#vamptember

[vamplire]

happy vamptember to all those who celebrate

[rijinks]

Quick sketch of Nicki in his "mute to mania" moment, one of my favorite scenes in The Vampire Lestat! (For the Vamptember prompt "Metamorphosis")

[vamptember]

WELCOME BACK TO THE VAMPIRE PARTY! 🦇

Welcome to our third annual Vamptember event celebrating Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles and all its adaptations! 🖤

For the month of September please join us in making vampire stuff! Fic, art, headcanons, playlists, meta, anything you can think of! Base it on the books, the 1994 movie, the AMC show, the musical, whatever you want! Canon or AU, get creative!

RULES

1. There are no rules. Please have fun!

2. Each day has THREE PROMPTS in case one doesn’t speak to you! Pick one or combine them or rearrange them, it’s up to you!

3. Tag your posts #vamptember so that we can reblog! If your post isn’t showing in the tag please don’t hesitate to DM it to us!

4. We finally have an AO3 collection this year, find it here!

Tell your friends and share to spread the word! Daily prompts (3/day) under the cut!

1. 1920s / Experiment / Eros & Psyche

2. Pomegranates / Sick / Dating App

3. Eucharist / Slice of Life / Gentleman Death

4. Private Jet / Tape Recorder / Missing Scene 

5. Romeo & Juliet / Meet Cute / “The easy cleft of my mortality”  

6. Library / Genderswap / Shrine

7. FREE DAY

8. Medieval AU / Honey / “Evil is always possible” 

9. Colosseum / Flights of Devils / Slow Burn 

10. Phantom of The Opera / Rat / Ceremony

11. Nomad / “He ate my heart” / Aphrodisiac 

12. Beautiful Boy / Grocery Store / Magic

13. Night Club / Tiara / Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

14. FREE DAY 

15. Ghosts / Breakfast In Bed / Three Is Company

16. Roleplay / Office / Forest

17. Kittens / Reverse AU / “You made a mess”

18. Lost In Translation / Eras / Marriage

19. High School AU / Metamorphosis / Dream Daddy

20. The Romance of Certain Old Clothes / 1497 / Blind Date

21. FREE DAY

22. Music Video / Pupil / Egg

23. 5 + 1 / Cigarette / Guardian Angel

24. “Half in love with easeful death” / Divorce / Mercury

25. Hospital / Celestial Bodies / Garden

26. Funeral Pyre / Tea Time / Dress Up

27. Drag / Reptile / Hair Washing

28. FREE DAY

29. Hunger / A Mother’s Love / Insects

30. Your Age / Tattoo / Epilogue

[glorianas]

The trouble with this part of the world is that they have too many fairy tales

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)

[lychnvs]

for the first day of vamptember: leather. bonus loustat because I was craving the rockstar bf aesthetic.

[armandaughter]

oh fuck this one took me forever. anyways--

“I was obsessed with him. Have you seen The Shining, Daniel?” 

“What?” He sputters, supremely caught off guard. 

“The Shining,” Armand repeats. “1980, Stanley Kubrick.”

Daniel, stricken, manages to nod slowly. 

Armand shrugs flippantly. “I did that.” 

“You— what?” He repeats. “That’s an insanely wide margin to guess from. You did what exactly?” 

His maker blinks. “The axe. I broke Marius’ door with a battleaxe.”

for @vamptember prompt 'library' + read more here

[lunelised]

Memento Mori

My fan art illustration of the vampire Armand from The Vampire Chronicles. Hope you like it🌹

[ladyvampir3]

Vamptember 28: free day

One happy family

[aunteat]

Day 6: Genderswap @vamptember Steffy Argelich as Armand

[bubblegum-blackwood]

Vamptember Day 28: News

Vampire Chronicles characters as The Onion headlines

Lestat:

Louis:

Claudia:

Armand:

Daniel:

Marius:

Louis:

Lestat:

Armand:

Daniel:

Louis:

Benji:

Dare I say Lestat:

Louis:

Benji:

Marius:

Claudia:

