Lestat awoke that evening and instinctively knew that
something was not quite right. He opened up his mind and extended it
outwards. He
could sense the still-sleeping forms of Armand and Daniel in their room.
And, of course, Louis was still right next to him still in his death-like
sleep.
Otherwise, he could not sense anyone else, which was very strange indeed.
Even though he could not pierce Jamie’s thoughts, he could always sense her
physical presence if she were nearby. However, that presence was nowhere to
be
found. He bolted out of the bed and quickly made his way to Jamie’s room.
As he suspected, no one was there. The bed was neatly made with all pillows
in their proper place. As he explored the rest of the townhouse, his fury
rose with each empty room he discovered.
Lestat had to go hunt, so he went back to his bedroom, quickly changed
clothes, and left the flat. He found what he wanted in a nearby cafe. This
woman
was a murderer of the worst sort. She had poisoned three of her four
husbands to death without arousing any suspicion whatsoever, and when he came
upon
her, she was plotting how to do away with her current husband.
He noticed immediately when her attention was completely centered on him.
She straightened in her chair and began to primp her hair. Concealing his
fangs, he grinned wickedly at her as he made his approach. She smiled
seductively at him, already having him pegged as her No. 5.
Lestat took the woman’s hand and led her out of the cafe. He could read her
thoughts as if they were plastered on her face. She was already planning on
screwing the daylights out of him, and then would attempt to blackmail him
into doing whatever she wanted him to do. Ahh, chere, he thought, that will
never happen I’m afraid. But the chase will be quite fun indeed. He allowed
the woman to lead him back to her apartment, which just happened to be
nearby. He probed her thoughts again and was almost sickened by them. This
was
a truly evil woman with no remorse in her soul, and he was going to take the
greatest pleasure in dispatching her. Once on her home turf, the woman
became aggressive. Lestat allowed her to push him up against the wall and
kiss
him. Although, as he allowed her to kiss and fondle him, he was also allowing
his hunger to arise at full strength.
Finally, Lestat decided he had had enough, and he put her up against the
wall. The woman looked at him through passion-fogged eyes. He smiled at her
while running his fingers along her jawline and down her neck. He leaned in
towards her as if he were going to kiss her, and her eyes closed in
anticipation. He bypassed her mouth, however, and tilting her head to the
side, went
straight for her neck. He ran his tongue along her neck searching for the
right spot. He felt her shiver in his arms, and finding the spot he wanted,
drove his fangs into her neck.
The woman gasped and tried to escape the pain, but Lestat held her closely
to him. With his own eyes closed, he drank deeply, so deeply in fact, that
the woman began to moan and writhe with renewed ecstasy.
After a few minutes, Lestat felt her go limp in his arms. Her death hit him
hard, and his head swam briefly with the force of the swoon. With his eyes
still closed, he let the body drop to the floor. He felt the blood rushing
through his veins into every part of his body, warming him up immensely. As
always during the blood swoon, Lestat lost all consciousness except to that
of the blood coursing through his veins.
As the swoon was ending, Lestat became aware of himself and his surroundings
once again. He opened his eyes and looked down at the body of the woman.
He noticed that her skin was already blue, and that her cheeks were beginning
to look sunken. Before leaving the apartment, he gashed his finger and let
his blood run over the puncture wounds. The little wounds vanished before
his very eyes.
When Lestat made it back to the flat, he noticed that there were lights
coming from the living room. Opening his consciousness, he was furious to
discover that Jamie still wasn’t there. Mentally, he opened the front door
and
walked inside. In a mortal burst of temper though, he physically slammed the
door. The walls shook with the force of his anger.
He strode to the parlor and saw that Armand was sitting on one of the sofas
there. He was on the phone with one of his mortal agents, and he looked up
when Lestat entered the room. Armand’s eyes widened at the look on Lestat’s
face, and Lestat felt him probing to get an answer for it. Lestat tightened
his shields further, and was somewhat amused at the look of consternation
that appeared on Armand’s face. He watched as Armand ended the phone call,
stood up, and began walking towards him. "Lestat?" he asked in his soft
voice,
"what is it?"
"She’s not here," Lestat ranted, "where did she go?"
"I presume we are talking about Jamie?" Armand asked.
"Of course I am, Armand," Lestat said, "have you seen her tonight?"
Armand shook his head in a negative gesture. "No, I haven’t," he said.
A couple of hours later, Jamie had not yet returned to the flat, and Lestat
was in a rage. The others knew this, so they stayed out of his way. He
paced the floor back and forth. Once, he accidentally stepped on Daniel’s
foot,
and Daniel almost cursed him. Armand clapped his hand over Daniel’s mouth
in warning. Glaring at Armand, Daniel removed the hand from over his mouth.
He whispered, "I wasn’t going to say anything."
Armand nodded, and smiled a little, "I know. I was just making absolutely
sure you didn’t."
Then they all heard footsteps coming from outside. It was Jamie. Lestat
was at the door in a flash. Before she could even open the door, he had the
door open. He asked, in a very controlled voice, "Just where the hell have
you been?"
Jamie looked surprised at the tone in Lestat’s voice. She looked at Armand,
Daniel, and Louis and they all made a point of looking elsewhere. She
shrugged and turned her attention back to Lestat. "I was out," she said,
simply.
Lestat’s barely controlled temper was about to explode. He said through
clenched teeth, "Yes, you were obviously out, but where exactly were you,
cheríe?"
Jamie was beginning to look a little angry herself. "I had to get out,
okay? I was feeling very claustrophobic today."
What Lestat said next really caused Jamie to lose control. He said, almost
imperiously, "Well, you should have checked with one of us first." I couldn’
t believe that I had actually heard Lestat say what I thought he said. "I
should have what?" I almost shouted.
He glared at me. "You heard me. You should have checked with one of us
before going out."
I almost burst into a maniacal laughter. "You have got to be kidding me.
First of all, there were none of you to be found when I decided to go out.
Something along the lines of," I paused, pretending to be thinking. A smile
came to my face, and it must not have been a pretty one, because
Lestat’s eyes narrowed on me. "Oh yes, you were in your vampire sleep. How
was I supposed to check with you and ask your permission?" I spat out that
phrase. I continued on, "And second of all, I’m a grown woman with grown
children. I think I’ve earned the right to go wherever the hell I want to."
Lestat grabbed my arms, and gently shook me. "Don’t you realize it, yet?"
he shouted at me.
I looked down at his hands on my arms and looked up into his flashing blue
eyes. "Let me go," I said, very softly. And when he didn’t, I grew even
angrier. "Let me go," I repeated.
I barely heard Louis’ voice entreating Lestat to release me. "You are going
to hurt her, Lestat," he said.
I saw Lestat silence Louis with a glare, and then he turned his attention
back upon me. "You little idiot. You don’t understand, do you?" he asked.
I said through my teeth, "Understand what? That I don’t like to be
manhandled?" All of a sudden I felt something happen to me. A force went
through
me, starting from my feet and rising upwards. With one final burst of anger,
and I don’t know what else, I shouted, "LET ME GO!" With that statement, I
felt the force burst forth from me, and it knocked Lestat and the others
completely off of their feet. Absolutely stunned, they all looked up at me.
My
mouth dropped open in astonishment, and then I darted for my room.
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