SILLY SPEC: HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES Part 3, Posts 61-90 ___________________________________________________________________ Posts 61: Daniel and Co. Daniel thought he had died and gone to heaven. Gabrielle on one side and the slightly squirming Bubble on the other. Still, his first loyalty was to Armand, and to it was to him that he finally directed his comments. "I got bored waiting." He shrugged. "So I thought I'd look around." "Understandable. Besides, I very much doubt any of this was your idea." Armand smiled slightly. "Not your style." Daniel wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not, but before he could decide, Bubble piped up. "Who are all these people?" she squeaked. "More reporter types?" "Who is this creature?" Gabrielle asked. "An actress type." Santino answered. Gabrielle looked at her appraisingly. "I don't have to guess what type, now do I?" "Oh, I'm... "...carnally indefatigable" Daniel, Santino and Bubble all said at once. Bubble giggled, which caused amazing things to happen to the front of her shirt. "Right. That's me!" Gabrielle looked as though she were going to be ill, while Armand actually laughed. Tom stirred restlessly in Santino's arms. _________________________________________________________________________ Post 62: Louis and Lestat Louis held the door of the trailer open for Lestat as they left Martin. "You sang well, as usual..." (smiles) "As usual." replied Lestat. "I get to make sure Monsieur Pitt doesn't make me look like a backwoodsman..."(turning to Lestat) "I get to rock and roll!!" Lestat exclaimed. They high-fived each other and laughed. "I'm leaving instructions that first thing tomorrow, Monsieur Pitt takes a few movement classes... and if that includes ballet" (chuckles) "it will be the least of his problems. Pity we'll miss that, but he'll have to do that during the day, so as not to take time from the night time shoots. Now, on to wardrobe, to replace these perfectly horrid sweaters...and to see what becomes a legend best..." (Lestat gives him a leg-behind-the-back-butt-kick) "There's only one more thing left to do." (To Lestat, as Louis walked ahead of him) What sort of position can we obtain for our good friend, Armand? and possibly *your* mother as well? What do you say? After all, you've always told me you're the creative one!" _________________________________________________________________________ Post 63: Gabrielle and Co. Gabrielle threw an exasperated stare at Bubble and the put the back of her hand to her forehead and feigned inferiority, "Oh, I suppose I'm out of my league then!" she sighed. Armand tried his best to hide a laugh and Bubble looked totally lost, "Um....like what does that mean?" "AUGGH!" Gabrielle yelled and turned to Daniel and twisted a lock of his ashen hair around her finger, she whispered into his ear, "Come now, mon cheri, you can do better than this, can't you?" Suddenly, Armand decided to make himself a barrier between Gabrielle and his precious. Gabrielle glared down at him and he said with a straight face, "Cool off Gabrielle, just because you can't make it with your master doesn't mean the same works for my fledgling." Daniel blushed a nice shade of crimson and Santino smiled while Tom started to awake. Gabrielle only smiled back at Armand, fangs showing, "But it's very obvious the same goes for you and *your* maker." ____________________________________________________________________________ Post 64: Santino Santino tried his best not to let his frustration show. So Gabrielle *had* seen him and Daniel. *Damn!* he thought. He'd wanted far more time alone with Daniel than what he'd had so far. Of course, the little fight brewing between Armand and Gabrielle was interesting, but Santino had seen *that* sort of thing before. He cradled the now-unconscious Tom Cruise in his arms. Too bad he hadn't had a chance to taste this one either. Out of curiosity, he let his mind slip into the mortal's. *Interesting,* Santino thought. *It would seem that Tom has taken the idea of getting _into_ character to a whole new level. I wonder how much of this Lestat actually did and how much of it is a dream?* The thought of the Brat Prince gave Santino an idea which had the potential to solve his current problem about getting alone with Daniel once again. :Lestat, what mischief have you gotten yourself into now? And can you *please* do something about Armand and your mother?: ______________________________________________________________________ Post 65: David David paced the floor of his apartment. *WHERE IS HE?! I made sure I got back from my Safari in Madagascar in time didn't I? There better be a DAMN good reason for this!* He scanned the area for Marius. *Ah, so you are in the area* He was about to send a message when he caught a piece of Marius' thoughts. *HE'S ON THE SET WITH JEROMY IRONS! HE STOOD ME UP FOR A GODDAMN ACTOR! Granted, he's a good actor...I thought they would get him to play me...no no, he's too old to play me now and too young to play me when I was mortal...what the hell am I doing!