Armand:

Louis and Lestat:

Gabrielle:

Mael:

Daniel:

Louis:

Marius:

Daniel:

And . . . the fandom 🥲

[vamptember]

Welcome to MerMay - Vampire Chronicles edition! Vampire lovers, please join us in celebrating another category of mythological creatures and monsters: mermaids, sirens, rusalkas, selkies, and so on, combined with the VC characters we know and love all month long! 🫧🐠

Create fic, art, playlists, moodboards, photo manipulations, and anything else you can think of that relates to the theme of bodies of water and their inhabitants! 💙

Base it on the characters of the books, the movie, the show, the musical, or even that other movie! Genderswapped and trans versions welcome! Whatever ships, pairings, genres, tropes, and ratings you feel like doing! 🐙

𝕽𝖚𝖑𝖊𝖘 & 𝕲𝖚𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖘

1. MerMay VC will run for 4.5 weeks with each week featuring FOUR THEME PROMPTS and a bonus FREE SPACE prompt where anything in the spirit of MerMay goes! Prompts can be interpreted as SFW or NSFW — go nuts! Pick one or combine them or rearrange them, it's up to you!

2. Tag your posts #vamptember so that we can reblog! We'll be staggering out our reblogs throughout the month so that we can make the mermaid magic last longer! ✨ If your post isn't showing in the tag please don't hesitate to send us the link in our ask box! Delayed submissions are always welcome!

3. As of 4/24/24, our ao3 collection is now live!

4. Follow @vamptember to see everyone's incredible creations and keep up with our latest fandom events! Our sister blog @priapus-at-the-gate will also be a hosting an exclusively NSFW MerMay event, so feel free to give us a follow there as well for more fun stuff coming soon! And as always, let us know if you have any questions about anything, we're here for you!

𝕿𝖊𝖑𝖑 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖘𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉! 𝖂𝖊𝖊𝖐𝖑𝖞 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖒𝖕𝖙𝖘 𝖇𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖚𝖙! 🪼

WEEK 1 (May 1 - 7)

fishing net / stuck on land / gore / pearl / FREE SPACE

WEEK 2 (May 8 - 14)

lighthouse / curse / knots / thalassophobia / FREE SPACE

WEEK 3 (May 15 - 21)

sea cave / pirates / specimen / myth / FREE SPACE

WEEK 4 (May 22 - 28)

rescued / song / bioluminescent / depth / FREE SPACE

WEEK 4.5 (May 29 - 31)

tentacles / under the moon / eggs / shipwreck / FREE SPACE

[monstersinthecosmos]

Vamptember Day 2 - Sick

{prag 83 - the devil's heart}

The blood is bad.

Tastes different, and Daniel is nauseous when he pulls away. Not like how he can still feel anxious, the way he can still worry himself sick. Nothing digests in his body anymore, not like it’s supposed to. He’d almost forgotten how it felt, and for a moment he’s back in his old life, pressing his forehead to the cool side of the toilet, eyes watering as he pukes his guts out. 

Marius is at his side in an instant, with a reassuring hand in the small of his back, silently asking if he’s all right.

“The blood was bad,” Daniel says. He wipes his hands on his thighs and looks around the club for the exits. The heat of all the grubby human life around them makes him want to gag, and he wants to leave.

Marius studies him for a moment, then his eyes drift towards the man Daniel had tasted. He’s so graceful as he follows suit—Daniel barely sees it happen, even looking for it—and Marius dabs politely at the corner of his mouth.

“There’s nothing wrong with the blood,” he says gently. 

The music throbs inside Daniel’s head, and he knows he’s sweating. The back of his throat clenches.

Marius shrugs. His face is so serene. Nothing wrong with the blood, but he doesn’t say it to be petty. Daniel feels defensive, anyway, wants to shout at him. I’m not crazy, he wants to argue. Fuck you, Marius. 

Maybe the music is too loud. Maybe it’s the nausea. But he just nods. Rubs his eyes. Marius gestures towards the back of the club and takes Daniel’s lead.

