The usual disclaimers: I don't own the characters, I don't make money from them

X rating

The Gift
(by Gairid)

(Lestat talks about their first Christmas together after their reunion)


We had been together for about six weeks, in New Orleans for perhaps four, when I awoke one evening to find myself alone in our bed. This in itself was startling…not to mention that it was the first time I ever remembered Louis waking up before me. The bed was still warm where he had been lying, so I knew that he hadn't been up for very long. I could hear him speaking on the telephone in the office, and from the muffled sound of it, the door was closed. I was more than a little curious.

I rolled from the bed, and went down the hall. Before I could open the office door, however, it swung open, and Louis was hanging up the phone. He came into my arms, his mouth seeking mine, and for several wonderful minutes I forgot my curiosity. When he finally released my mouth, I smiled at him.

"Up early tonight, my darling." I remarked, leaning my forehead to touch his.

"A little, yes", he said. He was dressed. "I'm thirsting, Mon coeur", He said, slipping from my arms. "I will not be long." I caught hold of him, and pulled him to me, kissing him deeply. When I finally released him, he was panting.

"What was that, my love? Incentive to make me hurry"? He said, smiling.

"Just so. And I know that you are up to something, Louis. Thirsting!" I sniffed. "If anyone should be thirsting here, it's me. No wonder I woke up after you."

I was probing my wounded throat with my fingers as I said this, wincing. Louis had been voracious the evening before. And now, he had a somewhat smug look of satisfaction on his face. He kissed me sweetly on the mouth.

"Be a good boy, Lestat, and let me be on my way. Christmas is coming, you know, and if you are not careful Pere Noel will be leaving you nothing but lumps of coal in your shoes." He ducked under my arm, and went lightly down the stairs.

"I won't be long, Mon ange!" He called, and I heard the door shut behind him.

Of course I knew he was planning some sort of Christmas surprise…I myself had yet to choose a gift for him, even though I had gone to look several times. Nothing was right. And it didn't help that I couldn't seem to stay away from him for very long.

When he returned, he had indeed fed, and rather heavily, for him. He'd been gone a while but I said nothing about it…I was far too distracted by the slow little striptease he did for me as he walked ahead of me to our bedroom. By the time he got me in the bed, I had forgotten all about how long he'd been gone from me.

And then, two days before Christmas, upon awakening I reached for Louis. He kissed me lovingly and got up from the bed.

"Come back here, Louis," I said, making a grab for him. He dodged me easily.

"Get dressed, my darling. We have somewhere to be. The car will be here at any moment." Louis said, headed for the closet.

I didn't move, stretching myself languorously. I kicked the covers off, and when he came back out, half dressed, he stopped for a moment, gazing at me.

"Where are we going, Louis?" I asked him, dragging a nail down my chest. I was not in the mood to go anywhere. He licked his lips.

"Lestat, please…"

I could see him breathing me in, his mouth open slightly, his nostrils flared. I sat up, smearing the blood across my chest.

"Well," I purred. "If you are absolutely certain you'd rather go out somewhere."

He reached a hand to me, smiling.

"I am. Yes. At least... I think I am." He leaned to lap the blood from my chest. I could feel a little tremor run through him. He licked me clean and then he grinned, looking at me through his hair.

"Put some clothes on, cher...something comfortable."

I did as I was told. Imagine my surprise when we arrived a little while later at the airport. The driver dropped us off at our private hanger, where the pilot we employed at that time greeted us.

"You weren't kidding when you said we were going out tonight, were you?" I said. "Will you tell me now where we are headed?"

We were already in the air. Louis was sitting on my lap, his arms about my neck.

"We're spending Christmas in France, Mon ange." He said, his breath tickling my ear.

"France?" I asked, surprised yet again. And then, suddenly, I was stricken.

"Whatever is wrong?" he asked, immediately concerned.

"Louis, you should have told me where we going" I said, crestfallen, "Because I've left your Christmas present at home..."

He laughed, all the anxiousness leaving his face.

