Louis and David

Chapter Five

"You mean this? You want us to go there together?" Lestat asked David, not daring to believe it.

"Yes," David affirmed.

Lestat could not take it in. He had been forgiven? So soon? So easily? And Louis still had not forgiven him for working the Dark Trick on him. Nor had he forgiven Louis for refusing to do so when he had needed him to, when he had been in the tall beautiful body he was looking at now, when it had still been mortal, full of color and full of pain, when it still had blunt canines and its eyes didn't glitter with that vampiric fire. Before he had tasted its blood.

But the body wasn't 'it' anymore, nor was it 'the body.' It was David. David standing here before him. David owned this golden skin, these long legs, this handsome face. David didn't simply inhabit this body, as James had. David assumed its form. David took its strength and imbued it with his own grace.

"And after that, the rain forests," David was going on. David's accent, David's inflections, David's words, but spoken with this deep rich voice, resonating with the vibrancy of youth. Gone were the thinness, reediness, and high timbre that age brings to the vocal chords. David was moving , unfolding his arms, bowing his head, pacing, all with complete ease. Lestat was entranced with his every word and his every gesture.

"You said something to me, I don't remember when," David paused, thinking. "Maybe it was an image I caught from you before it all happened, something about a temple, which mortals didn't know of, lost in the depths of the jungle. Ah, think of how many such discoveries there must be!"

Lestat was not distracted, he had to know. "Why have you forgiven me?" he asked.

David stood still and looked at him. Before David could speak, Lestat raised his hand, for silence. David could not only see Lestat staring at him, taking him in, but he could actually feel it. Lestat's eyes roamed over him like curious hands.

Lestat lowered his hand, gesturing for David to answer him.

"You knew I would. You knew when you did it that I'd go on loving you," David told him, without anger. "That I'd need you. That I would seek you out and cling to you of all the beings in this world."

"Oh no, I swear I didn't," Lestat told him sincerely.

"I went off a while to punish you. You're past all patience, really you are. You are the damnedest creature, as you've been called by wiser beings than I," David said. "But you knew I'd come back. You knew I'd be here."

"No," Lestat stated, a mist forming in his eyes. "I never dreamt it."

"Don't start weeping again," David said.

"I like to weep," Lestat countered. "I must. Why else would I do it so much?"

"Well, stop!" David said irritably.

A mischievous smile turned up the corners of Lestat's mouth. "Oh it's going to be fun, isn't it? You think you are the leader of this little coven, don't you, and you're going to start bossing me around."

David raised his eyebrows. "Come again?"

"You don't even look like the elder of the two of us anymore, and you never were the elder. You let my beautiful and irresistible visage deceive you in the simplest and most foolish way. I'm the leader," Lestat informed him. "This is my house. I shall say if we go to Rio."

David laughed at this show of dominion. "You are the leader?"

"Yes, I am," Lestat stated, unequivocally. "So you ran off," Lestat continued, as if to a child. "You wanted to show me you could get along without me. You could hunt for yourself; you could find a hiding place by day. You didn't need me. But here you are!" Lestat smiled again.

David refused to be baited. "Are you coming with us to Rio or not?"

"Coming with us?!" If it weren't so ludicrous, Lestat would have been truly angry. No one was taking Louis anywhere. Louis had been his for 202 years. Did David truly think he could revoke a bond of over two centuries? For that matter, did David really think Louis would go with him? To Rio, of all places? Out of the question. Louis belonged to him and David belonged to him. They did not belong to each other. And they most certainly were not going to create some sort of alliance to try and control him. He had made them, this was his coven, and there was no 'us' without him. It was absolutely laughable. "Did you say 'us?'" Lestat demanded.

"I did," David affirmed. He walked to the end of the sofa and sat.

Lestat stared him down, and won. David wouldn't meet his eyes. David crossed his legs and tossed back his hair. Finally his composure gave way to an overwhelming feeling of hurt, sadness, and confusion.

"I tried to hate you," David whispered to Lestat. "I couldn't do it. It's as simple as that."

"Why not?" Lestat asked, still holding his gaze, directly into David's eyes.

"Don't play with me," David answered, in a low, menacing voice.

