Chapter Text
THE PROPOSAL
“What do you want to do about Louis,” Gregory asked.
As there was a lull in the meeting, it seemed a good time to bring up this topic that had been weighing heavily on his mind for quite some time now. Really, since the moment he’d first spied upon Louis at Trinity Gate in New York, although recent events had brought it all back to the forefront for him.
This particular meeting was a small one, with only a few of the eldest or most powerful of the blood drinkers. Marius, Seth, Fareed, Sevraine, Gundesanth "Santh", Chrysanthe, Gremt, Cyril, Thorne, David, and the Prince. Because there were so few members it made this an ideal time for Gregory bring up this particular petition to Lestat. Being a world-renowned business executive, Gregory had high confidence in his ability to lay this particular proposal out and win it.
The Prince looked at him, a slight confusion graced his lion-like features. “Louis?”
Gregory smiled. “You heard me. I feel something needs to be done about Louis.”
Lestat frowned slightly, “Okay, you have my attention.”
Of course he did. “Well, it’s no secret he’s weak. He’s got your blood and David’s now, but there’s still a ways to go with him, isn’t there? He’s vulnerable, and as long as you leave him that way there will always be a threat. He needs to be self-sufficient; able to defend himself better.”
Around the table there were some nods of agreement as Gregory had been speaking. “He is a liability to you,” Seth spoke. “He’s like an incomplete thing.”
Lestat’s eyes hardened and darted around the table. He wasn’t immediately denying this or telling Gregory what he could go do to himself, so that was a good sign. “So what? He’s my responsibility. And what does that even mean, incomplete?” He glared at Seth. Seth gave no indication of being cowed by it.
“He is a wraith living among solid beings,” Seth clarified.
Lestat slid his leg off the arm of his chair and sat forward, arms on the table. He stared at the tabletop, drew a small design on it with his finger and muttered something in French. Gregory thought it might be something like curse words. Sometimes he didn’t like things so blatantly spelled out for him.
“He’s the consort,” Gregory said more gently. “He’s the other half of the throne. He’s Enkil to Akasha. He’s your weakness, my Prince. The abduction by Rhoshamandes should have been enough to make you see that. How difficult it was to wake him from that sleep; does that not frighten you at all?”
Lestat was silent. He was looking at David, and the two of them were sharing some wordless communication that only close family or lovers could.
In a business proposal, this is the point where one goes in with the selling point and emphasizes what they have to offer. “He needs stronger blood; to be completed,” Gregory said, using Seth’s word. He tapped a finger on the table as he spoke, to punctuate each word. “I think I’ve discussed this with you before. We need you to be strong; and by proxy, we need him to be strong too. He is only half a vampire right now, and stronger blood can make him so much more. He can step out of that doomed state he relegates himself to.”
“And you want to give him this stronger blood, I take it?” Lestat asked, a small amused smile on his lips. “I can’t even get him to drink from me, unless he’s recovering from a suicide attempt. Do you really think you can convince him to take your blood?”
“I know I can,” Gregory responded with an amused smile, sitting back in his chair and spreading arms out on either side of the table before him. Offering.
Seth, Sevraine, Gundesanth and even Cyril laughed. Gremt was amused.
“What’s the joke,” Lestat asked, looking from one to the other of them.
“Nebamun was born to the court and raised to be at the pleasure of the Queen and King,” Gundesanth answered, “It’s in his very nature to do this thing. What do they call it these days? Courtesan, escort, a tom, sex slave –"
Gregory held his hand up and threw an annoyed looked to his old friend. “Thanks for helping.”
Santh smirked and shrugged. “No really, my Prince. He is a professional. He can seduce a tree to fall in love with him.”
Laughter again. Even Seth was smiling, amused.
Gregory rubbed at this his forehead, just between his eyes, and tried not to kick Santh beneath the table. He had to get this back on track.
“He is very persuasive,” Sevraine came to his rescue with a small smile of her own. Gregory would have blushed if he still had it within him to do so. Such false modesty was well beyond him now. He had this talent for seduction and courtship that went above that of even the most blessed blood drinker, and he was not ashamed of it. Sometimes he thought he could see this same talent in Armand. But Armand seemed not entirely able to harness it for what it was worth. He seemed to be in a perpetual state of anger and frustration, which didn’t allow him to completely use this power to his own betterment.
This particular talent was not a thing Gregory felt he could claim was the work of the dark blood, but rather a thing that he’d been born with. Trained to it from an early age when his parents sold him to the court of the Queen and King. This was a talent that the dark blood had accentuated. The same as it highlighted the Prince’s talent for showmanship, or Marius’s talent for leadership or painting. These things they all had as mortals, even if they were not yet aware of them. The blood only emphasized it.
