The Vampire Chronicles

For the Theatres des Vampires album, see The Vampire Chronicles (album). For the Darkstalkers video game, see Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower.

The first book

The Vampire Chronicles is a series of novels by Anne Rice that revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century.

Most of the books are in first-person perspective with only a few being in third-person. Interview With the Vampire was made into a 1994 film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and Kirsten Dunst. Portions of The Vampire Lestat and Queen of The Damned both were used for the 2002 film Queen of the Damned, starring Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah.

To date, The Vampire Chronicles have sold 80 million copies worldwide.^[1]

Books in the series

The Vampire Chronicles

• Interview with the Vampire (1976)
• The Vampire Lestat (1985)
• The Queen of the Damned (1988)
• The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
• Memnoch the Devil (1995)
• The Vampire Armand (1998)
• Merrick (2000)
• Blood and Gold (2001)
• Blackwood Farm (2002)
• Blood Canticle (2003)

New Tales of the Vampires

• Pandora (1998)
• Vittorio the Vampire (1999)

The Lives of the Mayfair Witches

The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches had a few crossover novels making Lives of the Mayfair Witches part of the Vampire Chronicles world.

• The Witching Hour (1990)
• Lasher (1993)
• Taltos (1994)
• Merrick (2000)
• Blackwood Farm (2002)
• Blood Canticle (2003)

Vampiric properties

Anne Rice's vampires are different in several ways from classic vampires like Dracula. Rice's creatures are not affected by the usual weapons against classic vampires: garlic, crosses, and they cannot be killed with wooden stakes. Like classic vampires, most do choose to sleep in some form of coffin during the day because sun exposure can cause death/pain. Also, during the day, most "sleep", however, this differs from "mortal sleep" as: a) they become dead bodies, and b) the dawn often triggers their sleep against their will.

They need blood, but in some cases not every night (David Talbot suggests most "newborn" vampires must drink heavily everynight, himself included). Human blood is preferred as it is more nutritious, but animal blood can also be drunk. They do not age physically (instead becoming more "statuesque" as they age, developing very smooth, white skin), and in all but a few cases, vampires younger than a thousand years old can usually be killed by exposure to sunlight or fire.

They do not possess stereotypically "vampiric" magical powers, such as changing into bats, but some of the stronger, older ones do have the power to fly. Most of them also have the power to read the thoughts of mortals and weaker vampires. They have other physical abilities: they have superhuman strength and speed and extremely keen senses. Very old vampires or ones who have been made or strengthened by feeding on blood that is close to the root of the vampiric mother may have additional gifts like the ability to move matter with the mind and the ability to set things ablaze by the force of will. They have many artistic talents, like singing, painting and acting, and a preternatural "understanding" of any type of problem, puzzle or machine. They also have the uncanny ability to almost perfectly mimic anything (movement, playing musical instruments, etc.).

The main characteristic of Rice's vampires is that they are all excessively emotional, sensitive, and sensual, being easy prey to intense suffering and aesthetic passions. They are supernaturally beautiful as vampires tend to make fledglings from humans they have grown to love, and the transformation from human to vampire enhances ones' beauty.

The physical changes are apparent: their eyes become luminous, their skin pale and reflective and their fingernails are like glass. Furthermore, if their hair or nails are cut, they will grow back as they were when they "died" during their sleep. As they lose all natural bodily fluids, they are unable to have children.

In Pandora and The Vampire Armand, David Talbot makes the wry comment that with his entry into the pantheon, vampires have "evolved" somewhat, as David can see spirits, while all other vampires cannot. This can perhaps be attributed, however, to David's limited control over Candomblé spirits that he learned as a young mortal man.

When a human is turned into a vampire by one whose 'Dark Gift' has remained pure without ever having been passed on to others for centuries, the newly turned will be much stronger than normal vampires (as in the case of Lestat, who was turned into a vampire by Magnus)

Vampiric gifts

Those who have lived for more than a thousand years are by far the most powerful of the vampires; they are called the Children of the Millennia (including Khayman, Mekare, Maharet, Marius, Pandora, and Mael). After several hundred years, and depending on the strength of their maker, vampires begin to exhibit special powers, referred to by most of them as "gifts".

