Sail Me Away (Open)

[lestat2]

Armand almost looked like he was going to cackle at the idea of having my blood. Great, so he did partly want my blood for more power, such a devil he was and yet he was my devil now. My devilish 'master'. I leaned down kissing his ruthless lips, extending the little kiss that he had intended. "Well, try not to drink me dry, I have trust in you that you won't." I said with a charming smile.

I looked away in disbelief, my mouth almost dropping open in sorrow. My beautiful dancer was doing drugs, my poor beautiful dancer. "Oh Armand." I said sadly, almost begging. "We can pretend we never saw him doing this." I knew that it was too late though, Armand had seen him doing something considered evil, giving him the perfect argument to kill him. "I cannot do it, Armand." I said covering mouth, in that moment I must have seemed as weak as Louis to Armand but my heart had already formed some what of an attachment to the mortal but I quickly changed my mind again, stamping my feet slightly at my indecision.

"Oh, I don't know!" I paced back and forth, I had to make a decision fast before Armand made it for me. It killed me to waste such mortal talent, I think I was having such trouble because I saw Nicki in the Parisian boy. I looked at him with sad eyes. Could I let Armand kill him? Could I really? It was cowardly to do so when I could do it myself. "Mon dieu. I'll do it." I said with a sigh and with in a second I had the slim male dancer in my arms, such grace, such perfection he was, I couldn't help but let my hands run over his body as I had him in that deathly embrace.

I watched the light leave the boys eyes, he looked at me as though I was his angel. I dropped him in a dumpster and couldn't help but think even his blood had been such perfection. I sighed mournfully. I would get over it in an hour but for now I was sad that my toy had been disposed of. I guess I'd just have to find a new dancer to play with. "And he was so nice too." I said sulkily, moving back to Armand obediently.

"Now what, merciful master?" I said, with slight mocking though there was no malice behind it. I was just a little moody. I took his hand, showing that I meant no harm. "I think we should do back to the hotel now, if that is what you wish?"

[Feel free to do what ever you like with Lestat, he's Armand's now, don't be afraid to drag him around or boss him around, I'm cool with everything unless you start controlling his reactions]

[Armand]

[All right! =)]

”Then you’re an idiot, my frien—my slave,” I chuckled. Yes, he was going to my slave tonight…and hopefully the night after that and the night after that, even though he had only offered up to be my obedient fledgling tonight. Of course I was going to extend that little contract for as long as I could. ”For there are a lot better places you should be putting your trust than in me.” Truer words were never spoken in all of history.

I had always been under the impression that Lestat was as ruthless a killer of the evil doer as I was, but now here he was, all not wanting to kill a drug addict. Drug addicts were all evil doers. Who could say what awful things they did to others or to themselves when they were high? Lestat was making me chuckle too much tonight, as I again let out a hearty one as he wanted us to pretend we hadn’t seen it going on. ”We could easily pretend that pigs fly in the sky too but we won’t, and we won’t pretend we didn’t see this either,” was my reply. I knew it was downright horrific of me to ask Lestat to kill him but playing the villain in life is a lot easier than playing the hero.

The answer finally came that I had been expecting all along. I watched intently as Lestat made his way over to the dancer, giving him the fatal embrace. But I couldn’t stare at the spectacle for too long because the drug dealer was running for his life towards the other end of the alleyway. All I had to do was think about it and then I was standing right next to the dealer. I wrapped him into my own deadly embrace, sinking my fangs into the tender flesh of his neck. Images of his life flashed through my mind and, let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. It was your typical drug dealer stuff that made me all the more grateful I was ridding the world of this piece of evil scum. Once he was gone, I pierced my tongue, letting some of my blood drop onto the puncture wounds to make them disappear. I then dumped the body by the dead dancer and licked the remnant blood off of my teeth, savoring each last drop.

Was Lestat going to hate me for making him do what he had just done? I looked over at the younger vampire warily. But his hand was in mine again and, while he seemed a little downtrodden, it appeared everything was fine between us. I wasn’t as ready as he was to call it a night though. ”No,” I said rather adamantly, ”I want to break into the Louvre. Surely you have some tricks up your sleeve that can get us past all of the security alarms and whatnot.” And the human security patrolling the inside would be a piece of cake.

