Luminary [Interview with the Vampire]

Nothing like a good wait

And even with the latches on the coffins, the door to the room was barricaded with heavy locks.

"Why did you do that to me?" she asked, pushing past Lestat as she rushed to get out of the room. With how bright and spacious the rest of Lestat's mansion was, Madeline never even thought it would have such a room as dark and horrid as this on the premises but now that she knew it was there, it made so much sense. Of course he'd have a place to punish and cage up any dissenting vampires. Which made Madeline wonder if the others knew about the place as well. If her friends had asked about her and worried about her absence, while she dried up in the basement, in a coffin, like a corpse.

"If you refuse to behave, I'll lock you back again."

She slammed the door to the room in his face and took very little pleasure in hearing him push it open as he came out and began locking the room from the outside.

Without waiting, she walked the slim stretch of corridor from the room to a set of stairs, noting door after, door after door, as she fought the urge to open them and see what other secrets Lestat had buried beneath his beautiful home. But she was angry and in no mood to start a conversation with Lestat, so she rushed up the stairs that brought her right to a familiar, brown door.

On the other side of the door, she stepped into the landing, at the base of the mansion, where a corridor led to Madeline's room, as well as the other new vampires. It was daylight out, so she couldn't exactly just walk to the front door and abscond again. Instead, she headed to her room and locked the door as she stood in the quiet expanse of space that Lestat had given her.

She flipped on the lights because even though it was light outside, the blinds were in place. Behind the cream, flowering curtains, were metal blinds that sealed out the sunlight. The room was utterly dark without artificial light and even if Madeline could see in the dark, she wasn't sure she wanted this room to remind her of the darkness from which she'd just come.

It was a much bigger room than the one she'd had back in Paris when she was human. It was bare, except for the bed and the table by the wall. She had a whole wardrobe to herself, and a big bathroom. When she'd arrived, she tossed her bag on the bed and went in search of Louis. Her bag was right where she'd left it, on the brown, dusty laid bed that no one had come to take care of in her absence.

She'd been eager to see Louis. Eager to size him up. Eager to understand what was so special about him that a vampire had granted him something as precious and unheard of as an immortal bond. Something so intimate. They'd spent more than a hundred years together. Louis had to be exceptionally special for any vampire to stoop so low.

There was a knock at the door.

"Go away."

The hinges on the door creaked and the wall around the door shifted and cracked. Madeline shifted just as the door was ripped off its hinges and dropped on the floor beside Lestat.

Shocked, she stared in horror at the gaping hole in her wall. In the room that she was trying to come to terms with. The room she was mentally preparing to make her sanctuary.

"You've been in a coffin for ten days, so I'll let that one go. Talk back to me again and I'll snap your neck."

Madeline sneered at him before she stormed to her bed and sat in it. She would have gone into the bathroom and slammed that door, but she couldn't risk Lestat ripping off that one and taking away the last ounce of privacy she had.

"Ground rules. No feeding on the locals. I'll provide you with blood until you get your own feeding staff. No leaving the premi-"

"Feeding staff?" she asked, unable to help herself.

Lestat's calm expression broke as his mouth went into a thin line. He hated being interrupted, but he quickly controlled his expression.

"You will ask for permission before leaving the compound," he continued, like he hadn't heard her question. "With permission, you can go out at night. No fighting, no causing trouble with the locals. No noise. Most importantly, you stay away from Louis."

Madeline scoffed, shaking her head.

"I had no idea you were so protective of your blood bag."

"Keep up the attitude and you'll never get one of your own."

She couldn't have heard that right.

"What?" she said, standing up.

Santiago had said nothing of Madeline getting her own fairy. Yet, here Lestat was, offering like it was nothing.

"As of right now, we've got two fairies who are willing to be bound. Continue pushing me and I will tell Louis not to bother with a third."

As he turned to go, she said, "I'm sorry." This wasn't part of the plan, but her very own fairy would be great. So great.

Lestat stopped to look at her. "Are you really?"

"I was just curious about him. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

He watched her, his eyes calm as ever, like he hadn't just ripped her door off its hinges a few moments ago. Lestat was a puzzle like that. Hot one second and cold the next. She'd known him for less than a month, but she had heard things about him. Things about who he was and the kind of vampire he might be.

Quietly temperamental. Silently judgmental. The kind to sit back and observe you till you started to wilt under the pressure of his attention. Madeline had started pushing his buttons ever since they were in Paris. While her friends shrunk away, afraid to challenge the obvious power emanating from his steady gaze, Madeline had pushed forward, curious to see just where his limit lay. And even though he'd let her get away with everything else, he was apparently drawing the line at Louis.

"I'll behave," she said, hoping that every vampire story was incorrect when they said vampires could hear the thumping of a heartbeat and tell when a person was lying. She'd consumed so little blood that her heart was barely beating as it was. But still, she had no idea the extent of Lestat's ability.

It wasn't as if Lestat had given them a master class on how to be vampires. Maybe in the time she'd been locked up, he'd taught the others something. She had no idea. But it didn't matter. She was free now and she was going to learn every single thing that Lestat had to teach about vampirism, in order to survive. She was also going to get a fairy mate.

"Clean up," he said. "I'll have Levi bring you more blood." Before he left, his eyes lingered on the hole where the door used to be. "I'll send for a carpenter."

"Thank you," she said, bowing slightly as he walked off.

Asshole, she thought to herself as she watched him leave. He'd bitten them and taken them across the planet. The least he could do was be less of a controlling freak. As it was, Madeline knew he was only going to get worse. Antagonizing him wouldn't help. She hated that fucking coffin and was going to do everything in her power never to go back there.

If that meant bowing to Lestat and his foolishness, she was going to do it to survive.

Until Santiago and the chieftaincy finally arrived.