#louis/lestat

[haflacky]

You’re a perfect devil

Prints

[somevagrantchild]

Missing Loustat scene discovered in Anne Rice's diaries

I HAVE SOMETHING AMAZING TO SHARE WITH YOU!!

As I was reading Anne Rice's diaries in the special collection library at Tulane University while I was in New Orleans for the Vampire Ball, I discovered this intensely sexy scene she wrote between Louis and Lestat that never made it into her books. This is Anne Rice's original writing, never before shared anywhere online.

Anne Rice wrote this scene by hand in her diary dated November 6, 2015 (which she mentions is the day before Stan's birthday. He would have been 73😭). I have deduced that it is her very first (and very rough) draft of the scene that eventually became chapter 4 in Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, aka the scene where Louis agrees to move into the chateau and be Lestat's partner/companion again. The final version of the scene in the book reads like wedding vows, serving as the beginning of their marriage in the modern era. As you'll see, the first draft was rather different. 

In Prince Lestat, Louis and Lestat's interactions are extremely brief, and they aren't able to talk beyond one stolen moment to reassure each other of their love. It would seem that in the six months between the end of Prince Lestat (when Louis thinks to himself that he will be with Lestat very soon), and the beginning of Atlantis (when that finally ends up happening), Louis and Lestat do not have any intimate conversation. They may have talked somewhat, but only briefly about superficial matters, or they may have not even spoken to each other once over those six months until Lestat asks Louis to meet him in New Orleans for chapter 4.

In an earlier diary entry, I found a note where Anne said she wanted their first reunion conversation to begin by finally addressing Louis dumping Lestat's body in the swamp after Claudia tried to kill him—something they have never once discussed. So when I came across this scene in a later diary, I could tell it was a direct follow-through on that idea. 

The scene begins with Lestat speaking to Louis, and it seems they are outside on the streets of New Orleans, but someplace private where they aren't being observed by mortals. This is different from the final book version with them sitting at a sticky table at the Café Du Monde (though it is similar to how Lestat tells us they walked around the city streets together for hours after the reunion scene was over). 

Anne headed this part of the diary entry with: Early on: L+L quarrel—

“I can forgive her for what she did. She was never a human being. She went from being an infant to a monster. But you—you stood there and watched. You carried my body into the swamps and dumped me there as if I were trash—you were the one I hated! How could you do that to me? Decades we’d been together!”

He stared at me for the longest time—not defensive, not angry.

“I could do it because I was afraid,” he said. “I didn’t know how I was going to live without you.”

“I don’t believe you. You were fine without me. You were preparing to sail to Europe. You were making plans.”

A torrent of words.

“Stop!” he said. “I’m here now. I love you! I thought you wanted me here! I thought you’d forgiven me. I thought we had a second chance, now, you and I. And miles to travel together!”

I nodded.

“A second chance!”

I nodded.

Then I took hold of him as if I was going to kill him. I threw him up against the wall and bit into his neck for the first time in two hundred years—the first time since the first time—and when the blood gushed into my mouth, I saw again—for the first time in two hundred years—his soul, his heart.

I was lost in his mind, his thoughts, his dreams, flashes…

I drew back—I’d drunk too much. He was being held there by me, his head bowed. I slapped him hard and when he opened his eyes, I pushed his open mouth against my neck. I forced his fangs into me.

And we were together, wrapped in one another’s arms…

Finally I pushed him back.

He was sitting on the paving stones, hair in his face, back to the wall. I took his hand and helped him up.

“Kiss me,” I said. “No, really kiss me.”

Finally I let him go.

“I can’t live without you! “ he said. “I swear, you wander off on me again, I…”

“I won’t. I won’t ever.”

We walked along in silence.

“He loves you too,” he said.

“Who?”

“The silent one, the one who’s never spoken to me, the one inside you.”

It was time. I could have lingered a half hour more in the old times, but the time was now.

The End 

------------------------------------

Above is the clean version, which I have corrected for missing punctuation, missing letters/words, and necessary dialogue tags.

Below is the original rough version as I have transcribed exactly from Anne Rice's handwritten diary.

------------------------------------

“I can forgive her for what she did. She was never a human being. She went from being an infant to a monster. But you—you stood there & watched. You carried my body in the swamps & dumped me there as if I were trash—you were the one I hated! How could you do that to me? Decades we’d been together!

He stared at me for the longest time—not defensive, not angry.

I could do it because I was afraid, he said. “I didn’t know how I was going to live without you.”

“I don’t believe. You were fine without me. You were preparing to sail to Europe. You were making plans.”

—A torrent of words.

