#Tvc fanfiction

[shelikesorchids-archive]

Designs On You: Chapter One

City Life, Apple Pie Made Just Right

Pairing: Human AU Lestat de Lioncourt x Louis de Pointe du Lac

Summary: Lestat de Lioncourt leaves France for New Orleans to get away from his life and his demons. He falls in love with the city and buys a townhouse in the Quarter. But, what happens when he also falls in love with the contractor he hired to renovate his house?

Louis de Pointe du Lac is trying to find his way as a business owner after his father dies and leaves him the family contracting company. He takes a job from a French man new to town offering him a disgusting amount of money to renovate his townhouse. He knows he's hurting, but can he fix more than his house?

They both have demons, but can they tame them? Can Lestat really run from what he left behind in France? Can Louis be everything his family needs? Can they fill in the cracks in each other's hearts? We'll see when the paint dries.

Word Count: 2.5k

Author's Note: JUMPING INTO THE DEEP END HERE. We're starting from the end and working backwards! That's right! We'll get a happy ending, but how do they get it? Well, you'll see.

Big thanks and many smooches to @mythicaltzu for beta reading, editing, and being my cheerleader in DMs!

ENJOY!

Louis and Lestat had just celebrated their first anniversary as a married couple, and life was absolutely blissful. 

Louis had taken on the role of business owner full time, and no longer did any actual contracting work. He had an office, but he worked from home quite a bit, which made Lestat very happy. The house Lestat bought on a whim now felt like a home, and it was about to get fuller. They had started the process of adopting a child, and they had their first meeting with the social worker at the adoption agency today. Both of them dreamed of this life, but they never thought it would be possible until they met each other. They were nervous about becoming parents, but they were both buzzing with excitement. 

Lestat came downstairs freshly showered and dressed to find Louis sitting at the kitchen island drinking a cup of coffee, and a second cup waiting for him. Louis knew just how Lestat took his coffee, and it was those little things that made him fall deeper in love with him every day. Even though Louis was off work for their appointment today, he was still aimlessly scrolling through work emails on his phone. Lestat could feel the nerves radiating from him, and even though he was just as nervous, he knew he had to comfort Louis. 

He took a seat at the island next to Louis, took his hands in his, and quietly asked, “Penny for your thoughts, mon cher?” 

Louis turned to face his husband, and let out a long sigh before answering, “M’just nervous. Are we really ready for this?” 

“Oh, my beautiful Louis. I’m nervous too. We may not be ready for this, but I want to do it with you. Just think, mon cher, a beautiful little child to fill our home with joy and laughter. Doesn’t that sound lovely?

“It does. But there’s also sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, spit up, and all that.” 

Lestat barked out a laugh, which made Louis chuckle as well. He cupped Louis’s cheek with his hand and smiled, “I know, I know. But there’s no one I’d rather suffer through a newborn with than you.” 

Louis smiled and stood up from his seat at the kitchen island and wrapped his arms around Lestat’s neck. Lestat put his hands on Louis’s hips and pulled him closer so he could share a sweet kiss with him. Once they broke apart, Louis leaned down to rest his cheek against Lestat’s head, and Lestat hugged him tighter. They stayed in the embrace for a moment before Louis finally pulled away to say, “Well, we better get going. Don’t want to be late, do we?” 

—--------------------------------------------------------------

The two of them smiled brightly at each other before walking through the door of the adoption agency hand in hand. They checked in with the receptionist and before they could even take a seat, the social worker that had been working with them was coming out of her office to fetch them. Her name was Julia, and she was a very smiley young woman with her hair up in a messy bun, and comically large framed red eyeglasses. They had met briefly to drop off paperwork and they had spoken to her several times on the phone, but today was the day they were actually going to get the process in motion. 

Holy shit, they were going to be bringing a baby home soon. Hopefully, anyway. 

“Lestat! Louis! So wonderful to see you both,” she sing-songed as she shook their hands. “Well, if you’ll both just come with me to my office, we’ll get this show on the road! Follow me.” 

She led them into her small office, which was decorated with lots of band posters, pastel stuffed animals, and various vinyl figurines of superheroes. They took a seat in the chairs in front of her desk, and Lestat grabbed Louis’s hand, gently rubbing the back of it with his thumb to ease his husband’s nerves. This was really happening, and they were both a mess of emotions. 

“So, all of your paperwork looks great! We should be able to get this filed with the courts no problem and complete your family! How are y’all feeling about it?” 

Lestat and Louis glanced at each other before Lestat finally spoke. “Well, Julia, we’re incredibly nervous, but we’re both very excited. Both of us have dreamed of having a family, and we just want to thank you for helping us realize this dream.”

Julia laughed and blushed. “Oh I’m just doing my job! So, the next step is to find a baby! I realize this is a bit weird, going through prospects, but it is part of the process. Now, do the two of you have any-”

She was interrupted by a soft knock on her doorframe, and the three of them looked up to see another young woman holding a manila envelope in her hand. 

“So sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But, I have that paperwork on Baby Edwards at Oschner’s NICU. Her parents signed over all their parental rights, so she is officially in our care now.” 

Julia motioned for her to step into her office and she took the envelope from her as she thanked her. Lestat swallowed a lump in his throat at the thought of this tiny premature baby being abandoned by her parents. Louis could tell his husband was getting emotional, and he knew he wanted to know more about the baby in the envelope, so he gently squeezed his hand and gave him a nod to ask Julia about her. 

“What about baby Edwards? We’d like to know more about her,” he said as his voice cracked. 

“Oh, she’s new to us, and the world for that matter. She’s only 4 days old, but she was born at 30 weeks, so she’s currently in the neonatal intensive care unit at Oschner. Her parents hated to give her up, but they just didn’t have the financial resources available to take care of a premature baby, so they decided to give her up for adoption. I’ll let you look at some photos of her, but I must warn you: she’s on oxygen and she has a few tubes sticking out of her, but she’s doing great.” 

Julia handed Lestat the photos, and Louis scooted his chair closer so that he could get a closer look at them. Lestat’s breath hitched at the sight of this tiny baby that was connected to several lines and wires like Julia said, but at the same time, she was the most precious thing he had ever seen. His eyes started to well with tears, and Louis put his arm around him to hug him close as they both gazed at the photos of the tiny baby girl. They exchanged another glance, and they wordlessly decided that she was going to be their daughter. 

“Can we meet her?” Louis asked Julia as he continued to comfort his emotional husband. 

“Well, they are very strict about visitors in the NICU because the babies are so delicate, but I’ll make some phone calls and see what we can set up. I’m assuming this means you’re interested in adopting her?”

Lestat handed the photos back to her and wiped his eyes. “Yes, we would love to adopt her. I can’t believe someone would just abandon such a tiny helpless baby.” 

“It is hard to imagine that, but we really try not to judge here. They loved her enough to make sure she would be taken care of, so they made the very difficult choice to put her up for adoption.” 

“And we can take her home and love her, mon cher,” Louis interjected. 

Lestat gave him a watery smile, and squeezed his hand. Louis always knew just what to say to make him feel better. He wiped his eyes once again and told Julia, “You’re right, I suppose. So, when can we meet her?” 

—----------------------------------------------------

After three agonizing days of waiting, Lestat and Louis were finally in the NICU with Julia to meet their future daughter. A nurse guided them through washing their hands thoroughly before she led them to the incubator where the baby lay. Even though they had seen photos of her at the adoption agency, the mere sight of her before their very eyes took their breath away. Lestat gripped Louis by his waist as they inched closer toward her, fearing his knees might give out. 

“Oh, mon dieu. She’s even more precious than in the pictures,” he whispered. He bent down until he was eye level with her in the incubator, then turned to ask the nurse with tears in his eyes, “Can I touch her?” 

The nurse smiled as she replied, “You can, but be very careful not to jostle any of her lines.”

She opened the small door to the incubator and motioned to Lestat to come closer. He slowly put his hand inside and stroked her fuzzy little head with his fingertips. He was surprised by how soft her hair was, and she seemed to lean into his touch, which made the tears finally fall from his eyes. Louis bent down to join him and he whispered, “Hey baby girl. You wanna come home with us?” 

They stood there for several moments, taking turns gently stroking her hair or holding her tiny little hands until she started squirming and whimpering, which upset Lestat because she was clearly uncomfortable. The nurse came over to assure them that she was fine, but then caught them off guard by asking if they wanted to hold her. Both of them nodded vigorously, and the nurse rolled over a recliner for them to sit in so they could hold their baby. Louis let Lestat go first, and he was overcome with emotion yet again at being moments away from holding his daughter. 

“Unbutton your shirt,” the nurse told him. 

Lestat’s face quickly turned from amazed to confused. “What? Why?” he asked. 

