"What do you think?" I said. "I did nothing, of course."
He laughed softly under his breath. He shook his head. "Lestat, you know," he said, "that Rhoshamandes is a danger to you."
"So everyone says," I replied, "but I've lived with danger for so long. I don't want to talk about him now. I don't want to waste a moment here even thinking about him."
A silence fell between us, and then I said,
"You know the kind of power you have." I spoke hesitantly. "You know what you and the other Replimoids could do to this world." I gestured to the street, to the buildings, to the people, with my right hand. "You know what you could do for the earthbound dead and the spirits--."
"We are the People of the Purpose!" he said. "You must remember this always. And the purpose is never to harm life in any way. Now there is not a creature on this planet who ever really lives such a purpose, no, we know that. But we will try! We will try as surely as any colony of people dedicated to the support of life has ever tried."
It must have been a full hour that we talked.
He told me about the books he'd been reading, and asked me questions about things he said he didn't understand. But how do you explain to a person why Late Antiquity embraced wholeheartedly the Christian rejection of the biological and material world? How do you explain such personalities as Saint Augustine or Pelagius? Or Giordano Bruno? How do you account for the fact that the ancient Romans could stamp coins but never invented a printing press? Why did it take so long to invent the stirrup or the barrel? Or the bicycle? How to explain why French and English are so different when the languages evolved so close to each other? We confessed we were both at a loss to account for the dark cynicism of so many humans living in a modern world so full of wondrous progress.
"They can't know history as we know it," I said.
We talked of the Bravennans and whether or not they still actively monitored this world, whether or not their film feeds were still flowing. We talked of the mystery of other aliens coming to the planet.
He and the People of the Purpose had the very same speculations as human beings, that alien visitors might actually be walking among us, far more skillfully disguised than we could imagine.
He spoke of his own great and small discoveries, a new luracastria derivative, a synthetic hormone that he thought could lead to increasing the human life span in some individuals for ten years beyond the allotment of their genetic clock.
"Don't fear me," he said finally. "Never fear me. What I will do, I will do with respect for what all these beings achieved on their own. After all, they built this paradise without an Amel, didn't they? Human beings built it, this world of Western Europe and America and England and all the countries of the West."
"You haven't been to the East yet," I said. "You haven't seen China or Japan or the Levant. There is so much to learn there as well."
Finally the Replimoid women were there at the curb again with the door of the car open.
He jumped to his feet and came around the table and took me in his arms. "Ah, that this too, too solid flesh must never melt!" he said.
I took his face in my hands and kissed him.
"Amel," I whispered in his ear. "My love."
He turned away abruptly, as if it were the only way that he could make the break, and he headed towards the waiting car. At the curb, he stopped. We looked at one another, oblivious to the traffic, the noise, the crowds.
He came back to me and we embraced completely. We were wrapped in each other's arms. And the scent of his blood overwhelmed me.
I bit down into my tongue and let my mouth fill with blood. Then I kissed him full on his mouth and opened his lips and let the blood pass into him. I felt him stiffen, shiver, and I heard an ecstatic moan come from deep inside his chest.
"Drink," he whispered.
And I did. Holding him tight to me, I drove my teeth into his throat. All the mortal world would see was a man kissing another man, but I tapped into the blood, the rich and flavorful Replimoid blood, and the world dissolved.
The images came in a rush like the song of a full symphony orchestra, images of him in myriad moments of his new existence too numerous for me to absorb, riotous images filled with his laughter and the mingling of voices, music, the roar of engines, explosions, wind and rain, and I saw towers, towers of exquisite beauty and structures of unimaginable complexity and great dense urban landscapes of fantastical scope, and it was not Atalantaya I was seeing, it was cities of this world, now, our time, cities that existed and cities yet unknown but envisioned, and--it was innocent blood.
Innocent blood filling me, innocent blood pumped by his heart into my heart.
It was innocent blood with all its sweetness and freshness and illimitable power.
It was innocent blood and he was not dying as I took it.
Innocent blood.
