Tag Archives: dark gift

So I’m confused, was Louis weak because Lestat made him that way on purpose? Or was he weak because he was Lestat’s third fledgling in a decade? Wouldn’t he be stronger because Lestat had Akasha’s blood in him? I know Louis refused to drink from Lestat, was he ultimately weak because he chose to be?

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As always, #Your Headcanon May Vary, these are just my own opinions, and I am SURE other ppl have other excellent answers for this. 

I’m focusing on Louis’s strength at turning and the first few years after, since he does grow more powerful over time on his own (and he also gets *~upgraded~* later in canon, idk whether you accept later canon but it happens!).

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TL;DR: I don’t think Lestat purposely made Louis weak, it was a combination of factors, but mostly that the procedure isn’t an exact science*, Lestat was a young maker and turned Louis too soon after making two fledglings before, and the fact that Louis was malnourished** (refusal to kill ppl) for those first few years might have been a contributing factor.

**So Lestat does talk about Louis being weak in IWTV, but not that he purposely made him that way, just that he allowed it to go uncorrected; he didn’t force Louis to kill ppl, or force Louis to embrace his vampiric gifts and learn how to use them:

“Lestat looked at me. ‘I expected you to feel these things
instinctually, as I did,’ he said. When I gave you that first kill, I
thought you would hunger for the next and the next, that you would
go to each human life as if to a full cup, the way I had. But you didn’t.
And all this time I suppose I kept from straightening you out because
you were best weaker. I’d watch you playing shadow in the night,
staring at the falling rain, and I’d think, He’s easy to manage, he’s
simple. But you’re weak, Louis. You’re a mark. For vampires and
now for humans alike. This thing with Babette has exposed us both.
It’s as if you want us both to be destroyed.‘”

^Lestat is saying Louis is weak by choice, and he’s describing weakness of character more than physical strength, so I believe he was physically weak bc of the Dark Gift. The Dark Gift is not an exact science*, despite all good/bad intentions, it’s the vampiric form of pregnancy. But there are things about the procedure that can affect the strength of the fledgling: 

  • Whether the blood is transferred once (for Louis) or multiple times (for Marius) between maker and fledgling – Multiple times seems to make a stronger fledgling. Why didn’t Lestat do it multiple times for Louis? I think Louis was already in such bad physical shape that Lestat didn’t want to risk it. Plus, he had already turned 2 fledglings using the single transfer procedure, he probably felt like that was good enough.
  • Age, power, and timing of making previous fledglings of the maker –  it seems like power is outweighed by the other two factors.
  • The fledgling’s diet after turning – Louis was feeding on animals for the first 4-ish years of vampiring, which is like bad junk food, and probably not drinking

    the volume of blood he needed, either. 

Yes, post-QOTD (and pre-Merrick), Louis refused to drink Lestat’s blood. I headcanon that that felt like a rejection of Lestat bc blood-sharing is a major expression of intimacy for vampires. He might have refused it bc he saw how it had changed Lestat and he didn’t want that to happen to himself, but I think he also wanted to preserve his own vulnerability, in case he wanted to suicide ;A; 

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.

“So I’m confused, was Louis weak because Lestat made him that way on purpose?” 

I don’t think it was on purpose. It’s not an exact science* and Lestat had only done it 2x, had only heard about the procedure from Armand and Marius. There is some speculation that the blood transfer needs to be exchanged more than once to ensure a stronger fledgling. Marius, for example, exchanged blood with his maker multiple times when he was turned, but with Louis, Lestat only did it once. I think that’s because Louis was so weakened by the bloodletting he’d been forced to undergo (”When
I was subdued finally, and exhausted then almost to the point of death,
they bled me. The fools.”) that Lestat didn’t want to risk exchanging more than once? Idk.

Also, Louis was feeding on animals for the first 4-ish years of vampiring, and that’s like bad junk food. He was probably not even drinking the volume of blood he needed, either. That might have had an impact on his strength. It probably contributed to his attitude at the time, being underfed and undernourished for so long ;A;

“Or was he weak because he was Lestat’s third fledgling in a decade?” 

