This is the first Round Robin that was originally posted to the FK Vals list.
Standard disclaimers apply.

Natalie jerked upright in response to Nick's yell, her right hand flying to her throat in an unconscious attempt to hide the all too obvious evidence of her recent activity. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure both vampires were being deafened by the sound. A nervous giggle, quickly suppressed, accompanied the irreverent thought that she'd never consider "necking" in quite the same way ever again.

She stared at Nick as though she'd never seen him before. And maybe she hadn't. This...creature that stood before her, eyes blazing red, fangs gleaming whitely from parted lips bore little resemblance to the blond detective she saw every day. Not even when he'd had to fight - to kill - Richard had he seemed so...inhuman. She glanced quickly at LaCroix, who still held her in a light embrace. If Nick, for whom humanity was a prize to be treasured, could become so much less than human, what would LaCroix, with this total disdain for all things mortal, be like?

As if to answer her question, the elder vampire increased the pressure of the hand he'd kept on her back, bunching the material of her dress in his fingers until the fabric molded to her torso like a second skin. She flushed at the unbidden thought of his hands stroking the contours of the material and barely prevented her moan of pleasure from becoming audible. LaCroix released his hold with a light brush of his fingertips up her spine.

"Nat, it was a hoax." The coroner broke her gaze from LaCroix' and struggled to focus on what Nick was saying. He was squatting in front of her, gripping her shoulders and rocking her gently back and forth, eyes and teeth back to normal.

"W-what?"

"The asteroid isn't going to hit us. It never was. It was a scam." Natalie shook her head rapidly. Nick was very relieved to hear her heart beating steadily and surely.

"But, how...? Why?"

"I'll explain later. Let's go to the loft and I'll tell you all about it."

The blond vampire stood, urgently lifting Natalie by the shoulders.

"Don't you think you should wait for the good doctor's consent before removing her from the room?"

The laconic voice stopped Nick's motion. He set Nat back onto the sofa cushion and turned to face his father. He fought to keep his beast at bay as he rasped, "*You* didn't give her the option of choosing freely, so why do you expect me to? You weren't going to tell her about the hoax, were you? You would have brought her across based on a lie, manipulating her fear to get what you wanted. And you accuse *me* of not giving her a choice. You -"

Nick's tirade ended as he realized his father was no longer paying attention to him.

LaCroix had lifted Natalie's hand from her neck, capturing her gaze once again, and gently extending her index finger. Bringing it to his face, he licked at the still-wet blood adhering to it from the twin scrapes on her throat. He stroked the finger with his lips, slowly taking it completely into his mouth, savoring every deep red drop he encountered. He gradually drew the finger back through the moist pressure of his lips, letting his tongue swirl around the sensitive pad. Dropping a light kiss on the tip, he folded the finger down toward the enraptured coroner's palm before deliberately extending the next one and bringing *it* to his mouth.

Taking his time, the ancient vampire lavished the same attention on each finger. When he was finished, he pushed the fingers down until their short nails pressed lightly into skin . Then he flattened them out again and pressed a lingering kiss onto her upturned palm before placing the hand chastely on her lap.

He smiled blandly at his son and, his voice huskier than he would have preferred, asked, "Are you willing to give her *that* kind of choice, Nicholas? Are you even able to do so?"

The younger man glared at his master, unable to speak around the revulsion clogging his throat. How could Natalie have endured that disgusting display? LaCroix no more cared for her than he had for Fleur. He only wanted to prove his superiority, to revel in the thrill of the hunt. He would only use her until he tired of the game and then would abandon her, dead - or worse. Nick shook his head. He couldn't allow that to happen. Nat was too precious to him.

"Well, are you, Nick?"

Natalie's voice was ragged and breathless, but its tone was sharp, insisting on an answer. An answer she wouldn't like.

"Nat, you know it's not possible. We can't -"

"It's possible for *him*. She jerked her head in LaCroix' direction, the memory of his hands and teeth on her body momentarily softening her expression.

The change wasn't lost on Nick, who swallowed hard, or LaCroix, whose eyes glittered briefly in triumph. The younger vampire quickly tried to regroup, taking Nat's hands in his, the right one still wet from LaCroix' earlier attention. He sought her eyes with his and began to plead his case in a soft, insistent voice.

"No, it's not, Natalie. He might keep control longer than I can, but he'll eventually need to have it all. Your blood, your feelings, your memories...your life."

"Really, Nicholas. There's no reason for all this melodrama. Dr. Lambert is well aware of my "needs". Just as I am of hers. They're really quite elemental. Very easy to...taste. She wants to be caressed; to be loved; to be aroused; to be fu -"

Nick's backhanded blow caught LaCroix squarely on the right cheek, snapping his head to the side. A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth where his teeth had broken the skin. He whipped his head back around, growling between descended fangs, and grabbed the younger man's throat as he stood up, lifting him effortlessly off the ground.

Natalie scrambled away from the couch, flattening herself against the farthest wall she could reach. She watched in horror as LaCroix shook Nick and flung him across the room. She started to go to him, but he was back up before she took even a step. In less than a heartbeat he'd pushed LaCroix back on the couch and jerked the older man's head to the side, exposing the long column of his neck.

"NOOOO!"

Nick stopped his strike millimeters from his father's throat. His fangs ached to finish the attack. To taste his father's blood one last time. To be rid of him at long last, free to live his life as he wished, to be with Natalie -.

Natalie! Why had she stopped him? She knew what LaCroix was. She had heard all the stories; she had been outraged - revolted - by his behavior. He was the antithesis of everything she was. Dark to her light. Evil to her good. Devil to her angel. Death to her life. Why, then, hadn't she let it finally end?

