Work Text:
What did Claudia want from the Paris coven?
It was a question that had plagued her since revealing herself to Madeleine. She wanted community she supposed, but were they the kind of community she longed for? Now, with Madeleine by her side, she didn't think they were anymore. Finding others like her and Louis had been her dream for years. The coven at the theatre were like them in the sense that they were more than merely animated corpses, but in all the ways that mattered, they were far from it.
Madeleine was exactly what she'd been searching for, and the woman wasn't even turned when they met. Sitting here with her lover across from her brother and his new lover, Claudia finally felt peace. Like she'd found it: her coven. Be it Madeleine alone or Louis included, they were something more than the Paris coven. More than Lestat ever offered. More than the old-world vampires they'd found before.
When she told Louis that this was her X as they smiled around the table, she meant it truly. Madeleine was her X, her love, her companion. Louis was still important to her as well. Everything that mattered was sitting right there at that table. Even Armand. If Louis loved him, then maybe Claudia could learn to. It wasn't like they were going to be here long; she and Madeleine were heading out to explore the world that very night.
But for a moment, just this one, Claudia could pretend that she'd found her coven. She knew she was loved by Madeleine and Louis. Not just because Madeleine told her so, but because she could feel it. Right here at this table. The love was there.
That's exactly what the coven at the theatre failed to give Claudia.
That was the X: love. And Claudia had grasped it, if only just for that brief period in time.