Work Text:
Lestat’s voice was hoarse and trembling.
“She looked at me at the end,” His head shaking and eyes swelling with tears.
“like a child, looking to her father.”
He sucked up a breath and was endeavoring to continue. “But I was never-“ He broke. “I was never-“ Louis ceased Lestat’s penance and pulled him to his chest burying his face in Lestat’s hair as he held him, like trying to keep an avalanche from falling.
Lestat knew now without a shadow of doubt that Louis was real. That the current moment was really happening. He was finally alive again.
He clung to Louis like ivy, smelling him and wrapping around him. He felt the muscle of Louis’ arms around his torso, the cartilage of his nose on his shoulder, the sound of his beating heart between them.
Louis stroked Lestat’s back as they muttered a few words of love to each other. Louis felt Lestat's tears soak the fabric on his shoulder. They stayed there keeping each other up until the worst of the hurricane, at least the noise, had passed.
“I- I wanted to-“ Lestat begun to hyperventilate. He felt shameful for making so much noise in the quiet of the moment. Lestat was never a considerate man; he didn't care if the noise he made, whether literal or figurative, bothered others. The only person he cared about bothering was Louis. He would have been overwhelmed by the shame of his breakdown if it hadn't also left him feeling lightheaded and slightly delirious.
“Shhhh- Its ok. Its alright. I have you” Louis moved his hand up to the back of Lestat’s head to cradle him, laying a kiss on his hairline. Louis could feel Lestat’s face was feverish and pulsing with blood.
Lestat attempted to take in a few deep breaths but the more he heard himself, the more he felt alive, the more he wept. Decades of delusion had made Lestat ceaselessly doubtful of his own reality. Waking up felt the same as going to sleep, Lestat could have just sat by the window for years at a time if the sun would not scorch his skin. Maybe he would have let it if not for the divine hope that Louis would make his way back to him.
“Im s-so sorry, I wanna make it alright.” Louis attempted to keep it together, he looked up to the ceiling to keep his tears from falling. His breathing was quick, but under control. His eyes blinked and he shook his head as he thought of how to live up to his promise to make it alright. He took a deep breath, “D-do you wanna leave? I can take you back,” what felt like a knot in Louis’ throat made his voice high and fragmented, “home?” Louis of course meant to say the Hotel he was staying at, yet the sentence he ended up saying was not really a mistake either. He moved his head down to look at Lestat.
Lestat’s trembling persisted and he took a moment to try to say anything “I don’t- Louis I can’t- I don’t-“ he muttered. He closed back up and buried his head into Louis’ shoulder. Lestat’s head was so clouded he could not think, let alone speak.
Louis took another deep breath and held Lestat closer to him. He looked around at Lestat’s room over his shoulder. It was decrepit, dirty. Rotting animals lay kicked to the wall's baseboards and under his chair. The single table in front of his chair, was that the same table he used to use in their bedroom?
Louis’ eyes then drew to Lestat’s chair, with its wicker siding and metal legs, he must have stolen it off someone’s porch. Louis then felt deep in his mind the voice of Dreamstat, criticizing the whole house, probably calling it “aesthetically unconventional” or something of the like.
Once Louis had finished assessing the dark reality of the situation, he looked into Lestat’s bloodshot eyes and begun to speak, “We gotta go okay? We should get out of here before it starts gettin bad out there again. I got a hotel room in the Garden District, it’s not safe here for you.” He said, his voice still raw and trembling.
Louis nodded to Lestat. Lestat, still unable to form any thought, just started to nod along with him. Louis took Lestat’s hand and tried to take a step back, separating them. Lestat only moved forward; the cord of fate between them was strong and rigid. Louis felt its tug too and redirected himself to Lestat’s side, wrapping his left arm around his waist as Lestat did the same with his right. Lestat held his other hand close to his chest, a resting hold on the side of his robe. He tried to focus on grounding himself. He could feel the woven fabric of his robe, Louis’ arm around him, his own tongue pressing against the membrane of his cheek.
The rain was gone for now, they had found themselves in the eye of the hurricane, with where NOLA was on the map, and the speed of the storm, Louis estimated that they had about 20 minutes to get back to the hotel, back to safety. Now normally, a vampire, especially of their magnitude, could make a round trip from the house to the hotel about 50 times over in that span of time. But Lestat was fragile, and though Louis shared his vulnerability, he had confidence in his own resilience. However, he was uncertain about Lestat's ability to endure. Louis decided that they had better act now, and whether Lestat approved or not, he would not let him be buried under the rubble or swept away in the flood waters.
Louis took cupped Lestat’s face in his hand, “Okay, we ought to leave now then, last I was out there the water was rising, almost covering my shoes, so- so hold on okay?” He nodded to Lestat and looked down. “You got any shoes?” Lestat just sniffled and shook his head no, his breath started to skip again. “That’s alright, uhh,“ Louis stepped out of his loafers, “take em,” Lestat shook his head no even more. “No, please, you look starved and I don’t want you to get hurt and- and we gotta be quick okay?” Louis rambled trying to convince him.
