Subject: House Call (vi) 1/1 Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 11:31:40 -0500 From: Lisa McDavid To: FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU This is forwarded for Apache, who is no longer able to be on Fkfic-l. Archiving permission is granted for the fic and ftp sites. McLisa From: Apache > >****** > >This story is the sixth in a series that was posted before most of you >were born... or hatched, as the case may be. It's a string of encounters >between Natalie and Vachon. This story happens the very next night after >number five, which, I just looked it up, was posted on April 24, 1996. >(Cue the chorusline...'Let's do the time warp agaaainnn...') > > >In the series, Nat and Vachon have gone forward to build a little on the >acquaintance that began when she came to treat Screed for the Fever. In >number five, the night before this one, Vachon came to Nat's apartment >uninvited to talk to her, somewhat troubled about something; she figured >out it was Tracy, his feelings for her, and the ever-fascinating issue of >whether a human can survive vamp sex. Eventually the conversation pushed >Nat's limits, and she shepherded Vachon out the door with a sort of 'have >a nice life' pat on the back. > > >********* > >House Call (vi) >Apache >PG -- sorry >Mel, please archive >usual copyright disclaimers > >for Dori > > > > > >House Call (vi) > > > > > > You know what happened in 1228? There's a book called Timelines, >you can look it up. The University at Padua was founded, ironically the >first great seat of medical learning in the West, home to the wisdom of >Galen and William Harvey. The first theories of blood circulation in the >human body were formulated there, with Galen's teaching that some >life-essence, the thing he called by the ancient word for breath/spirit, >'pneuma,' was mixed up in the blood, sent forth from the heart. Wouldn't >a vampire agree; doesn't a vampire think he gets the essence with the >blood? In 1228, Peter Abelard was teaching. The Fifth Crusade started. >The printing press was going to be invented in about two hundred and sixty >years. Joan of Arc... well, let's not get into that, cause Nick actually >-met- her. > > How? How? > > There is no one I can ask. There isn't even anyone I can tell. >What's incredibly frustrating is that a phone call away is a really nice >girl in the almost the same fix, and we can't talk. I know that she >knows, she thinks that Nick doesn't know, and Vachon knows that I know and >she doesn't know... aauuugghh! > > I'm almost ready to be on The Jerry Show. Or-- wasn't there a >fairy tale about a little boy who whispered "the king has donkey's ears" >to some plant? And the plant turned into a thousand reeds that all >whispered the same thing... > > That's it, Nat. Talk to the plants. Who knows, they might be >more talkative than the stiffs. > > Well, than all but one stiff. But that one, who woke up on my >table six years ago... life, and, for that matter, death, have never been >the same since that night. > > > I sighed, and picked up the phone. It was a number I'd never used >before. > > "Look, I don't really have anyone to discuss vampires with," I >said. "You wanta talk, you came over... talk. > > > > > > > "You want me to announce that Javier Vachon's Vampire >Psychotherapy Bar and Blood Bank is open for business?" He had a wry, >crackling voice, like a barely post-adolescent boy whose voice wasn't sure >it had changed for keeps. > > I gave him a smile that probably looked like it hurt, because his >smirk turned into a grin. > > "Hey... for you, no charge," he said. "My usual rate is a pound >of flesh." The vampire looked out his eyes for the smallest second. I >think I was getting a message that he had actually been kind of offended >last night. > > "OK, I guess I have that coming," I sighed. "But you gotta admit, >you're in pretty deep. You weren't on my doorstep for nothing -- and you >-weren't- on it because you wanted to apologize." > > He grinned. "OK, we'll call it even. Whaddaya want now?" > > "Okay, look. Last night you fenced with me. I don't have a >hundred years to indulge in a game of vampire semantics. There is stuff >I'd like to know from you, and maybe there's stuff you'd like to know from >me, I don't know." > > I folded my arms. "Joking aside, I think you want to talk about >Tracy Vetter. You don't want to, suit yourself. I do want to know if you >have sex with her, yes. I want to know how it goes. If that sounds like >kiss and tell to you, I can't help that. But it does, apparently, have a >bearing on what I'm trying to do for Nick." I met his eyes. "With Nick," >I amended. > > A long silence. The answer, when it came, was softspoken. "This >doesn't sound entirely like you're asking for the benefit of science." > > I sighed. And then drooped a little. "I suppose not." I turned >away, found magazines and pillows to busy my hands with, something to >carry to the kitchen, knickknacks to straighten. Vachon was easy in the >silence, simply watching me. I finally turned to look right at him. > > "Now I'm the science project, right?" I gave him a wry smile. >"The female of the species in its natural habitat?" > > Vachon's eyes crinkled. "Something like that. You want to get to >what's bothering you?" The smile faded and he shrugged. "No hurry, I >have all night." > > "Yeah, and all the nights after that, too." > > "Yes," he agreed. Again, where Nick would have flinched at being >reminded of his vampire nature, Vachon was wholly self-accepting. > > "Could you sit here and talk to me and then just go out and kill >someone else for their blood?" I demanded abruptly. //Oh my God, where >did that come from? But we were going to talk about love...// > > Vachon was blindsided, and he reacted by staring and then dropping >the mask that makes him look mortal. A calm face with very old eyes >looked back as his voice said, "Of course." > > I shook my head. "I could never--" > > "You could," Vachon interrupted, human-like again. His voice was >unexpectedly gentle. "If something brought you across, and you >survived... And if you don't know that, Knight's been lying to you >bigtime." > > "Which brings us back to... No, Nick doesn't lie to me." I >dropped into a chair and getting serious. "There are things he spares me, >that he thinks I don't need to know -- and sometimes when I learn them >anyway, I agree. Your world is -not- a pretty one, not even compared to >the world of a night shift coroner." I met his eyes squarely. "And no, I >don't think I'd want to live in it. I don't think I'd adapt." I took a >deep breath. Oh boy, I'm going to go ahead and say it. "My brother >didn't." > > Naked surprise stood out on Vachon's face -- was harbored in the >age-old eyes. It was the vampire, not the insouciant human pose, that >silently asked to know more. //In for a penny, in for a pound. Some >club,// I was thinking. //Lonelyhearts for ... vampire groupies?// > > I tried to keep it matter of fact. "Nick brought him across >because I asked him to. He... went crazy right away. He didn't... >survive." Even now, it came out as a euphemism. I couldn't bear the >mental picture of Nick destroying what was left of Richard. > > "So, for lots of reasons, I'm pretty sure your world isn't what I >want." > > Vachon had gone completely vampire-still. They're like statues >when they do this. Janette would do it, too, just pause and fall out of >time somehow. Nick doesn't do it so much -- his moods can be as >changeable as the wind, but it always seems like there's somebody *there* >in his eyes, someone having emotions, living a life. But all the other >vampires I've ever seen aren't like Nick. > > I caught myself thinking that. //Understatement of the century, >Nat. There is no one like Nick, not anywhere.// It made me smile a >little, actually. For all his multitude of failings, and all his fears >and miseries, and his desire to run away from hard truths -- and for all >the fact that he isn't a "person" at all, technically speaking -- Nick >Knight is the best person I've ever known. > > Vachon is not like Nick. In his stillness, he was looking at me >the way Janette would -- like the time I pulled bullets of her and joked >with Nick about where I'd say I found them. It made me remember how >carefully she noticed everything, how gently the scalpel and the probe >went into her body to find the foreign objects. She didn't thank me, but >after that... I'd see this look. This exact look I'm getting from Vachon. > > All he did for he longest time was blink occasionally. It made me >terribly self-conscious, so I went to the fridge for some cranberry juice. > > "Forget it," I said. "This was a mistake." > > "I don't think we can talk. Too many secrets." Even thinking >about it made me weary. // Let's see Tracy knows X, Vachon knows Y, Nick >knows Z-- and Natalie? Sometimes Natalie doesn't know a damn thing. And >other times...// > > "In fact, you know what? Too many secrets all around." I sighed, >and gave him a hard look that wasn't really about him at all. > > "You want to know the truth? Not only do I not belong in it, I am >really tired of the vampire world. Of the sneaking around. I think you >guys should just take out an ad in the New York Times that says, 'hey, >we're here. We control about a fifth of the world's wealth, and if you >don't like us, you can just... fuck yourselves.'" I almost never use that >word. Nick would've reeled, but Vachon doesn't know me that well. > > I sighed again. "In some moods, I'd do it for you." > > Suddenly Vachon was one inch away, his golden vampire eyes >gleaming down at me. They were darker than Nick's, I noticed, the >unsleeping scientist corner of my brain wondering if that was age-related >or just personal to the vampire. Blue eyes, brown eyes? Did it matter >right now? Was Vachon about to bite? //Nick, now would be a good time to >phone...