Fresco Epilogue
KC

Warning: Slash

Spoilers: Qotd

Disclaimers: I don't own the vamps, Anne Rice does. I make no profit off of this.

A month and a half later, Lestat gave an indolent yawn as he walked into the drawing room once more, plopping down beside Louis, who sighed at his lack of manners. Lestat's grin only grew broader, and he turned in his seat so that he could lay stretched out over his fledgling's lap. He looked up with a smile at his lover's irritated face, and Louis couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you know what a brat you can be?" Louis smirked.

"Yes, it's why you love me."

"That does not excuse your behavior."

"Quite right," Gabrielle called from the other side of the room, sitting on the same couch as Pandora. "You are the last Marquis d'Auvergne, Lestat. You should act like nobility."

"I'm either the Marquis in Europe or a Prince in the coven. No, ma mere, I think I will stay a brat." Lestat winked at her, then lay his head back in Louis' hands. "And doesn't my fledgling deserve the best?"

"The best of the worst," Armand griped, relaxing against Daniel. He looked around the room and sighed. "When is Marius coming in with the painting?"

David was busy in the corner desk editing Mael's book, rewriting the punctuation and clearing up smudges in the book. "I believe he said he would be here by eleven."

They all checked their watches.

"It's eleven ten now," Santino groaned.

Eric just rolled his eyes. "For immortals, you certainly are impatient."

"No, we just have places we want to go," Daniel retorted.

"Things we want to see," Pandora added.

"Beds to fill," Lestat smiled, laughing at Louis' blush.

"Can't you stop thinking about making love for five minutes?" Maharet sighed in the other corner. "I swear, all of you are insatiable."

"Making love is the best past time in the world," Armand laughed. "Right, Daniel?"

"Right, boss."

"Making love..." Louis whispered inaudibly. "To really make love..."

Suddenly Marius entered the room, cutting off his concentration. Marius held a large, flat square package draped in cloth in his arms, and he set it up on a huge nail in the wall. The drapery almost slid off, but then it fell back, and they all sighed in disappointed anticipation.

"Sorry I'm so late," Marius hastily apologized, "but the artist was late, and then a car nearly ran over her, and...well, things got out of hand."

"You ate the driver, didn't you?" Lestat laughed knowingly.

Marius smiled sheepishly. "She didn't see anything, but I just couldn't stand that creature almost killing such a talented girl so casually." He sighed. "In any case, are you ready to see the fruit of all her labor?"

"Hers?" Jesse cried. "We sat here for hours and hours when--"

"Hush," Khayman admonished her. "We all know how long we were sitting here, trapped motionless three hours a--"

"Hush, both of you," Maharet put her hands on their shoulders, quieting them. "Marius," she started far too sweetly, "why don't you show us the portrait before the young ones get...impatient?"

Marius nodded and grabbed the cloth. "Very well, I present to you, the Royal Coven!"

"Royal?" Lestat gasped. "My goodness, Louis, we've been promoted!"

"Shut up, brat," Armand growled.

They all looked at the portrait, amazed at their likenesses. The gold on some of costumes seemed to shimmer in the light, and the red hair seemed to blaze off the canvas. Lestat's fur looked as if they could reach out and stroke it, and Louis' eyes were painted like real emeralds. Daniel looked just as half-exhausted as he always did, and Armand's face was the perfect mix between sullen and angelic. Marius looked regal, as did Pandora and Gabrielle, while somehow Mael's toga seemed to blow in the nonexistant breeze. Khayman seemed like a kind statue, if that was possible to capture in paint, and David looked like a strange mix between an old man and a young boy. Santino and Eric seemed to blend into the canvas even though they were distinctly painted, and Mekare, even though she shared a sofa with Maharet, looked like she was on a throne.

"How did she...?" Louis gasped.

"It's like she knew," Jessica nodded. "Like she knew all of us!"

At that moment, a tiny slip of paper floated down from the frame. Marius stooped and picked it up. "It's a note," he wondered.

"Well, read it!" Lestat said eagerly, sitting up.

"'To my undead patrons, thanks for giving an old artist another commission. Love, Shakira Brown, artist for the Tallahasee Witch's Coven. By the way, did you really think I didn't know you vampires the moment I saw those costumes?"

They all looked at each other in amazement. For a minute, nothing was said.

"She won't say anything, will she?" Armand asked his maker.

"Why would she?" Marius laughed. "No wonder she bumped our sessions to just after sunset. She was playing with us."

Jessica smiled. "Well, at least the painting's good."

Armand chuckled lowly. "Next time, Padrone, I think it best if you paint the portrait."

"What 'next time'?" Khayman blanched. "We have to do this again?"

Maharet laughed and shook her head. "Not for another century or so."