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Lestat hadn’t left his room in three weeks. He hadn’t left Night Island since he arrived. The others stop in daily to check on him, really to check on the progress of his novel more than anything else. They’re also all quite curious about what gifts Akasha’s blood has given him. Marius stops by more than anyone, often bickering with Lestat over the imminent publication of his writings. Marius’s concern genuinely touches Lestat, and he wonders if Marius realizes how much pleasure these quarrels have brought him throughout their time here. He has received personal testimonies from everyone except Louis and Gabrielle, the two people he longed for the most while in Akasha’s captivity. Louis has kept to himself on Night Island, much like he has always done. Before being captured, Louis and Lestat had just begun to reconcile, and now Lestat doesn’t know how to press play again on what had been paused for over a century. Paused is not the right word; it was more like a divorce. Is there really coming back from what they went through? Is any of what they shared salvageable? Gabrielle has been more social than Lestat expected, finding companionship in Maharet’s fledgling Jesse. They often take walks together along the shore, and Lestat has to will himself not to poke around in Jesse’s mind. He’s been grateful to be occupied with his writing, not having time to dwell on the feeling that their relationship rouses in him. Lestat’s most productive nights coincide with the few times Jesse and Gabrielle have gone into the ground together. Akasha still dominates his thoughts. He sees the moment of her death every time he closes his eyes. In that moment, she needed him more than anything in the world; he alone could have saved her. He always wanted to be needed like that.
It is an hour before dawn when Lestat hears a knock at his door. He is lying on the couch in his office. He’s been staring at the ceiling and thinking about the chapter he wrote earlier. Was Armand’s blender obsession necessary to the plot? Expecting the knock could only be Marius at this hour, he twists the handle with his mind, and the door pops open. Thank you, Akasha. He sits up when he sees Gabrielle’s figure in the doorway. As she enters, the first thing he notices is her hair falling over her shoulders, the first time he has seen it in this style on the island. The first time he’d seen it flowing free in 200 years. In this moment, she looks much like the mother he knew growing up, though he knew she had not been that woman in centuries. He absolved her of motherhood when he turned her into this. He absolved her of any obligation to him at all when he chose to go to his father in New Orleans rather than explore the jungle with her. Or at least that’s how he saw it. Gabrielle closes the door behind her and walks over to him, taking the seat next to him on the couch. For a minute, she says nothing, only looking Lestat in the eyes with an expression of consideration that was so rare for her. Lestat seemed to feel the depths of his isolation in these few moments of silence, and it brought to mind the night so long ago when, as mortals, Gabrielle had spoken to him of loneliness. In this common occurrence, this vulgar act of giving birth, I understood the meaning of utter loneliness. Is that why she was here now? Again, does she see a glimmer of herself in him? Has his pain and suffering drawn compassion from his mother, the only thing in his lifetime that consistently has? Before Gabrielle has spoken a word, there’s a knot in Lestat’s throat.
“I worried for you.”
Lestat does not know how to respond to this. Many of his companions on the island have tried giving him words of comfort, and while he appreciates the effort, little has been able to break through the armor Akasha equipped him with. Hearing this from Gabrielle strikes something within him, and he has to compose himself before he can answer.
“I’m here with all of you now.” A cold and impersonal response, but Lestat cannot risk bringing any more emotions to the surface.
“Not just recently. I have worried for you across centuries.”
Lestat almost laughs at this. Quickly, he has become frustrated with her. Lestat is not the one who has been lost in the wind. 200 years they’ve been apart, and he spent every one of them in New Orleans. “You could’ve come to me.”
At this, Gabrielle frowns. She can see that she has upset Lestat and is herself hurt by his coldness. She tries to think of what words could convey her message to him.
Lestat sees the change in her face and immediately regrets his attitude. Lestat puts his hand on her shoulder and looks deep into her eyes. “I worried for you every day we were apart.”
“I’m here,” Gabrielle whispers, leaning her face into his and placing her hand on the crotch of his jeans.
Lestat sighs and lets go of her shoulder at this. He leans away from her until his back hits the couch, but her hand does not move.
