Armand felt the powerful pull of Lestat like a rip-tide. He was reading a book in his study, with Daniel perched comfortably on his lap, also reading. But Lestat's call hit him like a punch in the gut.
He balked at a response at first. The herculean effort it had taken to confront Lestat earlier was not something he cared to muster again. He did not want to be a good person. He could not be a good person. He was a vampire.
But even as that was true, he simultaneously accepted another simple truth. He loved Louis. He wanted him taken care of, happy. Not only that, he wanted a balance restored to the coven, one that could not exist with Louis in turmoil and Lestat in the midst of a sort of petulant depression.
So his path was clear, even though it was not one he wanted to follow.
He closed his eyes, part in anger, part in despair.
Daniel, sensing his maker's conflict, set down his book. Youthful, violet eyes studied Armand. Daniel brought a hand up to caress Armand's face. “Tell me,” he implored, staring at Armand's closed eyes, willing him to open them.
Armand did open his eyes. “Lestat beckons,” he said, a hint of bitter sarcasm in his voice. “I must attend.”
Daniel felt sympathy for the entire situation, but for Armand mostly. He did not feel jealousy as strongly and violently as the others did. As young as he was, he was perfectly content to accept the world as it was, for what it was. But he did love Armand, and he wanted everyone to be stable, at the very least.
“I'll come with you,” he volunteered.
Armand looked at him, dearly wishing for the support. “All right,” he said, allowing himself the indulgence.
Daniel rose gracefully from his lap, and reached out a hand to Armand.
When Armand took it, their eyes met, and something old sparked between them again.
***
Louis stared at Lestat hollowly. He did not feel anything at all now. Not rage, not sadness, not even guilt. He could not allow it. The deep despair and helplessness was blocked off, because he knew that if he felt it, if he let himself...well, it would just hurt too damn much.
As he studied Lestat, he knew that everything was lost. The solidness of Armand was gone from him, ruined with a moment of weakness, and with Lestat, for once, he could not even summon up anger to help him. It was worse, worse than anything that had come before. He could not even be angry. He was indifferent.
“You've gone away, Lestat. And this time, you are not coming back.”
Lestat closed his eyes, and called once more for Armand, this time more strongly. The other vampire would come, must come. This had to be finished.
And not much later, Armand swept up to the balcony, with Daniel steadfastly at his side. “What do you need, Lestat?” he asked verbally, refusing to open his mind. He was calm, finally, the presence of his beautiful fledgling at his side more reassuring than anything else. Louis did not even raise his eyes to Armand, and Armand refused to feel it.
“Watch Louis. Do not let him leave. I have an errand I must run.” Lestat let his eyes roam to Daniel's face, acknowledging him. He, too, was appreciative of Daniel's presence.
But he could not stay. He leapt from the balcony, knowing that Louis's eyes followed him as he ascended into the night.
***
He found Dana and David with little effort. Having fled the scene at the house, they were seated comfortably in the living room of the old apartment. They were quite obviously deep in conversation through the silence.
They both looked at him, David with an easy recognition, and Dana with slight fear. “Your new friend here has some very interesting thoughts, Lestat,” David said. It seemed he was going to play oblivious to the problems that had raged amongst all of them earlier.
Lestat was not in the mood for this. “Dana,” he snapped, letting his agitation broadcast strongly through the room. “I need my answer, and I need it now.”
Dana scrambled nervously to his feet. “I don't...” he started, shuffling through the papers and volumes seated on the table beside him. “I'm not sure yet,” he said, preoccupied.
He turned to face Lestat, brandishing a sheaf of papers. “This is what I have discovered so far,and my hypothesis on the matter of changing the lineage...I mean, the Maker, so that inward communication is possible.”
Lestat got the sense that Dana was no longer really talking to him at all, but merely sorting his thoughts out verbally. This did not serve him, and it did not amuse him.
“You're boring me, Dana. Tell me what I have to do.”
Dana met his eyes. “Well, you don't have to do anything. The reason for the telepathic barrier between you and Louis is that you are his Maker. Is that not correct?”
Lestat nodded mutely.
“Well, if this is true, then it seems that the only way to change that would be for someone else to make him.”
“That's not possible,” David said, seemingly appalled at the mere thought. His Talamascan roots were baring themselves.
“Maybe not in the traditional sense,” Dana said, warming to the subject. “But if another vampire were to drain Louis to the point of true death, and then feed him new blood, from this other vampire, it would erase the traces of Lestat's blood that still cling to Louis, deep inside his tissue. That should do it. If Louis no longer carries Lestat's blood within him as an integral part of his immortality, then there should be no problem with telepathic communication.”
Lestat searched his eyes and face coldly, searching for any trace of a lie, desperately hoping that he could find none.
In the silence, Dana continued on nervously. “It might...I mean, there are many things that could happen as side effects, or as other possible outcomes. It might not work at all. It might weaken him permanently and severely, or strengthen him in the same way. He might... he might die.”
But Lestat had stopped hearing. “That's it then,” he said, with satisfaction. He took off before either of the other two could even blink.
