Chapter Text
September 2020
“What the fuck?” Louis’ voice was thick with disbelief as he stared, eyes narrowed, at the man sitting on his chair. In his living room.
Lestat smirked, stretching his hands along the arms of the chair. “Aw, not happy to see me, mon cher?”
He let out a harsh breath, leaning back into the other room slightly as he furrowed his eyebrows.
“Obviously fucking not. Did you break into my house?”
“You should really lock your windows, Louis. It was shockingly easy.” Lestat’s smile only widened. He pushed off of the chair and stepped up to where Louis was standing. Louis didn't move except to clench his fists at his side.
“Why are you here, Lestat?”
“I think you know.” He said, suddenly serious.
“Is this about the card?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t send it.” His voice was flat.
“I know.”
Louis blinked at him. He had broken into his house, to confirm the answer to a question he already knew?
“You know?” He said, incredulous.
Lestat stepped closer to him. “I do.”
“Then why are you here?”
Lestat paused, his eyes looked over to the side for a second before he met Louis' eyes again. Louis already felt like he was being suffocated by his presence alone.
“Louis…” He spoke his name with a sigh.
“Why are you here, Lestat.” He repeated, his voice hard.
Lestat’s jaw clenched, and he pressed his lips together so hard they turned white. “I believe it’s time we discuss this issue with… our friends.”
“Why?” Louis snapped, stepping so close he was almost directly in front of the other's face. “Shit like this happens all the time, we figure it out without you. Why are you trying to get involved this time? Because some kid went digging and actually found something?”
Lestat’s gaze did not waver. He stared at Louis for a moment, but he did not speak.
“Oh.” Louis’ eyes widened slightly, his face twisting into something resembling annoyance or anger. “Oh, you think it was one of them… you think they’re threatening you?”
“I heard Daniel was thinking about publishing a book, Armand has always wanted to get back at me, and–” Lestat's face stayed blank, but his voice was tinged with desperation, Louis could hear it even if it wasn't inherently obvious. He spoke fast but Louis cut him off.
“Of course. You think this is all about you.” He backed away, narrowing his eyes.
Lestat’s shoulders stiffened. “Louis, I–”
“I thought, for a second, maybe you came for me. For them. But no. It’s about you. About your reputation, yet again.” His eyes darkened as he spoke. “I’m sure your fans wouldn’t like you as much if they realized you lost it out there. That you’ve committed some of the worst fucking crimes imaginable. They wouldn’t be able to stan their favorite celebrity if they found out he was a cannibal!”
Louis’ chest rose and fell with quick breaths as he stood feet away from him, glaring at the man who had ruined him. “I thought you’d come in here with some kind of apology. ‘Oh, Louis! Sorry for not talking to you in ten years, for getting married without telling you, and for just being a bitch. Can you ever forgive me? Also I got a letter from someone I'm worried we are all gonna die, what do you think we should do, mon cher?’” Louis mocked, his tone not concealing the spite he felt at all. “But no, you’re here with an excuse. It’s always excuses with you. What’s the big one this time, huh?”
“I am truly sorry, Louis. You need to understand... You do not need to trust me, or talk to me, but...” His voice softened, almost begging. “For my conscience, let us talk to the others. Not all of them, just…”
Lestat hesitated.
“Daniel and Armand.” Louis said, digging his nails into his hand as Lestat nodded.
Louis ran a hand over his face but Lestat's words had wormed their way into his head. Had Daniel sent it in hopes of scaring him off? He had been mad, and Daniel could be… cruel. He couldn't see Armand doing something like that, but even he couldn't say for absolute sure.
“It’s midnight.” He caved.
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose not…” His voice trailed off, and he looked back at Lestat with a sigh. “I don’t know where Daniel lives, but we can try Armand’s.”
Lestat raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Then off to the Gremlins’ house.”
“Did you drive?”
“No,” Lestat replied, a flicker of emotion in his eye. “I was hoping you would.”
“Don't wanna be recognized– fine I'll drive.”
***
Daniel shifted in the seat. The passenger seat of the car– it was Daniel's car. He wasn't going to go in an unfamiliar car with Armand to his house. No way, no thank you– was broken, so while Armand got to choose to sit up straighter than anyone humanly should, on a chair that could lean 45 degrees back, Daniel was stuck sitting in a seat that felt like it was going to collapse on him any second. Fantastic.
“So… how's the pay?” Daniel asked, glancing over at Armand.
