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“ ‘That, s which you may never know For even the Erebus in which we live must have its aristocracy’

“ ‘You’re a liar,’ she said with a short laugh And just as he touched his fingers to the keys again, she said, ‘But you upset my plans’

“ ‘Your plans?’ he asked

“ ‘I came to make peace with you, even if you are the father of lies You’re my father,’ she said ‘I want to s to be as they were’

“Noas the one who did not believe He threw a glance atin every alleyway for other vampires There are no other vampires! And this is where you live and this is where you stay!’ He looked confused for thehis own voice had confused hi’

“ ‘And you don’t know anything, and that is why you detest my questions All that’s clear So now let’s have peace, because there’s nothing else to be had I have a present for you’

“ ‘And I hope it’s a beautiful wo her up and down Her face changed when he did this It was as if she almost lost some control I’d never seen her lose But then she just shook her head and reached out one sed at his sleeve

“ ‘Iwith you Hell is hatred, people living together in eternal hatred We’re not in hell You can take the present or not, I don’t care It doesn’t matter Only let’s have an end to all this Before Louis, in disgust, leaves us both’ She was urging hiain over the keys, turning him on the piano stool until his eyes followed her to the door

“ ‘You’re serious Present, what do you mean, present?’

“ ‘You haven’t fed enough, I can tell by your color, by your eyes You’ve never fed enough at this hour Let’s say that I can give you a precious moment Suffer the little children to coone He looked at ed I could see the curiosity in his face, the suspicion He followed her down the hall And then I heard hier and lust

“When I reached the door, and I tookover the settee Two s the soft velvet pillows, totally abandoned to sleep as children can be, their pink mouths open, their small round faces utterly smooth Their skin was moist, radiant, the curls of the darker of the two damp and pressed to the forehead I saw at once by their pitiful and identical clothes that they were orphans And they had ravaged a meal set before them on our best china The tablecloth was stained ine, and a sreasy plates and forks But there was an aroma in the roo ones, and I could see their throats were bare but untouched Lestat had sunk down beside the darker one; he was by far the ht have been lifted to the painted dome of a cathedral No more than seven years old, he had that perfect beauty that is of neither sex, but angelic Lestat brought his hand down gently on the pale throat, and then he touched the silken lips He let out a sigh which had again that longing, that sweet, painful anticipation ‘Oh… Claudia…’ he sighed ‘You’ve outdone yourself Where did you find them?’

“She said nothing She had receded to a dark ars out straight on the rounded cushion, her ankles drooping so that you did not see the bottoht, delicate little straps She was staring at Lestat ‘Drunk on brandy wine,’ she said ‘A thiht of you when I saw theive’

“He armed by her flattery He looked at her now and reached out and clutched her white lace ankle ‘Ducky!’ he whispered to her and laughed, but then he hushed, as if he didn’t wish to wake the dooestured to her, intimately, seductively, ‘Come sit beside him You take him, and I’ll take this one Come’ He embraced her as she passed and nestled beside the other boy He stroked the boy’sthe fringe of lashes And then he put his whole softened hand across the boy’s face and felt at the te the unbleotten I was there or she was there, but he withdrew his hand and sat still for a lanced at the ceiling and then down at the perfect feast He turned the boy’s head slowly against the back of the couch, and the boy’s eyebrows tensed for an instant and a moan escaped his lips

“Claudia’s eyes were steady on Lestat, though now she raised her left hand and slowly undid the buttons of the child who lay beside her and reached inside the shabby little shirt and felt the bare flesh Lestat did the same, but suddenly it was as if his hand had life itself and drew his arht embrace; and Lestat slid down off the cushions of the couch to his knees on the floor his ar it up close to him so that his face was buried in the boy’s neck His lips moved over the neck and over the chest and over the tiny nipple of the chest and then, putting his other arm into the open shirt, so that the boy lay hopelessly wound in both arht and sank his teeth into his throat The boy’s head fell back, the curls loose as he was lifted, and again he let out a small moan and his eyelids fluttered — but never opened And Lestat knelt, the boy pressed against hiid, his body rocking back and forth carrying the boy, his long , until suddenly his whole body tensed, and his hands seerope for some way to push the boy away, as if the boy hi to Lestat; and finally he eain andthe pillows, the sucking softer, now almost inaudible

“He withdrew His hands pressed the boy down He knelt there, his head thrown back, so the wavy blond hair hung loose and disheveled And then he slowly sank to the floor, turning, his back against the leg of the couch ‘Ah… God…’ he whispered, his head back, his lids half- into his hands One hand lay on his bent knee, fluttering, and then it lay still