This is probably more of the reason. As Marius tells Lestat in TVL:

“Well, for one thing, ” he said, “your powers are extraordinary, but
you can’t expect those you make in the next fifty years to equal you or
Gabrielle. Your second child didn’t have half Gabrielle’s strength and
later children will have even less. The blood I gave you will make some difference. If you drink… if you drink from Akasha and Enkil,
which you may choose not to do… that will make some difference
too. But no matter, only so many children can be made by one in a
century. And new offspring will be weak. However, this is not
necessarily a bad thing. The rule of the old covens had wisdom in it
that strength should come with time. And then again, there is the old
truth: you might make titans or imbeciles, no one knows why or how.

In Ricean vampire physiology, a maker needs to wait a good long while between making fledglings; too much frequency will make subsequent fledglings weaker than they could have been. Plus, even though Lestat had the blood of a much older and stronger vampire when he was turned (Magnus), Lestat himself was only a decade into vampiring himself. It seems the vampiric spirit discourages the transfer of powers from young vampires to their fledglings. If anyone got the bulk of that power, it was Gabrielle, Lestat’s first.

“Wouldn’t he be stronger because Lestat had Akasha’s blood in him?”

Marius said that that would make “some difference” but I think the fact that Lestat had already turned 2 vampires, and was young still himself, prevented that power from being transferred.

“I know Louis refused to drink from Lestat, was he ultimately weak because he chose to be?” 

He was weak by vampire standards at first, and yes, I think he chose to remain that way. But he’s still stronger and faster than a mortal. He’s also able to defend himself and kick a lot of ass. What he lacks physically he makes up for mentally, he’s strategic in the way he attacks when he does attack, and he can hold his own against much stronger and older vampires (he took out most of the Theatre des Vampires on his own in IWTV!).

*Re: the Dark Trick is not an exact science: 

Armand mentions in TVL:

But let Armand understand here also that the effect of the Dark Trick is unpredictable, even when passed on by the very young vampire and with all due care. For reasons no one knows, some mortals when Born to Darkness become as powerful as Titans, others may be no more than corpses that move. That is why mortals must be chosen with skill. Those with great passion and indomitable will should be avoided as well as those who have none.

Do you think that the turning of Louis would have been inevitable even if he had gone to France like his brother wanted? Also, How do you think Louis’ history and personality would have changed with a different sire? Also, Hi :)

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Hi, back! *waves*

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[^Mortal Louis opening up his shirt for reasons]

If Louis had gone back to France like his brother wanted, well… who knows what his life would have been like? His brother wanted him to sell “everything we owned, and use
the money to do God’s work in France.” So, would they move the women into a convent to be nuns; freeing Louis and Paul to become priests or monks? In Paris, or some other part of France? 

If Louis was a priest in Paris, would he have drawn the attention of any of the vampires there? The Theatre des Vampires was set up and had been going for some 10 years by the time Lestat met Louis. Armand was there. If he met Louis as a mortal, would he have been interested in him at all? I don’t know. Part of what drew Armand to Louis was his connection to Lestat. Would Louis still be as appealing without that connection? Would he be appealing as a companion to any other vampires roaming around in France at that time?

Those are all questions to consider. 

I don’t think anyone would have chosen him to vampire, if he were some French priest, probably dissatisfied with his life choices. They might have just killed him for fun, though. The TdV killed innocents and they seemed to really enjoy killing the beautiful ppl, and he still would have been attractive enough for that.

As to Louis having a different maker, that’s why I couldn’t answer this ask sooner. It’s too big a question for me!

Physically, he probably would have been better off. He was Lestat’s 3rd in about a decade (and Lestat himself was still very young!), contributing to his ‘weakness’ as a vampire, and lack of some of the vampiric gifts that others can get when they’re turned.

But I think no matter who turned him, or how strong he was, he would still struggle with the whole killing people issue. Marius might have helped guide him into it more slowly. As problematic as Marius became later, in earlier canon we knew him as a mentor figure, and if he had just been that, with no Amadeo situation, he might have been a good maker for Louis. 