Lestat catches Gabrielle’s gaze. She seeks to console him. He knows it. This is how she has always loved him. In life, it was their routine; Lestat would endure his father and brothers’ abuse, and his mother would be there to play savior with a new mastiff, a new rifle, a new mare. Those were the only times as a mortal that he felt her love. She couldn’t be his mother anymore, but she could give him this. He could no longer bear these thoughts, and with both hands, he grabbed Gabrielle’s face and pulled her towards him.
Their mouths crash into one another, and immediately, they are fighting for dominance. Gabrielle pushes Lestat’s shoulders back against the couch and climbs onto his lap. Her tongue pushes into Lestat’s mouth, and he moans against her. Lestat reaches up the hem of Gabrielle’s shirt and finds her waist. Gabrielle’s hand finds his crotch again, and she attempts to stroke him through the fabric, but the denim is too tight. She draws back from the kiss and reaches for Lestat’s belt.
Lestat takes this opportunity to run his hands through her hair. He loves her hair. He thought about all the times he had cut it for her throughout their companionship; it always made him a little sad for reasons he could never place. There were times he wished he could grow his own longer. Gabrielle had gotten his belt off and was unzipping his pants. She lowers herself to her knees, pulling his jeans down and tossing them aside. Lestat is rock hard, and when Gabrielle grabs him, he gasps. Gabrielle kisses the head of his cock, but before she can go further, Lestat pulls her with both hands to him, and again they're fighting for dominance.
This kiss is hungrier, and Gabrielle’s hand goes down to his exposed cock. Lestat grabs Gabrielle’s backside, and her hips begin rocking into him. Lestat is moaning into Gabrielle’s mouth, and he thinks at the same time that he could spend forever like this and that he cannot take much more. He thinks of the last time they did this. The night she left him. The night he left her, he corrects in his mind. Hadn’t their separation been his fault? He chose New Orleans over her, but hadn’t she also made a choice? As Gabrielle’s pace quickens, the specifics matter less and less.
Lestat breaks the kiss this time. He grabs the hem of her shirt and looks into her eyes. Gabrielle nods her head, and he pulls it over and tosses it behind the couch. Gabrielle reaches behind her to unhook her bra and drop it to the ground. Feeling Lestat’s eyes lingering, she plants a kiss on him to draw his attention back to where it matters. Lestat again draws back a bit to start placing kisses down her neck. He moves lower and lower until arriving at her right nipple, taking it into his mouth, and grabbing her left breast to steady himself. Lestat knows she’s always hated this. In a moment of impulse, Lestat bares his fangs and bites into her breast, and Gabrielle yelps in response. She likes this better. Lestat had not forgotten the taste of her, but he could weep at the thought of getting to experience it again. How sweet she was. He had not tasted another immortal since Akasha. The blood that gave him pleasure and power like he had never known. Akasha’s words fill his head. In those first few years, when you went into your mother’s bed chamber and brought her into the world of the undead with you, it was but a prefigurement of your waking me.
Trying to get her out of his mind, he retracts his teeth and pulls back from Gabrielle. Gabrielle looks at him for a signal of what to do next. Lestat remembers then why they’re doing this. For him. Gabrielle did not need this; she never had. He can feel the knot in his throat again, and suddenly he wants to weep. Gabrielle cradles his face, noticing the change in his demeanor.
“What is it, my love?”
“Two centuries I have waited for you, and still you do not want me. You do not need me as I need you.”
At this, Gabrielle slid off of Lestat’s lap and down to her knees, and Lestat almost laughed. How funny this all was. Gabrielle slides her tongue up the length of Lestat’s cock and begins sucking the head. In this moment, Lestat longed for Louis. He knew Louis as he had never known any other being; he ached for that intimacy. He wished Gabrielle could see him the way Louis did. The way Louis had. At this thought, he burst out laughing; he could no longer control himself. Startled, Gabrielle shoots up, her mouth releasing his cock with a pop. She scans Lestat’s face, trying to understand what the matter is.