Lestat looked surprised. "I've never played with you! I mean these things when I say them. How could you not hate me?"

David relaxed and sat back against the sofa. "I'd be making the same mistake you made if I hated you. Don't you see what you've done?" David opened his hands and held them out to Lestat, asking for understanding. "You've given me the gift, but you spared me the capitulation. You've brought me over with all your skill and all your strength, but you didn't require of me the moral defeat. You took the decision from me, and gave me what I could not help but want."

"Then rape and murder are our paths to glory? I don't buy it. They are filthy. We are all damned and now you are too. And that is what I've done to you." Lestat tried to make him understand. He had taken David just to prove what an evil soul he was, to completely confirm that he hadn't only rejected being mortal; he had rejected the chance for salvation it offered. Magnus hadn't given him a choice, and he had always had that fact to lean on. Lestat could always deceive himself into believing that he was simply making the best of a bad situation. He hadn't chosen to be a vampire, but now that he was, well, what can he do? He had been spared Louis's guilt. He could view each kill he made as simply survival. He had been spared having to live with his own choice, until James gave him another chance. And Lestat had chosen to return to the Devil's Road, actively, deliberately and without guilt. He wanted it. He didn't care about the deaths of mortals, or the taking of their blood. He wanted his power back. His lust for vampiric existence won out easily over any compassion he held for mortals and the mortal world. How could David view this as a favor to him, when Lestat had done it completely out of selfishness? He had wanted David and so he had taken him. It wasn't any moral act of mercy!

"It took you two hundred years to learn that you wanted it. I knew the moment I woke out of the stupor and saw you lying there on the floor." David's eyes widened with the memory of it. "You looked like an empty shell to me. I knew you'd gone too far with it. I was in terror for you. And I was seeing you with these new eyes."

"Yes." Lestat nodded, remembering the relief of regaining his vampire eyes, after straining through the clouded and fuzzy mortal vision of the body.

"Do you know what went through my mind?" David asked him. "I thought you had found a way to die. You'd given me every drop of blood in you. And now you yourself were perishing before my very eyes. I knew I loved you. I knew I forgave you. And I knew with every breath I took and every new color or shape I saw before me that I'd wanted what you'd given me - the new vision and life which none of us can really describe! Oh, I couldn't admit it. I had to curse you, fight you for a little while. But that is all it was in the end - a little while."

Lestat realized that this was the truth. This explained so much. This explained how he felt. This explained what Louis was feeling. 'Perhaps we were taken too young,' Lestat thought. 'Before we had reached the maturity we needed to live this life. This is why I have acted as I have. This is why Louis still feels as he does. He cannot admit it. He has to curse me and fight me. But he was too young, in his twenty-five years, to see that it need not go on forever. This is why Armand killed Claudia and pushed me off the tower. It was childish greed and childish revenge. David, in his seventy-six mortal years, has surpassed us all in our hundreds. My god, are we as doomed in our youthful minds as Claudia was in her child's body?'

"You are much smarter than I am," Lestat whispered.

"Well, of course. What did you expect?" David grinned.

"Ah this is the Dark Trick. How right they were, the old ones to give it that name. I wonder if the trick's on me? For this is a vampire, sitting here with me, a blood drinker of enormous power, my child, and what are the old emotions to him now?" The red mist clouded Lestat's eyes once more.

David looked at him. What Lestat had said had pained him. He shook his head. He stood and walked to Lestat. Kneeling before him, he put his hands on Lestat's shoulders and said, "You're the same." He shook his head again. "The very same."

Lestat loved the sight of David before him. He loved the nearness of him. "The same as what?"

"Oh, every time you ever came to me, you touched me; you wrung from me a deep protectiveness. You made me feel love. And it's the same now. Only you seem all the more lost and in need of me now." David leaned closer. "I'm to take you forward, I see it clearly. I'm your link with the future. It's through me that you'll see the years ahead."

"You're the same too. An absolute innocent. A bloody fool." Lestat sat back and made to flick David's hand off of his shoulder. It didn't budge. Irritating. "You're headed for trouble. Just wait and see."

