“Now, what do you say we get started?” Daniel pushed a button on the tiny tape recorder and watched its reels begin turning. Assured it was operating properly, he sat back in his chair, pointing idly with a pencil.
“Well Louis, we’re back where we started. Same city. Same room. But much has changed since we first talked twenty years ago.”
“Perhaps,” Louis said, smiling from his chair on the opposite side of the little round oak table. He tipped his head, regarding Daniel warmly. “Or perhaps it is only our perception of the world that has changed. And what are the opinions of two immortals to the world, after all?”
“Well, that’s one big change, right there. When we met, I was not a vampire.” Daniel slapped a hand to his chest. “But now I have what you have.”
Louis sighed. “We can’t begin this way.”
“Come on, Louis! You asked me for this interview, remember?” Daniel shook his head and dropped his pencil. It clattered on the table before rolling up against the recorder. “And now my editor’s expecting it. I can’t believe I came back from Madrid for this!” He raked the ashen hair back off his forehead as he reached to snap off the recorder, to keep their argument private.
Louis grabbed Daniel’s hand and slammed it to the table.
The reels continued turning.
“What the hell are you doing?” Daniel asked, startled.
Louis leaned closer, his smile menacing. He squeezed Daniel’s hand. Hard.
“Shit!” Daniel grimaced, jumping to his feet, trying to pull his hand free. “Louis, stop! You’re crushing my hand!”
“You’ll live,” he snarled. “But let’s get this straight, Daniel. You do not have what I have. The Dark Gift, certainly. But my powers? Not even close.” His lips drew back, revealing his fanged teeth as he tightened his grip.
“Okay, okay!” Daniel conceded, pain eclipsing the confusion that furrowed his brow. “I’m pond scum compared to you, all right?”
Louis’s smile was instantly benign. “Not quite the vile picture I had in mind, but it will do, I suppose.” He sat back and was easing his grip on Daniel’s hand when he suddenly increased the pressure.
“What? What!” Daniel cried, as the hard, thin fingers again cut into his flesh.
“Well, I’ve decided you’re correct, Daniel,” Louis mused, calmly fascinated with the ashen-haired vampire’s discomfort. “There are some enormous differences between these interviews.” He glared at Daniel, pressing harder, causing the young vampire to twist back into his chair. “Or there will be if you want this one.”
“Whatever you want!”
“Agreed,” Louis said, satisfied. He shoved Daniel’s hand away disgustedly.
The force of Louis’s gesture sent Daniel tumbling backwards over his chair. The young vampire struggled to his feet and scrambled to escape through an open window, hurling himself into the darkness only to crash back to the floor of the small room.
Dazed, he stared up at the black wall looming before him, recognizing the muscular thighs encased in tight black leather, the broad shoulders draped in black silk, and the lustrous mop of blond curls. Laughing in resignation, he let his head fall back on the floor.
“Hello, Lestat.”
“Hi Daniel,” Lestat said, grinning amiably. “What’s shaking?”
“My teeth,” Daniel muttered, groaning as he sat upright. “Jeeze, you’re built like a house! Did you have to do that?”
Lestat’s blue-gray eyes sparkled as he pondered the question. “Yes,” he said matter-of-factly and reached down to yank the ashen-haired vampire to his feet, clapping him on the back.
“Thanks,” Daniel grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.
Lestat spread one arm wide, toward the toppled chair.
Daniel shook his head violently and stepped no closer. “No way! Louis’s off his nut! I’m not going near him.”
Lestat gazed on his fledgling pitifully. Louis sat quietly waiting, neatly composed in his heavy wool sweater and faded jeans, legs crossed and arms folded over his lap.
“Now, Daniel, you’ve hurt his feelings. He’s being a perfect gentleman.”
“Besides, Daniel,” Louis added, “I’m not the one you should be worried about.”
Daniel paled and turned wide-eyed to see the menace stretching Lestat’s smile as the yellow-haired vampire draped a powerful arm around his neck.
“You see, Daniel,” Lestat confided. “I finally figured it out. It took me more than ten years, but then, my blinding temper is legendary.” He shrugged as if accepting this deficiency and righted the fallen chair before roughly pushing Daniel down onto its seat.
Daniel’s violet eyes filled with terror.
Lestat hopped up and sat, legs crossed, on the worn table. He unfurled a finger towards Daniel. “Louis never spotted it because, being the modest soul that he is, he had never read his own book.” He leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. “Or what he thought was his book.”
Lestat leapt down, his energy uncontainable, and circled the table to stand behind his fledgling. He squeezed Louis’s shoulders affectionately.
Daniel dared a glance back at the open window.
Lestat shook his head and waved dismissively. “Don’t bother. Pointless, really.” He continued. “For Louis, the whole experience had been therapy and once told, he had no need ever to hear the story again.”
“Oh, God,” Daniel moaned.
Lestat leaned close to his fledgling’s ear. “He’s babbling already, Louis.” He came to crouch before Daniel and playfully mussed his hair. “Now stay with us, Daniel. You see, it finally struck me as odd that Louis never seemed to recognize the things that made me so angry with his book. Details didn’t register with him, though he lovingly endured my tirades.”