"Never mind. You can give it to me on New Year's Day. And you know that I have what I want right here, and indeed, all I'll ever want...."

He stood up, sliding the widow screen closed, and led me to the bed.

"Take off your clothes, my Beauty. Let me look at you, " He said, his voice very soft. He sat down on the edge of the bed to watch. I did as he asked, shedding my clothes slowly, until I stood before him naked, and also highly aroused. His face was serene, but I could hear his rapid heartbeat, his short breaths.

I reached my hand to him, and he stood up.

"Now you." I whispered, running my tongue along his upper lip. He unbuttoned his shirt, and shrugged out of it as I nursed at his lips. He freed himself from his trousers, and I reached to take his cock in my hand. Silky hardness...gods, how good he felt. I dropped to my knees still holding him in my hand. Slowly and deliberately running my tongue down the hard length of him. Nuzzling between his legs and taking his balls into my mouth, loving him, sucking and humming. Reveling in how the muscles of his thighs thrummed and trembled under my hands. The satiny skin of him in my mouth, the soft, dark downe wet with my saliva. I could hear him moaning. I released him, and pushed him backward onto the bed.

Moving him back so that I was lying with my head still between his legs, pushing his legs up and apart, I spread him open with my fingers. My mouth was awash...I was so hungry for him. I licked delicately at the silky skin before pushing my tongue into him, teasing him there, and sinking my fangs into his taut flesh. The taste of him filled my mouth and I dimly heard him cry out. Thrusting into him with my tongue as his blood ran into my mouth, it made me delirious. His body was shaking. I let go of him, and raised my head to look at him...

Demon-angel. His mouth was stained red with his own blood, he'd bitten through his lips during his frenzy. His hair stuck to his neck and his face, damp with sweat and his blood. His green eyes were huge in his face, as he gazed back at me, my name in his mouth, barely recognizable. He was snarling.

I bent my head down and took his cock into my mouth, enclosing him slowly, scraping my teeth over him. His hips jerked convulsively and I had him. My mouth, my throat....filled, my tongue sliding over his cock, around it, around *him*, listening to his growling moans. He was thrusting helplessly into me, fucking my mouth. Blood from both of us now, mingling, my mouth bruised and torn, blood in my throat from his exquisite hardness. My teeth scraping him raw. He came hard, his groaning cry vibrating the cabin itself, as I suckled him, swallowing over and over, his essence blazing through me, searing me.

When I finally released him, he reached for me with one hand, soft growls still rumbling in his chest. I moved up and took him into my arms, lapping at his closed eyes, at the red tears that streaked his face. Licking at his torn lips. He was still in my arms as I did this.

After a little while he opened his eyes and looked into mine, threading his fingers through my hair.

"Is this part of your plan to drive me mad? Because I can assure you it's working," He said, a satisfied smile on his face.

"It's no plan, Louis. We are, both of us, quite mad. Surely you knew that?" I chuckled.

He wriggled up on top of me, pushing his knee between my thighs, and pressing his cock up against mine.

"You *might* be right about that. I know one thing, though, " he said as he sat up, straddling me, his hand curled around my cock.

I pushed into his hand.

"What's that, cher?" I said, moaning a little as he began to stroke me.

"If I don't have you inside me soon, I really *will* go mad."

He lifted himself over me, and impaled himself slowly upon me, taking me inside of him a little bit at a time, keening as he did so. The tight wet heat of him, the sounds he made...and his beautiful face twisted in lust and pain and ecstasy. Madness, yes. It's a madness we have for each other. He leaned back, and I was all the way inside of him. He stayed that way, long, breathless moments, and then he pulled me up so that he was sitting on my lap, and he wrapped those long legs of his around me, and his hungry mouth sealed to mine.

We rocked together, and he squeezed my cock with his inner muscles, clenching and releasing rhythmically, bodies and mouths melded together. We released each others' mouths only to drink from one another, and all the while I was slowly moving inside of him, rocking as he gripped me. Hours locked together this way, in the swoon, minds touching, feeling each other, part of each other. I came inside him several times, and when I did, he climaxed too... our bodies were slick with his blood.