In a weird way, it reminds Daniel of Armand. Fucking dweeb. That way they can both just… fucking stare and share all their stupid mundane commentary. 

Fucking vampires. 

With Armand it used to send him into fits. It was such an easy opening to pick a fight.

Cold air blasts his face as he pushes through the back exit, into the service alley. He glances at Marius, right behind him, ears ringing as the door slams shut. The quiet is an instant balm, only hearing the thud of the bass through the brick walls. There’s traffic up ahead, and their footsteps crunch on the salt and ice, and his head feel clearer.

Part of him imagines more of Marius’s level-headed observations. I’m not picking a fight, Daniel. I’m only trying to help. You will be fine, there was nothing wrong with the blood.

If Marius is listening in to his thoughts, he doesn’t react. Daniel breathes the cold winter air and tries to mask them.

~~~

But the blood still tastes bad.

The next night, and the night after.

Daniel goes out alone, tries again. The sickness hits him before he even takes a taste, the way a pre-ritual used to do to him when he was alive. And he feels stupid, for a moment, as he sits down at the far end of the bar and leans his forehead into his hands. Silly that he’s been feeling so much better, that Marius trusts him enough to go out alone, and he’s here wishing for another confirmation that nothing is wrong. 

Feels stupid, like he needs his dad or something.

He’s sweating again, and his mouth is watering. He wonders what the bartender would do if he vomited blood all over their tip jar. 

Like, maybe it is stupid, like he needs his dad. But it is what it is. He needs his dad, huh?

“Hey, are you home?” he asks into his flip phone, a few minutes later, out on the sidewalk. He looks up the street, towards the mountain. Their house is up there, in the dark. He can see it some nights, but it’s too cloudy tonight. 

“Yes,” Marius says. “Is everything all right?”

Daniel debates running home. All the way up, like an animal. It feels good sometimes, but he thinks he doesn’t feel well enough right now. He wonders if he could get a taxi. Steal a car. Can’t remember how he got here, actually, and he panics for a moment. Slipping back into his old ways. 

Fuck.

“I’m fine, I just…” he glances up and down the street, for cameras, for witnesses, before pressing the palm of his hand to a car window. And how honest does he want to be? He tucks the hard plastic phone between his ear and his shoulder as he pushes the window down, forcing it open.  “I wanted to see you, I guess.”

Was that weird to say? He tries not to agonize over it, distracts himself by unlocking the car, letting himself inside. He’s seen Marius start these fucking things with his mind, but Daniel isn’t quite there yet. 

Marius’s voice is quiet as Daniel tears out the panel for the steering column, tossing it to the passenger seat as all the guts and wires dangle out. 

“Are you feeling all right?” he’s asking. 

“No,” he mumbles, as he peels the wires with his hard fingernails. “I mean. Yeah. I don’t know.  I’m fine. I’ll be home in a few.”

He clicks the phone closed. Gets the wires to spark, feels the car rumble to life. 

Armand used to comment on everything, just say shit, and Daniel always felt like he was being a smug little shit trying to pick a fight. 

But Marius just seems… 

Constant.

~~~

“Do you think vampires can get a flu?” he asks, later on, back home. He’s sprawled across Marius’s king sized bed like a starfish, while Marius plunks awkwardly at his heavy laptop from the chaise by the window. He raises an eyebrow, and Daniel continues before a lecture can find its way out. “I mean, like. Evolutionarily. It would make sense, right? How long would vampires have to be around for something to evolve to affect us? Wouldn’t nature want to thin us out?”

Marius’s head tilts. He shuts his laptop and folds his hands on the lid. 

“You think you’re patient zero for this flu?”

“Don’t be a dick.”

Marius chuckles. He sets his laptop aside and rises, his movements fluid, too smooth as he approaches the bed and kneels at the corner. Crawls on hands and knees towards the center, to reach for Daniel’s forehead.

“What do we do for a vampire flu?” he asks, and he says the word vampire so sarcastically. The back of his hand presses gently to Daniel’s forehead, and his eyes glimmer in amusement. “You don’t have a fever.”