“Stop! I’m here now. I love you! I thought you ’d wanted me here! I thought you’d forgive me. I thought we had a second chance, now, you & I. And miles to travel together!”

I nodded—

“A second chance!”

I nodded—

Then I took hold of him as if I was going to kill him. I threw him up against the wall & bit into his neck for the first time in 200 years—the first time since the first time—and when the blood gushed into my mouth I saw again—for the first time in 200 years—his soul, his heart—

I was lost in his mind, his thoughts, his dreams, flashes — (more)

I drew back—I’d drunk too much He was being held there by me, his head bowed. I slapped him hard & when he opened his eyes I pushed his open mouth against my neck. I forced his fangs into me.

And we were together, wrapped in one another arms — (more)

Finally I pushed him back.

He was sitting on the paving stones, hair in his face, back to the wall. I took his hand & helped him up.

Kiss me. No really kiss me.

Finally I let him go.

I can’t live without you! I swear, you wander off on me again, I … I ”

“I won’t. I won’t ever.”

We walked along in silence —

He loves you too

Who

The silent one, the one who’s never spoken to me, the one inside you.

It was time. I could have linger a half hour more in the old times, but was now —

The End 

------------------------------------

The spots where she wrote (more) are clearly areas where she intended to expound upon all Lestat was seeing and feeling in Louis's mind, soul, and blood, and then what he felt and saw as Louis was drinking from him. How I wish we could know what she would have written there! Also the lines that start or end with a — make me wonder if she intended to add more to those bits as well. Would she have actually written out Lestat's torrent of words?

Lestat's line "Kiss me. No really kiss me." isn't in quotation marks in Anne's diary. I chose to add them, because there were many other obviously spoken-aloud dialogue lines also without quotes. But it is possible that Lestat only thinks these words as he and Louis are kissing each other. It reminds me of in Queen of the Damned, when Daniel thinks, "I like kissing. And suggling with dead things, yes, hold me." The narration doesn't tell us Armand actually starts holding him, but Anne's style of using internal monologue makes it clear that's what happens in the action. So the "Kiss me." could be similar in this instance as well. And in that case it might mean Louis is the one who initiates the kiss, and this is Lestat’s internal “yes, yes!!” reaction to it. But I do suspect he is actually meant to be saying it aloud.

With the em dash at the end of it, the very last line could have been meant to continue: "but was now ______" was now...something. But considering she wrote "The End" after it, it seems like it was meant to be a final statement, so that is why I added the missing words I chose in my edited clean version.

Although this conversation is very different from the one we get in the final version of Atlantis, I do still see elements of it in the book's scene:

Louis's line "I can’t live without you! I swear, you wander off on me again, I …" became "so I'll come. And when you tire of me and want me gone, I'll hate you of course."

They still kiss, really kiss. In the book, it is moved to before their conversation, when Lestat first sees Louis in their Rue Royal flat, wearing the new clothes he ordered for him and Louis says, "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" and Lestat is so shocked, he's unable to respond.

They do still discuss Amel in the book version, in much more depth than he is mentioned here. Louis having never heard Amel's voice in his own head remains consistent. 

They do still go walking around the streets of the Garden District, though it happens after the conversation, not during it. Lestat does say they talked for hours during that walk, but about Amel and what's been happening to Lestat as Prince. Not about themselves or their past. 

MY THOUGHTS!

The confirmation here that Lestat never tasted Louis's blood before their new marriage begins in Atlantis is one of the most amazing parts to me, when combined with the offhand way that Lestat mentions what Louis's vampire blood tastes like in Blood Communion. Even though the final version of Atlantis never shows us Lestat drinking Louis's blood (either forcefully like this scene, or consensually in other ways), the mention in Blood Communion does confirm that it DOES happen off the page at some point during the years between Atlantis chapter 4 and the beginning of Blood Communion. 

We know that Louis drank much of Lestat's blood at the end of Merrick, and this was his first time doing it because we were told in previous books how much he resisted his powers being increased by drinking ANY other vampire's blood. It is nice to have it confirmed that Lestat never bit Louis or drank any of his blood in return either before or after Merrick. But now, after Lestat becomes Prince, this is now a new element to their relationship. It makes me consider more strongly that Anne perhaps meant to imply that they then for the first time began to engage in blood sharing the same romantic way Lestat did with Akasha in Queen of the Damned, and then in the even more explicit way she shows us with Rhoshamandes and Benedict in Prince Lestat. 

