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IS DANIEL MOLLOY REALLY WEARING A VIAL NECKLACE OF HIS BOYFRIEND'S BLOOD?
By Sam Jacobs
A bizarre new rumor about Daniel Molloy's mysterious young paramore has fans asking: Is the journalist wearing a piece of Armand wherever he goes?
The rumors surrounding Daniel Molloy and the beautiful young man he insists on calling Armand have taken another strange turn.
For weeks, the public has argued over who the mysterious young man really is. Is he Molloy's lover? His muse? A wealthy socialite? A victim? A willing participant in the older author's increasingly elaborate fantasy life?
Now, according to one second-hand account making the rounds online, Molloy may be carrying something far more intimate than a photograph in the wallet.
A small vial of Armand's blood.
Yes, you read that correctly.
According to an alleged witness, Molloy wears a tiny glass vial around his neck containing blood belonging to the young man.
The claim first appeared in a private online discussion before being repeated across several fan forums, where commenters have been attempting to determine whether the bizarre story has any basis in reality.
One poster claimed that a friend of theirs had seen the necklace up close.
"It's not a normal pendant," the commenter wrote. "It's a little glass vial. Red liquid inside. My friend says Daniel told someone it was Armand's."
Another user responded:
"Okay, that's either the creepiest romantic gesture I've ever heard of or Daniel Molloy has finally lost it."
A third commenter was considerably more skeptical:
"You people will believe literally anything about these two. It's probably perfume."
But then another alleged eyewitness appeared.
"I saw it too," they claimed. "Small vial, dark red liquid, worn under his shirt. I couldn't hear everything, but I did hear the name Armand mentioned."
There is, of course, no independent confirmation that the substance is blood.
There is not even confirmation that the vial exists.
But the rumor has spread rapidly because of one peculiar fact: Molloy has indeed been photographed wearing what appears to be a small pendant beneath his clothing.
In one recently circulated photograph, taken outside a private event, Molloy's shirt collar has fallen open slightly. Something small and cylindrical appears to be hanging around his neck.
The image is too blurry to establish what it is.
That has not stopped the internet.
"It's his boyfriend's blood necklace," one commenter declared.
"What did you people expect from a vampire erotica author?" another replied.
And there, perhaps, lies the reason this particular rumor has proven so irresistible.
Molloy has spent decades as a hard-hitting journalist. He's won two Pulitzer awards. And now — now he writes Gothic romance centered around queer vampires?
For the past year, he has been photographed repeatedly with a young man known only as Armand — a name that readers of Molloy's novel, Interview with the Vampire, immediately recognize — and apparently he wears a mysterious vial around his neck.
At some point, coincidence begins to look suspiciously theatrical.
One person claiming to have encountered the pair described the necklace differently.
"Daniel was wearing it when they came into the hotel," the alleged witness said. "He kept touching it. Not constantly. Just occasionally. Like checking that it was there."
The witness claimed that Armand noticed.
"And Armand smiled at him when he saw him checking it."
That detail has already sent online speculation into overdrive.
"If this is true, that's not sugar daddy/sugar baby behavior," one forum user wrote. "That's more like marriage behavior."
Another responded:
"Daniel is literally living inside one of his own books."
Others were less romantic.
"If the vial actually contains blood, that's disturbing."
"Maybe the guy gave it to him voluntarily?"
"Or Molloy is making him play along with the whole vampire thing."
"Why does everyone keep assuming Armand is a victim? Have you seen that guy? He looks like he knows exactly what he's doing."
That last sentiment has become increasingly common.
While Molloy has repeatedly lost his temper with photographers — flipping them off, shouting at them and demanding that they leave Armand alone — the younger man himself has remained almost unnervingly composed.
He doesn't appear frightened.
He doesn't appear embarrassed.
He doesn't even appear particularly surprised by Molloy's behavior.
And if the photographs are any indication, Armand seems to find Molloy's protectiveness faintly amusing.
One supposed insider claims that the necklace is actually part of a private ritual between the two men.
"Daniel is sentimental," the source claimed. "More than people realize. Armand knows that. He gives him things that mean something."
The source refused to explain what the vial supposedly means.
Another alleged acquaintance offered a darker interpretation.
"Daniel doesn't want to be separated from him," they said. "That's what I think it is. Something he can keep with him when Armand isn't there."
A romantic gesture?
A bizarre piece of vampire role-play?
A keepsake between lovers?
Or simply a fashion statement that the internet has transformed into something far stranger?
At this point, nobody outside the relationship appears to know.
But there is one person who presumably does.
Daniel Molloy.
And when reporters recently asked him about the mysterious necklace, his response was characteristically Molloy.
He stopped.
Looked at them over his sunglasses.
And told them to fuck off.
Armand, standing beside him, reportedly smiled.
Which, naturally, has only solidified the rumor in the minds of everyone paying attention.