Work Text:
The truth of it is that there’s two different types of vampires. No one knows how there ended up two, but the basic guess is that they just had enough in common. They bite, reproduce through the bite, feed on blood, die in the sun. So the name got put to both of them before they had enough time to define themselves. But they aren’t the same.
One’s got all the weaknesses: stakes, garlic, silver. They’re a hivemind too, connected to their maker and the other children of their maker. The thirst for blood comes quicker, and often they find themselves bending towards the goals and beliefs of their maker. The only way to break them from the hivemind is to kill whatever man the maker might be. And the turning is easier: just the bite, no feeding with blood.
The others aren’t as weak. It’s dead blood, decapitation, fire. Garlic doesn’t do shit. They’re telepathic, sure, but they aren’t connected to their maker and only their maker. They retain more self control and more will than the others, and won’t kill indiscriminately without days of starvation. To kill the maker only saddens them.
One of them is a type of Haint. The other comes from Akasha and Enkil.
Stack is a Haint vampire. Sammie and Smoke getting rid of Remmick severed that tie well enough, and the urge to create a ‘family’ is well and gone. The urge to find Sammie… it still sings whenever Sammie does, but Stack prides himself on not being the type of man to go back on a promise. And whether or not a vampire is a type of man, he won’t, no matter how he swears he can feel Sammie’s voice no matter how far.
“Let’s go down to New Orleans,” he said one day, pulling Mary into a smooth embrace. “Never been there before. Heard it’s good.”
“Heard it’s got more than a few bodies turning up without any blood,” she replied. “You think there’s more there?”
“More like us? I’m willing to see.”
The vampires in New Orleans, Louisiana are not Haint vampires. Louis and Claudia are Akasha’s vampires, although they don’t know the word for it. They don’t even know who Akasha is, and they won’t learn anytime soon (one might never). After all, the one man who knew was effectively banished from their home on the grounds that he was an awful cunt.
With Lestat out of the house, Stack swanned into New Orleans, Mary at his side. Arm around her.
Claudia saw them first. “Black man with a white woman,” she commented to Louis, nodding her head at the pair. “Odd sighting there.”
“Don’t be mean.”
“I’m not being mean. I’m saying it’s weird. They ain’t scared, Louis.”
“I wasn’t scared with Lestat.”
“No one knew what y’all had going on. White man, Black man isn’t as weird. Those two are fucking.” Louis bites back the urge to comment on her language. Sometimes he still forgets that she’s a grown woman and his sister now. “I’m gonna go look at them. There’s something weird about them, Louis.”
“If they’re gonna be your dinner, I’m going to leave.”
“I’m not gonna eat them! I said look at them. You coming?” Claudia stomped her foot, girlish behavior sticking despite her age. Louis sighed, closing the book he wasn’t rightly reading anyway, and followed her as she walked up to the pair. The man saw her first, raising an eyebrow.
“Hello, little girl.”
“I’m not little,” Claudia said, which was what she said when she couldn’t add that she was a grown adult. “How’d you like if I called you a little boy?”
The man laughed in surprise. “Alright then, woman. Didn’t mean to offend.” His eyes flicked up to Louis. “Then this your daddy or your husband?”
Claudia’s mouth set in a line. Louis knew it too well: this was the way Claudia got when something wasn’t going her way and she was considering fixing it with murder. She’d been that way since the cop day one, and if this man was gonna be difficult, she was gonna snap. Louis set a hand on her shoulder, squeezing in warning. More Daddy Lou than she’d like, but if she needed to be kept in line, he’d keep her.
“Her brother.”
The man’s eyes flicked between Louis and Claudia. Stack knew the way siblings stood when they were all normal and the way siblings stood when one had raised the other. “You raised her?” he asked the man, whose hand was holding the girl in a clear warning to behave. “Don’t take offense, Miss, I just know the look.”
“Sure, yeah, he raised me. You think it’s weird?” The girl was prickling for a fight, just like Smoke used to, just like Stack still did. For a girl who didn’t look older than fifteen, she seemed to be too sure of her ability to handle any altercation with him and Mary. That, paired with the way her eyes penetrated, spooked Stack a little.