The others had surrounded us. They were trying to come between us. I thought I'd die in agony when I drew back, but I didn't. I held him by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. The noise of the cafe and the boulevard assaulted me and I hated it, but I held him fast.
The women tugged at him, trying to pull him back. They'd assumed I was hurting him, but I hadn't hurt him. Undiminished, he stared at me through a veil of shimmering tears.
"Au revoir, Lestat," he said with another one of his brilliant irresistible smiles, and he was off, hurrying out of the cafe with the women, and waving as he climbed into the car. The car moved at a reckless speed, weaving dangerously through the traffic, and finally disappeared.
His blood was still ripping through me.
I was tempted to go up high in the air and follow the car, track it to wherever it might lead, and find out just exactly where they were hiding in plain sight.
Maybe another time I would do that. Maybe another time. Because I knew I would see him soon again and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
I stood still feeling the heat of his blood begin to fade inside me.
Louis came up finally, and took my arm and we began to walk together.
"You heard it all?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "If you'd wanted me gone beyond hearing, of course, I would have gone."
"Not at all," I said. "You're the only one who really knows the full extent of it, of how much I love him."
"Yes," he said. "I know."
We headed for a dark deserted alleyway, far from human eyes. And then we headed for home.
It was midnight when I entered the ballroom to address the Court.
When I explained that he had survived, and that he was incarnated and alive, and that he was well, and he was splendid and was the self he'd been long centuries before he'd ever come down to Akasha, they all cheered.
Cheered and cheered. Some of them shed tears.
You would have thought they really loved him. But they did not fool me. They never knew him as I knew him. They never loved him at all. They feared him far too much to love him, and they would in time come to fear him again. They'd fear the very idea of him, and the idea of the Replimoids and what they might do.
They'd come to fear the Replimoids just as others in this world feared us.
And so we go on without him.
We go on without the mystery of Amel. Already it sinks into the past and becomes legend--the story of the Divine accident and the King and Queen who ruled in silence for thousands of years, and the story of those who took the Core into themselves and ultimately set the Core free. And as the legend grows, some will quickly forget, and others in ages to come will never even believe.
He walks the earth with the power to destroy it. But then so does the human race. And so do we.
But what endures is what has always mattered: love--that we love one another as surely as we are alive. And if there is any hope for us to ever really be good--that hope will be realized through love.
If they want to believe they loved him, so be it. Maybe they do love him now. Maybe they will love him in retrospe
ct. Maybe they will love him in the story of Atalantaya and how he died and how he survived and how he goes on now.
I love him without question, and he loves me. He knows how to love, as well as anyone I'd ever known, and Atalantaya with her shimmering towers was the greatest evidence of his fathomless love.
To love any one person or thing truly is the beginning of the wisdom to love all things. This has to be so. It has to be. I believe it and I don't really believe anything else.
1:50 p.m.
July 1, 2016
La Quinta, California
Appendix 1
Characters and Places in the Vampire Chronicles
Akasha--Queen of ancient Egypt six thousand years ago, and the first vampire ever created, through a merger with the spirit Amel. The story is told in The Vampire Lestat and in The Queen of the Damned.
Allesandra--A Merovingian princess, daughter of King Dagobert I, brought into the Blood in the seventh century by Rhoshamandes. First introduced in The Vampire Lestat as a mad nameless vampire living with the Children of Satan under Les Innocents Cemetery in Paris. She also appears in The Vampire Armand in the Renaissance where she is named, and later in Prince Lestat and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis.
Amel--A spirit who created the first vampire six thousand years ago by merging with the body of the Egyptian Queen Akasha. The story is told in The Vampire Lestat and in The Queen of the Damned. Prince Lestat and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis continue the story of Amel.
Antoine--A French musician exiled from Paris to Louisiana and brought into the Blood by Lestat around the middle of the nineteenth century. Referred to as "the musician" in Interview with the Vampire. Later appears in Prince Lestat and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis. A talented violinist and pianist and composer.
Arion--A black vampire of ancient times introduced in Blackwood Farm. At least two thousand years old, perhaps older. Possibly from India.
