Disclaimers:  All characters belong to Anne Rice and Co., only having fun
with them for a little while.
Warnings:  NC-17
Spoilers: All
Characters:  Mainly Lestat, Louis/ Lestat, Louis / Armand, Daniel.
**********************************************************************
New York:-

The cellar was cold, dark and damp, but it was out of the snow, away from
prying eyes.  The old man squinted into the darkness, then shuffled back
slightly when he heard a skittering on the stone floor.  A couple of rats
scurried over his tattered boots.  He cursed them, threw a tin can in their
direction, then dumped his sleeping bag on the ground.  His old bag probably
wouldn't be enough to keep him warm down here, but it would stop him from
freezing to death.

He took another swig out of his bottle of cheap booze, hoping to sink into
an alcoholic oblivion for a short while, then looked around him.  The only
light seemed to be coming from the doorway. If there had been any windows at
street level they were boarded up.  As his rheumy eyes became used to the
darkness he could see some old oil lamps on the walls.  He fished into his
pockets and pulling out a packet of matches attempted to light the first
lamp.  Nothing happened, either the wick was gone, or all the oil had dried
up.  He reached up and with a sigh of relief the second one burst into life,
albeit a dim smoky one, but it was light enough for him to find a spot to
sleep.

In the farthest corner of the cellar he could see what looked like a bench,
or maybe an old seat, he edged over to it.  Dust from aeons past had
accumulated on top of it, and cobwebs tangled and twined in and around the
fancy carving on its edges.  The old man was curious.  He pulled an old rag
from his pocket and began to dust it off, choking and coughing as he did so.
  Underneath the filth he could make out some symbols, or perhaps they were
old letters, he wasn't sure.

He stepped back a little to get a better view of the box, for that is what
it looked like now, not a bench...no more like an old sarcophagus, or a
coffin.    His hands were trembling and suddenly he felt very spooked.  What
if there was a body inside?  He felt as though he couldn't stay in this
cellar any longer.  He backed away.  Then another thought entered his mind.
What if this box held some sort of treasure?   He had found it hadn't he?
He could be a rich man, no longer needing to sleep in dirty cellars or
cardboard boxes.  He hurriedly shut the door and went up the steps as
quickly as his old legs would carry him.  His knees were shaking violently
when he reached the top.

Four of his buddies were still sitting in the gutter a little way up the
street, and he approached them excitedly.  They were all drunk, but not so
far gone that they couldn't detect the air of excitement about their friend.
  He managed to entice them, with thoughts of gold and riches, back down
into the cellar to help him open the lid.

Once, maybe, these five slightly inebriated middle aged to old men would
never have been able to open it.  But time and water seeping into its seal
had cracked it, making it weak and crumbly.  With the help of an iron bar as
a lever they managed to prise the lid off.   The old man held up the oil
lamp and peered inside.......
 

********************************************************************

Lestat was sitting at his computer, supposedly working out his monthly
accounts to send off to his Accountant, but in reality he had been playing
the game "Tomb Raider" for the last hour.  It was much more fun, and he was
just about to reach the second to top level when Louis came bustling into
the room.

"Do you want to see what I just bought?" Louis announced happily.

"Louis...not now...I'm just about to...ah shit!  I just got killed.  Dammit
Louis, you made me get killed...."  He growled and turned around to him,
baring his teeth and trying to look ferocious.

"Oh, Lestat.  Don't be so melodramatic.  You're immortal remember.  Any how,
why didn't you cheat like you usually do?" Louis laughed.

"Cheat, me cheat...why you cheeky, black haired, minx."  He pounced at
Louis, knocking him to the ground, winding him and pinning his arms to the
ground.

"Get off of me you ox." Louis shouted, squirming about underneath Lestat's
heavy weight.

"Not until you apologise for calling me a cheater." he snarled.

"Never!" Louis growled, baring his teeth.

Lestat leant down and began to kiss him roughly, nipping at his bottom lip
and drawing blood.  Louis twisted his head to the side and managed to bite
Lestat on the ear.

"Ouch!" Lestat screeched, "that hurt."

"Good, now are you going to get off me?"

"NO!" Lestat screamed, even more determined than before.  "Apologise."

"No!" Louis screamed back, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
He was enjoying their little game of rough and tumble.

Louis somehow managed to bring his knee up between Lestat's legs and got him
right where it hurt.  "Shit! Louis, you are really asking for it now."

"What am I asking for?" he said to him seductively.

"This!" Lestat chortled, and began to strip Louis shirt off his trembling
body,  pulling the belt out of his trousers.  "What's it to be, Louis,
sweetheart?  A sexy romp in the bedroom, or will I take this belt to your
pretty backside?"

"You wouldn't dare." Louis replied, beginning to tremble a little.

"What's it to be, a ravishing or a thrashing?"

Louis was just about to suck up very sweetly to his lover when the strident
ringing of the telephone shattered the temporary silence.

"Dam!" Lestat grumbled.

"Ignore it." Louis replied.

"What if its important." Lestat said.

"They will ring back if it is."

But just as the telephone ceased and their lustful eyes drew back to the
task at hand, there came a loud knocking at the door.

"Go away!" Lestat shouted.

"No...its important." came a well known voice from the hallway.  "Get up you
two, and come and watch this."

They both looked up to see Armand and Daniel walking into the room, and
making themselves at home on their couch.

"Go away." Lestat snarled at them.  "Can't you see we are busy here."

"I guarantee you two will want to see this." Armand said calmly and flicked
on the television.

Lestat leapt to his feet, dragging a bewildered Louis with him, and
confronted Armand.  "What's the big idea, barging in on us like this?"

"Lestat...shut up for one second, turn your oversexed body around and watch
the fucking television."

Lestat was so shocked at being spoken to like that in his own home that he
actually did as he was told.  He sat down on the couch next to Armand and
watched the news report.

Louis sat down at Lestat's feet and they both gaped at what was unfolding in
front of them.

