#but it's not as though lestat wouldn't have gone through with it if he could have

[cypheragent]

can I be honest I think it's kind of crazy how much lestans go on and on about lestat's trauma because I honestly think louis, claudia AND armand all had it worse. sorry.

[michealsleepdeprived]

I saw this take the other day about how Loumand fans keep pushing the narrative of "The love was there but it wasn't enough" isn't true. At first, as somewhat of a Loumand fan (somewhat because I ship mostly because Louis' interest on whoever he likes at the time, so my shipping is fickle) I disagreed.

Louis obviously loved Armand while they dated. Armand literally gives Louis heart eyes and not only for show. They love each other in Dubai. They love each other in San Francisco. They love each other in Paris. It's all there.

But the take said that Loumand's love is not real but a toxic union of victim/abuser dynamic. They pointed out that Armand constantly has the power and after showing us that Armand was not going to save Louis it just makes the gaslight/mind-manipulation even worse.

Which yeah but I feel as though Armand's love wasn't enough in Paris. Armand in this narrative probably saw Louis as a fling and an end to a means of getting rid of Claudia. Even if the love was there and growing it wasn't enough in Paris.

After saving Louis, he finally, finally chooses Louis. Louis is heartbroken in this time over Claudia's brutal and cruel death and still angry. And he has to believe Armand had nothing to do with this because it would hurt more because it would mean Claudia was right. That he gave his heart to another. Chose another over her once again. Even in her death. (Doesn't sound like him)

Louis acknowledges that Armand had nothing to do with it but still holds him accountable (as he should) for not trying to do anything and thus the time in the hotel when they acknowledge that Armand will never be able to make up for his neutrality (no matter how much he pushes the narrative that he could not prevent) But he stands with Armand. He stood by his love for Armand when he warns him to not be there the night he lights shit on fire.

Armand at this time is bare if any sort of coven or companion. He knows how the truth might come to light (that he planned the whole thing) any moment. After the meet Lestat and Lestat says nothing Armand finds himself with Louis. Louis who survived all of this and still despite the grief and anger Louis had chosen him over being alone.

Their love is vine growing no longer on its own but on the metaphorical tomb of Claudia and her absence and how violent she had been removed from Louis' life. Armand had loved Louis but now he has Louis all to himself. Truly.

Buried is Lestat in his grave of disgust and resentment from Louis. He no longer whispers in the Louis' mind. Revealed to be alive but finally dead to Louis in the way that counts. Gone is Claudia who was a fiery thing and a threat to the coven he controlled. Gone is the coven who had shackled him to a job he grew tired of but still did.

He could do anything, he could leave, but he chooses Louis. Even though he knows the love won't be as easy as it was in Paris. He probably thinks Louis would heal from this. The re-learn each other over the years. More dates, I'm assuming. Lots of nights sharing themselves to the darkness and sadness they carry. Armand uses his mind powers here and there. Keep Louis from leaving. Keep Louis alive. The same thing, right?

Then Daniel happens.

And I'm probably thinking that Armand knows a lot of what happened during Loustat I'm guessing Louis doesn't say a lot of it to him. Armand knows from sifting through Louis' mind probably. At the time Louis is going through his lapse of control.

Fucking, killing etc. Armand joins sometimes but not all the time. Then morning comes. And Louis ain't there. And Louis can be killed by the sun. And Louis is probably passed out on the floor, stuffed with drugs he fed to that boy. And he's probably dead. Armand wouldn't know. He wouldn't know, he's not Louis' maker. So he goes to look for him and behold Louis is killing yet another boy. He separates Louis from this drug. It's morning. You could have died. It's morning. You wouldn't have known.

And then he reads their minds and Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat goddamn Lestat. And Claudia. Before. Before Armand. So they lash out at each other. His tongue slips. Claudia never loved you. I love you. I love you. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. Don't you see? And Louis goes and he remembers Paris. Everything Armand had worked to erase all coming back because of this boy.

He is hurt. Louis almost died. Armand is angry. Leave me? Leave me?! No. Decades together, Lestat couldn't keep Louis. Armand can. He can prove them all wrong. Lestat. The coven. Claudia.

So he plans to kill the boy. Guilt trips Louis. Calls Lestat to prove that only Armand loves him. But Lestat...Lestat proves him wrong. Armand goes to kill the boy. He can withold this information. Get rid of the boy.

But Louis. Louis wants him to love. A testament to their union. A mockery of what Claudia meant to Loustat. A parallel. But Claudia has died with their relationship. The boy would live. Another proof of their love. A token. A reminder for all they have endured.

But he can't risk it. Louis will remember Paris. The hurt. Louis has left before after he got hurt with Lestat. So he erases it.

Start over. Fix it. Tell him that Daniel will prove fruitful in later times.

So they go on and it's bliss after a hard time. And look at them now. But Louis calls the boy back. He's old. He surveys the interview from afar but Louis is getting emotional. Louis reacts badly. Don't kill Daniel. A testament to our union.

So he takes reign. He wants Daniel gone. They have told their story. Louis uncovers their memories when he is gone. Armand panics. But it's okay. Louis has forgiven. He is on the path to heal. This is healing and on the other side Armand will be waiting. Just like always.

He revels in how romantic it is with Louis. Their past before the death of Claudia. That that love still holds a lot of weight to Louis. It's enough. It's enough.

Then it's over. That's it. There's nothing else.

Then Daniel happens.

And it's over. It's over.

It's over. Do not touch him. Do you understand? If you do I will kill you. Kill you. Kill you.

And Louis leaves. To Lestat. To Lestat.

A testament their union.

But Armand is fond of the boy. He was token of his and Louis' union. Proof that he was loved. Proof that he was chosen. Proof that he too had chosen Louis. Proof that Louis had loved him.

Claudia is dead.

Daniel is alive.

But it's over...he bites Daniel. Let Daniel be undead. Let Daniel haunt them. A testament of their union. A testament of their love. Let the love haunt them. Let it haunt Louis.

