Betrayal of yet another kind (AMC's Interview with the Vampire, M)

[Nebula]

"hh'EHTISSSCH'hiue!"

The sound rung resonantly through the house from the lower level and Louis's instant, unfiltered reaction is that of annoyance. Such irritence even overshadowed any other potential more, ahem, reflexive reaction he may have otherwise had.

The last couple of years had been dedicated to acclimatising Louis to his new life, to the path embarked upon once accepting the dark gift, in all senses. Both of learning the ways of his new existence as a vampire, and in living and existing with Lestat - lifestyle changes almost equal in their challenges and moral quandaries; one of which being their diet.

After continuous debate and deliberation and eventual insistence Louis had chosen to commit himself to so called 'vampire vegetarianism', though for the most part didn't begrudge Lestat's own resolutely human preferences. That is, only so long as they were not lured to or drained within the walls of Rue Royale as long as Louis continued to reside there. He didn't want that in his home. Supposedly their home.

It had been a few months and, to his rare credit, Lestat had kept his word to the letter. Funnily enough, it was actually one area they ran into the least amount of serious sparring over, as much as Lestat liked to pepper the matter into their bickering on other matters in the name of petty point-scoring or simply to annoy Louis.

Louis briefly wondered what had happened today in particular out on the hunt that had made Lestat willing to overstep the boundary. Although Lestat and his moods were about as unpredictable as they were often also entirely predictable and transparent, at least to Louis and his very specific decoding skills, there was no telling why he'd chosen today to break his promise.

The sneeze had been so decidedly unhealthy-sounding he figured it served Lestat right if the prey he'd chosen and lured back here to be butchered and subsequently flaunted on their living room floor turned out to be unsightly and infested with disease.

Maybe he'd seen the opportunity for an extravagant scheme of getting the unlucky son of a bitch "out of the weather" and just couldn't resist, for old time's sake, or like a well-worn, beckoning path. Or perhaps something instinctual triggered in his muscle memory as a long-time hunter. Like an artist in their brief, considering breath as the tip of their brush hovered over a new easel. As Louis had said - both predictable and unpredictable in equal measure.

What happened not even ten seconds later flipped the script though.

"hH'UHTSSSSZ'ieu!" again, although this time a little louder and if possible more insistent, followed by a low, grumbled "Putain".

The sound of his voice was unmistakable at this stage, and upon closer listen-

One heartbeat; one set of footsteps.

The anger and annoyance at the presumed disrespect melted away in an instant and left behind overwhelming curiosity. It would sound so mundane, so inconsequential, to any human within the only worldly context they were aware of, but...

He'd never heard his companion sneeze before. Could vampires even fuckin' do that? Louis hadn't assumed so. He hadn't since the night he'd been turned.

Louis followed the noise downstairs and came face to face with Lestat in the living room, the space bathed in the warm glow of the lit fireplace, illuminating the dusk-cloaked space as the the precious night started slipping away into the morning hours. His back faced the entryway as he poured himself a drink from the whiskey decanter on the side table, stormy irritation etched into every line of his form.

"Time for another lesson in your education, Louis" he said, in lieu of a greeting, before Louis himself could speak. His voice, already deep in tone, impossibly rich, and capable of striking down to Louis's very core on the best of days was mangled with an unnatural heaviness. He turned around then, and his colouring only further confirmed that-

Louis's eyebrows furrowed as he studied the other man. He didn't even think their kind sneezed, let alone... "Are you s-"

"Ndo" Lestat snapped, taking jerky swig from the tumbler in his hand. He seemed to catch himself then though, and continued, jagged agitation smoothed fractionally out of his tone. "When you were human, you would have greatly preferred not to eat an animal you knew to be diseased, no? For fear of ill-effects?".

Louis nodded in acknowledgement, catching how the other man's nostrils twitched and eyes narrowed, extending the pause in the exchange longer than its normal duration. Lestat moved to bring his hand to his face, but must have wrestled back control just before having to lower himself to scrubbing at his face, and so lowered it again with a pointed exhale.

"Our situation as vampires is, admittedly, ndot dissimilar. We would naturally try and avoid feeding from unhealthy prey, but sometimes, inevitably-" His voice caught once more, and he practically growled out, "we get unlucky- ehH'IHTSSSZCH'hue!".