"What the hell is going on?"  Lestat whispered as he watched the camera
panning slowly up and down an old coffin, as he saw what looked like his and
Louis' faces on the screen.

"Be careful with them, please." The young man was saying to the burly
policemen.  "They are fragile and very old.  Here set them in this glass
case."

"Geeze, they give me the crawling heeby jeebies." The older policeman said,
brushing his hands furiously on his trousers after he had put down the
bodies.

The young forensic scientist, Michael, shooed the policemen out of the room,
then turned his eyes to the prize in front of him.  "Such wonderful
specimens."  he mused to himself.  "Now, how did they manage to be so well
preserved?"  He walked around the glass case containing the bodies of the
young men.  They were both in a state of severe emaciation, but their
features were clearly recognisable.

Michael's well trained eyes took in all the details.  Their clothes were
just rags, but looked as though they were from the middle 1800's.  The cloth
seemed to have been of good quality wool, linen and silk.   Both men seemed
to be about 6 foot tall, one with yellow blonde hair, the other with long
black hair.  Their features were pleasant, the blonde had a wide soft mouth,
and a fine nose, the black haired one, who was slighter, had androgynous
features.  He was extremely beautiful.    "Hmmmmm...now what's with their
fingernails?" he wondered.  He picked up the hand of the blonde one and
inspected them.  "So shiny."

The skin felt almost alive...it was creepy.  He dropped the hand back down
again and stepped away.  There didn't appear to be any embalming fluid on
the bodies, they hadn't been wrapped in anything.  Michael wondered if the
heavy stone coffin they had been found in had anything to do with their
preservation.

He reached up and opened the heavy curtains on the windows above him and a
stream of late afternoon sunlight hit the back of the body of the dark
haired one.  Smoke hissed and curled up out of the glass case.

'Shit!" Michael shouted, and ran to cover the window again.  He inspected
the damage on the man's back.  There was just a small burn where the sun's
rays had hit it, but it seemed to be healing itself.  With shaking hands he
gently touched the wound.  The skin under his fingers seemed to be moving.
"My God!  What are you?"

Michael rushed to his computer and began to furiously enter data.  He would
have to confer with his Senior in the morning but he had a few ideas of his
own.   One of them was that they were aliens.  They were definitely dead
though, he couldn't detect any pulse, the bodies were cold and hard, but he
just knew that he didn't want to cut them up, it would seem sacrilegious
somehow.  He was going to have to do some fast talking in the morning to
enable him free rein on studying the bodies.  He hoped the government
wouldn't want to interfere.

But for now it was knock off time, he was tired, and these bodies could wait
one more night.  They had already waited a century or more.

He sealed them securely in the glass case, bolted the heavy metal door to
the lab and disappeared down the corridor.  He didn't hear the gentle sigh
that issued from the glass case, nor the soft whisperings.

**********************************************************************
Louis was sitting  in stunned silence, while Lestat paced up and down.
"What the hell were they?" he said to Armand.

"Doubles." Armand replied, shrugging and raising his eyebrows.

Daniel had gone over to Louis and putting his arm around him, tried to snap
him out of his shock.  "Come on Louis, there must be some sort of rational
explanation."

"But they looked just like us, only they were in some kind of coma.  In fact
they looked a bit like you did, Lestat, when you were out of it on the
chapel floor, a couple of years ago."

"How do we even know they were vampires.  The news report just said they
were mummified, or something.  The authorities think they were in that
coffin for years."  Lestat said to Armand, who had continued to pace with
him.

"Geeze, Armand.  They were bloody identical to us.  They certainly looked
like vampires, with their white skin."

"Well there's one way to find out." Armand replied, grabbing Lestat on the
arm trying to slow him down a bit.

Lestat looked at him..."and what might that be?"

"Go and check them out for ourselves."
 

The museum had been closed for several hours, but that didn't deter the
intrepid vamps.  An impressive display of slight of hand by Lestat soon had
them wandering the corridors.  Louis found himself lost in a display of
naked Islanders and their canoes and artefacts.  It took the others half an
hour to find him, down on his hands and knees checking out the intricate
carving on one of the long boats.

"Louis, you can come back here any time and check out this boring stuff.  We
have vampires to look for."  Lestat said to him, pulling him up by his
collar and dragging him along behind him.

"Lestat, stop manhandling me.  That was interesting.  You should have seen
the beautiful carvings on the side of that boat."

"Yeah, yeah." Lestat replied impatiently.  "It was wonderful, now lets
continue our search."

"They are upstairs." Armand said quietly, with a little frown on his face.
"and they are still alive."

"Still alive...are you sure?" Lestat replied.  He lifted his nose trying to
follow their scent, or pick up any thought waves.  He looked concerned.
"You're right.  Their minds are dulled, but I can detect something."

"I don't like this, Lestat.  It feels weird in here.  In fact I feel weird."
  Louis stumbled as he said this and leant against the wall of the museum.
His eyes were hazy and his breathing had quickened.

Lestat went up to him and touched him on the forehead.  'If you weren't a
vampire I would swear you had a temperature." Lestat said, worried about him
now.

"I am really hot, Lestat.  In fact I think I'm going to faint....." and with
that he buckled at the knees and fell to the floor.

"Shit, what's going on?" Lestat cried softly, more to himself than anyone
else, and leant down to check on Louis.  As he bent down he too began to
feel woozy in the head and toppled onto Louis.

Armand and Daniel went over to  them, looking down in consternation.
"Daniel, you stay here with them, I'm going upstairs to find out what in
hell is going on."

Daniel looked concerned.  "But Armand, what's the matter with them?"

"That's what I am going to try and find out.  Now if they seem to get any
worse, drag them outside.  I'll be back soon...I hope."

"Armand!" Daniel shouted, worried when he heard his last words, but Armand
was already up the top of the stairs in search of the others.  He walked
warily up the corridor, feeling them with his thoughts, sensing the eerie
emanations that seemed to be suffusing the whole floor.  He hesitated at the
bolted door. He knew they were in there.   Why did he feel almost terrified
at what he might find?