* David took to the air and traveled to the set. Just about the entire coven was there. He could sense the presence of all but the Twins and Lestat of course, though he knew *that* one would definately be there. He would greet the others later, he had business to attend to. He scanned the area as quitely as he could. He didn't want to disturb Marius. No, he wanted this to be a surprise. There he was! Still taken with Jeremy Irons *We'll see about THAT* he thought to himself. He snuck up behind Marius and put his hands over his eyes. Very childish for a man of his years, but he felt like teasing him a bit. "Armand? Is that you? I'm busy right now...could you come back in a little bit, I'm sure I saw Antonio walk over to his trailor, why don't you see what he's up to?" This was bad, not only did he mistake David for Armand, which was next to impossible, he was blowing him off for Jeremy! "I thought I might give you these back" said David as he removed his hands from Marius' eyes and pulled out the handcuffs. "Doesn't look like I'll be needing them!" __________________________________________________________________________ Post 66: Marius ::Oh, I am in *trouble*!:: It was the first thought that ran through Marius' mind, followed quickly by ::Oh god, not again!:: "David... David, wait! I can explain!" He grabbed David's hands, hauling the other man out of the immediate way of the set and off to the relative shadows near the trailers, where they might at least *hope* to have some privacy. "David, listen to me..." David opened his mouth and Marius rushed on. "No, listen to me! Shut that beautiful mouth, love, or I'll have to put something in it! I'm going to explain, and you are going to *listen* for once, or I just might gag you!" David paused, then shut his mouth with a snap of teeth, which he bared at Marius in a rather evil grin that Marius was certain David must have learned from Lestat. "Stop that," Marius told him. "You're distracting me! Listen, darling, I'm very VERY sorry about being late. I only stopped down here because Lestat and Louis were here and I was worried Lestat might try something. And he did! And Louis too! And then Armand showed up, and Gabrielle, and just about everyone in the family, and it's turning into another madhouse again! I'm truly sorry about losing track of the time." Marius smiled sweetly, pressing David back against the wall of a trailer and trailing light fingers down his neck and into the front of his shirt. "Did you really think I'd toss you over for a mortal bit like Jeremy Irons? Oh, he's a good actor, and I admit to a bit of surprise, but in the end he's really nothing more then a mortal. An hor'deurve, maybe. Or a snack. I'd *much* rather spend the night with *you*." He breathed the last word into David's ear, letting his front teeth close lightly on the lobe. David might not like to admit it, but he had started breathing faster as Marius nibbled his way down David's neck. "Besides," Marius whispered, teasing, "aren't you the least bit curious to see Sean Connery trying to play you?" _______________________________________________________________________ Post 67: Armand and Co. Armand glared at Gabrielle, but only half heartedly. He was beginning to see the appeal of this woman. Very like her son... and that was a thought he did NOT wish to contemplate further. "My maker is a bit distracted these days." he said simply. "But our relationship is hardly in jeopardy." "And your fledgling?" Armand turned to Daniel, who still had his arm draped around Bubble. "What are you doing to do with this... person?" Daniel grinned. "What any self-respecting reporter would do. I'm going to interview her. What do you say, Bubble. Want to tell me your life story?" Daniel smiled. "oooohhhh, I'd love to! Do you think you'll do, like, an article? You're eyes are purple. Did you know that?" The two of them walked away. Santino looked at the muttering actor in his arms. "I'd best put this away, then." "Without sampling, Santino." Armand admonished. "When did you become such a prude?" he snapped in return. Armand said nothing, choosing instead to simply look at his former coven leader. "Oh, alright!" Santino finally snapped. "I'll put the little darling back. But only this once! After this, he's fair game." "Agreed. I've other matters to attend to." Santino hefted Tom back to his bed, leaving Gabrielle and Armand alone. _________________________________________________________________________ Post 68: Santino Santino was *not* in a good mood. First Gabrielle sees fit to interrupt his time with Daniel, then Armand sees fit to telling *him* not to drink from Tom Cruise! *We'll see about that,* Santino thought, glaring back towards the place he'd left the others. He dragged the still unconscious Cruise back to his trailer and laid him down on the bed. He checked to make sure that they were alone, then sank his fangs into the mortal's flesh. Tom started, then relaxed. "Lestat...." the mortal sighed. *Lestat?* Santino was surprised. Normally mortals never mistook him for someone else. Santino finished his drink then debated what to do. What had Lestat wanted with this mortal? Besides the obvious? Santino hated to think that he might be ruining a scheme of the Brat Prince's since Lestat tended to think of such good ones. Santino laughed, remembering their times together in Italy, and their more recent ones on Night Island. *Ah, I'll leave this one alone,* Santino decided. *I can always come back and change Tom's dreams later if they present a problem.* A sound outside reminded Santino that he was not, technically, supposed to be where he was. He darted out of the trailer window and moved stealthily away. *So _now_ what do I do?