[Thread]
♛He stood with his arms folded, taking this all in, gnawing at his knuckle. It was a troubling vision, these desiccated little bodies, maybe twenty of them, scattered about the parlor. Only a few had made it unto furniture, most were on the floor. Probably flung from the door near the foyer.
Even in his most angered state, Louis could no more stand to collect those dead bodies than do so in order to bring them back to their home. No, this didn’t seem like his doing at all.
Claudia’s little heart-shaped face shone as she looked up at Lestat, her slight eyebrows merely painted worry above mischievous blue eyes. He sighed, deeply regretting that they had ever told her about Louis’ previous diet. Not that they could ever have kept it from her, fiercely inquisitive by nature, she had discovered all on her own that she could kill animals. She had a taste for pampered house cats in particular.
“Perhaps he has finally grown weary of us both, dearest.” Lestat concluded, gathering up the corpses in a wastebin. Claudia watched, leaning coquettishly in the doorframe. She didn’t respond, absorbed in her own thoughts, only her hair moving in the slight breeze disturbed the illusion that she was actually a still portrait gazing out at no one.
It was true that Claudia was not a small child anymore. She was a woman eclosed into a child’s body. A real torture for her many times. A torture that se tried to forget.
At his reply, Claudia put her mind to use, tying to think of possible places that Louis could visit. “Perhaps…” she started. “The graveyard where his wife is buryied. Or out in the streets, walking like a lost man around alley ways.” She said, watching him with a smile as he walked to her once more, taking her into his arms.
“Oui, let’s.” She giggled at the nickname he had given Louis, she loved it. Her smile turned into agrin when the blond vampire planted a few kisses onto her cheeks. “We should go out soon anyway, I’m starting getting hungry.” Her cheeks were a bit flushed, indicating that she had to feed.
♛The cool spring air felt good on his skin, clearing the scent of the dead animals from them both. Claudia’s hand worked into his hair pleasurably. She leaned into his comforting embrace and he let himself relax into a kind of contentment, despite the purpose of their search.
What could Louis be up to? Is he in on this as well?
Lafayette cemetery was a few miles from their home, so it was in that direction that Lestat piloted them through the French Quarter’s evening crowd. Lestat told her where they were going and she suggested a route that would also take them through the alleys Louis had wandered with her.
Or is he simply out, and we’ll stumble upon him killing? There would be an ornery Papa Noir for such an offense, for God knows how long.
Louis’ wife had been in the cemetery at Pointe du Lac plantation, and then moved to Lafayette after the fire. This was before Claudia existed as she did now. When she was still a child in her mortal father’s arms. Lestat shook off a little wave of guilt, locking eyes with her briefly, claiming her as his own again with a kiss to her forehead, nuzzling into the sweet scent of her hair.
And now what was she?
Flesh of his flesh, right down to the perfect little shining fingernails. More importantly, she thirsted. They were just about to pass an older man preaching about the end of days when she squirmed in his arms. Lestat set her down.