"Oh, how exciting," David said. "Now, come, we must go to Rio. We must not miss anything of the carnival. Though of course we can go again . . . and again . . . and again . . . But come."

Lestat didn't move to stand. He gazed at David. He thought of all the times he had gone to see him when he was mortal. He thought of the first time he had offered him the Dark Gift, David standing there, fascinated by him, Louis in the other room, shaking his head, then turning his back. In a way it was just as they were tonight.

This silence worried David. "What is it? Are you grieving for me?"

"Perhaps, a little. As you've said, I'm not as clever as you are at knowing what I want. But I think I'm trying to fix this moment in my mind. I want to remember it always - I want to remember the way you are now, here with me. . . before things start to go wrong."

David didn't want to dwell on this pessimistic view of their future. He wanted to get to Rio. He got to his feet, pulling Lestat up as well, which Lestat had not expected.

"Oh, this is going to be really something, this little tussle," Lestat told him.

"Well you can fight with me in Rio, while we are dancing in the streets!" David told him. He turned and left the room, gesturing for Lestat to follow.

Lestat patted Mojo and walked toward the doorway David has just gone through. As he passed Louis's desk, he saw the locket. He took it and stared at her little face. 'Claudia,' he thought. 'I have a coven again, here in this house. And if we last sixty-five years I'll be shocked. Louis is no longer a frightened fledgling, kept in the dark. He knows everything now, and he has survived on his own. And he is living here of his own volition, simply because I invited him. And David is not a tiny living doll who will occupy our time and be the center of our lives. David is strong and intelligent, and already knows what he wants from this nightly existence. But we have now. Right now. And we'll have Rio. And I won't make the same mistakes I made before. Perhaps I'll make new ones. Perhaps they will as well. But I know this time that I must forgive them these. I must find patience. The patience to lead them where they must go. The patience to guide them where they will not be led. And the patience to watch them when they will not take guidance. Oh, Claudia, I don't know that I can do this. I have never been a patient creature. Will I yet again find myself stabbed and bleeding on the floor while my fledglings make their escape? I hope not, Claudia. I hope you taught me something, my little love. My darling daughter. I do miss you so.'


Lestat found David waiting in the hall. He was standing at Louis's door. As Lestat joined him, he tapped at it politely.

"Louis? May we come in?" David asked, through the door.

Before Louis could answer, Lestat reached for the doorknob and burst through.

"Drop that pen, Louis, we're going to Rio!" Lestat announced.

Louis had been sitting at his desk, writing in his journal. He looked up calmly at Lestat. Then he very slowly and determinedly turned his eyes to David, who was still standing in the hall, looking at Lestat in annoyance.

"Yes, David. Please do," Louis replied, as if Lestat's outburst had never happened. He stood as David came into his room.

David walked to him. "Louis, Lestat has decided to join us in Rio," he said, as if Lestat was not in the room.

As Louis opened his mouth to answer, Lestat grabbed him and spun him to face him. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no," he said, reaching to take David's hand. "This is one little game we are NOT going to play. Louis, as you well know, and David, as you should know, if you have read Louis's lurid piece of fiction, one thing I will not tolerate is being ignored. So you two can drop it right now." He put his forehead against Louis's and looked into his eyes. "Hmmmm?" he asked.

Louis lost his composure and smiled, nodding slightly. Lestat pulled David to him, and did the same to him. David gave a sighing smile and nodded as well.

"All right then. What arrangements have you made?" Lestat asked.

Louis looked to David.

David moved out of Lestat's embrace. "I have made provisions for up to five bags to be shipped by air. I trust that will be enough to tide us over." He looked meaningfully at Lestat, who held an expression of complete ignorance to whatever David was referring to. "If we get them to the terminal before 6 a.m., they will arrive in Rio day after tomorrow. As for ourselves, I assumed we'd take to the air, as well."

"What about Mojo?" Lestat asked him.

"Mojo?" David asked.

"Yes, my dog. What provisions have you made for him?" Lestat inquired.

"Well, I hadn't expected that you would want to take him," David said.

"Lestat, you cannot be serious," Louis said.

"I most certainly am. I only just got reacquainted with him. You don't expect me to abandon him again so soon do you? And I have no one to leave him with," Lestat told him.