"Be brave." he whispered to himself and knocked the door down with a kick.
The room was dark and quiet, not a sound, not a breath interfered with the
silence.  He glided silently over to the glass case and peered in.  His
hands were shaking as he touched the glass, little beads of perspiration
dotted his brow and tiny droplets trickled down his back.

It was them...Lestat and Louis, lying together, their limbs entwined as
though they were making love.  There faces seemed serene, their fingers
entwined, their hair gently splayed out beneath them.

He felt it more than heard it then.  A deep thrumming sound, as though it
were coming from the bowels of the earth, but it was all around him.  A
flash of light...a cold rush of air...they were communicating with him.
 

Armand was standing stock still as their thoughts rushed through him in a
confusion of emotions and fear.

 "Where are we?  What's happening?  Lestat, help me, I can't move.  I'm
cold...there are others near...what's going on?

Who are you?  Who are you? " They cried.

Armand answered them with his mind.  "You were found in your coffin,
together.  How long have you been there? "

"I have no idea...answer me please...who are you?"

"My name is Armand...do you not know me?"

"No!"    They answered in unison.

 "What year did you go into your coffin?  Can you remember?"

"A long time ago, around 1830.  What year is it now?"

"Shit!" Armand swore to himself.  This was all too weird for him.  He would
have to call in the big guns, Marius, Maharet...he needed help.

"Please tell us, what year is it?" one of them who sounded like Lestat
questioned desperately.

"2000, its the year 2000."

Silence...he could hear nothing else, except perhaps a soft humming
sound...that dam humming sound again.  They had retreated again back into
their minds.  Were they like Akasha and Enkil had been, alive but unable to
move?  Perhaps they were in a coma like Lestat had been?  Armand reached
down to touch the one who looked exactly like Louis on the hand.  It moved
slightly, seemed to flinch away from him, then stopped abruptly.

"Shit!" Armand swore again.  "I have to get them out of here...I can't let
anyone start doing tests on them."

He looked about for a telephone and called Marius' number.  He told him
briefly what was going on and where he was, then screamed downstairs for
Daniel to come and help him.  There was no answer.

"Daniel, where the hell are you?" he shouted as he ran down the stairs.  The
hallway was empty where he had left them.  He raced outside to find him
holding Louis up and Lestat resting his back against the wall of the museum.

"We have to get them out of this place, take them somewhere safe. ..I need
your help, Daniel." Armand was panting, more from excitement than his recent
exertion.

"Lestat and Louis can't go back in there.  While you were gone Louis stopped
breathing...I had to bring them out here."

Armand knelt down in front of Louis. "Are you all right now?"

"Oui!" he answered softly,  "I just feel very weak.  What did you find?"

"I found you and Lestat." Armand answered solemnly.  'Well, two vampires who
looked just like you, and had your names."

Louis brought his hand up to his head and shook it.  "Armand, did you just
drink from a drug addict or a drunk or something?  Come on, you can't be
serious.  Two vampires who look like us?"

Lestat had stood up now, and wobbled over to Armand.  "Could you read their
minds?

"Yes, I gleaned a little bit of information, Lestat.  Why?"

"Had they been in that coffin for very long?" He said, fear suddenly showing
on his face.

"A long time, Lestat.  You, or who-ever that vampire was that looks like
you, said the year was 1830, when they went to sleep."

"Merde!" Lestat exclaimed.  "I'm taking Louis home, those two can rot for
all I care.  Come Louis." and without another word to Armand or Daniel, he
picked Louis up and flew off with him to their apartment.

Armand and Daniel stared after them, confused.  "Armand, what do you suggest
we do now?"  Daniel asked.

"Wait for the cavalry, then find somewhere safe for our two new friends
upstairs."
 

"Lestat, why do I get the feeling you know more about this situation than
you are letting on?" Marius was saying sternly to him.

"I don't know what you mean?" Lestat hmmmmphd and turned away from him.

Marius grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face him.

"LESTAT! If you know what is going on here, will you please tell us."

"What have you done with them?" Lestat said quietly, but firmly.

"That's not answering my question, Lestat." Marius snapped, he was becoming
quite angry with him.

"No, and I'm not going to either.  I want to know where they are right
now...I don't want them anywhere near Louis or me."

"They are safely locked away.  David and Jesse are watching them for the
time being.  Why do you want them away from you, Lestat?"

"They are..." Lestat hesitated.  "No reason, Marius.  The thought of them
just gives me the creeps, that's all."

Marius tried to probe Lestat's mind for further information, but he was
blocked off completely.  "Don't even try it, Marius." Lestat snarled.

"Lestat, we have to know what is happening here?" Armand said now, coming in
between Marius and him.  He lifted his hand up and with his fingers gently
followed the contours of Lestat's face.

Lestat grabbed his hand and held it firmly.  "No use trying to mesmerise me
with your wiles, Armand.  It won't work."

"Dam you, Lestat."

Lestat smiled at him, but it was without humour or sentiment, and walked out
of the room.  "I'm going to Louis now, he needs me.  Please do not disturb
us."

Marius slammed his fist down on the side table, splitting it in two.  He
didn't even flinch when it fell into pieces at his feet.  He was seething.
Lestat knew something.  But what?  He paced up and down.  Those two comatose
vampires held some sort of secret.  Maybe he could plunder their minds
instead.  Perhaps after being asleep for 170 years their minds would be open
to his probing.

"Armand, you and Daniel stay here with these two.  Keep an eye on them.  I'm
going to the cottage to try and find out what is going on."

********************************************************************

Louis was sitting in a forlorn heap on the couch in the bedroom.  His feet
were sprawled out in front of him and his head was leaning on his upraised
hand.  He jumped about two feet in the air when Lestat touched him on the
shoulder.

"Where were you?" Lestat whispered softly to him, nuzzling his ear and
poking his tongue into it.

