#armand and lestat when i will die trying to set you on fire

[winepresswrath]

she really isn't allowed to have anything to herself. everything she is and wants and could be is constantly subject to other people's scrutiny because she's trapped she can't get by on her own she's a forever child and no matter how hard she fights against it that comes with a basic lack of autonomy and control over her life. whether it's armand or louis or lestat there's always someone who feels entitled to tell her who she is and how to feel about it

imagine there being a part of her childhood she held so close lestat didn't manage to taint it himself. and then the play ruins that too.

[aryastark-valarmorghulis]

Reposting this on its own because I need to make sense re: Armand and what the hell was going on with him before and during the trial.

"I will not harm you" were the first words Armand said to Louis, and later, he reiterates "I will not harm you; and I never have".

Now, we know this isn’t quite true, because Armand hurt Louis - mostly by proxy but not exclusively - he lied, gaslighted him (very convenient to agree to erase Louis' memory in SF, right?) and ultimately betrayed him, causing Claudia's death.

On the other hand, when Armand had the chance to kill Louis with fire he didn’t, and not because he had some evil TM mastermind plan, but because he loved Louis (yes, in his own flawed, imperfect way, but he loved him). And most importantly, why does Armand set Louis free? He has nothing to gain from it and everything to lose: he could alienate the coven if discovered, he's aware Louis won't forgive him (he says it later!), and I'm pretty sure, if he knew Louis at all, he at least suspected Louis would try to go all Kill Bill. So why does Armand set Louis free? Because he loves him.

Oh, and he also had no guarantee at all that, after setting him free, Lestat wouldn’t run to Louis and reclaim his role as the big hero who saved him. In the tower scene, Armand is scared as hell that Lestat is going to expose him.

So. Armand loves Louis. He stayed with him for 70+ years fully knowing (at least, unconsciously) that he was a rebound. And if Armand loves him, why would he let him die on that stage? When he saved him before and rescued him after, at his own peril?

So, my opinion: Armand wasn’t going to let Louis die, but you cannot script a hurricane, so Lestat happened, and after, it was just so convenient to let Louis believe what suits both the most - that Lestat is an undeserving monster etc, etc.

Of course, there is always option 2: Armand knew Lestat wouldn't have let Louis die on that stage, so he allowed him to do the hard work and then stepped in to do his own little saving in secret.

But of course, now that all the stones (ha) have been turned, who will believe or trust Armand again? Louis? Not a chance. Lestat? Please. Daniel? We'll see. 

Maybe I'll add more later on Armand's opaqueness during S2 (to me, he was quite an enigma in the books, so, I'm not complaining too much. I loved him as a character in the books, love him now, my weird gremlin etc, etc), which of course includes the final twist of Daniel's turning; but I feel like we don't have enough on him. We only scratched the surface with S2 Armand and we have a lot of puzzle pieces that don't quite match and they're not enough to get the big picture, maybe only a reflection of it.

[kaitcake1289]

Claudia's part

Louis perspective

Claudia doesn't wants to share Louis with Armand, so she asks him to turn Madeleine.

Armand asks why Louis hasn't moved out since Claudia is with Madeleine, how long he thinks of staying with her. Louis thinks "for as long as she lives".

Armand says that Claudia should get out of Paris. He asks for Louis to run with him.

The theatre des vampires kidnaps Louis Claudia and Madeleine.

Lestat is in the theatre. He says it's not Louis that he wants, it is Claudia who killed him. The others put Louis in a coffin, lock him in and put him inside a wall.

Armand breaks him free the next day.

Louis tries to get to Claudia but he finds Lestat instead, crying in a chair with a yellow dress in his hands, he says he needs to explain himself but away from them. Louis sees the dress and trys to find Claudia.

A door to a small room on the outside, Claudia and Madeleine in each others arms. Claudia in ashes and Madeleine a burned body. Armand says there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

Louis runs away then comes back to set the place on fire while they're asleep

Lestats perspective

Lestat came to europe and went to Armand asking for help. He told him about Louis and Claudia. Armand said he had seen them.

They go to the theatre and Armand asks Lestat tell the others what Claudia had done.

Louis is there pleading to let Claudia go, while she stares at Lestat. Armand makes him say what Claudia had done.

On the tower of Magnus Castle, Armand asks if Lestat hadnt wanted justice. When asked about Louis Armand says that the others killed him.

Armand blames Lestat for vampires being "discovered" and throws him out of the tower

THANK YOU SM … AUGHHHHH 😭😭😭 louis and claudia’s relationship stays the most interesting in the show to me i love their father daughter turned brother sister bond so much i’m gonna die

[i-want-my-iwtv]

Hi! I have some IWTV qs after seeing the movie&the internet isn't helping me at all. Hoping you could! 1.I've seen book explanations for why Lestat survived the fire, but is there something I missed in the movie to explain it? 2.What did Armand mean when he said he'd die if Louis left? 3.Why was Louis so weak and feeding off rats towards the end?Traumatized by the fire or something? 4.If Louis hated being a vamp so much,why didn't he just kill himself? &my last question will be in another ask...

