouldn't notice. "That is quite a thing to ask. I have connections here, a place, people who depend on my services..."
Lacroix nodded, having anticipated the counter. "They will be cared for. If necessary, I will run the Raven in your absence." He caught her eye and gazed at her intently to emphasize the importance of his words. "But you must leave quickly, and under no circumstances will you tell him neither that you are leaving, nor where you will go."
Caught in the middle again. Janette frowned. There was only one reason for her to be required to leave without notice. Lacroix was scheming again. For once, it wasn't hard to look bored. "What do you have in mind this time, hmm? Are you going to try to force him to leave again?" She smiled. "As I recall, your last attempt was something less than a success." She knew she would regret the words, but it was too much of a temptation. Lacroix so rarely failed, it was an occasion to be remembered.
But, surprisingly, Lacroix wasn't angry. He even smiled, and Janette began to feel the first threads of worry. He must be very confident of his plan indeed, to be in this good a mood. "Nothing of the sort. Nicholas has already set himself up for a fall. I merely plan to be there to watch it happen."
Janette set her glass down, puzzled. "What are you talking about? What fall?"
"Surely you've noticed how he dotes on that girl... Natalie, I think."
"Of course." Janette didn't like where this was going. She knew perfectly well how much she meant to Nicola, no matter how much she might wish otherwise. "You're not going to kill her, are you?" She shook her head in irritation. Sloppy. That couldn't be what he was planning. "He'll hate you all the more for it, make no mistake."
Lacroix snorted in disgust. "No, of course not. Why should I do anything, but let time take it's course?" He was already smiling again. It had been at least fifty years since she'd seen him so pleased with himself. "The result will be the same, and he won't have a reason in the world to place the blame on me. Because this time, I will have had nothing to do with his misery. All I have to do, is be there to pick up the pieces."
"You want him to fall in love with her!" She would have never suspected him to take this strategy. Therefore, neither would Nicola.
"Of course I do. The more lovestruck he is, the better my point is made in the end." Yes, of course. No wonder he was so pleased. It was simple and marvelously elegant. If he continued working steadily on his kinder and gentler image, as he had been since returning to them last year, he would be in the perfect position to comfort Nicola when the time came, to advise him when he was at his most vulnerable. Lacroix could tell him practically anything. It would be simplicity itself to pull him gently away from mortal life. Depending on how careful Lacroix was about it, Nicola might even be able to believe it was his own choice.
But he should have known better than to tell her his plan. The only time she ever refused him was when it came to Nicola. "Lacroix, don't do this. When the time comes, he'll need me." But she had a strong feeling that her small rebellion would futile. He would not have given her an avenue of escape; he knew perfectly well where she would stand on the matter. But she had to try.
He tilted his head toward her, raising the glass to his lips again. "Exactly my point. He's become entirely too dependent on you, my dear Janette. It is time that he came to depend on me."
She used her eyes and the tone of her voice to reinforce her words, as if they were the most obvious thing in the world: "He won't turn to you for help. He hates you too much." Believe it, Lacroix. Leave him alone. He'll be miserable enough without your help.
He lifted his eyebrows and nodded, conceding the point. "Perhaps not, but this is the best opportunity to find out that I'll have in a century."
She had no more cards to play, and she was out of options. All but the last, and the most dangerous. Janette watched him coolly. "And if I refuse?"
Lacroix stood and gently caressed her chin. "Then poor Natalie will die all the sooner. Nicholas will come to me with the blame, of course. And I, as you might expect, will have an alibi and witnesses. You, however, are a woman scorned." Lacroix shook his head in mock sadness. "It won't take much to convince him of your guilt." Then he smiled. He really was amused by this game. "And once the idea is fixed in his mind, nothing you say could possibly make him believe otherwise."
She knew immediately that it was true. Even if she went to Nicola now, right this instant, he would still be faster. Lacroix smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, my dear. Once the deed is done, you're perfectly free to come back. A head start is all I require."
His expression was patiently amused, hers was patiently bored. But their eyes, when they met, were anything but patient, and sparks flew. He knew exactly how much it would hurt her to watch Nick suffer, with only Lacroix to turn to, though that wasn't entirely his intent. And she knew how very much Lacroix wanted this moment, and how much he would give for its smooth completion.
There was really no contest. She was trapped; they both knew it. She hesitated a moment, then sighed. Well, there were aspects in his plan that were advantageous to her, no matter what happened. Besides, she had gained Nicola's trust before. In time, if need be, she could gain it again.
He must have seen the acceptance in her eyes, because he smiled just a little more, and said, "I knew you would come to see things my way."
He kissed her lightly on the cheek, and was gone.
***
Janette smiled. That was only a year ago. Nowhere near the amount of time Lacroix would require to bolster himself in his son's eyes. It was his fatal error, to assume that he would have decades; a mistake that no one, not even he, could have predicted. He had failed again.
And Janette felt like celebrating.
"Your time is up, Lacroix. He is mine again."
