#some prince lestat era angst for you

[desertfangs]

“ am i not good enough? ”  Armand/Daniel :)

The pressure builds in his chest as he watches Armand doting on Sybelle and Benji as he speaks to Rose and Viktor. He ruffles Benji’s hair affectionately, and pats Sybelle on the shoulder softly, planting a kiss on her cheek. They both beam at him, so much love in their eyes.

Daniel’s stomach churns. All he can think of is Armand’s book, of the way he dismissed Daniel as a demented, morbid romantic who could not stand him, who had never really known or loved him. 

He’s trying so hard not to think of those words and to instead understand Armand’s love for these two beings, but it’s so damn weird to stand here in Armand’s house, watching him with his new family whom he’s only just met. He and Armand used to be inseparable and now he’s just a guest watching him from across the room. 

He’s been here over a week and he still feels wholly out of place, unable to sit and relax anywhere, so he stands against a wall, trying not to take up space. Marius is in a conference room with Lestat and some of the others, making plans to go to France. Daniel was hoping to catch Armand alone, but no luck. 

Benji of all people glances up and looks at Daniel curiously, titling his head in a way that reminds Daniel of Armand. Maybe Daniel forgot to guard his thoughts. It’s hard, with all the immortals here, to keep the walls up. 

Benji says something to Armand, who looks over at Daniel. And suddenly Daniel wishes vampires could turn into smoke and he could just vaporize on the spot. 

His breath catches as Armand breaks away from the group and heads toward him. He’s stunning, as usual. He’s wearing an ivory sweater and dark denim jeans. His russet hair hangs long and loose around his pale face and rings adorn his fingers. He’s so beautiful Daniel could weep and as he comes closer, Daniel can’t breathe. No air wants to enter his dead lungs. 

Armand’s amber eyes rake over Daniel who suddenly feels lacking in his worn jeans and t-shirt. “Are you all right?” 

Daniel nods. Fine, yeah, just dandy. He struggles not to laugh and Armand can’t hear his thoughts. Before he can verbalize the sentiment, Armand speaks again: “Good. I want all my guests to feel at home.”

Daniel’s heart sinks. He’s just another guest. Of course. What else would he be?

“Thanks,” Daniel says, the word coming out short and terse. Armand stares at him, and Daniel shifts uncomfortably. He points to the ceiling. “Nice crown moulding.” 

Armand frowns slightly. He glances back at Sybelle and Benji, eager to return to that conversation and escape this awkwardness. Why the hell did he come over, anyhow? What did Benji tell him? 

“Every inch of Trinity Gate was meticulously designed,” Armand says. “No detail spared.” 

“So I see,” Daniel says. It really is an impressive house, more intricate and detailed than their Villa in on Night Island, though Daniel prefers the latter. 

Armand reaches out and tears a loose thread from the sleeve of Daniel’s t-shirt. He doesn’t say so but Daniel can practically hear him wondering why Marius allows him to dress like a vagrant. Instead, Armand pockets the thread and says nothing. He wishes he would. At least if they could argue—

Sybelle laughs across the room and the others all join in. Daniel’s stomach churns as Armand turns and smiles appreciatively at them. 

“Am I not good enough?” Daniel asks, the question tumbling out before he can think about what he’s saying. 

Armand turns back to him suddenly. “Whatever do you mean, Daniel?” 

Anger roars up at the way he plays dumb, the way he acts like it’s an absurd thing to ask. And maybe it is. Maybe there’s really nothing left to say between them. Except that when he looks at Armand, all he wants to do is pull him close and hold him there, and he can’t. There’s this weird glass wall between them now and he hates it. 

“As a fledgling,” Daniel says. 

Armand’s brow furrows briefly and then his expression smooths out, becoming impassive stone. “You have strong blood.” 

Daniel laughs scornfully. “Yeah, yours,” he says. “That’s not what I meant.” 

Armand looks back at his beloved children with Rose and Viktor, people he adores and whose company he can stand. Daniel turns to leave. Armand grabs his wrist. 

“Of course you are. What a thing to ask,” Armand says, as if he’s a fool. And he is. He’s here, blurting out questions he doesn’t want the answers to.

“Yeah, sure,” Daniel says. He pulls away and heads for the foyer. He’ll go for a walk, go kill some evil bastard and slake his thirst and maybe then he’ll feel better. 

Armand follows him to the door. 

