Chapter Text
“Asshole,” Daniel muttered for the hundredth time.
Lestat did not turn around, and continued doing his makeup, but Daniel saw him roll his eyes in the mirror, and mutter “Mon Dieu” under his breath.
They were in the dressing room at the concert venue where the Vampire Lestat was going to perform. Daniel had been on tour with Lestat for two weeks now, doing the documentary series, watching Lestat scream and moan on stage every night, and then ending each night by draining drug addicts. Lestat was…well, a bitch. There was no other way to put it. He was a self-centred, arrogant, self-absorbed bastard with an ego so enormous that it would make most politicians look like Jesus. Lestat was every bit the stereotypical rock star— an absolute diva that threw fits and tantrums every time things didn’t go exactly his way. In the last fortnight, Daniel had seen six stage managers reduced to tears by his cutting words and icy gaze, and two of them had quit their job on the spot.
‘I don’t see what Louis sees in him,’ Daniel thought.
“My dick,” Lestat replied aloud in that low half-French, half-American voice, finally turning around with a dramatic sigh.
“Oh, you heard me now?” Daniel asked. “What about any of the other times during the past hour?”
“Fledging,” Lestat said slowly like he was talking to a child. “I have no interest in hearing you pine over the gremlin.”
“I’m not pining over him! I’m waiting for him to show up so that I can strangle him with my bare hands.”
“That won’t do anything,” Lestat replied carelessly, checking his nails, which were, as always, perfect. “That will just turn him on.”
“Then I’ll set him on fire.”
Lestat laughed, a high, hysteric sound overflowing with amusement and mockery. “Fledging, oh, fledgling!”
That was starting to irritate Daniel now. “Ok, can you stop calling me that? I’m an old man.”
Lestat ignored him. “You cannot kill your Maker.”
“Louis killed you,” Daniel reminded him.
A brief flash of anger came onto Lestat’s face, gone as quickly as it came, before he replied, “Yet here I am. He could not do it.”
Daniel sighed. “So I can’t kill Armand?”
Lestat stood and crossed the dressing room to go to the rack of clothing, as he said, “Whether you can or cannot does not matter. What matters is whether you want to or not.”
“I want to!”
Lestat shot him a pointed look. “You do not want to.”
Then, he turned back to the rack of clothes and plucked a black scarf off it.
“What do you think?” he asked, throwing the scarf around his neck and turning to Daniel.
Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Where’s the rest of it?”
“This is it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No, this is a perfectly respectable outfit.”
Once again, Daniel couldn’t tell if Lestat was being serious, or just bullshitting. “Lestat, that’s literally just the skinniest, lowest pants I’ve ever seen, and a scarf. That’s not an outfit.”
Lestat scowled at him. “You are… how do you say it? Cramping my style with your old man tastes.”
With that, he strutted out of the room, as Daniel called out behind him, “Hey! You’re older than me!”
Daniel enjoyed the rare moment of peace and quiet as he sat alone on the couch in Lestat’s dressing room. And then, because it seemed that he just wouldn't allow himself to be happy, he pulled out his laptop, and opened up the file titled, ‘Asshole.’
In that file was every clue, every lead he had gathered so far. A string of mysterious disappearances in Venice a year ago. A girl found dead in the Thames, drained of all her blood six months ago. A series of murders in New York, killer not found. Disappearances in Texas, and a week ago, five bodies had been found five miles from the concert venue Daniel had been at. Lestat had been on stage the whole time. So it was him. It was him. Armand knew how to kill and make it clean, yet he was being messy, letting Daniel know that he was coming close. He was getting closer, circling Daniel like a predator, toying with him.
‘Armand,’ Daniel thought as loudly as he could, though he knew Armamd wouldn't be able to hear. ‘Armand, where are you?’
Silence. No reply.
‘Armand,’ he tried again.
Armand did not reply, but this time, Daniel was not met with silence either.
‘I’m tryna work here, and all I hear is you calling my ex’s name like a lost puppy. You know he can't hear you, right?’
‘Louis,’ Daniel thought.
‘Danny. Heard you're with Lestat.’
‘Yeah.’
‘How is he?’
Daniel scoffed. ‘Bitchy. He's bitchy.’
Louis telepathically chuckled. ‘Well, is he at least behaving himself around you?’
‘He keeps calling me fledgling, and it's getting on my fucking nerves.’
‘Yeah, he did that to me too.’
They were both quiet for a second, before Daniel asked, ‘Hey, listen. Louis. Do you know where Armand is?’
Daniel felt a flare of anger coming from Louis, as he heard Louis's reply. ‘No. Why would I know?’
‘No reason. I just thought you might.’
‘Well, I don't. And you should stop looking for him.’
‘What?’ Daniel thought furiously. ‘I’m not gonna stop looking for him. He ruined my life.’
‘Exactly. He ruined your life as a human, and he can ruin your life as a vampire. You're lucky he's staying away from you. Stay away from him, Daniel.’
‘I’m not gonna fucking stay away from him. Tell me how to find him.’
He heard Louis laugh bitterly. ‘You don't find him, Danny. He finds you. Trust me, stay away.’
With that, Louis disappeared, leaving Daniel alone once again.
“Stay away,” Daniel muttered under his breath. “I'm not gonna fucking stay away. I'm gonna find that asshole.”