~Libra Me~

He ran, pell-mell through the alleys of New Orleans, the cold autumn rain pelting his flesh wickedly as his thoughts blurred into a single cry of despair. His chest felt heavy, despite the lack of a heartbeat, his lungs aching as he fought to breathe. The very air seemed putrid, as if all the decay of the world had arisen before him. The dark of the night held no comfort for him, nor did the sound of his cries soothe his forlorn state, as he sprinted faster than the human eye could gauge.

He had lost control. After nearly two full years of sustaining himself on mediocre sustenance, he had snapped. His resolve had been waning since the moment he'd first chosen abstinence, but somehow he had thought he could manage. . . Somehow he'd thought he'd be stronger than the blood lust. . . But he had failed. And instead of feeding on a lowlife criminal or the scum of the earth, he had hurt a child. An innocent little girl.

She was so young, so beautiful, even as she clung to her mother's limp, diseased hand. Such a precious child, looking up at him with pleading eyes and desperate little hands. When she had wrapped her arms around his neck and begged him to 'wake' her dead mama, he had been unable to push her away. She had grasped him so tightly with those dainty hands, crying into his shoulder- and he'd let her. He'd listened to her heart thrum like a caged bird, and smelled the fresh blood pumping through her veins. As his teeth had sunk into her flesh, he'd heard her cry out, but he'd been powerless against the thirst. The rushing of the blood roaring in his ears, as he drained her.

He ran now, in the pouring rain. Sorrowful green eyes turning towards a Heaven that had forsaken him. He had killed her. The vampire had taken the life of a human, and he hated himself for it.

For a while longer he moved through the forgotten passageways of New Orleans, before he found himself at the entrance of the sewers. He saw the rats that ran freely, and felt his thirst rise again. With a sickening feeling, the vampire grabbed the nearest vermin and bit down. The crunch and squish of the animal's body rang out against the soft patter of the rain, and the undead one blessedly drank.

As he tossed the drained rat carcasses aside, he dipped his head in shame. If there was a Hell, he was surely in it. He was unhappy when he drank the blood of humans, for the sake of his remaining passion for life. And when he drank from animals he was tormented with thirst. There was no reprieve from the cycle. No true beauty to his life of perpetual night.

Lestat, the one who had created him, had called it the 'Dark Gift'. Had claimed that to be one of the 'Blood' was a coveted boon. But to the vampire, Louis De Pointe Du Lac, it could only be described as a curse.

Louis stalked into the sewers, as blood tears crept down to stain his porcelain features. This dank place suited him well. At least here, in the disgusting cesspool of refuse, he couldn't hurt anyone.

Louis slowly collapsed to his knees in the gutter, and curled into himself. As the rain dripped from his long black hair to mix with his crimson tears, the vampire felt his heart break. He had believed in life that he had been a decent man. But now, he was nothing more than a monster.

{***}

Elentari, of the Woodland Realm of Lothlorien, often journeyed in her sleep. Not in the normal sense, where one dreams of adventures; but in the utter transcendence of body and soul. Magic had always been strong with the she-elf, but the reasons behind her nightly travels had remained a mystery to all.

Each night, as her light blue eyes closed upon her beloved Middle Earth, she was spirited away to the far corners of existence. She traversed countless worlds and held little control over where she walked. But the places and people she encountered were as real as Lorien, so she found herself eager for the nightly sojourns. …. Though lately, the trip hadn't been very pleasant.

For a fortnight, the fair elf had been stuck in the same place. Though she hadn't truly been a part of it. Through her listening, Elentari had discovered the basics of this New Orleans, though it wasn't the city that she kept returning to. . . but rather a single person.

Each night she watched a man from the shadows, as if she were a ghost. She was unable to speak with him, or be seen, but still she watched. And as the nights passed, she came to care for the creature she observed.

Louis De Pointe Du Lac… a fair créole gentleman who wore the expensive clothes of a lord, but acted the part of the pauper. He was young and handsome. He was also soft spoken and prone to melancholy, though in the company he kept, Elentari thought that she would be much the same.

But it was what Louis was that made Elentari continue to watch. It was the despair and undeniable thirst for human blood, that made the Elfling empathize with the byronic vampire. His self-loathing was palpable as he lamented his nature, and Elentari found her heart aching for him.

Louis didn't drink from humans, despite his vampire creator's taunts, and she loved him for it. She loved his resolve and damaged soul, even as he loathed himself.

Elentari seemed to watch the vampire forever, without a corporeal form…. Until the night he drank from the little girl Claudia.

