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The Vah the curtain, his black cloak flaring around him, as he moved to the very front of the platform Not three feet from Jesse he stood with microphone in hand

The crowd had gone into ecstasies Clapping, hooting, howling, it was a noise such as Khayhed in spite of hiure down there who loved it utterly, as laughing even as Khayhed

Then in a great white flash, light flooded the s in their finery, but at the giant video screen that rose behind thee of the Vaht, blazed before Khayman The creature smiled; he lifted his arms, and shook his mane of yellow hair; he threw back his head and howled

The croas on its feet in delirium; the very structure rumbled; but it was the howl that filled all ears The Vampire Lestat's powerful voice sed every other sound in the auditorium

Khayman closed his eyes In the heart of the ain for the sound of the Mother, but he could no longer find it

"My Queen," he whispered, searching, scanning, hopeless though it was Did she stand up there on so to the music of her troubadour? He felt the soft daray starless sky as randohts of San Francisco, its spangled hills and glowing towers, these were the beacons of the urban night, as terrible suddenly as the alaxies

He closed his eyes He envisioned her again as she'd been in the Athens street watching the tavern burn with her children in it; her tattered cape had hung loose over her shoulders, the hood thrown back from her plaited hair Ah, the Queen of Heaven she'd see over centuries of litany Her eyes had been shining and euileless The sheer sweetness of her face had been infinitely beautiful

The vision carried him back now over the centuries to a dim and awfulto hear her will His Queen, now cursed and consecrated to theblood, his Queen ould not allow even the bright la the mud floor, the colored walls around her full of silent painted sentinels

"These twins," she'd said, "these evil sisters, they have spoken such abominations "

"Have mercy," he had pleaded "They ain, Your Highness They cannot change it now "

Oh, such compassion he had felt for all of then

"Ah, but you see, welies," she had said "You must come closer, my devoted steward, you who have always served me with such devotion-"

"My Queen, my beloved Queen, what do you want of me?"

And with the same lovely expression on her face, she had lifted her icy hands to touch his throat, to hold hith that terrified hio blank, herteeth he'd seen, as she rose on tiptoe with the eerie grace of nightmare Not me You would not do this to me! My Queen, I am Khayman!

He should have perished long before now, as so many blood drinkers had afterwards Gone without a trace, like the nameless multitudes dissolved within the earth of all lands and nations But he had not perished And the twins-at least one-had lived on also