Title: Fighting a Losing Battle
Hannurdock
***

Part 1 : The Trial


"We find Louis de Pointe du Lac guilty as charged. That he will be sentanced to the chair as soon as possible".

Louis glanced at me, his emerald eyes haunting me in their sorrow and fear. I groaned, and my head fell into my hands.

"He will remain in custody until the sentance is carried out"

I groaned again and fought the urge to jump onto the platform there and then, take my shivering green eyed beauty and disappear forever into the night with him. Marius lay an understanding and restraining arm on my shoulder.

"No, Lestat. This must carry its course. To use such a blatant dispay of your preternatural power would be to confirm our existance".

"Damn the talamasca" I swore aggresively. "I promised you David. Promised I would not harm them until they raised the stakes. But this? Sending evidence to the mortal courts and having my green eyed one arrested for murder? Too much".

David, sitting to my right with Merrick pressed in his arms shuddered at my tone, a tone which suggested mortals would be dead before sunset. "Lestat, please do not kill them".

"Why not?" I challenged. "I will either do that or jump up there right now and take Louis away for good!"

"No" Marius said softly. "That is EXACTLY what the Talamasca want you to do! They know you think with your heart and will not allow harm to Louis. They know you are the very one to display your powers without regard to the consequences. It will not happen, Lestat!"

I swore as I saw Louis pleading eyes turn and lock themselves to my own. He was afraid, his hand was trembling as he tried to reach out to me, all in vain. His eyes were brimming with blood tears, his expression fathomless to me in its pain and anguish. Someone was going to pay dearly for this.

"When will they execute him?" Merrick asked.

Marius' eyes narrowed as he moved into the Judge's mind, and then to the jury. "Tomorrow at four".

I jumped up furiously. "That's before sundown! He'll burn again".

"Lestat sit down" Marius ordered. "They will not do this, I will not allow it".

I huffed, my eyes roaming the room wildly. "I will not allow Louis to suffer up there alone! I am sorry Marius"

Marius shot up and dragged me back into my seat. "I will answer for it!"

"Not when it is Louis' life at stake!" I shot back, viciously.

"Whatever you are going to do Marius, do it soon" Merrick advised. "Sunrise is only an hour away".

My gaze shot to Louis, who was being led away. He was already beginning to drift into the death sleep, and I knew Marius would curse me for this later but I had no choice. Leaping away from Marius, I wrestled the guards and took my beautiful one from their harsh and uncaring hands and crashing through the window I flew with him into the night.

I heard Marius voice behind me, cursing me. "Another mistake, Lesat. The biggest mistake yet, and I will be powerless to protect you this time".

I did not give a damn. Louis was asleep by the time I touched down, and entered one of my most secured lairs. I lay down with him beside me and kissed his forehead tenderly. "Never will they ever take you away from me" I vowed before my eyes closed in turn.


Part 2 : An impulsive soul

I awoke early the next evening with Louis bundled safely in my arms. I sighed as I breathed in the scent from his ebony hair, the scent of blood tears still lingering on his pale cheeks, although the lines of blood were dried now. So vulnerable, so lost.

I sat up and glanced around myself. I had but one mission tonight. To destroy the mortals who had done this, to destroy the elders at the Talamasca once and for all.

Louis shifted in my arms and murmered something inaudiable. I leant down and gently kissed the revered forehead, licked away the dried blood tears and waited patiently for my beloved to awaken.

It seemed like forever waiting for those green eyes to open. Finally, they did. I gazed at my beloved with such love I felt like I was going to explode. Eternity had nourished my love for Louis, strengthened it. Every time I saw Louis it was like seeing him for the first time, and my heart almost exploded with the force of that love.

"Good evening" I said softly, gently. I kissed his forehead again. Then kissed his tender fledgling cheeks, and his soft and pale mouth. "Come Louis, we have a lot to do this evening".

Louis nodded, as if resigning himself to any plan I had devised whilst he was still sleeping, and lay against my chest, his eyes closed, his grip tight.

"I thought I would never see your face again" Louis whispered "It was heartbreaking to see you out there, and be seperated from you. Unable to touch you, unable to breathe your scent. I was so afraid".

"Yes, and its over now" I finished, winding my arms around Louis' waist. "Over and done. No one will ever seperate us again, I promise".

I rose with Louis pressed securely in my arms. I walked out of my humble resting place and into the night, moving too fast for mortals to see.

Feeding Louis was the first plan of action, and I chose my victim out of the killers and the dredges of human society. I pressed the throat against Louis' mouth and heard the skin tear and great greedy gulps come from him. I almost laughed, the moment was so tender.

I sealed the wounds with my own blood, depositing the body in a dumpster. Then I took to the air, intent on finding Marius, David and Merrick.

I searched all night. No luck in finding them anywhere.

I was more than a little concerned, after my impulsive actions the night before. Finally, I stopped at my townhouse, and walked irritably through the front door. I stopped in my tracks as I saw the letter on the fireplace, along with a newspaper.