^1/3 5. Is a possible interpretation of the ending that Louis&Lestat are working together again? Lestat said he could go out again if he had Louis but Louis said he had to go. Lestat then somehow ends up going after the guy that Louis was just talking to? Obvi not a coincidence so maybe he's just following Louis...but what if he's doing what he said? He's going out again bc he has Louis. Louis set up Malloy; or at least did so only after his reaction to his story? Maybe a stupid theory lol. ^2/3 anyway, sorry to come at you with all these questions, I just can't find answers anywhere else. Loved the movie and would just like to understand it better. I also think Louis&Lestat could be working together again because if Louis has resigned to killing people to survive, which is all Lestat ever really wanted him to be, is there any real reason they can't be in eachother's lives anymore? Thank you so much for any time you can give me and my questions lol! ^3/3

Wow, Anon, that's a lot of questions! Thanks for asking me 💗

The 1994 movie doesn't say how Lestat escaped the fire. In the book, Armand first tells Louis that Lestat had died, but much later, Armand tells Louis that Lestat left the theatre before Louis returned to burn it down:

Here's the script for Interview with the Vampire. It's similar, but not the same as the movie! It doesn't explain why Lestat survived the fire, but it's a fun read.

In the Vampire Lestat, Lestat says Armand took him by carriage to Magnus's tower after the trial, and after Claudia died, probably before the fire.

Hit the jump, cut for length.

2. Armand needed Louis to "quicken him once more," but he wasn't really dying in the physical sense. It's more like he saw in Louis a way to live again, having a new relationship with a New World vampire and experiencing the technology and culture with Louis is a reason to live. In the books, Armand forms a relationship with the interviewer Daniel, and they explore technology, culture, etc. of the time together (it's in Queen of the Damned). Armand wanted that kind of companion in Louis but Louis wasn't interested.

3. I think you meant Lestat? Bc Louis isn't eating rats at the end, it's Lestat. Lestat was weak from surviving the fire that Louis set on him before he and Claudia left for Europe, and an injury from Armand*.

*In the Vampire Lestat, he's on the roof of Magnus's tower with Armand, after Claudia's death, and Armand apparently punches Lestat off the tower, further injuring Lestat:

So, Lestat was pretty weak and horrible-looking, and would have had trouble going into places with people to kill them without freaking them out, so feeding on animals was easier:

4. Louis, deep down, didn't actually hate himself enough to want to kill himself. But he does try later in the series, depending which books you include as canon. Personally, I think Louis has conflicting feelings about how much he loves art, nature, humanity, Lestat, and the other vampires... he loves how his senses were enhanced by becoming a vampire, but it's also somewhat shameful, bc the price of those things he loves comes at the cost of continuing to take human life to fuel his existence.

I think Louis really was ready to kill himself for giving into his nature and feeding on a child, and that's really why Lestat turned Claudia, to protect Louis from the overwhelming guilt of having killed the most innocent victim. Luckily it seems like Louis didn't go for any more children, so Lestat didn't have to turn any more of them!

5. Tackling this in a separate post and I'll link to it 😎 [X]

[aquarines]

headcanon i have for the show: louis and armand definitely set lestat on fire that night, but armand conveniently removed that memory. my proof for it? how hesitant and scared (and honestly kind of extra pink) lestat looked in the reunion scene! it's just an idea, but i can see that happening honestly. if the reunion happened at all (which, like in the book, i can see being a falsification by louis), i think it would be so extra dramatic for them to have tried to kill lestat again. and i just like it when the vampires are extra spooky, and i liked the scene in the movie where lestat is on fire, crawling around on the ceiling.

you may have a point, like the tower scene was so strange how lestat basically says "i can't die because i have the blood of akashaur in me" and armand and louis don't even TRY to kill him? like they put away the fire because lestat mentions a woman neither of them know just because he said so... and yeah, he looks a bit sunburnt in the shack, so if they actually decide to retcon the end like they did in the book, it should be very interesting to see how it all went down

[bubblegum-blackwood]

TVC ships as Evanescence song lyrics:

LESTAT/NICKI

You'll never know/The way your words have haunted me/I can't believe you'd ask these things of me/You don't know me now or never (Snow White Queen)

I've been screaming on the inside/And I know you feel the pain/Can you hear me?/Can you hear me?/Say it's over/Yes it's over/But I need you anyway/Say you love me, but it's not enough (The Change)

I will be more than my survival/Only scars on my heart/Even in dreams I hear you calling/Breaking the surface, I won't let go/You're part of me now and always (Part of Me)

LOUIS/LESTAT

When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears/When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears/And I held your hand through all of these years/But you still have all of me/You used to captivate me by your resonating light/Now, I'm bound by the life you left behind/Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams/Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me (My Immortal)