I don't take all Anne wrote in her diaries as canon. It is clear that much of what she wrote there were spitball ideas that she later chose to absolutely reject (as opposed to deciding they were true but she just didn't mention them in the books). But I do not see anything in this scene that the final versions of the books contradict. So even though this scene didn't actually happen in canon, we can believe that the feelings and emotions that drive this scene are still canon. And I love that for us 🥰

I have cross-posted this on ao3 to give us a good place to talk back and forth to each other about it in the comments section there. Reblog and reply to this post as much as you like, but if you want to have some conversations and share your own thoughts on what she wrote, ao3 will give us a much more organized place to do it, where other people will be able to easily find and read your meta as well.

[desertfangs]

On the subject of how often Lestat mentions crying and weeping in The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned, this exchange between Lestat and Louis in Tale of the Body Thief always cracks me up:

Lestat: "I'm going to weep if you don't stop." Louis: "Weep. I'd like to see you weep. I've read a great deal about your weeping in the pages of your books but I've never seen you weep with my own eyes." Lestat: "Ah, that makes you out to be a perfect liar. You described my weeping in your miserable memoir in a scene which we both know did not take place!"

It's a great lampshade on all his weeping, and it's a moment that exists because the books exist in-universe. I will always be absolutely feral for moments in the series that refer to the books.

[leslutdepointedulac]

Bouquet

Valenfangs ~ Day 1: Bouquet

For the most part, there's no rhyme or reason to why I picked the flowers I did other than I thought they looked pretty. The one in the middle technically isn't a bouquet but it is queen's wreath which is Lestat's favourite hence why I chose it anyway. Other than that though, they're all pretty random but I think they look nice together.

~ Lestat would give Louis the top left green roses because they remind him of his eyes.

~ Louis would give Lestat the bottom right roses. They're on the floor because when Louis gave them to Lestat, Lestat pounced on him and initiated a make out session, leaving the roses forgotten on the floor.

~ Armand would give Daniel the middle left white bouquet with roses, chrysanthemums and baby's breath. Daniel appreciates them but also kinda thinks they're a bit over the top. He loves them anyway.

~ Daniel gives Armand the top right bouquet. They shouldn't work with the decor but surprisingly they go quite well which Armand is glad of. He wouldn't have said anything if they didn't because Daniel seemed very proud of his flower choices.

~ Armand would give Louis the bottom middle red roses because he thinks they compliment him nicely.

~ Armand would give Lestat the queen's wreath which he picked from someone's garden wall. It was supposed to be a joke but Lestat secretly is very touched by the gesture.

~ Louis would give Armand the red chrysanthemums. He thinks they go with his hair.

~ Lestat would give Armand the bottom left roses because they're glittery and Lestat never liked that carpet in the front room of Trinity Gate so he thought it could do with some sparkly improvements. Armand just smiles when he receives them and shakes the glitter over Lestat's head outside before putting them in a vase.

~ Daniel gives Louis the middle right baby's breath. He says it's a token of their friendship, which it is, but what he doesn't say (but Louis still knows) is that Daniel never really got over his crush for him.

@valenfangs

[rebel-revenant]

A retelling of the Devil's Minion wherein young San Francisco Chronicle Reporter Daniel Molloy sold his soul to the devil for notoriety as a writer. Daniel instantly rose to infamy after publishing the sensational smash hit Interview with the Vampire Lestat, an autobiographical feature of the 80's glam rockstar-turned-recluse, whose mysterious vitality and beauty seems forever preserved in time. Now, fifteen years later, Armand is the fallen angel who has come to collect on their contract. Enraptured by the final manuscript Daniel has yet to complete, Armand extends him an offer of borrowed time to finish it under his watchful eye.

"Oh, shut your pious mouth and kiss my sinful lips -” Lestat spanned his wicked circle, arms extended, wings too. “You know I cannot. Our borrowed time is over. To kiss a devil now would condemn me.” “Come, coward! Fall with me, fall into my arms, my damning embrace, into these arms that held you once before, are they not your home, Louis?” Lestat’s cheeks florid with the luster of rage, always at home in him, arms animated as he prowled the breadth of Louis’ wingspan like a predator. Enticed, provoked, desperate. “Am I not still your home! Even in death! It was in our vows!” “Til death do we part.” “Technicalities, semantics!” Is this why Daniel had come? To pay witness to a marital spat between interdimensional beings? To serve as an accomplice to Lestat’s vandalism…? Either way, it was mightily entertaining to behold. "Lestat, you knew from the start I was a steward of the Heavens." "You are an immortal wet blanket, is what you are!"

[monster4monster-bracket]

No submitted propaganda ( feel free to add your own in the notes!)