Louis squirmed and swatted his hand away.

"How can you even think about getting amorous at a time like this?" Louis
pouted.

'Louis, those two...things...can't hurt us.  So long as we stay away from
them."

"What are they, Lestat?  Why do I get the feeling you know?"

"Sheesh!"  Lestat cried out loud.  "Why does everyone thing I know something
about them?"

"Your demeanour, Lestat,  the way you look guilty when someone asks you
about them, the way you blow up when someone mentions them.  Is that enough
reason?"

"Louis...I..."

"What, Lestat?"

"I thought they were gone...I thought...well I thought they had been
destroyed."
 

"Look, that hand is moving, I'm sure of it and I swear Lestat blinked his
eyes." Jesse was saying to David, who was standing beside her looking down
at the sleeping vampires.

"I didn't see it, Jess."

"Well I did.  Now what are we going to do?"

"Don't worry, Jesse, I'm here now." Marius said as he walked through the
door.  Jesse let out a huge sigh of relief.

"What are you doing back so soon?" David questioned him, with upraised
eyebrows.  "I thought you were going to question the real Lestat and Louis
about, them." he said, waving his hand in the direction of the doubles.
"From the worried look on your face, I get the impression not too much
information was forth coming."

"You're right, David.  Lestat is hiding something though, I am sure of it.
But now that he knows I know, there is no way I will get any information out
of him."

"I keep getting strange disjointed thoughts from these two." Jesse said,
"and so is David.  I'm sure they are trying to wake up.  Lestat moved a
little while ago."

"This is too confusing, Jesse.  He can't be Lestat, and that's not really
Louis.  Perhaps we should call them something else."  He mused for a second
or two, rubbing his chin with his hands.  "How about Tom and Harry.  I guess
that will do for lack of anything more inspiring."

"Tom and Harry it is, Marius.  But which one is which?" David asked.

"Tom is Lestat, Harry is Louis, from now on."

Jesse and David nodded in acquiescence.

"What thoughts were you getting, David?" Marius questioned him.

"Well Les...I mean Tom, seems very distressed, he keeps calling out
someone's name.  I haven't heard it in a long time, but it sounds familiar.
It's Mortimer, or something very close to it."

"Were do you think you have heard the name?" Marius asked.

"When I was with the Talamasca, one or two of our operatives were following
a very powerful Warlock by that name.  They called him Mortimer Hellfire.
He was ancient, about 200 years old, and that was about 50 years ago."

"Could there be a connection, do you think, David?" Jesse said, looking at
David expectantly.

'I hope not.  This Mortimer was evil and extremely dangerous.  If Lestat,
now I'm talking about the *real* Lestat, had anything to do with this
Warlock, God, the consequences would have been disastrous."

"That sounds like Lestat." Marius answered.

"But Lestat never said anything about meeting this, Mortimer.  I never read
anything about him in any of his books.  Did you David?" Jesse asked him.

"No, which makes me even more suspicious.  If Mortimer was the cause of Tom
and Harry, here, then Lestat or Louis must have known about it, surely."
David replied.

"That's exactly what I am trying to find out.  The three of us should be
able to probe Tom and Harry's minds, we should be strong enough if we band
together.  Perhaps they will let us get to the bottom of this mystery,
Lestat certainly won't, and from what I could glean from Louis' mind, he's
just as confused as we are." Marius stepped up to them.  "Here, hold my hand
and we will concentrate our powers together."

The three of them shut their eyes and gripping each other's hands, fell into
a semi trance, letting their minds flow together and into the minds of the
sleeping vampires before them.  Tom and Harry stirred, the blood that had
lain almost dormant for 170 years, began to flow slowly, beginning its
journey around their hibernating bodies.  Their hearts began to beat a
little stronger, their thoughts became a little more coherent, their bodies
began to come alive.

Memories came flooding into their consciousness...   memories of walking
together along the river front, the sights and smells of an era long gone,
but still current in their minds.  To them it was only yesterday.  Lestat,
flamboyant in his dress suit, wooing the ladies and young men, flirting
shamelessly with both.  Louis doing his best to remain a gentleman, trying
to bring up his daughter properly.  Claudia...where is she now?  Is she
well? What's happened to her?

Their thoughts tumbled together, Louis hunting alone, Lestat taking him to
the theatre, the opera.  A happy life together...their memories...  Then the
night it happened...the fateful night when Lestat took the wrong victim into
his arms for the final swoon...
 
 

Suddenly the connection was severed and Marius, David and Jesse were blinded
by a bright light.  Their hands fell away from each others,  their bodies
slipped to the floor and unconciousness enshrouded them.  When they finally
managed to open their squinting eyes, the vampires they had called Tom and
Harry were not longer lying in front of them.

Marius jumped up first, looking about him frantically.  David helped Jesse
to her feet.  They all felt disoriented and confused.

"What the hell?" Jesse spurted out.  "Where did they go?"

"Oh, this is not good." Marius continued.  "I think I know where they might
go and the consequences could be devastating."

********************************************************************

Louis was in a huff.  He knew that Lestat was keeping information from him
about these two...doppelgangers.  He confronted him again.

"Lestat, please tell me what you know about them?"

"I don't know anything, Louis.  Please...I don't know anything."

"But you do, I know you do, Lestat.  Why are you lying to me?"

Lestat looked extremely worried as he went up to Louis to put his hands on
his shoulders.  He stared him straight in the face.  "I cannot lie to you
any longer..." he began.  But a sudden wave of dizziness overcame him.
Louis face was becoming blurry and was disappearing down...down.  Louis had
slumped into a dismal heap on the floor and Lestat was rapidly following
him.

Blackness enveloped them, but a subdued wariness was there, as they both
fought the dark, both struggled against their feelings of foreboding and
fear.  Lestat somehow managed to surge through the mist and opened his eyes
long enough to see himself standing over him, smiling maliciously.

"Go...away...you will kill us." Lestat mumbled.

