Shayne and Lestat (And Armand)
No one told me that New Orleans could get this cold. I thought that the weather here was always going to be humid and muggy, heavy with the fragrance of jasmine that clung to the walls and lamp posts of the old city. But a great chill was wafting through the dark streets, I suppose some semblance of winter must come through here. It was late in the year and the moon held his chin high and proud in the sky, producing a grand pure lighting through the dirty streets. It was such a somber and peaceful night to behold. It was the sort of night that forced you to recollect your life and find peace with all of your regrets. My only regret was that I hadn't come here sooner...or anywhere sooner.
I strolled through the quiet streets, not too far from the famous Bourbon Street, and yet just far enough away to catch glimpses of the underbelly of New Orleans. I could see the dank alleyways often used for informal business practices. The corners near intersections that were marked for the women of the night. Traces and glances from people that may have thoughts of something carnal or malicious as I walked past them. I know I looked a bit strange compared to others. My hair hung down on the left side of my face in unkempt waves. The right side of my head bearing peach fuzz, needing to be shaved down soon. The piercing on my brow must have been glistening in the moon light, much like my albino white skin would have been absorbing it. My heavy black boots gave a deep thud as I walked, giving me the slight edge of intimidation. I had wished then that my black shirt had been warmer and didn't expose most of my arms and shoulders to the cold breeze. My legs were thankfully very warm, covered by both heavy black pants and a long flowing black sarong that gave me a more interesting silhouette and a beautiful billow in the wind that I couldn't resist.
I hadn't been in this city for very long which I could partly use as an excuse for not knowing how to properly dress myself for the strange southern weather patterns. I was walking this night searching for something I had heard rumors of around the patches of the city I felt like I had fit into. They told me of an old building that had once been a commissary in the old days, with old bricks that bore signs of old fires and destruction. The building stood near an abandoned intersection, all other buildings in the area having been deserted from floods or storms. But the area was all but. People seemed to creep out of the cracks and shadows of the buildings and alleyways as I passed by. Perhaps it was the orange in my eyes or the ink that flowed along my arms that kept their distance from me.
The rumors spoke of rituals that would be performed in that old commissary every so often, almost as though it were part of some strange calender that not many were privy to. It were these rumors of rituals that caught my interest. They spoke of voodoo and hoodoo. They spoke of witchcraft. They spoke of the strange and unknown. Things like me. I had studied voodoo and practiced what little of it that I could. I felt incredibly inclined to see these rituals for myself to see how New Orleans Voodoo was practiced and used.
Looking back, I should have felt nervous. After all, I was traveling alone in a city that I certainly wasn't familiar with. I didn't have a weapon with me, save a switchblade that was safely tucked within my pocket. Some of the people that I had passed had seemed unsavory and like they wouldn't hesitate to bring forth violence if I even so much as took a second glance at their features. But in that moment, I felt no fear. I felt nothing but the draw and allure of this strange underbelly that I was creeping along. I was beginning to see signs of people that were also heading to the ritual. Couples and individuals in ceremonial white clothing passed by, glancing at me as they did so.
The building was in full view of me now. It stood between abandoned warehouses and abandoned homes. But I could see light peeking out from the cracks in the bricks and from the broken windows I could hear talking and singing. Near the entrance to the building stood a pretty young woman. Her dark skin shimmered in the night sky and she gave me a warm smile as I approached. She was one of the only others that wasn't wearing the white clothing. She wore dark tones as I did. She had long braided dreads that spilled over her shoulders. She had a shiny silver septum piercing that hung above her plump lips.
"You have such beautiful eyes. It's not very often you see someone with orange around their iris", the young woman said to me as I drew closer. "But you have the aura of someone new. You must have heard rumors that floated around the city".
"Yes, I did. I wanted to see how much of the rumors are true and to see just how interesting this city can be", I answered. The two of us stepped inside the building and at once I felt a wave of heat surround me. Metal barrels had been placed around the building and filled bright warm fires that people gathered around. A few people were chanting and clapping, singing traditional voodoo songs and hymns.
"You are not frightened?", the young woman had asked me then, as I caught glimpses of people offering their handmade gris-gris. Dolls and talismans were being offered and presented.
"Trust me, it takes a great deal more than this to scare me", I answered her. I had felt my heart beat faster, though not from fear. I felt excitement at seeing such beautiful handcrafted objects and smelling the musky incense that filled the air. Drums lined the wall with players ready to pound out a rhythm.
