Subj: Conversion Day Challenge: Buried Secrets (01/01)
Date: 08/24/00
To:   FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU
 
Just a little vignette, because I've always wondered
how it would have played out that first day when ....
well, you'll see.
 
 
Buried Secrets
Kathy
Yello96@aol.com
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"Nichola!  I'm speaking to you."
 
Nick glanced up, meeting Janette's irritated glare with a bemused
expression.  "I'm sorry.  What did you say?"
  
She huffed impatiently.  "I <said>, that ghastly Herbert character
was telling me ... oh, never mind,"  she surrendered as she noticed
his attention slide back to the documents on the desk before him. 
"What could you possibly find so fascinating in those ... <papers>?"
she asked, using the final word as if it were an expletive.
 
Nick looked up again, this time with a spark of animation in his
eye.  "It's an archeological digest.  It --"
 
"Oh.  Spare me the tedious details,"  she exclaimed airily, waving
her hand as if to brush the matter aside.  She regarded him critically
for a moment, then draped herself across the corner of his desk, one
leg swinging free.  Giving him a long-lashed look, she purred,
"Nichola, the city outdoors awaits.  Why don't you leave your
studies for just a short time, and you and I --"
 
"Janette!" he cut her off with exasperation, standing quickly and
leaning forward to rescue the pages that she'd displaced as she
shifted her leg on the table top.   He snagged the papers from the
edge before they could slip off -- the fireplace was much too likely a
destination for an errant page.  "Mind what you're doing.  
The fire ...."
 
"Fine," she snapped, rising to her feet.  "Stay in here and rot, for all
I care."  Turning on her heel, she stalked toward the doorway.  As
she stepped through the door, she glanced back over her shoulder
with a small sniff. "Maybe LaCroix should --"
 
"Maybe LaCroix should what, my dear?"  LaCroix's voice came
from immediately in front of her.  Janette halted in her tracks, just
barely avoiding colliding with him.  
 
"I'm surprised to find you two still in the house on such a beautiful
night," LaCroix continued after a moment, his voice low as he
smiled and ran an appreciative hand along the fabric of her sleeve.
 
She returned the smile.  "I'm just leaving now.  Alone,"  she added
pointedly, casting a disapproving glance back towards Nick. 
"Nichola is mired in his latest hobby.  Those papers were delivered
today, and he hasn't lifted his head from them since."
 
LaCroix's smile grew wry.  "Yes, he does appear preoccupied.  Well,
you go.  Perhaps Nicholas will join you later.  I might even be
tempted, myself."  He stepped aside, allowing her passage, lifting an
eyebrow as her muttered remarks floated back to him before being
cut off by the closing of the front door.  He moved into the room,
turning his attention to Nick, who had returned to his determined
study of various official and academic looking documents.
 
"Nicholas, you don't care to go out this evening?" he queried with a
touch of amusement.
 
Nick glanced up distractedly.  "Yes.  I mean, no, I don't.  I'd rather
finish this reading," he said, still gathering together the pieces
Janette had disturbed.  Then, with a small smile, he added, "That is,
before Janette manages to dump the lot into the fireplace."
 
"Indeed.  She tells me you have something new to fire your
enthusiasm," LaCroix commented casually as he strolled to the
window.
 
"Oh yes.  It's Pompeii -- they've an amazing archeological dig there. 
They've discovered the remains of the city, buried under the ashes
of the Vesuvius eruption.  The detail of the preservation is
incredible!"  Nick looked towards LaCroix with excitement,
brandishing the papers in his master's direction.
 
LaCroix stood before the glass, motionless, looking out into the
night sky.  After a seemingly interminable pause, he murmured,
"Really?"
 
Nick was silent, surprised at the flatness of his master's tone. 
Usually, LaCroix paid more attention to discoveries of such
historical things, especially those which centered around Roman
culture and activities.  Although LaCroix's frequent reaction to the
announcements and theories of scholars was one of derision and
amusement, the old devil nonetheless exhibited an interest in such
pursuits.   'Idiots,' his master would say, snorting his contempt, but
then he would avidly peruse the latest theses.  Nick knew very little
of LaCroix's Roman background, and he definitely knew better than
to ask about it outright, but at times like these he'd often been able
to glean a few, scant facts or even a brief story from his maker.  
 
Nick had found those discussions fascinating in the past, and he had
hoped that LaCroix might be tempted again now, with this latest
discovery.  But he was puzzled by LaCroix's cool reaction.  Perhaps
this wasn't the first LaCroix had heard of this.  LaCroix had a way
of knowing things far in advance of the general public, let alone
Nick himself.
 