[thefairylights]

Loustat fic: A tailored experience. rated m/6234 words.

Summary: A night at the tailor is quite an interesting and memorable experience for Lestat and Louis. Aka Lestat and Louis are in love and flirting even though Louis is in denial but Lestat enjoys all of Louis’ not so friendly thoughts about him.

Notes: Hello! This is something different but it is also something exciting. This is taken from a personal rp I share with lepetitlion/ @lestatthelittlelion and it is the very first thread we ever wrote together. It has been gone through and edited and now being shared. As it is an rp it does switch back and forth in pov between our idiots in love. There may be other threads published in the future depending on if we decide to do such a thing.

The flirting is heavy with these two. Louis is an absolute fool but he does try his best to resist Lestat which is his first of many mistakes. One does not simply resist Lestat de Lioncourt.

A note from @lestatthelittlelion : What do you do when a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition says you dress like shit? You let him play dress up and make him sweat a little!

And here it is: A tailored experience. 👌🔥♥️

[covenofthearticulate]

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

“I think I’d like to try—” Louis still can’t say it, not when he’s so close to Lestat. He shuffles backwards instead, holding his marker’s gaze as he sinks to his knees and places one hand on his thigh. Oh. Lestat cocks his head to the side, already reeling from just that simple touch. Louis moistens his lips, soft pink tongue darting out over the somehow impossibly softer, pinker lips. And then, gentleman that he is, Louis reaches for the button at the front of Lestat’s trousers, delicate fingers working on the fastening with preternatural dexterity and an air of polite courtesy that never fails to send Lestat into a state of awe. OH.

[AO3]

[jennaflare]

"In Throes of Increasing Wonder…" + Disco Elysium (1/?)

[haflacky]

Rockstar Lestat

Prints here

[somevagrantchild]

"I know what you need," he said. "You need one person who is always on your side. Well, I'm ready to be that one now. I don't know why I tormented you, made you pay for asking, made you come all this way. I always knew I was going to come. Maybe I thought you'd lose interest because I never really understood why you wanted me in the first place. But you're not losing interest, not even with the whole Court, and so I'll come. And when you tire of me and want me gone, I'll hate you, of course."

--Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis by Anne Rice

Featuring me and @asssamuraikoujaku Photo by @cup-of-lixx

[desertfangs]

I love that despite Lestat being absolutely over the moon to be reunited with Louis at the end of TVL—he's so ecstatic to see him that he can barely contain himself!—he still manages to mock Louis’ vampire outfit from Interview with the Vampire *and* his current sweater and pants combination in the space of like an hour.

[leslutdepointedulac]

Red Wine

Valenfangs ~ Day 5: Red Wine

“You didn’t wait to see if there was anyone around, mon ange. Someone could have seen.” Lestat’s tone is calm and there’s still a soft smile on his face; he isn’t actually mad. 

“But they didn’t.” Louis opens his eyes to reveal his pupils fully dilated, leaving only a slither of a ring of green around the outside.

“I should have you punished for that, you know. You could’ve endangered us both.” 

A visible shudder runs through Louis at the mention of punishment. “We would have killed them too.” His voice is light and dreamy sounding, like he’s under some kind of spell. He glances around until his eyes land on the broken bottle next to him, Lestat’s reflexes kicking in as he holds him away from trying to drink the spilt wine off the floor. 

“Louis, what are you doing?” He asks, surprised by Louis’ action. 

“I don’t want to waste it.” Louis whines. 

“What. . .” Lestat cuts himself off and stares at him, utterly bewildered by his strange behaviour. Then the meaning of his words hit him. “That’s not blood, mon cœur, that’s red wine. Louis, are you alright?” 

Louis gives him a wide, fang bearing grin but his gaze doesn’t appear to be entirely focused. “I’m fine.” 

[Drunken Matrimony A03]

@valenfangs

[gay-jewish-bucky]

no bc imagine trying to argue with someone and as ur talking they just like fully undress in the middle of the room and climb into a coffin bed and reach out to you and are like "u can be on top (✿◠‿◠)"

like how would you even respond to that if someone did that in real life?

[uncivilcivilservice]

If only I had the ability to draw and make an animation out of this with Armand and Lestat...

*Armand walks past in full Coven-Master-Chic*

Lestat: Why does he think that's okay to wear? 😒 Going to the cemetery?

Armand: You have a nice house, do you have a husband?

Lestat: Yes...

Armand: What's his name?

Lestat: Louis.

Armand: 😊Okay😊

Lestat: Where're you going??!!?

Armand: Oh Louis!!! Do you want a malewife that's not a raging c*nt!