THE DARKEST HOUR by William Donges, 1995 wdonges@falcon.lhup.edu I had not thought it possible, but I am forced to concede, even at the expense of my delicate ego, that I, the Vampire Lestat, whoÍs exploits have thrilled millions, recently felt fear. An unusual emotion for a man who has spent centuries at the very top, with everyone bowing before him, yes their was that incident with Akasha but that is far different from this situation, far , far different. I realize that my writing, at this juncture, is somewhat different the that which you have read from me before, but I believe after hearing my tale you shall understand. It all began when they made a movie out of LouisÍ book, beautiful Louis, I almost lost him again, well no bother. I must confess that I myself never did get to see the movie, but at least the theater had some taste, true Mr. Tom Cruise who enjoyed the enormous task of emulating a legend, can not in anyway measure up to me, but he enjoyed one great similarity our overwhelming fame. Oh dear, I fear I am getting distracted again weariness comes upon me quickly now, and when it catches me I tend to ramble. Armand would be pleased, so would David ñLestat you are finally owning up to your own infirmitiesî, I can hear them as if they were with me right know. I suppose that if I am to tell this narrative successfully, the tale of how I, the Vampire Lestat, came face to face with the Devil that I so long claimed to be, it is best that I switch to the third person, how fitting, now it seems, that I used the same method when writing 'The Queen Of The Damned'. A silent figure moved down Bellefonte Ave, heading towards home. The darkness of the mid-winter Pennsylvania night was no hinderance. ïLock HavenÍ the figure mused ïan inconsequential town in an inconsequential stateÍ. The vampire Lestat chuckled for it seemed that the North Central Pennsylvania town had indeed been a haven, but it was not New Orleans, the city to which Lestat was already drawn. Lestat, stopped suddenly, breifly a touch at the corners of his mind. Lestat probed this passing glance trying to ascertain it's nature and found that he was easily able to locate the mind it was just ahead and to the right, Lestat move swiftly in the indicated dirtection and found himself standing in front of a sickly green house that even his enhanced senses could do nothing to repair. _____________ William stood on the porch of his home looking out into the night scanning to see if all was well. After all he had been through he was very cautious before going to bed at night it had become almost instinct. He felt a mind brush against his, something dark but in no way evil really something alien, and in that moment William became acutely aware of what he had touched, more specifically he knew exactly whom he had touched. Lestat, king of the night and vampire extrodinaire. William was stunned. "What in God's name is Lestat doing in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania" Lestat sensed William's recognition very quickly the man inside knew of him and he needed to know why. He did not have long to wait soon a young man stepped out onto the porch. Rather then looking through Lestat as mortals normally did William locked his gaze unto his. "Not here, Lestat" he said quietly "I agree we need to talk but not just here" "Where then?" "I need to show you something that may well make you wish you never met me." Willliam said "and will certainly make you think twice before calling this town a Haven nor in fact calling any part ,with small exception, of William Penn's Woods at all" Lestat would normally have reacted with humor to this manÍs pronouncement of doom but he was not quick with humor now. "What is it you intend to show me" "The Devil that you so ernestly pretend to be" "What" Lestat asked confused. "I said that i am going to show you the devil" Lestat shuddered. William stood before the tombstone, and stared blankly into the night. To the unexperienced his vacant expression may have been mistaken for lack of attention and or concentration, but Lestat knew better. "This" William said "is just a peice of hell." Lestat was not sure what to say, graveyards had never caused him any real alarm, after all he was undead. This particular resting place made him uneasy, and not knowing why made the effect worse. "A black node" William said quietly. "Or at least part of one, this is the doorway to hell Lestat not your accursed kiss" "Black Node?" Lestat said, his tone only half asking a question. "A site of black magical energy" William responded "Really a rather nast place, although this one is much weaker then some." Lestat shuddered at this although he could not imagine why. "I Lestat am a Hermetic Mage, and a Christian Cabalist. This place we stand in is the home of the enemy but I still haven't shown you the hole to hell, although I do not have to lestat you have been there before." "When, did I have the distinct pleasure of visiting your foolish conceptualization of a hole to hell?" Lestat asked trying his best to maintain a mocking tone. "Surely you remember Megan, Lestat" Lestat considered this carefully, he did indeed remember Megan he had seen the girl more then once, it was her rather strong empathic abilities that drew him to Pennsylvania in the first place. Lestat decided that he did not need to answer the question it was obvious that William already knew it. Instead he spoke carefully "What are you?" "I, Lestat, am human." "No you are something more." "Yes, but now is not the time for that your lover Mr. Lioncourt is about to die, unless you stop it." "Louis?" Lestat turned toward William angrily "what are you going