When Nick fails to stop a shootout at the Raven, he has a nervous breakdown in which his perceptions of everything become extremely distorted. In his delusions, he is married to Janette, while Cohen tends to the Raven. The slant takes place when LaCroix' 'corpse' is found, and Nick's following flashback.
I offer no more than what comes directly previous to this scene.
Present day:
Knight walks into what thought he knew as Natalie's office, in the morgue. He calls out for her, no one answers. Eerie blue lights illuminate the room. A sheet covered form is seen on a table in front of him. After a moment of hesitation, Nick pulls back the covering. He stares down onto a prone, naked LaCroix laying before him.
Fade to Flash Back:
The warm yellowed glow of candles finds our pair in conversation. It is just after Nick has just fed from a young woman.
LC: [not seen, in French] "Nicolas?"
Nicholas has pulled back from the woman beneath him. He looks up to the soothing voice that has called his name.
LC: [seated, up and off to the side. he speaks again to the young one in French] "What's wrong my child?"
N: [confused and glancing back down to the lass. in French] "I don't know."
LC: [French] "Did you not enjoy your meal?"
N: [admitting the truth, though hesitantly. he tentatively smiles to his master. in French] "But yes."
LC: "Hmmm. [standing and moving across to the pair. all in English] When they are as beautiful as she, the flesh is like the sweetest fruit." (Nikkie is looking kinda angstish now.) "The blood like the rarest wine. (Honey and wine ;-[)?) [LC steps down a flight of stairs as he speaks, looking to the still form] The palette is tingled, the brain intoxicated. It is ambrosia. There is nothing that compares. [from a far shot Nicholas stands and pulls away. LaCroix descends the rest of the steps] Your first week of feeding has gone very well."
N: "Something isn't right."
LC: [he beams happily, as he passes his child on the landing. Nick is not amused] "Give yourself time. [with knowing assurance] You'll feel a little out of sorts for a while." [LaCroix is being uncharacteristically (To how we have come to know him.) patient and kind]
Nick shakes his head.
N: "No...it's not that. I feel fine. The blood is not the problem. It's...[pause] I don't know what it is...[confused, looking away, lost] But part of me wants to run from this."
LC: [he gives a laugh of understanding] "Of course. The last embers of your mortal conscious. [wide shot of the pair] Take a little time before they flare out, completely. It's the guilt, Nicholas. [Nick seems tied up in mental turmoil and anguish] You haven't quite shed your mortality yet."
N: "Then this is normal?" [pleading for relief from his master]
LC: "Oh, perfectly. To a point... But there are dangers. You must...kill this righteousness. [Nick turns his face down and away] Do this now and you will never question your nature again." (I guess Nikkie failed this test, huh?) "But allow your guilt to fester, to grow [Nick turns to LaCroix again, LC is getting serious] and strengthen...and there will be consequences...
(This next part must be one of 'THE' most delicious UFfish scenes, to me, that I've seen. My stomach tightened when I realized what I actually saw. How I missed it the first half dozen times I watched...I'm klewless ;-[).)
LaCroix walks up close to Nick, very close (
N: "Ah? [gasp] consequences?!" [fearfully, as he also grasps some [upper] part of LaCroix with his right hand]
LC: [smiling broadly] "Of the type you need never to experience. So long as you listen to me, do as I say."
All right, UF reality check here...I've watched this shot more than a dozen times now. The scene is dark and unclear. But! Walking "O" IS holding Nick's shoulder or upper arm with his left, as he talks to his new creation. At one point his gaze traces down to take in all of the lad before him. He then glances back to his hand as he caresses the man he is holding onto. I swear I can hear the sound of fabric being rubbed, along with LaCroix' exhale at the end of his words. Finishing his comments, LC turns to ascend the stairs behind him. Nicholas is still looking away, deep in thought. BUT... As LaCroix leaves, it is plainly shown, that he was holding NK's hand. Because... Nick's right arm is raised as the other leaves. His hand, now shown, in his masters. He only releases the mutual contact when LaCroix has stepped beyond his reach. (;-[) ;-[)!!)
Fade back to the morgue:
Nick now anguishes over a, seemingly, dead LaCriox. Unwilling to accept what he perceives.
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