David watched with intense curiosity as Lestat walked into the
townhouse with a young mortal woman. He was relieved that he was trained at
covering his emotions and thoughts otherwise his jaw would have dropped
open. Lestat never associated with mortals beyond the obvious.
His curiosity was even more piqued when the woman ran into Louis’ arms and
kissed him on the mouth. He was completely shocked by the way that Louis
grabbed this woman, lifted her off of the ground, and twirled her around in
circles. Feeling utterly baffled, he barely heard Lestat say, "David. How
nice
to see you."
At that very same time, the mortal turned her complete attention to him.
David was shocked by the knowledge he saw in her eyes, and her calm acceptance
of what he was. He cleared his throat, discreetly, and said, "Ah, Lestat,
right. Yes, old man, it’s very nice to see you again as well."
David ignored the fact that Lestat was on the verge of one of his damnable
laughing fits. He merely said, "As you know, I had a meeting with Louis. He
invited me back here, so I accepted. You don’t mind, do you?"
Lestat smiled indulgently, "David, David, David….this is your home, too.
You are always welcome here. I thought we had already agreed on that."
"Uh, right you are," David said, and then smiled. "I had forgotten that."
He could still feel the mortal’s eyes on him, because she said all of a
sudden, "Are you boys going to even introduce me, or am I just going to have
to
be rude and introduce myself?"
David was startled by the easy familiarity in her tone, and was intrigued by
it; but there was something about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger
on. She was different in some way. He made a mental note to himself to
call on his old Talamasca assistant, who was still quite in the thick of
things
in the old Motherhouse.
Lestat laughed at her, and she grinned saucily at him. "Forgive me, ma
chere, I wouldn’t want you to have to be rude. David Talbot, this is my
friend
Jamie Stephens. Jamie Stephens, this is my friend David Talbot."
The woman, Jamie, retorted, "Your fledgling, you mean."
David looked at her and said, "Yes, how could you tell?"
Jamie regarded him solemnly, "Because Lestat had to vocally introduce us.
If he wasn’t your maker, he could have simply thought it to you."
Lestat stood next to her, "You’re absolutely right, chere." He looked at
Louis, "Are you going to show Jamie to her room?"
David watched Louis’ eyes brighten, while at the same time, he saw Jamie’s
face redden. She stammered to Lestat, "My room?"
"Ouí, dearest. If I recall correctly, you loved that room," he said, with a
grin in his eye.
"Bastard," she hissed, with a smile on her face. She turned on her heel,
took Louis’ proffered arm, and walked out of the room.
David waited a couple of minutes before speaking. "Lestat, what in the
bloody hell is going on here?" he asked.
Lestat held up his hand. "David, I will answer your questions, because I
need your help." He began to fill David in on all that had happened.
"Bastard," I hissed at Lestat, although I couldn’t keep a smile off of my
face. I turned around and took Louis’ proffered arm. "Shall we?" he asked.
"Yes, indeed," I said, huffily, "I don’t like the atmosphere in this room."
Louis laughed, and I snuck a peek at Lestat before walking out of the room.
I was gladdened to see him wink at me.
"Okay, Louis. Take me to my room," I said, "before I lose my nerve."
Louis looked concerned. "Chere, if you don’t want that room, I’ll put you
in another one."
I patted his arm lightly. "No, no, my friend," I said, "you don’t have to
do that. I’ll just have to deal with the memories. They are quite nice."
David listened as Lestat relayed his story. His initial instincts were
confirmed when Lestat told him all that he knew.
"Well?" Lestat asked, "what do you think?"
David thoughtfully stroked his chin, thinking. "I am uncertain of exactly
what she could be, but I’ll get in touch with Nigel. Maybe he can make some
discreet inquires for me."
"You still keep in touch with Nigel?" Lestat asked, surprised.
David nodded. "There are times when I need Talamasca information, and as
right now, they are loath to share with me, I use Nigel to help me. He was so
faithful when I was Superior General, I knew that I could still count on
him," he said.
Lestat nodded thoughtfully, "That would be a good start, David, mon ami.