So yeah the love wasn't enough but it was there in beginning. It can be said in the beginning. But though the love was wrong and controlling it kept Louis stable. To an extent. Even though it harmed him. I think a better thing to describe it is that: the love was there but it wasn't good, it wasn't healing, it wasn't freedom. The love was a cage. But it was a beautiful cage. And as much as cages keep something inside it keeps a lot of things outside.

Loumand's love grew over time. Much longer than Loustat.

And I think it's one of the reasons Louis goes back to Dubai. He could anywhere else, he has the money. But he stays there. As much as the portrait of Paul and Claudia's dress is testament to all the people he loved Armand is part of the building.

Yeah. So I agree with the take but only so much.

[lesbians4armand]

on the technical side of things, maybe armand is intersex. he was often described as being beautiful like a girl! he couldve been born with a boys body but as he got older and hit puberty, perhaps he had a hormone disorder he didn't know about/coupled with sexual trauma/being turned he never really got to go through a full hrt puberty.

i know armand slept with numerous vampires in his coven, but he DOES have a tendency to not fuck human beings. maybe vampires CAN get pregnant, but they need a living counter part to make it work. immortal children are banned under vampire law, so i can see why female vampires aren't having children of their own (for fear of their child/them dying/the child being unable to progress physically or mentally) but wouldn't it just be like armand to be pregnant and not know until it's too late to do anything with?

or he gets pregnant and daniels the first to recognize the symptoms? the eating, the mood swings, how feral he's gotten during sex. i assume it would be jarring to wake up and find your vampire boyfriend projectile vomiting the 70 units of blood he gorged on 3 hours prior.

INTERSEX ARMAND!! YES!! The vampires of the vampire chronicles have always defied gender in its social ways but to have it completely blur binaries of biological sex is so so good, they already have so many differences to their biology and anatomy its not too much of a stretch.

And you’re right, armand is always described as being very androgynous, and bringing that along with his limited memories of his youth and the trauma that he went through, he could very well be intersex and not even realise it, though lack of memory or some other factor. I love exploration of Armand’s gender identity a lot due to his lack of self identity in general, I’ve considered genderfluid armand before and even transgender armand (t4t devils minion… real) but intersex is a new concept to me that’s super fascinating.

(shout out to that one fic where armand IS alice because he can literally change his gender and sex at will btw been thinking about that since i read it… very good very delicious very gender)

On logistics of vampire specific pregnancy, i also agree that one participant must be a living human, i doubt that vampires can get one another pregnant (both being dead things, as well as the law to not create vampire children). I think male vampires who do sleep with human women (cough cough, lestat) would be able to get them pregnant, and that human men can get vampires pregnant too. Someone has to be alive to create life in this scenario.

Who knows if these pregnancies would be entirely viable without specific requirements. Would the fetus need blood in-utero if half-vampire?? or is the baby just human as its created with living dna regardless? how does the vampire reproductive system work?? if their hearts still pump blood and their lungs still breathe, and their brains are still alive, their reproductive system may still be functioning even if other processes shut down? Iirc the VC universe later established that vampirism is kind of like a ghost-alien parasite infecting a dead human body but keeping some parts of it living. maybe this does include reproduction, I think all grounds of logic went out when we first got to aliens.

In the tv-show universe (in which im basing this crazy au), the vampires can have sex (though they could not in the books), so this implies a working reproductive system.

Anyway yeah! I think intersex Armand COULD be getting pregnant here. Admittedly I’m not super familiar with intersex people and how this would work but I’d love to learn more and it’s definitely a way of getting mpreg to work here. I think im too scared to commit to omegaverse so this is a very fun dynamic and solution.

On to the other parts of this ask as I have gone on a bit, Armand does seem the type to neglect his own wellbeing to the point he doesn’t realise he’s pregnant until months along when there is little to be done, but I also think he wouldn’t want anything to be done. He might not have very good experience or track record with children or kid-vampires (see claudia), but he would love the evidence of love from daniel. It’s a part of daniel and a part of him, I think he’d be obsessed with that, that they can bring something that is alive and good and both of them to the world.

The idea of daniel realising like “oh my vampire boyfriend is actually very strangely, almost like he’s ill, but vampires can’t get ill! It’s weird it’s like when Alice was pregnant with… Oh! oh that’s it. okay.”

thank you for the ask this was very interesting.

[leslutdepointedulac]

hellooo 2/3/10 for lestat/louis 💓

2. What their love letters look like

Lestat tries to be super poetic and romantic, but it gets to a point where he's trying just a bit too hard. Louis can tell this when he reads them, but he doesn't think that makes it any less romantic. If anything that makes it more so, because he knows that Lestat really tried to say something sweet. Lestat's best love letters though, are the ones he writes to Louis with absolutely no intention of him ever seeing them. It's in these ones that Lestat doesn't try hard at all, in the sense that he doesn't overthink it and try to make it sound all flowery. It's when his most true and deepest feelings for Louis come out and he finds himself too embarrassed, and like it's too raw and vulnerable to ever show Louis. This is why he hides them away. Little does he know however, that Louis has come across these from time to time and read them. These are the letters from Lestat that make him the most emotional, often bringing tears to his eyes. But he always puts them back and doesn't say a word about having found and read them. Lestat will never know that Louis knows, and that's okay.

Louis' love letters to Lestat on the other hand, are seemingly effortless in their romance. They're not over the top, or underwhelming in any way, they're just the perfect amount of romantic and soppy. Louis used to be afraid to show his true feelings for Lestat, and would keep things brief and simple. But now that he's far more comfortable in himself and his relationship with Lestat, he doesn't hold back. He feels as though he's been much too hard on Lestat in the past, especially in regards to withholding his love and affection. Louis doesn't want Lestat to ever feel like he's not enough for him, or like there's any doubt that he loves him wholeheartedly. So now Louis lets it all out. Depending on how open he is in his letters, Louis will either give Lestat his letter to him directly and be there when he reads it. Or he will put it somewhere he'll see it and allow him to read it alone. In these instances the letters are especially honest, and Lestat will have a good cry over it before going to Louis afterwards so they can spend their time hugging and generally enjoying each other's company. Or they'll have the most tender, loving sex which usually results in both of them crying at the end. Sometimes, Lestat can also convince Louis to read his letter to him out loud for him, but that's only on some occasions.

