A question only I can answer?! Pffffft, that would be true only if I was Anne Rice herself. Although really she ought to deputize me as one of her fandom spokespeople, my VC obsession has made me such a great resource for the fandom!

[art by Thomas Blackshear, very Gustav Klimt, oui?]

Spoilers under the cut.

1. Does Louis just not care that she put a “fix” on him or does he still not believe her?

In his letter, Louis says that she admitted to bewitching him:

“No talk from Merrick of her potent spells can excuse my actions, though in fact, she does indeed claim to have brought me to her with magic I cannot understand. What I understand is that I love her…” – Louis de Pointe du Lac, Merrick

I think that as he writes this, he feels love for her, but he knows it can’t be real love. He must feel tricked at some level, why else commit suicide right after making a loved one into a vampire? If he really loved her, he would want to stay alive and be with her. I think he’s chosen death because he knows what he did was wrong and rather than just adding another vampire to the world, he’s taking himself out, so there’s no change in the number of vampires ;A;

2. Is that spell still there?

I think Louis is still bewitched as he writes his letter, but it’s probably worn off to some extent in the process of his resuscitation. It has definitely worn off by the time he is himself again, but I think at that point he has to consider Merrick with some natural love, because she is his fledgling and there will always be a bond there. The Dark Gift is probably the most intimate experience a vampire can give/receive. 

3. And why does Lestat react so nonchalantly to it, as if it was funny rather than a bad thing? Shouldn’t he be a bit more…I dunno, jealous and pissed? 

Lestat has just woken up again, cut him some slack! He’s disoriented! “With an awkward step, as though his body, so long unused, revolted against him, he made his way closer to Merrick,”

Lestat also often goes into a kind of emotional and physical paralysis when such devastating things happen. It happened when he was mortal, too. The humor that follows is also a defense mechanism against feeling the pain of the situation.

He knows that there will be an opportunity much later to get jealous and pissed, but in the immediate aftermath his thoughts are narrowed to the emergency and how to save Louis ;A;

I’m not sure why he insists on sharing his blood with Merrick, though. That seemed to condone her trickery too far for my tastes, but I suppose he did it because he saw that Louis still loved her. Making Merrick more of an equal was a gift to Louis.

Or, perhaps he wanted to drink from her to experience her side of the story, without any of her witchery, and sharing blood with her was an excuse to do that.