"Keep him close. It's rare to find the kind of relationship that you have with him. I can tell he loves you deeply."

"It sounds like you two are almost like me and Lestat. As he would put it, I was the melancholy one who clung to humanity while he was the rebel, constantly breaking every vampiric rule out there."

He chuckled.

— blamed him for everything. I had to learn to accept myself. It took centuries, but it worked for the best. We became closer because of it."

He offered a sweet smile.

"It will work out, eventually. Just look at you and Carlo."

Sitting closer to Romeo, his hand rested on his back.

"I assure you Lestat isn't too hard to please, but we have had our moments. We've fought many times. I left him several times. I'm not talking for a week or two either. I would leave him for a year. Sometimes even more than that. I hated him. I—

— part of the house. He could even recognize the spot where Claudia had been hunched over.

— matter how hard it would be for himself. There was no point in hiding the truth.

As they approached the house he had found her in, all Louis could do was stare for a moment. It was nothing more than an old and destroyed piece of shelter now. Yet, even in that state, he could still recall every —

— He could show Claudia where it had happened while he explained. Louis never wanted to return to that place, but this was no time to be selfish. Claudia needed this.

"I will show you."

He said, extending his hand out for her to take.

"And I will tell you while we walk there."

— like laying out a delicious cake in front of a child and telling them not to eat it. Louis couldn't resist. Before he knew it, he was sinking his teeth into her soft, warm flesh. He just might have killed her if Lestat hadn't snapped him out of it with his laughter.

A thought came to him, then. —

— life. It made him feel almost mortal again.

"She's probably living every little girl's dream."

Aside from the vampiric lifestyle, he thought to himself.

— were invisible.

"You see that old woman there?"

He spoke, keeping his tone gentle with care.

"That will never happen to you. You will never grow old, and you will never die."

There was no point in sugarcoating it. She deserved to know the truth, no matter how grim it may be.

"I suppose I can understand that."

Louis nodded his head slowly.

"When I first became a vampire, all I ever knew was Lestat. We were together for quite a long time. It was just the two of us. I knew very little back then."

He explained.

"Once I believed him to be gone, I was at a loss."

— Lestat's.

"Alright, let's see what we can get for Claudia."

He spoke, humming in thought.

"That seems to be how it normally goes with Lestat, heh... I'm surprised he hasn't spoken of my 'melancholy nonsense' to you."

"It does not bother me. I'm quite used to it."

He chuckled.

"Lestat has been treating you well, I hope?"