* he wondered. Daniel had gone off with the carnally indefatigable Bubble which left only Armand and Gabrielle to go back to, if Santino was inclined to spend company with those who knew that he was here. He thought about going back, pictured Armand and Gabrielle together, shuddered and thought better of it. He decided to wander through the maze of trailers instead. "No, listen to me! Shut that beautiful mouth, love, or I'll have to put something in it! I'm going to explain, and you are going to *listen* for once, or I just might gag you!" The voice startled Santino. It had come out of nowhere and it had been too soft for mortal ears to hear. *Who on earth?* Santino tried to track the voice down, hiding in the shadows as he did so. "Stop that. "You're distracting me! Listen, darling, I'm very VERY sorry about being late...." Santino frowned. *That sounds so much like Marius. But who is he talking to? Pandora isn't here.* "I only stopped down here because Lestat and Louis were here and I was worried Lestat might try something...." Santino was finally able to find where Marius's voice was coming from. Keeping low and out of sight, Santino peered around one of the many trailers to see Marius speaking intimately to.... DAVID???? A slow grin spread across Santino's face. *It looks like this night can be recovered after all.* _______________________________________________________________________ Post 69: Tom dreaming Tom woke slowly. 'I must be getting sick or something,' he thought as he shook his head to clear his mind. His pants were undone again... 'Christ!' He pushed everything back into place and zipped up. He looked around him and saw his bodyguard and the other young one with a few others but nothing seemed quite clear yet. 'What was that about a groupie?' He sat up with a start and looked down at his trousers. He felt them with his hands... no, no moisture... hmmm... did she swallow? 'Oh God,' he thought. 'And wasn't there a reporter around?' All he could think about were headlines in the National Enquirer -- 'Tom Cruise caught red-handed... no, scratch that... Tom Cruise caught with Groupie on the set...' He slapped his hands to his face and shook his head. 'This can't be happening, this can't be happening...' He stood up rather shakily and noticed a few drops of blood on his white shirt. He slowly brought his hand up to his neck and there, yes, this time they WERE there... small wounds on the side of his neck. He went screaming into the night running as fast as he could to the nearest trailer. He opened the door and ran inside screaming the entire time. He stopped short when he noticed the two inside -- one looked similar to himself, 'wait, I've seen this person before...' -- long, wavy blonde hair... the other, he hadn't seen, but there was a resemblance to Brad Pitt only not quite enough. "May we help you?" asked Lestat grinning slightly without baring his fangs. "Uh... I've just been attacked..." Tom said shakily. "I guess so judging by the volume of your voice," Lestat said, standing up. He was by far the taller of the two -- a good 4 or 5 inches at least. Tom looked down at his feet and noticed he was without his elevator shoes. His feet were rather bare, actually. He looked up at Lestat and winced. 'I KNOW I've seen this man before...' "I've been bit... here, look..." he turned his neck to show Lestat the marks. "It was a vampire, I KNOW it was!" "There, there, mon cher, let me have a peek..." Lestat said, placing his hands on Tom's shoulders. Louis placed his hand on Lestat's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Leave him alone, Lestat... it looks like he's already been taken..." "Yes, and I'm the one who'll do the taking..." Lestat whispered back. Louis walked out of the trailer in a huff and decided to spend his time with Pitt instead. "At least that mortal is willing to LEARN something!" he shouted back at Lestat. "So, what do you think? What's going on?" Tom asked. "Hmmmm... let me get a closer look," Lestat said. He gently pulled Tom closer to him using a little of the razzle dazzle to keep him calm and compliant. He nuzzled into Tom's neck and slowly slid his fangs into the same wounds drawing a little blood, just a little. Tom groaned and fell into Lestat's hands. With his tongue Lestat licked at the wound using a tiny dab of vampiric blood to help close and heal them. In an instant the wounds were gone and Tom was as good as new. Well, minus a few pints of blood... Tom began to stir. "Not yet, mon cher... not yet," Lestat kept him calm and carried him to the bed in the trailer. He laid his prey on the bed who at this time was totally entranced. Lestat ran his hands over Tom's body feeling every ripple of muscle and the tautness of his flesh. "Hmmm... a little flabby but nothing a few situps won't cure." He unzipped Tom's pants and slipped a hand inside. Tom wriggled on the bed and moaned. "You're mine, petit cher, my lovely one, my so-called twin... ahh... you've much to learn....." He played for a little while until he heard noises coming from outside. He jumped up and looked out the window and saw Neil Jordan making his way towards the trailer. Lestat ran out the back door and disappeared leaving Tom a dishevelled and slightly undressed mess. Jordan opened the door and stepped in. Following him were the crew members that had found Tom earlier. They all stood and stared at Tom who was writhing on the bed. "Ohhh... oooohhh... ahhh... that is so good... so good..." His eyes were half-mast and fluttering. "Uh... better make sure those reporters don't come near here," Jordan said to one of the crew. Another crew member was laughing. Jordan turned and glared at him. "Now, I know Tom's a bit eccentric... and he's been away from Nicole