3. Which one outlives the other, and how they cope

I-

So the short and simple answer is if either of them died, doesn't matter who, then the other one of them wouldn't cope at all and that's a fact. But ikyk that and that's not the answer you're looking for, so here's the full answer.

Let's look at both options:

If Lestat outlived Louis, he would be a complete and utter wreck. He would simply shut down and move through life on auto-pilot. Nothing and no-one would be able to get him out of it. He would be a shell of himself. His smile would disappear, his laughter would no longer ring out through the halls, he would lock himself away and allow no-one to enter for any reason. Everyone would be sick with worry for him, but there wouldn't be a single thing they could do to ease his suffering. Only Louis could ever bring him that, and now he's gone. Eventually, the grief would become all too much for Lestat, he'd be sick with it. He would be overwhelmed in the end. And knowing that he couldn't go on another day without his Louis, he would set out to end his own life. Being too powerful for the sun though, I can imagine he'd go as far as to ask for the others to kill him like Benedict had done. They would refuse at first, tell him he wasn't in his right mind, but Lestat would insist. He would scream and cry and beg for them to end his pain, until they would have no choice but to listen.

As for Louis, it would be more or less the same. If he outlived Lestat, he would go mute, never speak again. He would haunt the hallways like a ghost. Not even Armand would be able to bring him any comfort. Louis wouldn't read anymore, he wouldn't sit by the fire and listen to Sybelle's playing. He too would become a husk, a shell of the man he once was. Without Lestat, Louis wouldn't function anymore. Not only would he no longer be truly living, he wouldn't even be surviving. Just merely existing. Everybody would try so hard to bring Louis back to himself, but to no avail. He would be utterly lost. He would do nothing but sit and stare mutely at nothing; not moving, not blinking. And like Lestat, Louis would come to a point where he would no longer even exist without his Lestat, and he too would go out to die. Being less powerful than Lestat, he wouldn't need to go through the theatrics of begging for release by the hands of others. He would simply go out, without a word to anyone, and let the sun take him.

Only in death, could Louis and Lestat have their peace if the other died. Only when they were together again, could they ever regain their happiness.

The long and short of it is, if either one of them died, the other would too in the end.

Louis would perish if Lestat perished.

"I can't bear the thought of existence now without you."

10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other

I think they would watch reality tv together ngl 😂 Lestat would love it, and very openly. Louis would also love it but he would rather go back to eating rats than admit it. I think Lestat watches teen dramas but hides that he watches them because Louis would never let him live it down if he found out. And I think Louis would probably watch really extreme horror films and/or true crime documentaries. The only reason I think he would hide that he watches them, is because Lestat would be like "Oh so humans being hacked to pieces is fine, but vampirism is too far?!"

[hekateinhell]

🗝 Give me a reverse AU scenario for lesmand!

✏️If you could change one thing from canon, what would it be and why?

🗝 Give me a reverse AU scenario for lesmand!

I had to percolate on this one for a bit! Okay, imagine a newborn vampire Armand meeting three hundred year old, charismatic cult leader Lestat. 🫢 Ngl, I think cult!Lestat would have been far more successful at drawing Armand into his dark little netherworld than canon Armand was with Lestat in TVL.

I just wonder how deep we go with this one in the reverse AU? Do we swap their makers as well? Their entire backgrounds? I think it would take a lot for Lestat to be broken down enough to where he would believe he had no other option. So I think we'd have to go all the way back and put him through the same or equivalent trauma Armand went through in TVA. This would require some hybrid of TotBT-Lestat, IWTV-Lestat, and a third worse thing I have not yet conceived of.

They would hook up almost immediately though. Armand wouldn't have had to wait 200+ years just to get the tip. 😔

✏️If you could change one thing from canon, what would it be and why?

Buddy, I've been in a state ever since remembering that there could've been a world where David died in MtD and Armand lived. So that. I want Armand and Lestat walking together in Central Park! I want another book from Armand's point of view! Although, I don't know if we would have gotten a TVA if Anne had gone this route with MtD. 🫠

BUT YEAH.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Oh Nalyra, I really want to emphasize with show Lestat, I really really do, but I can't help but strongly dislike him. Or maybe I just don't understand him. Especially after reading the last update of Laden (not that your writing made me dislike Lestat, you captured the complexity of situation wonderfully). Your writing is impeccable by the way. I am really enjoying Laden. But I digress. Even after reading numerous analyses from several blogs regarding the Antoinette relationship, I just don't understand why Lestat stays and puts himself and Louis through heartbreak repeatedly. Honestly, Louis is an absolute pain in the butt and I'm sure it is difficult to have a partner that is always the martyr, neglectful of your needs, critical of you, and a pessimist except when willing to overlook his daughter's bad deeds. Lestat is not perfect, but I can empathize for him seeking out an affair or even deciding to end the relationship with Louis. But if you need to rely on someone outside of the relationship that badly, why did Lestat stay? I think I'd respect him more for leaving with all the reasons of needing adoration, companionship, fun, or even variety. But was it not peak selfishness to stay knowing you are causing irreparable damage to your partner you love? Especially when he knows at this point Antoinette is no longer a game to Louis and she is causing some real problems like his disassociation and further depression? If Lestat needs her that badly, why not just be with her even if he doesn't love her? I don't understand him not letting go of Louis and choosing pain of the entire family. Even after Louis takes him back, he still argues to keep her. I don't think Antoinette is the true problem, she just makes me realize how selfish Lestat really is. And as a person that self admittedly was Lestat's biggest excuser the first time around, i'm admittedly struggling upon my rewatch to understand why he stays. He knows Louis won't leave him and he takes advantage of that fact as well with continuing to see her. Why wouldn't he just be the bigger person and go. Then when he is gone in episode 6, why not stay gone? When he does come back, why not change? I'm not understanding that part. Sorry for the incoherent rant!