“No, ma’am.”
Mary leaned over him, leaning on his shoulder. He wanted to warn her: white ladies shouldn’t do that down south, not even in New Orleans. But Mary reminded him of this girl in front of him: she didn’t take kindly to being corrected. “What’s your name, hon?” she asked, just enough of the right tone on hon that she could be talking to a child or chatting with a girl in a juke joint.
“I’m Claudia,” the girl said. She cocked her head at her brother. “That’s Louis.”
“I’m Mary.” Mary reached a hand out. Stack could feel the thoughts swirling in her head, that connection that Remmick had born between them. She didn’t want to eat Claudia or Louis, but she was hungry. She was considering it, but she appreciated the nicety and would feel bad.
Claudia took Mary’s hand and shook it like a grown up. “And him?”
“Stack.” He offered his own hand, glancing down as she took it. Her nails were long and manicured to an odd shade of shade. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” Sometimes, introducing himself hurt like a long curdling scream in his chest. He felt like there was supposed to be an addition of ‘and this here’s Smoke’, or that his brother should have already introduced him. It was easier when Mary introduced him, or when he introduced her after him. Just like Claudia introducing Louis.
But Smoke is gone, and Stack always catches himself before he adds him into the air with his name.
When Claudia tilted her head at him, she reminded him of Sammie. “That’s not your real name.”
“Don’t be rude,” Louis said, scolding Claudia easily. Yes, it was clear to Stack that he’d raised the girl, that despite how Claudia bristled at the fact – likely wanting the independence – Louis looked as much her father as her brother.
Behind Stack, Mary pressed into him, her too-cold body a heavy weight. He could feel her hunger, curling hot in the pit of her stomach. She liked them. She also thought Louis might taste good, and would be a hell of a good vampire too.
Louis looked at the woman – Mary. She was eyeing him in a way he wasn’t quite sure he was comfortable with. And it didn’t help that Claudia was studying her in a very familiar way.
Louis, Claudia said, voice sneaking into Louis’ head in a way the two could never hear. I’m hungry.
You can’t eat both of them. Go find someone else, you went and gave them your name, so you can’t drink from either of them.
A few years ago, Claudia would have pouted and stomped her feet and insisted. But now, she just looks at Stack and Mary like she’s considering.
Could turn ‘em.
You can’t. Louis remembered that moment, Lestat pulling up Claudia’s sleeve, revealing the punctures in her skin from where she had dug her nails into flesh over and over, trying to make a fledgeling. That wasn’t a power Claudia would ever have, turned so young. And Louis didn’t know how it worked. Before Claudia could propose it, he reminded her that neither of them. Who knew if she could drain them and leave Louis to feed them the blood.
Plus, New Orleans didn’t need any more vampires running around.
You ain’t gonna eat them, Claudia.
You ain’t my dad.
Was for enough years. Don’t eat them, don’t turn them. It’s too risky.
Louis looked back at Stack and Mary. “It was nice meeting you, but we better get going. Didn’t feed her enough for dinner, and she’s bound to get hungry.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m a baby,” Claudia protested.
Louis looked at the two of them. Mary practically glowed in the moonlight. And that was all that was around them. The streetlights had blown out. The park was empty. A crawling feeling made its way up the back of Louis’ neck. He should have been the danger, not feeling like there was another sense of danger.
But Akasha’s vampires don’t inspire fear in others the way Haint vampires do. Haint vampires make gooseflesh appear over the skin. There’s something wrong about them that isn’t there in Akasha’s vampires.
Louis studied the two of them. Something was wrong with their eyes. They were reflecting a bright light that wasn’t in the real world. A small line of drool dripped down Mary’s chin.
“Sorry,” Stack said, head tilting to the side, eyes locked on Louis’. “Can’t let you do that.”
“What the fuck?” Louis said, right before he saw the fangs in Mary’s mouth. “Fuck no.” He took a long step back. If they were vampires, how come he hadn’t felt them? And if they were vampires, how come they didn’t show it how he, Claudia, and Lestat did?