• Mind Gift (the combined abilities of telepathy and telekinesis). This is the ability to communicate and read thoughts, especially of humans, and to move objects with the mind. This gift is used largely to obtain blood – since via telepathy a criminal or amoral human can be sensed, and many of Rice's vampires refuse to feed on the innocent, this allows them to identify their prey. It is impossible for a maker or fledgling to contact each other directly, although in some cases it is possible for a vampire to seek out their master/fledgling by looking through the eyes of those near their fledgling, or by hearing the thoughts of their master/fledgling through others in a relay effect. A vampire of sufficient power or age may also unwillingly 'hear' the thoughts of all the humans within range of this power, leading to an old vampire saying: "If you do not learn to silence the voices, they will drive you mad." Khayman of the First Brood possessed this level of telepathic power, but had trained himself to hear the multitude of thoughts as "one annoying noise." Older vampires may also possess the ability to move objects with the mind, as witnessed through Akasha's destruction of the Elder, or Akasha's habit of opening the doors to the tabernacle, and Marius' opening and unlocking the doors to Akasha's shrine in Blood and Gold..

• Spell Gift. Mentioned in Blood and Gold and Queen of the Damned, this gift allows a vampire to cloud the mind of a human, bending the human to his or her will. Marius employs the Spell Gift often, especially when employing humans to move Enkil and Akasha to a new location. Armand uses it almost exclusively to draw those who "wish to die" to him.

• Enhanced physicality and senses. All vampires have superhuman senses (sight, hearing, etc.) and strength, and are able to do things many times faster than humans can, with little or no effort. Eidetic memory from the moment of becoming a vampire seems to be natural, as Lestat tells David in Memnoch The Devil, however, memories of their humans lives, particularly those relating to sensation, fade over the years. They can move faster than the human eye can detect, see in the darkest of nighttime, pick one sound out of even the noisiest area, and raise the volume of their voice to painfully loud levels.

• Fire Gift. Another power usually only developed by a Child of the Millennia. This gift is known to be possessed by Marius, Akasha, Eudoxia, Thorne, Khayman, Lestat, Mekare and Maharet, and later the vampires Merrick Mayfair and Quinn Blackwood. With the Fire Gift, a vampire can set alight an object or being of their choice, for example, in Blood and Gold, when Akasha destroyed Eudoxia's body by fire, or in the film when she set fire to the vampires in bar and at the concert. Use of the gift on humans was performed by Lestat in Blood Canticle, when he set aflame gunmen on the tropical island. The Fire Gift is specially fatal to vampires, as the "changed" blood found within their bodies ignites easily, thus rendering them extremely vulnerable to fire.

• Cloud Gift (flight). Depending on the novels or the cinematic depiction, not all vampires have this ability. According to the books, Lestat, though young by vampire standards, gains this ability after repeatedly drinking Akasha's blood. Quinn Blackwood was given the strength to use this gift by his maker, Petronia. Otherwise, flight is a power only exhibited by the Children of The Millenia. Louis, Gabrielle, and Santino are among a few that do not have this gift or are never mentioned having it. Most if not all vampires dislike or even hate flying, as they find it extremely unsettling due to it being a sign that they are truly no longer human.

• Killing Gift. Believed to be possessed by the eldest Children of the Millennia, like most gifts it comes with age. Known holders of this power are Akasha, Marius, Lestat, Maharet, Mekare, Khayman and Mael. This power was originally combined with the Fire Gift in Queen of The Damned, but by Blood & Gold Rice had decided the two powers should be made separate abilities. The exact nature of the power is unknown, but it seems to cause numerous fatal ruptures in the entire cardiovascular system.