[lestat2]

I grinned. Oui, Armand was definitely different to Louis, would Louis ever tell me to break into such a prestigious building? Would Marius ever? They would both have a heart attack if they knew what we wanted to attempt. I still had Armand's hand in mine and I asked him, "Ready?" Before we took off high up into the sky and then came back down landing on the roof of the Louvre. We're going to have to be quieter than quiet. I told him between our minds and I instantly loved that I could communicate with him in such a way. With Armand and I, there were no barriers that held a fledgling from it's maker, I could see into Armand's mind and he could do the same to mine, we could feel each others presence, we could communicate with minds. It was so quiet with Louis, I could not hear a thing that went on inside his head and I knew he was constantly thinking of something.

We moved to a skylight above the security clad room, two men standing below us. I closed my eyes and imagined the wires of the security and cctv melting under an intense heat. As I imagined it, it happened for real and the guards below became puzzled, flapping around the controls like headless chickens. Silently, I removed the plastic keeping us out of the room and looked down at the men with a devilish grin. I take it you know how to kill a few men, Armand? I thought to him cheekily and sarcastically with a smirk.

I nodded to tell him I was ready to jump in and I went down inside, gripping on to a mortal immediately and twisting his neck. I went from each one with a preternatural speed, killing them swiftly one by one, the ones that Armand had not reached yet. Guards kept running into the room to see what was happening and then something happened that I hadn't anticipated. I was too cocky, to assured that a few mortals couldn't harm me, you'd think that right? Considering how fast and strong I've got but no, that wasn't the case.

I'd been shot. I hadn't noticed at first as pain never really affects me but then I noticed blood, large amounts of it and I wondered who's blood it was. It happened to be my blood. I looked at my stomach in shock, the large wound was already trying to heal but due to the bullet being lodged inside it couldn't heal properly and that caused the bleeding to continue. "What the..." I said, pressing my stomach, I was still shocked that something as simple as a gun could cause such a mess out of my immortal body. I looked around for the red head but Armand was busy tackling some other guards I suppose.

Armand, I've been shot. I sent out, making sure that no one else heard the call. If Marius heard of this then he would go mad. The Vampire Lestat, shot in the stomach, this was mad. How had I not seen the mortal with the gun? How had my attention lapsed so dramatically? I laid down on the floor and stuck my fingers into the wound, trying to extract the bullet so that I could heal and I would stop losing my precious blood. The more I tried to reach the bullet, the more I made a mess and the more the blood pumped out. I hate this god damn feeling, losing my blood all over the floor, my life force.

Where the hell was Armand? Why the hell was he taking so long? Did he not realise how much blood I was losing? Maybe he thought I could handle a little gunshot? Armand, I need you to remove the bullet from my body so I can heal. I called again, my vision going a little as I laid still. If I moved, only more blood would pour out. I had now successfully spread my blood all over the white marble flooring, they'd have to clean it up before they left in case someone decided to put it under a microscope.

[Armand]

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this grand idea before. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the other immortal companions I had once surrounded myself with didn’t know how to have a fun time. But now I was with Lestat, just the creature of the night who would have absolutely no qualms about breaking into the Louvre with me. It wasn’t long before we were there and jumping up onto the roof. I gave a slight nod of my head at his warning. It was nice not to have that communication barrier that I had had to share with Marius—and that communication barrier was exactly why Marius had turned Sybelle and Benji for me. He had thought I was going to give them the Dark Gift eventually, so he did it for me so that barrier wouldn’t be there between us for all of eternity. But that was a whole different story and not important to what I was doing right now.

I hope that was a rhetorical question, I shot back, giving Lestat my own devilish grin. Before the guards knew what was going on, we were both inside. They got on their little walkie-talkies, calling for backup. I went from guard to guard—I can’t say from man to man, for there were some female security guards coming out of nowhere—breaking this one’s neck, taking a draught a blood (always hiding the wounds with my own blood afterwards) from that one before doing the same. It was a splendid feeling, being able to create havoc this ruthlessly. It almost reminded me of that Florentine dinner banquet my master and I had attended centuries ago. I had been unable to help Marius with the killing back then, still being a mortal boy at the time. But tonight I had absolutely no problems moving from person to person, killing with impunity all those charged with protecting this museum.

But then came the gunshot—deafening to mortal ears and multiply that by a thousand and you’ve got what I heard. I didn’t let it break my concentration though, seeing as there were only a few guards left to take care of. And then I heard Lestat’s voice again in my head, proclaiming that he had been shot. No big deal, right? The wound was going to heal on its own. Lestat knew that. After all, I was the one who had thrown him off the tower. He knew the amazing healing capabilities of his immortal body.

