Risking Eternity

"A kingdom of corpses?"

Akasha called him a king, but spoke to him as if he were a child. He awoke with a new strength to find his world littered with bodies. Akasha's world was of the dead. Lestat did not mind the dead at first, but he remembered Marius and his reverence for mortals. Then the death did not sit right with him, not even after Akasha's explanation. He was not bothered enough by it to do anything.

He left with Akasha to confront the ancients, but he was not expecting to find Jesse among them. She was not one of them that he knew, but her life seemed to have brought her to her dream even if it was long passed her childhood. He wondered fleetingly, if she was happy. "Lestat, what has she done to you?"

Even after what he'd shown her, she still worried for him. She moved toward him, but Mael held her back. Akasha looked down on Jesse; Lestat looked over at her as well until Marius interrupted. "Lestat, step aside."

Akasha and Maharet argued about humans, their use in the world and how to deal with them. Their words did not touch Lestat. He did not care what they thought, but Jesse was a human. Akasha would kill her. Her frailty was still precious to him, even though he refused her.

"They are merely food," Akasha looked at Jesse again. Lestat knew that she would kill her. He disliked that idea more than he was comfortable with.

"I will not," the Ancients proclaimed one at a time. Marius was the last to speak up, but he did not look at the queen instead he stared at his once protégé. "I will not."

"Do you love me?" Akasha asked him. He affirmed his love without hesitating. "Then prove it." She raised her arm and pointed at Jesse. "Kill her."

What was left of Lestat's empty heart fell. This time he did hesitate. "She's nothing to me." He spoke to the queen though his eyes remained on Jesse.

"Just the same, I'd like for you to kill her." He did bring his gaze to the queen and prevented himself from blinking. Jesse's gaze was locked on him. He could feel her presence, her intensity.

Lestat did not answer her repeated request, but moved forward toward Jesse. Again shifting his gaze to Jesse. He knew she would already be looking at him.

"You will not touch her," Maharet proclaimed, but Lestat did not even glance at her. He would have loved for the ancient vampire to stop him, but he knew she was no match for Akasha alone. There was nothing to be done. He could not save Jesse's mortal life. The queen threw Maharet across the room.

"Now." Her command was beautiful and horrible. The voice was lovely, but she was asking him to destroy something that he had already tried to protect. Lestat had refused to harm Jesse even when she asked. Did Akasha know that?

Lestat turned from Akasha back to Jesse, who was still watching him. She did not seem afraid. I don't want some dream to be more real than my life. "No, it's alright, Aunt Maharet. It's what I want." Lestat could not tell if she was truly speaking to her aunt or to him. Her gaze was connected to his as she spoke saying words that echoed those of their night on the town.

As he walked toward her to as far as she knew kill her, she walked toward him. He knew she was telling him something. He could not kill her, end her life completely, but he did not want to turn her, make her into what he was. She could end up like him lonely and suicidal. Vampires had to find a way to cope with the ages.

He came to where she stopped and stood in front of her. "I'm ready." Do you trust me? She had given her body over to him then. Let him fly her into the air, where she could have died. I'm not afraid to die. Yes, I'm terrified.

She began to pull her hair back and Lestat wanted to say something to reassure her, to tell her that she wasn't going to die yet. Her hair pulled from her shoulder to reveal her breast that was still marred by the needle prick.

Lestat did not have to speak. To tell her it wouldn't be the end. She knew if he had wanted to harm her, he could have the night before the concert. Instead she pulled down her shirt enough to give him access to the still healing wound. He placed his hand on her arm and let it slide down caressing her skin. She raised her arm over his shoulder and guided him to her chest.

In some ways Lestat felt like he was meekly following her lead. Still he needed to bite her there. He didn't want her last moments to be of fear, fear that she had been wrong about him. The end would be painful enough without it.

He knew the bite hurt her, but she made no sound. The only sign that she felt the bite was to press him closer to her chest. Closer to her where he was more pain and more comfort. Her blood was no different than any other. Lestat knew that and yet it felt more important to him, because of what she meant to him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulder. One of his supported her at her waist. She would eventually no longer be able to hold herself up. His other hand found it's way to her neck and supported her head.

Jesse held him, stroked his back and held on for a long time. Her consciousness remained even as her heart slowed. Lestat was reminded of her bravery, her strength. Eventually she waned. Her arms slipped from his back, but Lestat continued to take her blood, remembering not to take the last drop. He knelt slowly, being careful with her fragile form. Then he disconnected himself from her and lowered her to the floor. He was slow to release her completely allowing his hand to rest on her back as she settled on the ground.

Once she was gone from him, he had to turn away completely and put his attention on Akasha. He looked around the room, but avoided eye contact with anyone. He knew what they thought of him for killing Maharet's niece. "Remember your real family or join hers."

Akasha was not aware of how her words impacted Lestat, but he tried to keep his emotion from his voice. "Now, give me my crown." He had to ignore Marius, whose glare conveyed his disappointment.

"Spoken like a true king." Akasha raised her arm to him. "Come."

Lestat smiled at Akasha, because she had no idea what happening around her. She relied on her power to keep them in submission. She wasn't alive during the comeback of the underdogs. She didn't know that times had forced them to become smarter. "You see how he obeys. You will or you will all die."

While she spoke Lestat drank. He drank, even as she told him, "That is enough, Lestat." He didn't respond to her or stop. Instead he meet Marius's gaze, trusting that his old mentor would remember his own lesson. He drank more, harder.

She threw him off, but even as she did, the others came at her. Each bit her pulling more of her blood from him. She threw off Mael, Pandora and Armand, turning the first two into ash, but she did not have enough power to kill Armand, who came at her again. Then they all ceased as they sensed the end drawing near.

"You kill me; you kill yourselves." She spoke to the ancients, but Lestat came towards her. She tried to stop him, but she had been weakened by the loss of blood. He ripped her ornament from her neck and drank from her again. Before he had been gentle, but this time he was savage, as he had been with the woman in the park. He would kill Akasha and he would die for it. For a moment he wondered if he would see Jesse or if they would save her. She wasn't completely gone.

"Wait, Lestat, you must stop." Maharet interrupted him. The Matriarch took his place and drank the last of the queen. The final drop that Marius had said never to drink. Akasha slowly turned black and disintegrated with a eerie scream like the sands of time disappearing. Lestat only waited until the ash disappeared enough for him to see Jesse. He would later tell her about how her aunt's red dress was suddenly white. With her last sigh Maharet's transformed from flesh to marble as she became the new queen, frozen in time.

He was distracted as Marius and Armand spoke. Kneeling he propped Jesse up. Her heart was still beating, though it was impossibly slow. He could hear it even through the battle, because he was listening for it. She was alive, but she couldn't live. He brushed her hair from her face. Holding her head, he knew what must be done. Lestat had had to bide his time in order to kill Akasha, but that meant risking Jesse's mortal life.

She could not survive as a mortal. Lestat bit his own wrist and lowered it to her mouth. Her life would continue to be a shadow, but so was his. They'd walk the night together. His mouth move in what would still be a frown for anyone else, but for him it was practically a grin. Because Jesse's mortal life did end, but her immortal one brought new life to Lestat. His loneliness was not strong enough to withstand Jesse's curiosity. She kept him from hiding away from the world. He helped her learn about her new world.

Though David did show her that she was no longer accepted by humans, her hand found his and he was confident that he was enough for her. After all she'd trusted him without fear.

Together through eternity: Jesse and Lestat.