On the Cusp (Interview With The Vampire Fanfic)

I

I knew my brother's face like I knew the back of my hand. I could spot his golden mane-like hair from a mile away. Because of what he was, he stood out in a crowd easily with his shiny hair, slightly reflective white skin and luminous blue eyes. He didn't move like the rest of the crowd, he was more fluid, more graceful, more... inhuman. No human moved like him, so swift, so lithe, despite his size.

I spotted him at once and I would have been able to even without his inhuman attributes. Simply from the corner of my eye could I make out his face. Not only were his blue eyes the tell-tale sign of him, those eyes that seemed to absorb the colours around him, even looking purple in some lights. I knew his eyes, his nose, his generous lips and strong jawline anywhere. Such an expressive face he had, always so lively and most of the time welcoming, he had a contagious and inviting smile that drew people to him. 

I watched him from the back of the tavern with a cup of warm cider sitting on the table in front of me, completely untouched and still filled to the brim. Chat Noir was the name of the tavern and it was the only one in New Orleans that was frequented by my brother and the new companion of his. 

The tavern was the only one that put on mediocre plays and it was the most popular one in the city. The humans sat and watched the plays, they drank away their inhibitions, they gambled, had drunken feasts and even brawled right down near the stage. I had watched it all, seen it all in a matter of one night. New Orleans was such a different place that my beloved Paris. It was French and part of France, but it was lawless and absolutely putrid, more so than what I had ever seen in Paris. 

But I hadn't gone to New Orleans to explore the differences between France and the colonies. No, I had come to see her brother, to see him after four years. It had only been four years out of my immortal life since I had last laid eyes on my brother, but it felt like a much bigger deal considering we had spent every day of our childhood and mortal adulthood together.

My beloved brother, my twin, Lestat de Lioncourt. When he ran away from home, I went with him. When he went to the inn with a friend, Nicolas de Lenfent, for months, I was right by his side getting just as drunk as they were. Uncouth behaviour, my eldest brother called it and had attempted to forbid me going to the inns with Lestat and Nicolas, but I disregarded him and did what I wanted, and to my family, Lestat and I were cut from the same cloth.

But that was thirteen years ago. Our brothers were dead, our mother off in Africa somewhere exploring, and our abusive blind father was helpless in Lestat's brutal care right here in New Orleans. I didn't come for my father, but wouldn't object to seeing him. I was curious to see just how pitiful he had become. Curious to see what he had withered to in the years of my absence.

I thought of my father when I turned my attention back to Lestat. He had left to go and care for our father when news reached us about the slaughtering of our brothers. It had been the peak of the French Revolution, the villagers revolted against the little monarchy that we held over Auvergne, my father the Marquis of the land. Lestat was the third son, no promise to any title or money, but no one was entitled to money in our family, we had gone poor long before Lestat and I were even born.

Things were different now, though. Much different. Leaving our human lives behind, we had been rewarded our own sources of unimaginable wealth that we could call upon whenever we needed it. We could live the lives that we were meant to live as the children of a Marquis. This newfound wealth showed in Lestat's dress tonight.

He wore a rich dark blue brocade frock coat with silk breeches the same colour and white stockings. He walked leisurely, a cane in hand. He stood out in the tavern full of the commonwealth, his preternatural qualities had nothing to do with it. His companion didn't blend any better, wearing something similar to him but in forest green and more white and no cane.