"Take him back to the woman you lodged him with before," David said.

"David, she never stays in the city for Mardi Gras. She'll be gone by tomorrow morning, probably," Lestat countered. He was quite enjoying throwing this little spanner into David's works.

"Then I'll stay and take care of him until you return," Louis said. He was still being held about the waist by Lestat. David knew that he could not release himself, unless Lestat allowed it, the difference in their power being so great. Louis refused to express any embarrassment or frustration he may have felt, preferring ignore the possessive gesture, as if he were standing unrestrained. David wondered at the amount of forbearance it must take to keep from giving Lestat the struggle he was obviously trying to provoke.

"Out of the question!" Lestat said to Louis, giving him a little shake.

"Then we shall kennel him somewhere," David said.

"David, it is far too late to make arrangements for that if you want to leave tonight," Lestat said. "Nor do I relish the idea of leaving him with strangers. We have no idea how long we'll be gone."

David sighed. "Lestat you are being difficult for the sake being difficult. Do you want to see the carnival or not?"

"But of course I do, David. But we cannot simply take wing and fly away. I have responsibilities, you know." Lestat looked exactly like the cat who ate the canary. He was enjoying this far too much. There was a silent stalemate for a few minutes.

"Anne," Louis said.

"What?" Lestat asked.

"Anne. Anne will watch him. She is no stranger. She stays here through Mardi Gras. She is used to being awakened at ungodly hours by you and your absurd demands. She will keep him for an indefinite period of time. And she loves dogs. There, your problem is solved. Go and deposit him and we will pack your things." Louis kept the triumphant smile from his lips, but not from his eyes.

Lestat stared at him. He was wondering if he wanted to go any further with this or not. He decided not. "Louis! What a positively useful suggestion! But I think you had better take him. I haven't fed well tonight, and she can be so tempting." Lestat smiled an evil smile. Louis smiled back. By this time he could distinguish real threats from teases. This was a tease.

"Besides," Lestat continued. "I'll do a much better job of packing for you than you would for me."

"Lestat, you don't need -"

"Stop wasting time arguing, Louis." Lestat released him, and pushed him toward the door. "David wants to get to Rio tonight!" Lestat looked over at David. "Don't you, David?"

"Yes, but not -"

"Now don't you start, David. Louis has found a perfectly reasonable solution for us. Go and pack." Lestat pushed Louis ahead of him into the hall and called Mojo.

When the dog lumbered to a stop in front of him, Lestat knelt down and looked into his eyes. "Mojo, this is Louis." He looked up at Louis. "Pet him."

Louis settled beside Lestat and put his scentless hand to the dogs muzzle, then petted his head.

Lestat turned back to the dog. "Now I am letting Louis outside, and you have to watch him." Lestat patted the dog. "You." And then patted Louis' head. "Watch him," he repeated to Mojo.


"Lestat." Louis was laughing in spite of himself. "Is this really necessary?"
"Hush, Louis, don't interrupt," Lestat said, he turned back to Mojo. "You are going to a friend's house. When you get there, you stay and we'll see if he can get back here on his own. Understand?"

Mojo looked at Louis a long moment then turned back to Lestat. He opened his mouth and panted.

"Very Good." Lestat hugged the dog. "And I'll come and get you when I return." Lestat stood as did Louis. "Walk to the door." Lestat told Louis. Louis did so, and Mojo stayed right at his side. "Alright, take him. Tell her I will have Christine transfer sufficient funds for his room and board to her account."

Louis looked back to Lestat. "Are you sure you don't want to put me on a leash for him?" he asked.

"I would, but he thinks it barbaric to keep pets on a leash," Lestat answered him. They smiled at each other briefly and Louis took Mojo out the door.


Lestat turned and went back down the hall to David's room. David was, as Lestat had asked, packing. Lestat entered the room soundlessly and kissed David on the back of the neck.

"Lestat!" David smiled.

"I am so proud of you, David." Lestat said, turning David to face him. "I am so happy that you have taken the most difficult steps first; killing alone, finding your own sleeping places, meeting Louis. We're going to have grand adventures, David. Side by side we'll go out into the world and conquer it. It will be so satisfying to have a real hunting partner. I won't have to worry about you keeping up with me, I'll only have to worry about you trying to overtake me." Lestat laughed. "Which you never will."