***
Armand stared pensively at Louis's form on the bed. It was dark in the room. Louis would allow no candles, let alone electric light. He claimed that it hurt his eyes. Daniel was standing at the balcony, staring off into the night, waiting for Lestat to return, so that Armand wouldn't have to.
Freed from the anxiety of anticipating Lestat's return, Armand watched Louis's unmoving body. Lestat had called him here to watch Louis, to prevent him from escaping, and to keep him from hurting himself.
Armand sighed. Sometimes, it seemed like no matter what any of them did, they were still unwilling puppets in Lestat's little play. His facsimile of life. Though he was by no means the strongest of the surviving vampires, he was the only one with the impetus to use his power, and the only one without the age and sagacity to keep him from using it for selfish reasons.
Armand did not know what Lestat had in mind. He did not know what was going to happen to Louis, or to him. He even began to wonder if he had made a mistake in bringing Daniel here. None of them could ever quite escape being drawn into Lestat's web. And he had brought his favorite fledgling here, to ground zero of the latest in Lestat's misconceived plots.
He was seized with the sudden urge to leave, to spit in Lestat's face and let his plans fall to shit in front of him. To prove that he would not be controlled, and he would not be manipulated, and that not quite everyone was Lestat's puppet.
But as he looked at the dirty, abused, and exhausted body on the bed, he realized that he could not. Lestat knew him too well, knew that he loved Louis, and that he would not leave him alone here, not when he was in so much pain, and not when he was so close to the edge.
Armand could feel it; Louis wanted death. He wanted it badly, though he was too frightened to give words to his own thoughts. He was afraid to die, as was every immortal, when it came right down to it. But still, he wanted an end to it. If they would not let him go to ground...well, Lestat, powerful and determined as he was, could not bring Louis back from the dead. Were Lestat to drive him past that edge...well, Armand was there to keep that from happening.
“He's back,” Daniel said softly.
Armand blinked, for the first time in at least a half hour. “Well, we shall see.” He stood, and went to where Louis laid on the bed. He sat beside the unresponsive vampire, and put a protective hand on his shoulder.
Lestat walked in from the balcony as if he expected an army of adoring public bowing at his feet. Armand did not give him even the courtesy of a glance.
“Thank you, Armand.” Lestat said. “You are done here.”
Armand bowed his head. “All the same, I believe I will stay. Daniel, you may not want to be here for this.”
Lestat looked at Daniel. “He's right you know,” Lestat said. “Things are about to get a bit...messy.”
Daniel, unafraid, looked Lestat directly in the eye. “I will wait here for Armand.”
“Fine,” Lestat said, and shut the doors.
He went to the bed. “Louis, my love, get up. I have a surprise for you.” Louis did not move. Lestat's eyes flickered up and down his body, coming finally to rest upon Armand's hand, which was seated comfortably and lovingly on Louis's shoulder.
Fury sang through Lestat with the sound of a long lost violin. Forgetting himself, he grabbed Louis's ankles and dragged him toward the end of the bed. In one fluid motion, he pulled Louis to his feet. “Rise and shine, my beautiful one, there is a lovely day dawning, and I would like to share it with you!” He grabbed Louis's hand and began to dance with him. Or try, anyway. Louis had become like stone, like marble. He lifted slow, angry green eyes to Lestat.
“Do not touch me,” he said quietly. Lestat began to feel less secure in his anger. What was he to do? Could he force this? Would he force this?
“Louis, darling, please, just hear me out.”
Louis looked away and clenched his jaw. Desperate now, instead of angry, Lestat grabbed Louis's face and kissed him brutally, establishing ownership. “Please,” he whispered when he was done.
“What do you want from me, Lestat?” Louis asked, his way of showing acquiescence.
“I want to be able to hear you, Louis. I want to know you, the way that the Maker cannot know the Child. And I finally know how.”
Curiosity found its way into Louis, and he asked. “How?”
“Someone else must become your Maker. Someone else must drain you to the point of death, and someone else must infuse you with their blood for your survival. Another vampire, another one to re-make you in his image.”
***
A million thoughts thrust themselves to the forefront of Louis's mind. Several of them dealt with the factors of his own survival. These he roughly shoved out of the way. His own survival was not important to him anymore. If this was truly what he was, then death, even an accidental one, was deserved.
But to think of the profits of such an endeavor... To finally be able to be with Lestat, in his mind, and to have Lestat there with him, merely a thought away...Did the gains not outweigh the risks, when the risks themselves were not entirely unwelcome?
He looked over at Armand. And Armand looked back, and understood. This was how it was to be.
Armand nodded, slowly and deliberately, only once. And then Louis turned to Lestat. His eyes softened and he let his true vulnerability show. “Alright, Lestat, we will try it.”
Overcome with joy, Lestat peppered Louis's face with kisses. “Oh, my Louis, oh, thank you...” He wrapped his fingers surely and securely in Louis's hair.
Louis gave Lestat a tight smile, knowing that he was not going to like the next part of his statement.
“There's only one thing, Lestat. I want Armand to be the one to do it.”