He merely turned his head and carelessly angled the outburst off to the side, the resulting hiss of spray catching in the light from the fireplace behind him. The sound was commanding, but with an undercurrent of elegantly lilted affectation.

In physical actuality it was far enough away, but somewhere deep down Louis felt it. He tried not to stare, or even just let his gaze linger too long. Despite not being able to read Louis's thoughts anymore, still nobody knew him as intimately, saw him, and was able to read him like Lestat could, and if the man weren't distracted in that moment Louis was sure he'd have caught him out without the need of a second glance.

Lestat paused, before pushing a knuckle into the corner of his eye to briefly curtail a threatening blood tear, and then moved to pull a crumpled handkerchief from his pocket. When he spoke again there was a certain air of curiosity in his expression, despite not having directly asked a question, which struck Louis as odd. Like he was having a whole separate conversation with himself in his own head. "The symptoms of what ails our human prey can sometimes appear to temporarily... mimick themselves in us after we feed on them. Another way our makers intend to humble us".

He could see the logic of it, even without knowing all the particulars. Regardless, Louis could never help but take the opportunity to tease "So... you appear to be sick, then?". Lestat shot him a grimacing smile.

"It would appear that way, yes" he answered pointedly, with a telling, and uncharacteristically undignified sniffle.

Louis couldn't deny just how strange it was seeing Lestat like this, to the point of being a little unsettling if it weren't also weirdly endearing. Their kind, (vampires, that is, though Louis was still struggling to think of himself as any other species than human), generally did a laudable job at blending in with society and humankind for survival. As far as people were concerned they walked like them, talked like them, looked like them... and that was enough to overlook certain eccentricities or queer mannerisms.

Louis had always known Lestat was something otherworldly, though, no matter how much he tried to deny it both to himself and others. The way he carried himself, spoke to people, even the way he just looked at you. There was an almost feline-like grace and poise to him, but if you glanced too long at him you'd notice a strangely ethereal, unnatural stillness. Unblinking. Something he'd then suddenly break out of, like he was having to remind himself to shift from foot to foot or fiddle with his cuff links. To almost mockingly remind the humans he was one of them, but not truly believing he really needed to.

Looking at him now though, Louis saw the same church window-coloured eyes he'd given to him alongside the dark gift now growing rheumy, and the edges of his nose flushed a faint, foreboding pink. He took in the crumpled handkerchief balled in the other man's palm awaiting imminent use, one Louis knew was more than likely to be one of his own from back in the day when he may have had more use for one, sturdy-looking and practical as it was rather than fashionable. At that moment, if he didn't know better he could be fooled into thinking Lestat was simply any other man who happened to be coming down with a cold with the turning of the season. Human and fallible and humbled by the mundanity of minor illness.

It was as unnerving as it was beguiling. His beauty wasn't diminished, not by any means, not in Louis's eyes at the very least, but just... softened around the edges somewhat.

Louis chuckled, almost to himself, and paused, resisting the urge to tuck an errant lock of sandy blond hair back behind Lestat's ear, as if held back by some familiar but invisible force that reflexively appeared sometimes, fearfully whispering not here, not so obvious, even in the peace and seclusion of their home. Their living room. It irked Louis to be confronted with the fact that it still held him in that grasp.

Instead, he took the tumbler of whiskey out of Lestat's hand and helped himself to a swig, savouring the way their fingers brushed in the exchange. "Suppose my choice of diet has its virtues then, huh?" he quipped, a slightly smug quirk to his lips.

Lestat returned his expression like a tennis volley, then opted not to take the glass back, but instead just pour himself a new, full one. "Ah yes, mbon cher - rats being the paragons of cleanliness that they are and not at all prone to carrying plague".

 

A/N: Long story short, I am not immune to romanticising the toxic gay vampires. Cross-posted from Tumblr and likely to get a continuation (but in the 18+ section). Loved the movie as a kid but am obsessed with the recent TV adaption and had to try out writing these guys. Hope you enjoyed!

[MidnightCatK]

So fun and flirty, I just love them!

[RemedyBane]

I loved this! I just started watching the show! 100/10!