“Good.”
“Great. You know, I was just asking because it seems really boring. Wouldn't be able to do it if the pay was low, am I right?”
“Sure.” Armand replied flatly, his eyes fixed on the road in front of them.
What was Daniel doing? Great question. It's called being in a car for thirty minutes, being cramped and bored.
“Come on, man. Give me something.” He leaned his head forward to look at him– or at least tried to.
Armand’s hands tightened on the wheel for a fraction of a second, but his face did not change. “You were threatening me, now you want to talk?”
“Whatever. Just trying to be nice.” He dropped his head back again, and stared at the road.
“No,” Armand shot back. “You were trying to get something out of me.”
“Yeah, because every conversation we have is me interviewing you.” He laughed humorlessly, shaking his head, a small sneer on his face. “You’re so fucking full of yourself.”
“There he is.” He said, his lips twitching into something resembling a smile.
“Fuck you.” Daniel muttered
On the sides of the road it was completely rural, Daniel couldn't see any houses. Seemed more likely that Armand had changed his mind and decided to kill him, because to live out here? Daniel felt his claustrophobia begin to act up already. He couldn't imagine living anywhere that resembled there.
The silence stretched over a few minutes of trees after trees after trees, until Armand broke it.
“I would think about you. Sometimes.” He said suddenly, his voice quieter now. No edge of anger, or resentment. Very unlike Armand. A ploy, if Daniel had to guess.
“I thought about you too,” He turned his head sharply, his eyes narrowing. “And how much I hated you.”
Armand didn’t reply right away.
“I used to miss you.” He seemed to finally settle on.
“Used,” Daniel echoed, shaking his head. “Yeah. Used to. That’s about right.”
For a moment, there was only the sound of the wind from the cracked– broken– window behind them, and a low hum in the background, from the engine. Daniel took the time to look at Armand– really look at him.
His hair which he had thought looked… normal earlier, was greasy, like he hadn't showered in a day or two. His fingers on the wheels revealed his nails were bitten to the skin, there might have even been blood, but it was so dark he couldn't tell. He looked tired, and not just 'busy job tired', like not sleeping for a couple of nights tired.
And yeah, now Daniel felt bad or whatever, even though he already tried and got nothing.
“I... also used to miss you.” Daniel swallowed.
“There are times,” Armand stared hard in front of him, but Daniel saw the quick look he made when he said those words. “where I wish we had more time together.”
Daniel stared at him, blinking, before he let out a bitter laugh. “We had a lot of fucking time together out there be—”
“Not out there.” Armand interrupted, sharply. “Here.”
“Never would’ve thought,” he muttered. “You moved on to Louis pretty fucking quickly.”
Armand’s jaw tightened. “Because you left me.” His voice was strained, now. If it hadn't been Armand he would have said it felt raw. “Because Lestat left him. He didn’t even want me in the end.”
“I left because I had to.” Daniel said quietly, it might have been the only thing he–
“No, you left because you couldn’t stand for everything to go back to normal.”
“You pretended like nothing happened! You fucked up, and then moved on. You hurt people. You hurt me. And you just ignored all that? Yeah, Lestat left too, but he did the exact same fucking thing as you. Louis was the only one who actually cared, and don’t get me started on wherever the hell—”
“Everyone deals with their grief differently, Daniel! Are you so shocked?” Armand’s voice was back to biting- cold, but there was a tremor of defensiveness to it that Daniel picked up on.
“Yeah, because you did the same thing you always do when shit gets hard! You ignore it. You let it boil up until it breaks you, and I wasn’t going to stay for when it all came crashing down. Not again.”
Armand’s face hardened, his grip tightening on the wheel. “Says the drug addicted, dull brained, divorced, raging alcoholic. Wasn’t going to stay for the come downs, screaming at me for everything I’d done to wrong you! It wasn’t my intention to hurt you Daniel, yet you pretend I’m a monster.” He wasn't yelling, but he was close to it.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Armand, and yeah. That was fucking it.
“You were just talking about missing me!” He snapped. “You switch it up so fast. How do you expect me to love someone like you? Huh? And I don’t have to pretend, Armand. Have you looked at your fucking reflection? ‘He’s a murderer but he has brown eyes and a pretty face’, yep! Seems to fit the fucking bill.”