for some time, but there's no reason for us to cause a stir, right?" "Oh, right, sir, right," said the crewman suppressing a snicker. "Tom, Tom," Jordan said shaking Tom awake. "Please, Tom... wake up! We want to shoot the reunion scene now." Tom writhed on the bed some more not able to answer or make any other sound other than grunts and moans. Jordan pulled the blanket over him covering Tom's exposed parts. "Christ! He's out of it! We need a stunt double! We'll just have to shoot the reunion with the double! Where's that blonde kid I saw running around here a while back? He doesn't exactly look like Tom but he'll do. Go find him!" Jordan shouted at the crewman. ______________________________________________________________________ Post 70: Lestat and Louis Lestat shot Louis a sideways look. "You want me to get _Armand_ a job in this joint? It's bad enough the two of us are here!" "You're not serious. You've wanted to be a part of this ever since you heard about it. Now come on. Gabrielle and Armand should be here. What could they do?" Lestat shrugged. "Aside from the obvious?" "What we're doing, you mean?" "Right. No need for creative heroics." Louis frowned thoughtfully. "You _did_ all but tell Martin who we really were." "A few more family members won't surprise him in the least!" Louis smiled suddenly. "Can you imagine the conversatons between Armand and Antonio Banderas?" "Forget that." Lestat's smile was positively wicked. "Imagine between Gabrielle and Goldie Hawn!!" Just then an aide skidded to a stop beside them. "Sir! Mr. Melmoth, sir? We need you on the set. Mr. Cruise is currently indisposed and..." "Indisposed?" Lestat glared at him. "With what?" The aide paled and backed up a few steps. "I don't know, sir, but I was told to find you, and right away. We're filming the reunion scene without a Lestat right now!" Lestat groaned. He and Louis hurried after the frantic aide. As an aside Louis leaned over and said softly "More to the point, indisposed with whom? Or because of whom?" "That's what I intend to find out. I got dragged out of his tent. If someone got to him after that, I'm going to personally crack skulls." _____________________________________________________________________ Post 71: Lestat As Lestat hurried across the set after the aide, he caught a thought from Santino. :What are you doing here?: Then Lestat thought better of the question. :Never mind. I'm busy. But if you want to see something, tell Armand, my mother, and whomever else is around to go watch the shoot.: He laughed mentally. :Louis and I are taking over.: ______________________________________________________________________ Post 72: Khayman After Gabby departed, Khayman stood there thinking about what she had said, that she didn't want Goldie Hawn to play her. "Hey, at least she is in this one, once again I am left out. I still think they should do Queen, there is more of a story there." "Let's see, who could play me? Armand Assante, nay too old. Sly Stallone, he has the body for it, but only if didn't speak, no that won't do. What about Richard Gere? Yeah, that's good, I like that. Noooo, wait a minute, MEL GIBSON!! He has the thighs for it, he is a little short, but that's OK." Ready to make his big announcement Khayman turns around, only to find that everyone is gone. "Now where did they go?" ____________________________________________________________________________ Post 73: Louis and Lestat Louis found a place to sit while Lestat was escorted to makeup and wardrobe. :This is just what he wants... get him in front of an audience and watch him emote!: (Chuckles) : Cruise is so short... he's going to have to stand on a box for his closeup with Pitt... if they shoot from behind Lestat for the closeup of Pitt...Then Oakie Brad is going to get the liplock of his life!: Louis sat back laughing to himself... Where was Pitt anyway? He scanned a few mortal minds to ascertain the whereabouts of the nicely packaged mortal. :Hmmm. The last time anyone had seen him he was putting the moves on a lovely young thing with long red hair... Jesse! What sort of mischief have you gotten *yourself* into now? No time to worry about her...Ah, here's Lestat acting like Tom Cruise acting like Lestat! No Pretty-Boy Brad anywhere in sight...!: Louis moved towards Lestat and gave him a slow smile. Lestat raised an eyebrow. "Are you having flashbacks as well?" "As contagious as a mortal cold." ____________________________________________________________________ Post 74: Lestat and Louis Lestat was thoroughly enjoying himself. He returned Louis' smile with one of his own. "This night can't get much better, mon cher." Then he winked. "But if you keep smiling at me like that, I just might forget my lines." Louis was unrepentant. "Like what?" "Don't play innocent with me. That's a game I taught you!" "You - innocent?" Louis snorted. "I'd laugh, but..." "You're all done!" the makeup artist said brightly. "Hardly needed anything, really. You're so pale already! Just a little powder." Lestat thanked her and left the makeup counter. Just then Martin came striding up. "There you are!" he exclaimed. "What a night. Tom is still raving about..." his eyes narrowed suddenly. "I don't suppose you had anything to do with this?" "With what?" Lestat mirrored Louis expression of moments ago. "Never mind." He drew the two of them along with him, before the c cameras. "All I really need to get tonight is Brad's shots. We can shoot over the shoulder, get his reaction, things like that. Have