to do to him" "Nothing, Lestat" William Said "It is your own overwelming beauty and tremendous popularity that shall destroy your lover. I suggest you go to New Orleans at once, but return here Lestat we have much more to say to each other" "What.. " Lestat began, but he stopped abruptly. William was no where to be found. The wind rushed over the speeding form. The figure searched for something desperately. Something, it seemed, which was not being found. Suddenly the night's are pierced with the sounds of eternal anguish, seemingly so loud that all of hells cacophony could never hope to imitate it. Louis was dead. ______________ New Orleans 3 days previous. ______________ Armand's Private Diary: Louis' movie comes out today. People everywhere will soon see what happened through Louis' eyes and not through the damnable Lestat's. I shall be the first in line for the movie this evening and Louis will travel with me, Lestat however is no where to be found. In all honesty I can not say if that makes me happy or immensely upset. __________________ Later the same evening __________________ Armand's Private Diary: Betrayal! The movie was a disgrace a miserable disgrace. It did not show Lestat as the fiend he is at all! It was more like something Lestat himself would write. The movie glamorized *HIM* something that never should have been done, and Claudia she was a pure monster Louis' cried during the last half and people in the theater became very upset with him. __________________ The next day __________________ Louis stood gazing out at the full winter moon. A feeling of ultimate loss pulling through him. ' Claudia ' he sobbed silently. "It is you" Louis turned around looking for the source of the sound. "It is your fault that she is dead" A man said, stepping from the shadows. "You Louis, ALL YOU!" "What?!" Louis cried confused. "I am going to kill you Louis and then I am going to kill David, Armand, Marius" the man paused "I am going to kill all of you and then when your vile soul's are roasting in hell I will kill Lestat slowly. Letting him know that he is NOTHING, that all he loves is worthless and that he Louis is most certainly nothing, and when I am done Lestat will know that he is certainly not the great Serpent. Not Lucifer, Not Asmodeus or Asteroth he is simply not the DEVIL!" "What is this" Louis demanded with uncharacteristic malice "Who the Hell are you?!!!" "Precisely Louis" "What" "I," the man responded "am Charon boat keeper of the Styx and bringer of damnation. What Akasha started I shall complete. Lestat has gone too far with himself. Now this movie of his is his downfall. Lestat claimed that he was a devil, so Beelzebub decided to show Lestat just whom the Devil really is, and you Louis are the first step." With a swing of a rather large staff, Louis' immortal world went dark. _______________________ Two Hours Before the Present _______________________ Lestat flew from Pennsylvania as fast as he possibly could leaving, William and Lock Haven some where in the distant past, Louis' was in danger and now Lestat felt it too. He had just made it to New Orleans in time he flew into the house. "Louis" Lestat Called "Louis..." Lestat knew he was not here but the sun would be rising any minute. Lestat frantically fled the house seeking to find Louis. Flying through the New Orleans streets in desperation. The sun however put and end to his search the first rising rays burning him slightly and forcing him into the shadow's. Here Lestat realized lay his lovers ultimate destruction and he was helpless to prevent it. _________________________ Louis felt the searing light strike his face the cord's that bound preventing him form escaping it's fatal rays'. "Lestat" Louis cried softly and then in a flash of searing light was gone. __________________________ Lestat suddenly felt empty, void. Lestat let at an immortal scream so piercing that people miles away heard it and shuddered. Louis Pointe du Lac was dead. William woke in a cold sweat, something had gone terribly wrong and he knew it, he suspected that Lestat would be at his home again very shortly and not in the best of moods. :Lestat: William cried silently :I tried to warn you damn it!: Much to William's suprise however Lestat did not come, nor did he come during any of the next three evenings, William was far from comforted by Lestat's absence instead he became quite concerned. When Lestat, finally did arrive it was very close to dawn on the 5th day. "Where have you been, Lestat?" William Asked "I have waited for your return. What happened in New Orleans?" Lestat glared at William menacingly "Don't bore me with your drivel" he said "you know as well as I what happened there" Seeing William made no response, "In fact I believe you know quite a bit more" "No, Lestat" William said "I have exhasted my talents trying to find you. I do nopt operate well alone and my coven is far from close to me right now" Lestat stood in silence and then broke into tears recounting the story of Louis' death and then Lestat's endless search for some scrap of Louis' existance. "Lestat" William said softly "I do not believe Louis' death to be an isolated attack, I have no idea what their next target will be lestat but I suspect I know what it will not be, you. Sunlight approaches and I have to get ready to put on at least a fascade of my mortal life. You lestat have to hide yourself away so you can sleep their is an empty warehouse I know of. It is probably the safest place, unless you want to try to get a hotel room." William sighed silently he expected that he was in for another long adventure... Hello the vampire Lestat here, I normally would be inclined