Two guards left and Lestat now telling me that I needed to remove the bullet from his body. So maybe there were limits to our healing capabilities. We couldn’t rely on our bodies alone to dislodge objects the skin couldn’t close around. One of the guards rushed at me. I grabbed him by the hair, twisting his neck. Not a problem. The other one, gun out and ready to pull the trigger…No. Not ready to pull the trigger. He dropped it and started running the opposite way. I couldn’t let him leave this place alive, not after all he’d seen. I used my preternatural speed to catch up to him and broke his neck just as easily.

I made my way back to the room where all of the carnage had taken place. Lestat looked horrible, too pale now. My eyes were drawn to the pool of blood surrounding him. I quickly made my way over there. ”Lie still,” I told him, even though he seemed to have the lying still thing down already. I carefully unbuttoned his shirt and pushed the two halves out of the way. If Lestat had been mortal, he would have been dead long ago from this wound. I stuck one finger and then another into the hole, groping around slowly, lest I push the bullet farther into him. Thankfully, though, it was within easy reaching distance, and I was able to snatch it up and pull it out. I put it into my pants pockets because we couldn’t let the police find it.

But none of this solved the problem of all of the blood Lestat had lost. He needed to feed and mortal blood just wouldn’t cut it right now. Without thinking about it, I rolled up one of my jacket sleeves and bit into my wrist. ”Drink, Lestat, as much as you need,” I said, placing my bleeding wrist up against his mouth. Centuries ago, I had refused to give him my blood but he hadn’t been my companion then. Things were a lot different tonight. We were together, and I wasn’t going to let him wither away because it had been my brilliant idea to come here in the first place.

[lestat2]

I would have refused, with the power I had now and with the bullet removed I would have been able to heal much quicker than I may have done over a century go. The wound was already sealing and the blood had stopped wasting upon the ground but Armand insisted I drink from him, his bleeding wrist so tempting at my mouth, did he not know how dangerous it was to tempt a strong drained vampire? Despite my loss of blood I could still pin him easily and drain him dry, I liked to think I had more will power than that though.

"Armand." I whispered in warning, he had two seconds to change his mind before my mouth latched onto his wrist. The two seconds were gone and my tongue darted out to taste his warmish immortal blood, my tongue traced the wound, my eyes flickering in ecstasy before my lips covered the bleeding puncture. I began to suck greedily, the pure pleasure and intimacy of such a thing made me moan, I could not remember the last time I shared such an experience, perhaps it might have been with David. My fang sank into Armand's wrist taking a few more deep sips before pushing him away. I had drank hardly anything from him and was still a little pale but I did not wish his blood just because I was injured, I would live.

Sitting up with a smirk, I dipped my fingers in my blood I'd left upon the floor and smeared the wet red elixir upon my lips. I lent forward and kissed Armand daringly, the blood covering his mouth too. It was these sort of intimacy's that bonded a master and 'fledgling', and we were alone now, were we not? What better place to bond together that the Louvre, the mess we could deal with in a minute. Mischievously I put some of the blood upon my face for him to lick away. To be truthfully honest, I'd only ever shared such moments with Akasha, my fledglings would never indulge in something so 'crude' as they would say. Akasha has been my only true lover and she was dead, it had hurt me to see our queen die but she had been completely mad with her ideas.

"What part of the gallery would you like to see first?" I asked him, my nose brushing his cheek gently as I spoke. "I would really like to see the paintings." Although the thought of paintings made me think of Marius, they were still my favourite part of Art, I loved to see the detail in such paintings. Paintings could immortalise a person forever and there was something more personal about a painting than a photo. An artist would spend hours with the person they were painting, I'd loved how personal it was that the artist learnt every single pigment of their models skin. I had paintings around my home, some of them painted by Marius, some of them painted by mortals.

[Armand]

I wasn’t going to change my mind. Nothing on Earth would have made me change my mind. I knew the inherent risk of offering him my blood but none of that mattered to me. He needed help, and I was going to help him. It was that simple. Too many times it had seemed the both of us had refused to help the other, no matter how much we pleaded and begged. I was determined to make sure all of that changed. It was like we were both getting a new lease on life to make things better for ourselves, the way the things always should have been for us.

And when he finally did clasp down on my wrist, I couldn’t help but moan in a combination of ecstasy and pain—but not the pain that mortals feel. More like a pain you knew was supposed to be there but wasn’t. I could feel my heartstrings being pulled. I wanted Lestat to drink more and more and more. What would it matter if he drained me dry? I would be living on in him and in my only fledgling, Daniel. But it didn’t last long. The pleasure started and stopped what had to been less than a minute later. He had had nowhere near enough of my blood. I wanted him to drink more, to tell him it was okay. I didn’t care how much he drank. But I knew my pleas would fall on deaf ears. Lestat was going to let his body heal on its own. So be it.