// > > "Cut it out, Vachon," I said, bluffing. "You know damn well I >wouldn't dream of it." > > But he didn't cut it out. "You're not the only one who keeps a >secret, doctor," he said expressionlessly. "And your secret, whispered in >a certain direction... Knight should have done it. I should do it." > > "You're being a bully," I said, forcing the voice through terror. > > "A vampire, doctor." But he wasn't moving in on my neck. > > Now I was angry. "You don't like jokes? I don't like threats. >Bite me. Or don't. Just spare me the self-righteous Our Community act." >//Your community owes me,// I thought, but I was damned if I would say it. > > He backed away. His eyes flushed back to dark brown. "Okay, >then," I snapped. > > He shrugged. "Sometimes you feel like a Nat. Sometimes you >don't." > > //Enough already.// "You are such a poseur, Vachon," I snapped >again. "Does Tracy buy this act?" Just the clinical part of my mind was >remarking that he had actually never answered any question about Tracy, he >answered this one. > > "No. Never." It came with a grin. "Does Knight buy yours?" > > "I don't know what you're talking about." Actually, I did, but a >good piece of movie dialogue like that can buy you some time. > > He grinned again. "I'd ask if you buy his, but he's got so many >acts, how could you answer?" He is a maddening son of a bitch, this >Vachon. > > "And you're a tease, beautiful Natalie-- is that the real story?" > > "Will you please stop calling me that..." > > "You're right," Vachon said. "You're not beautiful." > > "Oh--that's--great," I said. "That's a wonderful improvement. >Just what I needed to hear. The dead guy thinks I'm not beautiful after >all." > > "You're not," Vachon said cheerfully. He reached out and plucked >at the ends of my hair, took one of the curls between his fingers and >delicately pulled it out long, nearly straight, so the color caught the >light. "You're something better. Splendid. Unique. And you hide >yourself among the dead-- and the undead." He flashed his wolfish grin. >"Like I said, you're a fool or Knight is." He let go of the hair. >"Actually, I think maybe you both are." > > "Pot calling the kettle black," I said sourly. But I was glad he >quit with the hair and the eyes, because that vampire seduction thing is >really tough to fight... //Lacroix, for example, even creepy, cruel >Lacroix... and Vachon is actually nice. At least most of the time. I >think.// I shook the thought off. > > Last night, it was just a joke to help me stay awake, but now I >felt a real desire to counsel Vachon, help him if I could. But what is >there to say? Good luck not killing your girlfriend? > > "About Tracy.... I can't tell you not to," I said, feeling my way, >"and yet I probably should. I guess we all have to make our own >choices..." I don't know who I was talking about anymore. > > I took the coffee cup back to the kitchen. "Part of me would like >to tell you you shouldn't do it. But we all have to make our own choices. >But there will be consequences." > > "You want to know if Knight loves you," he said very gently. I >gasped and shook my head -- but couldn't bring out the words to deny it. > > "I can't answer that. You want to know if vampires feel love?" >He sighed. "I think so." His eyes swung to meet mine. "Remember -- we >have twenty, thirty years of what you are-- but hundreds of what we are." >He gave a small coughing laugh, and his eyes wandered away again. He got >thoughtful, and licked his lips before speaking. > > "In some ways, what I know of what you call 'love' comes out of >the movies, Natalie. The passions of a mortal life..." A pause, and he >shrugged. "' We'll always have Paris.' 'I'd rather be his whore than your >wife.' 