No, it's okay, I do get it.:)

It's... difficult.

They are both fatally in love.

Fatally.

Such a heavy word for something that should be joyous? But it isn't for them, for long periods of time, because they cannot escape this feeling though they both try (in the books, too, and it takes a long while for them to get "there")

But they cannot. They simply cannot leave each other. Louis cannot leave even though Lestat isn't there. Lestat cannot leave though he is not welcome in his own house. (For example)

Antoinette is not the problem, not really, Antoinette is the symptom. She is a piece on the board of their games. (How apt, the chess games...) She is who Lestat wants Louis to kill, and who Louis refuses to kill. She is what Louis cannot be and what Lestat does not really want to have. She is what Louis would never want, and Lestat should want.

The Antoinette situation is not just about infidelity, it is about feeding, and killing, and jealousy, and possession. It's about being petty and stubborn, and bratty, and withholding, defiant and depressed.

It's a mess.

It's a mess they both cannot escape. And ... they don't really want to either.

Because, as you said - if they really wanted to leave the other - they just could have. They both could have.

PS: I am going to address that in the next chapters, too, so... maybe that will make more sense then there!! (I hope so! :))) Glad you like!!

[the-brat-prince-1760]

Lestat, I love you, but you have to be honest with yourself. I think you loved Nicki more, but just don't want to admit it because it would hurt Louis' feelings and Nicki is already gone.

-You never cheated on Nicki.

- you never expressed desire to have multiple lovers with Nicki.

-You made a song for Nicki, but only made a song for Louis to manipulate him and did it for the wrong reasons.

- You let Nicki have the autonomy to leave but you wouldn't let Louis leave in peace and kept manipulating him to take you back.

- you never beat up Nicki.

I know you have changed but don't you think your actions would suggest you loved Nicki more back then?

Lestat here.

I would have to disagree with you there, dear anonymous. You have brought certain things to my attention, but I can see why you might think that. The main thing that restricted my relationship was the mortal component of it; because way back when I met Nicki it was heavily frowned upon to have more than one love and especially given his state of mind it would not have been helpful to him. I was always curious on such matters, I just never fully vocalized them for the simple fact that Nicki had enough on his plate already.

I'm sure you yourself are a mortal, anonymous, and I must say that you understand the fleeting nature of a life, no? Picture me, as a mortal with my first love. I doubt that when you were with your first love (if that is your thing) you thought about leaving them. Living forever gives you more knowledge of the world around you, and the interconnectedness of relationships. After I became a vampire though, even though I didn't want it and I have consistently endured time, and time again, the immortality aspect can wear at you; knowing you cannot change, you cannot get any older and that you'll never see the sunlight again.

I don't actually think I gave Nicki much more autonomy, in fact, I abandoned him for a period of time and only communicated through gifts and other things of like, which means that I was being quite a miserable excuse for a partner. I gave Nicki too much silence and too much room for both his mind and heart to deal with; I would not call that autonomy. Louis is able to whatever he needs to, and we have discussed this before time and time again, he is his own beautiful self, and I can trust him to do things that I may not have some 100 odd years ago. I deeply regret many things from that era.

The song was meant to be an endearing manifestation of my love for Louis, admittedly adding Antoinette was very very regrettable, and the misguided actions of my youth heavily weight upon me even to this day.

I don't believe that I have shown a preference for Nicki, despite what many may think; I was legitimately a scared young adult who became a monster at the wrong time in my life under quite a traumatic circumstance. My first instinct was to protect myself and it backfired. I love Louis more than I ever could Nicki due to the simple fact that Louis wants to change, and wants to actually get better when he is upset, whereas Nicki resented the happiest points in my lifetime when I was with him. In Paris, he was absolutely miserable, which I had revealed when looking back in retrospect, whereas I was beaming.

Nicki couldn't change no matter how hard I tried to help him, and after a while it felt like a Sisyphean task.

So to answer your question: No, it does not appear as though I loved Nicki more than I do Louis, because context is dreadfully important when it comes to these accusations such as the one that you have simply made.

Lestat out. xoxo

[crazykuroneko]

Actually Lestat says in the books that all the threats he made to Louis over the years were just empty words cause he could never ever hurt him (let alone rape him or dropping him from the sky) and he says so even when he is absolutely furious like when Louis refused to turn him.

asgshsjsl my notifications blew up because of the Gabi and Madi video even though I have muted them, so sorry for missed this out anon.

But anyway, there are two important points there, first "Lestat says" and "in the books" as in in books after IWTV. the thing is the show is still adapting the first book, so using what Lestat says in later books, Lestat who has gone through his whole IWTV arc and character development (unless you want to say he never has gone through a character development?) for a show that's still on the first half of IWTV is moot. And whatever Lestat says in later book doesn't take the fact he threatened Louis and Claudia until they're too scared to sleep in their coffins.

I have been thinking about this, and I have found the root of the problem. The thing is, Anon, you approach this with the idea you know these characters as if they're your friends. Meanwhile, I, since we're talking about the writer and the writing, approach them as "pawns" in a story. Because that's what a character is, a narrative tool writers use to tell their story. That's why I said thing like "It's basically like math" in regards to the difference between the show and the book (no plural here), cos writing is very calculating, almost like a game of chess; you put a character (pawn) in certain position (situation) and you figure out what's the next hand and the next etc. And this is a big fundamental difference in our perspectives. So, I think if you can't see where I come from here you wouldn't ever understand. And that's okay, we can agree to disagree. I just explained my POV because you asked 🤷‍♀️

[toscrollperchancetomeme]

Lestat de Lioncourt - A playlist

So, guess who made a Lestat Playlist (like there aren't enough already) and decided to sit down for 4-6 hours to find some excerpt corresponding with each song? Featuring 80s and 90s music (clearly showing my age...) as well as many european songs and showtunes. Enjoy!