"You won't die, brat."  The other Lestat, who had been nicknamed Tom, by
Marius, hovered over the real Lestat.  Then he reached down, grabbed his arm
and pulled him up to him.

"I must admit you are very handsome." Lestat said to him.

"Why, thank you.  So are you." Tom replied.

"I still feel a little dizzy." Lestat said, hanging onto the wall behind
him.

"I think it will pass.  I'm not sure why it happens, but we do carry the
same genetic makeup, and have the same electricity coursing through our
bodies.  Perhaps ours is just more powerful than yours." Tom tried to
explain.  "When our bodies come near yours, it must set off some kind of
metaphysical reaction."

"How did you get so smart?" Lestat asked him.

"While we were sleeping, our minds were searching, reading books, learning
facts.  We could invade other's bodies and live a life through them.  But
only for short times.  We would be thrown out and back into our own bodies
after a few days."

"Sounds a bit restrictive to me." Lestat replied.  "I prefer to experience
my life in this body."

"Hmmmmm, that's exactly what we think, Lestat.  It's about time we had a
life and you two were confined to the statues that we have been all this
time."

Lestat digested slowly what this creature was saying to him, but his
thoughts were interrupted by a moan from Louis.  He was finally waking up
and with an almighty heave, vomited blood all over the floor.

"You always were so weak, Louis." The one called Harry said.

Lestat bent down to Louis and held him upright.  Louis snarled at him, then
with an almighty growl began to strangle Lestat.  He squeezed his throat,
watching Lestat's eyes beginning to bulge and the surprise on his face
turning to anger.

Lestat knocked Louis away from him.  "What the hell are you doing, Louis?
We have enough trouble with these two, without you trying to kill me."

"You bastard, when are you going to tell me what's going on?  I can't take
this any more."

"You don't need to know, Louis." The fake Louis, called Harry, growled.
"You don't need to worry about anything ever again."  With those last
prophetic words, the doppelgangers began their mind assault on the real
vampires.  Together their telephathic powers were invulnerable, strength had
built upon strength over the decades they had been entombed.

Lestat grabbed Louis and pulled him behind his body, trying to shield him.
His head was hurting and Louis was crying out in pain.  Lestat tried to
block them from his mind, but they managed to seep into his conciouness.  He
tried to force them out, but slowly and insidiously they infiltrated his
thought processes and rendered his strong body useless.

Lestat fell to the floor and Louis fell on top of him.  The blackness they
had experienced before was nothing compared to the all pervading darkness,
that now shut them out from the world completely.
 
 

Marius, Jesse and David, found Lestat and Louis, sitting quietly in front of
the television set.  They appeared to be mesmerised by it, barely even
taking their eyes off it for a second.

"Where's Armand and Daniel?" Marius questioned them.

Neither Lestat nor Louis took any notice of him.

"I said...where's Armand and Daniel.?"  Marius said, this time a little
louder.

"How should I know?" Lestat answered belligerently and went back to watching
"The X-Files."

"Well I told them to stay and keep an eye on you two.  I'm sure they
wouldn't have just disappeared." Marius continued, walking over and standing
in between them and the television set.

"Can you get out of the way." Louis ordered.  "I was watching this."

"NO!  I will not get out of the way.  Something really bad has happened and
I think you two should hear about it." Marius boomed at them.

Lestat looked up then and noticed Jesse and David for the first time.  He
glanced over to Louis, who shrugged his shoulders.  Lestat had no idea who
the tall, dark-haired vampire, or the good looking, red-haired woman was.
He tried to plunder David's thoughts, but drew a blank.  Looking confused,
he did the same to Jesse, coming up with a jumble of incoherent thoughts
that made no sense to him.

Jesse and David looked on with concern.  "What's wrong, Lestat?  You look
like you have seen a ghost, or something." David asked him.

"Wha..no...I'm fine.  I was concentrating on this..." he said, pointing to
the television.

"Cool, X-Files is on," said Jesse, and she sat down on the couch next to
them to watch.

Marius let out a huge sigh and flicked off the TV. with his mind, then stood
with his hands on his hips staring at the three of them on the couch.
"Lestat and Louis.  I will ask you again.  Do you know where Armand and
Daniel are?"

They shook their heads.

"All right, Jesse and David, can you check around and see if you can find
them.  Now, you two, (he said directly to Lestat and Louis), we have a
problem.  Those other two, the ones we have been guarding, have disappeared.
  They could be dangerous.  Have you experienced anything untoward, had any
more dizzy feelings, anything at all, that might indicate that they are
nearby?"

They shook their heads again.

"Good!"  Marius said with relief on his face.  "I will stay here with you,
though, just in case they turn up.  In the mean-time, Lestat, will you
please tell me what you know about them."

"I don't know anything." Lestat lied.

"LESTAT!!" he screamed at him.  "TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW?"

Lestat had had enough, and so had Louis.  They both leapt up from the
couch...

*************

A couple of hours later, Jesse and David, came back, minus Daniel and
Armand.  They could find no sign of them any where. Frustrated and bored,
they came into the living room to find Lestat and Louis watching television
still.

"Where's Marius?" David questioned them.

"I don't know." Lestat replied.
 

Lestat  (the real one) was drifting in an out of consciousness, his mind was
fuzzy and blurry, like he had been drugged.  It was dark and cold, where he
was, and his arm was around something equally cold.  He squinted into the
darkness of his enclosure, then brought his hand up.  He hit something hard
and unyielding.  He tried to move and realised that he was in a very small
space, with another body.

"Louis!" he whispered, as he brought his hand back down and caressed his
cheek.  He was still unconscious and his breathing was very shallow.

Lestat had no idea how long he had been lying there with his fledgling.  His
mind was playing tricks on him...was there another one of him?  Yes, it was
coming back to him slowly...as the mist of darkness gradually fell away and
his thoughts became coherent again.

"Mortimer!" he snarled to himself.  "You were the cause of this, you old
rogue."

"You called my name, Lestat?"