Natalie moved away from the wall, but wasn't ready to close any more distance between her and the two...men. Her eyes darted rapidly between them, trying to evaluate what she had just witnessed. Again she reminded herself: she was a doctor - a scientist. She dealt in facts. And the fact *was* that if she allowed LaCroix to do what she requested, she would have the potential to act as they had. Was she ready to see herself as a snarling, mindless creature with the ability - the desire? - to destroy her enemies? And who would her enemies be? All mortals? Only criminals - the way Richard had done? Weaker vampires? She smiled ruefully. Would anyone be weaker than she was when she first came across? She shivered. Would she be the prey of other vampires?

"You will not be the weakest of our kind, Natalie. Strength comes not only from age, but also from will. And your will to survive is among the strongest of any mortal I've ever met. Also, you would be under my protection, my tutelage. I would allow no one to harm you."

In response to the skepticism that flashed briefly in her eyes, he added simply, "It is what a...father does."

He felt the need to have her as more than a daughter burn rapidly through his belly and just as quickly conquered it. He took in a deep gulp of air and used it to distract them both from his all too revealing admission.

"To answer another of your questions, you would not have to be mindless. That is one of the major differences between my oh, so impetuous son and myself. He denies what he is and, therefore, has no control over it. I, on the other hand, embrace my nature and use it to my benefit. Did you think me out of control just now? Trust me, my dear, I executed every maneuver exactly according to plan."

The former general lifted a mocking eyebrow toward the homicide detective. "Can you say the same, Nicholas?"

The blond vampire looked at Natalie, begging her to hear the truth in what he was going to say.

"Is this what you want to be, Nat? Do you want to spend eternity with someone who will deliberately manipulate your feelings according to some calculated "plan" that suits his own needs with no thought for yours? Trust me, Natalie, LaCroix takes his role as "master" very seriously."

LaCroix waved his hand dismissively. "I at least allow her a choice. You choose *for* her. And what is your choice, Nicholas? A short, sterile mortal life? Unrequited "love"? Unfulfilled passion? That's no choice at all. Not for a vibrant, intelligent, passionate woman. Is it, Natalie?"

Her name was an invitation and Natalie felt herself respond to it. She leaned forward, eager to hear her name on his lips again and at the same time anxious to silence his mouth with hers. She took one slow step and then another, each one committing her more surely to eternity.

"Nat, please."

Nick's voice was barely a whisper, but it stopped her immediately. She could hear the desperation and the - love? - behind the words. Did he really love her? Would he ever be able...willing to give her what his father had shown her was possible?

LaCroix said he was offering her choices, but she wasn't weighing them very carefully. Although she had learned that Nick's view of his master was only one part of a many-faceted whole, it still needed to be considered. She would have to live with *all* of Lucien for a very long time. She took a deep breath and expelled it, more sharply than she intended, in a question.

"Lucien, why didn't you tell me about the asteroid being a hoax?"

The vampire's first response was to ignore the question. Once the good doctor came across, the circumstances surrounding her transition would no longer matter. She would enjoy her eternal life in a way Nicholas never could, bringing with her all the pleasure and passion his son was afraid to accept. He was tired of the delay; this endless debate that Nicholas needed to involve everyone around him in needed to end. No one else could agonize over a decision for 800 hundred years without resolving the issue. He strode purposefully toward Natalie.

Then he glanced at her face and saw the faintest hint of doubt in her eyes. He extended his other senses and scented the beginnings of fear and heard the percussive confusion of her increased heart rate. He sighed silently in exasperation. He would *not* create another "problem child" - especially not with this woman who so excited his imagination - and other things as well, he admitted ruefully, as he shifted his weight to relieve his discomfort. Damn Nicholas and his eternal quest!!

LaCroix took another step toward Natalie, but stopped when a barely perceptible stiffening of her posture signaled her determination to keep her distance. He would not move too quickly with this one - there was much too much to lose. He decided instead to answer her question with one of his own.

"When you came to me, when you asked for my...assistance, were you merely afraid of dying when the asteroid hit or were you pleased to have an excuse to satisfy a desire you weren't quite ready to admit even to yourself?"

Natalie's eyes flashed in anger as her head snapped up, ready to deny any truth in what LaCroix said.

"Blood...doesn't...lie."

The words, spoken so deliberately, with no hint of seduction, destroyed the remnants of the coroner's bravado and shattered her final illusions. Finally realizing how he had read her thoughts, anticipated her desires and enhanced her pleasure, Natalie fully understood the enormity of the decision she had to make. If she chose LaCroix, she would be able to hide nothing, but experience everything. With Nick, she would never have to confront the darkest parts of her nature, or gratify her equally well-hidden desires.

She *did* have a choice - one that required her to strip away all the pretense, forget all the excuses and look honestly and objectively at who Natalie Lambert really was and who she wanted to become. Not who she was expected to be to advance her career, or fit in with her colleagues. Not who Nick needed her to be or who she *thought* he wanted her to be. Not who LaCroix wanted her to become or who he made her believe she could be. But who *she* needed to be to treasure *herself*. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be.

She looked at the two men, measuring each with the dispassionate yardstick of her newfound reality.

Nick stood completely still, his eyes telling her of his love, his clenched hands betraying his fear.

LaCroix slowly lifted his index finger and lightly dragged it through the blood he'd kept trickling from his mouth. He gracefully turned his hand until the red-coated finger was extended toward Natalie and purred,

"It's your choice, doctor."

End Part Six...