Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 21:34:56 -0400 (EDT)
      

The Guiding Darkness
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Part 4
Elizabeth Allen


Natalie stood in the sporting goods section of the store with her mouth
hanging open for what seemed to Lacroix as an eternity before she said,
"You must be joking!!  I wouldn't ever dream of going to the Raven
without Nick !  I'm stalking you? You must know by now that I am not a
vampire groupie or even a wanna be! Your alternate "lifestyle" makes me
sick!"

"Now, Dr. Lambert, I know you were at the Raven, I saw you...with my
cold dead blue eyes...look into my eyes Nat....look deep..." his voice
softened to almost a monotone.  She seemed entranced as he spoke.  All
she could hear was his voice and the sound of her heart beat.  "Tell me
Doctor, were you at the Raven last night?" he all but whispered into her ear.

"At the Raven...last night...? I...I...was at the Raven last night!" She said
deep within his trance.

"Good Doctor, why were you there?"he asked again with just a touch of
menace in his voice this time.  A helpless worried expression formed
across her face when she said, "I...I..I wanted to see you, Lucius..."

"Why did you need to see me?" he asked.  

Natalie's answer spilled out of her like a mountain waterfall, "I missed you
...Nick was away and not around to have any arguments with you...you argue a 
lot in front of me and I like it!!  You are so wicked and smart and I like it
when you are one up on Nick!! I...I...love you!  You are soooo hot!"

Lacroix felt as if his white cold skin were on fire!  He hadn't felt a
blush like that in at least a thousand years! After a few moments had passed
and he had regained his cold composure he cleared he voiced gruffly and said
loudly, "Doctor Lambert, Doctor Lambert....can I call you Natalie?" he asked
as innocently as he could.

Somewhere in the haze, Natalie answered, "Huh, what? No, don't call me
Natalie....call me Nat.  And no I am not following you!  Goodbye,
Lacroix!" she walked away in a snit.

"Moody this week?  Hmmmm.....she likes me!  She likes me!!  How can I
make this work for me?" he almost did a little dance out of the sporting
goods dept.  He then went to the roof of the store and SWOOSHED back to
the Cerk radio building for this evening's edition of the Nightcrawler.

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