you ever worked in front of a camera before." Lestat raised an eyebrow. "Do a dozen music videos count?" Martin stopped and looked at him. "I... never mind. Forget I asked. Now then... where's Brad?" __________________________________________________________________________ Post 75: Louis and Lestat Louis and Lestat exchanged innocent glances, and both (in unison) shrugged to Martin. "Have you see him?" Lestat asked Louis. "Last I heard he was with Jesse." Louis grinned. "Who the hell is Jesse?" Martin held his aching head. "Redhead," said Lestat. "About this tall..." Louis held his hand up to his chin. "Big green eyes..." Lestat added. "Very nice teeth..." Louis smirked. Martin shook his head. He turned to his assistant. "Page Brad. I'll give him ten minutes and if he doesn't show up, we're shooting everthing but the closeups with doubles." _________________________________________________________________________ Post 76: Brad and Jesse "Uh, yeah, I'm Brad Pitt. So you're Jesse? Are you working on this film too?" he said, smiling. "Um, noo... just watching..." Jesse said. "Oh... yeah, lots of things to watch, huh?" Brad sighed. "Would you like to have a drink with me after the shoot tonight? Maybe take in some music, if we get outta here on time? I'm really bummin' this is takin' so long... and this sweater is really itchy..." Brad fought the urge to scratch his chest in front of Jesse who just stood staring at him. 'What eyes!' Brad thought. She smiled at him and winked. Brad felt something stir in his pants and fought the urge as best he could but as soon as Jesse turned away for a moment he looked down and, yep, sure enough, those tight pants were showing off every nuance of that particular part of Brad's luscious physique. 'Oh boy...' he thought. 'I would get horny now!' Jesse turned quickly around and faced Brad smiling. He had no idea she could read his thoughts. "Well, beautiful one, maybe we should go have that little 'drink' now...?" she said. He gaped at her and thought to himself, 'why not? They won't need me for a while...' "Sure! Let's go!" he took her arm in his and lead the two away... _____________________________________________________________________ Post 77: Lestat and Louis They waited. And waited. Lestat began to fidget after about thirty seconds. Then Louis began to fidget, after about 15 minutes. Finally Martin shook his head. "Where is he?" "I told you. He's with Jesse." Lestat said. "Jesse. Why does that name sound familiar?" "_Jesse._" Lestat stressed. "Remember, red hair, green eyes... _great_ teeth?" Lestat flashed his mega-watt smile, with full fangs. Martin paled. "That Jesse?" "She's been known to be a bit... distracting, from time to time." Louis said. "I'm sure it's not his fault." "Vampires have taken over my set." Martin muttered. Lestat laughed. "Mon cher, what _did_ you expect? This is MY movie! Come on." He started across the grass, then looked back over his shoulder. "Reunion scene, right? Right. Louis... Just... well, just do it like we did it before. Martin, watch." Martin seriously considered arguing. Louis picked up on the thought. "Don't bother. Once he gets started, it's hard to stop him." He looked around expectantly. "Where's the helicopter?" "We wrote it out. Not cost effective." Louis frowned as he watched Lestat hop up on the balcony of his "home". "What am I supposed to react to?" Martin smirked. "_Him_." He gestured toward Lestat, now watching expectantly across the lawn. He stood like a racehorse in the gates, quivering with suppressed excitement, impatient to begin. Lestat, meanwhile, watched the conversation between the two of them drag on. "Come on." he muttered to himself. "This isn't rocket science! We've done this before." He smiled to himself, remembering the actual scene with perfect clarity. Could they do it again? They were about to find out. ________________________________________________________________________ Post 78: David and Marius David listen to Marius apologize *yet* again. He wanted to remain stern, but whenever Marius nibbled at his ear, David began to melt. It felt so good to be close to him after being away for so long. But this was the millionth time Marius was late! No, there would be no more excuses! Well, maybe later, but not NOW! "Aren't you a bit curious to see Sean Connery play you David?" Marius said to him with a glint of seductive humor in his eye. "I'm not even in this story Marius! I don't even have a minor part until the middle of _Queen of the Damned_! This is yet another display of how little you pay attention to me! You're never on time, you don't remember what books I'm in...I'm telling you Marius I am beginning to feel like I'm an interesting side note to you! Maybe you would be better off with Pandora or Armand!" Just then, David heard another vampire. Some one else was in the vicinity listening to them. "Damn!" he said aloud. "Marius, we aren't alone!" _______________________________________________________________________ Post 79: Santino "Marius, we aren't alone!" Santino heard David's words with dread. For a moment he entertained the possiblity that if he remained hidden, he would not be found out. But then he remembered how easily Gabrielle had found him and Daniel and settled on another plan instead. :Marius, it's Santino. Tell you what, old friend. If you don't see me, I don't see you... BOTH of you. Even if, say, Pandora or Armand were to ask me who you were with, just now. And, not to alarm you, but Armand *is* wondering where you've