Die Young, Live Forever

[I saw Lestat this week on Broaday in previews.  I always wanted to be a vampire, and still aspire to it often.  If you are in New York, check it out.  Believe it or not, it is a musical.  You may not be humming the tunes, but you will enjoy.] 

The story opens in 1984 with Lestat de Lioncourt, feeble and near death, awakened from years of coma-like slumber. As he acclimates himself to modern times, he reads the novel dictated by Louis. Partly because he was infuriated by his depiction in Louis's book, Lestat decided to make his own tale clear.

As a young man of 20 years, he was a rebellious and frustrated youth, the youngest son of the Marquis d'Aurvergne, and the sole provider of meat for his family's table.

When despair from the knowledge of the triviality of his life nearly takes away his sanity, Lestat's mother, Gabrielle, urges him and his friend and lover, Nicolas, to go to Paris in search of a new life. Lestat and Nicolas (Nicki) soon find work in a playhouse where the former becomes an actor and the latter, a violinist.

Within a few months, Magnus, an elder vampire who seeks an heir, decides Lestat is perfectly elegible in becoming of his kin and brethren, inheriting his wealth.

Lestat is kidnapped by Magnus and forcibly made a vampire in Magnus's tower. Magnus leaves Lestat an orphan fledgling and heir to a fortune, as the old vampire destroys himself by going into a huge bonfire on the night of Lestat's making. For the next several months, Lestat diguises his vampiric nature under the pretense of a wealthy gentleman in the courts and palaces of Paris, while discovering the basics of vampirism on his own.

When Gabrielle (dying from tuberculosis), arrives at Paris to discover what has befallen him, Lestat grants her the "Dark Gift" to save her life. This and several other blasphemies lead him to a confrontation with Armand, and the coven vampires of Paris.

Lestat scorns the absurdness of the coven's religious-driven ideas and rituals and shocks them with the sensibility of his new ideas. These actions leave the Parisian coven in disarray and Armand, disillusioned. Soon after, Armand sought to destroy his coven. The four vampires (Eleni, Laurent, Felix, Eugenie) who escaped and survived his killing spree went to Lestat for guidance on how they could live in the open and disguise themselves as mortals, something which they had never done before in their vampiric lives. Lestat suggested that they disguised themselves as mummers and gave them a Theatre which he owned, which became the Theatre des Vampires.

Armand came to Lestat, lost without the frenzied beliefs of his coven, begging to join him and Gabrielle along their travels. Lestat refused. After learning the story of Armand's beginnings, Lestat leaves Paris in search of Marius, Armand's Maker. Meanwhile, Armand took part in the Theatre des Vampires, which now only consisted of Nicolas (he was Made by Lestat into a vampire just after the Parisian coven dissolved).

When despair once again threatens Lestat's existence, he goes "down into the earth".

Marius rescues Lestat and brings him to his home on an island in the Aegean Sea. This is where Marius tells Lestat the story of his life and in doing so gives a brief and vague explanation on the origins of the vampires. He then offers Lestat an opportunity to drink from Akasha, the Mother of all vampires, which Lestat did. Lestat also managed to wake Akasha (by playing the violin) and drank from her while she drank from him. Enkil, Akasha's King when they were mortals, was greatly angered and moved in an attempt kill Lestat. Marius rescues Lestat from Enkil and was forced to send Lestat away to quell Enkil's rage.

From Greece, Lestat travels to New Orleans, and after the events in Interview with the Vampire, he "goes into the earth" again in 1929. In 1984, Lestat emerges to become a rock star with a mortal band that consisted of Alex, Larry and Tough Cookie. With the eyes of the world on him, Lestat seeks to start a war between humanity and vampires.

Just before the night of the concert, Lestat reunites with Louis who fills him in on the Vampire Connection.

The book ends on a cliffhanger after Lestat's debut concert in San Francisco, and leads directly into the third volume, The Queen of the Damned. Link

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[Tanuki's Twin]

"You could die, but you're never dead. Spider web."

A. Keidis, "Parallel Universe"