Ah, but what was Lestat doing now? I had told him that I would take his blood at the right moment, and what better moment than now? I had just helped save his life, hadn’t I? He owed me. I bent into his kiss, ravishing the younger immortal’s lips as most of his blood was transferred over to my mouth. I only broke off the kiss to greedily lick his blood from my own lips, making sure that I didn’t miss a drop. It only left me wanting more. I was the demanding young boy I had been all those centuries ago again. I was going to protest that he was teasing me, that after I had given him so much, he had given me so little. But before I could coherently form the words, he was smearing his blood on his face. Marius and I had had our share of very intimate moments, both when I was a mortal and immortal, but he had never done anything like this. I wasn’t thinking that clearly though. I wanted Lestat’s blood. I was going to take it in whatever way he offered it to me. One of my hands, wrapped around his beautiful blond hair, while the other stayed on the cold floor for support. I jutted out my tongue and slowly, savoring each precious drop, licked off the blood. I could only imagine what a mortal’s reaction would have been to this scene…Two young men sitting on the ground of the Louvre, one licking the other’s cheek.

It took all of my willpower not to move my mouth down to his neck and take the great fount that I wanted. Instead, I stood up, grateful for what I had received. I offered a hand to Lestat to help him up. I couldn’t hide the shocked expression that crossed my face at his words though. ”Are you crazy, Lestat?” I blurted out. ”Someone will have heard that gunshot and reported it. The police will be here any minute now. We have to clean up and get out of here before anything worse happens.” Thank God there was someone with a rational mind here.

[lestat2]

I smiled at the feel of his tongue on my face, it was soft but needy, I could tell that Armand wanted every thing I could give, the impatient little imp that he was. I knew that because he had given his blood to me that he felt obliged that I give something in return, personally I felt like I owed him nothing, I could have called others for help and they would have come like obedient puppies to help their Brat Prince. It was nice to know I had people I could rely on now where as a hundred years ago I had no one but Armand to beg to.

I took his hand, always marveling at how a petite body had such immense to pull me up from the floor without any effort what so ever. I laughed heartily, the terrific sound ringing through the massive building. "Of course I'm crazy, have you not realised that yet?" I asked him cheekily and with in seconds I had moped away the blood I had left upon the floor. "What are we to do with all the bodies? Shall we just leave them there? They have forensics these days, they'll find the same finger prints on all of them and probably match it to the dancer and the drug dealer we dumped in a dumpster." I said, crossing my arms in thought.

I set one of the bodies on fire and incinerated it until it was only ash which took immense heat, the smell was horrendous but it got rid of the evidence. I asked Armand to move away before I started to set them all on fire, I'm sure the heat of it would set us a light from even this distance, immortals could be quite combustible. Eventually they were all nothing but ash and I swept them all away. I could now here the sirens in the distance of the French Police and jumped back up through the skylight.

"Shame really." I said to Armand, screwing the skylight back on with my mind. "I would really have loved to see the paintings. I did not sense the gun at all, I did not even hear it go off, I do not understand it, where was my concentration?" I found myself sitting on the roof, the police would find us here but I suddenly found that I was too weak to fly. The burning of the mortals, the replacing of the skylight and the speed I had done it all in had really drained me when I was still not fully fit. I shook my head, I thought by now I would have known what I was and wasn't capable of, what was wrong with me tonight?

I stood trying to will myself to fly again but with only forty feet off the roof I found in horror that I lost concentration, my weak body unable to keep me up, I smashed back down again. My bones were strong and did not shatter like a mortals but I was still shocked from the pain and slightly concussed from bashing my head at full force. Stars spun before eyes just like in those silly cartoons and I could feel myself losing consciousness slightly.

Armand, there is something wrong with me, I can't fly. I said to his mind, I wasn't even sure if he received the message I was that out of it. It was almost like I had some sort of illness infecting my capabilities, I was sure I would have been able to hear and dodge that bullet normally. It then struck me that maybe there had been something in that mortals system that had effected me, like a drug of some sort. Armand had touched my blood, would he be infected by it soon as well?