Gregory’s talent was wooing others over with intimacy or just using the right words and body language. Whether it be a dangerous ancient queen, the top CEO of a rival company, or a fellow blood drinker.
Lestat was still looking from one to the other them. “And what does your own wife think of this? What say you, Chrysanthe,” Lestat asked.
She had been uncommonly quiet the whole conversation and now she held eye-contact with Gregory for a moment as they shared their own silent communication. “I’m not an insecure mate, my Prince. I’m used to these obsessions he has. Jealousy is not my nature, or I would not call myself his spouse. He is the best for this job. I know he will be able to win your consort over. I’ve never known anyone not to be charmed by him.”
Gregory gave her a warm smile of thanks and she returned it with her own secret look, which meant, I will add this to the list of things you owe me back for. That list was getting longer and longer.
Lestat glanced around the table again.
“And how will this happen, exactly,” David asked now, leaning forward, looking squarely at Gregory; all but blocking out everyone else in the room. It was no secret that he was quite the suitor to Louis himself. The younger, stronger brother; very territorial, very protective. “How do you really intend to gain his affections so easily? He is not the most outgoing of individuals, you know. He is reserved and shy at the best of times.”
“No, don’t worry about that,” Gregory answered. “I will fall on him like a ton of bricks. There will be no struggle against it, I promise you.”
“You won’t hurt or force him,” Lestat’s voice was suddenly commanding and hard. “I won’t have that.”
Gregory fixed his gaze on Lestat, and placed a hand over his own heart. “I swear to you, this will be the gentlest thing with him, my Prince. I know how to play this game. As Seth and Santh told you, it is in my blood to do this, to read others, to know the exact things to win them over. Please believe me, I love him as I love you. I have pledged myself to you and this Court as surely as I pledged my life to Akasha and Enkil so many eons ago.”
Lestat seemed to ease a little as he listened. This was a delicate wire to walk, and Gregory let his words sink in for a long moment. He clearly had a foothold and it had to be nurtured. Lestat looked away from him, contemplating. It was, however, important to Gregory that all cards be on the table at this point, so he continued. “But let me make this clear as well, I will be swift and aggressive. He will know it as nothing but all consuming and a thing he can’t resist. It is the only way to bring it about with him, as I think you well know.”
Both David and Lestat shared a look, and this time it could be easily interpreted as agreement with what Gregory was saying. Louis was won over with strong, determined seduction only. Perhaps if Armand had been in this room he would have agreed as well. Gregory was glad however that Armand was not in this room, because he likely would also have raised quite the angry argument against this.
Lestat was looking towards the end of the table now, at Marius. The one voice in the room that could easily tip him away from this plan.
“What do you have to say on this,” Lestat asked him.
Marius seemed to be pondering it from all sides. One hand beneath his chin as he leaned against the arm of his chair. He shrugged slowly at the Prince, as if to say he had no real opinion about it at all, but then he did speak. “Louis is your fledgling. This is your choice. I would point out however, that I would never have allowed any of my own children to go as long as he has with such a weakened strength. Yes, it keeps him human but it also makes him a target, as Gregory has pointed out here. And why is being as close to human as possible an ideal for us at all? We are not human.” He paused for effect. Gregory smiled to himself, because Marius too knew the art of words and persuasion.
Marius continued, “More strength, stronger blood in his veins, it will only improve him. Yours and David’s blood have already caused positive changes in him; I think you’ve seen that. But he is not at full capacity, Lestat. Time will eventually get him there, and I know that’s how he wants to play it out.” Marius shrugged lightly again, “Most of the time we don’t get what we want.”
Heads nodded around the table. Fareed, the youngest present, besides David, seemed particularly attentive in this conversation, but shared no opinions.
“Do it, Boss,” Cyril said from his post, standing at the wall behind the Prince. “Do it Gregory’s way, or if not, just let’s force the blood on him. Either way. Make him stronger. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to him again on my watch.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t force him,” Lestat immediately shut the suggestion down.
Something passed over David, and he glared at Lestat for less than a second then back at the table. Ah the duplicity. As if Lestat had not violently raped David to make him against his will. Such dysfunction in that little family at the end of the table there. Really, each brood around the table had their own dysfunction though. Even amongst himself, Seth, Santh and Sevraine there were old grudges and sore topics from six-thousand years prior; from the first Court.
Lestat’s blue-grey eyes held Gregory’s for a long silent minute. He could read the thoughts behind them clearly, even without the mind gift.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” Gregory reiterated in a soft voice. He made every effort to keep his posture and mind open for Lestat to read the pure intentions behind this proposal. This is what the business world calls closing the deal.
“Yes,” Lestat said. “Do it.”
Gregory smiled lightly, and gave the Prince an acquiescent bow of his head.