“Skin to skin, or ‘kangaroo care’. It’s great for all babies, but especially premature ones. It promotes bonding, helps regulate their body temperature, and other things babies need. She’s also never been held, so you’ll be the first.” 

He felt like he might cry again, but he did as the nurse asked and unbuttoned his shirt to expose his chest. Louis couldn’t help but admire his husband’s pristine form as the nurse situated the baby on his bare chest and covered them with a blanket. She snuggled into his chest as he gently rocked her, and Lestat felt an overwhelming rush of love for this tiny baby in his arms. He made a silent promise to her, and to himself, that as long as he was around, she would know nothing but comfort, safety, and love. Louis kneeled down at the side of the chair and placed his hand over Lestat’s on her tiny back, stealing his husband’s lips for a chaste, loving kiss. 

Once they both broke the kiss, they gazed down at the now sleeping baby and knew their family was complete. 

“Claudia. Her name is Claudia,” Lestat whispered as he traced her cheek with his finger.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Louis, mon cher, what are you doing?”

“Just taking a video of you doing the ‘hot new dad walk’. I wanna remember this forever, “ Louis replied as he walked behind him, recording him with his phone.

“Your daddy is incorrigible, my darling,” Lestat laughed as he walked down the hallway to the hospital exit, baby Claudia in tow, fast asleep in her carrier. 

All of the paperwork had been finalized, and she was officially theirs. More importantly, she was finally well enough for them to take her home. After weeks of visiting her in the NICU every day, she was finally breathing on her own, they were able to feed her with a bottle, and thanks to the nurses, they were comfortable with taking care of a newborn baby on their own. They got her safely buckled into the backseat of their shiny new SUV, and Louis sat in the backseat with her while Lestat drove them home. He didn’t care that people behind him were honking at him for going under the speed limit, he was going to get his precious cargo home safely, everyone else on the roads be damned. 

Once they were parked in the driveway of their townhouse, Louis carefully unbuckled her from the carrier and she fussed in protest of being woken up from her nap. Lestat couldn’t help but smile as he got her bags out of the car and watched Louis try to soothe their cranky baby girl. Their baby girl. He couldn’t believe he had a family of his own to love and care for.

“I know, sweetie, I know,” Louis crooned as she continued to fuss. 

“We’re home, ma cherie. Would you like to see your new home? You even have a room of your very own,” Lestat whispered to her before kissing her head. 

Louis gave Claudia the grand tour of the townhouse, starting with the courtyard in front, then continuing with the downstairs portion of their home. Lestat took the bags upstairs to put away her things from the hospital in her nursery, and he was taken aback at how beautiful it was. After they first met Claudia and decided to adopt her, Louis had spent quite a bit of time sequestered in the spare bedroom they decided would be her nursery, and Lestat was worried that he was having second thoughts about the adoption. A week later, he was pleasantly surprised when Louis showed him the new room with hand painted Azaleas and Magnolias on the wall, and the most beautiful baby furniture he had ever seen. He remembered breaking down in tears at the thought that this is where his daughter would grow up, in this gorgeous room her daddy designed just for her. 

He was soon pulled from his thoughts by Louis walking through the door, Claudia held tenderly in his arms as he told her, “And this your room, I hope you like it. I did this just for you.” 

Lestat crossed the room and took Claudia from Louis’s arms and propped her up against his shoulder so she could see the room. “Yes, your daddy made this beautiful room just for you ma cherie. He loves to make things beautiful. He made my life beautiful.” 

Louis had tears in his eyes as he gazed at the two loves of his life, his beautiful husband and his precious daughter. He came behind Lestat to wrap one arm around his waist, and the other around his arm holding Claudia. Here was his everything, his whole life, right here in his arms. He stole a quick kiss from Lestat as they stood there together holding Claudia, who was growing sleepy. They both laughed softly as she let out a yawn and buried her tiny face in the crook of his neck, and Lestat pressed a kiss to the top of her head, lingering there a moment to take in her sweet baby smell. 

“A nap sounds like a great idea, don’t you think, mon cher,” Lestat asked Louis. 

“Amazing idea. Let’s get all the sleep we can before the real fun starts.” 

[lestatism]

here is my first fic for vamptember 2023 - leather! please mind the tags <3

[you-get-me-closer-to-god]

Vamptember Day 1

“5+1 / Pantheist / Leather”

SUMMARY: Struggling to keep up with your college lectures, an interesting pair come to your rescue.

PAIRING: Platonic Armand, Daniel, and Female Reader

WORD COUNT: 2,385

WARNINGS: none!

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Yippeee!! Vamptember is afoot! So I’m planning on making this a series and adding onto it every day. I don’t know if I can up the word count any more than 2k but by god will I try, gang. I will be posting this also on Ao3 a little later, if you’d rather read it there. I also plan on adding a few characters here and there of course ;)

I chose “Pantheist” for today’s prompt, cause I’m a slut for religion. Enjoy!

Baruch Spinoza was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, born in Amsterdam, the Dutch Republic, and mostly known under the Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza. One of the foremost and seminal thinkers of the Enlightenment, modern biblical criticism, and 17th-century Rationalism. At least, that’s what your notes say. And you hope to God it’s all correct, because all throughout your evening lecture, you had not been paying attention. Your brain was fried after waking up at six in the morning for the free breakfast in the dining hall. And even though your body couldn’t afford loosing any more sleep, your wallet definitely couldn’t afford any groceries, so it was your only chance to eat all day. What was even more disheartening was that your very last class was scheduled to start at nine o’clock at night. At. Night. When you would usually be snuggled up in bed, fast asleep after reading a few chapters of the book on your bedside table.

So there you sat, nodding off every few minutes, trying desperately to stay conscious as your mind weaved the professor’s words into a lovely little dream for you to quickly slip into.

And every time you tried to zone back in, your professor’s five-syllable words and complicated “if this then that” curriculum just left you all the more discouraged. You ended up doodling in the margins of your notebook hopelessly until he called for the end of class. The room shuffled around you as college students from all walks of life stumbled sleepily to their dorms, slamming textbooks shut and slinging bags over their shoulders. You just sat there, yawning, waiting for an opening to join them in the trudge back home. It reminded you of a war movie you had seen with your dad one time, watching the people file out like a brigade of soldiers, thousand yard stares and dry blood-shot eyes on every face.

Except one.

One bright, young face in particular stood out from the crowd, not just his face, but his whole being. It’d be hard not to stand out with red hair like that.

His eyes were clear as they searched the room calmly, he moved- not necessarily energetically, but it was clear he seemed to have an abundance of energy.

That was a guy who was used to the late-night schedule. Easily descending the stairs to the door, he carried his backpack like it weighed nothing. Which you knew was impossible, if he indeed had all the required reading in there. You didn’t quite make out what he was saying, but he turned to a friend who walked next to him and began to speak.

His friend looked pretty much like how you felt.

Slouchy posture, languid steps, dark circles under his grey eyes, messy blonde hair pointing this way and that. It looked like he was trusting his more enlivened friend to walk him in the right direction. And given how the other brought his arm around his slouchy friend to lead him through the doorway, instead of smacking into the frame, that was probably the case.

You watched as the pair disappeared down the hall and you slowly pushed yourself up out of your seat as an opening in the crowd presented itself. Slowly making your way down the steps, you followed the brigade of students out of the room and onto the campus, into the cool night air, dorm room bound.

The interesting pair of friends lingered in your mind as you drifted off to sleep that night. You’re pretty sure you’ve heard talk of them around, but, you’ve never seen them yourself, until that point.

The “polite young foreign genius” and his “less polite, gangly friend”. There were stories, oh were there stories, but you never payed any attention to them. Gossip always left a bad taste in your mouth, as much as you loved it, so you just did the adult thing and assumed everything you heard was false. Though, some rumors did give you a good laugh. Like how the younger one was a prince from some European country, and, being so out of touch with society, he payed this poor miserable sob to hang out with him.

It was funnier now having lay your own eyes on them. You could totally see it.

The next night, Nine o’clock returned, and you sat at the same desk with your notebook open, trying to decipher your sleep-deprived hand writing from the other night. You gave up after a few attempts and only being able to make out ‘Baruch Spinoza???’ scribbled in sharp, frustrated pencil. Great, incredibly helpful, as the name was also written on the board right in front of you.

A heavy sigh came from your lips and you rubbed your face in an attempt to clear your brain fog. You had no idea how you were going to graduate if you couldn’t even stay awake for the classes. On top of that, barely surviving on free cereal and hash browns in the cafeteria was certainly not optimal brain food. You considered laying your head down on the desk right there and withering away as students began filling up seats. You gave it a shot, resting your forehead on your folded arms and trying to ignore the every growing hunger in your stomach, the tension headache slowly forming behind your eyes.