1. Cathedrals – Ramin Karimloo (Original by Jump, Little Children)

In the cathedrals of New York and Rome There is a feeling that you should just go home And spend the lifetime finding out just where that is

And that was not a good year for me. I was wandering aimlessly. I was sick of things. I was furious with myself that the „beauty“ of life wasn't sustaining me, wasn't making my loneliness bearable.

I wanted to join them. Always do want to join them and never do. „Go home,“ he whispered. - Prince Lestat

(I actually feel like there are quotes that would correspond to this song in every one of the books and indeed have not yet found any other song that captures the general spirit of The Vampire Chronicles as perfectly.)

2. Edge of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks

Well, I went today Maybe I will go again tomorrow Yeah yeah, well, the music there Well, it was hauntingly familiar Well, I see you doing what I try to do for me With the words from a poet and a voice from a choir And a melody, and nothing else mattered

He sat next to me, hugging me and asking me why I was crying, and though I couldn't tell him, I could see that he was overwhelmed that his music had produced this effect. There was no sarcasm or bitterness in him now. I think he carried me home that night. And the next morning I was standing in the crooked stone street in front of his father's shop, tossing pebbles up at his window. When he stuck his head out, I said: „Do you want to come down and go on with our conversation?“ - The Vampire Lestat

3. I ain't scared of lightning – Tom McRae

No I ain't scared of lightning And thunder never killed I was born in a summer storm and I live there still

I wasn't part of the world that cringed at such things. And with a smile, I realized that I was of that dark ilk that makes others cringe. Slowly and with great pleasure, I laughed.

And the labor that brought it forth was rapture such as I have never known. - The Vampire Lestat

4. Junge Roemer – Falco (Young Romans – Full Translation)

Don't ask for new old values See white light, see only feeling The night is ours till morning We play every game Don't ever let this journey end The doing comes only from the being Only from dimensions, that Are worth illusions and sensations Give me more, give me more, give me more...

... and again she laughed. „Ah, but we are splendid devils, aren't we?“ „Hunters of the Savage Garden,“ I said. „Then let's go into Paris,“ she said. - The Vampire Lestat

5. Running up that hill – Candy Says (Original by Kate Bush

If I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, Be running up that road, Be running up that hill, Be running up that building,

„Not even with Nicolas?“ „No, god, no!“ I looked at her. She nodded slightly as if she approved of this answer. „Why not with Nicolas?“ she asked. I wanted this to stop. „Because he's young,“ I said, „and he has life before him.“ - The Vampire Lestat

6. Florence – Notre Dame de Paris (Full Translation)

The little things always triumph over the large And literature will kill architecture The school books will kill the cathedrals The Bible will kill the Church, and man will kill God This will kill that

„I never lived in it. I push against the glass. But how do I get in?“ „I can't tell you that,“ I said. „You have to study this age,“ Gabrielle interrupted. Her voice was calm but commanding. He looked towards her as she spoke. „You have to understand the age,“ she continued, „through its literature and its music and its art. You have come up out of the earth, as you yourself put it. Now live in the world.“ No answer from him. Flash of Nicki's ravaged flat with all its books on the floor. Western civilization in heaps. - The Vampire Lestat

7. Go your own way – Fleetwood Mac

Loving you isn't the right thing to do How can I ever change things that I feel

If I could maybe I'd give you my world How can I when you won't take it from me

You can go your own way You can call it another lonely day

„Keep your promise,“ she said. And quite suddenly I knew this was our last moment. I knew it and I could do nothing to change it. „Gabrielle!“ I whispered. But she was already gone. - The Vampire Lestat

8. Désenchantée – Olympe (Original by Myléne Farmer - Full Translation)

If death is a mystery Life isn't exactly tender If heaven has a hell Then heaven can still wait for me Tell me how to handle this headwind Nothing makes sense anymore, nothing's fine

Laughter. That insane music. That din, that dissonance, that never ending shrill articulation of the meaninglessness... Am I awake? Am I asleep? I am sure of one thing. I am a monster. And because I lie in torment in the earth, certain human beings move on through the narrow pass of life unmolested. - The Vampire Lestat

9. A kind of magic – Queen

The bell that rings inside your mind Is challenging the doors of time It's a kind of magic The waiting seems eternity The day will dawn of sanity

And quite completely I understood that it was looking for me, this sound, it was seeking me out.

Blood like light itself, liquid fire.

It seemed beneath the roar of the flow he spoke. He said again: „Drink, my young one, my wounded one.“ I felt his heart swell, his body undulate, and we were sealed against each other. I think I heard myself say: „Marius.“ And he answered: „Yes.“ - The Vampire Lestat

10. La quête – Bruno Pelletier (French version of „The Impossible Dream“ from Man of La Mancha)

To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest To follow that star Ooh, no matter how hopeless No matter how far

I would remain in New Orleans if New Orleans could only manage to remain. Whatever I suffered should be lessened in this lawless place, whatever I craved should give me more pleasure once I had it in my grasp. And there were moments on that first night in this fetid little paradise when I prayed that in spite of all my secret power, I was somehow kin to every mortal man. - The Vampire Lestat

11. Wicked Game – Chris Isaak

What a wicked game you play, to make me feel this way What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you

Yet Louis gained a hold over me far more powerful than Nicolas had ever had. Even in his cruelest moments, Louis touched the tenderness in me, seducing me with his staggering dependence, his infatuation with my every gesture and every spoken word. - The Vampire Lestat

12. Do I disappoint you – Rufus Wainwright

Do I disappoint you, in just being human? And not one of the elements that you can light your cigar on Why does it always have to be fire? Why does it always have to be brimstone?

„And suppose the vampire who made you knew nothing, and the vampire before him knew nothing, and so it goes back and back, nothing proceeding from nothing, until there is nothing! And we must live with the knowledge that there is no knowledge!“ „Yes!“ he cried out suddenly, his hands out, his voice tinged with something other than anger.