The Elf watched as the distraught Louis ran away into the stormy night, and knew that she had to intervene. She heard and felt his thoughts of anguish as if they were her own. He thought he had killed the child in his bloodlust, though it was untrue, and he vowed never to forgive himself.

Elentari could not accept this.

So, with more than a little effort, the elven one focused on her body and mind. And as she brought her body into a solid form in New Orleans, she moved to follow Louis towards the sewers.

She would not let him suffer alone. Not when she could try to aid him.

With bare feet, the immortal lady walked through the dirty streets. Her gown twinkled like the very stars in the heavens, as her silky blonde tresses blew in the wind and rain. She moved unhindered through the alleys, following his thoughts with a resolute expression.

Finally, as she came to the entrance of the sewers, the woman slowed her pace. She could see Louis, hunched in a corner, sobbing into himself. He was soaking wet and covered in grime, but she approached him anyway.

On silent feet, the woman lowered herself into a crouch in front of him, only a foot or so away. He didn't stir. So she called his name softly, to alert him to her presence.

As his teary gaze shot up to regard her, Elentari's face melted into a loving expression. She would comfort and help him. Nothing less would suffice.

{***}

Louis had been so lost to his thoughts, that the presence of another startled him to the point of near madness. With sorrowful deep green eyes, the vampire had looked up to see who called him by name. The voice was unfamiliar, but peaceful, as it targeted him like a beacon.

He hadn't known what to expect, as he lifted his gaze. . . but the vision that met him was something from a dream.

A magnificent lady knelt before him, clothed in what seemed to be the very heavens. Her long light blonde hair fell in braided waves down her bared shoulders and back, while her intent blue eyes seemed to peer into his very soul. Louis had witnessed beauty in his days, but never of this magnitude or depth. She was a glorious vision of light and beauty, and he found himself breathless.

"Angel. . . ma belle Angel," he breathed reverently. He stared at her with wide, impassioned green eyes. "...Have you come to smite me for my sins? To erase me from this plain for all time?"

"No, dear one." Her voice was like flowing water, and he became lost to it. "I am here to alleviate your woes and soothe your pain."

Louis's reply was shaky with deep emotion as he shook his head. "What I've done cannot be assuaged, lady. . . No matter how much I might wish it to be so."

"I know what you've done, Louis," she interjected calmly, reaching out to place a hand to his quivering shoulder. Her touch was feather light and retracted almost immediately, due to his shivering. "I have felt your agony and heard your thoughts, as if they were my own. And I tell you now that you are not alone."

"You have seen my internal workings? The insights and deeds of my soul?"

Elentari nodded, with a reassuring smile, which made him cringe away again.

"Then you know I am a hideous being, that deserves the fatal sleep." He cursed himself, looking away from the angelic lady that he assumed was all a part of his imagination. "The night is a damned place, Angel, and I am in the midst of that darkness. I am caught up in that Hell."

"You are beautiful, my darling, inside and out," she interjected immediately. Her voice was so tender that he found it nearly impossible to doubt her sentiment. "The night is not evil, Louis. It is the dastardly actions done in the dark that makes it so."

"I killed the child," he cried. "My actions speak for themselves!"

"She was not dead when you ran, Louis."

He paused, his face transforming almost instantly "The girl lives?"

"Yes," she assured him. " I cannot say if she will stay thus. . . Though she most certainly will perish of the plague if she's left alone with her mother's corpse. The child will suffer a slow and miserable end. … Some might call your intervention a merciful act, mellonin."

The endearment she used was foreign to Louis, though he didn't have time to think on it long. For her words gave him more meaning than his empty curiosity of the moniker.

"Is killing ever merciful?"

"It can be. . . But it depends solely on your point of view."

"And if my point of view recognizes my kind as a depravity, an abomination?" He spoke of his vampiric roots.

Her blue eyes softened, as her obvious empathy enhanced tenfold. "Then you must come to terms with it, dear one. For you cannot change what you are, or your nature."

"I cannot come to terms with it," Louis wept, shaking his head, making the long, dark locks curtain about his angular face. "I will never accept it. If I live for the eternity that I have been proscribed, I will still view it all the same. "

"Then you must find ways to adapt and survive, sweet Louis. You must make it bearable," she bid him, reaching out to take his cold hand into her own. The initial contact caught him off guard. But as she gripped his hand firmly in her own, he felt her warmth seep into him. He almost jerked away from her touch, but found that he was entranced by it. From the tips of her fingers, heat permeated into his undead body, until he gasped. His nerve-endings felt as if they'd been set on fire, but no pain followed. Just soothing, neverending light! As if from the sun itself!