David looked deep into Lestat's grey-blue eyes. "Lestat , I have missed you." David leaned forward and met Lestat's lips with his own. Lestat pulled David into his arms and deepened the kiss. David flicked his tongue across Lestat's sharp fangs and bled into his mouth. Lestat moaned softly and gripped David more tightly. David wound his fingers in Lestat's hair as Lestat cut his own tongue. The blood flowed and was swallowed and flowed again. It was as it had been in Barbados, when Lestat first gave David his blood, only this time it was mutual, it was with consent and it was far more pleasurable.


Louis arrived at the back door of 1239 First Street, Mojo right beside him. Louis raised his hand and knocked; knock . . . knock knock . . . knock . . . knock knock . . . knock. It was sort of a pre-arranged signal. After all, it can be a bit frightening to have someone knocking at your door in the dead of night. This way, the Rices knew it was Louis, and not some emergency, or a stalker, or God knows what.

After a few minutes, Stan opened the door. "Louis!" he said sleepily, "what are you doing up so late?"

Louis smiled, it was an old joke between them. "I have come to ravish your wife, Monsieur, step aside."

Stan chuckled, as Louis walked past him. "Not a chance. She could take you easy."

"Probably so." Louis laughed, Mojo had followed him through the door.

"You have a shadow," Stan said, looking to Mojo as he closed the door.

"Non, actually YOU have a new boarder," Louis told him.

Stan looked closely at the dog. Then he said to Louis, in a serious voice, "It isn't Lestat, is it?"

Louis laughed. "Non, non, he has regained his body."

"He has? Marvelous!" Anne said, coming to the door. "But of course we knew he would, didn't we?" She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Louis's cheek. "It is good to see you, darling dear. Who is your friend?"

"This is Lestat's dog, Mojo," Louis said.

Anne knelt down and petted the dog. "Hello Mojo."

Mojo laid on his back and presented his belly to be scratched. Anne obliged.

"Let's go into the parlour and sit down," Stan said.

They did.

Louis sighed. "I have come to ask a favor."

"It's the dog, isn't it," Anne said.

"It's the dog," Stan affirmed.

"Lestat returned, with Mojo, this evening. But now he plans to go to Rio, and he has invited me to go with him. Insisted upon it, to be honest. So we have a bit of a dog problem. Would you mind keeping him, until we return?" Louis asked.

"Of course not." Anne patted Louis's back.

"Merci. Lestat will have Christine transfer funds to you for his upkeep," Louis told them.

Anne waved her hand in a 'whatever' gesture. "So Lestat returned? That must have been a shock."

"There is a greater shock actually." Louis looked from one to the other and then to the floor. "He has given the Dark Gift to David Talbot."

"WHAT?" Stan asked.

"The Talamascan?" Anne looked worried.

"Yes."

"Jesus," Stan swore softly.

"Where is he?" Anne asked.

"At the town house." Louis told her.

"He brought him to see you?" Anne asked.

"No, David came on his own. He arrived two nights ago."

"My God, Louis." Anne put her arm around him. "Are you alright with this?"

"There is nothing to 'be alright' with. It has already happened. It simply is," Louis answered. "But David and I are getting along very well. He is a wonderful conversationalist."

"Yeah? Well that makes up for everything, then," Stan said sarcastically.

Louis smiled. "I know we have a lot to talk about, but I am afraid I must go. Lestat and David are waiting for me." Louis stood. Anne and Stan rose with him.

"Call me soon," Anne said, hugging him.

"I promise."

Stan hugged him too, pounding on his back. "If it gets too much for you in Rio, don't try to stick it out. Come right back. Right?"

Louis nodded. He walked to the door. Mojo followed him. "Stay Mojo!" Louis told him. The dog sat. "Thank you again for keeping him."

"No problem," Anne said.

Louis walked out the door.
"Hey, if you're going to Rio, you should really get some sun. You look like hell," Anne called after him. Louis turned, waved and smiled, and Anne closed the door.

Louis and David - Chapter Six

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