• Immortality. Unless killed by one of the vampire's weaknesses, namely sunlight and fire, or an elder vampire's powers, it is said that they have the potential to live eternally. As they age they become more powerful and slowly their skin becomes whiter, smoother, and more reflective, resembling marble as seen with Akasha and Enkil, Maharet, Mekare, and Khayman. Lestat and Jesse Reeves share much of this ancient appearance due to receiving blood from Akasha and Maharet, respectively. During their immortality, vampires will sometimes go into a kind of hibernation, either because they have become mentally unbalanced from knowing what they have become, or because their surroundings have changed too much for them to cope with. This is hinted to usually happen within 100–200 years of being created, and is mentioned as the "dangerous time" by the elders. Many vampires commit suicide if they continually exist in the world, leading to Marius' telling Lestat that he should live out one lifetime pretending to be human and watching the world change. Maharet is the only vampire explicitly said to have never "gone underground"; she has lived, night by night, for over six thousand years, mainly by keeping the records of her mortal daughter's descendants.

• Rapid Healing. Vampires are immune to most attacks other than their known weakness and even then are apparently able to heal quickly, especially if they feed or are covered in vampire blood. All vampires can potentially heal from any non-fatal wound, including decapitation, as proved by Mael in Blood and Gold, but time and blood are needed. A bullet wound, for instance, would heal within seconds, but serious burns from a fire would require decades, if not centuries, to heal. However, the greater the damage done to them, the stronger they will be when they are fully healed. An influx of blood from a vampire, especially a powerful vampire, can greatly speed up the healing process.

Characters

Armand

Main article: Armand

Bianca Solderini

Bianca Solderini appears in The Vampire Armand and Blood and Gold.

Bianca is born in Florence, Italy in the late 1470s. She has sharp grey eyes and wavy golden hair, which she often interweaves with pearls. She is often described as a woman painted by Botticelli.

She lives a happy mortal life with her brothers until they die and she is forced to depend financially on her evil kinsmen who are bankers. They provide amply for her as long as she kills those who they instruct her to kill. She does this by opening her house to virtually all as an amicable and graceful hostess and secretly placing poison in the wine cups of those whom her kinsmen want dead.

She is a renowned Venetian courtesan when Marius comes to know her. Marius immediately falls in love with her and becomes obsessed with her, contemplating making her a vampire. A few years after the two meet each other, Armand arrives on the scene and also falls in love with Bianca. The three form an amiable sort of love triangle before The Children of Darkness, led by Santino, destroy Marius's palazzo, burn Marius and take away Armand.

After the burning, Marius, severely weakened, mentally calls Bianca to him. Marius makes Bianca a vampire so that she can bring him victims so that he can heal.

The two stay together for nearly two hundred years, caring for Those Who Must Be Kept, before Bianca leaves Marius in Dresden. She leaves because when talking to Pandora, Marius says that he would leave Bianca if it means having Pandora with him once more. Marius also does not tell Bianca that rumours of Pandora in Dresden are the only reason they moved there. It is not known where she went after leaving Marius or even whether she exists. The most recent sighting of her is by Armand in Paris in the early 19th century.

Anne Rice mentioned on her Facebook account on August 28, 2011 that Bianca is "still around".^[2]

Claudia

Main article: Claudia

Daniel Molloy

Main article: Daniel Molloy

David Talbot

David Talbot was Superior General of the secret organization the Talamasca, which researches and investigates the supernatural.

David is introduced in The Queen of the Damned. He is an elderly man who meets both Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac at the end of the novel. Lestat taunts David, offering to turn him with his powerful vampire blood, which David soundly refuses. In The Tale of the Body Thief, it seems he and Lestat have become friends. After Lestat tries to end his immortal life by flying into the sun in the Gobi Desert, he visits David. He also seeks advice from David when Raglan James offers to switch bodies with him, though he doesn't listen to what David has to say. David helps Lestat regain his body. In the struggle with Raglan James, David switches into a much younger body, described as that of an Anglo-Indian with dark brown hair, while Lestat returns to his preternatural body. Lestat kills David's old body, which is possessed by James. In the end of the book, Lestat forces the blood upon David, making him his fledgling.