[Armand]

Oh, I think everyone who knew Lestat was well aware of the fact that he was crazy. Only he would join a rock band and create songs that revealed some of our deepest and darkest secrets. Only he would travel to Heaven and Hell with Memnoch the Devil. Only he would do any of the things he had done in his few centuries of life. ”We should hide the evidence,” I heartily agreed. Lestat began burning the bodies. I focused my mind slowly on the one that was in front of me. I thought about it bursting into flames…I thought and I thought and I thought…But nothing was happening. Hang on, wait. It looked like something was happening….Yes! There was a flame but it didn’t take long before I realized it was Lestat doing it. The rest of the bodies were already gone. So it would seem I needed to grow older or gain more powerful blood from others before I would have the Fire Gift too. Pity. It seemed like so much fun.

I followed right behind Lestat back up onto the roof and let him put the skylight back on. ”You didn’t hear the gun go off?” I repeated, finding it rather odd. A lot of strange things had happened tonight (starting with the fact that we were now companions) but none of them should have ruined Lestat’s concentration. Vampires couldn’t get sick like humans could but they could certainly be affected by things that were in a mortal’s bloodstream that shouldn’t be. God knew I had felt a drunken sensation plenty of times when drinking from humans who weren’t entirely sober.

I watched Lestat take off from the roof, and I was going to follow after him but…Wait. Look at Lestat come plummeting back down on top of the roof again. I probably would have had plenty of time to react and catch him but, hey, you try watching a friend fall forty feet from the sky. You’d freeze just as I froze. Okay. I’ll admit it. I even squeezed my eyes tightly shut. None of that stopped the thud from reaching my ears though. But Lestat was used to these long falls, all thanks to me.

When he was safely on the rooftop, I made my way over to him, crouching down beside him. I did catch his message. You’re an idiot, I told him, never missing an opportunity to chastise him. You should have let me help you regain your full strength. That was my way of saying, ‘You should have drank more of my blood when you had the opportunity. Or you at least should have let me help you dispose the bodies in a less tasking way.” There were other ways besides fire to destroy evidence. Of course, it was partly my fault for not thinking of any of them at the time.

I looked over the rooftop and saw the police lights were still a safe distance away. I’ll fly us both to the hotel room, I grudgingly said. Yes, my preternatural strength would make carrying Lestat like a mortal walking around carrying a feather all day but that didn’t mean I was looking forward to it. I bundled Lestat into my arms, being as gentle as I could, knowing that that fall had to have hurt. Once I was sure he was nice and snug in my grip, I took off from the roof, silently grateful that it was a rather windy day and that I was flying with the wind to get to the hotel.

Only seconds later, though, Lestat wasn’t as light as a feather anymore, and I was starting to feel dizzy. What was going on? This wasn’t supposed to be happening! I started to lose altitude too quickly. There was no way we were making it to the hotel like this. I landed on the ground. We were only four or five blocks from the Louvre. At least we were far enough away to be relatively safe here. But I didn’t want to be out here on the sidewalk, lest some mortal walk by and see Lestat’s bloody shirt from his now healed gunshot wound. I carried Lestat into a nearby alleyway, walking about half way down it. I then set the younger vampire down and took a sit, my back up against the wall. ”What’s going on, Lestat?” I asked, trying my hardest to hide the slight edge of panic I was beginning to feel. The sun was going to be coming up in precisely two hours. There was still another five blocks to go before we got to the hotel but, with how I was feeling right now, I wasn’t even sure I could make it that far without passing out…if vampires could pass out. It was amazing how much I couldn’t know about my own kind until I experienced something for myself or heard stories about others who had gone through something nobody thought was possible for us to go through.

[lestat2]

I looked at Armand, my head turned towards him as my back rested against the rough brick wall. I dreaded telling him that I'd given him intoxicated blood, the two of us could be toast to a crisp in this alley and it was all my fault and my only excuse was that it had been an accident. "Armand, I fed you my blood before I realised it was tainted." I said a little sheepishly, no doubt Armand was going to get angry. I couldn't understand how he'd been so badly affected though, he'd only touched a little of my blood, was it because his body was smaller than mine or because his blood was less powerful?

Shakily, I tried to stand, I still looked paler than normal from the blood loss but I couldn't just sit around for the sun to come up. "Can you walk?" I said looking down at my 'master', trying not to incur his wrath. "I can try and carry you on my back to the hotel. I'm not sure how far we'll get but it's better than just sitting here waiting for the sun to rise." I felt absolutely ghastly, my head was pounding, my limbs felt weak, my vision wasn't as sharp as normal, it almost reminded me when Claudia had poisoned me. I didn't wish to be set on fire when the sun rose, the pain of it was terrible, not to mention it takes weeks to heal and then I would have to call for help which I didn't want to do.