But I felt myself being led away from the festivities. The young woman had taken me by the hand and led me to the side of the building, not too far from the light and the heat, but just enough away to be free from the noise. I could feel the cold creeping around my body once more and a shiver shot down my spine. The young woman at my side had slid her hand from mine and placed it along my lower back, right over my spine. It was at this moment that I finally felt a wave of anxiety and paranoia. Something didn't seem right in this moment and I recoiled from her touch at once.
"Alright, we're starting to pass the boundary of frightening me. What do you want?", I asked of her then, making my voice as commanding and cold as I could. My feet started to edge backwards towards the warmth and light of the festivities as I carefully analyzed the woman in in front of me.
"Don't be scared, pretty eyes. You wanted to see more of true voodoo, well here it is", she said softly before pulling a knife from her clothing.
I took a few quick steps backwards before colliding with something hard. I looked behind me, expecting to see the charred bricks of the building, but instead the figure of a tall man. The light poured in from behind him, obscuring his face to darkness, but I could make out the soft glow of blond hair around his face. I quickly looked back over at the young woman before me. She carefully eyed the man behind me, before sliding the knife back behind her, as though she were a small child caught stealing from the cookie jar. Her eyes were wide and her bottom lip had begun to tremble slightly.
"You would dare harm an innocent? And in my city no less...tsk tsk tsk", the man said. I saw his head tilt towards me, as though he were regarding me for a moment before his long arm came across to push me aside, holding me against the rough brick wall and pressed his hand against me, silently commanding me to stay there as he pulled away.
"You're not real. You can't be", the young woman said as she backed away slowly. But with every step she took backwards, the man took two steps forward.
"Oh, I'm afraid he's very real, darling. Just as real as the fangs in your mouth and the knife behind your back", another voice called out.
Another figure approached us from behind the young woman. Just enough light poured forth from the building for me to make out this one's features. He was shorter than the other man, with a head of dark red soft curls. His skin was as pale as my own and his eyes were a glowing amber shade. He looked youthful, younger than me...though his voice spoke with a vibrancy that seemed ageless. His hand shot behind the young woman and pulled the blade from her hands, taking a moment to inspect the sharp object before tossing it to the side carelessly.
I stayed against the wall, unsure of what was happening. My mind was spinning as I realized that the young man had said fangs...as though I were dealing with vampires. Of course it would be vampires...it was New Orleans, there's always vampires in New Orleans. I was mentally slapping myself as I was quickly coming to terms that I may have been led astray and nearly killed when I noticed that the taller man was turning back towards me.
Now that he was fully in front of me, I could make out his features more clearly. His skin too was just as pale as mine and his eyes were a beautiful blue that was so easy to lose yourself in. His blond hair flowed down past his shoulders in soft waves and as I regarded him in this moment I remembered how hard his body had felt when I bumped into him. And yet he seemed slim, not muscular. And now he spoke, not to me though his eyes were studying me intently.
"And why the knife cherie? If you wished to feed, your fangs are far better suited..", he said calmly and his hand once again reached out for me, his knuckles lightly sliding up my arm and shoulder and up to my cheek as he spoke. "...for the pleasure of you both", he added softly.
I looked up at him and felt a blush forming across my pale cheeks as my heart was racing with a maddening speed. I was frightened and yet I didn't dare move.
"What's going on?" I finally stuttered out in a quiet tone.
"Shh, don't you worry, little one", the man said as he placed his fingers over my lips lightly to quiet me. He smiled at me with a wolfish grin that bore the subject of my fear. Two fangs hid in his smile. My eyes grew wide and my heart was nearly leaping from my chest. I felt like prey trapped by a predator, an insect trapped underneath the cat's paw. But instead of hurting me, the man placed his hand on my chest over my heart, his hand nearly completely between my breasts. His hand was cold and though the feeling was strangely alien in a moment like this, it was a soothing gesture.
I nervously looked back over at the young woman to find that she too had been caught. The younger man held her tightly in his arms, his lips against her ear as he spoke to her almost like a lover. But the look on his face led me to believe that it was harsh words that left his lips before his lips descended to her neck with great speed.
But my gaze was quickly directed away from the scene as the man that had me pinned to the wall turned my gaze towards him with his hand on my chin.