The quiet and creaky auditorium gradually filled with voices, rising in volume as more and more people began to strike up conversation around you. It irritated you. You were grumpy and you wanted everyone in the world to stop talking. Or, at least give you the answers to the upcoming test. Either one would’ve lifted your spirits.

“No, I didn’t know him personally, Daniel, you’re not very funny.”

A unique voice lifted up and out of the clamor from behind you, catching your interest immediately.

“Now if you would’ve said ‘Giordano Bruno’ we might have had a very interesting conversation,”

He pronounced the Italian name with ease, nailing the accent perfectly.

“-However these ‘professors’ read one book and suddenly they are the masters and we pay them. You’ve read ‘Ethics’, Daniel, take to the stage and give us your best shot. I’m sure you’d be doing a better job than this fop.”

His tone was passionate and irritated, Daniel, you assumed, chuckled quietly next to him.

“I think I should take offense to that.”

As you listened to their conversation, you realized that some actually helpful notes would make your year, possibly save your life and college career. And from what little you’ve heard from them so far, their notes would definitely be better than yours. Well- anyone’s notes would be better than yours, but these two seemed to know what they were doing. You lifted your head from your arms gingerly and turned around to ask.

But you were embarrassingly dumbfounded.

You don’t know how you didn’t realize it last night, it must have been the sleep deprivation or the lighting, or the fact that he sat very near to you now, but the red head was possibly the most beautiful person you had ever seen in your life.

Smooth auburn hair in delicate curls and waves rested just above his shoulders, a richly deep color that you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing naturally. Dark brown eyes that held your stare unblinkingly, almost against your will with an oddly cold and unforgiving expression. It unnerved you slightly.

Pale round face and dignified posture, his mouth in a slight pout or frown. You would’ve been surprised if he wasn’t a prince.

You cleared your throat, breaking away slightly, realizing you were being incredibly rude.

“I’m sorry- I was just wondering if you guys had any notes I could copy? I must have fallen asleep in the middle of the lecture and…”

You held up your notebook to them, showing your sad and pathetically empty page, and shrugged.

The blonde nodded, mumbling a “sure” and reached into his bag, pulling out a crumpled spiral-bound composition book that looked water damaged, and began flipping through pages.

“Thank you so much, I just- I don’t usually do this, it’s just this schedule.” You replied, feeling a bit like a burden as he flipped through page after page, looking for the correct notes. One of the pages was brown and wrinkly, as if someone had spilt a full cup of coffee all over it.

“It’s no problem, I have it somewhere…”

You shifted a little, noticing the other staring at you still. You glanced back and met his gaze again, unsure if you did something wrong.

You wanted to ask him what his problem was, but he cut you off.

“You don’t often fall asleep during a lecture? Is this correct?”

He had a hint of an accent you couldn’t quite place, but it was all around enjoyable. His voice was oddly clear and sharp, it penetrated the noise in the auditorium easily.

“Yeah, that’s right.” You answered him, feeling a little judged.

“Why is that, do you think?”

He spoke unapologetically, never breaking eye contact. You suddenly felt like you were at a job interview. You furrowed your eyebrows and unconsciously stood up straighter. Were you going to have a bully? He seemed young enough to be bullying people still.

“I’m sorry?” You said, finally.

“What do you think of this professor? Do you think him adequate for what you are paying for tuition?” He rolled the “r” on the word “professor”.

“Oh.”

A bit of relief washed through you as you realized he was complaining about the teacher again, not taking a dig at your academic determination. Although, it felt like a loaded question. He looked like he had a plethora of opinions waiting to be released as he awaited your answer.

“I don’t really- yes? I think I do. I’m not sure really. I haven’t been awake for any of his lectures yet.” You laughed nervously.

He turned his head calmly to look at his friend, who ignored him as he still flipped through the pages.

“This is exactly what I’m talking about, Daniel. This poor girl can’t even keep her eyes open.”

He gestured to you with an open hand, still facing Daniel, who finally ripped out a page from his composition notebook and handed it to you, his tired grey eyes meeting yours.

“There it is.”

And before you could thank him-

“Are you a pantheist yourself?”

You looked from one to the other, feeling a bit of whiplash beginning to fester in your neck.

“A what?”

“A pantheist. Such as Baruch Spinoza, the topic of the lecture.“

His brown eyes bore into yours, he barely ever moved, and when he did, to gesture with his hand or adjust his seat, he did it with a sort of biblical grace. Like how you imagined Jesus moved. Your eyes caught the motion of his hand and noticed pale fingers decorated with rings.

“I was raised Christian but…” You said, writing the notes hurriedly into your own notebook, squinting at the messy handwriting.

“My relationship with the big man is a bit complicated now.” You gave him a tight smile “What about you? You seem to know a lot about it.”

He gave you a slow and understanding nod before replying.

“It is one topic of many that interest me, however I’m no loyal to it than yourself.”

He stared down at you with regal posture and stillness as you hunched over your paper, scribbling the last few sentences. With these few paragraphs alone you were already thinking of all the books you needed to borrow from the campus library. In all honesty, with the amount of class you slept away yesterday, you were looking at an all-nighter surrounded by books and a bucket sized coffee cup.

“Again, thank you so much. You have no idea how much this helped. I‘ve got my work cut out for me.” You looked up and smiled gratefully, giving the paper back to him.

“Sure.” Daniel replied. He began opening his notebook to place the paper back inside, when the paper was delicately taken out of his hand. He didn’t even take pause and he closed his notebook anyway, as if used to his friend’s sticky fingers.

“It was such a pleasure to talk with you. It is not very often I find someone so willing for a conversation like myself, I tell you.”

As he spoke to you, he took a pen which rested atop his desk, very sleek and elegant, it looked like it had a nice heft and weight to it as it shifted between his fingers. He jotted down something at the bottom of the page, dark eyelashes resting on his cheekbones as his eyes cast downward before flitting up again and handing the page back to you.

Curiously, you took it again with two fingers, glancing at Daniel for any sign of correction or confusion. He merely placed his notebook back into his bag, uncaring.

“We do not need it.” Daniel’s friend assured you, “Please keep it.”

You stared at him for a second, and smiled. Something about his energy was…addicting. His subtle feline movements, his confident tone and gestures, the cool, pointed expression that never wavered from his face. He was all too perfect.

It was almost eerie…

The auditorium around you had quieted down gradually as the professor walked in, his heels thumping on the old wood floor. Desks creaked and chairs scooted in as friends departed from their conversations to sit down.

“Again, thank you so much.” You whispered, giving both a grateful nod, which they returned, before finally turning around in your seat again and peering at the page you were gifted.

Immediately it caught your eye. In rich black ink and curling neat cursive, was a short paragraph on the bottom of the page, an odd contrast with the lazy and dull pencil writing above it.

It was an apartment address, in a neighborhood you passed frequently just outside campus. A very wealthy neighborhood, if you remembered correctly.

Under the address, was a short note written in handwriting that matched his looks perfectly, small, neat, and clean.

“If ever you should need help again, please have no hesitance in coming by our apartment.”

-Armand

——————————————————————————

Let the self-insert cringe commence!!!!

@the-vagabond-angel my muse <3

[vampirefest]

Hello, dearest companions in the darkness! Have you missed us, because we've been longing and yearning for you these past long months!

Kinktober ♥︎ is right around the corner and for our second edition of the event, we've compiled some sexy vampire-themed prompts just for you. Check out the list of prompts, and the rules and guidelines below.

We can't wait to see you in October ♥︎

Prompts

WEEK 1: PASSION

♡ Day 1: Coffin

♡ Day 2: Mutual Masturbation

♡ Day 3: Clothed Sex

♡ Day 4: Telepathic / Phone

♡ Day 5: Threesome

♡ Day 6: Shower / Bath

WEEK 2: OBSESSION

♡ Day 7: Dirty Talk

♡ Day 8: Hate sex

♡ Day 9: Outdoors / Public 

♡ Day 10: Stalking

♡ Day 11: Biting / Marking

♡ Day 12: Touch Starved

♡ Day 13: Edging

WEEK 3: DEVOTION

♡ Day 14: Body Worship

♡ Day 15: Master / Slave

♡ Day 16: Bondage / Restraints

♡ Day 17: Soft And Sweet

♡ Day 18: Aftercare

♡ Day 19: Toys

♡ Day 20: Praise Kink

WEEK 4: FASCINATION

♡ Day 21: Oral Fixation

♡ Day 22: Feeding Kink

♡ Day 23: Mirror Sex

♡ Day 24: Voyeurism

♡ Day 25: Fingers

♡ Day 26: Nipple Play

♡ Day 27: Interspecies / Monsterfucking

WEEK 5: EXPRESSION

♡ Day 28: Lingerie / Striptease

♡ Day 29: Mask / Incognito 

♡ Day 30: Leather

♡ Day 31: Costume / Roleplay

Rules and guidelines

This event is 18+ only since it's focused on NSFW content. Not all fills need to be NSFW, but as the perverts that we are, we highly encourage you to get freaky with it. 