And then I sensed it. He was afraid. Lestat afraid. - Interview with the Vampire

13. Ordinary World – Duran Duran

What has happened to it all? Crazy, some'd say Where is the life that I recognize? Gone away

But I won't cry for yesterday There's an ordinary world Somehow I have to find And as I try to make my way To the ordinary world I will learn to survive

I do not remember when it became the twentieth century, only that everything was uglier and darker, and the beauty I'd known in the old eighteenth-century days seemed more than ever some kind of fanciful idea. - The Vampire Lestat

14. I'm still standing – Taron Egerton (Original by Elton John)

And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use And did you think this fool could never win? Well look at me, I'm coming back again

But after the third night up, I was roaring around New Orleans on a big black Harley-Davidson motorcycle making plenty of noise myself. […] I was the vampire Lestat again. I was back in action. New Orleans was once again my hunting ground. - The Vampire Lestat

15. Catch my fall – Billy Idol

I have the time so I will sing, yeah I'm just a boy but I will win, yeah Lost song of lovers, fellow travelers, yeah Leave me sad and hollow out of words

It could happen to you so think for yourself If I should stumble, catch my fall, yeah

I've survived, obviously. I wouldn't be talking to you if I hadn't. And the cosmic dust has finally settled; and the small rift in the world's fabric of rational beliefs has been mended, or at least closed. I'm a little sadder for all of it, and a little meaner and a little more conscientious as well. - The Queen of the Damned

16. I want it all – Queen

I'm a man with a one track mind So much to do in one lifetime (people do you hear me) Not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living lies So I'm living it all, yes I'm living it all And I'm giving it all, and I'm giving it all

It is not enough any longer that my little rock band be successful. We must create a fame that will carry my name and my voice to the remotest parts of the world. - The Vampire Lestat

17. Let me entertain you – Robbie Williams

Hell is gone and heaven's here There's nothing left for you to fear Shake your arse come over here Now scream

I'm a burning effigy Of everything I used to be You're my rock of empathy, my dear

So come on let me entertain you

"I AM THE VAMPIRE LESTAT!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I stepped way back from the microphone, and the sound was almost visible as it arched over the length of the oval theater, and the voice of the crowd rose even higher, louder, as if to devour the ringing sound. - The Vampire Lestat

18. La bien qui fait mal – Mozart l'Opera Rock (Full translation)

I can feel a violent urge I feel like I'm sliding towards the ground If I don't find out where this plague is coming from I adore having it under my skin Bewitched by mad ideas Suddenly all my cravings take off The desire becomes my prison Until I loose my mind

Yet I was in her arms in this chilling darkness, in the familiar scent of winter, and her blood was mine again, and it was enslaving me. When she drew away, I felt agony. - The Queen of the Damned

19. Tainted Love – Soft Cell

And you think love is to pray But I'm sorry I don't pray that way Once I ran to you Now I'll run from you This tainted love you've given I give you all a boy could give you Take my tears and that's not living, oh

„What do you think I am that I am so easily swayed? I was born a Queen. I have always ruled; even from the shrine I ruled." Her eyes were glazed suddenly. I heard the voices, a dull hum rising. "I ruled if only in legend; if only in the minds of those who came to me and paid me tribute. Princes who played music for me; who brought me offerings and prayers. What do you want of me now? That for you, I renounce my throne, my destiny!" What answer could I make? - The Queen of the Damned

20. Dancing in the Dark – Ruth Moody (Original by Bruce Springsteen)

They say you gotta stay hungry Hey baby, I'm just about starvin' tonight I'm dyin' for some action I'm sick of sittin' 'round here tryin' to write this book I need a love reaction Come on now, baby, gimme just one look

"I want you to put the book aside and come join us," he said. "You've been locked in here for over a month." "I go out now and then," I said. I liked looking at him, at the neon blue of his eyes.

"Do you love me now?" I asked. He smiled; oh, it was excruciating to see his face soften and brighten simultaneously when he smiled. "Yes," he said. "Want to go on a little adventure?" My heart was thudding suddenly. It would be so grand if- "Want to break the new rules?" "What in the world do you mean?" he whispered. - The Queen of the Damned

21. I want you – Savage Garden

Oh, I want you, I don't know if I need you But oh, I would die to find out

"You don't think you'll be back?" he asked. "I think you will, whether I call or not." Another little surprise. A little stab of humiliation. I smiled at him in spite of myself. He was a very interesting man. "You silver-tongued British bastard," I said. "How dare you say that to me with such condescension? Maybe I should kill you right now."

I thought of David Talbot's face, and that moment when he'd challenged me. Well, maybe he was right. I'd be back. Who said I couldn't come back and talk to him if I wanted to? - The Queen of the Damned

22. Lay your hands on me – Bon Jovi

I'm a fighter, I'm a poet, I'm a preacher I've been to school, oh baby, I've been the teacher If you show me how to get up off the ground I can show you how to fly and never ever come back down

I sat down on the bed beside him. And then I bent down and kissed his face again gently, as I had in New Orleans, liking the feel of his roughly shaven beard, just as I liked that sort of thing when I was really Lestat and I would soon have that strong masculine blood inside. I moved closer to him, when suddenly he grasped my hand, and I felt him gently push me away. „Why, David?“ I asked him. He didn't answer. He lifted his right hand and brushed my hair back out of my eyes. „I don't know,“ he whispered. „I can't. I simply can't.“ - The Tale of the Body Thief

23. 20th Century Boy – Placebo (Original by T-Rex)

I move like a cat, charge like a ram Sting like a bee, babe, I wanna be your man, hey!