Grieving for you, I'm not grieving for you/Nothing real love can't undo/And though I may have lost my wayAll paths lead straight to you/I long to be like you/Lie cold in the ground like you (Like You)

I'm not giving in, I want you back/Holding together by the shards of our past/Stole my heart away, I can't let you go/Break these chains and let me fly to you high above the world below/Over and over in my mind (The Other Side)

I won't give up on you/I can feel you in my heart/Just show me the way (Never Go Back)

Say you will or say you won't/Open your heart to me/Now or never, tell the truth/Is this real, is this real? (Say You Will)

Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirit's well/Yet again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child/Lie to me, convince me that I've been sick forever/And all of this will make sense when I get better/But I know the difference between myself and my reflection/I just can't help but to wonder/Which of us do you love? (Breathe No More)

Follow me under/Low as we are/Swallow your hunger/Feeding this dark/Feeding this dark/Do you remember/What made the scar?/How deep will you cut?/Seeking my heart/Seeking my heart/Well, you know that you can't hide/And you know that you can't lie/'Cause I know all your secrets/And I won't let you forget (Feeding the Dark)

Can't stop me now/Just clawed my way back from deep underground/No time for hatred, no holding back now/Set me on fire, I like it the way it burns/Hands on your heart/Who really thought we would make it this far?/What good could come from embracing the dark?/We found each other through brokenness and now look how strong we are (Part of Me)

I believe in us/I can't remember why I believe in us/These seeds of the past, they keep springing up/Love begins with trust/But we can't be trusted (Blind Belief)

ARMAND/LESTAT

Now I will tell you what I've done for you/Fifty thousand tears I've cried/Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you/And you still won't hear me (Going Under)

Under your spell again/I can't say no to you/Crave my heart and it's bleeding in your hand/I can't say no to you/Shouldn't let you torture me so sweetly/Now I can't let go of this dream (Good Enough)

Sickened in the sun/You dare tell me you love me/But you held me down and screamed you wanted me to die/Honey, you know/You know I'd never hurt you that way/You're just so pretty in your pain (The Last Song I’m Wasting On You)

ARMAND/LOUIS

All the promises I made/Just to let you down/You believed in me, but I'm broken/I have nothing left/And all I feel is this cruel wanting/We've been falling for all this time (Lost in Paradise)

Don't want to be the one to walk away/But I can't bear the thought of one more day/I think I finally understand what it means to be lost/Can't find the road to lead us out of this/A million miles from where we burned the bridge/Can't keep pretending everything's going to be alright/With the whole world falling down on me (Oceans)

I don't know if I will be alright/But I have to try/I know you're with me, so what if we do fall apart?/Give into all that we are/And let all the broken pieces shine (Broken Pieces Shine)

ARMAND/DANIEL

I know the truth now/I know who you are/And I don't love you anymore/Never was and never will be/You don't know how you've betrayed me/And somehow you have everybody fooled/It never was and never will be/You're not real and you can't save me/Somehow now you're everybody's fool (Everybody’s Fool)

As much as it hurts/Ain't it wonderful to feel?/So go on and break your wings/Follow your heart 'til it bleeds/As we run towards the end of the dream (End of the Dream)

Please, please forgive me/But I won't be home again/Maybe someday you'll look up/And, barely conscious, you'll say to no one/Isn't something missing? (Missing)

Not on your life/Won't let it break me/Won't give up the fight/But on this last thread, I'm holding so tight/Feed my imaginings, don't let a sweet dream die/Not on your life/I'm not abandoning/I have survived/Somehow still standing through death and through time/I need your love like a drug keeping me alive (Part of Me)

I can't see your light anymore/'Cause I've spent too long in the dark/And I'm on my knees/Without shame begging to believe, but I feel/So far from heaven (Far From Heaven)

ARMAND/MARIUS

Watching me, wanting me/I can feel you pull me down/Fearing you, loving you/I won't let you pull me down (Haunted)

I can't escape/The twisted way you think of me/I feel you in my dreams/And I don't sleep (Snow White Queen)

So far away/It's growing colder without your love/Why can't you feel me calling your name?/Can't break the silence/It's breaking me/All my fears turn to rage/And I'm alone now (Your Star)

So run, run, run/And hate me if it feels good/I can't hear your screams anymore/You lied to me/But I'm older now/And I'm not buyin' baby/Demanding my response/Don't bother breaking the door down/I've found my way out/And you'll never hurt me again (The Last Song I’m Wasting On You)

As empires fall to pieces/Our ashes twisting in the air/It makes me smile to know that/I'm better without you (Better Without You)

By the way that you talk to me/I can see the lie you're dreaming I'll believe/By the way, don't you forget who you are now/'Cause that's not your name (Take Cover)

[murfeelee]