I’ll open it up to everyone else bc it’s just too big a question: Who would have made a better maker for Louis, and why? 

Lovely Lestat, as you know Daniel’s transition into vampirism hasn’t been graceful. Do you have advice to any young naive mortals before they agree to take their last mortal breath and join you and others in death?

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♛Advice to “young naive mortals” before they agree to become one of us… 

*laughs* Well, Louis would simply say, “Don’t.” 

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[^X @phantom-evil]

I can’t speak for Daniel’s transition, but from what he told me, what made it into the record that I compiled as the novel Queen of the Damned… he originally wanted the Dark Gift because he fell in love with Louis’ story, and wanted a seat at our table, so to speak. When he met Armand, it became about wanting to be with Armand, made so much more frustrating because of Armand’s struggle to accept Daniel, whether to bring him over.

Then, when that had been overcome, there was Daniel as a fledgling; there are so many physical and emotional changes that happen to a vampire during that time that few of us really experience it as a very “graceful” time. I famously vomited up my own blood and then, in a state of delirium, licked it off the stone floor of a filthy cell full of rotten corpses! Among many other grotesque things that happened in those first nights.* Two exceptions to the awkward fledgling phase: Gabrielle and Claudia, who both bloomed in their own ways, very gracefully, as fledgling vampiresses.

Advice…

One thing is for sure, satisfaction is not guaranteed, ma petite. In every sense of the phrase. 

The process itself is dangerous. It’s called the Dark “Trick” for a reason. Your maker has to kill you first. It’s extremely erotic, but extremely painful. They have to actually forcibly pull your life away entirely – and you’ll fight them through it if you want to survive – and then feed a demon, a kind of cancer, into your body and soul. We still don’t know if it’s contamination or evolution. And it doesn’t always work. 

There are worse things than death.

//ooc: *@gairid​/@vampchronfic​ has such a beautiful and tragic story about another thing Lestat did in those first nights, that you really should read it, We Are Our Own Saviors (Chapters 15-16). #Damn you and your perfect headcanon perfection ;A;

Lestat continues after the jump, cut for length.

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♛The other aspect of being a vampire: Killing. Few people seem to realize how customer-service oriented this lifestyle really is. You’ll have to kill people, or practice the Little Drink (most fledglings have difficulty stopping mid-kill). If you are able to master it, you’ll spend even more nightly time pursuing more victims than just the few that would satisfy you if you killed them. Killing means you have to find fewer, but still, victims. Louis refused to choose, feeling unworthy of making that choice. Could you do it? Really? Or, you can not choose. As he later was able to embrace. Could you do that?

Louis’ practice of drinking animal blood as a substitute for human blood for his first few years, I’m convinced that’s one of the reasons he was so weak for so long. And so cranky! For whatever reason, animal blood is just not as satisfying for us as human blood is, and I would speculate that it has something to do with the difference in souls. Not to say animal souls are lesser; Mojo had more soul than so many humans I’ve met. But there is a difference. So the animal solution is the vampire equivalent of eating fast food, and it takes its toll. 

Those are the main concerns, that young naive mortals should consider seriously before they agree to become one of us. There are many more, but these seem to be required for everyone. Should you be offered the choice to take the Dark Gift, your maker would be having these conversations with you, specific to you, and to them, about other considerations. 

Hi, I was wondering if you know where it is first mentioned that Armand made a vow never to make fledgelings? I don’t remember reading about it until QoTD, but it seems so important to him that I’m sure it must have been brought up earlier. I can’t remember whether it was talked about in TVA either… thanks :)

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Well I found it! In TVL, when Armand is telling Lestat and Gabrielle his story:

“In quiet allegiance to the Dark Ways, Armand
continued to serve. Yet in the centuries of his long obedience, Armand
kept two secrets to himself. These were his property, these secrets,
more purely his than the coffin in which he locked himself by day, or
the few amulets he wore. The first was that no matter how great his
loneliness, or how long the search for brothers and sisters in whom he
might find some comfort, he never worked the Dark Trick himself.
He wouldn’t give that to Satan, no Child of Darkness made by him.”