Claudia stepped in front of him, as if it was her job to protect him. Which it wasn’t. She opened her own mouth, baring her own fangs. “I don’t think you want to do that.”
Stack blinked. Mary took a step back. “You’re–”
“You’re vampires. We’re vampires too. Can’t eat us.”
“Ain’t like any vampires I’ve seen.”
“What other vampires?” Claudia scoffed. “You’ve seen Lestat, and only Lestat. At least I met the motherfucker. But he’s right. What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“This is how all the vampires around us were. How old are you, girl?”
“Around thirty.”
Stack whistled, long and low. “Alright then. Sorry for calling you girl, woman. How about we sit down, talk about this whole vampire thing. We were just turned, would appreciate a few tips from some experts.”
“I’m too hungry for that,” Mary said.
“Me too,” Claudia added.
Mary nodded, grinning. “How about you and I get some food while the boys talk?”
“You’re not hungry?” Claudia asked Stack. “Louis won’t eat what we do.”
“I got to eat when she didn’t on the way down from Missipi. You ladies enjoy yourselves.” Stack tipped his wide-brimmed hat, and Mary grabbed Claudia’s arm and started to walk away with her. “What’s she mean, you don’t eat what we do? You’re a vampire, what can you eat but blood?”
“Animal, not human. Claudia and Lestat made a mess of New Orleans, and I don’t like the killing.”
“Never killed a man before you were killed?”
“Not that I know of. You did?”
“Plenty of them. Made it easy when I got turned. If you don’t wanna make them vampires, which we never do, you’ve gotta kill them after you feed. I get not wanting to do that.”
“That is not how it works for us.” Louis frowned in confusion. “How about you come back to our house and we can compare differences? I’m starting to think we aren’t the same kind of vampire at all.” it occurred to him that he might want to save that conversation until Claudia was sated. She would want to know, the girl – woman – who wanted to know everything about vampires and meet other vampires. “Or we can wait until Claudia and Mary are done.”
Stack smiled, metal on his teeth glinting in the moonlight. “Sure, we can find a way to occupy ourselves. Show me home, Louis, and find a way to tell your sister to meet us there.”
Stack followed Louis across the brick streets of New Orleans. It was different than Mississippi, and Chicago too. The looks they got were different. But Louis kept his head high, walking with a purpose. It wasn’t long before they were at a townhouse with intricate gates that Louis unlocked.
“Who’s the Lestat you and Claudia mentioned?” Stack asked as he stood outside the door. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, ‘course, come on in.” Stack stepped over the premises and swung the door closed behind him. “And he’s Claudia and I’s maker. Made me first, then her later. She was dying, burned in a fire that was my fault. I begged him to turn her.”
“He dead?” Stack sat on the couch, Louis sitting on a chair in front of him.
“Nah. He and I fought. Claudia came home from a trip, tried to get me to go with her. She didn’t like him very much. He didn’t want me to choose her over him, we fought. He hurt me bad, so we kicked him out, and he’s been trying to win back my favor for a while now. Anytime I waver, Claudia knows what to do. He’s out there somewhere, fucking his lover and thinking about his next plea for mercy.”
Stack nodded. “Y’all fuck?”
Louis blinked. There was enough of an answer in his face. “That ain’t right.”
“Doesn’t mean y’all didn’t. Not that I think anything of it. I’ve done it with both. Mary and I are a bit of a thing, but I let her go off with women and she lets me go off with men. So, y’all fuck?”
“He was my partner.”
Stack grinned. “See? No use lying, I don’t care. We’re all dead, laws aren’t the type of thing that should apply to us.”
“They still do.”
“Yeah, but it’s a lot easier to avoid Jim Crow at night.”
“And sodomy laws?”
“Don’t tell me you’re worried, living with a man, at least since Claudia was twelve or whenever she was turned.” Stack leaned forwards. Louis was beautiful. If he could get in bed with him. “Fuck Lestat’s lover, you could have your own for tonight. Mary won’t mind.”
Stack watched Louis. Watched the way his pupils widened, the way his lips parted, the soft intake of breath. “Alright then,” Louis said.