to see this narrative through to it's completion before sharing my thoughts with you but in this case that is far from appropriate, it seems that this narrative has taken on the mind of William, something that disturbs me greatly, this is not his story it is mine. I have more presing reasons to interject here however, they shall make themselves more clear in my future writings let us just say that I trusted William there was somethign about him that inspired trust but his next request startled me and my delay it now seems had much to do with what happened next. It seems I have gotten far to efficent at bringing about my own adventures, but then any one as devilishly charming as me is bound to raise a little cain now and then. Now I will return the story to the third person, I promise you wont hear any more of my interuptions until the end of the narrative. _______________________________________________________________ The figure flew through the night, with a grace that could only be born of darkness, flew towards it's destination towards the pompous vampire who would take the thrown of the demon's. Centuries had not been enough to give Lestat the throne that had been his for millennia and he was not prepared to give Lestat the throne now. _______________________________________________________________ Two minds co-existed in one form, the term body is not quite correct here, for if one could get closer they would notice that the body did not breathe with any regular rhythm. Such a mundane process as respiration had no place. The minds were another unusual phenomena. The were not aberrations caused by multiple personality disorder, for they were aware of each other, nor were they the result of dissociate identity syndrome, because they were far from reflections of the same soul. One would not necessarily be wrong in saying that their union was the product of insanity, for indeed the very situation that led them to this point was insane. However, they once had separate form, and by the looks of it, this union is fairly new, recent, and not at all peaceful. _______________________________________________________________ At first William tried to exert some sort of physical control over Lestat's actions but that proved foolish. Even his extended training in subjects arcane could not prepare him for solitary combat with the mind of a vampire, particularly since he was quite aware that his intention was to help Lestat, not to hinder him. Lestat it seemed, was not prepared to give an inch of his control over to William, his centuries in the darkness were not bred of foolishness and allowing William any access to his form wa s risky enough no less granting him reign over it. :Lestat: William spoke silently, for he had to here :I am not going to be able to help you if I can use the somatic aspects of my spell craft: :You have no need to perform any ritual now.: Lestat replied, with equal silence. :You said everything was under control. I will grant you use of my form only when I am CERTAIN that it is necessary: William made the equivalent of a mental shrug and turned instead to Lestat's mind, a churning chaos that was totally unprotected in this union, a mind that may be open even to external reading by the trained eye, which William indeed was, but was especially susceptible to the internal barrage that William unleashed quietly now. Lestat had very little way of knowing that he was being probed so long as the mage was cautious in the method he used in probing. William on the other hand, in spite of his mortal nature, was familiar with this type of bonding, and had no intention of letting Lestat assault his mind, for one thing Lestat was dangerous enough with Akasha's blood, he did not also need the occult training that William possessed. William could easily imagine Lestat inverting the individual sephiroth in a rage and indeed inverting the tree of life completely. He could also see Lestat as Crowley, summoning demons for hand to hand combat, the idea of a immortal Alisteir Crowley gave him cause to shudder. Lestat would not have much trouble understanding Crowley's work either Akasha was Egyptian and Thoth after all had much to do with Crowley's philosophies. No, Lestat could not be allowed to learn in an instant what he had never bothered to learn over the centuries, a spell wielding Lestat would be very dangerous, and Lestat's ego was already dangerously overinflated. When William again gazed out through Lestat's immortal eyes he had no idea where he was. Never mind the fact that Lestat's heightened perception made things appear different the William would normally perceive it was quite clear that they had traveled some distance and were still flying at a remarkably rapid rate. :Where are we?: William asked. :Louisiana: Lestat replied curtly :we will very soon be in Baton Rouge I have some business to attend to there then we shall return to New Orleans to rest: _______________________________________________________________ Lestat's mind reeled he was not nearly so blind as William thought he was. William's protections were in place but Lestat still could read his surface thoughts particularly in those unguarded moments in which William had a tendency to reminisce it was during one such time that Lestat formulated his plan. William's knowledge must be his, and he had no intention of waiting several centuries to gain what he could achieve in a second. So Lestat hunted, he did not necessarily need to feed but Lestat wanted to. He found his target fairly quickly a young girl. _______________________________________________________________ William saw the young girl and pulled completely out of