Arjun--A prince of the Chola dynasty in India, brought into the Blood by Pandora around 1300. Appears in Blood and Gold and also in Pandora.
Armand--One of the pillars of the Vampire Chronicles. Armand is a Russian from Kiev, sold into slavery as a boy, and made a vampire in Renaissance Venice by the Vampire Marius. He is introduced in Interview with the Vampire, and appears in numerous novels in the Vampire Chronicles, telling his own story in The Vampire Armand. The founder of the coven at Trinity Gate in New York. Armand maintains a house in Paris in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, which functions as the Paris Court for Prince Lestat.
Avicus--An Egyptian vampire who first appears in Marius's memoir, Blood and Gold. Appears again in Prince Lestat.
Benedict--A Christian monk of the seventh century in France, brought into the Blood by Rhoshamandes. Benedict is the vampire from whom the alchemist Magnus stole the Blood, a theft described in The Vampire Lestat. Appears in Prince Lestat and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis as Rhoshamandes's companion and lover.
Benji Mahmoud--A twelve-year-old Palestinian Bedouin boy, brought into the Blood by Marius in 1997. Benji originates the vampire radio station heard round the world in Prince Lestat. Resides at Trinity Gate in New York and sometimes at the Court of Prince Lestat in France. First appears in The Vampire Armand when he is living in New York with his companion, Sybelle.
Bianca Solderini--Venetian courtesan brought into the Blood by Marius in Blood and Gold around 1498.
Chateau de Lioncourt--Lestat's ancestral castle in the Massif Central in France, splendidly restored and the home of the new dazzling and glamorous Court of the Vampires with its orchestra, theater, and frequent formal balls. The adjacent village, including an inn and a church and several shops, has also been restored to house mortal workers and visitors to the Chateau.
Children of Satan--A network of medieval vampire covens, populated by vampires who sincerely believed they were children of the Devil, doomed to roam the world in rags, accursed, feeding on the blood of innocent humans to do the Devil's will. Their most famous covens were in Rome and in Paris. The coven kidnapped many of the fledglings of Rhoshamandes until he finally left France to get away from them. And the Children of Satan in Rome spelled catastrophe for Marius and his great Venetian household in the Renaissance. Armand told of his experiences with the Children of Satan in The Vampire Armand.
Chrysanthe--A merchant's widow from the Christian city of Hira, brought into the Blood by Nebamun, newly risen and named Gregory in the fourth century. Wife of Gregory. Introduced, along with Gregory, in Prince Lestat.
Cimetiere des Innocents--An ancient cemetery in the city of Paris until it was destroyed near the end of the eighteenth century. Underneath this cemetery lived the Coven of the Children of Satan, presided over by Armand, which is described by Lestat in The Vampire Lestat. Referred to in the novels as "Les Innocents."
Claudia--An orphan of five or six years old, brought into the Blood around 1794 by Lestat and Louis in New Orleans. Long dead. Her story is told in Interview with the Vampire. Later appears as a spirit in Merrick, though the appearance is suspect.
Cyril--An ancient Egyptian vampire, maker of Eudoxia in Blood and Gold, and named for the first time in Prince Lestat. Age unknown.
Daniel Molloy--The nameless "boy" interviewer in Interview with the Vampire. Brought into the Blood by Armand in The Queen of the Damned. Also appears in Blood and Gold living with Marius. Also in Prince Lestat.
David Talbot--Introduced as an elderly member of the Talamasca, an order of psychic detectives, in The Queen of the Damned. Becomes an important character in The Tale of the Body Thief, and also solicits Pandora's story from her in Pandora. A pillar of the Vampire Chronicles.
Davis--A black dancer from Harlem, a member of the Fang Gang, brought into the Blood by Killer sometime in 1985. Introduced in The Queen of the Damned. Further described in Prince Lestat.
Eleni--A survivor of the Children of Satan who helps found the Theatre des Vampires in Paris in the eighteenth century; corresponds with the Vampire Lestat after he leaves Paris to travel the world. A fledgling of Rhoshamandes made a vampire in the early Middle Ages.