“I just need to hunt,” Daniel tells him. He opens the coat closet and digs out his jacket. It’s too light for the climate and it’s raining out, but it will do. Armand is still watching him wordlessly, infuriatingly still and silent. Daniel wants to shake him and demand to know what he wants. What he feels. If he still loves him at all. But he doesn’t dare ask. “Do you want to come?” he asks instead.

Armand tilts his head, a gesture that always makes Daniel feel like he’s trying to get inside his mind. Then Armand pulls a wool coat out of the closet and shrugs it on.

“Lead the way,” Armand says. 

Relief washes over him. It’s not enough. Not by a mile. But it’s a start. 

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/764198172090318848/so-if-the-teaser-is-canon-its-presumably-set

So. The timeline for season 3 present time can stretch from one year to a few months. Personally, I think the 1 year stretch is far better.

February 2022: Lestat founds/discovers a band and names it The Vampire Lestat.

Mid to late June 2022: the tour is green lit but not announced. The band has managers and all the equipment

June 14th 2022 — June 26th 2022: the Dubai interview.

Early July 2022: Louis searches for Lestat, finds him in NOLA, flies there and they reunite.

July 2022 - mid to late October 2022: Louis and Lestat rekindle their friendship, they have their own lives but are in contact. Armand starts stalking Daniel.

February 2023: Lestat’s band blows up all of a sudden. The tour is announced.

February 2023 — April 2023: Lestat and Louis talk to each other, check on each other and hang out. One time, they end up sleeping together and Louis leaves and ghosts Lestat the next day. They settle on a “casual”, no attachments relationship but both are jealous of the other. Because of this, Lestat writes long face.

April 2023: the book is out. Lestat reads it, is pissed at Louis, they argue. Lestat releases long face and it blows up even more. Meanwhile Armand reaches out to Daniel. They have a month long fling, but Armand disappears after turning Daniel

June (?) 2023: Lestat’s band releases the dates for their tour. Daniel proposes the documentary to Lestat and he accepts.

Late August 2023: the tour starts.

Late August 2023 — October 2023: Lestat is interviewed by Daniel.

October 2023: Louis, Daniel, Armand and Gabrielle + others begin to dream about Maharet and Mekare.

October 21st: the interview is over. Louis enters in possession of the uncut tape through Daniel and watches it. Meanwhile, Akasha awakens.

Roughly October 26th (?): Louis visits Lestat. They argue, communicate, and decide to try again.

October 31st: the San Francisco concert happens, Gabrielle arrives and saves Loustat.

November 1st: Akasha kidnaps Lestat.

I reasoned this way in regards of timeline stretch because editing a book, publishing it, having a four month margine that is already surpassed, interviewing a rock star on tour and editing a documentary take some time. A book needs 6-12 months to be edited and published, and a documentary a few months that they objectively don’t have, if they’re to keep the 31st October concert date.

I’m not sure about the whole angst thing and its magnitude, as I’ve inserted it only because of the loose context given by Long Face and Lestat wearing a wedding ring AND the slit throat chocker. Could also be that Louis tags along on the tour as “just friends” while pining and overcoming their communication issues (someone I don’t remember said Lestat should talk about Magnus in private with Louis and Daniel/only Louis and then a cut version to Daniel). Considering that Louis is already in his Prince Lestat era mindset, it would make sense for him to finally read, as a parallel to 2x08, his book before deciding to try again with Lestat (just for him to be kidnapped).

There’s also things I really liked as theories but wouldn’t know how to incorporate. Maybe Daniel interviewed Lestat as a human? Maybe after that Armand found them both and went after Daniel and turned him? Then Daniel would go to the talk show and talk about both the interview to Lestat and the book? But then how would Louis still be at the penthouse? Would that be before receiving the uncut interview or something?

Thoughts on all of this? What’s your own timeline prediction?

:) (Nice timeline!! Thank you for formatting btw, the email I got was not and I was sooo relieved when I checked here *laughs*)

Soooooo.... I personally think that there's even more time there.

I think editing the book and publishing it takes more time, maybe up to two years, and I would think they will use the "three years" they will have from 2022 to release in 2025 (fingers crossed!) for the show.

For your timeline the reunion would need to be the "contested" one, aka not having happened that way, because otherwise Lestat's state of mind would not fit I think.

But I also think that once they have met again that Louis and Lestat will fall into the "Netflix and chill" era that they have in later books, which you also describe here.

All in all I think the timeline makes sense, it will be very interesting to see what the show does with it!!

As I said, I am not convinced that Daniel is already a vampire for the documentary, but that will remain to be seen. I think the show might mix things up there (like they mixed Merrick in, for example) - because as you said(!) - Louis seems a bit in the PL era mind set in Dubai... and if he is, if they pull that up - then the whole story might be mixed up, re events. (Also they already introduced Fareed, and Amel, arguably).

Ahhh, I don't know^^. I like your timeline :), even if I am writing my own (a bit different one) in a fic right now, forgive me for not detailing here too much. It does keep to the elements you also pulled up^^, but shapes them a bit differently, because I have a different starting point.

It would be cool if you came back after season 3, to compare notes :))))

[somevagrantchild]

The Christmas Curse [AO3]

Ensemble cast with focus on Louis/Lestat & Armand/Marius Longfic - ongoing, 11 chapters posted so far. New chapters twice a week. Château era Explicit

It is the first Christmas after the events of Realms of Atlantis, and the vampire Court is thriving. Benedict has left Rhoshamandes for good, Gregory is thrilled to be one of Lestat's closest advisors, Marius is cautiously excited about Armand visiting for the holidays, and Louis is passionate about supporting and encouraging Lestat in his role as Prince of their people.

But when disaster strikes the Château following the lavish Christmas Eve ball, and their world is torn from them, the vampires of Court are left to navigate a state of existence they never thought they'd know again.

...In other words, they all magically turn human. Dealing with their passionate new human urges and desires leads to pleasure and angst both as they figure out how their relationships can work in the daylight world.

The first 13 chapters are Christmas fluff, and then the drama goes down. Explicit content starts at chapter 28.

Excerpt:

Tearing his gaze from Louis’s with some difficulty, Lestat looked down at the crown, turning it reverently in his hands, trying to decide which way was the front, but it seemed any direction would do. So he lifted his face and brought the crown up to place on his own head, the gold circlet fitting perfectly nestled in his hair.

“There,” he said with a wry little smile and turned enough to catch his reflection in the closet’s great triptych mirrors. “The greatest of frauds if ever there was one.”

Louis gave the smallest of sniffed laughs with a little shake of his head. It was truly perfect, the crown, once atop Lestat’s head. It had been made by the finest of their craftsmen and with faceted gems and ornamentation that Louis had specifically chosen. “Fraud or no, it suits you.”

With slow but steady purpose, Louis finally moved around the table so that it was no longer separating them. He reached up to tuck a stray golden curl artfully beneath the bottom edge of the crown and behind Lestat’s ear. He wondered then if Lestat had ever tried on the other crowns gifted to him, just to see what they looked like, though he wasn’t about to ask such a question.

Instead, he rested both hands against the front of Lestat’s shoulders and looked into his eyes. “I want you to wear it,” he whispered, then leaned closer still, pressing a slow soft kiss to Lestat’s lips. Enjoy your Christmas Vampires on AO3!

[thecactifindahome]

Hey, thanks for the offer. 🙃 So, Armand and TVA are my favorite character and book respectively and I wonder which other books he plays a big part on so I can look forward to reading them (I've read TVL, TQOTD, TTOTBT, MTD, TVA and Merrick so far)? Plus, I know Anne initially wrote Armand as an antagonist and saw he was more than that on the Devil's Minion chapter, but I'm also aware she went back and forth with people and stories, planned deaths and then changed her mind etc, so I wonder if Armand falls back into that antagonist role or if he remains a friend/ally to other characters (specially Lestat who he has an even longer history with)? Or is a "things ultimately end well, but there expect more conflict and angst down the road before they do situation"? And does he ever meet Bianca again? I enjoyed them so much on the book and apparently he saw her again centuries later, but wasn't sure? I know she becomes a vampire, so I hope they interact some more. P.S. Answer how you want because I know this got too long. 😅 And I don't mind spoilers! And thanks for the help. 💗

I'm happy to! :D

Pandora: Armand mentioned very, very briefly

Blood and Gold: It goes over the Venice era so he's definitely in that part, and has a super quick presence at the end.

Merrick/Blackwood Farm/Blood Canticle: The Armandless zone. Merrick is the only one of these three that has relevance to non-Lestat returning characters.

Prince Lestat: Not a main character, but he's there and he's talking to people! Things are happening in his house 👍

Realms of Atlantis: Also not a main character, but his appearances are memorable, lol. He does something plot relevant and things are once again happening in his house.

Blood Communion: Has a monologue that makes me so sad I feel ill 🥰

Armand is never the villain again, and frankly in the Prince Lestat trilogy I sincerely think he's the only character who's not ass-deep in denial. He's the voice of reason and that makes characters uncomfortable. Amel is so obviously evil it's hilarious and Armand was correct to say so. I also think that he was correct about the clones, I did not buy what that lady was selling.

Bianca is prominent in Blood and Gold! She also makes appearances in the PL books, and there’s clearly some kind of drama going on with her, Armand, and Marius that Lestat doesn't care to investigate beyond 'huh, that's weird' because Lestat hates me personally.

[theraistlinmajere]

THE “”GOTHIC”” REC LIST

Edited for my own use.

LET’S START WITH THE GATEWAY DRUG BOOK

1. Flowers in the Attic (VC Andrews): Published in 1979 and technically considered contemporary Gothic. The style closely resembles a lot of “original” Gothic fiction I’ve read, but the themes, story arc and style are distinctly contemporary and very psychological. Gets a bad rap because it’s over the top insane and averagely written (which most Gothic is, tbh). Flowers is light reading, and I think it’s a good gateway drug into heavier Gothic. Has several sequels but stands alone as well. I wish I could call this Victorian-inspired Gothic but honestly it’s just knockoff Victorian in a contemporary setting. If you don’t enjoy this book, it probably means you don’t like the over the top insanity and average writing. Skip it if you like!

1.5. But if you do like it, I hear My Sweet Audrina is pretty good. All of VC Andrews and her ghostwriters are like a hellhole people sometimes don’t escape tbh it’s a raging aesthetic disaster down there.

Note: I have a strong suspicion that “contemporary” Gothic published between 1965 and 1989 will eventually have its own movement name; you will see a decent amount of it on this list.

THE VICTORIAN GOTHIC PART OF THE LIST Most of these are available for free online due to copyright law being born late or whatever. 2. Carmilla (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu): Considered the first English vampire story (Germans invented the European vampire allegedly), and published in 187…9? 1871? Something like that. A novella. Arguably a same-sex romance (VERY arguably), but can also be read as a close friendship. The writing is good, but not the absolute greatest I’ve ever read. The real strong point here is the imagery and the dawn of the English vampire. Great Halloween read; I read it almost every autumn. 3. “The Trifecta,” according to Gothic fans: Dracula (Bram Stoker), Frankenstein (Shelley), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Swift & Stevenson): First mainstream vampire, original English monster movie fuel, and the dawn of psychological fiction. Shelley’s the best writer out of all of them but she’s a Romantic and I’m sort of biased against Romantics. She’s a precursor to true Victorian Gothic. Dracula is still one of the creepiest books I’ve ever read and it’s the only one in the trifecta I really really love (and finished).

Note: If, by any chance, you find yourself seriously obsessed with vampires at any point in time, please consult me for an extended list of vampire fiction because I have a shit-ton of it in my reading history and left most of it out so vampires wouldn’t clutter this list lmao.

4. Edgar Allan Poe, Completed Works. The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Tell-Tale Heart are all notable. His poetry is lovely–Annabelle Lee and The Raven are most culturally significant. Just solid and wonderful work that I like a lot but haven’t explored in a lot of detail. Will appeal to your interest in darkness imagery.

5. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories (Washington Irving): QUINTESSENTIAL HALLOWEEN READING. SPOOPY. WONDERFUL. I truly love this anthology. Will also appeal to your interest in darkness as a concept and a physical thing. 6. Nightmare Abbey (Thomas Love Peacock): an 1818 novel that makes fun of the Victorian Gothic movement. Hilarious, contains all the typical Victorian Gothic tropes and has the added benefit of actually falling into the Victorian Gothic movement ironically. Usually comes packaged with another novel called Crotchet Castle which is similar. 7. If, somehow, you haven’t had it with Victorian Gothic yet (and I got to this point, it happens, Victorian Gothic is a slippery slope)… Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke): A really bizarre story behind how this was published, at least it is to me. Published in 2004, Over 10 years in the making and is written in the Victorian Gothic style but with a quirky and modern twist. The writer takes a page out of contemporary social commentary and includes pages-long footnotes, heads up (they’re funny and entertaining though). HUGE. You could kill a man with this volume. Excellent writing; I’m halfway through. I hear there’s time travel (?) and there are about ten thousand characters. Neil Gaiman is a fan. 8. The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux) is not technically Victorian (Technically Edwardian? Also French; I’m not familiar with French literary eras) but of course it has a huge following. I’ve read a little so far; I like the style and I think it’s culturally significant. You might want to read this because it’s heavily inspired by a French opera house, the Palais Garnier in Paris. Amber tells me she read literature in French to help sharpen her skills in the language; you may consider picking up an un-translated version of this? A BRIEF INTERLUDE FOR MORE CONTEMPORARY 9. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice): One of my favorite books of all time! Possibly the dawn of the romanticized vampire. Falls into that 70s contemporary Gothic bracket and is pretty amazingly written, but markedly more angst-ridden than anything else on the list (save for maybe Flowers). Lots of “what is evil?” and “what does immortality imply?” type speculation. Also gets a bad rap because Anne Rice made it big and haters are rife tbh it’s a very solidly built book in my opinion (BUT SUPER EMOTIONAL VAMPIRES). If you like this, continue with The Vampire Chronicles (The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Prince Lestat, and about 8 others in between that concern minor characters). Lestat is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. 10. Coraline (Neil Gaiman): Quick, cute, I found myself actually afraid for a little while despite the audience being middle grade readers?? I enjoyed it. The only Neil Gaiman on the list because his other work doesn’t impress me very much. 11. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi): More middle-grade creepy aesthetic stuff. Cute modern fantasy stories, five volumes. I can read these books at twenty years old and still enjoy them (like Coraline)! The only good thing Holly Black has ever produced, in my opinion, though many people like her and her ~aesthetic.

11.5. Should you find yourself in the mood for more quick middle-grade aesthetic-y stuff, Pure Dead Magic (Debi Gliori) is really an adorable book with two sequels. Victorian Gothic tropes such as the creepy mansion, creatures in the dungeon, family drama, and Weird Newcomers are all present, but it’s set in modern times. One of the main characters is a hacker. Addams family-esque.

THE SURREAL-ISH FICTION PART OF THE LIST

Not true surreal fiction; these are contemporary surreal-inspired works. 12. The Bloody Chamber (Angela Carter): An anthology of short stories which retell fairy tales. Falls into the contemporary surrealism movement and is not traditionally considered Gothic, but this is definitely your aesthetic. Very quick read, very vivid imagery, lots of second-wave feminism and some brief eating disorder symbolism. Carter was a phenomenal writer! My favorite story is “The Lady of the House of Love"

12.5 (Just as a reminder since I’ve mentioned these) See also: Nights at the Circus (Carter) and Mechanique: A tale of the Circus Tresaulti (Valentine) for your interest in circus books!

13. The Palace of Curiosities (Rosie Garland), which I also rec’d before. Similar style to Chamber, similar themes. Both beautiful books. 14. Deathless (Catherynne Valente): Oh, Deathless. Technically contemporary lit, but hails to Russian Gothic (one of the earlier Gothic movements which I haven’t read much of). Retelling of about a million Russian folk tales. I could go on about this book for a thousand years. Stylistically similar to The Bloody Chamber as well, but far more poetic. (Very) structurally inferior to every other book on this list, but so heart-wrenchingly romantic you won’t notice or care on the first read. Visually breathtaking, absolutely the closest thing to death and the maiden imagery I’ve found in fiction. I’m fairly confident you’ll appreciate this one! Might as well read it to test my theory!! There’s controversy surrounding the fact that the writer is not Russian–something to be aware of. 15. The Enchanted (Rene Denfeld): TREAD WITH CAUTION. This is contemporary literary fiction (not Gothic) written from the pov of a death row inmate. Nominated for approximately a billion awards in 2014 (and won a few); high caliber of writing. Incredibly visceral, horrific, psychological imagery that was too much for me, though I still liked it. Short but dense–I had to take a two-day break to ward off the anxiety it caused. But you are darker~ than I so you might like it more!

THE SOUTHERN GOTHIC PART OF THE LIST 16. Beloved (Toni Morrison): Contemporary Southern Gothic. Incredibly creepy imagery, explores the connection between women’s issues and racial issues. Uses abortion and slavery as metaphors for each other. Gracefully written, but Southern Gothic (even contemporary) tends to be textually dense so it’s something to really think about as you read. 17. As I Lay Dying (Faulkner): “True” Southern Gothic. DENSE AS HELL but I think Beloved is a good precursor to Faulkner. A lot of almost comedic family drama, similar to Flowers in that sense, but very srs bsns nonetheless.

17.5. Basically all of Faulkner is considered Southern Gothic. He’s the father of Southern Gothic. If you enjoy this, you might also like Absalom! Absalom! and other such works. I loved As I Lay Dying but it’s possibly his easiest read, and while I love a good challenge I haven’t stepped up to this one yet.

Note: I use reading guides for all my classical works and Shakespeare, and I think there are good ones for Faulkner too, so that might be something to look into if you wanna vanish into this hell lol.

AN ADDENDUM: OTHER WRITERS

HP Lovecraft: Father of horror or whatever. Awful writer–anyone will agree. The guy had no command of language, but he’s known for over-the-top horror imagery that people really enjoy. Honestly I hate his writing so I haven’t bothered with much of it.

Oscar Wilde: If, by this point, you still want more Victorian-era writing, Wilde is here for you. Lots of social commentary, wrote basically one piece in the Gothic style (Chapter 16 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, my favorite novel), snarky as hell, incredibly gifted writer.

Neil Gaiman: Modern surreal in my opinion, sometimes called modern Gothic, well-loved and writes creepy things. I think he’s average because I’ve read too much Murakami (who does “modern surreal” way, way better) but many people really love him.

THE BLACKLIST Knockoff Gothic/Gothic themed things to avoid. I apologize if you like any of these okay ._.

The Grisha Trilogy (Leigh Bardugo): Contemporary YA, tries to be Russian Gothic and fails. Stick to Deathless. This book makes a mockery of Russian culture whereas at least Valente exhaustively researched her novel. Also doesn’t do romance very well.

The Night Circus (Morgenstern): What the hell is this book, tbh. 400 pages of obtuse and cliched imagery which you don’t have time for in your life. No plot. Two-dimensional characters, bad writing.

Those Across The River (Christopher Buehlman): Terrible. Just terrible.

[desertfangs]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

AAAAhh this is such a cool idea!! Thank you for the ask! I will be sending this around like a hot potato.

It's so hard for me to pick favorites because different fics mean different things to me but I'm just going to pick the ones that come to mind first.

Lace - Armand/Daniel - Explicit - 4,490 words To distract Daniel from yet another mortal birthday, Armand gets Daniel a pair of lace panties... and demands he wear them out to a bar. I think this is the smut fic I'm most proud of. I really went for it and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's got crossdressing, sex in public, and weird Devil's Minion games.

Hey Pretty - Armand/Daniel - Explicit - 6,325 words

Speaking of smut, I wrote this for Kink Week last year. It's set not long after Armand and Daniel reunite in Prince Lestat when things are still awkward as heck between them and Daniel figures out a good to way to cut through that is to let Armand watch him feed on a mortal... and then take it back to the bedroom. It's a lot about the strangeness of reconnecting and growing pains of fraught relationships.

Five Times Daniel and Armand Almost Kissed During the Chase Years & One Time They Did - Armand/Daniel - Mature - 5,940

NGL I think this might be my favorite fic I've written. It's definitely the one I go back to read most often. It's just little vignettes of Armand and Daniel getting closer during the Chase Years and it makes me happy. Really proud of this one.

The City Never Sleeps - Lestat/Daniel - Mature - 13,024 words

This is the fic that absolutely took me the longest to write (though Look Right Through is gaining on it with edits). I agonized over every line of dialogue and Lestat is not always easy for me, but I love how this turned out. It's Daniel entertaining Lestat in NYC in the post-canon era while Armand is out of town, and it's a lot about his past with Armand and showing Lestat their lives, but also Daniel knows Lestat wants to connect with Armand on a deeper level and he's trying to help. Also Lestat is having angst about Louis. You know how it is! I really love this fic so it was worth the hair-pulling.

And gosh how do I pick a final one? -frets-

In the Blood - Armand/Daniel - Mature - 4875 words

On Night Island, Armand is fretting about Daniel now being a vampire, and a little healthy voyeurism helps. I think Daniel is a really gentle, sensual killer, which is on display here, but again it's the two of them trying to connect after Daniel's been turned and all of the stumbling blocks that come with it.

Oof that was tough! I will be sending this around to people's inboxes, hoping to see some awesome self-recs!