All adaptations and versions of the characters are welcome; books, comics, the 1994 film, or the AMC TV show. You can specify which in your post if you think it's relevant.

There are 31 prompts, one for each day, but feel free to use multiple prompts per creation or mix and match as you like.

All fan creations are welcome; fanfiction, fanart, fanvids, edits, podfics, whatever you feel inspired to create.

We are firm believers of “don't like don't read”, so be sure to curate your experience if there are any prompts you don't vibe with.

This is a low-pressure event—whether you fill one day or all of them, the aim is to have fun and be creative.

Cross-posting with other events is welcome, just be sure to satisfy the requirements for this event. 

You can share your work on any platform you like. If you make a post here on Tumblr or Twitter, tag us and we'll reblog it.

Reblogs are spread throughout the day, so don’t worry if yours isn’t up immediately. But if you think we missed it you can DM us.

In your post please include the following: 

Tag with #vfkinktober2024 and/or tag this blog @ vampirefest

Which Day/Prompt you have filled

Any relevant ratings to indicate if the fill is NSFW *Tumblr automatically suppresses any posts with explicit tags so we advise our creators not to tag NSFW if the post itself is not explicit but only links to the explicit version on another site (AO3, Twitter etc.)

Any relevant sensitive tags or trigger warnings—we want to take care of our little community, so please tag appropriately.

You can also add the characters or ship names.

Example of how reblogs will be tagged:

#vfkinktober2024 #day #[prompt being filled] #[type of content; fanart, fanfic etc.] #[trigger warnings that we get from your post] tw #[ship name or pairing]

AO3 Collection

The Vampire Fest AO3 collection will open on October 1st. You can find it here.

We’ll also keep the collection open after October 30th for any late submissions.

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Go to [Edit Work] on AO3 and type VFkinktober2024 in the [Post to Collections / Challenges] box that is located below [Summary] and [Notes] and it should pop up in the suggestions.

You can also go to the collection main page and hit the [post to collection] button.

[murfpersonalblog]

I had to pause reading this to scream laugh holler rolling in my grave at @siahatha's new fic & Louis's arm-burning scene--it's SO good! 👏 This is just me fangirling & thinking out loud; it was way too long to put in the comments at AO3.

Four little bars have been burned (and must have burned for a while, Jesus, he sleeps like the dead) into Louis’ forearm, hand, and fingers from where they smoldered in the little bit of light. Lestat must have moved Louis’ hand when he realized. Impulsively (premeditated), Louis slides his hand back into the light, eyes on Lestat. “Absolument pas!/ Absolutely not,” Lestat snarls, wrenching Louis’ hand back into the shadow. It hurts a little, but maybe only because of the burn on his arm.  “Joues avec moi/ play with me,” Louis whines, and he means it. Lestat is overreacting (typical, Louis can only be harmed on Lestat’s terms apparently) and Armand would have gotten it, would have let him burn just a little, and allowed him the grace of repentance.  “I will not,” Lestat works his jaw.... "....What’s wrong with some sexual processing? What’s the difference between a spanking and a little sun?” “....The difference, mon amour, is that I am not Armand. I get what I want, and what I want is my darling safe and sated."

I LOVE the contrast b/t Armand vs Lestat, and the diametrically opposed ways they handle Louis' mental illness--enabling vs enforcing. There's good & bad on both unhealthily toxic sides ofc; pampering & spoiling vs protecting & domineering; and there's a time & a place for both/either--but what really matters most is what LOUIS wants in a husband:

Lestat’s nostrils flare. “Impossible! I wake up to the smell of you burning your arm off, and now I’m being punished with century-old pettiness, for what? Declining to indulge your suicidality through the thin veneer of sado-masochism? Why would I pleasure you with pain when I am so very skilled at pleasuring you with pleasure? No, Louis, I will not burn you with the sun when I can take you into my mouth instead. Now, please, let’s go to coffin so that I may do just that and we can get some fucking sleep.” So there it was. Lestat was the best lay of his life and he wouldn’t let him hurt himself. And brother, Louis does feel warm here in the shadows with Lestat and all his loving firmness. Louis continues to be pleasantly surprised by New Lestat’s patience. He’ll return the blow job. He feels his honey deserves it.  “I think antidepressants would be a more apt metaphor,” Louis says, because he’s not about to just roll over.... Lestat rolls his eyes, actor expressive. “Regardless. A—what is the English?—a pushover! I am not. I will not allow you to hurt yourself and I do not give up. I will always be there to steady your hand.” Lestat tightens his grip on Louis’ arm. “And I will play no more of these games,” Lestat says, ending the discussion, scooping Louis up and carrying him to coffin, where he enjoys feeling weightless as Lestat steps over the coffin room’s threshold.  Later, Louis is being held in the true dark of the coffin, where it smells like Lestat and everything that means to Louis. He smiles, ignoring the sinking feeling. He’s gotten what he wanted. “I love you,” he whispers into the dark.

As pridefully independent & stubborn as Louis is, he still WANTS someone to snatch his hand away and tell him NO and bodily carry him out of the room and put him in a safe cocoon/coffin and hold him close & make everything better.

I'm just reminded of our very first scene with Lou demonstrating to Daniel what vampirism looks like in the sun; and Armand's reaction.

Like, it was wild that Lou even went that far, burning his arm just to prove to Daniel that he's really a vampire; when back in SanFran all he needed to do was flash his fangs & move at super speed.

Lou's chronically suicidal, but burning in the sun isn't the only way to self-destruct; he's BEEN slowly killing himself EVERY DANG DAY.

Armand erroneously thought Lou reading Claudia's diaries & being interviewed was what was gonna send him off the deep end again; but Daniel's proving that Louis NEEDS to face the past & confront his trauma so it can be processed & he can truly start healing--not bury it under the rug & force himself to forget.

Sure, Armand pulled him out of the sun in SanFran, but he had/has been doing LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE to pull Louis out of his continuing spiral; often contributing to Louis' bad practices; or standing back and watching Louis "act out"--these are CRIES FOR HELP; but Armand can't see it; he just judges Louis & resents him in silence. The 100+ drunken/drugged blackout sexcapades eff-off-and-find-me-laters; asking Armand to lobotomize him 3 days after he'd had a terrible mental breakdown; taking on the Dom role when Lou's not even good at it & doesn't enjoy it; squirelling himself away in Dubai eating human food that tastes like glue--it's ALL self-mortification; it's ALL suicide. Louis wants to get OUT, but he needs help that Armand just can't give him.

Sadly, Lestat, for all his flaws & faults, is the one Louis REALLY wants; and (giving the devil his props) he's much better equipped to handle Lou, cuz he's not afraid to bully Louis go head-to-head with him. Fighting is NOT the right way ofc; and Loustat aren't inherently predisposed to fighting at all--they're both actually incredibly sensitive & soft--but the struggles in Loustat's life hardened them & conditioned them to become fighters--nurture versus nature.

Loustat's problem is that they needed to learn how to communicate WITHOUT the crutch of telepathy (which clearly hadn't helped Loumand anyway ); and realize that as companions/husbands, every conversation/connection doesn't actually NEED to be borne of violence--seeing each other as obstacles to be crossed or fights/battles to be won.

One of my favorite lines in a fic is from BlueBloodBruise's Go Fetch God:

He could hear Lestat pacing downstairs, playing music that galloped nowhere, raging at the world with two fists up. If he closed his eyes, Louis could still hear him weep, howling sobs so freighted with grief they reminded Louis of the screams of mating herons.... "What, Louis?! What in God’s rotten hell do you want? You know I can't read your mind!" "You." This is the definition of madness, Louis thinks dimly...trying to convince his murderer to let himself be loved. "I want you to let me in. I want to let you in without being afraid you’ll tear me to pieces, like God would have if he'd peered into my soul when I was mortal. If I fear you, I can’t love you, Lestat. You have to share yourself with me—" "I did! I shared my blood, my home with you, my—" "No. I need you to put your fists down and look at me. Not like some object you created, but like an equal, your hus—" .

They needed to find a balance--as EQUALS. Passivity & cowardice isn't the right way either, and sometimes when you see your loved one doing dangerous stupid ish, you HAVE to step up and stop them; even if they get mad and it causes a fight and they yell & holler that they hate you.