IWTV 2022 INSP - EP6: Like Angels Put in Hell by God

Louis [narrating]: Lestat had disappeared after that awful night. Vanished, out of a profound sense of shame he would later confess to. Which was just as well, since Claudia and I were in no mood to receive his apologies. I made pride my blanket, and she dedicated all her energy to my rehabilitation.... For six years...raw and desperate mea culpas came like the tide. And for six years, they were greeted with silence or fire. We burned more gifts than bodies in that decade, but they would not stop coming. And Lestat's relentless determination began to crack my considerable armor.... But in the spring of 1937, one broke through.... His first composition in 100 years.... Antoinette (singing): ♪ Come to me ♪ Claudia: “Pathetic....” Louis: “Six years of begging! You think a song's gonna get a rise out of me?!” Lestat: “Did you like it?” Louis: “I hate you." Lestat: “As you should.” Daniel (present): “You took him back.” Louis (present): “We were going to kill Lestat.”

-- Interview with the Vampire (AMC 2022, S01E06)

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS (another rant, whoopsie, but I have to drag Antoinette)

Listen, I REFUSED to make an Antoinette sim in my effing game, so for my gameplay I skipped ALL of the scenes with her, despite how crucial she was to Loustat’s marriage imploding.

Like, we know Lestat’s a cheating dog, but lemme talk about ANTOINETTE for a second. The DISRESPECT of this heifer, sleeping with a man she KNOWS is married to HER BOSS, and KNOWING Lestat WASN’T EVEN TRYING to leave his husband and was ACTIVELY tryna get him back--even when he was banging YOU--and you have the NERVE to badmouth Louis and Claudia, like EXCUSE YOU, you 9-fingered HOMEWRECKER?!

DRAG HER, Claudia! 😤

For that nasty wench’s existence ALONE, Lestat deserved to catch Louis’ hands.

Kick 👏 Lestat’s 👏 ARSE, 👏 Louis! 👏 Stand up for yourself, that’s right! Eff all of Lestat’s money, his gifts, his pretty face, and eff that stupid song especially!

DRAG HIM, Louis! 😤

GOD, I can’t wait for Armand to clown Lestat, it’s gonna be glorious. (What I REALLY want is for Daniel to have a go at Lestat; I would crack up and DIE, watching Lestat get scalped by some crotchety old man.)

________________________________________________

CC CREDITS

- Bloody scars by Tifa & Ephemera

- Bloody body bruises

- Claudia sweater & skirt by EA, hair at TSR, scarf acc, overalls by @deniisu-sims​, updo, dress (IDER)

- Louis & Lestat’s clothes all by EA (SHT top debraceleted by Nitromon)

- Goat by @silsharkie84​

- Cane & pose by @shushilda​

- Poses by Fortuna (I use this set all the time)

[persepinas]

Louis and his bullshit.

I want to attempt to finish part five of my Loustat series today. Not post it, but finish it. It’s been difficult and I started trying at around 12am this morning. I think it’s hard to because it’s so heavy. So Louis is going through it while thinking of Claudia and the shitty way he treated her. I understand why. I get it. You meet a man and he is basically declaring his love for you and he’s handsome and alluring and kind of mysterious and it’s been so long since you had that spark with someone. And maybe Louis also resents Claudia a bit because of the entire let’s kill Lestat together and run away and clearly Louis regrets that a lot. The nights were made for thinking of him? Hello?? So I see it from his perspective and not wanting to hear her saying negative things about Armand. Like he wants to be happy. He wants to be in love. This is his second chance and maybe his only other chance. Maybe he won’t get another. Maybe.

But it’s so hurtful lol. Because he begged Lestat to make her. He BEGGED in the show for Lestat to turn her and make her and she was his responsibility. He was her FATHER first and he let her down so many times and even when she told him that Armand literally kept wishing she was dead and asking why she wouldn’t just die, Louis brushed it off. Because he is selfish. Because Louis is so selfish. He is selfish like Claudia and like Lestat even though he believes he is so above that.

And then Claudia ends up dead. Like she has been telling him that Armand has been wanting her to be. And he’s like oh my gosh what now and who and what?

LOUIS MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD. Look at your life, look at your choices.

Yes it is great he then sets everything on fire, but this could have been avoided if he could have just thought with his brain and not his dick.

[aryastark-valarmorghulis]

"I will not harm you" were the first words Armand said to Louis, and later, he reiterates "I will not harm you; and I never have".

Now, we know this isn’t quite true, because Armand hurt Louis - mostly by proxy but not exclusively - he lied, gaslighted him (very convenient to agree to erase Louis' memory in SF, right?) and ultimately betrayed him, causing Claudia's death.

On the other hand, when Armand had the chance to kill Louis with fire he didn’t, and not because he had some evil TM mastermind plan, but because he loved Louis (yes, in his own flawed, imperfect way, but he loved him). And most importantly, why does Armand set Louis free? He has nothing to gain from it and everything to lose: he could alienate the coven if discovered, he's aware Louis won't forgive him (he says it later!), and I'm pretty sure, if he knew Louis at all, he at least suspected Louis would try to go all Kill Bill. So why does Armand set Louis free? Because he loves him.

