A Jungle Nocturne
Chapter Two
Lestat awoke to a calm, still, night. He looked over at his sleeping fledglings. David looked like a long distance runner who'd just collapsed at the finish line. He had become a sloppy sleeper during their time in the jungle, throwing himself down in whatever position was comfortable. Lestat wondered how he'd ever be able to fit himself into the coffin back at the town house, which David had insisted upon having. Louis was lying completely flat with his hands folded over his stomach, exactly the way corpses are laid out in these times. This meant he hadn't fallen asleep before the sun came. He'd composed himself and waited for the death sleep to take him. When Louis fell into a mortal sleep, he tended to curl himself into a ball and snuggle close to whomever was nearest. Lestat bestowed kisses on the mouths of his children and left them a note, ripping a page from the journal David had bought for him.
Hunting - then see you at temple ruins
Lestat
Hours later, Louis arrived at the temple ruin. There was no Haydn playing tonight, and that made him very happy. Lestat was inside, digging through a mound that was roughly in the center of the temple. They had found many unusual artifacts there the first week, when they went to the ruin every night; oddly shaped stones, carved wooden figures of naked men and women, knives and even bones. As Lestat walked out into the moonlight, Louis jumped from the temple roof and landed soundlessly behind Lestat.
"Aaah!" Lestat turned, startled. "Louis! Don't DO that!"
"I'm sorry, Lestat, " Louis said, barely suppressing a smile.
"You are not, you little monster!" David laughed and swung himself down from a nearby tree. "He did the same thing to me earlier this evening."
"Oh he did, did he?" Lestat took Louis's arm with a sly grin.
"Lestat-" Louis began.
"He did." David confirmed, appearing beside Louis and taking his other arm.
"Now David-" Louis found himself walking backward between the two of them.
Lestat and David headed toward a small but fairly deep pool, run off of the waterfall. They giggled evilly to each other.
"Gentlemen, really!" Louis tried to dig his feet into the soft forest floor, but David and Lestat dragged him easily along. "Haven't you ever heard of a coincidence?"
"Have you ever heard of retribution?" David asked him.
"Wait! Wait, this is - this is -"
"Hold your breath Louis," Lestat's eyes positively twinkled.
"Stop it!"
David let go of Louis's arm and took hold of his ankles.
"Don't you dare! David!"
Lestat took Louis's wrists and they lifted him.
"Let go of me! DEMONS!"
"ONE," Lestat and David counted together as they swung Louis out over the water.
"DON'T!" Louis protested, trying to get free.
"TWO," They swung him back.
"You will PAY for this, BOTH of you!"
"THREEEEEEEE!" They gave a final swing and released their captive.
Louis landed in the center of the pool with an impressive splash.
Lestat and David cackled wickedly.
Louis swam to the shallow edge of the pool and walked out of the water, wiping his wet hair out of his eyes. "You enjoyed that, both of you," he accused.
"Well, of course we did, dear boy!" David slapped his back as he passed them.
Louis turned unexpectedly and caught David in a bear hug, effectively soaking the front of the Englishman's clothing. "And I enjoyed that," Louis released him with a grin.
"Ugh," David wiped at his damp clothing. "I'll be all clammy in my sleep now."
"Oh, my sympathies, " Louis patted David's hand. David lightly slapped Louis's hand away.
"Don't I get a hug too?" Lestat pouted.
"No, you'd enjoy it too much," Louis told him.
"Stubborn Creole," Lestat muttered.
Louis pulled his wet shirt off and threw it at Lestat.
"Hey!" Lestat caught one of the belt loops on Louis's shorts and pulled him back.
"What?" Louis asked innocently.
Lestat kissed him, "Why don't we slip you out of those wet things and into my dry bed?"
"Lestat!" Louis laughed, embarrassed.
They walked through the narrow opening of their cave and walk the sloping path for a mile or more when the passage suddenly opened. It was a natural formation which had been widened considerably by some ancient tribe who had chipped away at the walls, forming a large circular room. This was where the vampires had made their lair for the last six weeks.
Louis picked up his backpack and retreated to the darkest corner of the cave. He took a towel from the pack and rubbed his hair dry. Then he turned his back to the room and pulled off his wet boots, peeling off the soaked socks along with them. Finally he scooted out of his shorts, and toweled off the rest of his skin. He donned another outfit, identical but dry, and searched for a comb with which to untangle his hair.
Lestat and David were sitting in the hammock, reading . . .and sometimes kissing.
Louis could feel the dawn approaching. He laid his wet clothing on a high grill over the stove to dry, and slid into his sleeping bag. He felt a hard object inside and brought it out. It was the book of Byron he'd been reading the night before, he opened to the same poem.
And thus together, yet apart, Louis replaced his bookmark and put down the book.
Fetter'd in hand but join'd in heart,
'Twas still some solace in the dearth
Of the pure elements of earth,
"Sleep well, Louis," David called.
"Good day David, Lestat," Louis replied thickly.
"Is it that early already?" Lestat asked.
"Mmmhmm," David nodded.
"Oh," Lestat said, disappointedly. He peeked over the side at Louis who had already closed his eyes. "If I'd realized that we had so little time, I wouldn't have started reading."
"I won't tell you what you missed." David said, turning a page.
"What?"
David grinned, his eyes still on his book.
"David!" Lestat looked back at Louis, he noticed Louis's clothes drying on the grill. "Oh my God, he stripped, didn't he!"
David remained silent, pretending to read.
"Damn! He stripped and I missed it!" Lestat threw his book to the ground.
David chuckled, "His back was to us, anyway."
Lestat sighed, "I don't know why he retains such prudishness with two men he's made love with."
"Probably because it annoys you," David commented.
"Probably so!" Lestat agreed. "Doesn't it annoy you?"
"I am not quite the letch you are Lestat, I find it endearing."
"Oh you would!" Lestat said disgustedly.
"You'll never change him, you know." David closed his book and looked at Lestat.
"Well that is the challenge, isn't it?" Lestat grinned.
"You'd hate it if you succeeded, you know."
Lestat simply looked at him. After a long pause he said softly, "Sometimes, I think maybe I have."
A Jungle Nocturne - Chapter Three
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