Stack carefully stood, pulling off his jacket and working at his tie. “How old are you, then? If Ms. Claudia is thirty?”
“Fifty-six.”
“Old man,” Stack said with a whistle, tie sliding off fluidly. Louis, in front of him, started taking off his jacket. “I’ve had a lot of girls call me Daddy, I’d love to be on the other side of that.”
Louis frowned at him. “You are not calling me Daddy.”
“Reserved for Lestat?”
“Reserved for Claudia.”
Stack considered that. They’d called themselves brother and sister. “Tell me y’all ain’t fucking, that would be weird.” He hesitated on the buttons of the shirt. He was not going to fuck Louis he was fucking Claudia.
Louis coughed, half a gag. “No! I was her Daddy Lou when she was young, before she came back and made it clear she wasn’t a little girl anymore. Can’t hear Daddy without thinking of her.”
“I was joking, making sure you know.”
“Didn’t say I’d object to being called other things.” Louis stepped over to Stack, taking the top button of his shirt in hand. Stack leaned in, pressing his lips to Louis’.
His skin was hot, not like Louis or Lestat’s. His burned against Louis’ skin, hands snaking around the back of Louis’ neck, pulling him in. “Been a while since I’ve done this,” he murmured against Louis’ lips. Not too long, but he wasn’t used to it not being paid. Usually, men were the ones paying, and girls were the ones Stack was going for on a whim.
“I’ll help you out.”
“Usually the men were paying,” Stack admitted, a little worried about telling anyone. Not many people knew. Even less that were alive, just Mary now that Smoke and Annie were gone. Anyone else who knew about it thought he’d been the pimp.
“You were a whore?”
“Not my favorite term.”
“Used to own some houses, selling girls. I feel guilt about it now.”
Stack laughed gently. “I’m not gonna absolve you.”
“Don’t need you to. No one could absolve me now, not with what I’ve done.” Louis pressed his hand into Stack’s face. “You still wanna fuck?”
“Yessir,” Stack said with a sly grin. “You gonna finish unbuttoning my shirt, Louis?”
Louis chuckled, kissing Stack again as his fingers worked the buttons of his shirt open. He hauled Stack in close, relishing the feeling of his body against his. He had missed this sort of intimacy, something he had been missing since Lestat left – no, since before that.
“We gonna go up to a bed?”
“Couch, bed, or coffin. You can choose.”
Stack snorts. “Coffin?”
“You don’t have a coffin?”
“We are fucking in that coffin, baby, I’ve gotta know what that is like.”
“Got it.” Louis took Stack’s hand, leading him towards the stairs.
Claudia returned home later, two or three hours before the sun rose, Mary in tow. “You better be fucking decent, Louis!” she yelled out, Louis having informed her over the vampiric bond. “And Mary and Stack are gonna have to stay here tonight. Not sure where, but it’ll have to happen. We don’t have coffins for them, since we tossed Lestat’s.”
Louis appeared at the top of the stairs, in a sweater and looser pants. “They don’t use coffins like we do.” Stack appeared beside him, clearly in some of Louis’ clothes. The two came on downstairs. “We ain’t the same kind of vampires.”
“Figured that out feeding with her. I figured most of it was legend, but it’s all real for them. There’s something different between us.”
“You already asked her all the questions?”
Stack could see, now, that Claudia was never properly going to be Louis’ sister. Once his daughter, always his daughter. He talked to her like she was his daughter, no matter her age or the newfound family bearing. She was an inquisitive child, and Louis was the suffering parent.
“I’ve still got some.” Claudia crossed her arms. Clearly, she saw the same thing Stack did. “You gonna join us? I wanna ask Stack too.”
“He knows everything I do, and I know everything he does,” Mary said. “But let’s all get together tonight. Till the sun rises, at least.”
They finished coming down the stairs, and everyone settled into the living room. Claudia immediately asked another question.
Louis hadn’t seen Stack in years. Barely remembered him, except to tell Armand of the vampires that weren’t quite like them. Armand had never met a vampire like Stack and Mary, and it seemed that neither had any of the vampires he’d met. Except, he added, this Irish fellow Lestat had tangled with once, who was a vampire but odd. Maybe like Louis’ vampires. Maybe like them and just odd.