"I know! I'll try and hail us a cab." I said, wondering why I hadn't though of it before. I could drag us to the cab and the cab could take us to the hotel, that way we'd make it to safety before dawn struck. I left Armand sitting in the alley before he could respond and stumbled away and then I received quite a shock. An image appeared to me, standing not to far away, a vision of Claudia. I knew for a fact she was living in New Orleans so her spirit couldn't be here, unless a part of her dark soul had been left behind here in Paris. It was a vision of the past, she was dressed in one of my favourite dresses I had bought for her, and in her hand was a kitchen knife.

"Absinthe?" I said to her, knowing I was mad for talking to a figment of my imagination.

`Absinthe, Father,' I saw the ghostly mirage of Claudia say, `and laudanum!'

"No, no Laudanum, just Absinthe this time." I continued to talk, there was no way the man had been poisoned with Laudanum, he wouldn't even be standing would he?

"He was illegally taking Laudanum as a drug and had foolishly mixed it with Absinthe, if you had not killed him, he would have been dead by the end of the night anyway." The ghostly mirage said, shocking me out of my wits, I stepped away from her a little. Memories aren't meant to say new things. Was it my subconscious telling me this? Or was it some devil trying to mess with my head.

"Did you do this, Memnoch?" I said to the past image of Claudia. "Did you affect the boy so he would become a drug taker? Did you play with his soul so that you could poison me?" The image smiled and ran towards me with the knife but before it could stab me it disappeared. Instead I was left with a shallow cut upon my stomach with a slash through my clothes. My imagination wasn't that strong, that image had been something else. I almost fell to the pavement but I managed to wave a cab and told the driver I would just fetch my friend.

I stumbled back to Armand, gripping the wall as everything spun before my eyes. "Come Armand, I got us a cab." I said, shaking. "I'm not sure if I can carry you, I need you to walk on your own."

I was beginning to wonder if what ever force had poisoned me, had deliberately shot me also, I immediately wanted to blame Memnoch but I knew there were hundreds of other hateful forces in this world, I wondered what the hell was out for me now.

[Armand]

In all fairness to Lestat, it wasn’t completely his fault that we were in this little predicament right now. I’m the one who had insisted that his little mortal friend die. I’m the one who wanted Lestat’s blood. I could have taken the high road on either of those occasions and none of this would have been happening. But was I going to admit any of that to Lestat? No. I was his ‘master.’ I wasn’t going to appear weak in front of him. I looked up at Lestat, not bothering to hide the anger in my eyes. ”Now I know why no immortal can stay with you for an extended period of time. You’re a walking disaster!” I spat out. It was either yell at him or start to cry. Once again, I couldn’t appear weak in front of him.

”If I could walk, do you think I’d still be sitting here?” I inquired, my words a little bit more gentle than the ones I had spoke before. Would I have seriously walked away from him because of this one brief moment of anger? You bet I would have. A short temper, impatience, and the desire to stay out of as much trouble as I could, all led me to wonder what I was doing with Lestat.

And then Lestat came up with another idea, leaving me to get the cab before I could protest. Hopefully, whatever driver he found would mind his own business and think we were just two silly young humans who had had a little too much to drink and combined the alcohol with some drugs to make us seem so out of it. And Lestat leaving me so finally gave me some time to ponder my thoughts all alone.

I wasn’t surprised when my first thought was: What would Marius think about all of this? As much as I wanted to despise the Child of the Millennia, I couldn’t. I would always have a soft spot for my maker. He taught me a lot—both as a mortal and immortal. He was the complete antithesis to Lestat’s maker, who had left him high and dry right after giving Lestat the Dark Gift. So, what would Marius think about all of this? First, no doubt, he would gently have chastised me for getting involved with the likes of Lestat. I would have said something harsh back to him. Then, he would have patiently explained his views, and they would have made perfect sense but I would simply brush them aside, telling him he didn’t know what he was talking about. It seemed like that’s how everything ever went for us.

It seemed like forever until Lestat came back to me. He was still clearly having a lot of trouble seeing. My vision certainly wasn’t perfect but it was a lot better than it had been only minutes before. ”I can do it,” I said, slowly getting up from the ground. I stood in spot for a brief moment, letting the spinning world I saw settle down and then wrapped an arm around Lestat’s shoulders so we could help each other make it to the cab. I’m sure the driver had a grand time watching us carefully make our way over to the cab. I opened the back door for Lestat and waited until he was in before following behind and shutting it again.