ARMAND NEVER HAD THAT! Armand went from a sheltered childhood in poverty to parents who sold/threw him away; to sex slavery & captivity; to white-savior hero worship living with uber-hedonistic Marius who spoiled him rotten & taught him to mix pain w/ pleasure via BDSM; to 200+ years in a brainwashed Satanic cult of self-loathing & self-mortification (all pain & zero pleasure); to LEADING that Satanic coven & brainwashing others to follow the Great Laws & gaslighting humans to not notice that the calls are coming from inside the house. This is all Armand's ever had.

Louis was his first/only "real" relationship with a normal person (someone not his Maker & not a coven-member). Armand overcorrected all the harsh treatments he got & gave b4, to treat Lou with kid gloves--when really, Lou needed tough love--not someone to "chop his hands off" the way Armand treated Nicki, but someone to really HELP him cuz they UNDERSTAND & love him.

Lou was deeply traumatized by his formative years, too--his baby brother Paul in & out of mental asylums, cast off by Papa DPDL & coddled by their mother Florence; who babied Paul but HATED any signs of LOUIS being ANOTHER "fragile son." Anything "wrong" with Lou he'd need to figure TF out how to get rid of ASAP!

Louis couldn't afford to be mentally unstable, depressed--he needed to buck up & take care of this nasty AF family that hated/resented/didn't understand him. The only one he'd ever connected with was Paul--who committed suicide right in front of him after Louis told him he loved him; only for Lou's own mother to blame him for Paul's death like wtf.

The only one who understood even a fraction of what Lou'd gone through and how Lou operated & what he'd want/need IS LESTAT. Cuz he'd been there, too.

Les grew up dirt poor, but his family dynamic was uncannily similar to the DPDLs; only instead of Paul, Les had Gabrielle. Les saw his mom Gabrielle in Louis, (and Armand KNOWS this; which is why his whole backstory/account of Lesmand in Paris is SUS AF). Louis was SEEN by Lestat--they're kindred spirits; two sides of the same coin--for better and for worse; cuz when Loustat's in sync it's beautiful; but when they clash THEY CLASH. 💀

Loumand has never been in sync; they're only ever on the same page when they're performing/pretending/role-playing. Armand constantly says/does the WRONG thing--

--then victim-blames Louis afterwards; redirecting any and all culpability OFF himself and ONTO LOU (or Claudia, Daniel, Santiago, Tom, Dick and Harry....), as if it's all Louis' fault what happened to him, and not the result of Armand's contributing/mishandling of Louis' PTSD.

As opposed to the way Lestat talks to Louis--

--not focusing Lou's suicide attempt as the result of something Lou did to HIMSELF, but rather something done TO Louis--(mental) illness isn't HIS FAULT; it's something he can get HELP for; and Les loves him and is just waiting for him to be ready to talk to him.

But don't wait too long! At Rue Royale Lestat often sat silently letting all their messes simmer & boil over. What's amazing about fanfics like @siahatha's Alligator Tears (a sequel to Renaissance) is that it gives Loustat the chance to sit down and have those much-needed talks, hard as they are, so they can finally MAKE PEACE and HEAL as a better couple. Lestat also KNOWS Louis, and that's why he can get in Louis' face and ALSO tell him that he's not gonna sit back and let Louis hurt himself--and their relationship--anymore. Lou's anorexia's a symptom of a much more complicated issue (a vegan vampire still grappling with what it means to kill people in order to feed healthily), so that is a delicate matter that will take time for them to negotiate--one of my fave parts of Renaissance is when Loustat's in the blood donor truck--but any self-immolation will be nipped in the bud IMMEDIATELY. 😤👏

[weepinglestat]

has anyone written a genderbent iwtv/tvc au? like the story is the same but all the mains are girls? pls send me links if any exists otherwise i’ll be forced to write it myself…

[lesbians4armand]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love 💞

ahh what a lovely idea!!

my fave fics i’ve written!!

- honeysuckle sips from your rolling hips (armand/daniel, iwtv, m)

Not only was this fic super fun to write it was also a favourite of people who read it which made me love it all the more!!

- My Lover, Melt! (armand/daniel, tvc (bookverse), e)

First fic written for this ship that I wrote in a daze at midnight because I knew i just had to. really fun for me and the song just clicks so well for Them.

- East of Eden (robert fischer/dom cobb, inception, m)

Short but SUPER fun, I will always adore my inception fics because i just adore that world and the possibilities of it, and this fic has delightful memories of coming up with in over dms with two beloved mutuals

- A Gypsy’s Ribbon (tommy/alfie, peaky blinders, m)

Not what I would consider my best but it is my only PB fic and it is inspired by one of my favourite poems, really enjoyed writing it. Tommy/Alfie will always hold SUCH a lovely place in my heart!

- sweet things for the sea (armand/daniel, iwtv, m)

So very difficult to pick just five but I have to talk about my one f/f fic as a lesbian. butchfemme devils minion is just too good to me and sirenmand lives in my head (and dani’s) rent free.

[half-as-big-as-life]

Vamptember day 3: slice of life

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Characters: Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat de Lioncourt Additional Tags: POV Second Person, Quiet, Reading, out of character but in the way that louis acknowledges that lestat is acting off, POV Louis de Pointe du Lac, Slice of Life Series: Part 3 of vamptember 24 wahoo Summary:

“Read to me,” he says, tone low and soft.

Something odd settles in your chest, but you take the book nonetheless. You don’t want to argue, and here he is, so calm and so warm compared to you, and you can smell fresh blood under his skin, and you haven’t eaten lately.

[nightcolorz]

I am bamboozled that it’s very popular for fic readers to refuse to read first person pov fics and I wonder if this stands for fandoms where the canon material is first person?? 😭😭 like the vampire chronicles ?? Confused and concerned cuz all my tvc fics r in first person for this reason (that’s how canon is written)

[rebel-revenant]

An alternate universe retelling of the Devil’s Minion wherein Daniel sold his soul to the Devil for notoriety as a writer. Now, fifteen years later, Armand is the fallen angel who has come to collect it. Enraptured by the manuscript Daniel has yet to complete, Armand extends him an offer of borrowed time to finish it under his watchful eye.

Chapter 8 Excerpt

I simply stared at him, took him in, invisible and lurking entity that I was. I noticed the lavender haze fractals of his eyes, splinters of gray-blue, so rare a color. A bit puzzling. An unwelcome thought struck me, that perhaps they were anointed with such a unique hue because he might perceive the world quite like no one else. This gentle sentiment surprised me, and I convinced myself it was a neutral observation. And then our eyes met. His unseeing, of course, yet not altogether unacquainted.  I froze. His lips parted. A micro-furrow of the brow, a wedge revisiting familiar territory, reactivating frown lines he was too young to have. My skin crawled. Not with the usual maggots. Perhaps a bit more like snails with wings. Like hope given to vermin caked in mud. It was not love at first, of course. Nor was it, much to my chagrin, indifference.  I was certain then that I despised him. I am not so certain of that now. I speculate that I was curious about him, and that held some power over me, and that was too much to bear. So my strategy became that I must drive him mad. I would hunt Daniel as a lioness hunts. I would feast on him decadently. So slow and so sensuous he would mistake it for pleasure. I would provoke him to summon me. To need me. I would pry at the tissue of his soul with my little fangs until he was nothing but bones left to rattle in the wind. Until he was no more than dust dancing in all the vacancy that remained of  all he once was, could be. A waste of potential, a waste of life. But not a waste to me. My sustenance. Delicious. 

[viensamoimoncher]

IWtV fandom PLEASE SEND ME YOUR FANFIC RECS

I've found some beautifully written fics and am making my way through them atm, but I'd love to know what people recommend <3

[she-likesorchids]

I did a thing.

Stroke my ego and read it if you like.

(Pretty plz)

Designs On You: Chapter One

City Life, Apple Pie Made Just Right

Pairing: Human AU Lestat de Lioncourt x Louis de Pointe du Lac

Summary: Lestat de Lioncourt leaves France for New Orleans to get away from his life and his demons. He falls in love with the city and buys a townhouse in the Quarter. But, what happens when he also falls in love with the contractor he hired to renovate his house?

Louis de Pointe du Lac is trying to find his way as a business owner after his father dies and leaves him the family contracting company. He takes a job from a French man new to town offering him a disgusting amount of money to renovate his townhouse. He knows he's hurting, but can he fix more than his house?

They both have demons, but can they tame them? Can Lestat really run from what he left behind in France? Can Louis be everything his family needs? Can they fill in the cracks in each other's hearts? We'll see when the paint dries.

Word Count: 2.5k

Author's Note: JUMPING INTO THE DEEP END HERE. We're starting from the end and working backwards! That's right! We'll get a happy ending, but how do they get it? Well, you'll see.

Big thanks and many smooches to @mythicaltzu for beta reading, editing, and being my cheerleader in DMs!

