"One of Rice’s many splendid characters is Armand, a beautiful boy-vampire who has walked the Earth since the early Renaissance. He becomes enamored of Daniel, a lovely young human lad and the “interviewer” of the first novel. Their relationship, though unnatural in the extreme, is both breathlessly erotic and heart-breakingly sad. Daniel who cannot bear his own aging, implores Armand for the “dark gift,” to be made immortal, but Armand desperately needs to hold onto Daniel who is his last link to the humanity he has forever lost:
“More and more they argued philosophy . . . Pulling Daniel out of a theatre in Rome, Armand had asked what did Daniel really think that death was? People who were still living knew things like that! Did Daniel know what Armand truly feared?”
When a creature of potential immortality ponders the nature of death, or when a being who must drink the blood of the living to survive, consciously seeks the high moral ground, the irony is inevitable, yet their futility is no less agonizing than man’s. Enormously old, incredibly powerful, and constantly questing, many of Rice’s vampires remain, like humans, incurably neurotic."
from - A History of the Undead: LA Times review of The Queen of the Damned, 1988
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misery and ecstasy: a totally non-cohesive devil's minion playlist
∟ the devil's minion week, day 2
1. bloodstream - stateless (x) i think i might've inhaled you - i could feel you behind my eyes - you've gotten into my bloodstream - i could feel you flowing in me
2. talking body - tove lo (x) love, give me love - anything you want i'll give it up - lips, lips i kiss - bite me while i taste your fingertips
3. night time - the xx (x) i couldn't spill my heart - my eyes gleam looking in from the dark - i walk out in stormy weather - hold my words, keep us together
4. shameless - the weeknd (x) ooh, saying who's gonna fuck you like me? yeah - i don't wanna hurt you but you live for the pain - i'm not tryna say it but it's what you became
5. all i need - radiohead (x) it's all wrong - it's all wrong - it's all wrong - it's all right
6. so sad so sexy - lykke li (x) open your eyes, i'm right in front of you - open your eyes - open your eyes, i'm walkin' out on you - for the last time
7. fever - dua lipa, angèle (x) i've got a fever, so can you check? - hand on my forehead, kiss my neck - and when you touch me, baby, i turn red
8. without you i'm nothing - placebo (x) take the plan, spin it sideways - without you, i'm nothing at all
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...and yet he loved this thing
Hello, and welcome to The Devil’s Minion Week, which celebrates the relationship between Daniel Molloy and Armand in The Vampire Chronicles series, specifically from The Queen of the Damned. This chapter of the book, and the relationship it describes, is some of the best writing and characterisation in the whole series, and the layered, twisted, deeply romantic relationship that ensues is beloved by many fans.
To celebrate, this week is dedicated to quotes from the chapter, and fans are invited to make gifsets/photosets, artwork, fics or videos, that relate to, or are inspired by, each quote. This includes images from the recent TV version of Interview with the Vampire, as well as other onscreen appearances of both Daniel and Armand, as the aim is to appeal to both book and show fans. It runs from 10 o’clock in the morning of the 4th of September, to some time in the evening of the 10th of September (all times in Greenwich Mean Time).
You can submit your creation before then, or feel free to post it to your own account and tag @villaofthemysteries using the ‘and yet he loved this thing’/’the devil’s minion week’ tags, which we will track throughout.
The quotes for each day are below - you can use them directly, or relatively, or interpret them in a new and different way. The main idea is to have fun with them, and with the relationship in general, in whatever form that will take.
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Day 1 - I want it. I want to live forever. Daniel had sat up, climbed to his feet slowly, struggling to see Armand more clearly. A dim bulb burned somewhere far down the hall. I want to be with Louis and with you. Laughter, low, gentle. But contemptuous. "I see why he chose you for his confidant. You are naive and beautiful. But the beauty could be the only reason, you know."
Day 2 - Daniel was past all decision. Daniel lived only in two alternating states: misery and ecstasy, united by love. He never knew when he'd be given the blood. He never knew if things looked different because of it-the carnations staring at him from their vases, skyscrapers hideously visible like plants sprung up from steel seeds overnight-or because he was just going out of his mind.
Day 3 - “Armand [...] always knew where Daniel was. He could hear Daniel's call. The blood connected them, it had to-the precious tiny drinks of burning preternatural blood. Never enough to do more than awaken dreams in Daniel, and the thirst for eternity, to make the flowers in the wallpaper sing and dance. Whatever, Armand could always find him, of that he had no doubt."
Day 4 - “You came back to me because you wanted to, Daniel,” Armand always said calmly, face still and radiant, eyes full of love. "There is nothing for you now, Daniel, except me. You know that. Madness waits out there."
Day 5 - "Be alive, Daniel." A low whisper, like a kiss. "Let me tell you from my heart that life is better than death."
Day 6 - “… Let the demonic gods war with each other. This mortal has been to the top of the mountain where they cross swords. And he has come back. He has been turned away.”