Oh, and he also had no guarantee at all that, after setting him free, Lestat wouldn’t run to Louis and reclaim his role as the hero who saved him.

So. Armand loves Louis. He stayed with him for 70+ years fully knowing (at least, unconsciusly) that he was a rebound. And if Armand loves him, why would he let him die on that stage? When he saved him before and rescued him after?

So I tend to agree: he wasn’t going to let Louis die, but you cannot script a hurrucane, so Lestat happened, and after, it was just so convenient to let Louis believe what suits both the most - that Lestat is an undeserving monster etc etc.

But of course now that all the stones (ha) have been turned, who will believe or trust Armand again? Louis? Not a chance. Lestat? Please. Daniel? We'll see.

also i feel like i'm interpreting the Big Armand Reveal™ differently than a lot of ppl bc i thought the reason louis got angry was bc armand claimed that he wasn't as involved and just let it happen but it turns out he was a very active participant and is finally realizing that he really can never believe anything armand's ever told him. i truly do not think that armand was going to let louis die in the play like i truly don't but i think he did take credit for lestat's big gesture bc it feeds his narrative. daniel's assessment is that armand was gonna let louis die but i think armand's plan was always to get louis out of there. like that's canon from the books and in line w his characterization on the show that he would rehearse the play to perfection w the coven but plan a moment to get louis out but the bigger problem is that there's no reality in which louis will ever believe anything armand says ever again. at this point, louis trusts daniel more than armand and if armand tries to argue that he would never want to kill louis it just won't sound believable after everything else

[uozlulu]

Okay, so I got about 678 words of the interruption ending. I think that as it is right now it’s not quite right, but it showed me the elements I need to keep and what I need to consider.

Things to keep:

Lestat must enter via a window and stride into the room serving

Louis must be pushed to the point he’s the catalyst that causes everyone to leave the penthouse

Everything Armand’s been manipulating with for the last few decades must fall apart

I want to keep the idea that Claudia and Madeleine are alive out there somewhere but don’t want to be in contact with Lestat or Louis (Does Armand actually know they didn’t die? Not sure). I think this is one of the things that could shatter Louis’ poise (for lack of a better way to put it). Lestat doesn’t know Louis doesn’t know that they’re alive, though he might suspect it since he himself didn’t know for decades either.

Daniel is very much ready to bolt, but he also doesn’t really want to bolt, and if even he did bolt, without assistance that’s a lot of stairs to navigate with a degenerative disorder in a place that has a high chance of catching fire

Lestat’s motivations to track Louis down and realizing where Louis was because he figured out during a music interview that Daniel must be the rumored vampire biographer he’d been hearing about since he woke up in the 80′s

Things to consider:

Set the place on fire (Louis will have to disable the sprinklers to do this, might have to get into a back and forth with Armand about this)

Maybe Lestat isn’t mad with Armand right now, or at least not enough to ignore him as much as he does in this organizing my thoughts draft, though they are not on the best of terms either atm

Daniel is now facing a) one of Louis’ rage benders, which always leads to arson and/or violence, b) being the only mortal in a room with three unhinged vampires, c) stuck up in some kind of penthouse in Dubai so that means lots of stairs between him and the ground. So I have to like maek sure he doesn’t die somehow in all of this or that just ruins the point of the over all fic really

Louis snapping/coming out of his depression bender/however you want to put it - What does it look like? Is the anger directed at Armand? Armand and Lestat? Does he grab the candles? Is it some kind of electircal/alcohol induced fire?

If it does come down to some kind of Louis vs. Armand, does Lestat get Daniel out of there? Daniel has interviewed him in music contexts and they are on decent terms. This might also be a good way to avoid having to figure out the details of Louis vs. Armand since the camera goes where Daniel goes since this is a close third person POV.

That said, how is Louis supposed to even throw down with Armand when he’s as weak as he is right now? Is this really more like Armand vs. Louis (and Lestat)? Does the penthouse catch fire and everyone has to make their own choices? Or maybe it’s more like a break up fight than a fight fight and I’m just over-thinking this

In general better wording to all things, which will make editing easier later

Anyway here’s the mess of the first draft of the scene concept. It’s pretty loose because I’m still trying to figure out what I’m actually doing with it.

From deeper in the penthouse, the balcony door of Daniel’s room opened. Footsteps approached. Daniel did not think. He started the recording app on his phone, shut down his laptop, and put his laptop in its bag and his phone in his shirt pocket. Armand discarded his iPad and started moving towards the noise. Louis seemed to freeze and his breath caught.

A blond man appeared dressed in a flowing blouse and the tightest pinkest leather pants. His heeled boots made just enough noise to herald his arrival. His presence engulfed the room, his smile almost lit his eyes.