ENJOY!

Louis and Lestat had just celebrated their first anniversary as a married couple, and life was absolutely blissful. 

Louis had taken on the role of business owner full time, and no longer did any actual contracting work. He had an office, but he worked from home quite a bit, which made Lestat very happy. The house Lestat bought on a whim now felt like a home, and it was about to get fuller. They had started the process of adopting a child, and they had their first meeting with the social worker at the adoption agency today. Both of them dreamed of this life, but they never thought it would be possible until they met each other. They were nervous about becoming parents, but they were both buzzing with excitement. 

Lestat came downstairs freshly showered and dressed to find Louis sitting at the kitchen island drinking a cup of coffee, and a second cup waiting for him. Louis knew just how Lestat took his coffee, and it was those little things that made him fall deeper in love with him every day. Even though Louis was off work for their appointment today, he was still aimlessly scrolling through work emails on his phone. Lestat could feel the nerves radiating from him, and even though he was just as nervous, he knew he had to comfort Louis. 

He took a seat at the island next to Louis, took his hands in his, and quietly asked, “Penny for your thoughts, mon cher?” 

Louis turned to face his husband, and let out a long sigh before answering, “M’just nervous. Are we really ready for this?” 

“Oh, my beautiful Louis. I’m nervous too. We may not be ready for this, but I want to do it with you. Just think, mon cher, a beautiful little child to fill our home with joy and laughter. Doesn’t that sound lovely?

“It does. But there’s also sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, spit up, and all that.” 

Lestat barked out a laugh, which made Louis chuckle as well. He cupped Louis’s cheek with his hand and smiled, “I know, I know. But there’s no one I’d rather suffer through a newborn with than you.” 

Louis smiled and stood up from his seat at the kitchen island and wrapped his arms around Lestat’s neck. Lestat put his hands on Louis’s hips and pulled him closer so he could share a sweet kiss with him. Once they broke apart, Louis leaned down to rest his cheek against Lestat’s head, and Lestat hugged him tighter. They stayed in the embrace for a moment before Louis finally pulled away to say, “Well, we better get going. Don’t want to be late, do we?” 

—--------------------------------------------------------------

The two of them smiled brightly at each other before walking through the door of the adoption agency hand in hand. They checked in with the receptionist and before they could even take a seat, the social worker that had been working with them was coming out of her office to fetch them. Her name was Julia, and she was a very smiley young woman with her hair up in a messy bun, and comically large framed red eyeglasses. They had met briefly to drop off paperwork and they had spoken to her several times on the phone, but today was the day they were actually going to get the process in motion. 

Holy shit, they were going to be bringing a baby home soon. Hopefully, anyway. 

“Lestat! Louis! So wonderful to see you both,” she sing-songed as she shook their hands. “Well, if you’ll both just come with me to my office, we’ll get this show on the road! Follow me.” 

She led them into her small office, which was decorated with lots of band posters, pastel stuffed animals, and various vinyl figurines of superheroes. They took a seat in the chairs in front of her desk, and Lestat grabbed Louis’s hand, gently rubbing the back of it with his thumb to ease his husband’s nerves. This was really happening, and they were both a mess of emotions. 

“So, all of your paperwork looks great! We should be able to get this filed with the courts no problem and complete your family! How are y’all feeling about it?” 

Lestat and Louis glanced at each other before Lestat finally spoke. “Well, Julia, we’re incredibly nervous, but we’re both very excited. Both of us have dreamed of having a family, and we just want to thank you for helping us realize this dream.”

Julia laughed and blushed. “Oh I’m just doing my job! So, the next step is to find a baby! I realize this is a bit weird, going through prospects, but it is part of the process. Now, do the two of you have any-”

She was interrupted by a soft knock on her doorframe, and the three of them looked up to see another young woman holding a manila envelope in her hand. 

“So sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But, I have that paperwork on Baby Edwards at Oschner’s NICU. Her parents signed over all their parental rights, so she is officially in our care now.” 

Julia motioned for her to step into her office and she took the envelope from her as she thanked her. Lestat swallowed a lump in his throat at the thought of this tiny premature baby being abandoned by her parents. Louis could tell his husband was getting emotional, and he knew he wanted to know more about the baby in the envelope, so he gently squeezed his hand and gave him a nod to ask Julia about her. 

“What about baby Edwards? We’d like to know more about her,” he said as his voice cracked. 

“Oh, she’s new to us, and the world for that matter. She’s only 4 days old, but she was born at 30 weeks, so she’s currently in the neonatal intensive care unit at Oschner. Her parents hated to give her up, but they just didn’t have the financial resources available to take care of a premature baby, so they decided to give her up for adoption. I’ll let you look at some photos of her, but I must warn you: she’s on oxygen and she has a few tubes sticking out of her, but she’s doing great.” 

Julia handed Lestat the photos, and Louis scooted his chair closer so that he could get a closer look at them. Lestat’s breath hitched at the sight of this tiny baby that was connected to several lines and wires like Julia said, but at the same time, she was the most precious thing he had ever seen. His eyes started to well with tears, and Louis put his arm around him to hug him close as they both gazed at the photos of the tiny baby girl. They exchanged another glance, and they wordlessly decided that she was going to be their daughter. 

“Can we meet her?” Louis asked Julia as he continued to comfort his emotional husband. 

“Well, they are very strict about visitors in the NICU because the babies are so delicate, but I’ll make some phone calls and see what we can set up. I’m assuming this means you’re interested in adopting her?”

Lestat handed the photos back to her and wiped his eyes. “Yes, we would love to adopt her. I can’t believe someone would just abandon such a tiny helpless baby.” 

“It is hard to imagine that, but we really try not to judge here. They loved her enough to make sure she would be taken care of, so they made the very difficult choice to put her up for adoption.” 

“And we can take her home and love her, mon cher,” Louis interjected. 

Lestat gave him a watery smile, and squeezed his hand. Louis always knew just what to say to make him feel better. He wiped his eyes once again and told Julia, “You’re right, I suppose. So, when can we meet her?” 

—----------------------------------------------------

After three agonizing days of waiting, Lestat and Louis were finally in the NICU with Julia to meet their future daughter. A nurse guided them through washing their hands thoroughly before she led them to the incubator where the baby lay. Even though they had seen photos of her at the adoption agency, the mere sight of her before their very eyes took their breath away. Lestat gripped Louis by his waist as they inched closer toward her, fearing his knees might give out. 

“Oh, mon dieu. She’s even more precious than in the pictures,” he whispered. He bent down until he was eye level with her in the incubator, then turned to ask the nurse with tears in his eyes, “Can I touch her?” 

The nurse smiled as she replied, “You can, but be very careful not to jostle any of her lines.”

She opened the small door to the incubator and motioned to Lestat to come closer. He slowly put his hand inside and stroked her fuzzy little head with his fingertips. He was surprised by how soft her hair was, and she seemed to lean into his touch, which made the tears finally fall from his eyes. Louis bent down to join him and he whispered, “Hey baby girl. You wanna come home with us?” 

They stood there for several moments, taking turns gently stroking her hair or holding her tiny little hands until she started squirming and whimpering, which upset Lestat because she was clearly uncomfortable. The nurse came over to assure them that she was fine, but then caught them off guard by asking if they wanted to hold her. Both of them nodded vigorously, and the nurse rolled over a recliner for them to sit in so they could hold their baby. Louis let Lestat go first, and he was overcome with emotion yet again at being moments away from holding his daughter. 

“Unbutton your shirt,” the nurse told him. 

Lestat’s face quickly turned from amazed to confused. “What? Why?” he asked. 

“Skin to skin, or ‘kangaroo care’. It’s great for all babies, but especially premature ones. It promotes bonding, helps regulate their body temperature, and other things babies need. She’s also never been held, so you’ll be the first.” 

He felt like he might cry again, but he did as the nurse asked and unbuttoned his shirt to expose his chest. Louis couldn’t help but admire his husband’s pristine form as the nurse situated the baby on his bare chest and covered them with a blanket. She snuggled into his chest as he gently rocked her, and Lestat felt an overwhelming rush of love for this tiny baby in his arms. He made a silent promise to her, and to himself, that as long as he was around, she would know nothing but comfort, safety, and love. Louis kneeled down at the side of the chair and placed his hand over Lestat’s on her tiny back, stealing his husband’s lips for a chaste, loving kiss. 

Once they both broke the kiss, they gazed down at the now sleeping baby and knew their family was complete. 

“Claudia. Her name is Claudia,” Lestat whispered as he traced her cheek with his finger.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“Louis, mon cher, what are you doing?”

“Just taking a video of you doing the ‘hot new dad walk’. I wanna remember this forever, “ Louis replied as he walked behind him, recording him with his phone.

