#vcficfriday

The Underworld by @sunshinerambling Armand/Denis ✦ Words: 1,100 ✦ Mature

As a fandom, we are so starved for Armand/Denis content but this could feed us through the winter. They're so sweet while still being so completely deranged -- just brings this pairing together so, so well!

The Light Behind Your Eyes by @leslutdepointedulac Nicolas de Lenfent/Lestat de Lioncourt ✦ Words: 998 ✦ Teen

I'm such a sucker for Nicki content in general and, ouch, this one hurt in the best way possible! It really does such a beautiful job of characterizing his thinking during his insanity era. Sends me right back into my Nickistat spiral!

Through the Garden Gate by @desertfangs Lestat de Lioncourt/Daniel Molloy ✦ Words: 4,451 ✦ Explicit

Daniel and Lestat are one of the all-time rare pair and they are done such justice here! Really this is such a good look into both their relationship and the relationship of Armand and Daniel post-QOTD. Plus some incredible blond-on-blond action! We are spoiled!

Sangria by @fofoqueirah Armand/Marius de Romanus ✦ Words: 1,872 ✦ Mature

God knows I'm already weak for Armand/Marius content but this fic is such a good dive into the master/slave dynamic between them. The dialogue especially really brought them to life and the bloodplay content was top-tier!

Gethsemane by @nothing-but-paisley Armand/Daniel Molloy ✦ Words: 1,678 ✦ Mature

After Party by @hekateinhell [AO3]

Rated E -- 1.2k -- Armand/Lestat/Daniel This is just excellent caretaking content but like FILTHY CARETAKING. Amazing and drunk and full of sloppy chaotic memory and getting into trouble but still quite soft!!!!!!!!! LOVELY!

Memories by moritzofsuburbia [AO3]

Rated G -- 346 -- Armand/Daniel THIS TINY BLURB OF A FIC IS ONLY TAGGED "IMMORTALITY" AND "FLUFF" AND LET ME TELL YOU IT ACTUALLY BROKE MY HEART LOL THANKS

Simmering Poison by @smuttyandabsurd [AO3]

Isaiah 1:15-18 (32364 words) by @fofoqueirah

Rating: Explicit Relationships: Armand/Lestat de Lioncourt/Marius de Romanus, Armand/Lestat de Lioncourt, Armand/Marius de Romanus, Lestat de Lioncourt/Marius de Romanus Summary: Suddenly, I hate his jealousy. I hate it! He is one of God's angelic cherubs when he smiles at me, but his eyes hold fury because I am in his Maker's arms. Wasn't Marius at the centre of our early conflict? Wasn't his longing for Marius why he spared me long enough for me to break his world, then shatter his heart when Marius came for me and not for him?

I am not ready to discuss the many thorns in our relationship. I dread bringing up Nicolas, his coven or Claudia. I can't; I am not ready myself. But I can debate Marius, and we could at least fix that grief.

Is there a way to kill what poison seeps from his heart when he thinks of me and Marius?

Would mending their relationship impact ours?

a.k.a. the one in which Lestat's attempts to fix his and Armand's ongoing resentment, ends up fixing Armand and Marius' convoluted relationship, mending his relationship with both while he's at it.

OKAY LISTEN - this is the Marius/Armand/Lestat fic I've been waiting for my whole life. The drama! The BAGGAGE!! The Daddy Issues™️!!! There's other characters and relationships woven in even though the trio is the focus and Fofo just juggles it all so well, I'm so excited for the other 14 CHAPTERS TO COME. 🥹

Lestat's Son (1673 words) @calipsan

Rating: Mature Relationships: Lestat de Lioncourt/Original Female Character(s) Summary: Giselle is a married woman living in the village near Chateau de Lioncourt. She finally gets the courage to ask a young mortal Lestat to her bed. The story is from her POV, but it is mainly an exploration of what Lestat might have been getting up to with the ladies of the village.

Honestly, the idea of Lestat having human descendants HAUNTS me and I'm so excited to see a fic finally tackling that big fat "What If?" in Lestat's mortal life!!! I love having it from a woman's POV too, something we definitely don't see a lot of in VC fic! 🙏🏼

Touched and laughing, father and daughter (201 words) by @butchybats

Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Claudia & Lestat de Lioncourt Summary: Louis is interrupted while reading and goes to find Lestat playing with Claudia.

What if I cried though, what then? Such a perfect little slice of Rue Royale era fluff, ft. Lestat being a better dad to Claudia than his dad ever was to him!!!! 🤧🤧🤧

Here are some fics I read recently that I quite enjoyed

Boats Against the Current by @covenofthearticulate - Louis/Lestat, E, 5608 words

This is such an angsty and wonderful little fic! It's so good how you can feel how much Lestat cares, how much they both love each other despite everything that's happened, despite all the invisible scars they've both accrued over the years. The unique closeness of the fledgling-maker bond is really palpable in this, the way Lestat understands what buttons to push and when to give Louis what he needs, so devastatingly soft and sweet and yet angsty at the same time. This fic wrecked me, even just reading back over my comment I need to go lie down and just wallow in Loustat 😅 it is everything to me. And to copy and paste the words I added to my bookmark: Impossibly tender and unspeakably powerful. An exquisite read.

