Title: The dawning of our love
Author: gothikmaus
Fandom: Interview with the vampire (TV)
Pairing: Armand/Daniel Molloy
Rating: Teen/PG-13
Category: romance
Summary:
"Are you really in love with me?" Daniel asked, voice so low he wondered if Armand had even heard him.
"More than you can imagine," Armand whispered, gently cradling Daniel's face in his hands.
Interview with the vampire and all Vampire Chronicles characters are property of Anne Rice. I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
Daniel was exhausted. He had insisted on doing another day-walking session, but now he was sore all over, his skin itched, and he could feel the beginning of a headache spreading through his skull.
"Wait here," Armand said as soon as they walked into Daniel's apartment.
He quickly walked around the living room, drawing all the blackout curtains shut and plunging the place into darkness. He switched on the floor lamp and turned back to him.
"Come. Sit down."
Daniel was too tired to argue about being ordered around in his own home and simply did as he was told. A heavy sigh escaped him as he flopped down on the sofa. He closed his eyes and let his head loll back against the headrest.
"Here."
Daniel opened his eyes just a crack. Armand had sat down next to him and was holding out his wrist, blood already welling up from a thin cut. Daniel instinctively licked his lips. He briefly glanced up at Armand's face before grabbing his forearm and bending down to drink. He couldn't hold back a groan at the first taste of his maker's blood, rich and warm and instantly invigorating. It was better than any drug he had tried in his mortal life, and he had tried a lot.
He pulled back with a gasp and gave one last lick to the wound.
"Thanks," he mumbled as he sat back up. He was already feeling much better.
Armand studied Daniel's face, his lips twitching at the little tan lines his sunglasses had left imprinted around his eyes. He raised a hand and gently cupped Daniel's cheek, feeling the warmth radiating from his fledgling's sunburned skin.
Daniel closed his eyes and sighed.
"Feels nice."
Armand brought his other hand to Daniel's face and Daniel moaned, melting into the couch cushions and enjoying the coolness of his maker's palms. He let out a small, surprised gasp when Armand gently pressed their foreheads together.
They sat in silence for a while, the distant ticking of a clock the only sound in the whole apartment. Daniel blinked his eyes open when he felt Armand's cold lips bestow a soft kiss on his forehead. He looked into Armand's amber eyes, so similar to his own, and felt something flutter in his chest.
"Are you really in love with me?" he asked, voice so low he wondered if Armand had even heard him.
"More than you can imagine," Armand whispered, still gently cradling Daniel's face in his hands.
"Then why didn't you turn me sooner? You stalked me for over fifty years, you could've done it when I was still young and fit and didn't look like your grandpa."
"I told you: the idea repulsed me."
"But it didn't repulse you in Dubai, did it? You saw a decrepit old man with Parkinson's and suddenly the concept was really fucking appealing."
"You're not decrepit. You're a silver fox."
Daniel burst out laughing.
"Yeah, right. But seriously: why did you wait so long?"
The answer didn't come immediately.
"I wanted you to live," Armand eventually said.
Daniel scoffed.
"Yeah, and what a great fucking life I lived."
"You won two Pulitzer prizes and published several best-selling books," Armand pointed out.
"You left out the drug addiction, the failed marriages, and the daughters who hate my guts," Daniel countered bitterly.
Armand knew that was still a sore point for him. Daniel wanted to be part of his daughters' lives so bad.
"We can go visit them if you want," he said, gently rubbing the pads of his thumbs over Daniel's cheekbones.
Daniel shook his head and looked away.
"I just hope they're happy without their fucked-up dad in their lives."
Seeing Daniel like that, full of regret and sorrow, broke Armand's heart.
"Anyway," Daniel said, forcing a jovial tone in his voice. "I still don't get what you saw in me. I was just a regular guy with a big dream, going around with my tape recorder hoping for a breakthrough. I was just one of many."
"You were never one of many," Armand replied.