Lestat's mind, which was exactly what Lestat wanted for it allowed him to put his plan in action. :What a dainty little tart, hey William: :You are sick, If you must feed, feed but this is a young girl far to young to be the object of your sick obsession, need I remind you what happened the Last time you went for one so young.: Lestat suppressed a burst of rage, he would take action, all in good time. :A harlot is all she is William: Lestat said :A street slut, a whore. You would like to stick your face in her cunt wouldn't you?: William was sickened he had not believed Lestat possible of such debauchery. :Oh hadn't you?: Lestat replied : well I am capable of far more: Lestat smiled knowing that he was about to give William the time of his life, and also knowing that this would unnerve William just enough to drop his guard. "What do I get for $100?" Lestat asked the young girl "That depends on what you want" William was startled by her response somewhat, a girl so young? Then again she was out fairly early, or William corrected himself very late. "I want you to show me first" Lestat was saying as he gently parted the girls thighs. "Not here.." the girl protested "Yes here, and now" in a second the girl was disrobed Lestat was pleased she was really quite attractive. Lestat licked her inner thigh knowingly and darted his tongue upward more for play then for anything else. "Oh Monsieur" The girl moaned, and the Lestat bit feeling her ecstasy and her pain welling up and out the small wounds in her thigh into his mouth the blood filled with the very essence of mortal sexuality flooding his mouth and he mentally pulled back forcing William sharply forward, forcing William to drink her blood to drink all of the intoxicating liquor. _______________________________________________________________ At first William wanted to pull back but his normal senses were not in control. He was manipulating Lestat's faculties and the blood was pure ecstasy, a sense of shock and pleasure filled all of William's being and he drank deeply. Miles a way William's form reacted to this dream like input the essence of his manhood spouting forth like a geyser and the young girls blood still flooded over his lips and then Lestat's form was satiated and the girl was dead. :What have you done Lestat?: William demanded, just then sensing Lestat's violation into his mind, but Lestat was silent for a moment as the last of William's knowledge filled his existence. :I know: Lestat said simply when he finished. :I know and now you are of no more use to me: _______________________________________________________________ The dark figure moved toward Lestat silently, Lestat totally unaware of his coming and of the fire that he had with him. _______________________________________________________________ :Lestat: William protested :You can't possibly utilize that knowledge in a second.: "He's quite right you know Lestat" a voice came from the darkness "You can't possibly use that knowledge and now it is far to late anyway. You just did me a favor though Lestat putting William through that it weakened his resolve somewhat and I have been trying to weaken his resolve that much for years." "Who are you" Lestat demanded. "But I am afraid Lestat" the figure went on "It cant make up for your ego. Look at you existence Lestat, you have not been the devil at all, you were in love and you felt pain. I feel no pain I am Asteroth lord of hell's armies and I feel no pain." Had William been fully conscious he could have formed a retort but now he was a slave to Lestat's ego completely. Lestat was enraged, but could do nothing he was paralyzed by his pain, his past flooding through him. :Claudia, sweet Claudia how you loved her Lestat: the voice came in his mind. :But she despised you so much she had to kill you, yet you would have had her live and Armand had her disposed of because she got in the way.: Lestat writhed in pain and fell to the ground. :And Louis the one you loved most he hated you too Lestat. When I showed him the sun all he could think to do was curse you, to damn you he did not regret losing his own life he only regretted that he was not taking you with him: William wanted to retort but Lestat would not let go he just writhed in pain under the onslaught. :And finally David. David he loved you at first Lestat, he even wanted you to make him, he would never admit it but it was what he wanted. Then you forced it on him and he was glad. I killed David too Lestat and he died cursing you too.: Lestat stood and threw himself at the figure. :You turned your back on him Lestat and left him for me to burn with fire. When he died he told me to burn you the same way Lestat he said to take you soul the same way you had stolen his, and then burn your body and scatter your ashes in the wind so that is what I am going to do Lestat.: A flash a flame caught Lestat's form and the pain was intense, Lestat and William were both blinded by the searing heat the pain filling every bit of their soul destroying every bit of their essence and William felt a sharp tug as the pain became far to much to bear and he was propelled back to his own form hundreds of miles away his silver cord pulling towards its destination with a force that could not be resisted. William awoke from his slumber in mental anguish, he sent a probe for Lestat, seeking his mind, but it was gone. Only one conclusion could be drawn, the vampire Lestat was like Louis and David before him dead. William realizing what at happened simply stared at his terminal blankly and the resolving what needed to be done began to type: Hello the vampire, Lestat here.... THE END (Continued in Second Dawn)