“Lestat,” Louis half breathed and half hissed.

Lestat’s smile only grew. “Louis. It’s time to end this.” He gestured to the penthouse in such a way that included Armand but excluded Daniel. He then turned to Daniel. “Good morning. Always a pleasure.” He did not look once in Armand’s direction.

Daniel gave a small wave. He interviewed Lestat a few times after recovering from his addiction back when he had to rebuild his career. Only recently did he realize that the rock star and the vampire were the same person.

Louis rose from his chair. “I’ve spent decades building this,” his gesture included the entire space and everyone in it, “while you’ve been playing dead.”

“Dead men don’t have conversations in abandoned houses,” Lestat said. “You have been so consumed, you did not even notice I wasn’t an illusion.” Then he made a gesture in the air. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is the present.”

“I don’t want anything to do with this ‘grand conversion’ or whatever is happening out there,” Louis said.

“It’s not a conversion,” Lestat said. “The mortals are dying of a plague, vampires are spontaneously combusting. Something is wrong.”

“If vampires were spontaneously combusting, Marius would have said something,” Armand said.

Lestat continued to pointedly stare at Louis and not spare Armand even a glance. “There was a rumor when I woke from healing that a vampire had a mortal biographer, but no article or book materialized. I met a lot of people in the press and the only person whose thoughts did not find me unusual or a trick was Daniel Molloy.”

Daniel ran his tongue along his teeth, grateful no one looked at him.

“So, when I heard he traveled to Dubai in a pandemic, I knew there was only one person who could convince him, who could convince anyone to take that risk.”  estat snorted. He continued to watch Louis. “Who else will find you? Who else will seek revenge? Even Madeleine might not be charitable.”

Louis stiffened and then drew himself to his full height. “Keep her name out of –” his voice stopped. His mouth closed. “‘Be,’” he repeated quietly. His gaze shifted to Armand. Armand did not look away.

“I have sung songs you haven’t heard. I have drunk blood you can only imagine. I have seen faces I thought I condemned,” Lestat said. “I have been living life while you’ve been in your cage. Do you want to languish her until our foe comes for you?”

“You shouldn’t know Madeleine,” Louis said quietly to Lestat but his gaze remained on Armand.

“But I do,” Lestat said, “though I’ve only had the brief pleasure.”

“‘Do,’” Louis murmured. His eyebrows drew together.

“Lestat was in Paris back then,” Armand said. “How else would the coven know of his murder?”

“I spoke to her briefly in 1986,” Lestat said.

Louis’ gaze remained fixed on Armand. “And Claudia?”

Lestat moved a step closer. His voice lowered. “She made me promise. I can’t say more.”

“He can’t prove it,” Armand said. “Where did the ash come from?”

‘Enough!” Louis said. His chest heaved. He stepped away. His fingers curled and uncurled. His body bristled. He did not look at any of them. He drew a deep breath.

Daniel’s heart beat in his ears. The strap of his bag hung across his body. He should move but he did not dare move. He could barely breathe. His phone continued recording steadily in his pocket.

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis Impressions - Pt. 10 (Spoilers)

 Chapter 25 - Lestat

- Everyone is tense and afraid of what the aliens are going to do

- They’re sort of afraid that they’re going to multiple themselves into an army so they can capture Lestat and forcefully remove his brain so they can set Amel free

- And this is Very Bad because it wouldn’t just kill Lestat, it would kill every single vampire in creation

- I mean, I understand the danger, partially agree... but you guys are vampires, you can literally look at someone and set them on fire. Or literally fly away, idk

- GEE Marius, I wonder WHY he has the savage and ignorant soul of a child? Maybe because some fucker turned him into a vampire when he was seventeen?

- Fucker

- And yes Armand, please fight him. Fight him some more for whateve reason, I’m cheering for you

- Lestat is kind of resigned that he’s going to die because of this sooner or later, which is pretty sad. Like, no my dude, go fight some more

Chapter 26 - Lestat

- Lestat is with Louis, pouring out his fears. Louis listens patiently

- Lestat put himself and Louis in the best rooms of the castle and decorated it to look like their New Orleans flat and I just... wow. He’s so adorably smitten with Louis in this book, I’m loving this

- Louis has some trippy theory about a silver cord [apparently is an invisible connection between body and soul when the body is travelling in the astral plane] and that the connection that the vampires have with Amel is similar. 

- Lestat isn’t buying this, but Louis is being insistent

-  😍

- He just prefers to fly while being into your arms, ya fool

- Louis is bossing Lestat around so much, telling him to call more people and make them meet with them in Paris. Is honestly adorable

- Protective!Lestat literally ready to fight anyone who dares to belittles Louis? Yes please, gimme some more 😍

- No one is believing Louis’s theory, but then he says that he wasn’t affected by any of Amel’s inflictions of pain in the entire coven, and that’s because he is Actually Dead  

- What

- Apparently because his suicidal attempt in Merrick? Because his heart stopped for hours?