We were flying east and the dawn was near, I could feel the cold lassitude creeping into me. We released one another only to rearrange ourselves under the blankets, and we fell into the deathsleep twined together.

*****************************************************

I woke up first, my face buried in Louis' hair. I could hear the soft whine of the air circulating through the plane, and Louis' even breathing. I could feel him moving against me, his arms tightening somewhat as he, too, began to awaken. I moved my head back so that I was looking at his face as his eyelids fluttered, and then opened....he said nothing, just moved to take my mouth in a warm kiss.

He moved back, kicking off the blankets and arching his long body, catlike, before my appreciative glance. I ran my hand down his chest and over his taut belly.

He rolled away from my searching hand and sat up, smiling at me.

"Later my darling. Come now, let's get off this plane. There should be a car waiting for us."

"Where are we staying, Louis? The Hôtel de Lauzun?" I asked, stretching in turn as I watched him open the small case he'd brought with a change of clothing for each of us.

"We aren't in Paris, Lestat," he said, a little smile on his mouth.

"Oh? Well, then where are we?" I grabbed the trousers he tossed my way and slid into them.

"Clermont-Ferrand." he answered, buttoning his shirt. "You'd better wear the coat hanging in the closet there. I found out before we left that it's beastly cold out."

I was staring at him, with my mouth open. I regained my aplomb.

"Of course it's beastly cold. Why ever are we *here*, Louis?" Although I thought now that I knew.

He came to me, putting his arms around my neck, and planting little kisses on my jaw.

"I would like to see where you came from, Mon ange." he murmured into my ear.

I locked my arms around his back.

"That's fine, Louis. But it really is a much nicer place in the summer." I answered. Imagine. Louis had brought me back to L'Auvergne.

"I wanted to see it as you first described it, Lestat. " He said, drawing away from me, and taking the coats from the closet.

An hour later we had put Clermont-Ferrand behind us, headed for the mountainous region where I had been born. Not much around us looked familiar to me...why should it? When I'd left I had not come this way, and until I had gone to Paris I had not been more than twenty miles from the place where I had grown up. Not to mention the modern changes time had wrought.

In spite of myself, I felt a little twinge of anticipation. I knew that the castle where I had lived was nothing but a ruin now, and that the village that had been nearby was no longer in existence, but the thought that he wanted to see these places made me feel absurdly pleased.

Louis had his head on my shoulder, dozing lightly as I gazed out the window and made occasional answers to the talkative driver, a little man with thick dark hair. His accent was similar to the one I'd grown up with, and so his words had a lulling effect. I could see the shapes of the mountains, collapsed cones of long-extinct volcanoes, actually, black against the cold, moonlit sky. Suddenly, though, the outlines were familiar, their contours falling magically into place, meshing seamlessly with my memories of my first home.

We were still some miles from the site of the castle, but I knew where we were. The road we were traveling was more or less in the same place as the dirt track I remembered. Louis woke up, feeling me shifting, and he smiled at me as I turned to look at him.

"Beginning to look familiar, Mon Cher?" he asked.

"It's sort of comforting that at least the mountains have not changed," I agreed.

The driver turned off the road, and followed a steep track. Bare tree branches hung across the narrow road, tunnel-like, and so when we emerged from beneath them at the top of the grade, it made the sight before us all the more dramatic.

Nestled at the base of a formidable cliff was lovely old chateau, its windows glowing warmly with what could only be candlelight. The driver pulled up to the front door, and stopped the car. I opened the door and stepped outside, breathing in the cold air, spiced with woodsmoke. Louis handed the little driver an envelope, and I could hear the man thanking him profusely, showering us with blessings and wishes for a joyous Christmas, until Louis gently closed the car door. The car headed back down the drive, and we were alone.


Louis took my hand and we walked together up the broad, low steps.

"No luggage, Louis?" I asked, watching as he unlocked the door with the large key he'd withdrawn from his coat pocket.

"Everything we could possibly need is already here, Mon Cher." He said, smiling.