Enkil--Ancient King of Egypt, husband of the great Queen Akasha, the second vampire to be brought into existence. His story is told in The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned.
Everard de Landen--A fledgling of Rhoshamandes from the early Middle Ages who first appears in Blood and Gold and is named in Prince Lestat.
Fareed--Anglo Indian by birth, a physician and researcher, brought into the Blood by Seth to be a healer and researcher of the vampires. A major character introduced in Prince Lestat.
Flannery Gilman--An American female medical doctor, biological mother of Viktor, and brought into the blood by Fareed and Seth. Part of their medical and research team working with the Undead.
Flavius--A Greek vampire, a slave purchased by Pandora in the city of Antioch and brought into the Blood by Pandora in the early centuries of the Common Era.
Gabrielle--Lestat's mother, a noblewoman of breeding and education, brought into the Blood by her own son in 1780 in Paris. A wanderer who dresses in male attire. A familiar figure in the background throughout the Vampire Chronicles.
Gregory Duff Collingsworth--Known as Nebamun in ancient times, a lover of Queen Akasha and made a blood drinker by her to lead her Queens Blood troops against the First Brood. Known today as Gregory, owner of a powerful pharmaceutical empire in the modern world. Husband of Chrysanthe.
Gremt Stryker Knollys--A powerful and mysterious spirit who has created for himself over time a physical body that is a replica of a human body. Connected with the founding of the secret Order of the Talamasca. Introduced in Prince Lestat.
Hesketh--A Germanic cunning woman, brought into the Blood by Teskhamen in the first century. Now a ghost who has managed to produce a physical body for herself. Also connected with the origins of the secret Order of the Talamasca. Introduced in Prince Lestat.
Jesse Reeves--An American woman of the twentieth century,
a blood descendant of the ancient Maharet and brought into the Blood by Maharet herself in 1985 in The Queen of the Damned. Jesse was also a mortal member of the Talamasca and worked with David Talbot in the Order.
Khayman--An ancient Egyptian vampire, made by Queen Akasha, and rebelling against her with the First Brood. His story is told in The Queen of the Damned.
Killer--An American male vampire, founder of the Fang Gang in The Queen of the Damned. Of unknown history or origin.
Lestat de Lioncourt--The hero of the Vampire Chronicles, made a vampire by Magnus near the end of the eighteenth century, the maker of a number of vampires, including Gabrielle, his mother; Nicolas de Lenfent, his friend and lover; Louis, the narrator of Interview with the Vampire; and Claudia, the child vampire. Presently known as Prince Lestat by one and all.
Louis de Pointe du Lac--The vampire who started the Vampire Chronicles by telling his story to Daniel Molloy in Interview with the Vampire, an account of his own origins, which differs in some ways from Lestat's own account in The Vampire Lestat. A French colonial plantation owner made a vampire by Lestat in 1791. Appears most prominently in the first Chronicle, and in Merrick, and in Prince Lestat and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis.
Magnus--An elderly medieval alchemist who stole the Blood from a young vampire, Benedict, in France. The vampire who kidnapped and brought Lestat into the Blood in 1780. Now a ghost, sometimes appearing solid, and at other times as an illusion.
Maharet--One of the oldest vampires in the world, twin to Mekare. The twins are known for their red hair and their power as mortal witches. Made at the dawn of Vampire History, they are rebels leading the First Brood against Queen Akasha and her Queens Blood vampires. Maharet is beloved for her wisdom and for following all of her mortal descendants through the ages all over the world, whom she called the Great Family. Maharet tells her story--the story of the twins--in Queen of the Damned. She also figures in Blood and Gold and in Prince Lestat.
Marius--A pillar of the Vampire Chronicles. A Roman patrician who is kidnapped by the Druids and brought into the Blood by Teskhamen in the first century. Marius appears in The Vampire Lestat and numerous other books, including his own memoir, Blood and Gold. A vampire known for reason and gravitas. Much loved and admired by Lestat and others.