Day 7 - “...the sight of Armand made him want to cry. Even in deep shadow, Armand's dark brown eyes were filled with a vibrant light. And the expression on his face, so loving. He reached out very carefully and touched Armand's eyelashes. He wanted to touch the tiny fine lines in Armand's lips. Armand kissed him. He began to tremble. The way it felt, the cool silky mouth, like a kiss of the brain, the electric purity of a thought!”
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Unpleasant Revelations - DPxDC Ficlet Idea for the Stillborn Au
"Have you met my youngest, Damian, Mr. Masters?"
Its only from twenty years of long, hard experience and practice that Vlad doesn't increase the room temperature from 'borderline uncomfortably cool' to 'unbearably hot' the moment Bruce Wayne pulls his youngest and "only" biological son out in front of him.
He puts only in quotations because twelve year old Damian Wayne looks scarily, uncannily like one Daniel Brown. Jack and Maddie's foster son, second victim of their foolishness, and only other halfa in existence. Second only to him.
It's nauseating how similar they look. From the scowl and terrible glare on the young boy's face, to his brown skin -- which was only a few shades lighter than Daniel's, the shape of his nose, and even the strange winged edge of his eyebrow. Something that Vlad has long since come to find endearing on the child he considered a son of his own. The only difference was that Damian had dark, sharp green eyes.
Daniel's eyes were blue. The same glacier shade as his father's, who stood behind Damian with a proud, oafish smile on his visage.
It was infuriating how similar they look. Vlad might not have rapidly swung the room temperature from one extreme to the other, but he can't stop himself from letting the fury burning within his core from slipping out and raising the temperature up a few degrees.
Because it really only meant one thing.
Damian Wayne and Daniel Brown were related.
Damian Wayne and Daniel Brown were brothers.
Standing in front of him, it was clear as day. He can already picture a phantom image of Daniel standing beside Damian, the same scowl written on his face, the same glare carved into his eyes. The only difference being the dark, exhausted circles beneath them that seemed to be permanently painted onto his skin. The only thing missing being the permanent loneliness and vigilance permeating his being like a scar.
This, if revealed, would be enough to ruin Bruce Wayne's reputation. Or, at the very least, darken it quite a bit. The great philanthropist Bruce Wayne with another secret blood child? One related to his youngest? One that had been put into foster care? Seemingly thrown away?
It would be a firestorm.
One that Vlad is not keen on starting.
It would ruin Bruce Wayne's reputation, yes. But it would hurt Daniel in the process -- the harassment he would face alone might just be enough to break that fragile child completely. That was just not something he could allow. Or, even worse, bring him into his biological father's care and custody -- something Vlad was even less willing to allow.
It's not out of kindness to Wayne that Vlad will keep mum about this.
His grip on his champagne flute tightens, just a bit. He's still aware enough of the world around him to not let it shatter in his hands. His plastered, pleasant smile tightens around the corners, and he forces his focus to slide from Damian to Wayne.
"The resemblance is uncanny, Mister Wayne." He says, slanting his smile to the side slyly. Although he's not talking about the resemblance between Wayne and his son. Rage simmers beneath his skin, burning coal and embers in the core of his chest, nestled between his lungs, as he meets the man's eyes.
Wayne swaggles his head proudly, his ditzy smile widening as he squeezes his son's shoulder affectionately. Bastard, Vlad wants to spit.
He breathes in through his nose, and exhales out through his mouth. The champagne in his hand cools, and stops its unusual bubbling.
The Damian boy scoffs under his breath, his mouth still coiled upward into a scowl. With the revelation of his blood relation to Daniel evident, Vlad's not sure if he should find it endearing or not.
He is not Daniel, so he decides that it's just simply irritating. He decides to ignore it.
"And you said he was your only biological son?" He asks, voice lilting and head tilting. He knows its a suspicious question at worst, insulting at best. But considering Wayne's past proclivities, he can hardly call it an unexpected question.
Damian puffs in great offense, face twisting angrily. It reminds him of Daniel when Vlad insisted that he was wrong about something or other, and for a moment his heart swells, fond.
But this is not his child, and so the feeling quickly crashes and burns, simmering back into rage. This was not Daniel -- this was his replacement. A replacement that Wayne was free to keep.
Wayne chuckles, idiotically, as if he'd said some funny joke. Vlad's other hand, the one gripping his cane -- something he's required ever since he was dispatched from the hospital all those lonely years ago -- tightens instead. He grinds his teeth -- him and Jack Fenton would get along like a house on fire, he hates it.
"I can understand why you'd ask that, Mister Masters," Wayne says, squeezing Damian's shoulder again, "but yes, Damian is my only biological son. Although that doesn't mean I don't love my other children any less."
Bastard.
For all his posturing and flouncing about caring for his city and his children, Vlad never would have thought the Prince of Gotham capable of abandoning one of them.
But, well.
They all have their dark secrets.
And what one man throws away, another man picks up. If Bruce Wayne didn't want the treasure child that was Daniel Brown, then Vlad Masters was more than happy to take him instead.
"I see."
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