He looked beautiful, his black hair blown back from his face by a sharp gust of wind. Once inside, shut away from the cold, I looked around, enchanted. The foyer gleamed with candlelight, and old wood. Elegant furniture, and all about us the scent of hot beeswax. We shrugged out of our coats and Louis lead me down a wide corridor to what must once have been the dining hall .At the far end before the high windows, stood an enormous Christmas tree, unlit, but decorated with hundreds of glass ornaments that reflected the light from the many candles that graced the room. The hearth held a blazing fire, and before it was a long, comfortable-looking old Chesterfield sofa, strewn with matching pillows, and a soft-looking woolen throw.

I stood still in amazement.

"How did you ever plan all of this, my darling?" I asked, incredulous. I knew he had, though. The details were purely Louis. He knew exactly what I would like to see in such a place.

"It was *not* easy. But never mind the details, Mon ange." He took me into his arms and kissed me hungrily, his hand tugging at my hair. Releasing my mouth, he drew me to the couch and we sat down together.

"So, Lestat. What say you? We can be comfortable here for a little while, non?"

He pulled his legs up and laid his head in my lap in one graceful movement, capturing me with his iridescent eyes.

"Oui, " I caught his hand in mine and pressed a kiss to his palm. " I think we can manage here quite nicely." He caressed my face gently, and then brought his hand down, letting it lie upon his chest. I found myself staring at his fingers; the long, elegant nails on them.

"Lestat?" he said. "Tell me the story of the time you hunted the wolves."

I looked at him, smiling a little.

"You already know the story, Louis." I put my hand over his.

"I have *read* the story, yes. But I should like to hear you *tell* it to me." he looked into my eyes. "You have never spoken to me of your life before we met," His voice was soft.

He was right. Louis had known next to nothing about me, and I offered none of my life to him, back in those days, so long ago. And since we had been back together, this was the first time it had been mentioned And so, I told him the story, and he lay quiet, listening and watching me until I finished the tale.

"That was the start of it, wasn't it? Lestat does a brave and foolish thing, and from that single action, we were brought, at last, together," he said, as he put his arms around my neck. I pulled him fiercely to my chest.

"That was the start of it, yes," I murmured.

"And now, here we are. And one night, you will show me this place, won't you? I want to see it." Louis said this as he pressed warm little kisses against my chest.

I held still beneath the pressure of his teeth and lips and the movement of his fingers as he unbuttoned my shirt.

"Certainment, mon ange," I breathed, as he slid the shirt from my shoulders.

"And tomorrow, Christmas day, we shall visit your ancestral home." I could hear the note of humor in his voice.

"Such as it is. I have been told that there is not much left to visit." I smiled down at him. "Tell me, Louis, should I be prepared now for some of your Marquis comments?" I asked, fumbling as I strove to free my arms from the sleeves of my shirt.

He bit sharply at my nipple, and I could hear his low chuckle.

"Indeed, yes, my Lord." he said, rolling off my lap, and going down on one knee before me. "Please allow me to remove your boots, mon beau Marquis..." He murmured, looking up at me, fluttering his eyelids, and then widening his eyes worshipfully. He tugged off my boots, and placed them with exaggerated care side by side near the fire. "So they will be warm should my lord need them." He said, eyes downcast. I was giggling uncontrollably, trying to pull him to his feet. He skittered backwards, looking at me from beneath his hair.

"Come here, Louis, " I said, still laughing, and reaching for him.

"Oh, non, my lord, it would be highly improper for a lowly servant, such as myself to sit beside your most august self." He glanced at me and then lowered his eyes again. I could see him bite his lip to stop it from twitching. I'd seen the laughter in his eyes.

"Perhaps *you* should grace the boards, Louis, " I said, breathlessly. I had finally managed to remove my shirt, opting to just pop the buttons from the cuffs. I was weak with laughter.

He murmured something under his breath, so low that even *I* could not make it out.

"What was that?" I asked. My god, the heat in those eyes of his as he raised his face to look up at me.