“The specifics were unimportant,” Louis said, giving his shoulders a shrug. “I felt responsible for speaking of things I had by then learned I knew little about.”
“But those were honest errors on his part,” Lestat explained to Daniel. “And, bless his heart, Louis has forgiven me my unfounded rages.” He slowly straightened, towering over Daniel’s slumping figure. “The only thing that made sense was if Louis had never heard what I’d read.”
“I didn’t do it,” Daniel said.
Lestat ignored him and grinned maliciously. “So I forced Louis to sit and listen as I read the parts that had caused me to compulsively shred copy after copy of that book.”
“I was shocked, to say the least,” Louis said.
“I had nothing to do with it. The editor did it!” Daniel protested.
Lestat grabbed him by the throat and hauled him up, high out of his chair, feet dangling off the floor. “That’s a crock and you know it!” His blue-gray eyes pulsed with anger, indifferent to Daniel’s struggling and his bared fangs. “Don’t forget I can read your thoughts, Daniel. Don’t ever think of lying to me again!”
“Lestat,” Louis coerced gently.
“Yes, of course. My sensible Louis,” Lestat said with a sigh, dropping Daniel back onto the chair. “I should still rip his deceptive heart out through his nose for the lies he told me to cover himself.”
“They wouldn’t publish the story the way you told it, Louis,” Daniel said hoarsely, clutching his throat. “They said it needed an ending, and I needed the money.” He buried his face in his hands.
“So you invented the meeting on Prytania Street,” Louis said, encouraging the full confession.
“Yes,” Daniel admitted. He glanced up at Lestat. “From what Louis told me, I was sure you were dead. I’m sorry, but I had no idea you were really there.”
Still quaking in rage, Lestat grabbed a handful of the ashen hair. “It’s Louis you should apologize to, worm! You let him take the heat for you for two decades!”
The young vampire’s eyes shifted to the black-haired figure. “I am sorry, Louis.”
Louis smiled kindly. “I know. But if you thought Lestat was dead, Daniel, why did you try to find him?”
“I didn’t! They added that, and other stuff, after I turned in the final manuscript. I only went to New Orleans to see all the places you spoke about. I had to see it for myself.” Daniel’s eyes clouded. “And then I found the pocketwatch.”
“Which you never returned,” Lestat sneered. “But lucky you, you ran into Armand.”
Daniel looked up at Lestat furiously. “Luck, hell! You know what he did to me, stringing me out for years. I was a complete basketcase by the time he condescended to make me one of you. I hated the bastard!”
“And yet you miss him,” Louis said softly.
“Of course! He was my maker, for God’s sake! I’ll miss him every night of my life.” A blood tear coursed down Daniel’s cheek. When he continued, his voice was agonized, his words slow and measured. “And I’ll love him and I’ll hate him. Every single night.” He bowed his head and his back shook.
Lestat knelt and gathered the young vampire into his arms, holding him gently. He smoothed the ashen hair until the sobbing subsided and then slipped Daniel his handkerchief.
Daniel slowly looked up, his expression puzzled. “Lestat? You’re being nice! What the hell happened to you?”
“A temporary condition, I assure you.” Amusement lighted Lestat’s face. “And that’s the story Louis has come to tell you. So dry your eyes, little one, that we may begin. Afterwards, Louis can pronounce some penance so you may feel good about yourself again.” He stood, squeezing Daniel’s shoulder gently.
“Penance?” Daniel asked, confused. “I haven’t been a practicing Catholic since I was a kid.”
Lestat tipped his head and regarded the young vampire sadly. “Louis’s not really a priest, Daniel.”
Louis shook his head and ignored his maker. “You won’t get a book out of this story, Daniel. But you should be able to sell it to some magazine.”
“And there are conditions,” Lestat quickly added. “Insist on approval of the final copy or it’s no deal. I checked and the sales of Louis’s book are still up there. So publishers will pay through the nose and give you anything you want, even for a short story. Did you get anything out of that idiotic movie?”
Louis laughed quietly. “It wasn’t that bad, Lestat.”
“You can say that! They didn’t make you out to be some ghoul for half the film!” He glared at the young vampire.
“I am sorry, Lestat,” Daniel said, suppressing a smile. He pulled his chair to the table. “I only received a flat fee for the screenrights. And that’s long gone. Royalties come in on the book, though.”
Lestat nodded. “Louis can help you invest it safely. Armand’s habits were too erratic to maintain.” He grinned. “And mine are almost as bad.”
“Another condition,” Louis said. “When I finally read the book, I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to read transcribed as it was, how much of the telling was lost. Prose this time, Daniel. Though not as casual as Lestat’s. No one would believe it was my story.” He winked at his maker.
“Amusing as always, Louis,” Lestat sneered. “Now can we get on with this, please?”
Daniel flipped open the machine’s cover and marked the tape’s position. He sat up straight, businesslike.
“Now let’s get started.”
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