Daniel tries not to laugh. Presses his mouth into a line and tries to look past Marius, towards the window, the ceiling. Tries to focus. Nauseated again, and he’s not sure if the presence of this creature in his bed is making it better or worse.

Or, to be fair. He’s in the creature’s bed, isn’t he? Typical, Molloy.

“You’re old as fuck, you don’t have any ideas?”

“Oh, but you young ones are so much more hip to those things, aren’t you?”

Daniel rolls his eyes. Marius drops his hand, and settles beside him, lying side to side so their shoulders touch. 

“I’m serious, though.” Daniel says, after a silence. “I don’t… feel good. I think something is wrong. The blood tastes bad.”

“Well, it’s not impossible,” Marius says. “Sometimes I think that things won’t change, but wouldn’t it be difficult to endure if there were no surprises left?”

“Yeah… I guess so.”

“You know…” he starts. He rubs at his face as he pauses, as if lost for words. The simple show of hesitance is as human as the smile lines that show in his face from time to time. “I don’t think this is so unusual.”

He turns to check on Daniel, just a glance, before looking back up at the ceiling. “A lot of blood drinkers don’t adjust well. I suppose you’ve learned that by now. Many don’t survive their first century.”

“Yeah. I heard.”

“I wonder sometimes. If the Blood just didn’t sit well with those ones. If they’re not suited for it. And who knows how they feel, before they give up. You might know better than I do.”

“Do you think I’m suited for it?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Marius says. He shrugs. Keeps staring at the ceiling. Daniel sends out the faintest touch of mind gift, wondering if he can read for unspoken context, but Marius is closed tight. “I don’t think that’s for me to say, Daniel. Perhaps it’s not so rigid. You sound a bit like your maker when you ask like that.”

Hah. 

Daniel rubs his eyes. Clenches his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.

“I’m not saying you’re doomed,” Marius continues. “And I believe you, that you don’t feel well.”

“You think it’s in my head?”

“It could be. But we keep quite a bit in our heads, don’t we? I’m sure that doesn’t make it less real.”

Marius rolls onto his side, so they face each other. Daniel used to hate making eye contact with him. Gave him the fucking creeps. It’s easier now, though. His tiny smile is so simple and kind.

“Do you want to make it past your first century, Daniel?”

“I mean. Yeah, I think. I guess.”

“Drink from me,” he suggests. “We’ll get you there.”

Hunger squeezes in around him. He hadn’t drank tonight, in the end, he realizes. Yet the hunger hurts everywhere in his body, like his veins are running dry, not the way he used to get a stomach ache. It paints over the nausea, somehow, once he thinks of it, too urgent to notice that he doesn’t feel well.

His arm curls loosely over Marius’s waist as he comes in closer. Presses his lips to the thick artery in his throat, feeling the pulse for a moment before he bites down.

All those years he’d begged Armand for the Blood and he’d never thought he’d feel like this again, not once they were equals. He thought he’d never feel that danger again. 

Marius pets the back of Daniel’s head as the blood gushes into his mouth. And if all the hardness wasn’t enough, or the eerie way he moves, the uncanny vibe of something ancient, the taste of the blood brings the reverence home. He can’t explain it—maybe none of them can—but as he swallows, his body can sense the age.

That’s how you level up. Not enough that you’re a soft little human courting death—Daniel’s in the club now. Just had to go for someone older. 

He bunches Marius’s sweater in his fist and pulls himself closer.

“Amadeo used to get sick sometimes,” Marius says. Maybe he just thinks it, Daniel isn’t sure. But he sees the images, flowing from the wound. “My Blood would make him feel better. He was so… funny.”

Daniel sees it. He pulls in tighter, tangling their legs together as he chases it.

Armand, in the master’s bed. Shiny pale, sweaty strings of hair sticking to the side of his face as he rubs his cheek into the pillows. He shivers, but keeps kicking the blanket away, keeps saying the fire is too big. 