"Oh, I couldn't say, mon Marquis..." He said, looking away. I stood up. I was still laughing, but there was more here now, I'd caught it when I saw the fire in his glance. I stood up and reached my hand to him. He took it and pressed a kiss to my knuckles.

"Please rise," I said, keeping his hand in mine. He did so. "Now. Repeat please what you said. I didn't quite catch it.

"I said, " He murmured, moving very near to me, his mouth close to mine, almost brushing my lips, "that I would rather grace my lord's *bed* than grace the boards..." He whispered.

I caught another glimpse of a smile, as he put a theatrical hand across his mouth, and again backed away from me, bowing deeply.

"A thousand pardons, my lord. I cannot think what possessed to me to be so forward...so...wanton. I beg your forgiveness." His shoulders were shaking with suppressed mirth.

As for me, I was torn between my longing for him, and my delighted hilarity at this little drama he had chosen. As you might imagine it was my desire that overtook me, and I swept him into my arms. I held him tight against me, pushing my leg between his.

"Should I pardon you for wishing to share my bed? There is nothing to forgive, mon petit. There *is* one small problem, however..." I said, pushing my face beneath the raven silk of his hair. His hands were running hungrily over my shoulders.

"And what might *that* be, mon Marquis? " His voice was in my ear, accompanied by his rather ragged breathing. I ran my tongue down the sensitive veins in his neck, tracing each one, as he pushed his hips hard against me.

I raised my head to look into his eyes.

"A rather delicate problem, Louis." I breathed, nibbling on his bottom lip.I felt the tip of his tongue play across my mouth.

"Please tell me...my lord. Perhaps I may be of some help?" His cock was so deliciously hard against me.

"It's rather embarrassing." I murmured. I could feel the laughter I had finally gotten under control, threatening to overtake me again. I quelled it by giving my darling a lingering kiss.

"The problem is...I have no idea where my bed *is*." I confessed with an exaggerated sigh. That undid Louis, and it was his turn to collapse against me, his body shaking with laughter. He caught me off guard and we both fell in an ungraceful heap backward upon the sofa, howling with laughter. It was the sort of laughter that feeds upon itself, and it was quite sometime before it finally passed, leaving us both exhausted for a little time. We sat quiet for a while, arms about each other. I remember that I felt so damn *good* right then, like all our trouble was behind us finally.

Naturally he was pleased to show me to to the bedroom, and of course we made love until the deathsleep took us. The next evening I woke first, looking about the room curiously. I had not noticed very much about it when we entered it the evening before. One thing I noticed now, was that it was cold. I rose from
the bed, and put several logs onto the bed of embers in the fireplace, helping them am along with a thought, until they were burning merrily. I got back into the bed, pulling the blankets up over us, as I gathered Louis' still form into my arms.

Night comes early in the deep, cold month of December, and with the darkness of winter come also the longest nights. That's the best part about winter...we have more time *awake*. I could feel him stirring as he climbed to consciousness. He opened his incredible eyes.

"Joyeux Noel, mon cher." I said, kissing him.

"Joyeux Noel, Lestat. " He echoed, snuggling close to me.

We spent a little while kissing and caressing, but before I could become more amorous, he spoke.

"Time enough for that later, my darling." He said, his voice teasing. "We have places to go."

"And what are your plans, my own?" I asked. "Midnight Mass in the village?"

He smiled, rolling from the bed.

"We can if you like. We have time enough, I'm thinking. But there is somewhere I want to go first."

He opened the heavy oak wardrobe and pulled out various articles of warm clothing,

"You still wish to visit the site of the castle, do you? " I said, dubiously. I could hear the tick and patter of snowfall on the windowpanes. I got up and padded to the window, pulling open the heavy drapes and peering outside. It was snowing, and rather heavily.

"Yes, I do." He said firmly. "You'll barely feel the cold, anyway, and you know it."

I began dressing. He seemed so set upon it...and I wanted to please him. He had planned this whole trip after all. And he was right. We don't *like* the cold, but it does not really *affect* us.

When we finally dressed, we went out through a side door and into a heated garage. There were several vehicles there, one a Land Rover.