David becomes somewhat of a confidant to Armand, and eventually records the story of his life in The Vampire Armand. He is also described as having sexual preferences for young women and men, preferring men in The Tale of the Body Thief. David also appears in Merrick, where he contacts the title character, who also happens to be part of the Mayfairs. In this book Merrick raises the spirit of Claudia for Louis. At the end it is revealed that Merrick has been using voodoo to bring both David and Louis to her so she can attain eternal life. This plan works, as Louis gives her the blood and makes her immortal. After he makes Merrick his fledgling, he tries to commit suicide by placing his coffin in the open where he would be burned to death when the sun rose. He nearly succeeds, but he is too old for the sun to end his life. David, Merrick, and Lestat find him and give him their blood to heal his burned form. Their combined blood makes Louis stronger than he had been before. The four then form a coven in New Orleans, but the Talamasca, enraged that two of their members had taken the blood, threaten the vampires and demand that Merrick be returned to them. Lestat wants to retaliate against the Talamasca, but David talks him out of doing anything rash, and the four leave their home in the Rue Royal.

Eric

Eric is mentioned only in The Queen of the Damned and The Tale of the Body Thief. Eric was made a vampire by Maharet around 1000 BC at the mortal age of twenty-nine. His origin and past-life is unknown. He survives Akasha's worldwide slaughter due to his immortal age of three thousand years and is one of immortals who had gathered at Sonoma to stand against Akasha. His first and only appearance is in Queen of the Damned where he came to Maharet, Jesse and Mael with his Italian companion, Santino, who argued with Maharet with telepathy. As they leave, Santino was furious and Eric confused because he did not understand their argument because, being Maharet's fledgling, he couldn't read Maharet's mind. It was also stated that there were times that he comes to visit Maharet, Mael and Jesse while bringing with him films from other countries and sometimes, joining the three in their singing. Being a vampire of 3000 years of age, he is very powerful, his skin is hard and as white as marble and therefore, couldn't easily burn under the sun. He is also described to have a youthful appearance and soft brown eyes. His brief conversations makes him out to have a deceptively fragile personality. His cowardice in particular made him stand out.

Gabrielle de Lioncourt

Gabrielle de Lioncourt makes her debut in The Vampire Lestat. She is Lestat's mother and first fledgling. Gabrielle also becomes the first to leave him. She has yellow-blond hair like her son's and cobalt blue eyes with "too small, too kittenish" features, as Lestat described them, that "made her look like a girl."

Gabrielle came from a prosperous Italian family. She was educated and had traveled to and lived in many cities in Europe. Then she was married at a young age to Lestat's father, the Marquis d'Auvergne. Gabrielle gave birth to seven children, but only 3 survived. Out of these sons, the youngest (Lestat), was to become her favourite. She and Lestat shared a special bond: they both were trapped in a place they hated and struggling endlessly to escape.

Gabrielle was cold and uncaring to everyone. She was the only person who was educated in her family and read her books every day, yet lacked the patience to teach her sons to read or write anything. Over the years she sold two of her heirloom jewels from an Italian grandmother to aid Lestat, the only person she loved and cared for. She lived life through him; he was the male part of her. She suffered a rapidly declining health due to bad winters and multiple childbirths. It eventually developed into tuberculosis.

She funded Lestat's trip to Paris with his friend Nicolas de Lenfent by giving him one of her rings to sell and advising him to hitch a ride on the postal carriage. Lestat became an actor there and was far happier than he ever was back home. He was grateful and loved his mother for all that she had done for him over the years so he sent letters to her telling her about his life in Paris. She encouraged his acting career, which gave him lot of strength. She carefully hid her rapidly declining health to keep him strong.