- Ok, then... I guess I will just have to roll with it too

- Lestat is still keeping a close eye to see if anyone mistreats Louis :’)

- Well, I can see that Louis’s tendency to put people/vampire/things on fire is alive and well

- They stop Fareed’s heart for half an hour to make an experiment and it actually works, so they’ll try to it to Lestat so they can severe the link that all vampires have with Amel at once

Chapter 27 & 28 - Lestat

- Kapetria heards that they’re going to try something, offers to help. Lestat says no. She arrives in the castle (alone) anyway

- Begrudgingly, Lestat and the others accept her presence

- The next night they try the experiment

- Idek, at this point I’m just melting here. I’m not used to this much cuteness coming from them but I’m loving every line

- They stop Lestat’s heart, he has a very trippy hallucination [dream?] where he and Amel visit Atalantaya

- When he wakes up, he does a somewhat hardcore experiment to see if it worked

- Damn, that sounds painful af. Also love me some mama bear Gabrielle <3

- No one suffered any pain while his hand burned, so it worked

- Or better, partially worked; now Amel is stuck into Lestat, having more power than ever, and Kapetria is really disappointed. Uh-uh.

Chapter 29 - Fareed

- Things are still somewhat tense, at least to the ones closest to Lestat

- Lestat apparently went to see Rhoshamandes and I’m just wondering... why. Please, I’m so tired of reading and typing his name. Stop

- Damn, this sounds pretty bad :(

- I always found very endearing that Gabrielle only dresses up and let’s her hair loose when Lestat is feeling really down, because she knows it cheers him up to see her like this

- They’re barely back together and Lestat is already fucking up, smh

- I can’t say I don’t feel a lot of satisfaction knowing that Marius was dumped by Daniel (and Armand by extension) and Pandora at the same time lmao

- And it seems like Bianca wants to be with him but he’s ignoring Bianca? Wtf. She doesn’t deserve this shit

- Fareed was watching Lestat and Louis play chess with a medieval set and got so anxious with the possibility of bad shit happening that he had to excuse himself to his crypt

- And I always though he only had a professional relationship with the guys

Additional note: I’m almost finished with this wild, wild book, so the next liveblog post is more likely the last one, and if I finish the book today I’ll already post it ~~

[laughinglistener]

The Vampire Lestat

The Vampire Lestat

(The Vampire Chronicles, Book Two) By Anne Rice

Format: Audiobook Narrator: Simon Vance Length: 21 hours & 41 minutes Genres: Fiction, Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural Take a Peek:  Audible  |  Overdrive  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Goodreads

Story Rating: 4 Stars Performance Rating: 5 Stars Overall Rating: 4 Stars ★★★★

My journey into the Vampire Chronicles continues with round two. Man, so far this series has the ability to overwhelm me and push my thoughts towards the existential like no other book ever has. After my intense love affair with Interview With A Vampire a couple weeks ago, I was hesitantly curious about this sequel. I hated Lestat so much the first time around, I wasn’t sure if I could stand a whole novel told from his perspective. To my surprise (though I shouldn’t have been because Anne Rice is a genius) I really loved it and found this prequel/sequel really fascinating.

via GIPHY

THE REHASH

The story begins a decade-ish after the first one ended, in the 1980s. Our favorite vamp has been “sleeping” underground for quite some time, but is stirred at the new sounds of life happening outside. Upon his wake, the obvious progression of civilization overwhelms Lestat and he is curious about everything around him; clothing, music, religion, pop culture, politics, books, philosophy… You get the idea. He loves this new age where people are free to express themselves and everyone accepts it without batting an eye. The societal rules that once held him back no longer apply and he decides to take advantage this, hunting down a rock band he enjoys and confronting them. Lestat reveals what he is and promises to make the band rich if given the chance. They don’t believe him, of course, but compliment the clever choice of name for his little “act.” This only confuses Lestat and he asks what they’re talking about, only to discover that Louis helped write a book that told their history to the public. He’s completely shocked. Without even trying or knowing, Lestat has become the most famous vampire in history—mostly because he was a big douchebag.

In response, Lestat immediately starts penning his own novel and we dive head first into his origins. It opens with him Hulking out and killing a pack of wolves that had been terrorizing his village. Everyone is extremely grateful that he had the courage to kill them and even bring gifts in gratitude. One of these gift givers is Nicolas de Lenfent, nicknamed Nicki, who was shunned from his wealthy family when he devoted himself to learning the violin. As a secret aspiring actor, Lestat is immediately intrigued by him and his mother Gabrielle encourages her son to make a new friend. After their first dinner, the two are inseparable and even become lovers. Eventually they decide to hit the road to Paris where they will be free to live out their dreams, but Lestat is hesitant because of his mother’s failing health. Gabrielle knows that she’ll probably be dead soon, but she still tells Lestat to go and be happy and live as much as he can for her. With her blessing, the two go to Paris and create a new life performing with a theater troupe. Lestat is finally happy, so obviously that’s when a random old-man vampire comes to his room and steals him away.