Climb to the Sun by @apoptoses - Armand/Daniel, E, 6313 words

This is just so cool! The prose is so vivid and captivating, and the imagery is *chef's kiss* and so so fun. It perfectly captures the warring parts of Daniel, where on the one hand he knows what Armand is and wants to keep himself away from such a monster, but on the other hand he's so into it and part of why he's into it is because Armand is not human and can easily hurt him!!! Just!!! 🥵🥵🥵 I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff and this does it so well.

The Velvet of Cold Flesh (series) by anonymous - Marius/Armand

Actually, I might do a couple. I was taking recently about the fics I read when I was first in the fandom and I have a lot of nostalgic love for these fics from the 90's. As much as I love that Ao3 is there now, it's always great to keep hold of the older fics on old sites and not forget they exist.

Walking Mojo was one of the cutest fics I remember finding back when I was just getting into the fandom. It follows Lestat walking Mojo after an absence where Louis has been looking after him and gives him an insight into Louis' life and is generally just a very sweet moment set after TotBT.

A Hunt by Terryreviews

Rated T | 2.3k words | Lestat & Daniel

We made it through another week and the first two months of the year. I think we should celebrate! And what better way than snuggling under a blanket and reading some fic?

Here some fics I've read recently that I think you should check out:

⚔️ Love You to Death by @mothmage

Armand/Daniel

It's Armand and Daniel at a Renaissance Faire, what more do you even need? They wear costumes! It's also funny and heartfelt as Daniel and Armand both try to navigate the complexities of their strange relationship. Highly enjoyed this!

🌃 See You Later by @leslutdepointedulac

Armand/Louis

I don't know that I've seen a lot of fic that deals with Louis leaving Trinity Gate in the PL trilogy so I was thrilled to see this one. Despite Armand's anxiety about the change, he and Louis are so sweet together here and it's a very lovely fic that made my heart so happy!

🎻 Handspun Strings by @aunteat

Armand/Nicolas

This is a heartbreaking glimpse at Armand doing his damnedest to help Nicolas as best he can, with his characteristic dichotomy of tenderness and cruelty. He has so much love for both Nicolas and Lestat here, and this is a great exploration of their relationship during this very fraught time. Really love this one!

🛋️ A Deluge of Memories by @cinnamonclove

Armand/Daniel

In this cozy post-canon story, Armand and Daniel cuddle together during a thunderstorm and share stories about vampire legends and monsters. Bonus points for a Bigfoot reference. This is the soft Armand and Daniel reunion content I adore and I loved this fic!

Food for Love (1944 words) by @auntyeater

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Vampire Chronicles Series - Anne Rice Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Armand/Denis (Vampire Chronicles) Characters: Armand (Vampire Chronicles), Denis (Vampire Chronicles), Santiago (Vampire Chronicles), Celeste (Vampire Chronicles), Estelle (Vampire Chronicles) Additional Tags: Food, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Feeding, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Blood Drinking, Canon Compliant, Underage Drinking, Threats of Violence, One Shot, Not Beta Read Summary: Armand feeds and is fed.

This is such a great peek into what Denis's every day life with Armand might've looked like and what informed the predator/pray, master/slave dynamic that Louis saw — just fucked me up in the best way!! Feels so true to the Armand we met in IWTV; cruel and deliberate yet still so gentle and enticing.

We as a fandom don't talk about Denis enough and I think it's a shame because THERE'S SO MUCH to be explored here even with the little tidbits of information we have and this fic did it beautifully. 🥹🙏🏼

We Are the Dead (6677 words) by @nothing-but-paisley

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Armand/Daniel Molloy, Armand/Marius de Romanus Characters: Armand (Vampire Chronicles), Daniel Molloy, Lestat de Lioncourt, Marius de Romanus, Bianca Solderini, Louis de Pointe du Lac, Pandora (Vampire Chronicles), Benji Mahmoud, Sybelle (Vampire Chronicles) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Palace Intrigue, Vampire Politics, mention of the war in Ukraine, Blood Drinking, Gore, Dismemberment, consensual throat tearing, Just Armand Things, mentions of previous Armand/Marius, Maker Angst Series: Part 1 of Knight of Swords Summary: Armand's newfound domesticity gets interrupted when he is summoned to Court for mysterious reasons.

This is simply one of the best post-canon fics I've ever read. I love when the horror aspect of vampires isn't shied away from and honestly, I adore Armand when he's being a monster. 🥹 The premise here is so fucking unique too, I don't want to spoil it but GUYS YOU HAVE TO READ THIS LMAO IT'S SO TOPICAL. And there's so much going on with Armand's relationships with Daniel, Marius, Lestat — and even Pandora and Bianca! I cry!!!!!!

I didn't get to read/reread a lot of fic this week (I usually like to do a quick reread if I haven't read it in a while) so it's only two for today but to be fair, there's two parts to the Knight of Swords series and you should read them BOTH so ykw I'm counting it as three! ♥️