Lestat was made into a vampire by Magnus, and inherited near-inexhaustible wealth when Magnus killed himself in a bonfire. He repaid those who helped him with gold and indulged in his new-found wealth. To hide the truth from Gabrielle, Lestat told her tales of going to the Bahamas, marrying a rich woman and coming into vast wealth. Intrigued, she went to Paris to see her son before she died. Lestat went to see his mother the second night she was in Paris and tried to hide the truth from her, but she found out upon closer inspection of Lestat's changed appearance that he had become a vampire. When Gabrielle began dying right in front of him, a desperate Lestat made her a vampire.

Lestat was now the maker, parent, and teacher, while Gabrielle became the fledgling, the child and the student. Lestat took her to his tower where they lived happily for months. Things changed, however, when Lestat destroyed the Satanic cult headed by Armand, founded a theatre and made Nicolas into a vampire. After this, Lestat and Gabrielle went traveling around the world. Gabrielle became increasingly distant and cold to her son. They finally parted in Egypt just after the French Revolution. Gabrielle went into the deep jungles of Africa and Lestat went underground to sleep for two years.

Gabrielle was off exploring the world on her own for the next 200 years. She did not reappear until 1985 (during The Queen of The Damned.) She was there to help her son fight against Akasha and help save the world. During this time, she developed a slight bond with Marius, but nothing became of it and she drifted away from everyone again. Gabrielle resurfaced for the last time after Memnoch the Devil, in The Vampire Armand while Lestat was in his catatonic sleep.

In the 2006 musical, Lestat, Gabrielle was portrayed by Carolee Carmello who was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for her role. The show itself only lasted 39 performances.

Jessica Miriam Reeves

Main article: Jessica Miriam Reeves

Khayman

Main article: Khayman

Lestat de Lioncourt

Main article: Lestat de Lioncourt

Louis de Pointe du Lac

Main article: Louis de Pointe du Lac

Mael

Mael is mentioned briefly in The Vampire Lestat. Along with Marius de Romanus and Pandora, he is one of the legendary ancient vampires. When Marius tells the young Lestat the story of his life, he says that Mael was the druid priest who abducted him to become the new "God of the Grove." Marius escaped.

Mael later returns in The Queen of the Damned. He is a companion to Maharet and also seeks to protect her mortal descendant Jesse. Mael is present when Maharet tells Jesse her story, when they later try to reason with Akasha, and when Mekare kills her.

The third appearance by Mael is at the end of Memnoch the Devil. Lestat went to Heaven and Hell with the Devil, Memnoch, and he brought back Veronica's Veil, causing chaos among mortals and bringing out many of the ancients. Mael tells David and Lestat that he is going to burn himself in the sun for God. Mael is an ancient and thereby too strong for the sunlight to kill him ordinarily, but he believes that the presence of the Veil negates his supernatural powers (but not his vulnerabilities). The final implication is that Mael dies as the novel ends, but it's revealed by Marius in Blood and Gold that Mael's suicide attempt is unsuccessful, "He was badly burnt and brought low, as can happen with us who are very old, and after one day in the sun, he hadn't the courage for more suffering. Back to his companions he went and there he remains."

He appears in Blood and Gold when Marius tells Thorne about his life, in which Mael is included.

Marius has just left Pandora when he meets Mael and his maker Avicus in Rome, the city he moved to. When Marius had escaped and the old god had been killed (because they had Marius), Mael is chosen to become the new "God of the Grove". The druids find out about Avicus in England and they travel there. When they get there Avicus uses "the Mind Gift" on Mael and learns about Marius' escape. To give Mael "the Dark Gift" Avicus wants a victim and freedom, but it all ends up with that Mael is turned into a vampire and they escape together. Mael and Avicus become companions and eventually meet Marius in Rome, where they reveal all this.

