Last Time on the VCs
Lestat x Armand
@ourbotticelliangel
@leroilestat
"You even wrote in your book you forgave the lies he told of you. Lestat don't speak sweetly now, you called Louis a liar." Had his hand been free he might have mimicked flipping through Lestat's book to the very page. "No, you're the one spinning tales here Lestat, I freed Louis from the burden you put on him by turning Claudia. Were you not freed as well from that mistake?" Pulling his hand toward him Armand rubbed his wrist as if to feign Lestat had caused him any injury. Human like movements mimicking life just as he had learned in the theatre that Lestat had left him. "A cage? Never. I offered you someone who would take care of you where no one else would."
Such a shame to not have a raise out of the other, to not hear his voice break in anger. "They can be one in the same. You felt neither. You loved the idea of Nicolas and when he failed to be it you shrunk at the horrors within him!" There was another laugh as they continued their fight. "Is that so? David knew of all my actions, my hunger and cruelty and yet also desired me. Painted me as the devil but someone will always love that versions of me. Can the same be said for you?" Not moving away he leaned closer almost daring their lips to meet, "Shall I show you my devotion?"
Lestat’s gaze dropped briefly to Armand’s mouth at that last provocation. It lifted again steady and unimpressed it's as if the invitation had already been weighed and dismissed. “You mistake proximity for power,” he said quietly. “If I wanted you, Armand, you wouldn’t have to ask.” He didn’t step back, but he didn’t close the distance either he's holding that thin line between them with deliberate control.
“You keep circling the same points as if repetition will make them true,” he went on his voice even. “Yes, I called Louis a liar. I’ve called him worse and I forgave him anyway. That’s the part you don’t understand.” His head tilted slightly he was studying him now. “You don’t free anyone. You relocate them. You take what’s already wounded and make yourself indispensable to it.” He gave a faint humorless smile. “And Nicolas.... I didn’t shrink from him. I lost him. There’s a difference you’ll never admit exists.”
At the mention of David his smile sharpened just a little. “Oh, I don’t doubt someone will always want you, Armand. You make it very easy. You offer exactly what they think they need.” His eyes darkened into something colder. “But don’t confuse desire with love. You’ve been doing that for centuries.”