Lestat thought he could handle this. He thought this would send the thoughts and the pain away, but it has only magnified them. He thought again about intimacy. And then his mind drifts to a darker place, to what passed between him and Akasha. What it had been like to lock onto her, to drink from her as she drank from him. How much she taught him through that transfer. How their love and understanding of one another had blossomed thanks to those exchanges. What could Gabrielle learn of his heart if they were to exchange blood in such a way? Would Gabrielle ever agree to that kind of submission? To be taken in a vulnerable state, to be sipped from as she herself drinks. Passion rose in him as he thought this over. He wished Gabrielle could read his thoughts; thinking of asking Gabrielle this makes him want to crawl back into the earth. Would Marius come and save him this time?
“Do you wish to stop?” Gabrielle says, pulling Lestat out of his thoughts.
“No,” Lestat says, pulling Gabrielle up off her knees and positioning her beside him on the couch, “No.”
Gabrielle’s face is filled with confusion as she looks at him. “I love you,” Lestat says as he starts kissing her gently on the lips. All he’s ever wanted was to please her. He becomes aware of her nakedness and pulls her to him, wrapping his arms all the way around her and pressing her close to his chest. Locked in this sweet kiss, Lestat again loses himself in Gabrielle, his fallen angel. Gabrielle stands up and begins removing her pants. Lestat reaches to help, and to his surprise, Gabrielle allows this. He unzips her jeans and gets on his knees to lower them and set them aside. She’s not wearing any underwear, and at the sight of this, Lestat loses all composure.
Still on his knees, he moves closer, leveling his head with her crotch and looking up to meet her eyes. Gabrielle nods and runs her hand through his hair to guide him. This is not something they have done often, and Lestat considers for a second that he may be dreaming. If he’s lucky, the last year will have been a dream. Gabrielle gently juts her hips towards Lestat’s face and tugs on his hair. Lestat, following her lead, grabs Gabrielle’s hips to steady himself and pull her even closer to him. Going from her lower stomach, he places kisses down until he’s reached her heat. He kisses her clit, then drags his tongue along her length. He begins sucking at her clit, and Gabrielle’s grip on his hair tightens. The taste of her blood overwhelms his senses again. He was still not over the shock of what he was doing. He looks up at her and watches her head fall back in pleasure. The moans spilling from her mouth are like music to him. Like hearing Nicki’s violin for the first time. This thought brings Renaud’s to mind, and he remembers how badly he yearned for Gabrielle in those times. Every night, he would go on stage with the wish to find Gabrielle’s face in the crowd. To be able to hear her cheers amongst the screaming audience. In a way, was he not performing for her now? These cheers were sweeter than any standing ovation. His eyes move down her body. How beautiful she is, how beautiful she has always been. His saviour, his false god. He had found himself once again on his knees at her altar.
Gabrielle was reaching her limit now. Lestat held her hips tighter and started rocking her into his mouth. Gabrielle pushes his head even closer against her and holds him firm in place. Lestat drags his right hand to the inside of Gabrielle’s thigh, his left hand finding its way to her lower back for more support. Gabrielle opens her eyes to look down at him as he brings her left leg over his shoulder, his right hand adjusting to hold her in place. This new angle sends her over the edge, and she releases into Lestat’s mouth. Lestat, still having his death grip on her, gently aids her as she rides her high. As she comes down, Lestat helps her move to a seated position in front of him on the floor.
They sit on the floor face to face, just taking each other in for a few moments. Gabrielle leans forward to kiss Lestat, and Lestat stops her.
“Can we try something?”
Gabrielle does not reply, but Lestat sees the reluctance on her face. He almost loses his nerve for fear of rejection, but he pushes on,
“I want to drink from you, as you drink from me”
“As I drink from you?”
“I mean, at the same time. Taking one another at the same time.”
Gabrielle considered it. She’d never thought to try this. In her relationships outside of Lestat, she has never done something so intimate. “Have you tried this before?”
“Yes, with Akasha.”