He tried again, this time rising from his chair and circling to the
front of the desk.  "Yes, it's quite remarkable.  Look, here...," he
began, rummaging through the papers scattered across the polished
oak surface.
 
LaCroix remained silent, eyes closed, head cocked slightly, as if
distracted.  When he spoke again, his tone was flat as before, but
there was a slight edge to his voice.  "Nicholas, enough."
 
Still carried away with his own excitement, Nick located the sketch
he sought.  "You see?" he offered, pointing to the sketch and its
attached articles.  "Buildings, pottery, sculptures, even the evidence
of human remains!   They've already excavated several grids, and
the finds are exceptional -- apartments, public houses, a brothel!  
And there's so much more yet to be done.  I thought...," he paused,
looking up and feeling a bit disappointed to find LaCroix apparently
ignoring him.  "I thought," he continued, "we should go down there. 
To be involved in something of this significance --"
 
"No," LaCroix interjected quietly. 
 
Losing a beat at the unexpected refusal, Nick took a breath and
stared at LaCroix.  "I know your business here in town is not
completed.  I'll go on ahead.  You could join me later -- and I know
Janette would love to visit the Mediterranean again.  It is just that
this is such an important find ...."  
 
"Enough, I said!"  LaCroix cut him off sharply, turning from the
window to regard Nick with a baleful glare.  "I have no patience
with these ridiculous pursuits of yours.  I have no intention of 
visiting that pathetic site, and neither will you.  I'll hear no more
about it."
 
Nick froze where he stood, taken aback.  But he wasn't yet willing
to give up on the chance of participating in a project of such
magnitude.  Meeting LaCroix's eyes, he dropped the sheaf of
papers back to the desktop.   "It would only be for a few months --
the winter, perhaps.  I'll rejoin you wherever you wish."
 
Before he could blink, Nick found himself slammed back against the
wall, LaCroix's fey glare pinning him as completely as the
unforgiving grip on his throat.  For a terribly long moment, it
seemed LaCroix's hand would continue to tighten on his neck until
the bones beneath shattered to dust.  Nick labored in vain to speak,
or even draw breath, and spots of grayish light danced across his
field of vision.  
 
But just as suddenly, he was released; the abrupt withdrawal of
force left Nick reeling and weak in the knees.  He struggled to
remain standing as he sucked in a blessed lungful of air.  
 
LaCroix stood over him in silence, then offered in a strangely
dispassionate voice, "This is pointless.  Dispose of those."  He
waved in the direction of the papers on the desk.  "There's nothing
to be learned from that so-called scientific excavation.  That part of
the past is dead -- as mortal as the fools who now scrabble in its
dusty remains. We'll speak no more on this topic: you're quit of it." 
He straightened, tugging on his jacket to set it aright.  "My business
here does indeed require my immediate presence, but upon
completion we shall leave for England.  Be ready to depart within
the week."  He studied Nick for a moment longer, and then, without
warning, was gone from the room.
 
Making his way unsteadily to the desk, Nick paused, rubbing at his
neck and watching the doorway through which LaCroix had just
vanished.  He leaned on the edge of the desk, trying to shake the
unsettled feeling that facing an angry LaCroix always produced. 
 
This was damned odd.  He knew he'd pushed the issue a bit, but
LaCroix's harsh response had been completely unexpected.   Was it
even about the dig at all?  Perhaps LaCroix was angry about
something else.  Perhaps LaCroix was aware of some of Nick's
other lines of  'research....'  
 
Nick pushed the thought aside quickly -- no, LaCroix couldn't
possibly have knowledge of that.  No, more likely, some
complicated business affairs were to blame, as LaCroix had implied. 
And knowing LaCroix, his dealings could involve anything from the
sinister to the saintly.  Nick took a deep breath, relieved to find that
his throat was almost completely healed, and regarded the papers
before him.  
 
Dispose of them, LaCroix had said.  Well, that was hardly
warranted, was it?  After all, even if LaCroix thought it misguided,
the expedition had some interesting aspects.  Tucking the papers
hurriedly into a valise, he set it out of the way, just inside the door
to his room.  LaCroix may want nothing to do with it, and may have
forbidden Nick's involvement -- although he figured there were
ways around that -- but LaCroix might change his mind in the
future.  
 
It was worth the risk.  Who knew what telling revelations would come
out of those ashes?  Pompeii was undoubtedly a treasure-trove of
buried secrets.
 

  
End.
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