Armand let out a sharp breath, eyes flashing, but his voice stayed steady. “Oh, don’t pretend I was alone out there, Daniel. You hung onto every word that came out of my mouth. I didn’t force you to do anything. I think you’re forgetting how it was you who ‘to put it kindly’ fucked everything up for everyone. Without you, maybe, we would have been saved earlier. Maybe we would have actually had hope, but you stole that all away from us.”
“Me? Are you serious right now?” Daniel shot back, disbelieving. “Ever think, oh I don't know, maybe we would have been saved earlier if you hadn't fucked it up for us?”
Armand’s expression hardened. “How many times do I have to tell you, that wasn’t me?”
“Your word against his.” He muttered.
“Like you care about what he said.” Armand snapped, finally looking over to him– if only for a second– eyes blazing
“I believe the dead man’s words, over a pathological liar– yeah, No shit. Right before he fucking died.”
“He hated me.”
“He hated everyone.” he said coldly. “Stop pretending you were some scapegoat. News flash asshole, there’s a reason nobody fucking likes you!”
Armand’s eyes flashed, breathing in sharply. “Real mature.”
Daniel glared out the window, fighting the urge to say something else, but what else could he say? Probably a lot, but he couldn't think of anything that would help him win his case.
As they pulled up to what Daniel assumed had to be Armand's house– it was a nice house he had to admit… a little creepy, but bigger than Daniels, and it wasn't crowded by trees like he had thought– he squinted at the two cars parked in the driveway.
“Two cars, really? Nothing says rich bitch like contributing to global warming.” he muttered under his breath.
“That’s not my car.”
Daniel’s eyes darted towards him, as he fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Uh-huh. Then whose is it, Armand?”
“I don’t… know.” He was looking at the car closer to Daniel's side weirdly.
“Are you fucking with me, or are you serious?” Daniel asked skeptically.
“I am serious.” A chill ran down his spine, listening to it would be smart. He actually really fucking should listen to it, but it was only a chill. It was only a chill of fear from the words uttered. Nothing more.
The car had come to a stop, the engine humming softly before Armand shifted the gears to park the car. He looked over at Daniel for a second with an unreadable expression…
But Daniel didn’t wait. He opened the door and got out quickly, slamming the door loudly enough for it to echo. As he walked towards the front porch the sound of his footsteps were muffled by the gravel.
“What are you doing?” Armand whisper-called after him, still standing next to the car.
“Making sure this isn’t your way of getting out of showing me the letter.” Daniel shot back over his shoulder.
Armand's face morphed into disbelief. Daniel would have laughed if he wasn't shaking. “You think I would pretend my car wasn’t my car as some sort of elaborate scheme? Are you serious?”
“Wouldn’t put it past you.” Daniel didn’t stop walking. “Come on.”
He could hear Armand clench his jaw— well not really but that’s besides the point— followed by the car door shutting, locking, and then his footsteps following him to the front door.
“Daniel, that is not my car.” He repeated, his voice heavy with frustration.
“Alright, let’s check then. Maybe someone broke in, bet your face could scare 'em off.” He grabbed the keys from Armand’s hands, and after some struggle, picked the right one, opened the door, they went in and…
Nothing.
They waited a moment- just standing in the doorway before Daniel turned to Armand, giving him an aspirated look. “Oh, wow! No one's here, what a fucking surprise.”
Armand’s eyes were wide, wider than normal, and it was making Daniel really fucking uncomfortable. “Can you stop looking at me like that? It’s not like I didn’t—”
But before he could finish, Daniel’s eyes were drawn to something on the door—
A dark red handprint, messy, so definitely not some weird design choice by Armand. It was blood. Definitely blood.
He turned around slowly, about 45 degrees… he hadn’t seen it before. It was dark around there, and he had only been looking straight ahead. But Armand had seen it. And now so did he.
And he felt his jaw drop open.
***
Lestat and Louis sat in the parked car across the street from Armand's house. It was a very… it was definitely Armand's type of house. Not necessarily Louis’ taste, but when he had seen it the first time, he had shown it to Armand, who seemed to be enamored by it. It was a three story, dark brick, 1940’s type of building surrounded by woods. No neighbors, nothing nearby… but it was nice.
“Not what I was expecting.” Lestat stared at the house. “Are you sure this is his house, Louis?”
“I’ve been here a few times, this is it.”
“Very bland. Very… dark. Very ugly.” he said, not looking back at Louis.
“I helped him buy the house.” Louis raised his eyebrow, and looked at Lestat, who looked back at him with almost pity.