“Take me outside,” he says. “Master, please. Thank god you’ve come. Please, I left it in the forest. It’s too hot in here, Master.”

Marius sits at the edge of the bed, touches Armand’s forehead. Armand moans at the cold, and moves like he’s drunk as he clambers into Marius’s lap. Presses his face to the icy dead throat.

“Take me to the caves,” he whines, too out of it to notice he’s using his mother tongue. 

[lychnvs]

vamptember days 2 (bathed) & 4 (second breakfast). his bf chews on him from time to time :))

[armandaughter]

hey if i said i was writing a bones and all-esque armandaniel fic where daniel perhaps regenerates a heart after armand rips it from his chest would you all suspend your disbelief around whether or not vampire blood makes that possible

edit: it's linked <3 go mad freakazoids !!

[lunelised]

“Suspicion”

My fan art illustration of Armand and Marius from “The vampire chronicles”. Hope you like it!

[desertfangs]

Grocery Store - Marius/Daniel - Slice of Life - 1340 words

Just a little slice of life ficlet written for the @vamptember prompt "Grocery Store." I love imagining the immortals in stores and shops, IDK why but it's always fun to picture so I couldn't resist.

Full text beneath the cut.

The air was electric with the impending storm and it made Daniel’s hair stand on end. Marius hurried him along the sidewalk, wanting to get home before the downpour.

They made it two more blocks before thunder cracked overhead and the sky opened. Rain pelted down in great sheets, raindrops slamming into the pavement with such force that they bounced back up and soaked the legs of his jeans. Daniel spotted the bright lights of the supermarket across the street and pulled Marius toward it. 

They rushed inside, the automatic doors dinging as they closed behind them. Daniel’s sweatshirt dripped water on the floor. Marius watched the rain through the glass, squeezing the wetness out of his long hair. He glanced at Daniel. “Are you all right?” 

Daniel bit back a sarcastic retort about how he was not the Wicked Witch of the West who could be melted with water. “A little wet but I think I’ll survive.” 

“I was sure we’d make it home before it started,” Marius said, clearly annoyed that he’d misjudged the timing. 

Daniel shrugged. “It’s the weather. Not even our Norse friend Thorne can hold back the thunder.” 

Marius smiled faintly and then sighed. “I guess we can remain here for a bit, see if it stops.” 

Daniel noticed one of the cashiers watching them. The store was open for several hours yet but it was pretty empty. He grabbed a hand basket and urged Marius deeper into the store. They could at least pretend they were doing more than riding out the rain.

They meandered through the produce section. Daniel picked up a pineapple. He could just barely remember how it had tasted: sweet, tart, acidic. “Did you ever get to try one of these?” 

Marius shook his head.

“Shame.” He set the pineapple down. Sometimes the things some of the older vampires had never gotten to experience astounded him: tomatoes, chocolate, Spaghetti-Os in a can. Things he’d always taken for granted. In another five hundred years, who knew what new wonders Daniel would find strange or incomprehensible, or simply never get to taste? 

Marius wandered in front of an endcap stacked with soft drinks. As he stood there in front of cans of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper, Daniel was struck suddenly by how out of place Marius looked here inside a garishly lit supermarket. Even in the modern clothes he wore tonight—khakis and a red polo shirt—he had an air of timelessness that made him stand out, exacerbated by the pallor of his marble skin. 

Of course, any mortal who noticed something off would chalk it up to their imagination, but he looked so otherworldly that it made Daniel’s pulse race. He was beautifully inhuman. Daniel surreptitiously snapped a photo with his iPhone. 

Marius turned, smiling indulgently, and Daniel felt his cheeks flush a little, sure Marius had heard his thoughts.

They moved on to the bakery section. There, they studied the display case of cakes, decorated with bright colored frostings and little sugar flowers. 

“Incredible, isn’t it?” Daniel pointed to a cake with beautiful orchids in shades of pink and orange made out of icing.

“It is a fascinating use of colored sugar,” Marius said. 

Daniel started to say something about the artistic merit of cake decoration but decided against it. He wasn’t in the mood to get roped into another debate about what constituted art. 