gone off to. You wouldn't believe the shocking things Gabrielle is trying to tell him. She's got this silly idea in her head that you and David are having an affair. Now then, would you like me to help you nip that rumor in the bud or shall I just duck out of the way when Pandora finally arrives?: Santino sent this last thought out accompanied by as much friendliness as he could give the idea. He meant what he said. If Marius asked him to keep quiet, he would. After all, it would be much more fun to watch Armand, the one who had dared tell *him* who he could drink from, squirm around trying to find out the truth than it would be to watch Marius's affair blow up in his face. :What shall it be, Marius? Just give me the word and I shall defend your secret unto death.: ________________________________________________________________________ Post 80: Gabrielle and Armand Gabrielle and Armand were left alone, finally. Gabrielle watched as Daniel sauntered away with his "prize" on his arm. "Yes, what a prize, eh?" Armand smiled as he read her thoughts. "Yes, has a lot in the...ummm....I'm tempted to say 'head' but wouldn't 'headlights' be more appropriate?" Gabrielle muttered, Armand only laughed, and Gabrielle found herself lost in his silver laugh. Like the tinkle of wind chimes on a breezy day. It was a bit TOO enchanting. "Alright, imp, shall we go and try to find my son, your enemy, my son-in-law and your friend?" "Sounds rather nice, wench. Shall we go then?" Armand hooked him small arm through Gabrielle's and they made their way through the twisting backlots, through the darkness and into the area where they were filming the reunion scene. "Whoa." Gabrielle let out a low whistle. Armand's eyes were glued to the spectacle. "Is it just me, or is that Lestat and Louis?" Gabrielle knew the scene they were filming, and as it did for Lestat and Louis, time did a rewind. There had never been David....there had never been Daniel....never Jesse. Just two vampires seperated for too long. She felt the tears of joy rise in her eyes over the tender scene, her heart pounding in time with Louis' and Lestat's. Their embrace, their joy, she felt an overwhelming sense of love for both of them, it took her breath away. The scene, perfectly replayed before her eyes with the unfailible memory of a preternatural mind. Of it's own accord, Gabrielle's hand slipped itself into Armand's and he squeezed, lost in the scene himself. ______________________________________________________________________ Post 81: Louis Louis stood at the edge of the field, hands at his side, fingers wiggling, shaking out nervous energy. To one side of him were the camera men on a boom, in front two camera people. a man and a woman with steady cams... farther down, more cameras. He too a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could see Lestat at the glass patio door. :No helicopter, damn... I'll have to improvise with that clump of trees: "Quiet on the set!" Came Martin's voice over the bull horn. Reunion scene... take one... and...ACTION!" Louis began to walk slowly toward the house. He watched Lestat silhouetted against the door. Suddenly, it didn't matter if there wasn't a helicopter. The camera and lighting crews melted away. He and Lestat weren't on view for the world. It was the two of them, once again, on that crystaline night in the Carmel Valley. Somewhere, Jesse was still human and Daniel was taking his first breaths as a creature of the night...and Akasha was spinning her plans of abduction and genocide. He gracefully stepped closer and closer, only pausing by the small cluster of trees. Louis slowed his progress, reached up, pulled on a twig, letting the leaves slip through his long fingers. He lifted his head, locking his eyes on Lestat's. He smiled. The very sight of his lover left him breathless and overcome with emotion. ___________________________________________________________________________ Post 82: Lestat Lestat watched Louis approach and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu. Beautiful beyond reason... and all his. He hesitated, feeling his breath catch when Louis lifted his head, met his eyes. Then he slowly left the edifice behind, walking to meet his lover. The night wind gently caressed the two of them, making the scene perfect. "Where's the black cape and finely tailored black coat and the silk tie and all that foolishness?" Louis' eyes lit up in a joyous sparkle, and Lestat was pleased the cameras were trained on them both, rather than the "over the shoulder" shot he expected. This one expression alone was worth the millions the film was costing. "Can't always be the living legend." Louis finally said, his low voice thick with emotion. Then he reached forward, just as he had before, to gently touch Lestat's chest, as though to confirm he was real - not the sweetly remembered dream. At once they were in each other's arms, holding each other close, reliving the miracle of that moment. Then Lestat pulled back, a devilish grin Louis' only warning, before he reached out, took Louis' face firmly between his hands, and kissed him passionately. He felt Louis tense for a brief moment, then he relaxed, melting in his arms. "CUT.... uh Cut! CUT!" Lestat finally broke the kiss and looked around. He had actually forgotten for a moment where he was. Then, to his astonishment, a smattering of applause began behind the floodlights. It quickly caught on until the entire crew was applauding. He turned to Louis and winked before taking a deep