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PART I

BODY and BLOOD

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THEY SAID a child had died in the attic Her clothes had been discovered in the wall I wanted to go up there, and to lie down near the wall, and be alone

They'd seen her ghost now and then, the child But none of these vampires could see spirits, really, at least not the way that I could see them No matter It wasn't the company of the child I wanted It was to be in that place

Nothingnear Lestat I'd come I'd fulfilled my purpose I couldn't help him

The sight of his sharply focused and unchanging eyes unnerved me, and I was quiet inside and full of love for those nearest me-my human children, my dark-haired little Benji and h just yet to take them away

I left the chapel

I didn't even take note of as there The whole convent was now the dwelling place of valected place, but I didn't notice who remained in the chapel when I left

Lestat lay as he had all along, on the e crucifix, on his side, his hands slack, the left hand just below the right hand, its fingers touching the htly, as if with a purpose, when there was no purpose at all The fingers of his right hand curled, ht fell, and that too see

This was si there without will or animation, no more purposeful than the face, its expression aliven that months had passed in which Lestat had not moved

The high stained-glass ere dutifully draped for hiht, they shone with all the wondrous candles scattered about the fine statues and relics which filled this once sanctified and holy place Little h coved roof; a priest had sung out the Latin words from an altar

It was ours now It belonged to him-Lestat, the man who lay motionless on the marble floor