What Makes You Tragic by Kabuki November 2000 Spoilers: Maybe IwtV. Disclaimer: All chars belong to Mater, sad as that might be. In the years I've been doing this I have yet to see any monetary increase from it, and I never will.
The moon was high when he finally shrugged off the vestiges of sleep and at last emerged from his coffin. The thirstwas already clawing in his veins, but he knew feeding would be put off until there was no more than two hours until sunrise. Reluctantly, for that which troubled him was something only repressed in the depths of sleep, he found himself rising from the polished oak coffin and exiting the little oratory. The main house was his destination, but he had not gone twelve yards before he noticed a slight motion in the darkness ahead. An imposing figure detached itself from the shadows, laughing deep in its throat. "Louis, Louis, my wayward little creation. Still spending your days in that despicable hole? Why bother when you have such a fine house within easy walking distance?" The darker-haired vampire backed away just a little, more than he should have obviously, for the other took this backpedaling for fear and bared his fangs in a low snarl. A battle would ensue, undoubtedly, and the one called Louis seemed all the more lost for this realization as he took up a defensive stance. The action did little to reach his eyes, however, and the sadness glinted there as prominently as ever before. "I sleep there because I choose to, Lestat. Your own opinions mean little." The blond became angrier at that comment, his eyes flashing with some fear and much anger. His hands clenched and unclenched like a mortal man's might and his jaw was tight. The fangs did not show again though the fury was tangible in the air. "I assumed as much, but nevertheless I will have my way this time. You perceive no danger sleeping in such a place? If a few men wished they could come together and clear your little hiding place away, and for good reason in its current state, leaving you exposed and vulnerable." Louis' own anger had reached a crescendo as well, though he was far more controlled. A breeze came up and the long dark hair, matted and tangled as it was, blew free behind his back. Shards of green glass glittered where his eyes must have been. The tension was thick enough to touch, and each man could veritably taste the electricity in the air. They stood gazing at each other, each daring the other to speak first, to begin the inevitable bout. Finally Lestat laughed without mirth, shaking his head without taking his eyes off his fledgling. "You're a stubborn fool, Louis." "And you, monsieur, are a fiend beyond worldly description." At this Lestat laughed even harder. He began to walk forward as he chuckled, his eyes like razors and his fangs wicked gleaming points in the moon's light. Louis did not back away this time and allowed his maker to approach. When they were close enough to taste each other's breath Lestat stopped. Both men stared for a long moment, one in challenge and one in utter defiance. A cloud passed over the moon and somewhere and owl cried softly. Without warning the blond vampire turned and, moving faster than the eye could follow, dealt a hard blow across his child's face. "Damn you, Louis!" It was a powerful and stunning attack, but the darker vampire had grown accustomed to such displays in the short span of his immortal lifetime. He recovered quickly and shot a poisoned glare. "You call me the fool, Lestat? Then why do you sleep in a mortal dwelling? Why do we remain here? You are so anxious to play at being wealthy and human that we will surely be destroyed." Lestat inched forward, body ridged and head lowered as though he would like to clash skulls for dominance. Then at the last instant, the tension seemed to melt away leaving a countenance more wounded than Louis had yet seen. "If we are discovered it will be by your stupidity and blatant measures, not mine." Still railing Louis found himself retorting before even considering his actions or those of Lestat. "You are such a fool that you do not perceive yourself to be one. You assume to know all when you reveal nothing. If you indeed know so much of our kind then why do you not know enough to share this information with me that we might be friends instead of enemies?" The older vampire turned, throwing up his hands with a noisy sigh. "Oh don't drag out this melodramatic nonsense!" "I simply do not understand! Why do you shun me? Sometimes I see you enjoying yourself in some amusement, and would converse with you about it. Instead of behaving civilly, you take it into your head to act as though being happy were the worst occurrence in the world. Is this considered proper behavior for vampires?" Lestat was nodding vigorously though his back was turned and his shoulders a little hunched. "Do not mock me, Louis. You tread a dangerous line." He looked away and shrugged, a very mortal gesture. "What if I said it was proper etiquette for blood-drinkers, hmm? What would you say then? You believe what you choose to believe as always. I don't know why I even bothered with you in the first place." Louis folded his arms with a victorious smile. "And now who is speaking nonsense?" The other vampire turned, but did not respond choosing instead to kick at a few pinecones with one leather-clad boot. Louis turned away with a frustrated sigh and pressed the fingers of one hand to his eyelids. "I don't see why this should be so difficult. Why you make it so." The blond vampire was amusing himself by finding pale pebbles and throwing them at the vine-strangled oratory. His sharp eyes picked them out in the tangled undergrowth as easily as a hawk might spot a rabbit from high above. "And once again you're shining hypocrisy blinds me." He barked shortly in what might have been laughter. "It takes two to make an unhappy companionship, my friend." "I wouldn't exactly call this a form of companionship. Maybe more of a ..." He moved his hand in the air, obviously searching for the right word. Lestat smiled without looking up. "Hostage situation?" The other vampire managed his own form of a smile from beneath a mass of shaggy black hair. "No. I am not so blind as to assume myself a hostage. I did ask for this." "Then why the melancholy!" Lestat moved to his child's side in the moonlight, grasping the deceptively narrow shoulders of his vampire child. Their eyes locked and Lestat made himself speak seriously and honestly for the first time to his fledgling barely a month old. "Louis, you must understand this one thing: we are vampires who must feed on the livelihood of human kind. That is an unchangeable fact and something you will never be able to completely rationalize, but it is also in your nature. You are no longer human, Louis. You are a creature apart from your former race, therefore what you commit is not murder, but survival. Our curse is that we were once a part of the race we now feed upon." Louis's expression was blank and unaltered. "Nothing you say can make it right, Lestat. Your morals are obviously different than my own." He tried to shrug off the grip of his maker, but Lestat only tightened his grip on his child's shoulder blades. Louis winced and gritted his teeth. "Are you going to pummel me now just to make sure I understand your point of view?" A flurry of emotions crossed Lestat's face before he masked whatever he felt with anger again. With a snarl he pushed Louis away and into a nearby pine tree. Dew and pine needles fell lightly on the dark hair and Lestat turned away, clenching and unclenching his fists, then rubbing the back of his neck and pacing, then shaking his head and stalking away a few more paces. When he finally spoke, it was in a pained voice. "Damn you." "You've already solved that quite nicely." Louis got to his feet, brushing the pine needles from his hair. The dew remained glistening like tiny jewels against fine black velvet. Lestat looked up at him, seeming dazed for a moment before coming back into focus. "I asked for this. I asked to be damned. I must deal with it in my own way." "Kill with me tonight." Louis shook his head, but Lestat spoke faster, in a desperate tone. "You don't have to agree with everything, only let's hunt together tonight." Louis stood silent and unshakable. "You know my answer. Don't try to shake me. You had the power to make me what you are, but you cannot have the power to bend me to your will." "Then we will be enemies, Louis. Do you want to make an enemy of me?" "If that is the only way to preserve some shred of moral decency--" "As a vampire?! You can't be serious!" "--then I will do as I must." Lestat had fallen silent. Louis looked back at him for a long time before turning and heading, as he had originally intended, back toward Pointe du Lac. The blond watched him walk. At the last possible moment Lestat opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again and looked down at the ground. There was nothing more to be s **************Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com. (http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014)