Walking over to the couch, I put Louis down on it, kissing his flushed face lovingly before moving over to the fireplace and opening the letter. I knew it was Marius' hand, and I dreaded what I would read. But I had no choice. I needed to know exactly what had happened the night before.

"Dear Lestat. By the time you read this letter, D., M. and myself will no longer be in New Orleans. We have had to leave, following the events of last night. Be assured that your beloved ones will come to no harm while in my care. I will protect them as if they were my own. I will answer for their safety. However, once you read the newspaper you will understand why it is important for you to leave with L. immediately, and disappear somewhere where the modern world cannot track you, some nameless jungle. My love is with you. M."

I glared at the letter, and it immediately caught fire and turned into ash. I was angry, but my anger was nothing compared to the emotion that swept across my entire body when I saw the headline news on the front page of the national newspaper. I snatched it up, growling in anger, and prepared to leave with Louis to find the mortals responsible for this.

"DON'T BELIEVE IN VAMPIRES? THE EVIDENCE AT LAST .... VAMPIRES DO EXIST!"


Part 3 : Headline News

It was utterly ridiculous.

Splashed across newspapers.

The Talamasca was definately going to pay for this.

However, for the moment I could only follow Marius' advice. I took Louis into my arms and flew to Africa, where we would stay until the mess I had created cleared.

We had fun in these jungles. Hunting nature's cruelest predators in the heat of the savage garden, as real as any savagery I had ever known. Why, we would kill the mighty lion moments after it killed the zebra. We would stalk down even the fastest of mortal creatures, and although their blood could hardly be compared to human blood, it was an engaging and dramatic time for us both.

During this time also, I became very familiar with my most beloved fledgling. So much love and intimacy we shared, that I did not wish our moments in Africa to ever end.

Unfortunately, all good things do come to an end.

Marius tracked me down four years after the incident, and told me it was time to come home.

Taking Louis in my arms, I flew back to the United States, eager to rejoin society. How society had changed since I had left with Louis.

They were no longer disbelievers.

In fact, they knew what I was before I mesmerised them.

They 'knew'!!

"A lot of things have been happening since you left with Louis" Marius explained as he led us through the darkened alleyways of Los Angeles. "We are now hiding underground, all of us. We are forced to crawl blindly in the dark for fear of being destroyed during the daylight hours. The talamasca has become the most terrifying threat to us. All of that will be explained to you later".

I was guiding Louis through the dark streets, my hand wrapped around his. "Where is mine and Louis' fledgling, Marius?"

"Safe" Marius explained gently. "As is the others. We are all safe, living underground together. There is safety in numbers after all".

"Why is that? During the daylight hours, mortals could set a torch to just about anywhere". I demanded.

"Depends where it is" Marius said. "Our sanctuary is located far beneath the earth's surface. It has four heavy metal doors that some of the weaker fledglings cannot even open. Ten mortal men couldn't heave the doors even an inch open. We have catacombs beneath the city streets where we keep our live victims".

I felt sick. It was like reverting back to the Children of Darkness' age.

"The Talamasca, how safe are we from them". I asked.

Marius stopped. He looked at me in the eye. "I'm not exactly sure what we are dealing with. The Talamasca consists of people of all ages with special abilities. Abilities which set them aside from ordinary human beings. Whether it be intelligence or psychic abilities, they are merely human. However, I'm not sure whether the elders are human".

"Interesting" I said.

"We are here" Marius informed me, arriving at a house which looked like it needed some serious redecorating.

I followed him into the basement, and he pulled open a trapdoor and gestured for me to follow him down into the catacombs below.

"I once used this as a shrine" Marius said to us "To keep 'Those who must be kept' out of harm's way. Now, this is a sanctuary to our kind. Only one way in and one way out. This way".

He reached the first of the metal doors, and I could see how much effort it took for him to lift the thing, which seemed more like a massive stone than a door. Further down came the next one, heavy and monstrous. The next had a strange carving on its surface.

"What's that?" I asked Marius.

"A pentagon" Marius explained. "Some of the anicents believed in God and the Devil, styled themselves on being children of the devil. They engraved this pentagon as a warning to mortals to stay clear".

"Ah I see" I mumbled.

Louis slipped on the staircase and I steadied him as we continued further down.

The last door opened into what looked like a reception area with security videos of the tattered house above. Santino was manning these, looking extremely bored and fed up.

"Good evening" I greeted him.

Santino waved, and then turned back, concentrating on the flickering screens before him of the house above.

We walked into the main room beneath the city streets which housed televisions and entertainment units which made things seem more like a modern mansion than a catacomb.

"The younger ones prefer it this way" Marius explained, reading my thoughts.

"I do to" I admitted, sitting next to Marius on the couch.

"Now! Marius said, sitting in front of us. "Let me explain what has been happening in your absence and the greatest threat to us that we have ever faced yet".