Hit the jump for more, cut for length.

Still in TVL, that quote above is right after he’s gone over how he’s seen so many vampires die:

In this particular, let
Armand observe that there was no vampire then living who was more
than three hundred years old. No one alive then could remember the
first Roman coven. The devil frequently calls his vampires home….

He had witnessed
the inevitable dissolution of covens, seen immortality defeat the most
perfectly made Children of Darkness, and it seemed at times some
awesome punishment that it never defeated him. Was he destined to
be one of the ancient ones? The Children of the Millennia? Could one
believe those stories which persisted still?

He’s also mentioned that the Dark Trick is not an exact science (also TVL):

But
let Armand understand here also that the effect of the Dark Trick is
unpredictable, even when passed on by the very young vampire and
with all due care. For reasons no one knows, some mortals when Born
to Darkness become as powerful as Titans, others may be no more
than corpses that move. That is why mortals must be chosen with
skill. Those with great passion and indomitable will should be avoided
as well as those who have none. 

So Armand’s reasons for refusing to turn Daniel, if you trust him to be honest about the ones he’s giving, seem to be that:

  • Not everyone has the stamina for vampiring
  • Mortal life is better and Daniel should appreciate it more!
  • The Dark Trick is unpredictable and could leave Daniel in worse condition than mortal life ;A;
  • Armand really underscores that mortal life is better, also bc of the tragedy he’s experienced in his own vampiring. 
  • Armand has his own enemies to deal with (“I’m like any beast on the prowl. I have enemies who are older and
    stronger who would try to destroy me if it interested them to do so, I am sure.” – QOTD)
  • There’s also the threat of extermination happening to alot of vampires in QOTD so... bad timing. (”What matters is that the end
    may be at hand…

    There is a vague repeated cry of
    danger, but no one seems to know whence it comes. They only know that we are being sought out and
    annihilated, that coven houses, meeting places, go up in flames.“ – QOTD)

Later, in QOTD, Daniel refers to it as a vow, maybe that’s he terminology Armand used when he told Daniel about it:

[Daniel says:] “Of course I believed you. The vow you made, you explained everything. But Armand, this is my question, to
whom did you make this vow?" 

Laughter. 

^He made the vow to himself ;A;

[Armand says:] "So you would have me break my vow. You would have what you think you want. But look well at this
garden, because once I do it, you’ll never read my thoughts or see my visions again. A veil of silence will
come down.”

1. I think this is definitively where Daniel realizes Armand’s not going to turn him:

Then the realization had come to Daniel as they stood together in the ruined dining room with its famous
murals of ritual flagellation barely visible in the dark: He isn’t going to kill me after all. He isn’t going to do it.
Of course he won’t make me what he is, but he isn’t going to kill me. The dance will not end like that.

2. Then Armand starts trying to get Daniel to understand his reasons for not wanting to give him the Dark Gift

“Give me what I want,” Daniel had demanded. 

“I’m giving you everything you could ever ask for." 

"Yes, but not what I have asked for, not what I want!" 

"Be alive, Daniel.” A low whisper, like a kiss. “Let me tell you from my heart that life is better than death.”

3. … which intensifies:

Ugly fights, terrible fights, finally, Armand broken down, glassy-eyed with silent rage, then crying softly but
uncontrollably as if some lost emotion had been rediscovered which threatened to tear him apart. “I will not
do it, I cannot do it. Ask me to kill you, it would be easier than that. You don’t know what you ask for, don’t
you see? It is always a damnable error! Don’t you realize that any one of us would give it up for one human
lifetime?

*~Gifts reminder~*

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vcsecretgifts:

*nudges you all bc I myself needed a reminder, too, and we have only received a few gifts so far*

  • Presents must be submitted to the page no later than December 23rd at 11:59PM CST.
  • Gifts will be posted in a queue throughout the day on December 24.
  • Keep yourself a secret from the person you are gifting to!
  • If you must drop out for whatever reason, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE NOTIFY THE MODERATOR(S)!!  Preferably sooner rather than later.
  • All posts related to the 2015 VC Secret Santa Gift Exchange will be tagged 2016 VC Secret Santa.  It is recommended that you track that tag.