Until he and Armand were in Chicago. It was the 90s. Louis had, in theory, quit his drugs and young men vice, but occasionally the want came roaring back in his ears. He and Armand fought about it. Louis’ predilection to using other people, Armand's predilection to lying and manipulating instead of speaking about his feelings.
They didn’t split for long. It was just for a week, Armand flying out to New York, watching the boy he thought Louis didn’t know about. Louis making his way through Chicago, looking for any source of pleasure.
That was when he saw him. He didn’t concretely recognize him at first. He just found his eye drawn to a Black man and a white, presumably, woman walking together. The man was in a brightly colored sweater, the woman in a jacket. They were emerging from a bar, a singer’s place. Sammie Moore, if Louis remembered correctly, who he’d seen a few times since he’d arrived in Chicago.
His first thought was to eat them. His second thought was wait. They look familiar.
He moved fast down the street, time slowing as he made his way towards them. And then Louis was walking side by side with two familiar faces: Stack and Mary.
“Fancy seeing you here,” he said casually.
Mary’s face lit up. “Louis!” she said with a smile, stopping so she could throw her arms around his neck and hug him. “It’s been so long.”
Stack grinned, taking Louis’ hand and giving him a quick hug. “Been a while, she’s right. What’re you doing in Chicago?”
“Hopping around a few cities with my partner.”
“Tell me it’s not that awful guy you were with before we met you,” Mary said.
“No,” Louis said. He wanted to elaborate, but he decided against it. It was too long of a story: getting back together with Lestat, killing Lestat, hallucinating Lestat, learning Lestat was alive, having Lestat get Claudia killed. Lestat, even now, lingered in the periphery of his vision. Less than he had in France, but he liked to comment on Louis’ choices, get in the way when he and Armand fought, or come to him when he was mourning Claudia.
“Him?” the ghost and hallucination of Lestat said. “Well, I can see why you went with him, more than the gremlin.”
Louis was very good at ignoring the hallucinations now.
“You and your partner?” Stack asked. “Claudia not with you?”
“She finally manage to get out and see the world?” Mary asked, giving Louis some insight into what the two of them had talked about hunting together. The question stung. Claudia could have. If she hadn’t come back and gotten taken by the theatre, she and Madeleine could have been all over the world.
“No,” Louis said. He wasn’t sure how to phrase it. Nothing felt right, nothing would ever feel right. Passed, gone, even dead. They all felt wrong. “She was killed.”
Mary gasped. “No! What? Oh, Louis, I’m so sorry.” She moved to hug him again. He let her. The kind touch was nice. He hadn’t realized how lacking it had been for so long until Mary held him. “I’m so so sorry.”
“Come on,” Stack said, clapping Louis on the back. “Let us buy you a drink. We’re here for you.”
“We? You want us, or just Stack?” Mary asked, almost teasing. It would have been teasing, without the loss of Claudia hanging onto their voices and emotions. Now, it was almost an offer: less of a you wanna fuck Stack? and more of a would it help you to fuck Stack?
“Both of you, right now,” Louis said.
But he would take Stack later, leaving Mary to her own flirtations at a bar. He would take Stack back to the apartment he was renting with Armand, reaching out to Armand, finding him still in New York, watching the boy and his wife. He would take hold of Stack, something solid in the rushing tide, the dream of Lestat barely out of the corner of his eye.
“I missed you,” he would tell Stack, although it wasn’t Stack he missed. It was the feeling of fucking someone alive and hot, someone solid, who wasn’t thinking about his boy. It was the feeling of knowing that Stack wasn’t as flighty as Armand, wasn’t lying like Armand, wasn’t worming into Louis’ mind. He hadn’t had that in a long while, not since early Armand, or even early Lestat.
“Missed you too,” Stack said, biting at his ear, and it clearly wasn’t all that true for him either. “How about you call me Elias, this time around?”
Louis gripped Elias’ shoulder and pulled him to the bed.