bow. Then the two of them strolled back to Martin. "That's how it should be done." Louis said simply. "Should be done, hell!" Martin exclaimed. "Will be done! Most of that footage is usable..." His expression was almost pleading. "Are you sure you don't want a screentest? You too Lest... I mean, Sebastian." Lestat laughed. "No. But thank you. Maybe later. Come on, Jean-Louis." Together they left the lights behind. _______________________________________________________________________ Post 83: Gabrielle and Armand Gabrielle stared warmly down at the small hand she was holding, a smile lingering on her lips. "C'mon." She still held him by the hand and started to lead him back behind Tom's trailer, "Daniel may be waiting." They walked back slowly, in silence, both lost in long lost memories and thoughts. They stopped behind the trailer, the breeze lifting and tangled the mass of auburn curls of Armand. It touched them and caressed them and then Armand turned his head up to look into the sky and whispered, "To think....we can relive our lives here....on videotape. And that they could find mortals that could capture us...so perfectly." Armand's gaze drifted to the rooftop. Gabrielle smirked, "Yes, don't you think Goldie captures the very essence of "Gabrielleness"? " She took on her best Hawn accent and said, "Disaster my son." She turned her head to see Armand staring at the rooftop and sighed. _______________________________________________________________________ Post 84: Armand and Gabrielle Armand and Gabrielle found themselves alone behind Tom's trailer. They eyed each other warily for a moment. Then, as Armand's eyes kept drifting to the rooftop, Gabrielle exclaimed "What is it about Antonio that facinates you so? Do you want to coach him, like Louis did with Brad?" At once he shook his head. "Come on. I'll show you." He easily leapt to the rooftop and motioned for her to follow. "I know I'll regret this." she sighed, but followed. Together they traveled silently above the mortals until Armand suddenly halted. "Look. Look there." He pointed. Antonio Banderas had engaged Martin in discourse... apparently there was a disagreement about the interpretation of a scene. At once Armand flattened himself on the roof once more, watching intently. Muttering, Gabrielle followed. "I don't understand what's so facinating about this man. I mean, he and I... we..." "There." Armand said suddenly. "Did you see it?" "See what?" "Keep watching." Intrigued in spite of herself, Gabrielle began to study Antonio more closely. Then she frowned, and looked harder. Finally she whistled, low in her throat. "I'll be. That's creepy." "I thought so. Watch again... there!" Gabrielle looked at him suspiciously. "Did you teach him that? "No!" he denied at once. "And that's not the half of it. His gestures... even certain phrases." Gabrielle turned her attention back to Antonio, and finally nodded. "Armand, he could be an older version of you." "Exactly." ________________________________________________________________________ Post 85: Gabrielle and Armand Gabrielle took a moment to study Armand as the vampire rested his gaze upon the mortal actor below. Armand's liquid brown eyes were intent on memorizing every detail of Antonio, his small body lay stretched flat across the room, he had rested his chin upon foled hands in front of him, his curls fell unmercifully into his face.....sort of like the way Gabrielle felt she could fall unmercifully for Armand. ::Push it aside, Gabrielle. Monsieur le Imp is taken and plus, you two would kill each other. :: She watched as the director approached Antonio after filming the reunion scene. "Antonio. We're almost ready to put together a few scenes of your life. You know, the ones with you and Jeremy." Up above on the roof, Armand's eyes opened as big as saucers and his jaw dropped to his chest. Gabrielle shook him a little to relieve him from the trance he was in. "Armand, are you alright." "They're....going to film*my* scenes....that means you'll be around too....." Armand grabbed her hand and pulled her up to her feet, "We've got to follow, this we must watch." Hand in hand they jumped from the room and followed in pursuit of Antonio and Martin. _____________________________________________________________________________ Post 86: Marius and David ::Santino!:: Marius had automatically pressed himself and David further into the shadows at David's warning, but the thoughts that came to him were reassuringly from Santino. He relaxed a bit, squeezing David's hand to let him know it was alright. ::Santino, I would be in your debt if you could just forget you saw anything. Where is Armand, by the way? Still watching that actor, Antonio? Or did Gabrielle distract him? No, never mind, I can find Gabrielle. Yes, they're still watching him. Please, Santino, just forget any of this happened, allright? And then, if you could maybe wander a little farther away... we're trying to discuss something, here...:: "It's all right," he whispered to David. "It was Santino. He's a friend, and he knows when to keep his mouth shut." He sighed, slipping his arms around David's waist. A little smile flickered on his lips. "Now, what were we discussing? Maybe we should go somewhere else to discuss it... somewhere quiet and *private*..." ________________________________________________________________________ Post 87: David and Marius ::Come David, lets find a more *private* place to discuss this.:: Marius purred and then began to nibble at his ear a little