Lestat's Winter's Breath

"Back away from the redhead, dude," you said as strongly as you could.

"What is it you plan to do?" asked the stranger named Marius.

"I plan on beating your ass for what you did to Lestat," you replied.

Marius laughed and tackled you.

"I don't think so," he said angrily and sank his teeth into the soft flesh of your neck. Pain seeped into every part of your being. Quickly following hte pain was searing hot rage. How dare this bile beast take away your right to choose which life you wanted to lead?

"Muirin!!" Lestat cried from a distance.

"You will not make another!" Marius yelled and threw you over his shoulder. With that, he sped off into the wild, blue yonder (sorry, I just had to say that! :P). After a time, he set you down in a strange building. The anger had started to fade as you settled down and fear began to take it's place. The one called Marius pulled a chair closer to you.

"Stay away!" you demanded.

"Why?" he asked.

"I don't trust you," you said, not taking your eyes away from him.

"Did Lestat not tell you about me?" he asked.

You shook your head no.

"Ah well, allow me," he said and began to speak.

He spoke of first meeting Lestat after reading the messages he left all over Europe for him, of how he pulled Lestat from the earth and taught him much and about how Marius taught Lestat about Those Who Must Be Kept, The Queen of the Damned, Akasha, and her mate, the king, Enkil. He spoke of how Lestat woke the Queen of the Damned and of how the Ancients had to stand together to stop her and how Lestat had joined her for a time. He told you that it was during this time he earned the title Brat Prince. As he spoke you slowly began to pity him and you began to understand him. When you asked him why he took you from Lestat, Marius explained that he couldn't allow Lestat to make another vampire because Lestat has a tendency to change once he creates a new vampire. That was the reason he hurt Lestat so badly. Marius could not allow Lestat to get to Muirin. A wave of compassion swept through you.

After his story was complete, you politely asked for some time to let everything set in. It took you three days but you chose to let Maris turn you into a vampire, in order to spare Lestat. As much as you cared about him, you did not want Lestat to change. That night, you spoke with Marius about him turning you. He stated that he would drain you to the point of death and then would feed you some of his blood in order to initiate the transformation. You weren't too keen on having to drink blood but you willingly did for Lestat.

"Now Muirin, are you ready?" Marius asked after he had finished feeding on you.

You were so weak, you barely had the strength to nod yes. He scratched his wrist and held it to your mouth. A few drops fell onto your tongue and it was if it was the most delicious beverage in the known universe.

"Drink, my dear," he said and you did. You drank until Marius pulled his arm from you. The pain you experienced then was the most you had ever experienced. The pain of your father's last beating was nothing compared to this.

'Do not worry, child," Marius said as he sat, regaining his strength. "It is just your body dying. Soon you will be enjoying your new second life."

Only minutes later, the pain was gone, and you sat up. You looked to Marius and said the one word that would change your life forever, "More."

"It is time to learn, little one," said Marius.

He proceeded to teach you everything you needed to know. It turns out, you had come to possess the mind gifts as your dark gift. Sometimes, it was so bad, you would end up reprimanding Marius for his thoughts instead of his words but you learned to control it. One day, a month later, you and Marius ran into Lestat while on a hunting trip.

"Lestat?" you called gently. "Is that you?"

He turned to you and for a second his face lit up, then a great sorrow overcame his beautiful features.

"Marius what have you done?" he demanded of the Ancient vampire.

"I have made her my fledgling, my boy," Marius stated matter-of-factly.

"Why? She still had so much left to experience as a human! You've taken her life away from her. you demon!" Lestat yelled and attacked Marius.

You stepped in front of Marius in order to defend the vampire who had now become your friend. You fought as best you could but Lestat threw you against a large birch and proceeded to attack Marius with a vengeance. The heartache you experienced was agonizing. Lestat really had changed. He did the one thing you prayed Marius was wrong about. You felt betrayed. You sent a small mental shock-wave towards Lestat in order to stop him. He turned to look at you and the look you gave him said it all. What have you become? This question roiled through your mind and you could see Lestat had heard that thought. He fell to his knees and you grabbed the wounded Marius and flew as fast as you could towards the place you had learned to call home. You heard Lestat's screams and cries. It physically hurt you to hear him in so much pain. You gently laid Marius in his coffin.

"Rest well, my friend," you said. you gently kissed him on his forehead and closed the lid on Marius's coffin.

Then you felt it. Lestat. In danger. NOW!!! 'No, please, not Lestat! Please, God, don't take him away after I've just found him! I love him!' you thought as you ran as fast as you could to Lestat. You mental abilities allowed you to track him to his exact location and found a giant bonfire. It is then that you realized he was about to commit suicide. A pained sob escaped your lips as you ran to Lestat just as he was about to jump into the flames.

"Lestat, don't! If you want to kill yourself, you'll have to kill me too!" you yelled over the roaring flames.

Lestat looked at you, a terrible loneliness and sadness shining in those beautiful eyes of his, now shining blue-violet in the light of the flames. He fell to his knees, his sorrow overwhelming him.

"Oh my darling Muirin, how can you ever forgive me? I am truly sorry for everything I have done to you. I could not protect you from Marius! I could not protect you from your father, your mother! I have failed you!" he cried and he broke down, blood tears trailing along his face.

His sobs about how he can never live with himself and your heart went out to him. It wasn't his fault. He really did protect you. Sure Marius captured you but he had his reasons. You comforted him until the bonfire burned low and it's embers were the only light to guide them. Still, he cried about how he could not protect you. Finally, you had had enough of it. It had started to sound a lot like whining by now and you stood up.

