LESTAT
Come the New Orleans then. There's an opera on tonight. A real french opera! We can dine in splendour!
LOUIS
I respect life, don't you see? For each and every human life I have respect.
LESTAT
Respect me a little then. I'm the only life you know.
Louis stares. Lestat turns childishly, petulantly.
LESTAT
You'll soon run out of chickens, Louis...
He walks out, humming a French aria. Louis stares at his plate.
EXT. SLAVE QUARTERS. NIGHT.
The slaves, gathered on mass around fires. Frenzied drumming, dancing.
Lestat rides through, scattering the flames.
The drumming stops. The slaves look towards the house. Slowly, they
begin to move towards it.
INT. POINTE DU LAC DINING ROOM. NIGHT.
Louis, sitting in despair by the table. Yvette, the slave girl enters.
YVETTE
Michi Louis? You don't want any supper?
Louis laughs harshly.
LOUIS
No, ma cher. I need no supper. Is all well at Pointe Du Lac tonight?
Yvette draws closer. Light reveals her beauty.
YVETTE
We worry about you master. When do you ride about the fields? How long
since you've been to the slave quarters?
Everywhere there is death. Animals, men. Are you our master still at
all?
Louis watches her sadly. He's getting hungry. Her throat is long and slender, her breasts are gorgeous.
LOUIS (dazed)
Leave me alone now, Yvette.
YVETTE
I will not go unless you listen to me. Send away this new friend of
yours. The slaves are frightenend of him. They are frightenend
of you.
She comes closer, and he can hear her beating heart. She touches his hair. He takes her hand and brings it to his lips.
LOUIS
I am frightened of myself, Yvette.
He kisses her wrist. She suddenly gasps, sharply, withdraws her hand.
She sees her wrist is red with blood. She sees the
blood on his lips. She screams.
Louis stands.
LOUIS
Hush, Yvette -
She screams even louder. Louis clamps his hand over her mouth. Her hand
grips the table-cloth, pulls, bringing the
empty glasses and crockery to the floor.
In horror, Louis realises he has broken her neck. He brings her cut
wrist to his lips, then drops it, revolted. He carries
her body outside, grief-stricken.
The drumming grows louder.
EXT. MANSION. NIGHT.
Fires burning in the distance, round the slave-cabins. The slaves are
gathered at the foot of the mansion steps. They
see Louis come out, holding the body of Yvette. He is deranged with
grief.
LOUIS
This place is cursed. Damned, do you hear me? And your master is the devil.
He places the body of Yvette in a rocking chair on the varanda.
LOUIS
Get out while you can. You're free men.
They don't move. They stare at him blankly.
LOUIS
Unlike me, you are no free men...
He turns behind him, and looks at the mansion, all candleabra and chandeliers lighted, all windows open.
LOUIS
Do I have to convince you?
He rushed up the stairs, snatches up the candleabra and sets fire to
the drapes. He goes from window to window,
lighting drapes, lace curtains, everything.
SLAVES POV -- MASTER
Setting fire to the house.
They rush up the stairs with shouts of "STOP HIM, HE'S MAD". A wall
of flame gushes out from the interior, blocking
their way.
INT. BURNING MANSION. NIGHT.
Louis, wandering from room to room of the burning mansion. he sees paintings
of his wife consumed by the flames. He
is weakening with the fumes, the heat. We can see this in his face,
the texture of his skin.
Suddenly a large french window cascades inwards and Lestat stands there,
whip in hand. Behind him we can see the
morning sky.
LESTAT
You fool, what have you done?
LOUIS
What you wouldn't do. It's almost sunrise. It will be the sun or the fire. You said they can kill me. The sun or the fire!
Louis stands there, weakened, then collapses onto the floor. Lestat
darts forward and catches him before he drops. He
runs out the shattered window, carrying him on his shoulder.
EXT. LARGE GRAVEYARD. DAWN.
With many crypts. Louis, unconscious, carried over Lestat's shoulder.
INT. CRYPT.
Darkness. Louis lying on the floor of a large crypt. He slowly comes to.
LOUIS
Where are we?
LESTAT
Where do you think, my idiot friend? We're in a nice filthy cemetery.
Does this make you happy? Is this fitting and proper
enough?
Louis laughs softly.
LOUIS
We belong in hell.
LESTAT
And what if there is no hell, or they don't want us there? Ever think of that?
INT. ROOM. SAN FRANCISCO. NIGHT.
The vampire sits in silence, as if tired by his story. Malloy speaks, hesitantly.
MALLOY
You loved Yvette...
LOUIS
Can a vampire feel love?
MALLOY
You loved your wife, surely.
LOUIS
I was human then. Might as well ask can an angel feel love. Both are
blesses or cursed with a certain... detachment. Though
whether angels take as long to learn it as I, I will never know.
He looks directly at Malloy, shocking him with his gaze.
LOUIS
Yes, I loved Yvette. As I loved Pointe Du Lac. And as with each thing I loved, I destoryed it.
EXT. NEW ORLEANS. EVENING.
From the sea, at evening, shrouded in mist.
LOUIS (VO)
Lestat I did not love. And he survived.
INT. INN. EVENING.
A lavish little supper chamber with coffered bed, fancy French furniture.
Open to rooftops of colonial city. Louis sits
by an open window looking out over the city. Behind, we can hear the
laughter of Lestat and tow female voices. Louis
turns and sees -
Lestat, in the main chamber with two drugged or drunked whores. One
runs her finger down his chest. The other
seems out of it.
WHORE 1
You're skin's icy.
LESTAT
Not always...
He presses his thumb on her neck and holds her tight, sinking his teeth
into her neck. After a time she falls to the bed,
dead. he turns to the other.
LESTAT
Your friend has no head for wine.