There is a lot of anger between Mael and Marius while Avicus tries to keep them from fighting. They come to a peace where they all live in the city. Mael and Avicus keeps the city clean from The Children of Darkness, but one night Mael is injured and Marius agrees to help. Marius must give Mael blood so he can heal and then Mael sees visions of Those Who Must Be Kept. Gradually they get to know more and more, and Avicus seems to have been made by Akasha before becoming "A God of the Grove". Mael is furious that Marius kept such an important secret to himself, about that Marius destroyed his belief and about the connection between Avicus and Marius. Marius eventually takes them to Those Who Must Be Kept and Mael tries to drink from Akasha. Enkil does not like it and Marius saves Mael in the last minute from being killed by Enkil. Later when Rome is falling Marius goes to sleep and they try to wake him but do not succeed. A hundred years later they decide to leave for Constantinople and finally successfully awaken Marius. In Constantinople, they separate, and then Mael becomes Maharet's companion.

Magnus

Magnus was the vampire who sired the vampire Lestat in The Vampire Lestat.

Magnus is characterized by black hair and eyes of the same color. As a mortal, he was an alchemist. He was an old man when he trapped a vampire in chains and stole the Dark Gift/Blood for himself. That happened in the course of the Middle Ages. According to the "Old Queen" (Alessandra) of Armand's coven in Paris, Magnus was 300 years old when he made Lestat. He had never made any other vampire other than Lestat, which contributed to Lestat's considerable power when he was turned.

Over time, he was driven mad from his vampiric nature and immortality. He sought an heir to inherit the immense wealth that he had accumulated over the years before killing himself. Magnus searched for years for his heir. In his dungeon, he had hundreds of decomposing bodies stored in a room. These discarded bodies were the remnants of Magnus' search for a suitable heir. Every one of these "candidates" had blond hair and blue eyes, just as Lestat does. After choosing Lestat as his heir, Magnus leapt into a pyre he had made for himself (giving Lestat explicit instructions to scatter his ashes after he had burned up), and leaving Lestat to struggle and learn for himself of his new vampiric nature and its powers. Lestat would later lament that he learned "absolutely nothing" from the one who made him.

Maharet and Mekare

Main article: Maharet and Mekare

Merrick Mayfair

Main article: Merrick Mayfair

Mona Mayfair

Main article: Mona Mayfair

Marius de Romanus

Main article: Marius de Romanus

Nicolas de Lenfent

Main article: Nicolas de Lenfent

Pandora

Main article: Pandora

Santino

Santino is the leader of a coven of Satanic vampires, the members of which hold a common belief that they are meant to be the scourge of humankind. He approaches Marius de Romanus in Rome, some 500 years before Marius meets Lestat, and confronts him about the "father and mother", whom Marius has been thinking of. This startles Marius greatly, as he is much older than Santino, so reading his mind should be impossible, He decides to scare the young Santino, by setting his cloak on fire and telling him to leave.

Marius does not hear of Santino again until sometime later, when Mael tells Marius of his meeting with Santino. Santino and his satanic coven ultimately attack Marius' Venetian home, his followers burning his house and killing some of the boys he harbors. Marius is badly burned from this incident and his fledgling Armand is taken, along with a number of Marius's boys. The coven burns the boys alive in a giant fire. Santino rescues Armand, claiming to his followers that the young fledgling has a heart for God.

Armand does not come over to the darker life of the coven so easily though. With the help of his follower Alessandra they keep Armand locked up in their crypt, starving him for days before allowing him to feed. Eventually Armand gives in and is accepted as Santino's apprentice. After some time Armand is chosen to become the leader of the Paris coven, whose former leader went into the fire. Alessandra picks the name Armand for him as a new name and goes with him to Paris.

Santino is not heard of again until in the novel The Queen of the Damned where he comes with Eric to Maharet's place, meeting Jesse who is still human at that time and where he accompanies Pandora to rescue Marius from the icy wall Akasha has entrapped Marius in, possibly hoping to redeem himself in his eyes for the wrongs he had done to the elder. After the events of Queen of the Damned, he stays for a time on Armand's Night Island, occasionally playing chess with Armand. He is also mentioned in The Vampire Armand, when Armand, after going into the sun sees both his old master and his old coven master destroying evidence the humans had of vampires existing.