"What makes you think he was ever yours to begin with, or ever will be, for that matter?" Lacroix's tone was icy, and she had learned to respect that look in his eye. She decided to change her attitude, and quickly.
"Have you made progress?" she asked innocently, as Lacroix pulled out and began to drive toward the Raven.
"That depends on what you call progress." he replied sourly. "Things have not gone as I would have liked."
"More in my favor than you would have hoped?" she asked softly, her tone carefully neutral.
His mouth quirked at her caution. Or for other reasons. "Less, actually."
Her heart froze for a moment, then fell like a stone. "What?"
Lacroix frowned at the road in front of him, as if it were the one thwarting him. "I'm not sure how to bring him out of this new stage of bitterness that he's found, or," he admitted, "even if I should."
"Lacroix..." she whispered, "what have you done to him?"
They slowed to a stop in front of the Raven, and Lacroix turned to look at her fully, and she saw the faint traces of concern that marked his face. His honest answer chilled her to the bone.
"I don't know. But he seems to hate all the world but me."
****
The first thing she did, of course, was visit him.
"Nicola?" She tiptoed through the loft. "You know, you should really be more careful to lock your skylight..." She caught sight of him, sitting at the table, working, of course. He looked at her, smiled faintly, but didn't rise to greet her. "Hello, Janette."
She firmly stamped down the fear that stirred within her, and managed to smile with some amount of normalcy. "Now that's not a proper greeting, Nicola," she teased. She remembered a time when that remark would make him smile. This time though, it had the opposite effect. His smile seemed to waver, then disappeared. His expression changed slightly, and Janette paled. She could not remember a time when he had looked on her so coldly. Then he looked away, and she tried to shake herself of the feeling of dread that had enveloped her.
"So, how long will you be staying?" he asked conversationally as he went to pour the wine.
She cocked her head, and smiled in polite confusion. She couldn't believe that that was all that was bothering him. Easily fixed, if that was the extent of it. "I was only gone a little while, Nicola. I'm not going anywhere now."
"Yes, of course," he replied flatly. Janette's mouth nearly fell open in surprise. He didn't believe her! Not only that, but he didn't even seem to question the fact that she was lying. What on earth did Lacroix say to him? What on earth *could* Lacroix have said to him? Janette felt her fear begin to worsen. But there was nothing, *nothing* Lacroix could have said to turn him against her, not completely. She knew that with a certainty that she thought was unbreakable. He still loved her.
Didn't he?
She no longer knew, and that was worst of all.
She decided to stop dancing about the subject. She was no longer in a condition to do it very well. "Nicola, what is it? What's wrong?" The words had never failed to bring her a deluge of Nicola's current list of troubles. He had always confided in her, always. Even when he shouldn't have. That was another thing that never changed. Never.
Nick lost all pretense of politeness, as his eyes grew steely. "You left." His voice was still conversational, normal. He was more angry than she had ever seen him, ten upon ten times more angry. The feeling of dread got worse, and her jaw tightened.
Janette looked him full in the eye and withstood his glare. "I came back." It was her only defense.
He wasn't convinced. "You'll leave again."
Honesty was all she had left, no matter how painful. "And I'll come back again."
Neither of them would budge an inch, and the stare lengthened into minutes, until Nick snapped, "You *left*, Janette! You *abandoned* me when I needed you most!"
"You, having never neglected me a day in your life, oui?" She acidly returned. "Don't pretend to play the martyr, Nicola. Recall that I know you better."
Nick's face reddened in fury, as all his anger unleashed itself at once. "I NEEDED YOU!"
"And, of course, I have NEVER needed YOU!" she shouted back. "Or does screaming it at the top of your lungs make your feelings more important than mine?" Janette snarled through gritted teeth, "Try again, Nicola. Try harder. You came up with better excuses seven hundred years ago."
"So did you," he whispered bitterly. But the anger was slipping, and his face was collapsing rapidly into despair, one deeper than she had seen, even from him, in a long, long time. His gaze fell to the floor, as he murmured simply, "I lost *everything*, Janette. Everything. It was all destroyed, in the time you were gone. Everything that meant anything to me." His brow furrowed as he looked back at her face. Tears had formed in his eyes, though not a single one fell. "Can you possibly understand what that feels like?"
"No," she admitted softly, and added to herself, but I had thought I was going learn, for a moment.
He solemnly looked at her, watched her for a little while, until he spoke at last. "I wish you could have been here." But this time he said it in sadness, without accusation.
She wondered fleetingly if her own eyes were going to well up with tears. "So do I." That, at least, she could admit. I would have stayed if I could, Nicola, I swear it. "I am here now." It was all she could offer as an apology, an apology that was not hers to give. She damned Lacroix as she had known she would, for forcing her to leave, and reached out to him with one hand.
He grasped it, and she pulled him forward, into a tight embrace.
"You'll stay?" he whispered.
"I promise." Lacroix's voice seemed to whisper in her ear that promises such as these were made to be broken. Janette held on all the tighter, and prayed that this would be one she would be able to keep.
END.