"You cherish human life, dear one," Elentari said, as she reached up with a forefinger to lovingly brush a strand of hair from his eyes. "Which means you still have humanity. As long as you have that, you can still hope. You can change your lifestyle to suit your needs, and find a way to live peacefully. I know you can."

Louis stared deep into the woman's pale blue eyes, and saw her sincerity and goodness. It took his breath away. Her faith in him was humbling, and oh so glorious! Oh, how he had had longed for kinship, for love. And she offered it to him freely, without judgment of his sins and shortcomings. She didn't shy away, or hate him. Nor did she share his own maker's skewed view on the Dark Gift.

She understood.

In that moment, Louis was enraptured by the woman, and without a further thought, found himself reaching for her. His long arms encased the delicate woman's middle and he fell into her lap. It was an intimate position, but his hands clung to her from desperation, rather than lust. He burrowed into her, letting the scents of sunshine and evergreen cascade over his senses. He wept as he held onto the Angel, and wept harder still when she hugged him back.

The Elfling held him close, and let her fingers comb through his midnight tresses. She said his name, over and over again, soothing and lovely. Louis brought his head to rest above her heart and focused on her heartbeat, losing himself to affection for the creature who comforted him.

Elentari continued to murmur sweet things in his ear, in a language he could not understand. But her cadence and tenderness made it clear what she meant. With every whispered sentiment, she encouraged him, seemingly breathing life back into his undead body. Waves of hope and light enveloped Louis, as she quietly crooned endearments to his soul. And for the first time since he'd been given the Dark Gift, Louis felt at peace.

Neither Elf nor Vampire knew how long they stayed, embracing in the dark, but all too soon, Elentari pulled away. Her blue eyes met his stunning green, and her mouth turned up into a bittersweet smile.

"I must leave you, dear one. For the sun of my world will soon rise."

He took both of her hands into his own, basking in the warmth of her skin, before bringing them up to place a kiss on each. His lips lingered, as he breathed her in. "Please Angel, stay."

She raised their joined hands up so she could place a kiss to each of his palms. She was so gentle, that he sighed. "I would if I could, my darling. But the dawn waits for no one."

He nuzzled into her hand, and felt his heart flip as she smiled at him again. Her features twisted with love as she gently placed a parting kiss to his forehead. "Keep on your journey, Louis, and one day your suffering will cease. Have faith in yourself, dear heart, and it will all turn out alright. Promise me you won't give in to a petty end, or your despair. Promise me you'll never give up."

He gave great thought to her words, before replying with an answer. Nodding minutely he said, "You have my promise, Angel."

Elentari, pleased with his vow, stood to her full height. Louis watched her rise with emotional eyes. The vampire knew that he would feel her loss acutely when she departed, and it pained him deeply. She was his Sentinel ….. his Guardian Angel. His saving grace that would replay in his memory for all time.

"You will always be here," he pointed to the place where his heart lay dead and shriveled in his chest. "I will hold you in that place between wakefulness and slumber. In the bright celestial skies that shine despite the dark, I will find you."

"And you shall be in mine, sweet child of the dark," Elentari lifted her hand to rest above her breast, mimicking Louis's action. "Tucked away in the shadows that never fade, the peaceful night to my day."

Blood tears once more dripped down the vampire's face, but his expression remained contented. "Farewell, Angel."

"Namaarie, Louis De Pointe Du Lac… May the Gods protect and keep you."

And then, just like a mirage, she faded from his view. One moment she was there, the next, the space where she had stood was empty, as if by magic.

Louis remained still, thinking back on the angelic being he'd met. Even in the dampness of the sewers, the memory of her grace remained. And in spite of her absence, Louis felt revived. He would not give into a cursed fate. He would endure. He could overcome the thirst, or at least command it for his own designs.

The more Louis thought on it, the more light hearted he felt. The otherworldly vision had shown him the way, and he would follow her to his final hour.

It was with this conviction, at the cusp of dawn, that the vampire Lestat found Louis in the gutter. Louis followed his creator home without protest, with no idea of what the rest of his immortal life held in store. But he knew that he would rise to meet it, with the Libra that Elentari the Angel had given him.

~FIN~

A/N: In the film Interview with the Vampire, the title song from the soundtrack was called Libra Me (Balance me in latin). I thought it suited the story very well, so I kept it as the title. Elentari is an OC of my dear friend of mine who needed a story. So this drabble was born. And yes, I was crazy enough to crossover Lord of the Rings and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Insane I know. X'D

Thanks for reading everyone!

~Lyn