Hi there Lestat =) you once mentioned something about ‘preserving musicians for all eternity’ by giving them the Dark Gift; and I know you’re into Bon Jovi, but what about (my personal favourite) David Bowie? I’m still sad that he’s gone… Not sure why, but he reminded me a bit of you, and I think you two would have gotten along great ;) xx

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♛I know! I know, I know…  I adore Bowie. I visited him many times, in the eighties up to more recently. We got along very well. We did a few of his songs and a few of mine together, privately. No recording.

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[X] We shared the same sense of humor, for sure. 

Not that I definitely would have given it to him, but we discussed it. He knew what I was. He didn’t want it.

I told him before any of the doctors did, I could sense… that his time was limited. I wasn’t ready to lose him, we both thought he had more time to consider it. 

… Or maybe I did turn him, and he’s living somewhere outside the public eye… you may never know… until he finds you alone at night and you can see his fangs for yourself… *blows a kiss*

OOC: I really didn’t mean to create a fuss or offend you! I actually looked to see if you had any RP guidelines or some such I should follow before replying, but didn’t see any. I really had no long-term plans or desire to annoy. I enjoy your blog and just wanted to play along. My apologies for the bother. -S

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//ooc; It’s okay! No fuss, I’m not offended. It’s just that Lestat’s been asked for the Dark Gift so many times, and it’s kind of frustrating for him because people seem to think he gives it up to anyone who asks, like some kind of Dark Gift Slut… which has only been the case a few times in canon, but there was still reasoning behind it, he still had met the person and interacted with them. 

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[X] 

RP is tough bc in the writing you can “really meet/interact with” the muse, like hug them or touch them, but my Lestat is more like a co-mod of this blog and takes most messages as messages only. He’s primarily an Ask Lestat, not available for real threads bc I just don’t have the time and don’t want to play favorites, even with anons.

And really, I think the response was slightly ooc anyway, Lestat probably wouldn’t go to the trouble to think about what would happen if he really said Yes to everyone. The Dark Gift is serious business, despite what it looks like in canon, it’s nothing to be distributed out like free t-shirts at a baseball game or whatever! He also really dislikes leading people on.

People don’t always look for or respect guidelines when interacting with an RPer, but yes, I/he should have guidelines, thanks for bringing that to my attention 😉

Dear Lestat, of course I have to take some precautions. If you decided you were offended by a stranger asking for your Dark Gift, a mortal such as myself has little enough defense even with anonymity. If it’s any help, I’m not considered unattractive by my peers. I could almost be Louis’ sibling- black hair, rather large green eyes. I assure you that you would tower over me, and are invited to do so. I’m deeply fond of Bon Jovi and a great deal of Celtic rock. How’s my resume thus far? -S

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//ooc; Lestat won’t be considering any more Dark Gift requests, respectfully, find another Lestat RPer.

Let’s be real here, this is a fandom blog and it’s run by a human, there is no way this Lestat could jump up and ask for your address and come visit you to get to know you or turn you! Keep that in mind when you send him asks, he’s limited by being FICTIONAL and doesn’t want to make promises he can’t keep.//

♛You’re missing my point… *sigh* 

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If you are frightened for your life of revealing yourself to me in fear of offending me, then we’ve already started off on the wrong foot *frowns*. How can you start a relationship that could last far longer than any mortal relationship in fear? No. You can’t. 

It’s not about your appearance or height, while yes, it does perturb me that David is taller than I am, but that’s what heeled boots were made for! And it is fun to be the shorter one in a kiss and have to tilt my face up to him, just for a change of pace. 

It’s not about your taste in music, although it’s no secret that I adore Bon Jovi. You may have mentioned that just to kiss up to me… I hope that you don’t try to conform yourself to try to please others, enjoy that Celtic rock!

What I’m looking for is that chemistry you feel when you’re with someone you love or could love and they feel the same way for you. For me, that needs to happen in the physical. I don’t know of any vampire who’s promised the Dark Gift to a stranger they met on the internet, or before that existed, a penpal relationship. Perhaps it’s worked for others, but not for me. 