I gave the driver the address of the hotel…Five short blocks and then we would be safe. I didn’t speak a word to Lestat on the ride over there, either out loud or in his head. I was still angry at him for turning what should have been a glorious night into the opposite. When we arrived at the hotel, I pulled out a wad of money (I always traveled with the stuff) and paid the driver, giving him my thanks. I stepped back out into the fresh air and went into the hotel’s magnificent lobby. Should I go back and help Lestat? No, he could take care of himself.

The man behind the front desk only gave me the most cursory of glances. I was sure that he was used to people coming back this early in the morning in a state of intoxication. I made my way over to the elevators (one of my favorite mortal inventions if I must say) and this time waited long enough for Lestat to join me. I pressed the button that had a nine on it, and we were soon standing outside of my room. I opened it up but found the need to plop myself down on the bed, stretching my legs out in front of me, from sheer exhaustion. There was a lot I needed to say to Lestat but I found myself unable to utter a single syllable of it. I was the angry child who would rather give their parent the cold shoulder than let them know how they felt.

[lestat2]

It stung more than I thought it would. I was expecting some harsh insult or snipe, like I often give my fledgling, Louis, I can't help them, it comes naturally but the insult that dropped from Armand's mouth was harsh. I didn't need need Claudia here to stab me, all I needed was Armand's metaphorical dagger stabbing me in the heart. The fact that no ever spent too long in my company was a delicate matter for me, I tried not to think of such things but when someone else brought it up, it confirmed I wasn't being silly and in fact it was true, no one did want to be in my company for too long.

My head dropped and my eyes looked to my pointed polished boots. I suppose he expected me to yell back at him, to fight perhaps but my heart held more self loathing than anyone realised, no one hated me more than I hated myself. I might brag about my devilish good looks or act like a brat prince but in reality, when I looked in the mirror I saw someone I wanted to punch in the face. I sighed at Armand. "I see." I said dejectedly in a quiet voice. I had to put on a brave face before he discovered a self loathing side I showed to no one. I held my head as high as I could in my drugged state and tried to put on a sneer to make it seem as though I was looking at him with hate.

The cab drive was just as bad, I felt terrible the whole way, physically and emotionally. This was all my fault, I had accidentally dragged Armand into one of my dumb adventures. Maybe I should just stay away from everyone, it would kill me to do so as I hate to be alone but if it spared everyone trouble then why not? Hell, why not beg the ancient twins to destroy me, they probably could and it would put everyone out of their bitter misery. I was beginning to think no one cared for me at all in this world, I felt truly and utterly unloved. I felt like slapping myself to pull myself together, to regather my optimism, but my optimism was wearing thin this century, this year would be my 250th birthday and perhaps I could make it the last. Perhaps I should sleep for centuries and start a fresh even.

I watched as he sat upon the hotel bed, I sat upon the floor coming to the conclusion that I'd probably sleep there also. I was quietly, unusually quiet for the usual never ending chatter that I could spout, normally about my 'wonderful' self. I said nothing though, and I let him think that perhaps it was the drugs affecting me, I closed my mind up tight as I could under the circumstances. I laid down on the carpet, everything spinning in front of me. This would all wear off by tomorrow night, but the damage was already done, I'd already ruined everything yet again. I should have tasted the Absinthe and Laudanum on the dancer straight away and yet I was so concerned with killing him swiftly that I really paid attention.

"I think I was deliberately drugged and deliberately shot at. I think someone planned it. I saw... something. I don't think they had expected you to help me though." I said and wondered whether I sounded completely paranoid.

[Armand]

Why did it feel like everything always had to be about Lestat? He had been deliberately drugged and shot at. He saw something, and these mysterious forces or single force that had done this to him didn’t think he would have anyone help. Maybe I shouldn’t have helped him. Maybe I should have let whatever was after him win…I shouldn’t be thinking those thoughts, not now. My barrier was up, protecting me from others reading my thoughts, but that didn’t make me feel any less guilty thinking them. I loved Lestat. I couldn’t let whatever it was that wanted harm to come to him take him from me.

First thing first though. I couldn’t stand the thought of Lestat sleeping on the hard ground when the bed was plenty big enough for the both of us. Ever since staying with Benji and Sybelle in New York City, I had found my coffin unnecessary. The heavy drapes across the one window in the hotel room plus the bed’s comforter to pull completely over my head were more than enough protection from what little sunlight might be able to get into the room. ”Come here, Lestat,” I commanded, moving over to one side of the bed and patting the now empty spot next to me.