Gabrielle nodded. She felt bad for asking, but she wanted to know. She did not respond. Instead, she moved to kiss Lestat, and together they stood up, Lestat craning his head down to reach her. They were both naked now, and it was so nice to press themselves together like this. Gabrielle, leading the way, moved them towards Lestat’s desk. She backed Lestat up against his desk and made him take a seat. She brought his desk chair around, adjusting the height so that her face would be level with his cock. Lestat had been hard since they were fully clothed. Gabrielle gave him one quick kiss and took a seat between his thighs. She spread his legs wide, and he groaned at this. She grabbed his cock with one hand, and he winced. “So sensitive,” Gabrielle chimed, and Lestat’s face colored. She raised her hand to Lestat’s mouth, “Spit”. He abided, and she brought the hand down to go to work. She stopped stroking and held his cock by the base. She kissed the head and took the length of it into her mouth slowly.
She pondered his earlier request. Why did he want to do this? She wanted to ask him, but she didn’t want to risk hurting him again. She hadn’t meant to hurt him at any point in the night, but this is how it always went with them. They wound one another, and they make it better. Is this better for Lestat? Lestat’s moans ground her. She quickens her pace, and Lestat grabs her head to bring her closer. Lestat gathers the hair up off her neck, and Gabrielle feels a shock of pleasure. She has missed being with someone she didn’t have to explain herself to. This was one of the reasons she didn’t do long-term companionship, not since Lestat. Lestat knows her coldness well, and they don’t have to speak to understand one another. At least, not to understand things like this. An intimacy existed between them that she had never had with anyone else. Is that why he wants to try the drinking thing? He wants to experience what he experienced with Akasha with someone who knows him as they know each other? Because everything is better when shared between the two of them?
Lestat’s head is thrown back, and he looks beautiful like this. Gabrielle loves the sight of him and his slight tug on her hair every time she goes down. How often has she fantasized about this physique these past 200 years? And here it was in front of her, all hers. Lestat opens his eyes and locks them on hers. He was so close, and the obscenity of the eye contact takes him over. He cums in Gabrielle’s mouth, and she moans at the taste of him. Not giving him time to recover, Gabrielle sinks her teeth into Lestat’s thigh, and Lestat whines at this. Gabrielle needs more.
She retracts her teeth and stands up. Lestat watches as she sweeps his countless drafts onto the floor, and too quickly she is back between his legs, pushing him onto his back and climbing on top of him. She bites into his neck, and he lets out an ungodly noise. Yes, yes, this is what he wanted. Take me. Lestat holds her tight to him. She’s drinking with voracity when she presses her right wrist to his lips. He doesn’t understand at first, so Gabrielle has to break away. “I want you to drink”, she gets out quickly before diving back in. Gabrielle presses her wrist harder, and Lestat sinks his teeth in. Gabrielle gasps at this. Lestat brings his left hand up to hold Gabrielle’s wrist in place. This sensation exceeded anything Lestat could’ve imagined. All resentment seemed to melt away as her blood rushed into him. My mother, my lover, my companion in darkness. Here with me now. For the longest time, he thought he had been meant to lose her, but now he sees how foolish he was. Bringing her into vampirism was fate; they were destined to be this. Akasha’s words came back to him. You were born for me, my prince. She had been wrong about that, as she had been wrong about everything. Lestat had been born for Gabrielle. To be this, with Gabrielle. All the religions of the world sing of them.
Having taken in all of Gabrielle that he could, Lestat retracts his fangs and notices Gabrielle, also spent, lying on his chest with her eyes closed. Feeling his gaze, Gabrielle opens her eyes and brings her head up to look at him. Lestat, wanting to switch, holds on tight to Gabrielle as he flips them over. On top of her, he lays his head on her chest and lets himself feel at rest. Gabrielle runs her hands through his hair. Lestat thinks that they could not abandon each other now, even if they wanted to. What has passed between them will stay with both of them, just as surely as Akasha is with him now. Nothing will ever pull us apart again. Lestat closes his eyes, wanting to forget the coming sun for a little while longer.