more. His defences began to weaken. David wanted him, he wanted him more then anything else in the world right now. The blood sweat beaded on his forhead and his breathing quickened. The blood pumped faster through his veins and he wanted to scream his undying love for Marius across the entire set! Damn whoever heard him! Pandora didn't matter, Armand didn't matter, Santino's discovery didn't matter! The world should know! But Marius was late! How could David be so in love with a two-thousand year old being that didn't have the courtesy to keep his dates? Wise old Marius needed to be brought down a few notches. He couldn't let Marius keep treating him like this. It was going to be painful, but it had to be done. Just put him on hold for a few hours... just a few, just let Marius know he was hurt. "Marius, please...I think...please stop doing that, I need to tell you something......Oh God, I love that...NO! Listen to me Marius, I need a few moments to my self. I want to walk around the set a little, see whats going on...clear my mind. We'll talk later!" Marius was shocked. "But David, I--" "No!, I need to think. I will see you later!" With that, David left in the same direction that Santino had. ___________________________________________________________________________ Post 88: Marius "But... David, I...." To late. David had walked off. Just walked off and left him. Marius' jaw dropped. After a stunned second he started to go after David... and then stopped. How many times had they done this? Too many. David was angry with him (justifiably) and Marius would run after him and apologize, beg a little, maybe grovel some, and David would forgive him and they'd end up where they had meant to go in the first place, which is to say, in bed... This was starting to sound like a bad reply of Lestat and Louis' first 200 years together. Marius sighed, rubbing at his eyes. Allright. He'd give David his time alone, to cool off. And he'd sit here by himself, miserably, until David came back, thereby doing his penance. "If we're going to be dysfunctional, we might as well have some variation to it," he grumbled. Not that waiting was going to be easy. He wanted nothing more then to go after David, stop him from walking away, smooth away his frown and kiss those cool lips until David forgave him... Ah, Gods! How had he managed to become this infatuated with a less then 5 year old fledgling, anyways? No, not infatuated. OBSESSED. Positively head over heel, love and lust at first sight, obsessed. What frightened Marius was that he probably really would get down on his knees at David's feet to beg if David wanted him to. Thinking about it, and his complete lack of control over the situation, irritated him. Waiting there irritated him. He had to walk around, maybe it would help him clear his head. He hadn't walked very far when he came upon the spectacle of Armand and Gabrielle up on the rooftop above him. He paused, looking out to see what they were watching. Who, actually. The director, and Antonio Banderas, who had so captured Armand's attention. And there, that blonde, what was his name? Jeremy Irons. Marius sneered. He had been a bit distracted by the actor, which had only served to irritate David more. He had half a mind to dispose of the poor man, just for having been there to distract him in the first place. He sighed, realizing he was in a very BAD mood for all of this, and forced himself to just watch. _______________________________________________________________________ Post 89: David ::That was one of the *hardest* things I ever did:: David said to himself. The truth is, he didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to think about anything. He didn't even want to be here. Lestat had asked him to come, but David had no concern for Lestat's self indulgent little films. Besides, He wouldn't make his appearence until the next film...if they got to the next film. From the vives he was picking up, Tom and Brad might not make it to the next one. He couldn't stop picturing Sean Connery playing him though. ::Good choice, best man for the job really:: he mused to himself a little ::Maybe Hugh Grant could play the body... no, no, not with all the scandel now:: He had that feeling again, that he was being watched. "Santino, you can come out now, I know you're out there!" ________________________________________________________________________ Post 90: Lestat and Louis They found a quiet spot away from the shoot, behind some unused trailers, under a tree. Louis sat down, leaning his back against the treetrunk. Lestat stretched out, his head in Louis' lap. They quietly enjoyed the small busy sounds coming from the sound stage area. At length, Louis broke the silence. "Brought back a lot of memories, didn't it?" He continued to run his fingers through Lestat's thatch of blond hair. Lestat opened his eyes and smiled up into Louis' face. "Good one, Louis...very, very, good ones." Lestat sighed contentedly and closed his eyes again, a bemused smile playing on his lips. "You look like the cat that ate the canary." Louis chuckled. "Oui, mon cher..." Lestat grinned, "I intened to buy that entire segment... or a duplicate." "Ah... so you can see yourself on the silver screen?" "No..." Lestat sat up and drew next to Louis. "I want to always be able to replay that expression on your face just before I kissed you." "And all this time I thought you were just interested in being the center of attention..." He gave Lestat a smug smile and leaned toward him.