Lestat jumped when he heard his name.  It wasn't Louis' voice.  He opened
his eyes again, then with an almighty heave tried to push the lid open.   It
was extremely heavy and he was still feeling weak from being attacked by
*those* two.  It...wouldn't...budge.  He tried again, panting with the
exertion.
It gave just a little...then a...bit...more.  Finally, with blood sweat
pouring off him he managed to dislodge it enough for him to crawl out.

He tripped and fell over something on the floor.  He looked down, it was
Armand.  He knelt down to check him but he was dead to the world.  Looking
around he realised he was in his own cellar, and two other bodies were
crumpled on the floor near Armand.  Daniel and Marius were in a similar
state.  Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he spun around.

"Lestat, we meet again, old friend."  It was Mortimer, smiling at him and
holding out his hand in greeting.

"You old wizard!  What the hell did you do? You were supposed to destroy
those two long ago."

"Sorry!"

"SORRY!!" Lestat yelled, causing Mortimer to grab his ears with pain.
"They were never meant to be. NEVER!  Now look what's happened.  They are
stronger than I am."

"Wellllll!" Mortimer replied, feeling at a complete loss for words.  He made
a vain attempt at an explanation.  "They were so beautiful, Lestat.  Just
like you and the green-eyed one in that coffin." He came closer to Lestat as
he continued talking.  His eyes were full of lust and he was shaking.

"Stay away from me, you pervert." Lestat screeched at him.

Mortimer backed away, suddenly afraid.  "I'm sorry, Lestat.  I couldn't
destroy them, like you asked me to.  I thought if I just sealed them in the
stone sarcophagus, they would never be able to bother you."

"So you confined them to a death, worse than real death?
Made them into statues that just lay there."

"I thought that if you and Louis ever died, then I would release them, give
them a chance at life.  I don't understand how they got free."

Suddenly there was a loud thudding noise, and Lestat and Mortimer looked up
to see the bodies of David and Jesse being thrown into the basement.  Lestat
rushed to the doorway and saw the other Louis standing there.  He looked
extremely surprised to see Lestat standing there and screamed loudly for the
false Lestat to come down.

The real Lestat lunged after him, but it was too late, he felt himself being
overcome with the dizzy feeling again, as his body slumped to the floor.  He
was fighting it with all his might...perhaps he could beat it this time.
Mortimer was on his knees trying to help him.

The false Lestat came thundering in with the other doppelganger, they stood
their ground in front of the faltering Lestat.  "Wake up Louis, Louis." The
false Lestat said to him, and bring him over here.

The false Louis, lifted the real one out of the coffin and rubbed the side
of his face.  The real Louis began to come around, moaning and squirming as
he did.  He looked at the two Lestat's then at his other, and nearly fainted
dead away again.

"Don't let him pass out, Louis," the false Lestat said to him.  "I want him
to suffer, I want, my handsome brother, over there, (he pointed to the real
Lestat), to watch him suffer.  Then maybe he will hop back in his box and
stay there.  After-all, they have had so many years of life, while we have
lingered."

Lestat was gradually coming to, and even though his head was still swimming,
he managed to stand up and face his dark brother.  "Don't hurt him.  It was
my fault you exist at all."

"Oh, we will only hurt him a little bit." The false Lestat said.  "Unless of
course you are willing to give up your spot in the world for a couple of
hundred years, so that we can have a turn."

"NEVER!" Lestat growled, hoping he could come up with a plan of escape in
time.
 

Mortimer the wizard, stepped up to the doppelgangers and began to chant a
spell, over and over...trying in vain to vanquish them.  He raised his arms
in the air, but someone hit him on the back of the head.  In the confusion
he had been trying to work his magic on one of the wrong vampires.  He sunk
to the ground and into unconciousness as the real Louis was being dragged
over towards the wall.

"Lestat, help me." (the real) Louis was whimpering pathetically, as the
doppelgangers grabbed his weakened and shaking body and secured him by his
wrists to the wall behind them.

Lestat, (the real one), made a desperate lunge, but  was overcome again by
the dizziness.   His body was trembling and he felt himself being secured to
the opposite wall.  "Leave Louis alone." he groaned ineffectually.

"We're just going to have a little fun with him," the false Lestat stated,
with a malicious grin on his face.  "If you are willing to crawl back into
that coffin over there for a century or two or three, we will stop.  Of
course, I will be able to tell if you are lying to us." he added.

Lestat growled at his mirror image, and looked over at Louis who was staring
back at him with so much rancour, that Lestat winced and lowered his head in
shame.  ::Wake up Armand, Marius, I need your help:: he tried to project to
his friends.

"They won't be able to help you, Lestat. They have been rendered completely
useless.  You are the only one who can help your sweet fledgling now."  the
doppelganger, Lestat, sneered.

The real Lestat watched in horror, as the false Louis went up to *his* Louis
and slapped him ferociously across the face four times, almost knocking him
unconscious again.  He then ripped his shirt from his body and with his
sharp finger nails, cut a diagonal track down his chest, laughing as the
blood began to flow.  He bent his head and began to lap it up, then bit down
hard on his nipple and sucked.  The real Louis, moaned out loud and threw
his head back, his eyes squeezed shut and his teeth clenched.

"STOP IT!" The real Lestat shouted.

"Have you given in so soon?" His twin said, looking almost defeated.  "We've
only just begun."

::I'm not giving in.:: Lestat said, in his mind, not wanting to make it any
worse for *his* Louis.  ::You will never win.::

""Oh yes we will." the false Lestat answered.  "Continue, Louis, mon amour,
I think it's time for a little knife-play."

"NO!" The real Lestat screamed.

"OUI!!", his twin answered.  "Continue, Louis."

