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"The Mother won't harm Lestat," he said to Gabrielle, to all of them "She loves him And at its core it's a common kind of love She won't harm him because she doesn't want to harer, just as we know theh he's probably foolish enough to try "

Gabrielle gave a little nod at that with a trace of a sad smile It was her considered opinion that Lestat could provoke any

one, finally, given enough time and opportunity; but she let it pass

She was neither consoled nor resigned She sat back in the wooden chair and stared past theiance to this group; she felt no allegiance to anyone but Lestat

"All right then," she said coldly "Answer the crucial question If I destroy this monster who's takento destroy her?" Daniel asked in amazement Eric sneered

She glanced at Daniel disnored She looked at Maharet "Well, is the old myth true? If I waste this bitch, to use the vernacular, do I waste the rest of us too?"

There was faint laughter in the gathering Marius shook his head But Maharet gave a little sment as she nodded:

"Yes It was tried in the earlier times It was tried by many a fool who didn't believe it The spirit who inhabits her animates us all Destroy the host, you destroy the power The young die first; the old wither slowly; the eldest perhaps would go last But she is the The Queen Of The Damned, and the Damned can't live without her Enkil was only her consort, and that is why it does not matter now that she has slain him and drunk his blood to the last drop "

"The The Queen Of The Damned " Marius whispered it aloud softly There had been a strange inflection when Maharet had said it, as if memories had stirred in her, painful and awful, and undiain he had a sense of the starkness and severity of these ancient beings, for whooverned by it, had not been needlessly complex

"Gabrielle," Khay the name exquisitely, "we cannot help Lestat We must use this time to make a plan " He turned to Maharet "The dreams, Maharet Why have the dreams come to us now? This is e all want to know "

There was a protracted silence All present had known, in sohtly had they touched Gabrielle and Louis, so lightly in fact that Gabrielle had, before this night, given no thought to thehtened by Lestat, had pushed them out of his e of the Santino had called them horrid trances from which he couldn't escape

Marius kne that they had been a noxious spell for the young ones, Jesse and Daniel, almost as cruel as they had been for him

Yet Maharet did not respond The pain in her eyes had intensified; Marius felt it like a soundless vibration He felt the spasms in the tiny nerves

He bent forward slightly, folding his hands before him on the table

"Maharet," he said "Your sister is sending the dreams Isn't this so?"