'You resisted me for five days. No one has ever done that,' he thought. 'You were a riddle I needed to solve. You were a fantasy, a way to escape reality for a while, forget the golden prison my relationship with Louis had become.'
"You were intriguing," he added. "I wanted to understand what Louis had seen in you."
"And? Did you get what you wanted?"
Armand shook his head.
"I got so much more than that."
"That still doesn't answer my question. Why did you turn me after all these years?"
Armand closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath.
"You were going to let yourself die," he said, dropping his hands from Daniel's face. Daniel immediately missed the contact. "You were going to return home, give up your therapies, skip your doctor's appointments, and just pray death would come for you soon. I could see it clearly in your mind: all your strength, your spark, your will to live... It was all gone."
Daniel remembered how he had felt on that plane: defeated. Purposeless. And so very, very old.
"And why didn't you let nature take its course? That's what humans do: they die."
"I wasn't ready to let you go. I couldn't face eternity without you."
Daniel stared at him intently.
"You sure it wasn't just revenge for exposing your seven-decade-long lie?"
Armand smiled.
"I have to admit your little ambush took me by surprise. A perfectly executed Coup de théâtre, I'll give you that. Yes, I was angry with you for outwitting me, for putting me on the spot and destroying everything I had carefully built over the years. But I knew my fortress was just a castle of lies, a fragile, flimsy thing ready to crumble at the first breath of wind. All it would take was for Lestat to show up at our door and reveal what had really happened during the trial. But, for some reason, he never did."
"And then Louis invited an investigative journalist into your home."
Armand looked at him fondly.
"I should have seen that coming: you've always been very good at your job."
"A bright, not-so-young reporter with a point of view."
Armand lowered his gaze and covered Daniel's hand with his own. Daniel let him.
"I wanted you to kill me on that plane," Daniel said. "I was hoping you'd make it quick, if not painless. It would've been a pretty cool way to go, drained to death by an ancient vampire."
"I know, I could feel it. You desired it so intensely, so desperately. I was tempted to grant you your wish, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. So I did the one thing I had sworn I'd never do."
Armand glanced up and gently caressed Daniel's cheek again.
"Only when you opened your eyes and looked up at me did I realize the enormity of what I had done: I had turned you into a monster and cursed you for eternity."
Daniel smiled bitterly.
"And instead of sucking it up and facing the consequences of your actions, you decided to ditch me and leave me to figure out my new immortal life on my own. Do you have any idea how fucking hard those two years were?"
'I was so lost. So alone.'
Armand's eyes were full of regret.
"I know, and I'm sorry. I watched you from afar as you tried to navigate your new life, to master your new nature. I wanted to reach out and take you in my arms, teach you everything I know, show you your potential..."
"But you didn't."
Armand's shoulders slumped.
"No, I didn't."
Daniel took in his maker's defeated demeanour and averted his eyes.
"But you're here now."
"Yes. Yes, I am."
Daniel turned back to him, to those unnatural, otherworldly eyes, the delicate features that looked like they belonged in a Renaissance painting, the dark curls that were just begging to be mussed. He raised a hand and gently brushed a stray lock of hair off his face.
Armand took a shaky breath.
"I'll be here for as long as you want me," he said, a hint of hope creeping into his voice.
Daniel hadn't forgiven him. He didn't know if he ever would. But in that moment, sitting so close to Armand, he could feel the intensity of their bond drowning out everything else. There was no resentment, no regret, just the pulsing need to be reunited with his maker. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Armand's, mirroring his earlier gesture, and Armand couldn't swallow a sob.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to love you."
Armand nodded.
"I appreciate the honesty."
"But I can try."
Armand gently tilted his head and pressed his lips to the corner of Daniel's mouth.
"Thank you."
Daniel didn't know if he had made the right choice, but as he wrapped his arms around Armand and held him close, he felt like the missing puzzle piece that had always eluded him had finally slid into place, like the gaping hole that had been tormenting him for all his life had finally been filled. It might not be the solution to all his problems but, for the moment, it was enough.
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September 2026