Once he was settled next to me, it was time to get to bottom of everything, figuratively speaking because there was no way we really could get to the bottom of everything in the time we had left before sunrise. ”Who…or what could have known that you’d take a fancy to that human and that I’d be here to goad you on to feed off of him?” Lestat taking a fancy to a handsome young man wasn’t surprising at all but he never would have taken him as a meal if I hadn’t been around. So, what was I? Just some pawn in this thing’s game with Lestat?

And when whatever it was thought I was no longer useful as a pawn what would happen? Would it try its little tricks on me too? Was I going to die because Lestat didn’t know how to stay out of trouble? I knew I should be uttering all of these questions to Lestat but I couldn’t open my mouth….because I didn’t want to know the answers to any of those questions. I didn’t want to die because of whatever was going on but, at the same time, I couldn’t bear to leave Lestat and let him face this danger on his own.

I was going to stick this one through. Lestat needed someone on his side. God knows, I knew what it was like to feel unloved by everyone. You may think that’s funny coming from me. I had my mother growing up in Kiev Rus. I had Marius save me. I had Marius teach me. I had the strange friendship of Santino and Allesandro and other Children of the Darkness. I had the vampires at the theater. I had Sybelle and Benji. And now I had Lestat. But, during all of those periods of my life, there had been points in time where those very same immortals wanted nothing to do with me and my sometimes childish ways.

Why wasn’t I telling my new companion any of this? Open your mouth, Armand! I silently admonished myself. ”Whatever this thing is that’s after you, I want you to know that I’m not going to leave you, regardless of the risk to myself. I’m going to do whatever it takes to help you out because I…love you.” There, that wasn’t so hard to say.

[lestat2]

I settle down on the bed next to him when he commanded me and I tried to coax one of his small hands into mine. I sighed. "I don't know who or what it is, but I wouldn't underestimate anything. For all I know they might be able to see somewhat into the future, maybe they knew I'd fall for the dancer and that you'd tell me to feed from him, they knew I was going to go to the Louvre and that I'd get shot, it didn't matter to them whether you helped me or not, as long as they harmed me they'd be happy, or perhaps they have another motive that I haven't figured out. This is all just speculation, there is something out for me though, they swiped at me with a knife." I told him, putting my hand to the bloody rip in my jacket and shirt, the shallow cut already healed. "I liked this jacket as well... They took the form of Claudia but I know it wasn't her, they were just trying to spook me."

"I don't think you'll be harmed, I don't even think they planned on me giving you some of my blood. I won't let them touch you anyway, they don't want to make me angry, I'm not pretty when I'm angry, David was witness to that when my body was stolen." I said, feeling the dawn approaching, it was still a long time off but I could feel it. I wanted to tell him I was sorry for dragging him in to this, that if I'd known I'd have stayed away. I didn't though. The Vampire Lestat was never sorry and never wrong. I don't make mistakes. I moved a little closer to him, my blond curls spread out across the pillow, almost touching his auburn hair.

I froze all movement when Armand told me he loved me. He loved me? Armand loved me? I was loved? What did I do to deserve such a thing? "No ones ever really told me that before. I mean, Louis might have said it once and maybe a few fans but no ones ever really said that they love me before. You really mean that? Why? I can't really understand why you would love me when I'm such a disaster. You said so yourself, 'a walking disaster' but you love me? I don't understand." I rambled to him, Armand loved me even though he had acted angry with me and threatened to walk away earlier. I loved him back, I really did love him back but... I find it so hard to admit such emotions.

"I guess I am devilishly handsome, it's only natural someone would eventually love me." I said arrogantly but it was a half hearted attempt at arrogance. Armand's confession had caught me by surprise.

With a deep breath which my immortal body had no need for I found my courage some where deep down in my black heart. "I love you too." I said to him quietly. "After Memnoch, when you tried to destroy yourself, I never really quite realised up until that point how important you were to me. I didn't want to see you destroyed, I was distraught, you were the first vampire I'd met apart from my maker and my fledgling and to think that you were gone forever was terrible. David had to drag me away otherwise I think I might have followed you." It was true, I had sobbed myself unconscious that morning, I can't imagine our little coven with out Armand.

"There's a thin line between love and hate I guess, and I have really hated you in the past, little auburn imp." I teased with a grin.