———————————————————
Lestat stared at Louis for a moment looking for any sign of hesitation until Louis quickly nodded at him. Lestat slowly slipped his feet into Louis’ shoes. “Hmm” Lestat made a noise of confirmation that they were on. Louis started to take slow steps with Lestat towards the door, holding him as if he was glass. Louis opened the door and they both looked up at the sky. The power had gone out for the majority of the city, with all the light pollution gone, the stars shined even brighter than usual. Louis took the first step into the shallow flood waters, Lestat joined him, his face cringing as the water seeped into his shoes. Lestat felt like such a burden, part of him wanted to ‘man-up’ and just shake this burden from his mind, maybe use the cloud gift and fly the both of them to the hotel, or just do something, anything to help Louis. But he just couldn’t, he felt mortal again, like everything was out of his control again.
“That’s good, real good, hardest part is over.” Louis voice was delicate and quiet, the only other sound being the distant winds and the rushing water under them. They both took slow steps, one at a time. Louis holding Lestat up, consoling and praising him for moving with him.
About halfway on their journey, Lestat had gained a bit more confidence and they were moving a bit faster. Louis had noticed Lestat feeling a bit better and smiled at him, Lestat pursed his lips back, still too weak to really be himself. But more disaster struck when while passing across another street, a large helicopter at the end of the other road started to come toward them. A large search light was moving back and forth with the water under it fleeing from the wind.
Both their eyes drew to the noise, Louis watched Lestat’s face stare at it with his mouth subtly agape. Lestat knew what it was, he had encountered a helicopter before, in fact he had almost been caught by the police when the searchlight on one landed on him drinking from a woman in an alley, he fled as quickly as possible. He was terribly confused and even with an explanation from his newest fledgling he didn’t quite understand.
“It’s alright, they’re probably just looking for stranded people in the break.” Lestat’s eyes did not move from the helicopter and he was frozen in place. “Are you okay? Please Lestat we have to go,” Louis urged him on and they kept moving, Lestat was still staring back at the helicopter. The pilot noticed their movement far off and moved toward them. As it got closer Lestat’s face twitched and he started to hyperventilate again, covering his ears with his hands.
“Oh, oh damn it Louis!” He cried, “Those lights, that- noise!!” Lestat squished himself into Louis side and screamed to him. “They make the night brighter than the day!”
Louis covered Lestat’s head with his arms and tried to calm him with a shaky breath, “Lestat.” He had never seen Lestat so impacted by his own senses. “It’s false light, it can’t harm you!” Louis flooded the pilots thought until he forgot everything and just left to go back to land the helicopter. Louis rubbed Lestat’s back and heard the hurricane coming back quicker than he estimated.
Lestat quivered under his touch but slowly unfurled himself just enough to keep walking. “Please Louis, please- I need help” he cried. Lestat had been so secluded from senses up in his hut over the past 77 years that something so loud and overwhelming like the helicopter had completely jarred his whole system.
Louis urged them onward. Lestat held tightly to Louis as they moved. As they approached Louis’ hotel Lestat started to move a bit quicker. Louis encouraged this by moving quick with him and looking only at Lestat. The two of them moved to the sidewalk where they passed under a shattered street lamp. Louis’ mouth opened in a pained snarl for a moment as he lifted his leg. Glass shards clung deeply inside the sole of his foot.
Lestat tried for a moment to keep going but then looked back when he felt himself slipping from Louis’ arm around his waist and gasped. “Its alright, “ Louis brushed the glass off with his hand and took a large step over where he assumed the majority of the glass lay. “Let’s go, almost there,” Louis assured him.
When they reached the temporary flood gates for the Hotel, Louis used much of his strength to push open the gate even with all the water beneath it. The wind from the storm got louder and louder. Louis ushered Lestat inside and they both finally made it to the entrance.
———————————————————————————————
Once inside, Louis was greeted by the Hotel staff asking if they were alright.
“Mr. Du Lac! We had been knocking at your door trying to get you accounted on the attendance! Glad to see you’re alright!” The staff member smiled and looked to Lestat, tilted their head a bit, and looked back to Louis. “Good on you to help those less fortunate in these times of need.”
Louis smiled only with the mouth at them, exhausted and hoping they would not look down to see his feet bleeding all over the hotel’s white carpet. Louis and Lestat made their way to the stairwell and made the last, safest leg of their journey to safety. Once inside Louis’ hotel room, they both only sat on the bed together. Lestat looked around but kept his hands in his lap and feet together. Louis took a deep breath and looked to Lestat. Their tears had both dried now, yet the knot in their throats still remained.