*hugs* I know your pain! Both were very hard things to put us through. I still remember how I felt when I first read *that part* in Merrick and I was like:

And then we didn’t even get the scene w/ Lestat… um… continuing to save the day night? C’MON.

(I still think Merrick would have been a far better story told from Merrick herself or Louis rather than being told to us through a 3rd wheel; oh well, it is what it is.)

BUT ANYWAY We have Louis back! I can’t see AR doing something like this to us again re: Louis or Armand bc the current trend is everybody getting along and living in peace, basically. I’m expecting more action from the Replimoids or the ghosts in the next book, or maybe a VC wedding between L/L like she’s teased before (and I only really want it if Lestat is a total bridezilla) but WHO KNOWS? 

So I don’t think she’s going to do anything like this again to our faves but clearly nothing is off-limits, no one is really safe, so we’ll all just have to wait ‘n seeeee and get each other through whatever it is…

IDK that AR herself considers Merrick to be canon bc it’s not in the Official VC FB banner (it’s a hybrid VC/Mayfair) so if you wanted to just not accept it as canon that’s fine, too.