armand turned daniel into a vampire, which made him realise daniel is indeed the love of his 500-year-old life, then he fucked off for two years due to a massive chemical reaction that happened within his undead synapses and i cannot stop thinking about it.
he panicked, for one, because he was forced to re-examine a good chunk of his most recent years through the lense of Actual Love—not fascination, not attraction, not amusement, not interest, love. i do believe his falling for daniel was gradual and happened in the past just as much as it continued in dubai, but i don't think armand realised then what he came to understand when he turned daniel and it must have pulled the rug from under him in a significant way.
for two, he wanted to see how daniel fared on his own. he believed daniel would take to the gift quite naturally and easily, knew he wouldn't reject it and that the gift would not reject him. he was so sure of that, in fact, that he was content with watching over him from afar as daniel learnt to walk on his own two feet. might not have felt like a blessing to daniel, but it was a compliment.
this brings me to the third reason—he's a watcher. was a watcher, of daniel specifically, for 52 years. he is used to providing from afar, interceding directly only when truly needed. daniel stumbled and fumbled his way through adulthood and armand was there, making sure he didn't stumble into an early grave but also letting him fumble enough to be primed for the gift should the need arise. whether armand realised that or not ('the idea repulsed me—repulses me' suggests that he might have changed his mind on the fledgling thing after he first met daniel), i think part of him always wanted to make a vampire out of daniel someday, and that required daniel to be at his core a very specific kind of person for him to survive the turn. he's used to watching and assessing, calculating and considering. he has no experience in the more practical aspects of being a maker.
and then there is an element, too, of armand needing daniel to need him, which i think is actually most of the reason why he left him hanging so long. he created a complex in daniel which only armand can tend to: he can now, two years later, show up as his saviour and guiding light and teach him things no other vampire could, which was true immediately of course but is all the more apparent after daniel's early days of neglect. imagine having to fend for yourself, provide for yourself, learn by yourself how to be the monster you were made into, which is so different from the monster you always were; imagine the rage daniel felt, the betrayal, the hurt and confusion and fear and doubt. imagine the gaping, maker-shaped hole in daniel's chest, growing day in, day out until it was big enough to finally accommodate armand. imagine how easily armand will fit there now, how comfortably, how snugly. i've come back, i want to be your maker, i want to teach you everything i know, you can step into the sun with me, you need me enough for this to work. and after armand keeps his word and daniel gets to feel the sun rays on his skin at 3-years-old, do you think he'll ever worship another god?
snowghoul
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blakekathryn
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