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“ ‘Now, you give her todown to ive her to ht in the hotel in New Orleans I will not live with this hatred any longer, I will not live with this rage! I cannot I will not abide it!’ And tossing her hair, she put her hands to her ears as if to stop the sound of her oords, her breath, drawn in rapid gasps, the tears see to scald her cheeks

“I had sunk to my knees at her side, and my arms were outstretched as if to enfold her Yet I dared not touch her, dared not even say her name, lest my own pain break fro of hopelessly inarticulate cries ‘Oooh’ She shook her head now, squeezing the tears out onto her cheeks, her teeth clenched tight together ‘I love you still, that’s the torment of it Lestat I never loved But you! The measure of my hatred is that love They are the same! Do you kno h the red film that covered her eyes

“ ‘Yes,’ I whispered I bowed one from me into the arht protect Claudia from me — the irony of it, the pathetic irony — protect Claudia fro to Claudia, ‘Don’t cry, don’t cry?’ her hands stroking Claudia’s face and hair with a fierceness that would have bruised a human child

“But Claudia seeainst her breast suddenly, her eyes closed, her face smooth, as if all passion were drained away fro up around Madeleine’s neck, her head falling against the taffeta and lace She lay still, the tears staining her cheeks, as if all this that had risen to the surface had left her weak and desperate for oblivion, as if the room around her, as if I, were not there

“And there they were together, a tenderwhat she could not possibly understand, this white and fierce and unnatural child thing she believed she loved And if I had not felt for her, thiswith the damned, if I had not felt all the sorrow for her I felt forfro over and over the words I’d just heard But I knelt there still, thinking only, The love is equal to the hatred; gathering that selfishly to ainst the bed

“A long ti and sat still as a statue on Madeleine’s lap, her liquid eyes fixed on me, oblivious to the soft, red hair that fell around her or the woainst the bedpost, staring back at those va to speak ininto Claudia’s ear, she was letting her tears fall into Claudia’s tresses And then gently, Claudia said to her, ‘Leave us’

“ ‘No’ She shook her head, holding tight to Claudia And then she shut her eyes and trembled all over with some terrible vexation, so her from the chair, and she was now pliant and shocked and white-faced, the green taffeta ballooning around the small yellow

silk dress

“In the archway of the parlor they stopped, and Madeleine stood as if confused, her hand at her throat, beating like a wing, then going still She looked about her like that hapless victie of the Theatre des Vaone for soe froe doll I rose on irl with raven hair and green eyes, adorned with lace and ribbons, sweet-faced and wide-eyed, its porcelain feet tinkling as Claudia put it into Madeleine’s arms And Madeleine’s eyes appeared to harden as she held the doll, and her Lips drew back frohing low under her breath ‘Lie down,’ Claudia said to her; and together they appeared to sink into the cushions of the couch, the green taffeta rustling and giving way as Claudia lay with her and put her ar to the floor, yet Madeleine’s hand groped for it and held it dangling, her own head thrown back, her eyes shut tight, and Claudia’s curls stroking her face

“I settled back on the floor and leaned against the soft siding of the bed Claudia was speaking now in a low voice, barely above a whisper, telling Madeleine to be patient, to be still, I dreaded the sound of her step on the carpet; the sound of the doors sliding closed to shut Madeleine away fro vapor

“But when I looked up to her, Claudia was standing there as if transfixed and lost in thought, all rancor and bitterness gone from her face, so that she had the blank expression of that doll

“ ‘All you’ve said to me is true,’ I said to her ‘I deserve your hatred I’ve deserved it from those first moments when Lestat put you in my arms’

“She seeht Her beauty burned into my soul so that I could hardly stand it, and then she said, wondering, ‘You could have killed me then, despite him You could have done it’ Then her eyes rested on me calmly ‘Do you wish to do it now?’

“ ‘Do it now!’ I put my arm around her, moved her close to me, wars to me? Do I want to do it now!”

“ ‘I want you to do it,’ she said ‘Bend do as you did then, draw the blood out of th for; push my heart to the brink I a frail you can crush like a flower’