“Your daddy is incorrigible, my darling,” Lestat laughed as he walked down the hallway to the hospital exit, baby Claudia in tow, fast asleep in her carrier. 

All of the paperwork had been finalized, and she was officially theirs. More importantly, she was finally well enough for them to take her home. After weeks of visiting her in the NICU every day, she was finally breathing on her own, they were able to feed her with a bottle, and thanks to the nurses, they were comfortable with taking care of a newborn baby on their own. They got her safely buckled into the backseat of their shiny new SUV, and Louis sat in the backseat with her while Lestat drove them home. He didn’t care that people behind him were honking at him for going under the speed limit, he was going to get his precious cargo home safely, everyone else on the roads be damned. 

Once they were parked in the driveway of their townhouse, Louis carefully unbuckled her from the carrier and she fussed in protest of being woken up from her nap. Lestat couldn’t help but smile as he got her bags out of the car and watched Louis try to soothe their cranky baby girl. Their baby girl. He couldn’t believe he had a family of his own to love and care for.

“I know, sweetie, I know,” Louis crooned as she continued to fuss. 

“We’re home, ma cherie. Would you like to see your new home? You even have a room of your very own,” Lestat whispered to her before kissing her head. 

Louis gave Claudia the grand tour of the townhouse, starting with the courtyard in front, then continuing with the downstairs portion of their home. Lestat took the bags upstairs to put away her things from the hospital in her nursery, and he was taken aback at how beautiful it was. After they first met Claudia and decided to adopt her, Louis had spent quite a bit of time sequestered in the spare bedroom they decided would be her nursery, and Lestat was worried that he was having second thoughts about the adoption. A week later, he was pleasantly surprised when Louis showed him the new room with hand painted Azaleas and Magnolias on the wall, and the most beautiful baby furniture he had ever seen. He remembered breaking down in tears at the thought that this is where his daughter would grow up, in this gorgeous room her daddy designed just for her. 

He was soon pulled from his thoughts by Louis walking through the door, Claudia held tenderly in his arms as he told her, “And this your room, I hope you like it. I did this just for you.” 

Lestat crossed the room and took Claudia from Louis’s arms and propped her up against his shoulder so she could see the room. “Yes, your daddy made this beautiful room just for you ma cherie. He loves to make things beautiful. He made my life beautiful.” 

Louis had tears in his eyes as he gazed at the two loves of his life, his beautiful husband and his precious daughter. He came behind Lestat to wrap one arm around his waist, and the other around his arm holding Claudia. Here was his everything, his whole life, right here in his arms. He stole a quick kiss from Lestat as they stood there together holding Claudia, who was growing sleepy. They both laughed softly as she let out a yawn and buried her tiny face in the crook of his neck, and Lestat pressed a kiss to the top of her head, lingering there a moment to take in her sweet baby smell. 

“A nap sounds like a great idea, don’t you think, mon cher,” Lestat asked Louis. 

“Amazing idea. Let’s get all the sleep we can before the real fun starts.” 

[you-get-me-closer-to-god]

Vamptember Day 2

“Dissection / Rome / Bathed”

SUMMARY: Rotting away in your room, going no where with your research, you take them up on the invitation

PAIRING: Platonic Armand, Daniel, and Female Reader

WORD COUNT: 2,923

WARNINGS: none!

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Day two going strong! I managed to up it to nearly 3k words so that’s pretty cool! I used Rome as today’s prompt because mmmmmmyeah you’re gonna hear about all the information I’ve collected about 16th century Italian artists.

It was getting cooler in the mornings. The blaring, continuous, unforgiving, unrelenting hellfire heat, was actually subsiding. And it was getting cooler in the mornings. Your skin sung, and your lungs breathed in clean crisp air that was still damp from the sprinklers running earlier. Never mind it was going to heat back up later, you didn’t care. You were going to be inside all day anyway, but you weren’t going to miss the morning for anything in the world. And it had an affect on everyone, not just you. An extra pep in the step, more smiles returned, rushing to the next class was suddenly out of style.

And you didn’t flinch this time when the cashier gave you the total for your six dollar latte. -Okay, maybe you did a little bit. But it certainly tasted better than usual.

As your shoes hit the stone walkway in tandem with the music in your headphones, you took your time to appreciate the beauty of your campus, which was a lot harder in the afternoons with its 90 degree weather.

The large old oak trees that flanked nearly every corner and walkway, were still holding onto their green foliage. Stubborn things they are. The red brick building, which looked like a great castle or church to you more than anything, towering above all, an ancient watchful guardian.

The usual backyard birds were scattered here and there, mourning doves sat atop roofs with their little round chests poking out, the males sporting a dusty pink color proudly. Starlings pecked in the grass together in their many numbers like someone threw a dozen little black polka dots onto the ground which then magically sprung to life. But what really got you excited, were the crows.

Sure, some people had them all year round, a proper nuisance with their blaring and grating caw, no particularly special plumage to admire. But to you they were a true sign of fall that you cherished, and hearing their guttural yalp was like stepping on the first fallen leaf. Like smelling a bath and body works pumpkin candle. Like buying an orange wool scarf.

Joggers in bright shirts and shorts past you, a man from across the street cussed at his dog, who lifted her wide head up to bite at her leash and tug on it with all her might, paws digging into the sidewalk. The poor old man comically thrashed around. You weren’t sure what her end goal was, but you were rooting for her.

Reluctantly and with a heavy heart, you silently bade goodbye to the morning air as you opened the heavy door to join the masses for class. It’ll be back, you reassured yourself, and even colder tomorrow.

The early hours crept by, and much sooner than you wanted, the afternoon’s heat bled through the windows of your room. You were trying to get some research done for an art history essay, but you found yourself reading the same paragraph over and over about some obscure cathedral in Italy’s capital, desperately searching for information you could use. The lecture you had earlier wasn’t about the cathedral’s architecture, nor a note worthy icon on its walls, but of a teensy tiny little alter piece the size of your thumbnail, which you couldn’t find anywhere in the book.

And your professor wanted a three-thousand word essay on something that didn’t even have a damn Wikipedia page. It was understandable to think he wanted to give a unique assignment, instead of something like a study on the Sistine Chapel, or the Pantheon, but what the hell were you supposed to do with this?

You didn’t even waste your time with the library, surely any books of worth to you were already checked out by your ever so caring and sharing classmates. You even turned to Reddit, which usually had an overflowing cup of obscure and near-useless information, but not a single internet incel was interested in Roman altarpieces from the 16th century, surprisingly.

Which left one solution that you could think of.

And- to be fair, they did offer. Which should be reason enough to go. What were his exact words on the letter? “Have no hesitance”?

But you were hesitating, and why wouldn’t you? You hadn’t even told them your name and he wanted you to come by their apartment for a study session? And no, don’t think for a second the implications were lost on you. They weren’t. It could’ve been a ploy for a trafficking scheme, for all you knew. You could have your liver torn out and sold on the black market. All these seemed perfectly sane reasons not to go.

However that wasn’t what was stopping you.

You were nervous. And deep down you knew all your fears were a little ridiculous and highly unlikely. And It was that kind of thinking which kept you self-sabotaging any kind of potential relationships and left you continuously lonely. And god, were you tired of being lonely. You were tired of coming back in the middle of the night to your dark empty room with absolutely zero phone notifications, and realizing you didn’t speak a word aloud all day.

And that alone was reason enough to risk it. If the world was so ugly and evil that you couldn’t even visit a classmate’s apartment for help without being killed, then it was a world you didn’t want to live in anyway.

You slammed the book shut and put on some shoes, grabbing your car keys and the note with Armand’s address on it.

Yes, the mysterious Armand. What kind of name was that anyway? You had looked it up almost as soon as you got home last night and discovered it was of French origin. That clicked, you could definitely hear French influence in some of his pronunciations and words. You had to ask him later. Maybe he could help you pass your French exam.

The drive to the address was a quick one as the complex resided just outside of campus, just like you remembered. You had passed it multiple times on your way home for holidays and such, and you gawked every time at the sheer amount of wealth it exuded. But that was coming and going, actually driving into the neighborhood gave it all more time to impress you.

You were definitely not in the same tax bracket as the little Frenchman. Daddy’s pockets must be to China, they’re so deep.

You pulled in, parked your car, and walked into the building, trying not to stare too long at the crown molding. You took an elevator up, and glancing down at the paper once or twice, until you found the correct door down the hallway.

Swallowing the nervous lump in your throat, you lifted your hand and knocked, knuckles rapping against the wood. What were you even going to say? What if the one day you came over, was a bad time?

The door opened suddenly without giving you time to react, and a tired face squinted back at you, arm leaning against the doorframe. You eyed the reading glasses pushed up onto his tousled blonde hair, the comfy pants he wore were almost exactly what you were wearing a couple minutes ago in your dorm.