Marius never takes his revenge against Santino for destroying his life in Venice and taking his Armand from him (at first because he doesn't have the opportunity and later because the new vampire queen forbids vampires from killing each other, as their numbers are low). Marius harbors a deep hatred for Santino, and centuries later tells his story to a vampire companion named Thorne. When Marius and Thorne met Santino, Thorne slays Santino with the Fire Gift so that Marius' heart will be at rest. This results in Thorne's confinement.

Tarquin Blackwood

Main article: Tarquin Blackwood

Thorne

Thorne is a vampire who appears in the novel Blood and Gold, which details the life of the vampire Marius de Romanus. Thorne is a Viking warrior originally called Thornevald that is sent to slay a vampire-witch that has been killing villagers and stealing their eyes. Thorne finds the vampire and learns that she has no eyes of her own, and must take eyes from her victims to see. After a time, the mortal eyes wear out in her immortal body and she must take another pair from one of her victims. This vampire is Maharet, one of the most ancient vampires and the story of how she lost her eyes is recounted in The Queen of the Damned.

Maharet does not slay Thorne but turns him into a vampire and keeps him as her companion. Soon the pair are joined by other vampires, including the druid vampire Mael, who shares an uneasy friendship with Marius. Jealous of Maharet's attentions to the other vampires, Thorne eventually leaves her. He lies asleep for centuries in the ice of the far north, his jealousy gradually growing into a mad obsession. He is awakened by the events of the novel The Queen of the Damned. Marius makes contact with him using the Mind Gift, a form of telepathy. Thorne journeys south and finds Marius in a large city near the Arctic Circle. Marius enjoys it here as the noonday darkness allows him to live more like a normal person. Marius takes him to his home and discovers that Thorne still harbors a jealous rage for Maharet. Knowing that Maharet could easily destroy Thorne in a battle, Marius tries to dissuade him from his suicidal obsession and begins to recount his life story to Thorne. Marius' story accounts for the bulk of the novel. Thorne politely listens to Marius' account of his life and what he has learned as a vampire. Thorne is particularly interested in the story of the brutal attack on Marius by the vampire Santino and his Satanic cult of followers, who burn Marius in his house and kidnap his apprentice Armand.

At the end of the tale Thorne questions Marius why he has not taken revenge on Santino and offers to help kill him. Marius explains that Maharet now rules the vampires as regent for her mute sister, Mekare, and Maharet forbids it. Marius pleads with Thorne to forget the past and talk of revenge, but Thorne still insists on Marius taking him to see Maharet. Marius reluctantly agrees and the pair are mysteriously whisked away. They awaken in a jungle location, where Maharet lives in seclusion with her sister, the new Queen of the Damned. Several other vampires are present, including Pandora, Marius' long lost love; Armand; and Santino. After a brief, bitter discussion, Marius admits that he still wishes to kill Santino. However, he will not because Maharet forbids it, and Marius believes that for Maharet's rule over the vampires to be valid, all vampires must obey her. Thorne abruptly kills Santino himself and then attacks Maharet in a jealous rage. Mekare comes to her sister's aid and easily pulls Thorne away. Thorne, knowing he is undone, whispers a request to the mute Queen as they struggle and she complies. Mekare removes Thorne's eyes from their sockets and hands them to Maharet. Maharet accepts the gift and binds Thorne with ropes made of her hair, the only material strong enough to hold a vampire. Thorne ends the novel as Maharet's eternal prisoner, but he is happy knowing that the object of his obsession will always be near him, and that her new eyes will last her forever.

Those Who Must Be Kept

Main article: Those Who Must Be Kept

Notes

1. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3562792/Anne-Rice-interview-with-the-vampire-writer.html
2. ^ http://www.facebook.com/notifications#!/annericefanpage