[armand's instantly on his knees, examining the damage with the faintest furrow of his brow. irritation wells in him, petulant and tired, turned to the vampires that did this, to daniel for perpetuating this nonsense and publishing the book. to louis for goading them.

the idea of louis' death is intolerable to him, even if he imagines louis would scoff at such a thing now. even he cannot quite put to words what it was to sit in that box, watching the trial, waiting to see what happened next. out of his hands, better not to think what would have occurred if louis was lumped with claudia and his fledgling. if he would have watched it all burn, should lestat have somehow managed to sit idly by as well.

he shakes the thought from his mind, tearing his thumb to press the bleeding wound to one of the injuries.] Your body is overtaxed, the blood can only do so much now. You will need to rest, and to not goad the masses as you have been.