The real Lestat was forced to watch as the doppelganger Louis drew a sharp,
serrated edged knife from his belt, and waved in front of *his* Louis' face.
  The real Louis nearly fainted dead away again as  *his* twin began to
carve into his chest, then raked the knife down his lower arms, severing the
pulsing arteries and letting the blood flow freely.  He then cut his
trousers away and began to trail the knife down his inner thighs.  The real
Louis was panting heavily now, trying desperately not to cry out, but when
his twin plunged the knife into his soft belly, he emitted a wail that could
have awoken the dead.  In fact it did!

Marius was the first to stir from his stupor upon hearing the young one's
scream of agony, but he was wise enough and aware enough not to allow anyone
else to see him.  Yet!

The torture continued, with the false Louis now slipping his belt out of his
own trousers and beginning to lash his counterpart with it.  Louis had
passed out for a few seconds at the pain of the knife in his belly, but the
stinging of the belt across his chest and abdomen brought him around.  He
cried out again, then clenched his mouth shut, biting down on his lower lip,
severing the tender skin.  He licked up the blood.   The real Lestat, still
chained and helpless on the opposite wall, had closed his eyes...he wished
he could also close his ears.  He couldn't condemn both he and Louis to
purgatory.  He just hoped that Louis would be strong enough to endure this
torture...he hoped *he* also, would be strong enough to be witness to it.

The doppelganger watched with glee as *his* fledgling continued flailing
Louis, until his chest was a series of welts, like a fallowed field ready
for planting.  The real Louis was breathing rapidly and emitting pathetic
mewling sounds, as he fought to stay in control.  The pain was exquisite,
almost bordering on intoxication; his head was spinning and his eyes were
blurring with blood tears.

The whipping suddenly ceased, then the false Lestat stepped up to the victim
and yanked his head up by his hair, to face him.  Louis forced open his eyes
and tried to focus on his foe.

"Are you ready to relinquish your existence for us yet, Louis.?"

"I would rather you destroyed me." he answered.

"That can be arranged." The doppelganger, Lestat said.
 

While the doppelgangers were busy with their business of torture and
cruelty,  engrossed in their own evil, they didn't notice Marius crawling
inch by inch across to the floor to the real Lestat.  Marius managed to
reach up and free him, then with a none too gentle kick to the side of the
ribs, woke his fledgling up as well.  He then screeched into the wizard's
mind, causing his body to jerk.

Armand bent down to Daniel, but his younger mind and body was still deep in
its own blackness, there would be no waking him for hours.  David, however,
even though he was a young vampire, had a strong and naturally telephathic
mind.  He was coaxed quickly from his stupor, along with Jesse.

The doppelgangers realised their was an awakening consciousness in the room,
but it was a trifle too late.  As they turned, the vampires, led
magnificently by an enraged wizard, began their assault.  Lestat, was too
quick for his twin to work his power over his mind, and before the false one
could render him useless again, he had him on the floor, pummelling him with
his fists and biting him with sharp teeth.  The real Lestat sunk his fangs
in, draining him quickly and surely.  He then tumbled backwards, reeling
with confusion at having being englulfed in the miasma of his own
thoughts...he had found himself swirling in a vortex of blackness, and had
to fight to free himself.

He had felt like an interloper within his own mind, and had been shocked at
seeing the darkness there.  He hoped it was not that dark inside his own
head.  He shook his mane of wild hair and looked down to see the
doppelganger Louis being held firmly on the floor by Marius and Armand.  His
own sweet fledgling was being released from his bonds by Jesse and David,
who were being gentle and careful with him.

"Mortimer, will you rid the world of this vermin, NOW!" Lestat shouted to
the wizard, who was standing with his hands on his hips smiling.

"How can I be sure *these* are the right ones?" he questioned.

"Assure him, Marius," Lestat sighed and went over to *his* Louis.  He knelt
down beside him and brushed his hair off of his blood soaked face.

"Don't touch me, you bastard." Louis snarled at him, shaking with anger.

Lestat stepped back.  He would have to deal with him later.  Now they had
more pressing business to attend to. He turned back to the wizard.

"WELL!"

"Why is it up to me, Lestat?  It was on your orders that I made them in the
first place."

"No, Mortimer.  If you remember rightly, it was only another Louis that I
wanted.  Not another one of myself."

"Well you didn't make it very clear, Lestat."  Mortimer snapped back.

"Come on you two, calm down."  Marius had stepped over to them and tried to
diffuse the situation.

The both turned and glared at him.  Marius grimaced.  "I'll do it." he said.
  "Do you want to leave, Lestat?"

"Oui!" He replied, softly.  "Jesse, David, bring Louis as well.  I don't
think I can watch them being destroyed, even though they are evil."

Lestat felt relieved as he nodded gratefully to Marius and led the others
out of the cellar.  One little problem had been solved, but Lestat knew that
there was one more only he could sort out and that was Louis.
 

Marius was swift in his execution of the doppelgangers, incinerating them
before they regained consciouness.  It was a task he wouldn't have wished
upon anyone else, and he too was angry with Lestat for causing the fiasco in
the first place.

Lestat had slunk into the living room, almost too afraid to face his
fledgling.  He crept up to him, where he had been deposited on the couch and
covered up with a blanket.  His face was wan and drained and Armand said
that David had gone to get him some sustenance.

He knelt down before him.  "I'm sorry, Louis.  Are you all right?"

Louis glared at him.  'NO!  I'm not all right, Lestat.  I've been stabbed,
beaten and humilated in front of every one.  I'm sore and ashamed and angry.
  NOW will you tell me what in hell happened with *those* two.?"

"It was an accident, Louis.  It was while we were together, with Claudia.  I
was out hunting one night and Mortimer became my victim, only he used a
powerful spell on me that saved his life.  He knew what I was, knew what we
all were.  I learnt about him through the blood; he was a powerful wizard,
but he knew that if I caught him again, and was quick enough, I could kill
him before he could cast the spell.  We came to an arrangement, Louis."

"And that was?" Louis said, staring at Lestat like he was a naughty little
boy.

"That in return for me sparing his life, he would cast any spell I
requested."

"And that was to make twins of us?  What kind of foolishness was that,
Lestat?"