Don’t you realize that even if I wanted to say Yes, and turn every single one of you who beg for vampirism, the sheer volume of such a task would probably kill me emotionally before it did physically?! Would we pick a church somewhere and have people fall in line for this kind of communion? I do have other interests than making vampires all night, every night, for months or even the years it would take to fill all the requests.

And then what of the fact that it does not always work, would we group all the “duds” into a dog kennel out back? Would we take care of them in a home somewhere or kill them to put them out of their misery and send their bodies back to their families? What if YOU became one of these duds? It’s all too gruesome and I’m terrified just thinking about it. Major buzzkill, as they say.

I hate to say No, so please stop asking me for this. 

Dear Lestat, thank you for answering my question on matters of the heart; your insight is very helpful! I do have another important question, though. Would you turn anyone into a vampire if they asked for it? Is it entirely up to you? Or are there certain rules by which you must abide? Not that I would want to be turned, of course – I’m asking for a friend… (sounds credible enough, right?) Sincerely, H.

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♛I’m printing your message to show Louis AND Armand that at least ONE PERSON finds my insight very helpful! And thanked me for it! On second thought, Armand will probably suggest that I sent this message to myself but Louis knows I don’t do that. He knows I would invent a longer pseudonym, he knows I couldn’t bear to have an alias go by only one letter *smiles*

As much as I enjoy the act itself, no, I wouldn’t turn just anyone into a vampire if they asked for it. Other vampires in our coven might have a different answer, but I choose people who I can’t release to death… and the reasons for choosing them vary.

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As far as rules about it, well, a few of us, myself included, have broken the no-underage people rule, but that is still one of our main guidelines about it. There’s no board approval to do it, but we all try to keep our emotions in check and not turn every sexy tattooed barista we meet, not every musician whose talent we long to preserve for eternity. I admit I have something of a taste for musicians…

You have to understand that the Dark Gift is not an exact science, as with mortal pregnancy, there’s no guarantee of a good outcome. Every time we do it there is the chance that the person will die in the process, if they lose focus, if I lose focus, if the vampiric spirit fails to adhere to theirs… if there’s not enough blood to exchange,… so many ways for it to fail, and if Louis had died that night… I don’t like to think about it. There was a good chance he was ready to choose Death over me. 

And then, there are worse things than death. Nicolas seemed to be an animated corpse at first, and I could barely stand to look at his face, devoid of his own expressions, barely functioning… and then when he woke, I couldn’t celebrate that either. He was another someone I barely recognized. Was it the Blood or was it something he always had within him and kept from me? I might never know.

Dear Lestat, I was reading Louis’ Interview and it occurred to me that, at 24, I’m the same age Louis was when you made him and I desperately do not want to grow old. Please, please, please will you turn me? I promise never to leave you for long and never set you on fire, to do my utmost to never be boring, and to always drag your magnificent ass out of whatever mess you manage to get yourself into.

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♛Funny how you’re reading his book, and you want what he initially hated. It’s endlessly amusing to me how much he’s changed since then *smiles*

You promise to always drag my magnificent ass out of whatever mess I manage to get myself into?! *laughs* That’s quite an offer. I’ll take the compliment, too. 

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There’s more to being someone’s eternal companion than babysitting your maker, entertaining them, and refraining from setting them on fire. I’d say that anyone signing themselves up for that will find setting me – or themself! – on fire to be irresistibly appealing. 

*Sigh* 24 is so young. More so now than in the 18th century, what with life expectancy so long now. I took Louis because I found in him a kindred spirit, even if we do not express that spirit in the same ways. He forced me to turn him sooner than I would have preferred, he would’ve died if I had given him much more time.  

But all this is completely ignoring the fact that you have written to me anonymously! How do I fall in love with a mask? How do I bring someone into a dark eternal existence of bloodthirsty murder and mayhem when I don’t even know what kind of music they like, if they’re actually a Chaotic Evil psychopath, or…. worst of all… if they are significantly taller than me…??? Do you see my dilemma?