He drew back with a speed that astonished me, cleaving to the wall. „Don't do this, Lestat.“ „Don't fight me, old friend. You waste your effort. You have a long night of discovery ahead.“ - The Tale of the Body Thief

24. Way down we go – KALEO

Oh, Father tell me, do we get what we deserve? Whoa, we get what we deserve And way down we go

„In chains, to my friend and my scribe, I dictated these words. Come with me. Just listen to me. Don't leave me alone.“ - Memnoch the Devil

25. Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode

Reach out, touch faith

"Don't tell me," Gabrielle said slurringly, "that it's a matter of faith." She sneered and shook her head. "You come like doubting Thomas to thrust your bloody fangs in the very wound." "Oh, stop, please, I beg you," I whispered. I put up my hands. "Let me try, and let him hurt me, and then be satisfied, and turn away." - The Vampire Armand

26. Papillon – Editors

Darling Just don't put down your guns yet If there really was a God here He'd have raised a hand by now Now darling You're born, get old, then die here Well that's quite enough for me We'll find our own way home somehow

"And if I spill my blood down into this coffin now," Lestat asked her, "what do you think will come back? Do you think it will be our Louis that will rise in these burnt rags? What if it's not, chérie, what if it's some wounded revenant that we must destroy?" "Choose life, Lestat," she said. - Merrick

27. Sunday Light – Choir Boy

Why, why, why, are you silent on the ride home? I'd love to see the temple with you Heavenly and bright, golden angel twisted scathing You were one of us, one of us, one of us, you were one of us

"Then come, Little Brother, take me to where you want to talk," he said, and I felt the soft squeeze of his fingers on my arm. "Why are you so kind to me?" I asked him. "You're used to people being paid to do it, aren't you?" he asked. - Blackwood Farm

28. Für mich solls rote Rosen regnen – Hildegard Knef (It should rain red roses for me - Full translation)

It should rain red roses for me All wonders should encounter me The world should rearrange itself And keep its worries to itself

I want to be a saint. I want to save souls by the millions. I want to do good far and wide. I want to fight evil! I want my life-sized statue in every church. I'm talking six feet tall, blond hair, blue eyes- Wait a second. Do you know who I am? - Blood Canticle

29. Constant Craving – K. D. Lang

Even through the darkest phase Be it thick or thin Always someone marches brave Here beneath my skin And constant craving Has always been

I was hunting, thirsting though I didn't need to drink, at the mercy of the craving, the deep agonizing lust for heated pumping human blood. - Prince Lestat

30. Kalte Sterne – Jan Ammann (Cold Stars from the musical Ludwig² - Full translation)

Get up, ride home, on your horse, through your land Across the morning with your reins trailing behind you Build a castle like a dream, build it with mighty hands And it shall be named „future“

Build a castle like a dream Up from the ashes and close to the heavens Build a castle like a dream And realise the future as king

If we wanted to survive, if we wanted to inherit the millenia […] then we had to meet the future with respect as well as courage and count fear and selfishness to be small things. - Prince Lestat and the realms of Atlantis

31. C'est une belle journée – Mylene Farmer (Full translation)

I'm going to bed To bite eternity With my mouth wide open It's a beautiful day

And I felt the cold numbing shell of alienation and despair which had imprisoned me all of my life among the Undead – I felt that shell cracked, broken, and dissolved utterly into infinitesimal fragments. - Blood Communion

32. Princes of the Universe – Queen

Fly the moon and reach for the stars With my sword and head held high Got to pass the test first time, yeah I know that people talk about me, I hear it every day But I can prove them wrong 'cause I'm right first time

„I know that you meant full well to bring Rhoshamandes down, of course you did. But you had no way of knowing that you could. And no one would have predicted that you could. And with the willingness to die, you gave yourself over into his hands... and you disarmed him and destroyed him.“ – Blood Communion

And finally, because I can, a bonus track:

33. Primadonna – MARINA

And I'm sad to the core, core, core Every day is a chore, chore, chore When you give, I want more, more, more I wanna be adored

[hekateinhell]

TW: suicide mention below

One extra thought on the Devil's Plaything AU that wouldn't fit in the replies. What if Lestat ran away from home with his boyfriend Nicki to the US, but lost him after he just disappeared in a suspected suicide, and that's why he becomes so obsessed with finding Louis again after their encounter since they look so alike and Lestat is losing his mind with grief.

When Armand finds Lestat he is in this extremely rough,lost, impulsive and self-destructive place and being with Armand helps give him some focus and structure again and helps him refocus on his goals (not to say that it's the healthiest thing all the time). For extra drama, what if it turns out that Nicki answered one of Armand's calls for those no longer interested in continuing with life one night.

What if that's an additional reason Armand feels so much towards Lestat when they first meet, he'd first seen Lestat through the eyes of someone who loved him during the very same act that practically ruined Lestat's life and sent him off the rails. So he feels extra responsibility to make things right and make Lestat happy, though as we see with Daniel he doesn't always know how best to moderate that with the health and wellbeing of his human lovers/pets.

Then of course there is the drama of what happens if Lestat finds out. Maybe Armand kept something he found in Nicki's pocket that was a gift from Lestat, and Lestat finds it and puts 2 and 2 together.

It's all getting very soap opera, this is what happens when I think about these guys first thing in the morning haha

Part I of the mortal!Lestat/Armand AU is here, for context.

Besides myself at you for introducing this much angst into the AU... Like, of course, that's what initially caught his eye when he saw Louis.

Suppose Lestat even managed to snap a photo of Louis in the bar where they met and he's so blindly fixated on tracking him down that he's taking out a page in the newspapers (it was the '70s, people got away with a lot back then), phoning in radio stations during the "missing connection" segments, the whole nine—he's totally losing it. He's in a new country and the only person he had left in the world to rely on is dead and gone.

So Armand is in his flop post-Louis phase, aimlessly prowling around when he happens to see a discarded newspaper on a park bench one night and randomly picks it up to see Louis's photograph alongside Lestat's contact information. How could Louis be so careless? Why was a mortal seeking out one of their kind? Did he have any idea the nature of the creature he sought? And Lestat... the name of the beautiful, golden-haired young man that had all but glowed like the long-forgotten warm summer sunshine in the dark, tortured mind of his victim a couple weeks prior. Could it be?

