Plot Twists (3/3)
by Sandra Gray
Place: The loft
Time: Thursday, July 12, 2001, right after "Plot Twists (2/3)
Everyone used with permission


LaCroix extricated himself from the Knightie women and stood.
He smiled weakly at them while he inwardly fumed.  *How
revolting!* he thought.  *How can Nicholas allow these...
sheep...to treat him like this?  He is a *vampire*.*

He quelled his desire to slaughter all the silly followers of his
son, however tempting the idea.  *I am Nicholas,* he told himself,
and focused on his mission.  But he was starting to wonder if
these women had *any* clue about what was causing their leader
to switch bodies.

LaCroix decided he needed a drink and walked...calmly...over to
the refrigerator.  He wished it wasn't cow blood, but it would
have to do.  He poured the blood into his glass and turned.
Another Knightie woman he recognized as Nancy Taylor was coming
down the stairs.

Sandra, still sitting at the table, said, "Is the shield still
holding?"

LaCroix perked up his ears.  *Finally.*

"Yeah," said Nancy.  She walked over to the kitchen to get a
drink.  "What was all the laughing I heard?"

"We were playing Twister with Nick," said Katrinka.

"And no one told me?"

"Sorry, Nancy.  We can play again."

*Not again,* thought LaCroix.  He took another drink of blood,
keeping his expression carefully neutral.

"Later," added Katrinka.

"Yes, I have to get ready for work," said LaCroix.  "I'm afraid,"
he added with an apologetic smile.

Sandra stood and turned to him.  "No, you don't.  It's your night
off, remember?"

"Oh, yeah.  Guess I forgot."

Sandra approached him, frowning.  "You can't go out.  The magnetic
shield won't protect you if you go out."

*Protect me?* thought LaCroix.  "I'm not going to be able to stay
here forever," he said.  He extended his vampire senses and did
indeed detect a magnetic force that seemed to be surrounding the
loft.

"I think I have an idea for a portable shield," said Nancy.

"That's great!" said Katrinka.  Nancy walked over to the couch and
started to explain her idea to the rest of the Knighties.  LaCroix
pulled up his chair again.  As he listened, he became more anxious.
This woman was proposing to fit Nicholas with a portable device
that would surround him with a magnetic field, which they felt sure
would protect him from switching with anyone else.

"But what about the others?  Nat, Screed, LaCroix?" he asked.

"Once we test the portable device, we'll tell the other factions how
we made them," said Katrinka.

"Then we'll be able to devote our time to finding the rift in the ley
lines that's responsible for this," said Sandra.  LaCroix looked into
his descendant's blue-gray eyes.  "Although I can't say I'll like
helping LaCroix."  LaCroix kept his eyes on hers, then very naturally
looked at Katrinka as she said,

"So do you need to take any measurements of Nick, Nancy?"

"Yeah.  Stand up, Nick."

"I'll go keep an eye on the radio frequencies," said Eowyn.  She
headed up the stairs.  LaCroix stood up and Nancy approached him with
a measuring tape.  She started to take measurements, which Katrinka
started to write down.  The other Knighties watched Nancy enviously.

LaCroix tuned them out, his mind fastening on what they had told him.
If they had succeeded in finding the cause of the switching, they would
be able to restore things to normal.  *This magnetic shield must act as
a barrier to invading personalities,* he thought.  That lead him
logically to a very daunting thought.

*I could be stuck inside Nicholas forever!*


--Sandra Gray, forever Knightie
--sandragray@rica.net