"No, Louis.  Not both of us...just you."

"Me?  But why?"

"Well...it's was like this..."

"Spit it out, Lestat."

"I wanted an opposite of you.  Someone who wasn't always so prim and proper,
someone who would hunt at my side, let me make love to...who wouldn't berate
me all the time for what I was."  Lestat hung his head in shame.  "I'm
sorry, Louis.  It was selfish, I know.  It's just that I wanted so much more
from you."

"Well, did this...this...*twin* make you happy?" Louis stuttered.

"To begin with, Louis.  He would come with me and let me watch him
feed...you...that is...he, was wild, the complete antithesis of you...he let
me drink from him, and he from me.  We made wild passionate, mortal love."

"Is that what you wanted, Lestat?  If you had wanted someone wild and
unruly, why on earth did you choose me in the first place?"

"Because, I loved you as well, Louis.  I just wanted two sides of you.  Oh,
I'm sorry...so sorry.  It was stupid...but when didn't I do something
stupid?  I learnt my lesson soon enough though."

"Good!" Louis replied.  "What happened?"

"He became too unruly.  He wanted to confront you and destroy you.  He gave
me a choice."

"And you chose me?" Louis said, beginning to look a little less like he was
about to commit murder.

"Well...sort of..." Lestat continued.  "I couldn't destroy him, he was you
after all...I just tried to get him to go away.  But of course he wouldn't.
He then threatened Mortimer...that's when Mortimer made my twin.  He thought
if the copy had company he wouldn't cause any more trouble.  It backfired,
I'm afraid.  They tried to destroy both of us..."

"And how was it that I didn't know any of this was going on?" Louis asked,
incredulously.

"You weren't there at the time, Louis.  Remember when I sent you and Claudia
away for a couple of weeks, on that tour of galleries in the Eastern
States."

"And here's me thinking you were just being gracious, letting us have some
time to ourselves.  How stupid of me." he growled.

"Louis, please.  I did my best.  I had made *another* mistake, so I sent you
away while I sorted it out."

"Hhmmmmmph!" Louis growled again.  "Well you didn't do a very good job, did
you?"

"No, I didn't.  Mortimer and I were going to trick them and lure them to
their deaths...but Mortimer let me down.  I managed to drain them and get
them secured in the sarcophagus.  Mortimer was going to reverse the spell
and send them back into the void from whence they came.  But he chickened
out.  He was proud of what he had accomplished, it was the first time he had
ever cloned anyone...he just couldn't destroy them.  So he sealed the
sarcophagus with a spell, and hoped it would hold them."

"Oops, it didn't, did it?" Louis said sarcastically, then he nodded to
Marius, who had come up the steps.  "You have no idea how angry I am with
you, Lestat."

'I know..." but Lestat was cut off by Marius and Armand grabbing him from
behind.  "What...what's going on?  What are you doing?"

"David, will you feed me please." Louis said, and Lestat watched in surprise
as Louis sunk his fangs into his brother's wrist.  Louis kept his eyes open
the whole time, watching Lestat writhe and squirm.
"Thank you, David.  I feel much better now."  Louis said, as he rose from
the couch and walked over to Lestat, who was being held firmly with his
hands behind his back.

Louis slapped him hard, three times, smiling at the shock on his face.
"Now, Jesse, can you get those chains from the cellar please, and Marius,
would you happen to have a heavy belt I can use."

"Louis...what are you going to do to me?" Lestat whimpered.

"What someone should have done to you centuries ago.  Give you a good
whipping."

The look on Lestat's face was almost enough revenge for Louis, but not
quite.  He was itching to humiliate and hurt him, just like he had been hurt
a little while before.  "Chain him up to the wall over there, Marius, face
to the wall.  But strip him first will you?"

"With pleasure, Louis.  I have always wanted to give the brat a thrashing,
can I have a turn please?"

"Certainly, Marius.  Anyone else want a go as well...David? Armand?"

They both nodded, and Louis smiled.  He was going to enjoy this.  He walked
up to the now naked and trembling Lestat and slapped him hard on his bare
backside.  Lestat cried out with the shock.
"Louis, stop this nonsense now, you have made your point."

"No, Lestat.  I haven't made my point yet." He said, poking his finger into
his back to reiterate that he was serious.  "I suggest you hang onto those
chains, Lestat.  This is going to hurt and it's going to last for a long
time."  Louis smiled when he saw Lestat's buttocks clench and the muscles in
his thighs quiver.

"Are you ready, mon amour?"

"Non!"  he cried, then cried some more when the first lash connected.

Louis thrashed him hard, beginning at his shoulder blades, then working his
way slowly down his back to his backside.  He gave that special attention,
making each swing of his arm count, revelling in the little cries of pain
coming from his maker's parched throat.  Lestat was trembling.  His whole
body, however, began to convulse when Armand's fresh arm began it's assault.
  By the time Marius and David had also given him twenty of their best, he
was hanging limply from the chains, sobbing.

"I think he's had enough." Louis said softly, and the three of them
unchained his wrists and let him fall to the ground with a soft thud.  David
went over and carried him to the couch and put a blanket around his
shoulders.  For a few minutes, Lestat just sat there, his head bowed, his
body wracked with his sobbing, then he looked up at them.

"I deserved that, didn't I?" he said softly.

"Oui, you did, Lestat.

"Will you hold me please, Louis?" he whispered.

"Oui, I will." Louis replied, and gently put his arm around him, pulling him
in close and kissing him on the forehead.

"It will happen again, Louis." he said, his voice muffled against Louis'
shoulder.

"What will, Lestat?"

"Making stupid mistakes," he answered.

"I know, Lestat.  You can't help it can you?"

Lestat shook his head.  "But just one thing, Louis."

"And what's that?"

"Will you be there again to pick up the pieces?"

"Of course I will.  And I will be there to thrash your backside again too."

"Is that a promise, Louis?"

"Oui, that's a promise."