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“ ‘They’re gone,’ I said I did not care to say even to myself that I had burned their remains in the old unused kitchen stove ‘But there is the father to deal with, and the brother,’ I said to him I feared his temper I wished at once to plan some way to quickly dispose of the whole problem But he said now that the father and the brother were no more, that death had come to dinner in their srace when everyone was done ‘Wine,’ he whispered now, running his finger on his lip ‘Both of the the fence posts with a stick to hed ‘But I don’t like it, the dizziness Do you like it?’ And when he looked atin him and he was mellow; and in that moment when his face looked warm and reasonable, I leaned over and said, ‘I hear Claudia’s tap on the stairs Be gentle with her It’s all done’

“She came in then, with her bonnet ribbons undone and her little boots caked with dirt I watched them tensely, Lestat with a sneer on his lips, she as unconscious of him as if he weren’t there She had a bouquet of white chrysanthee bouquet it made her all theon her shoulder for an instant, and then fell to the carpet And all through her golden hair I saw the narrow petals of the chrysanthemums ‘Tomorrow is the Feast of All Saints,’ she said ‘Do you know?’

“ ‘Yes,’ I said to her It is the day in New Orleans when all the faithful go to the ceraves of their loved ones They ash the plaster walls of the vaults, clean the names cut into the marble slabs And finally they deck the tombs with flowers In the St Louis Cereat Louisiana families were buried, in which my own brother was buried, there were even little iron benches set before the graves where the faht sit to receive the other families who had come to the cemetery for the same purpose It was a festival in New Orleans; a celebration of death, it ht have seemed to tourists who didn’t understand it, but it was a celebration of the life after ‘I bought this from one of the vendors,’ Claudia said Her voice was soft and inscrutable Her eyes opaque and without emotion

“ ‘For the two you left in the kitchen!’ Lestat said fiercely She turned to hi She stood there staring at him as if she’d never seen him before And then she took several steps towards hi hier Her coldness And now she turned tofrom one to the other of us, she asked:

“ ‘Which of you did it? Which of you made me what I am?’

“I could not have been ht have said or done And yet it was inevitable that her long silence would thus be broken She seeh Her eyes fixed on Lestat ‘You speak of us as if ays existed as we are now,’ she said, her voice soft, measured, the child’s tone rounded with the woman’s seriousness ‘You speak of them out there as mortals, us as vampires But it was not always so Louis had a mortal sister, I remember her And there is a picture of her in his trunk I’ve seen him look at it! He was mortal the same as she; and so was I Why else this size, this shape?’ She opened her arms now and let the chrysanthemums fall to the floor I whispered her name I think I meant to distract her It was impossible The tide had turned Lestat’s eyes burned with a keen fascination, a nant pleasure:

“ ‘You made us e are, didn’t you?’ she accused him

“He raised his eyebro in mock amazement ‘What you are?’ he asked ‘

And would you be so other than what you are?’ He drew up his knees and leaned forward, his eyes narrow ‘Do you kno long it’s been? Can you picture yourself? Must I find a hag to show you your mortal countenance now if I had let you alone?’

“She turned away from him, stood for a moment as if she had no idea what she would do, and then sheon it, curled up like the ht her knees up close to her, her velvet coat open, her silk dress tight around her knees, and she stared at the ashes in the hearth But there was nothing helpless about her stare Her eyes had independent life, as if the body were possessed

“ ‘You could be dead by now if you were mortal!’ Lestat insisted to her, pricked by her silence He drew his legs around and set his boots on the floor ‘Do you hearof it? You’ve known all your life you’re a va s he’d said to me many times over: know your nature, kill, be what you are But all of this seeely beside the point For Claudia had no qual She sat back now and let her head roll slowly to where she could see hiain, as if he were a puppet on strings ‘Did you do it to‘How did you do it?’

“ ‘And why should I tell you? It’s my power’

“ ‘Why yours alone?’ she asked, her voice icy, her eyes heartless ‘Hoas it done?’ she dee

“It was electric He rose fro hi his hands ‘Do so about her! I can’t endure her?’ And then he started for the door, but turned and, co back, drew very close so that he towered over Claudia, putting her in a deep shadow She glared up at hi back and forth over his face with total detachment ‘I can undo what I did Both to you and to hi at lad I made you what you are,’ he sneered ‘Or I’ll break you in a thousand pieces!’

“Well, the peace of the house was destroyed, though there was quiet Days passed and she asked no questions, though now she was deep into books of the occult, of witches and witchcraft, and of vampires This was mostly fancy, you understand Myth, tales, sometimes mere romantic horror tales But she read it all Till dawn she read, so that I had to go and collect her and bring her to bed