'It's like flying'..." He shrugged again. "I can fly. Whatever I >feel, it's not like that. But I don't know what it -is- like, not for >sure." > > His eyes came back to mine. He looked terribly unsure, terribly >young, and it seemed like a true picture of what he was feeling despite >the five hundred years. He reached out and took a strand of my hair in >his fingers again, but it wasn't me he was seeing. Or not just me. > > "I'd like to know," he said in an intense whisper. > > My mouth had fallen a little way open. Feelings like this? This >smirky, sarcastic, superficial....? > > "Boy, you really do fly under radar, don't you?" I said. And >Tracy Vetter never bought his act? "So does she," I muttered under my >breath, but he heard it and his eyebrows went up. > > "So what's in this for you?" I said. > > Vachon leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. His words >were almost inaudible. "I don't understand why a twenty-six year old >mortal makes me happy." > > "But she does?" I spoke almost as quietly. > > "Yes." The eyes travelled around as if different sections of the >ceiling each had their tale to tell. > > "Do you make her happy?" > > His head jerked forward -- he frowned with confusion, which was an >answer in itself. "Sometimes... " a deeper frown. "I want to." > > "Is that why you're going to go through with this?" > > He continued to look at me intently, but his eyebrows pulled >apart, his eyes unfocused -- and when he came back, he gave me a >schoolboyish grin. "Not entirely." > > His grin spread and turned into the wolfish grin that makes me >start thinking of his victims-- what better way to get food than make it >want you? Make it love you? My mind wandered again...// does Nick have a >look like that that I've never seen? Did he go out in the evenings and >turn on that sexy smile, with all the hidden strength shining out behind >it? And then five minutes later it's over.... where do you go with that >smile then?// > > "Do you have a relationship with a vampire?" > > It came out of me without thinking. Vachon's posture instantly >went taut again, and his eyes pinned me. I felt an intuitive certainty >that if he does, Tracy doesn't know anything about it. It wasn't actually >the two of them I was thinking of, but Nick and Janette, that air between >them, always thick with history -- and Nick would never say how much. >Off limits, off limits -- but how could I help but wonder if he went to >her? // A woman he couldn't hurt...// > > ...A mercy fuck,' in the ugly phrase of medical residents. >You're on duty forty eight hours during which you're not allowed to sleep >-- what else are you going to do in the cot room? Grab a little sex, >because who has time to date? > > "I'm asking because I don't know how you guys live." He relaxed a >little. "Unlive," I cracked. He smiled, so I pressed on. "Like if >you pair off, marry..." > > His eyes flashed. "We hunt together." He smiled blandly, but it >was a taunt, and I gave it a resigned nod. "Yes, sometimes," he said more >seriously, then frowned. "It's often a matter of, mmm, family." > > "Master/child?" His face cleared. "Yes." He added, more softly, >"and in my case, yes." > > In ten minutes I'd gotten more straight answers from Vachon than >in four years with Nick -- and now this. It practically knocked the wind >out of me. > > "How do you expect Tracy to handle this?" I said. In my >mind's eyes, I was seeing the way Nick and Janette would tilt toward each >other easily, the quick darting looks they'd give each other, full of >messages that were as foreign to me as the noises only dogs can hear. >"You said it yourself, she's only 26. Or will you--?" > > The schoolboy grin again. "You're asking me a lot of questions--" > > "--that you don't ask yourself," I finished for him. I gave him a >twisted smile. "My favorite kind, believe me." > > The flashing grin. "Touche." He shrugged. "You know, like, I'll >burn that bridge when I get to it?" > > I caught myself smiling back. Charm and likeability -- never mind >vampire charm, many perfectly mortal people float through life that way, >catching a slide or some slack because of that easygoing, yeah I'm a jerk >oh well, self-deprecating acknowledgement. Can a vampire slide by like >that for centuries? Did Nick? > > "You can't play with Tracy's life that way," I said. "It's not a >good enough answer." > > His face froze into a very Nick expression: the pout of a vampire >whose just been told something he doesn't like. I laughed, and of course >he didn't know why. > > And it was too much. No farewells, just whoosh, the vampire >doctor was no longer in. And I had no idea how he got out of the room, >didn't even hear the door open and close at some incredible speed. > > "Sorry, Vachon," I said out loud, in case he could still hear me >somehow. "Pot asking the kettle not to be, ya know?" > > > >************** > >Apache > >feedback gobbled at lf@cais.com > >--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- > >For BUFFY or BABYLON 5, SPAWN or SOUTH PARK, NextPlanetOver.com >sells the cool stuff you want. Shop now and get your FIRST ORDER FREE!! > Click Here > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >