#they already showed it with armand's insecurity about his relationship with louis lasting and him really overreacting over that

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there are sooo many problems in armand and daniel's relationship, but this exchange highlights a big one imo: no matter what daniel says, thinks, or tells him, armand rarely believes daniel is telling the truth. armand spent years assuming daniel thought he was lying when he confessed he's never made another vampire, when daniel has believed him the whole time.

armand is told and shown one thing by daniel, but believes another.

he thinks daniel resents him for turning him into a killer, when daniel gets a rush from killing. even if he has trouble disposing of bodies afterwards, he enjoys the act of taking human life, and he wants to stay with armand and keep doing it forever.

armand thinks daniel has never understood or wanted to understand what being a vampire really means, when that's all daniel has ever wanted; he falls in love with the monstrous part of armand, it gives him a thrill to imagine what he does to sate his hunger, he loves knowing that he's killed someone recently, and he asks armand if he can watch him hunt— which armand refuses.

it's why i think when armand says sybelle is the first mortal to ever tell him "i love you", it might not entirely be true...

... or at least, even if he's never said it aloud, daniel must've thought "i love you" over and over during their years together. except armand never believed daniel really loved him, he only loved his blood and his power and wanted it for himself. maybe he believed daniel simply thought he loved him, because he had nothing else. maybe daniel only ever really told him he loved him when he was given the blood, and that confirmed what armand believed. whatever it was, any love that daniel felt was not real in armand's eyes, especially as it began to be eclipsed by a form of hatred, which was partly borne from daniel's frustration at being treated like nothing but a toy and doubting that he meant anything to armand at all.

armand felt he was never truly honest with daniel and his love was possessive and complicated, so he couldn't understand that daniel's obsession with immortality had long ago evolved into wanting immortality specifically by armand's side.

daniel wanted to live forever with armand because he really truly did love him, to the point that it ruined him. but armand could never believe it. and riddled with guilt after turning him, he believed there was no chance daniel would ever really love him now.

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ive been thinking about the differences between book and show armand when it comes to sharing his blood. from what i understand, book armand does not let anyone properly drink his vampiric blood until daniel. he tries to use that fact to bargain for lestat's love in TVL when he finds him in new orleans in the early 20th century ("love me and the blood is yours, this blood that i have never given to another.")

but show armand lets louis and lestat drink from him, even when he's insecure in his relationship with louis lasting (he recognises the taste of armand's blood in the coffin), and even before he's sure lestat loves him (in his telling of the story, anyway). i can't help but wonder if the extended amount of time he spent with marius had any influence on his feelings about this.

book amadeo was with marius for two years and during that time had a lot of spirit in him; he loved marius, but also criticised and questioned his behaviour, rebelled and challenged him, and was often punished for it in various ways. marius could take what he wanted from amadeo whenever he wanted it, but there was defiance there too that, by the time amadeo was made a vampire and they're later separated, marius had only just started to fully control. later, after being kidnapped by the children of darkness, armand held onto his blood as one last thing he still had autonomy over after everything else was taken away, this pure, untouched piece of him that was his alone and that he could choose to withhold or share.

show amadeo had ten more years as a human, and in that time marius came to truly own every part of him, could control when amadeo gave himself away and to whom, and complete codependency had been fostered between them for over a decade. there was no way or reason for amadeo to ever defy his master's wishes or question him the way he once did at this point. even though he resented that he would not turn him, he still depended wholly on his love and attention and would do anything for it. by the time he was taken by the children of darkness, maybe armand already felt he did not have anything left of himself that he could or should control. so after meeting lestat and the coven's collapse, armand starts to give his body and blood to others first (there's the added layer of physical sex in the show too) in an attempt to gain security and companionship and love from them afterwards.