But what then?"
David said, "We need to get a sample of her blood. I am in contact with
those who could get the necessary tests run for me."
"Jake?" Lestat asked, recalling the gruff Australian who had assisted he and
David against the Body Thief.
David nodded in affirmation. "Yes, I still maintain a regular dialogue with
Jake, although I don’t see him anymore. That, I’m afraid, would be too
much of a shock."
I was pleased by how my room looked. Thankfully it had been altered from
the way it looked the last time I was here.
Louis asked me, "Cheríe, does the room meet your satisfaction?"
I nodded, "Yes it does, Louis. In fact, I’m quite relieved that it has been
changed around."
Louis arched his eyebrow and asked, "And why is that?"
I grinned at him and said "You know why."
Louis laughed and embraced me. To my utter embarrassment, my stomach chose
that most inopportune time to growl. I put a hand on my stomach to stop the
growl, but it was relentless. I told him, "Louis, I’m going to have to get
something to eat, and seeing as you are fresh out of food, I’m going to have
to go out and get it."
Louis nodded, and said, "Very well, cheríe, and I will go with you to get
it."
"Very well," I said, " but let’s go now, because I’m starved."
I decided that I wanted to go to the Café du Monde to eat, so we did. I was
so hungry that I really didn’t pay much attention to what I ate. Louis,
however, did order himself a cup of coffee. He used it to warm his hands
with,
or so he said. I could have sworn that I had seen him try a sip of it,
shudder in disgust, and discreetly spit it out.
It was all I could do to keep from spitting out my own drink in laughter.
Finally after thirty straight minutes of non-stop eating, I was finally full.
I looked up from my food, and saw Louis closely watching me. He said
incredulously, "I cannot believe you actually ate all of that food."
I laughed heartily. "Louis, my friend, I haven’t eaten since this
afternoon. I was too busy getting the kids ready to get back to school. I
was
hungry."
Louis said, mockingly, "I believe it." As I was glaring at him, the waiter
came up asking if we were through. Louis said yes, and that we were ready
for the check.
Louis paid the waiter as soon as he came back with the check, although I
insisted on paying for my own meal. Of course, he wouldn’t allow that. So,
huffily, I allowed him to pay.
We left the restaurant, slowly making our way to the townhouse. As we
walked, Louis would tell me about a certain old building. He would tell me
its
history, and would tell me what it looked like when it was new. And I couldn’
t stump him, either. If I had a question, invariably, he knew the answer to
it. I gave up trying to trick him, so I quietly walked by his side.
We were then distracted by a screech of tires. Two cars were flying by, and
it seemed that guns were being fired. Although he had the added advantage
of vampiric speed, he wasn’t quite fast enough to pull me down to safety. I
first realized that I had been hit when I saw Louis gazing at me in total
horror.
I looked down, and saw a giant blotch of red spreading on my abdomen. I
looked up at Louis in puzzlement, and collapsed.
Louis grabbed Jamie before she hit the ground. Mon Dieu, but she had been
hurt. And although he wasn’t a doctor, he knew that she was hurt badly. He
quickly raced back to the flat, being careful of the wounded woman in his
arms. The scent of her spilled blood was driving him almost to distraction,
but
he wouldn’t drink from her.
When he was within sight of the flat, he shouted, "Lestat!"
Since he never shouted, he knew that would get Lestat’s attention, and he
was proved right when he saw the door fly open. "Louis? Why are you
shouting,
mon ami?" he asked. Then he saw what, or who, Louis was carrying in his
arms.
"Oh My God," Lestat said in abject horror. "What happened?"
Louis carried the now unconscious Jamie and laid her on the couch in the
parlor. "We were walking back from the Café du Monde, when two cars were
driving by shooting at each other," he said. "Lestat, she needs medical help.
She
’s hurt really bad."
Lestat and Louis looked at each other. What should they do? Lestat started
to say, "I can bring her over to us..."
But Jamie had stirred enough to say, "No. I don’t want to live like that.
I couldn’t put my kids through it. Just let me die, and please take care of
my kids.
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