He headed down the next aisle and found himself in front of an array of canned vegetables with glossy, colorful labels. Daniel lifted a can of peas from the shelf as Marius came up silently beside him. 

“Armand used to love the canned food aisle,” Daniel said, remembering the first time he’d taken him to a grocery store. Armand had spent an hour lifting cans, reading the labels, and questioning Daniel about the contents. They’d bought a cart full of stuff, so much that they’d had to take a taxi back to their apartment, where Armand diligently opened every single can and dumped the contents out onto styrofoam plates to study it. 

Daniel laughed at the memory, even as the ache of missing his maker wormed through him. 

“New York is not that far,” Marius said softly. 

Daniel sighed. He thought about that a lot, but he wasn’t ready. The stilted phone calls he and Armand shared were awkward and strange and Daniel didn’t know how to talk to him anymore. The thought of being in the same room as him again was overwhelming. He placed the can of peas back on the shelf.

“We can’t even get a mile back to our place,” Daniel quipped. 

Marius smiled at the bad joke but Daniel caught something in his eyes, a sadness or a longing perhaps. It was gone before he could be sure, replaced with something more playful. “Is that a challenge?”

“You know I enjoy challenging you, but that was merely an observation,” Daniel said, purposely bumping Marius’ shoulder as he moved down the aisle. “Come on, Old Man, I’ll blow your mind.” 

He heard Marius laugh softly as he turned the corner to the next aisle. When Marius reached him, Daniel gestured to the shelves full of colorful cereal boxes with cartoon mascots and big, colorful fonts. 

“Behold, the modern breakfast of champions,” Daniel said. 

Amusement crinkled the skin around Marius’ eyes. “I know what cereal is, Daniel. I do watch television occasionally.” 

“But did you ever imagine such a thing when you were young, mortal, and hungry in the morning?”

“Did I ever envision an illustrated tiger trying to sell me a box of sweetened grain? No, I can’t say that I did.” 

Daniel sighed. “Sometimes I think about how much has changed in the few decades since I was mortal and then I try to imagine how different everything will be in another hundred years, let alone a thousand.” 

“Does that worry you?” Marius asked.

Daniel shook his head. “I want to see how the world changes, what advancements are made, what new technologies and inventions appear. It’s part of why I wanted this.” 

“But…” Marius pressed.

Daniel shrugged. “I guess I didn’t expect things to change so fast.”

Marius laughed, loud and boisterous, his voice ringing through the aisle. He put his arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “The longer you live, the faster things seem to change. The more you will step out of the house and realize the world is not the one you knew a century or even a decade before.”

Daniel stared at the glossy cereal boxes that now had metallic shiny letters decorating them. He couldn’t even remember what Frosted Flakes tasted like. “How do you handle it?” 

Marius considered. “A passion for the world and the people in it, I suppose. A desire to discover what will happen next.” 

“And that keeps you going?” Daniel asked. 

Marius was silent for a long moment. “I endure because I must.”

“For yourself or for everyone else?” 

Marius ruffled Daniel’s hair affectionately. “Always asking pointed questions.” 

“You like that about me,” Daniel said wryly.

“Indeed I do.” Marius was silent for a long moment. “I believe surrounding ourselves with others is how we remain connected to the world and keep our desire to exist in it. Mortals and their art and creativity and philosophy and new wonders.” Marius’ arm slid down and around Daniel’s waist, tightening around him. “And there’s our own kind, of course. Never discount the power of connection to others who also endure.” 

Daniel leaned against him, Marius’ body solid and powerful like it was made of his stone, his arm around Daniel like a marble vice, keeping him close and safe. 

“I think that’s the key,” Daniel said. “Connection to our kind.” 

“You’ve always been wise beyond your years.” Marius kissed the top of Daniel’s head and led him out of the aisle, back to the front of the store. 

The rain had abated, becoming only a light drizzle. Daniel replaced his empty hand basket in the holder and they walked out into the damp night, arm in arm.