"Now now, there's nothing for you to see there.", he said as he slid his hand up from my chin to my cheek, using his hand to block my vision from seeing what was happening off to the side...and so that my vision was completely set on him. His bright blue eyes were piercing into me as I stared up at him like a frightened child. "What is your name, mon cherie?".
"S-Shayne. My name is Shayne.", I answered him quickly, perhaps too quickly I noted as I heard my words stutter out of my lips clumsily.
"You must be so frightened, sweet Shayne. Or perhaps you're just cold?", he said, a sly grin on his face.
"I'm just cold", I replied, not wanting to admit my own fear and anxiety, especially to a damn vampire.
"Ah well, let us fix that, shall we?", he said with a big grin on his face and pulled away from me for just long enough to pull off the leather jacket that he had been wearing and wrapped it around my shoulders. The jacket smelled very good, like a fine cologne had been misted around it. The material was very cold. It was as if the man produced no body heat with which to keep himself warm. But the jacket was working wonders on me. In no time at all the cozy material that I was bundled with warmed my torso and arms.
I whispered my thanks to the man and took a second to peek another glance at him. Underneath the jacket he wore a soft blue shirt with long sleeves and I caught a few shimmers along his fingers, alluding to silver rings that I hadn't noticed before.
"So what do you think we should do about Shayne here? She saw a bit too much, didn't she Lestat?", a voice said. The voice belonged to the young man from before that approached us now, his big amber eyes focused on me. He came closer until he stood next to me on my side and he leaned his side against the wall behind me, as though to trap me once more. He was almost the same height as me and now it seemed as though his skin was darker than mine, when just moments ago I could have sworn that we were the same shade of pure white.
"You'll make the poor girl have a panic attack, talking about her in such a way Armand!", the man named Lestat exclaimed. He made a mocking face at the younger man before he turned to face me once more, leaning closer, his torso now touching mine as he studied me carefully for a moment. "She doesn't need nightmares over such things", he said softly, as though he was making up his mind on a decision that I wasn't made aware of.
I jumped out of my skin suddenly when Lestat placed one hand against the brick wall on my side that wasn't occupied by another body and his other hand came up and lightly grasped my jaw, his hand tilting my head to the side. This reaction did not go unnoticed. I felt a warm hand on mine and a soft whisper by my side. "Shh, don't be scared. It will all be alright now. Just let us take care of you", the young man whispered.
Before I could think of any kind of rebuttle to that statement, Lestat leaned in close to my neck and I felt a few soft kisses along my neck. The kisses felt so good, it felt like the devil himself was showing him where to find each and every one of my sensitive places that I hid there. He lingered on one place in particular towards the bottom of my neck and I expected to feel needles pierce me there or teeth biting into me...but I felt no sort of pain or penetration. Instead there was this instant feeling of vertigo. It felt like I was being thrust headfirst to a place I'd never been before. I was falling. No...I was swimming. No...I was floating.
"See sweet girl, there is no pain. Just let it take you", Armand whispered to me once again, though his voice sounded so far away now. "Just let go"
But letting go can be so hard. What if holding on is all I have? Then what happens when I let go? Where do I go when I just let the torrents take me? What if I don't survive this storm? But these thoughts were being pulled away from me as I was quickly being left with no other option but to let go and give myself to Lestat's mercy. And such a beautiful mercy it was. It was peace. A peace I hadn't felt so long. My eyes were open, and for the first time in such a long time, perhaps not since I had been a little girl, I looked at the stars. I looked at the beautiful twinkles and how they stayed in the sky no matter what horrors affected the world they shined above. My mind was slipping. That was what they wanted, wasn't it?
Sleep was coming fast and I couldn't fight it any longer. Before I fully slipped away, I was aware of Lestat pulling away from me and whispering something that I couldn't make out. But it was okay, it didn't seem like he was actually speaking to me. Before I could try to focus to hear whatever answer greeted him, I was gone.
When I awoke the next morning, I was shocked to find myself in my bed. My blanket was wrapped around me tightly, tucked in was I. At the foot of my bed, I found Lestat's jacket from the previous night, which made my heart beat rapidly. Last night hadn't been a dream. My hand found it's way to my neck where I swore I had felt Lestat's bite, but could find no kind of wound there. I held the black leather jacket close to me, inhaling that dreamy scent and wondered what the hell was going to happen now.