“Really? I thought you had better taste, mon cher.”
It was annoying. Pretty fucking annoying.
Louis felt his jaw tighten. He shot Lestat a glare. “Save it for your wife.”
Lestat’s body turned sharply towards him, his eyes wide with amusement and a light smirk on his lips. “Are you jealous?”
“Are you serious right now?”
Lestat, to his credit, didn’t push any further. He lowered his gaze to his hand, before sighing deeply.
“No,” he muttered, almost rolling his eyes. “I suppose not.”
Louis didn’t respond, choosing instead to stare out the window again. His eyesight had never been great, but it was always worse at night, for obvious reasons. There were two cars he didn't recognize in the driveway, and one he did. The first one was probably some new one he had gotten to replace the older model, but the other one was bright blue, rusting, and not Armand's type of car at all. He was just able to make out the first letter of the plate.
“Should we go in?” Lestat asked, his voice quieter than before, tapping on the car handle in a pattern Louis didn't recognize.
“He’s not going to be happy to see you, Lestat.” Louis pinched his nose bridge, and closed his eyes. The more he thought about it, the less he wanted to be here. Honestly Armand and him had grown… close might not be the right word, but something like it. They had bonded. Over the time they had spent there, over ideas, over Daniel and, yes, Lestat.
He had pushed Daniel onto him a few days prior, and they had not spoken since. It was a pretty shitty thing to do without informing him beforehand, but he had been angry. He didn't feel like it had mattered much, even now. If Armand had found out Lestat was doing a movie based on their life, and then invited him over to yell at him, he probably would have joined in.
But he did understand. It was just– maybe Lestat was right. And maybe he needed to know for sure.
“I don’t care.” Lestat replied, his voice steady, but there was something behind his eyes— Louis couldn't decipher how exactly Lestat was feeling in the moment, but he was sure it wasn't ‘calm’... if he had to guess from earlier though- It didn't matter. They never did get along.
Louis hummed under his breath as he pushed the car door open. He stepped out, flicking the keys in his hand as he watched Lestat get out as well. As he moved to the front of the car, Lestat followed him until he was directly next to him. Louis locked the door and hoped it didn't make too noticeable of a noise. Armand might not answer if he already knew Lestat was there.
They continued walking until they reached the stairs, and Louis’ eyes shifted to the blue car again.
He stopped. Lestat stopped in suit, and looked at him with a weird expression on his face.
“Huh.” he muttered, turning to completely face the car.
Lestat turned his body as well, but tilted his head towards Louis.
“Huh?” he echoed.
Louis gestured toward the blue car, squinting his eyes. “I think that’s Daniel’s car.”
“He’s here too?” Lestat's eyebrows furrowed, his eyes immediately looking over to it. He looked confused. “Or a different Daniel?”
Louis slowly stepped to the side and leaned his head to get a better view of the license plate, a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. “That’s definitely his car.”
“Molloy’s?” Lestat asked again, slowly. “Louis.”
“Yes, Daniel Molloy, Lestat.” Louis said quickly, staring hard at the plate, before moving his gaze to him. He turned around and walked up the steps.
“Are they back together?”
“I dont think so…” He took a breath before raising his hand to the doorbell, at the same time Lestat went for the door handle. Before he pressed the button, Lestat reached at and grabbed his arm. “What are you–”
“The door’s unlocked.” Lestat's eyes were filled with… not quite fear, perhaps alarm.
He gave a slight nod. “You still want to go in?”
a moment of silence passed between them.
“I'll go first.” Louis rolled his eyes at that, but pushed the door open for Lestat.
He stepped inside and glanced over his shoulder, nodding for Louis to come in. The dim light from one of the rooms seemed to be the only source of light. The place smelled faintly like dust and something else that Louis knew, but couldn't place.
They both paused. They were in the living room, which Louis had always found odd about the house. For such a big house, there was no small section after the door. Only a room.
The house was completely silent besides the just barely audible faint sound of footsteps from somewhere deeper inside.
There was a sudden loud banging noise that came from the room over… and then nothing… when all of a sudden, a head popped out from the room with the loud noise.
“Louis! Hey, man!” Daniel’s voice was full with energy he should not have had this late at night- or morning Louis guessed now. He was leaning in the doorway between the kitchen– which wasn't directly in front of the doorway, but was instead a bit to the left– and the living room they had stepped into, half of his body hidden by the wall he was leaning from. “Lestat, too! Uh, what a crazy surprise! Hey guys!”
