Chapter 7: Woolfgang

Disclaimer: Written in 2001, this story was inspired by characters and situations created by a certain author who discourages fan fiction.

Writer Contacts: To contact Wiebke (and especially if you would like to link to this site or any of the stories), email wiebke@juno.com.

Louis was stunned, but only as long as it took until Wolfgang was once again replacing his glass on the table. At that moment, the surprise wore off and was replaced by anger.

"How naive do you think I am?" Louis demanded. Louis thought on the stories Lestat used to spin for him in the old days, when he had known the truth of their origins but had offered only lies.

The hurt in Wolfgang's eyes was unmistakable. "Naive? Whatever makes you think I see you that way?"

Louis rose from his chair and walked up to one of the bookcase, not really looking at it but pretending to. He walked a few paces before bursting out: "This story of yours!" He walked up to the Austrian and looked down. "Tell me the truth. Don't lie. Don't tell me fairy tales."

"I wasn't trying to," Wolfgang said quietly, eyes to the floor. "Where did you get the idea that I was?"

"That last remark of yours -- you woke up and suddenly out of nowhere you were... immortal?" After this challenge he took a step back and resumed his seat.

Wolfgang did not move a muscle. Louis waited. A sharp intake of breath and then Wolfgang turned his head, ready to reply. "Yes, Louis, that's just how it happened. And I am not lying."

Just as when he'd been told he wouldn't be judged, Louis found that he trusted in Wolfgang's words. But what could they possibly mean?

"Let me begin, Louis, by asking you this: Have you ever read Orlando?"

Louis searched his mind for a book of that title but found none, only a vague notion of an entertainment resort hosted by people dressed in costumes like cartoon characters. "No, I don't think I have," he answered.

"Too bad," Wolfgang sighed, "because if you had, you would understand. It's a novel by Virginia Woolf. The central character is a young Elizabethan nobleman. He has a fairly happy-go-lucky life and then inexplicably, he changes into a woman."

"What???!!!" Louis exclaimed, half-laughing. "He changes into a woman? Why?"

"No why, no reason," Wolfgang replied calmly. "It just happens. He wakes up and he is no longer a man. He is also immortal."

"Ah, I see," Louis said, half-mockingly. "So you were once a woman?"

Wolfgang laughed. "No, no, I was not. I meant simply that just as in the novel, I went through a change for no reason or at least... I am not aware of the reason. I have no idea what happened actually."

Louis was suspicious. "None?"

"None." The tone was utterly convincing. "One day I was a fairly ordinary mortal man and then without warning or rhyme or reason I was something else entirely. I don't know how it was done or who did it or why. I'm not sure of anything really." He shrugged. "All I know is that something happened to me and that something has been keeping me alive ever since."