Lucien LaCroix

**Lucien LaCroix** was an ancient and malevolent vampire who continuously meddled in the lives of his progeny.

## History

### Human Life

Formerly called **Lucius**, he served as a general in the Roman army. He claimed to have played music with Emperor Nero during the Great Fire of Rome in 66 CE, however this claim is dubious as he was still a human at the time. In 79 CE, General Lucius returned to his home in Pompeii to discover his daughter Divia had been turned into a vampire at the behest of his wife Seline, who hoped to cure her from a mysterious illness.

### Vampiric Life

Before long, however, the volcano Mount Vesuvius began erupting. To help him survive the catastrophe, Divia sired her father. The two traveled together for roughly twenty years before Divia brought him to the Tomb of Aya-Hotep in Egypt. There she revealed she had imprisoned her own Maker Qa'ra the Ancient One within a sarcophagus. She explained that human laws no longer applied to them, and attempted to convince him to become her lover. Revolted, he imprisoned Divia within the same tomb her sire was trapped in.

Sometime after this he adopted the name Lucien LaCroix.

Throughout his many centuries alive, LaCroix Embraced many vampires. Of all of them, the one to remain at his side the longest was Janette DuCharme -- who he sired in the eleventh century. He had learned she was a prostitute serving an abusive pimp, and offered her a chance at vengeance which she accepted.

Over a hundred years later, the two came across Nicholas de Brabant as he returned from the Crusades via Paris. He was disillusioned and ripe for seduction -- Janette tempted him with sins of the flesh, and LaCroix with the promise of eternal life. Almost immediately afterwards, Nicholas began to have doubts -- something that caused considerable tension between LaCroix and his progeny. Arguments between the two frequently ended with LaCroix demonstrating the power of the sire bond which he held over Nicholas.

Shortly after Nicholas' Embrace, LaCroix, Janette, and the new member of their family visited his family's castle. Once there, LaCroix fell in love with Nicholas' human sister Fleur de Brabant. Nicholas managed to persuade LaCroix not to Embrace her as well, pointing out that everything that LaCroix loved about her would be lost if she became a vampire.

The trio of vampires remained together for the next several centuries, despite Nicholas' reluctance and growing regret at his now unholy existence. LaCroix was determined to force Nicholas to come to terms with his vampiric nature, and so did everything he could to prevent them from parting ways -- even as Janette came and went freely from their company. Despite LaCroix's best efforts, Nicholas began only killing those he determined guilty and seeking a way to cure himself of vampirism.

During the Crimean War, LaCroix was staked -- though it missed his heart. However, deeply wounded, he depended on Nicholas to save him. Nicholas did so and then took advantage of the situation by finally abandoning his Maker. LaCroix could not accept this and spent the better part of the next hundred years pursuing his rogue progeny in order to convince him to return to a normal life. Some of these gambits did impact his progeny, though not in the expected way -- when LaCroix successfully proved that Nicholas could not always judge who was guilty, Nicholas swore off killing humans altogether.

Nevertheless, LaCroix refused to give up on his progeny.

## Source

Lucien LaCroix is derived from *Forever Knight*.