How It All Goes Down
- Louis eventually returns to America with Armand, and they live in New York.
- There, Armand tells Louis that Lestat did not die in the fire at the Théâtre des Vampires.
- Louis returns to New Orleans and finds Lestat, who is now "bent and rattled and whining like a crone" (4.27).
- Lestat has a new vampire boy toy, but he's willing to ditch him when Louis shows up at the door.
- He tries to tell Louis that he didn't mean for the vampire to kill Claudia. He's excited that Louis has returned to him.
- "I only wanted to see you" (4.41), Louis tells him. He tries to leave, but Lestat continues whining.
- It's a total role reversal, as now Lestat wants Louis to teach him things. "Help me to understand! How can you understand it all, how can you endure?" (4.56).
- Louis has no answers for Lestat, and he leaves.
- Later, Louis tells Armand that he went to see Lestat. Armand wonders if Lestat told him anything about Paris—like the fact that Armand was the one who killed Claudia. Le gasp!
- Armand hopes that this will arouse some of the old passion and anger that Louis used to have, the emotions that Armand fell in love with. But now Armand believes that Louis is dead inside, and he leaves him for good.
- "And that's the end of it. There's nothing else" (4.100).
- Well, that's the end of the vampire's story. The boy is upset that it ended on such a depressing note. "Make me a vampire now!" the boy demands (4.111). Uhh.
- Louis is furious that after listening to his story, the boy would want to become a vampire and to suffer everything he's been through.
- Louis feeds on the boy but does not turn him. He leaves him on the floor and doesn't care if he dies.
- The boy doesn't die. When he wakes up, he winds through the tape, listening to the recording and finding—yep—Lestat's address. The boy packs up his stuff and hops in his car, driving off to find Lestat.
- Fin.