Without much preamble or warning, Lestat gets changed into a vampire. And since the poor guy isn’t confused enough, his maker then immediately kills himself by walking into a fire—So. Not. Cool. He’s left with little instruction or help and relies mainly on his instincts as a guide. Despite being warned to stay away from his loved ones, Lestat can’t seem to help himself and uses his new inherited wealth to shower them with gifts. Gabrielle is ecstatic and happy for her son’s forturne while Nicki is….. not. He doesn’t understand why Lestat left and is very bitter, which is torturous for our narrator. In the end, Lestat can’t stay away and eventually visits his theater troupe friends, including Nicki, who welcome him back with open arms until they realize he’s not quite human anymore. At the same time, Lestat’s mother Gabrielle takes a turn for the worse and surprises her son with a visit to see him one last time. Initially he tries to hide his vampy-ness, but can’t stand the thought of watching her die and offers her eternal life, which she very quickly accepts.

To make a very very very long story short, after Lestat turns Gabrielle and eventually Nicki too, they face great adversity that drives wedges between them all. Armand and his band of religious vamp-followers are not happy with how they’re conducting themselves, and eventually split Lestat’s coven apart. He is completely miserable and hopeless, finding brief relief with an ancient vampire named Marius, before he’s forced to leave him too. This horribly bitter state is how he finds Louis, and the rest we already know.

In the epilogue, we finally get to see Louis and Lestat reunited, giving me warm-fuzzies that I didn’t know I wanted until it was already happening. Plus, we get to see Lestat play a stadium show with his now famous rock band and it quickly turns sour when pissed off vampires decide to attack. Until next time…

THE GOOD

*Opens mouth. Closes it. Opens it again.* ……….Well. Hmmm. A lot to ponder this time around.

If I had told myself at the end of Interview With A Vampire that I would ship Louis and Lestat AND hate Armand’s guts by the end of this one, I would have laughed in my own face. No way. But somehow Anne Rice managed to completely turn my own opinion and I can’t help but like Lestat’s character. I’m not entirely sure when the switch got flipped, but I find myself at the end of a transformation I didn’t even know was occurring. In the first novel I wanted to wring his neck. Now whenever he does anything vaguely evil I laugh like I’m watching a mischievous kitten.

“Oh Lestat! He’s so CUTE when he’s trying to dismantle the entire vampire structure!”

During the first novel, I fell so hard for Louis with his big heart and brooding nature that I hated Lestat for him. To me, it seemed completely logical that Louis and Claudia tried to kill Lestat by setting his ass on fire. So you can imagine my surprise when Lestat manages to undermine the ENTIRE first book in a few short sentences, saying Louis has his own perspective on events and conveniently omitted all the good times they had together. Lestat even goes on to explain some of the horrible things he did, somehow making it okay. It was a brilliant move on Rice’s part that left me completely speechless with a burning need to re-read the first novel again.

And this is a little macabre to discuss in a lighthearted book review, but I would feel remiss not mentioning it. I have never had my own fear of death described quite so accurately before. It struck a chord inside of me. Fear of death is something we all share, but it’s a vast, baser kind of terror that’s hard to grasp or put in words and I think Anne Rice captured that fear amazingly. Somehow, after reading this, I feel like I have a better grasp on myself—like I know that part of me a little better. That’s both good and bad. I think everyone would rather remain in blissful ignorance when it comes to death, but it also made me feel not so alone.

THE UGLY

Similarly to Interview With A Vampire, this book felt looooonnnnnnng since Rice shoves hundreds of years into a few chapters, but it’s lenth was a little more tedious this time around than it was before. Despite the whole being-an-immortal-vampire thing, I can see a lot of myself in Louis, which played a big role in winning me over the first time around and put a positive spin on it’s long length. I was just happy to be spending more time with a character I really cared about. Even after Lestat won me over in this second book, I wasn’t invested and held him at a distance. My attention wasn’t completely captured and tended to drop in between major plot points.

Plus, it didn’t feel like I was reading about the same Lestat. The Lestat in this novel felt completely different than the one I experienced before. Maybe that’s because my feelings for him changed so drastically, or maybe this was done on purpose since the first book is in Louis’s perspective. Whatever the reason, it felt like I was reading a story about some other completely different vampire. It wasn’t until his reunion with Louis at the very end that I connected the two Lestat’s together in my mind. This is probably my problem and no fault of Rice’s and I might solve it for myself by re-reading the first novel, but I wish there had been a better way to bridge the gap between the two.

FINAL WORD

Personally, I just don’t think this book is as strong as the first one, but it’s still a good read. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you think—it has everything! I would definitely give this a try if you loved the Interview With A Vampire as much as I did.

The Vampire Lestat was originally published on Laughing Listener