"What The hell happened to you? This is not how i remember you at all! ou used to be a strong, powerful vampire with a kind and gentle heart. i am willing to give you the chance to redeem yourself but you must stop this! You must get better because I am sure as hell not spending the rest of eternity with a whining crybaby. Your supposed to be the Brat Prince for Christ's sake!" you said.

Lestat stood up and wrapped his arms around you.

"I love you Muirin. I would never do anything to hurt you," Lestat said.

"I love you too Lestat, or at least, I love the old you. Now will you stand tall and stop all this whining and take control of your life? Or will you stay here and throw yourself a flipping pity party? I know I'm not attending that party. There's no fun in it. Look I want to be a part of your life, I really do, and I want you to be a part of mine. I just can't stand to see you like this! Your a shadow of your former self. I'm gonna tell you the honest-to-goodness truth, Marius turned me into a vampire so you wouldn't have to do it and so you could stay the way you are, were. You changed anyway. I am more than willing to help you and I will be patient with you but I need to have some effort on your part. You must not hurt Marius anymore. He has been a great and true friend to me. He has been helping me and teaching me about being a vampire for when I return to you. It hurts me to see that you can hurt someone who means so much to both of us. It really makes me wonder if you will hurt me in the years to come," you said, looking into his eyes.

At that moment Lestat rose to his feet, so fast it scared you. your eyes widened in shock as he moved closer to you.

"Muirin, I will never hurt you. I love you, I adore you. Please just give me a little time! That is all I ask. I admit it's a lot to take in. I never expected to see you turned so soon and it hurts me to think about it. i wished you had been able to stay human for a little while longer and experience all you wished to experience as I know how much you wanted to remain human for a little while longer. I'm afraid Marius is going to take you away from me and I don't think I could live with myself if that happened," he said, his eyes shining brightly.

You could see there was blood building up behind them. But they were still the most beautiful eyes you had ever seen. How you loved those eyes. You could stare into them for the rest of eternity.

"I will never leave you, Lestat. Even when I'm far away, turning grey, or out the bay, I am always thinking of you," you said an took out the little golden rose necklace he had given you by the big pond while you were still human. "I have never taken this off. To me, it is the most precious thing in the universe. Now, please, come back with me. i must take care of Marius till he is fixed himself up. I sure as hell ain't fixing him for him," you said.

Lestat nodded and followed you back to the non-descript building that you and Marius had lived in since he spirited you away from Lestat. It was near midnight when you walked in the door and Marius was still sleeping peacefully as you both trampsed up the stairs. Around 2:30 AM you went and snagged a moose for Marius to feed on when he woke up. Two seconds after you walked in the door with it, Marius woke up and nearly started fighting with Lestat until you went and hit Marius in the head.

"Eat the bloody moose, you shit head!" you said angrily and tossed the moose at Marius.

Marius reluctantly drank the moose blood, glaring at you while he drank. Once he had finished, you dragged the carcass off to dress it and bottle the meat for anyone who wanted it. When you entered Marius's room, Marius grabbed you.

"What is the meaning of not giving me your own blood?" He demanded.

"I ain't fixing you! Do it on your own, jackass! I only gave you the moose cuz you were out like a light and couldn't get it yourself!" you spat.

"I never knew you had such a temper," he stated.

"Redhead," you said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Marius sighed and let you go. Over time you and Lestat helped Marius heal and you discovered you had the killing gift along with the mind gift and you often practiced on squirrels just to prove you could and tossed the bodies to Marius so he could drink their blood and heal. After abut a month, Marius had healed enough to help you work on Lestat, who was really pissing you off with his mental episodes. He always got so depressed and paranoid and started ranting about how you and Marius were out to get him and secretly together and that you were playing him. It would get so bad that you would slug him just to get him to stop. Once or twice you would try to poke into his mind just to see if that was really going through his head but you would get headaches every time you tried.

"How is poking around in Lestat's mind?" Marius asked late one night after you had recovered from your latest attempt.

"He has a dynamic mind, that's for sure," you replied. "It hurts like hell!"

Marius laughed and gave you a look that said 'I could have told you that.'

"My dear if I were better I would fix him but, as you can clearly see, I am in no condition to do so," Marius said, grinning from ear to ear.

"News flash buddy! I ain't fixing you! You could have gone about this a different way, but no! You had to be stupid and cause yourself to get injured and Lestat to get injured so it's partially your fault that your both crippled!" you snapped as you continued to massage your temples.

Marius looked shocked that you had made such an outburst and started sulking. You glared at him for sulking. You hated it when he did that. It was so annoying.

"Can you get me a snack?" he asked.

You jaw dropped and you turned to look at him. A glare worked it's way to the surface and you turned it on Marius full force.

"I am NOT your slave, buddy! Get it yourself!" you snapped. "Listen, Marius, I am exhausted from working with Lestat. It takes a lot out of me which makes me snap easily. Frankly, I would rather fix Lestat that run around doing everything for you and I'm not going to even attempt to fix you when it's only going to take you a few days to get better and it's going to take Lestat God knows how long! Now look me in the eyes and tell me what you see? Do I have the patience or the energy of the want to fix you right now just so you shave a couple of days off your recovery time?"

"Well, it would help me greatly," Marius said.

Your temper took hold and you looked at Marius as if you were going to kill him.

"Do you think that I really care right now?" you asked, rage seeping into your lowering voice.

"You should," Marius stated.

That was it. Your temper took full hold and punched him as hard as you could right in the nose. Marius staggered backwards from the force of your punch and the shock of you actually hitting him. He looked at you, shock gleaming in his eyes. You glared at him, daring him to push you even further.

"Well," Marius gulped, "I guess I know now not to push your buttons, especially when you have a headache."

"Damn straight!" you yelled and stormed off.