“Hey, I’m sorry, is this a bad time? I figured I’d take you up on the invitation.“

“No, come on in.”

Daniel dropped his arm from the doorframe and opened the door wider. You gingerly stepped inside, thanking him and walked a little deeper into the apartment as he closed the door behind you. It didn’t look like a serial killer’s apartment, the place was nice. Warm brown leather chairs gathered around a low coffee table in the living room, a rather large sound system sat near the back wall, the kitchen was near spotless except for a used coffee pot which looked quite weathered.

“We were starting to think we scared you off.” He said, picking up some stray pages off the floor and setting them on the table next to an open laptop.

“He can get a bit,”

He made a gesture with his hands.

“Enthusiastic.”

“Not at all, I just didn’t want to intrude.” you replied, shifting your weight onto the other foot.

“I’m really grateful, you know. This semester is really kicking my ass.”

He nodded and gave a short laugh as he closed the laptop and sat down. You followed his lead and sat on the couch across from him, sinking into the cushy leather awkwardly. You noticed a large flatscreen tv mounted to the wall behind him, and your eye was drawn to a vast collection of DVDs stacked on a small bookshelf next to it.

“You guys watch a lot of movies?” You observed.

He glanced to where you were looking and shook his head disapprovingly, turning back around.

“Armand’s little hobby. Well one of many.”

He looked a bit better than last you saw him, his eyes were brighter this time, and he moved a little sharper, though the dark circles still remained.

“Speaking of, I should mention he isn’t here right now. But he’ll be back pretty soon.”

“I see. When does he get back?” You asked.

“I’d say…”

Daniel leaned forward and peered to his right before answering you, you mirrored him unconsciously, but you were a little confused. There was no clock you could see on the wall. In fact, nearly the whole wall was a window, you wouldn’t be able to hang much of anything on it. It was a gorgeous view however. The sun hung down low, dipping down behind the city buildings in the distance, the sky melting into a deep orange color.

“About an hour or so. You know, I don’t think I’ve actually introduced myself.”

You were incredibly appreciative he said something, otherwise you probably would’ve forgotten again. You both told each other your names, and a warm feeling bloomed in your chest. You couldn’t believe you almost convinced yourself out of this. When was the last time you shook hands with a stranger and made an acquaintance? Third grade?

“So, what can I help you with?” He started, clasping his hands together.

You explained to him the assignment you were given, telling him about the 16th century alter piece and how hellbent your professor was on the importance the piece had for the renaissance era. You told him about your struggle to find any data on it, books or articles, you’d take anything.

After a moment, Daniel just gave a small laugh. A hint of crows feet appearing at the corners of his eyes.

“I’ll try my best to help you,” he said, “but it’s Armand you really want for this. I’m telling you, there never was a better topic of conversation for him.” He stood up.

“In the meantime I’ll pull out some books of his and see what sticks.“

There you both sat straight across from each other, flipping through page after page of dusty old books. You actually saw a lot of works you liked in these books and pointed them out to Daniel occasionally, noting colors and symbols that caught your eye. You learned that you and him had very different taste. He eventually got up and turned on a few lamps in the room as night began to fall.

Yawning a little, you didn’t realize you’d been there for so long until a clatter down the hall caught Daniel’s attention, his grey eyes lifting up from his book, over your shoulder to the front door.

“That’s probably him in the elevator.“ He mumbled. “Took his sweet time tonight.”

You twisted your body to watch the door. There was a sort of unexpected thrill that held your attention as footsteps grew louder. They approached closer and closer until stopping, the front door unlocking with a click.

As the door swung open, he glided in, turning and locking the door behind him. Clad in simple jeans and crew neck, his vibrant red curls were windswept. He looked like a kid on summer break ready to slink through the city with his friends. His dark eyes sparkled when his gaze fell to you sitting on the couch, and he made a serene smile.

“Oh, my friend, a pleasant surprise!”

You sat up and he crossed the room toward you and Daniel. He stretched out his hand to take yours, the rings on his fingers were chilly, as if he had just been walking through a refrigerator. His eyes bore into yours and he began to speak, his accent slightly thicker than usual.

“I cannot express to you how regretful I was when I realized Daniel and I had walked all the way home without first being informed of your name. I assure you I was taught better than that, my friend. Please, release me at once of my suspense, and I hope you harbor no ill will towards my forgetting myself.”

He held your hand there in an airy grasp, his dark eyebrows furrowed gently, as if to show you he meant business.

Immediately you told him your name, which he repeated back to you with such a seriousness that forced you to hold back a laugh, his accent modifying it slightly, but you didn’t mind.

“Daniel, I cannot believe you allow me to be so rude, clearly I am interrupting.” He said, releasing your hand. “But, forgive me, it is hard not to notice my own books on the table. Could I be of any use?”

Daniel shook his head, smiling at Armand’s theatrics.

“Actually, we were counting on it. All these books of yours and not one mention of an artist we’re looking for.”

“Artist?” His interest was piqued.

You piped up, describing the alter piece, its size, it’s setting, you told him about the cathedral it was painted in, and how impossible it was to find any information on it. Slowly, his focused expression formed into one of recognition, then frowned into indignation.

“Yes, I know the artist.” He turned slowly and picked up a thin paper back from the stack on the table and opened the book.

“There is entirely nothing wrong with learning the masters.” He said with a touch of venom that he unsuccessfully tried to hide, flipping to a certain page. “Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli.”

Then, turning the book to face you, he waited for you to grab it before pointing to a full page on the exact elusive piece that you and Daniel were searching for all evening. Your jaw dropped silently as he continued ranting, Daniel put his glasses back on and read over your shoulder.

“Even the later artists of Baroque, Caravaggio, Gentileschi, Bernini, all masters of their craft. The techniques you could learn from just one of those artists, are never ending. And these professors choose to waste your time, sending you on a wild goose chase for that.” He gestured to the book you held.

“An untitled sketch by an amateur student scribbled carelessly some five hundred years ago.”

You were hoping for a tiny sliver of information, even just a date would’ve sent you over the moon, but what he provided practically had half your essay done already. You didn’t know how to thank him, you felt a great weight lift from your shoulders.

“That same professor has been foolishly contradictory for as long as I can remember. If ever you should truly want to learn, I beseech you to contact me first before ever stepping foot into another one of his classes.”

He huffed frustratedly, and began putting his books back on the bookshelf silently.

“I can’t thank you enough.” You began, closing the book and holding it so carefully, it could have been a bomb. You were going to call your mom about these two and fire your therapist.

“It is not a problem, please keep it. Knowing that man, you are going to need it later.” He turned after placing the last book back on its shelf. Daniel slipped by him, walking over to the coat hanger and donning a denim jacket.

Armand grabbed your attention again.

“Would you do us the honor of joining us for dinner? There is an impossible amount I would like to talk with you about, if you’d let me, of course. It is one of Daniel’s favorite restaurants, so he is guaranteed to be in an agreeable mood.”

Your stomach lurched at the sound of dinner, there was nothing you wanted more in the world than a warm meal that actually consisted of the three main food groups. But you were completely broke, and the amount that you wanted to eat did not agree with the amount that you could pay for.

You frowned and opened your mouth to decline, when without skipping a beat, he spoke up again, sensing your apprehension.

“Completely my treat. Please.” His voice was like a silver bell, or like a cool bandage on a burn, it smoothed any rough edges of anxiety or worry. And there was no way in hell you were going to turn down that offer.

So together you left the apartment. “The three musketeers” Daniel had called you and Armand laughed a little too hard at it, echoing it all the way down the elevator with delight.

As you all collected into a rather sleek and bougie car to take you to the restaurant, you wondered what kind of odd situation you were getting yourself into…

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@the-vagabond-angel chapter 2!!!!!

[vampirefest]

Hello, dear companions in darkness! We're only a few days away from our Bloody Valentine !

Once again, we ask your help to determine once and for all:

[gas-station-dragon-statue]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Louis de Pointe du Lac/David Talbot, Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac, Lestat de Lioncourt/David Talbot Characters: Louis de Pointe du Lac, David Talbot Additional Tags: Vampire Sex, Blood Drinking, Explicit Sexual Content, Underage Sex, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Jealousy, Two deeply unpleasant men have a deeply unpleasant conversation, Hurt No Comfort, Flashback appearances from Carlos and Claudia, Age Regression/De-Aging, If you squint and tilt your head Summary:

“At bottom, neither the child nor the tiger are monsters, but in this world where reason rules, their apparent monstrosity is fascinating; they escape the necessary order.” – Georges Bataille in The Trial of Gilles de Rais

David Talbot turns up on the doorstep of Louis’ freshly remodeled home with a proposition.