Louis blinked, trying to figure out what was going on. He glanced over at Lestat, whose expression had shifted to being undoubtedly uncomfortable. “Hey, Daniel… what are– you're here. At Armand’s… At midnight.”
“It’s actually one.” Lestat lowered his voice into a whisper as he leaned over towards Louis.
Louis shot him a side glare. Daniel, however, didn't seem to notice whatever was going on between them.
“Yeah! Crazy story, you know we, uh… were at the same event. Art thing his work did. The big man– not a man, it was Laura, my PA–.” He laughed a little looking between them, but it felt forced. His face got serious again and he continued before Louis could say anything about it. “Anyway she said it would look great since it's a fundraiser or something.”
“Right.” Louis said, slowly nodding, his eyes moving down to Daniel's arms. He could tell Lestat thought it was weird too. He knew Daniel had been stressed, canceling the book deal and all, could have been enough for him to– relapse again. Hopefully not. Louis would feel really fucking bad if he caused it. Then again, Louis was pretty sure he was... struggling when they had been at the house.
“Yeah! Yeah… Well! Why are you two, uh, here?” Daniel asked, shifting on his feet, and scratching the back of his head. His smile was wide, but there was an edge to his voice that Louis couldn't quite place.
“Louis and I got cards with the symbol on it. That symbol.” Lestat stepped in before Louis could answer, his eyes not moving away from the man in front of both of them.
“Oh, yeah? You know who sent it?” His voice was shaky, but the words were casual enough.
“No.” Lestat replied, his eyes were narrowed now. “Did you— or Armand, for that matter— get one?”
Daniel hesitated. There was another loud noise, and his eyes flickered to the other room. “Nope. Nope! Oh, you know what, you should ask—”
“Daniel!” The voice was sharp. It came from that room again, Daniel looked over, and stepped fully into the living room. Armand followed a second later. He looked… disheveled. His hair was tousled, his shirt wrinkled, his forehead was covered in sweat, he was out of breath, and his eyes were wide. When his gaze fell on Louis, his expression softened slightly.
“Louis.” Armand let out a breath. His eyes flickered briefly over to Lestat, and his face hardened again. “Lestat… Louis.”
“Armand.” Louis said, looking at the man strangely. “We were just stopping by… got something weird in the mail. Some reporter had come by my house a few days ago, thought maybe he had come to you– slipped. Said something about something.”
The mention of the reporter caused a visible shift in both Armand and Daniel, both of them palling. Armand’s lips tightened.
“Reporter?” Daniel asked, his voice tense now.
“I met with one a few days ago as well… David, yes?” Armand nodded slowly as he spoke.
“Yeah, Talbot.” Louis' eyes narrowed as he watched their reactions to the name.
“Well, I haven’t seen him since.”
“-And we haven’t gotten anything either.”
There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Louis and Lestat exchanged a look, as did Armand and Daniel, though the latter only from the corners of their eyes.
Finally, it was Lestat who broke the silence.
“Well, I’m supposed to be in town for another few days before filming starts…” he began, his gaze darting to a watch on his wrist– Louis hadn't noticed he was wearing a watch– before meeting Armand's eyes. “Breakfast tomorrow? To discuss what steps to take next? In case one of you gets a letter, of course.”
Daniel blinked at him for a moment, then cracked a strained smile, still looking a bit green. “That sounds great, man.”
“Perfect. I’ll text Armand the details.” Lestat nodded, as he turned on his heel and headed toward the door.
Louis spared another glance at Daniel and Armand, who just stared, and in Daniel's case, waved at him, before he turned to follow Lestat out the door.
“You have Armand's number?” Louis muttered to him after they had shut the door and began to walk to the car.
“No, but you do.” He smiled.
Louis opened the car door, and looked at the house. “That was weird, right?”
“I don't know. I would say yes, but I do not know the gremlin as well as you do.” Lestat said, eyebrows raised.
Louis paused. He got in the car, put the keys in, and started the ignition.
“Maybe they were fucking before we got there, hm?”
Louis choked on his own spit.
***
Daniel and Armand stood in front of the door for a moment, neither of them speaking. They could hear Louis and Lestat’s voices just beyond the door, but their whispers had turned into silence, they were walking away. Daniel's gaze darted over to the kitchen.
He turned back to Armand.
“So, uh, how the fuck are we going to get rid of the body before breakfast?”