Down below

Chapter 52.

Lestat was beside himself with shock. He was in such a hurry to get away from Loki that he just left his car at the hotel and flew home. He was mumbling to himself, repeating "This can't be.", "Why didn't I see?", "No, no, no..." over and over again. He stormed through his window, falling on the floor, exhausted from everything that happened. He was numb, so numb. He had only one condition, one, yet Loki not only broke it, he also used him to have some fun as well. Who does that? Why? Why couldn't he just stay away.

'Lestat.' David's quiet voice brought him back to the present. 'You need to reign in your thoughts. I can hear them and if I can...'

Lestat curled up in a ball and buried his face under his arms, trying to get ahold over his racing mind, ashamed at his amateurish mistake.

'Don't worry, they are just fragments. Breathe.'

There was so much tenderness, so much compassion in David's voice despite all the misery he put him through and all the crazy things they lived through together, it snapped something in Lestat.

David was worried. He had never seen Lestat this distraught or at least not that he could remember. He suspected it had something to do with whatever went down between him and Hades earlier, but he wasn't entirely sure. He watched his maker curled up on the floor, having something very similar to a panic attack based on the way he was gasping for air. He knelt next to him and slowly placed his hand on his back, careful to pull away in case he lashed out.

'What happened?' he asked. 'Maybe I can help.'

'You c-can't.' Lestat replied and David was shocked - was he crying?

'Maybe so, but you might feel better if you talked about it.'

Lestat took a shaky inhale and tried his best to calm down, but he felt so humiliated, so ashamed that he just let his tears fall. David stayed there, waiting patiently for him to pull himself together. After a while, his breathing normalized and he wasn't trembling anymore.

'Alright, David. I'll tell you, but please, promise you won't interrupt or judge.'

'I promise.'

'Can you turn away, please? I don't want you to see me like this or look at me while I'm talking.'

David stood up, turning away. Lestat sat up and wiped his blood tears away, combing his hair out of his face. He was so exhausted.

'I felt so dirty after my...session with Hades, and I just wanted some distraction. Remember that cute little waitress who elbowed Gregor in the groin?'

'Ah, her! Yes, of course.' David said, smiling at the memory. 'Melissa, I believe.'

'Yeah, 'believe' is apt.' Lestat scoffed and started to pace around the room. 'So, I gave her my card and told her to give it to you if she wanted to meet me after the party, but you never mentioned her which annoyed me a bit, because I could smell that she wanted me. Anyway, I asked you to let those two off early and waited for her to leave. When she did, I offered her a ride home and we ended up in a hotel. Needless to say, she couldn't resist me and we spent hours and hours...'

'No need for the particulars.' David cut in.

'You promised!' Lestat snapped.

'My apologies. Carry on!'

'To cut a long story short, we had an amazing time and I managed to forget all about tonight and started to feel a bit better about myself despite the fact that I basically whored myself out to get information for that spoiled, ungrateful, evil brat of a mediocre wizard just to find out that it was him all along.'

Lestat let out a shaky breath and collapsed on his bed across David.

'I'm not sure I understand.' David said and had to resist looking at his friend.