His idea for the trailer was: Cut out Lestat completely.

Apparently, it can't be called 'The Vampire Lestat' and have no Lestat in it.

━ drily. But his tone had been far too hostile for this situation. It didn't make sense.

He didn't reach out with the mind gift. It wasn't his first instinct. His first instinct was to peek over his shades and take him in.

Something's up here. He just can't put his finger on what it is.

━ ash. Either out of hatred for his maker or out of hatred for his book.

But something about the man's words startled him out of his trance, right when he heard a whisper of a voice that might have been Louis' too.

"I have a date with my bed. Can't reschedule that again." He commented, ━

Really, Daniel hadn't been looking for an answer. He'd been searching through the many vampiric voices (aka Vamp Radio) to try and find his friend.

He could start shouting, but he'd learned very quickly that most of the vampire community would want nothing more than for him to be a pile of ━

━ bad' thing, we should keep focused."

This is a 'get back at my ex because he made me look bad' thing, but the audience didn't need to know that.

"He'll come up a lot. Don't get me wrong. That's just my advice, creative to creative."

━ was 'Lestat.'"

While Daniel has more of a personal connection (and loyalty) to Louis, he would say these things to his face. Hell, he had. It's a miracle that he still has a tongue.

"But if you want people to listen to you and not think this is some 'get back at my ex because he made me look ━

━ hanging around mind readers much prior to now.

But those were the sort of mysteries that he was using Lestat to avoid thinking about. Digging up others' secrets was a lot more comfortable than digging up his own.

"The world already knows he thinks obsessively about you, pal. Every other word ━

"I'm working on it," he grumbled under his breath.

The problem was: Daniel has a loud mind. His thoughts had always been loud, practically shouting at any telepaths who might be around. It was a thing that he knew down to his core, but he wasn't sure exactly how he knew it since he hadn't been ━

"D'ya think they could /handle/ watching me drain someone in front of their faces?"

He was joking. He wouldn't do that to a group of mortals who had to deal with Lestat every day.

"They seem squeamish."

"Yeah. I'm so grateful that I walked in on someone who broke into my home. Y'know, because at least I got to see who broke into my home."

His voice was dripping with sarcasm as he walked into the bedroom, plopping down on the bed.

"Alright, I'll bite. What do I have that's yours?"

━ of junk. His daughters' old toys, an old key chain that he'd picked up because the black cat had big orange eyes, some unused cassette tapes...

"You should ask before going through people's shit. That's basic manners." He said, drily.

At least, all of his most important stuff was stashed away more securely. His notes, his unpublished work, a locket that he has no idea where/when it came from (probably from Alice, since it had an A engraved on it) but treasured nonetheless. She wouldn't find those.

All she'd find is a mountain ━

━ all the flavors."

He meant for his words to come out as bitchy. They were a little more earnest than that.

━ the interview.

"I do enjoy this." He said firmly.

He loved being a vampire. But he knew that wasn't all his maker was saying. Reading him was easy. It was as instinctual as breathing used to be.

"You're the boss. I'll make sure to taste my food. Give you a nice little list of ━

━ appliance.

The images faded as quickly as they arrived and he shook them off with a laugh. Maybe he was just imagining what it would be like for someone from the 1500s to try and navigate 'modern' technology. Clearly, he'd figured it out somehow. He'd practically been glued to his iPad during ━

For some reason, the thought of Armand learning brought with it a torrent of images.

A long distance phone call. Blenders strewn about a kitchen. The sounds of a garbage disposal screaming as it was fed an entire pack of cigarettes. A microwave that looked more like a crime scene than a kitchen ━

//Daniel: so why the fuck did I feel like I was missing a limb when we were apart when we only met, like, twice. and you were married to Louis both times.

Armand, sweating blood: YES IT IS A MYSTERY, ISN'T IT

━ stunning. He /should/ recognize what he's feeling, since he was divorced twice. But all he'd felt then was a vague sense of relief; maybe a little shame that he couldn't be a decent husband.

"I /missed you/."

He hadn't meant to say that out loud. And yet there it was.

Armand truly is special.

His hands grip tighter onto Armand's hips, claws digging in just a little too much - he winced when he realized that he probably tore holes in a pair of pants that cost more than his first mortgage.

He tried to respond to his maker's words, but he was struck by a realization. One that was ━

━ so young, he's really risking burning to a crisp.

But he doesn't care about that right now.

What he's focused on is the woman digging through his belongings.

"Wanna tell me what the fuck you're doing?"

Daniel leaned against the doorway to his bedroom, arms crossed over his chest.

He has no coffin. The only sign that it's not a human's bedroom were the blackout curtains haphazardly thrown up.

Since he's ━

━ he knows he's nowhere near as strong as his maker. He could only move him because he was allowed to. And that filled him with that same, strange emotion.

He buried his face in his Armand's shirt once he was close enough. Speechless for once. How rare is /that/?

He's different.

Daniel couldn't hope to name the emotion that filled his chest. It was overwhelming. It hurt. It was the best thing he'd felt in his life.

Without thinking about it, he reached out and grabbed Armand's belt-loops, tugging him back over to him. While he has vampire strength now, ━

"Maybe I'll sit in more. Y'know, while we're rolling. See what exactly you mean by 'demanding perfection,' 'cause I'm picturing a lot of yelling in French."

A pause.

"Remind me to eat first, would you?"

━ he had an inkling that Louis was also hallucinating in Dubai. That he'd look at empty chairs and Armand's jaw would tighten.

"See, /this/ is the sorta conversation we should try to avoid having on camera."

━ wanted to be seen with the only fledgling of a crazy ancient. Especially when said fledgling flagrantly broke multiple Great Laws in one fell swoop.

"Yeah. And even if his words weren't enough... two other people confirmed it." Armand in person, Claudia through her diaries.

He didn't say that ━

━ in the way of his job.

Working with Lestat was easier in one way: he didn't have the same personal connection as he did with the other two. He /could/ compartmentalize.

Not that it would stay that way. This is the only other vampire who is speaking to him. It's a small community and not many ━

"Yeah, well, take that up with him. Besides, if you read until the end? You'd know that somebody else came out looking a lot worse."

Every time he mentioned Armand, his chest ached. But it would be impossible to do this without talking about him. Besides, he was never one to let his emotions get ━

━ trapped this close to sunrise and risk him burning to a crisp.

He could fling some money around, get it fixed faster.

━ of them. The only thing worse than an elevator is a cramped elevator.

Leaning against the wall, he let out a huff of air that was meant to be a laugh.

"Figures, huh?"

Maybe he should reach out to Louis through the mind gift. Angry at him or not, his friend wouldn't leave a fledgling ━