After leaving Marius’s island, Lestat doesn’t hear from Gabrielle. He lives out a lifetime—70 years—with Louis and Claudia, which is a long time for a group of vampires to stay together. Lestat compares and contrasts Louis and Nicki. He explains that he turned Claudia when “her body wasn’t six years old” (498) for Louis. Lestat also explains that the humans that Louis thought were innocent when Lestat killed them were in fact evildoers. Beyond that, Lestat forgives Louis for his lies in Interview with the Vampire. He contemplates the role of the vampire in 19th-century literature and culture, as well as why Claudia attempted to kill him. Lestat’s motivation to turn Claudia is the same as his motivation to play the violin for Akasha: He “wanted to see what would happen” (501).

While Lestat is healing from Claudia’s attack, he doesn’t call out to Marius, ashamed to have broken the rules. Instead, Lestat goes to Armand in Paris for help. Armand refuses to give Lestat some of his healing blood and is able to imprison Lestat in his weakened state.