Of course, Armand needs to gather himself and it takes him approximately three days and nights to do so. He wakes up on the fourth night, having decided to let things lie, and perhaps move on to another city, when he hears Lestat's voice for the first time coming through the radio of a car stopped at a red light. Doesn't realize it's the same person from the paper until he gives his name and it matches the one Armand read... it's such a unique name too, it can only be him. And his heavily accented voice is so young and pleading and desperate.

He's begging someone, anyone to reach out to him if they know the person he's describing.

So someone, anyone does.

It's not hard for Armand to track Lestat down to his crappy little studio apartment where he's drinking heavily and enters through Lestat's open kitchen window like the wraith from the netherworld that he is.

Lestat promptly has one of those cartoon moments where he holds up the liquor bottle and considers that perhaps he's had a little too much to drink. That passes quickly and he's understandably terrified; Armand is more viciously curious and not caring at all about the shock to a human being that revealing himself as a fucking vampire would trigger. He's thinking he'd figure out how a mortal had been allowed to survive an encounter with Louis (and furthermore, run his mouth about it). And he's also more than a little angry and resentful at having had all his repressed memories of Marius come bubbling to the surface ever since he saw Lestat in Nicki's final moments.

But then he takes in Lestat's appearance and it's a knife through the heart and suddenly, without Lestat ever knowing it, Armand's at his complete and utter mercy by virtue of Lestat looking like the veritable son of Marius. Armand thought he was prepared but to see it right in front of him... He frantically catalogs Lestat's features and pries through the turmoil and confusion in his mind to see into his soul, and instantly decides he wants this human for himself.

Lestat's in a proper state though; this isn't Daniel looking for a fun story and being charmed by a gentleman vampire to be eased into accepting the supernatural as part of the reality. This was feral Armand climbing through a six-story window and standing over Lestat like the Angel of Death. It's nothing a simple illusion can't fix (Armand doesn't want him hysterical) and within moments Lestat's docile and sweet and silent while Armand recalibrates, tucking Lestat's curls behind his ears and cleaning him up on autopilot.

It's terrifying—the fierce and abrupt protective instinct that over takes him—knowing right then and there this one would be different than all the other pets.

He talks to Lestat softly, as though he were soothing an infant, as he gradually lessens the illusion bit-by-bit. Tells him Louis is no ordinary man, reminds Lestat that he put out a call for "somebody, anybody" and Armand's answered it. No need to think any further on Louis, however, he's lost to himself. Armand's here, and he wants him. Says he'll give Lestat everything he's ever wanted in this life and more—he's already looked into his heart and seen his wildest hopes and dreams, and he'll give him whatever he desires but Lestat has to do something for him first.

At this point, Lestat's come back into himself and sobered up as much as he's going to under the circumstances, and he's convinced the devil himself has come to offer him a deal.

"And what could you possibly want?" Lestat counters, because he's got a touch of attitude even when talking to the devil. And Armand offers, "You will be my teacher in this new era. You will teach me the ways of the century. You will belong to me. Then you have my word that I will grant you whatever your heart has ever desired, tenfold."

Lestat can't resist, "And if I refuse?" That's when Armand smiles his beautiful, fanged smile and shakes his head, saying, "We both know that you won't."

Then everything I mentioned in Part I takes place, etc etc. It's fairly smooth sailing, like I said—they have no reason to argue. I love what you said in the comments of the other post about Lestat having his own aspirations and ambitions separate from Armand, because yes he would! He's not simply living in Armand's world and going along with his whims, it's a mutual intertwining.

Daniel was all swept up in wanting to be a vampire and wanting a vampire, human life in itself held no interest to him.

Canon!Lestat loved humanity. When Magus told him to ask for the Dark Gift, he said 'no' repeatedly. So yes, I think in this AU, he would definitely insist that Armand provide X in exchange for Y, Armand would love the challenge and enjoy seeing him happy and satisfied with mortal pleasures and achievements.

Like an indulgent owner giving their most favorite cat a treat.

Now for that final nugget of drama you mentioned... let's presume Armand took a ring off Nicki that caught his eye that fateful night. A ring that Lestat had given him, and something Armand had kept with his few trinkets in his coffin until he'd made a permanent home with Lestat on their West Coast island. Armand hadn't realized the significance of it, hadn't counted on Lestat recognizing it since his memories pre-Armand were largely muddled due to his lifestyle and gorging on vamp blood nightly, and so he was careless in placing it in the jewelry box in the massive bedroom they shared for a few hour precious every night.

Understandably, Lestat falls to pieces at the realization and the horror of it all, full on existential crisis a la TVL, everything. This would their first real fight, in which Lestat calls Armand all kinds of names like "you monstrous, repulsive, demon from hell!" and at least several others. Armand breaks down and cries and tells Lestat that at least Nicki died a quick, merciful, painless death; by far the kindest option from anything he would have done to himself. Lestat cusses him out yet again and insists that he doesn't believe him, so Armand offers to let him see it in his blood if it would bring him any closure (Armand doesn't know that much about humans, remember... this is hardly the best idea).

Lestat accepts Armand's offer and is horrified to see in stark clarity Nicki's final moments, and also overwhelmed by the outpour of love he feels from Armand and Armand's own pain underlying it all. He pulls off and falls into a fitful sleep before waking up the next day close to dusk. Yet Armand is nowhere to be found. He's never missed a night with Lestat since he'd climbed through that window in the old apartment and it never occurred to him that Armand just wouldn't appear one day. Every single one of his childhood abandonment issues comes surging to the surface, compounded with the renewed grief of losing Nicki.

By the second night and no sign of Armand, Lestat's pacing the mansion and the beach outside their front door, screaming Armand's name at the top of his lungs like a crazy person, willing him to appear like the apparition that he is.

And he does, silent and repentant. Lestat's not sure that he forgives him yet, that he can forgive him, but nonetheless he clings to him and bends down to bury his face against the cold, dead skin of Armand's throat and swears up and down that he does. Tries to say something about predestiny, that he always knew deep down Nicki wasn't going to be okay, so on.

Eventually, he believes it (because what choice does he have?) and life goes on (for now).