"Think you can find your way there after all these years, Mon ange?" Louis asked, as we climbed in. I started the engine. He pushed the garage door opener and we went out into the white night.

"Of course I can." I said. It's not that far."

It didn't take me long to find it, even with the snow falling. It was, of course a shell of its former self, sitting there nearly at the top of a long, low hill. I could see it quite well, in spite of the blowing snow. On of the tall round towers was still standing, relatively intact, and the two gate towers were also still upright. The circling wall was mostly gone, from what I could make out beneath the blanket of snow. We got out of the car, and climbed up toward the ruined gate.

The wind was high, and bitterly cold, but I scarcely noticed, gazing about at the ruins of what had once been my home. I felt no sorrow, more a sort of curiosity. That castle had stood for nearly ten centuries. It had been in my family for five of those centuries, as far as I knew, and in a mere two hundred years it was now crumbling, falling in upon itself. We reached the twin gate towers, where once there had been a heavy iron portcullis, raised and lowered by an enormous windlass and chains. We stood in the relative shelter afforded by the wide towers, and looked beyond into what had been the bailey. I pointed out to Louis where my chambers had once been, and showed him the chapel. I showed in which direction the village had once stood, but we could see nothing in that direction. The storm was worsening, and I said something to the effect that we should leave, that if he wanted, we could return another time. Before we could move to the Rover, though Louis laid a hand upon my arm and stopped me.

"A moment more, Lestat. " he said reaching inside his coat. "I want to give you your Christmas gift. "

I smiled quizzically at him.

"Here? Louis, it's freezing." He was holding a thick envelope toward me.

"It is, " he agreed. He nodded at the envelope, and I took it from him, and broke the wax seal upon it.

There were official looking documents inside, a sheaf of them, but the first page told me what they were. It was a deed. Reading quickly, I found that it was a deed to this very castle, and to the surrounding countryside, all in my name, complete with the title Marquis D'Auvergne. I folded the pages carefully and slid them back into the envelope. I raised my head to look at Louis. He was watching me closely. I looked about again, and then drew him into my arms. I was unable to speak, overcome as I was with feeling. I'd seen the date that the deed had been passed into my name. It was a full ten years before I had emerged from my long sleep in the earth. He'd known. And he'd been waiting for me.

I pulled back slightly, still unable to form words. Instead, I kissed him, kissed his beautiful mouth as we stood there in the frozen darkness beneath the ruined castle gate, the snow whitening our clothes and our hair, oblivious to everything but each other.

When we finally broke the kiss, I could murmur but one thing to him, over and over again.

"Je t'aime, mon Louis. Je t'aime."

I remained quiet during the ride back to the chateau, and Louis was content with this. He understood, I think, how overwhelmed I was. When we had made ourselves comfortable before the fire on that sofa, I held him to me.

"Such a marvellous Christmas gift, my darling." I said. "I can't begin to thank you. And I can't begin to tell you what it means to me, that you would go through the trouble of acquiring all the land back for me. And I notice that you did this years ago."

He smiled at me.

"It should be yours, Lestat. While I waited for you to come back to me it was a good way to pass the time. "

He said this offhandedly as if it were something ordinary.

"You knew I was alive." I whispered, marvelling. "And you did this lovely thing for me."

"I thought I might need a little leverage when you awoke, Lestat. I knew you'd find my little book, and perhaps be a little put off by it " He quipped.

"Well, I really didn't much care for it when you said you were loathe to get in the coffin with me that first night I brought you over." I said, a little sourly.

We'd been over this ground before, and it had afforded us quite a bit of hilarity. I smiled as he turned in my arms and pushed me sideways into a reclining position. He made himself comfortable on top of me, pulling the blanket up and over us. We were in our clothes, both of still cold from our little trip.

"Never mind all this joking, Louis. " I said, running my hand through his damp hair "You've made this a wonderful Christmas. I had no idea that it would mean so much to me to have the land back. But you…*you* always know, don't you my love?"

He always knows. And he's always loved me.
FIN