WHORE
She's stupid. I can warm that cold skin of yours better than she can.
LESTAT
Do you think so?
He rubs her breast.
WHORE
Why you're warm now.
LESTAT
Ah, but the price is pretty high. Your sweet friend - I exhausted her.
He bites her in turn, drinks her blood. She does into the swoon.
Louis looks on in disgust. He stands.
LOUIS
I'm leaving you. I can't stand this any longer.
Lestat pulls away from the whore.
&nb sp; LESTAT
What, no flowery speeches? About what a monster I am? What a vulgar fiend?
LOUIS
I'm not interested in you. You disgust me. I'm interested in my own
nature and know I can't trust you to tell me the truth about
me.
LESTAT
What do you imagine you are Louis?
LOUIS
I don't pretend to know.
LESTAT
Don't you understand, Louis, that you alone of all creatures can see
death with impunity... you alone under the rising moon can
strike like the hand of God.
The girl moans.
LOUIS
Lestat, she's alive!!!!
LESTAT
Vampires are killers. Predators, who's all seeing eyes were meant to give them detachment.
The girl moans again, open her eyes.
LOUIS
The girl, Lestat -
LESTAT
I know. Let her alone.
He slashes her wrist with his teeth, and lets the blood drip into a glass.
LESTAT
You think you can be human. You think you can go back. But you can't.
You live off the blood of rats now Louis. How human
is that?
The girls moans again. Lestat drinks that glass.
LESTAT
Lie still, love...
The girl begins to scream. Lestat picks her up.
LESTAT
You're tired love, you want to sleep.
He walks to his coffin, puts her inside and sits on the lid. We hear muffled screaming and banging from inside.
LOUIS
Why do you do this Lestat?
LESTAT
I like to do it. I enjoy it. Take you aesthete's taste to purer things.
Kill them swiftly if you will, but do it! For now doubt, you are
a killer Louis. Ah!
He stands up. The girl pushes the lid off, hysterical. She looks at Louis.
GIRL
It's a coffin, a coffin! Get me out!
LESTAT
Of course it's a coffin. You're dead, love.
Louis screams at Lestat
LOUIS
Lestat - finish this -
LESTAT
You finish her - if you feel so much -
The girl grabs Louis and pleads.
GIRL
You won't let me die, will you? You'll save me?
LESTAT
But it's too late, love. Look at your wrist, you breast.
He picks her up again. He turns to Louis laughing.
LESTAT
Unless I make her one of us...
LOUIS
NO!!!
LESTAT
THEN YOU KILL HER!!!!!
The girl screams. Louis puts his hands to his ears. Then Lestat, in
a fit of pique puts his teeth to her neck. She dies at
last.
A terrible silence descends. Lestat looks at Louis.
LOUIS
My God... to think you... are all I have to learn from...
LESTAT
In the old world, they called it the dark gift, Louis. And I gave it to you.
Louis leaves without a word.
EXT. DANK NEW ORLEANS BACK STREETS. NIGHT.
A rat scurried down a gutter, then another and another. Louis' hand
graps the rat. We see him from behind, walking
down the street, gripping one, then another.
LOUIS (VO)
Am I damned? Am I from the devil? Is my very nature that of a devil?
And all the while, as these dreaded questions caused me
to neglect my thirst, my thirst grew hotter, my veins were threads
of pain in my flesh, my temples throbbed.
A smaller side street, in which every house is marked with an X. The
street is crawling with rats, and Louis is following
them. A man passes with a lantern.
MAN
Don't go that way Monsieur. It's the plague. Go back the way you came.
Louis smiles bitterly at these words, repeating them to himself.
LOUIS
The way I came...
He walks on, following the rats.
LOUIS (VO)
...and finally, when I could stand it no longer, I stood in an empty desolate street and heard the sound of a child crying.
A house, the door slightly open, marked with an X. The sound of a child crying inside. Louis walks towards it.
INT. HOUSE. NIGHT.
A little girl, pulling at a figure in a rocking chair.
CLAUDIA
Mama, please wake up. Mama, I'm frightened, please wake up.
As Louis enters, he sees the woman is dead. Her eyes are being eaten away by rats.
Louis gasps in horror. Claudia turns. She is a radiant doll or angel as she stretches out her hand to Louis.
CLAUDIA
Monsieur, please help us. Papa's waiting for us at the ship. Please wake mama, Monsieur.
She runs to him. Instinctively, he gathers her in his arms. He looks down pitying on her beautiful face.
LOUIS (VO)
And if I am damned, why do I fell such pity for her gaunt face? Why
do I wish to warm her tiny arms? Comfort her beating
heart?
She snuggles into him, suddenly utterly secure. She tugs at his hair,
brings his head down towards her. And we see
Louis shiver, as his lips go to her neck.
Her breathing becomes calm as she goes into the swoon. Gradually another sound replaces it.
LESTAT'S LAUGHTER, GROWING LOUDER AND LOUDER.
Suddenly Louis backs away, caught redhanded, the child in his arms.
He sees Lestat slapping his knee and laughing in
the doorway.
LESTAT
Ah, my philospher, my martyr. "Never take a human life". Well you must
admit it is funny. Or is it merely touching? I'm not sure.
Louis stares at hte unconscious Claudia in horror, then lets her slip
gently into a chair. Shamefully he wipes his mouth,
sees the tiny wounds on her throat.
Lestat snatches up the dead mother from the chair and begins to dance
with her in great circles, humming and talking.
Her head falls back. Black water flows from her mouth.
LESTAT
Let's make some party of it, shall we? Maybe there's some life in the old lady yet?
Louis flees into the street.
LESTAT
Come back, Louis, you are what you are. The plague would have got her
within hours anyway. Merciful Death how you love
your precious guilt.
EXT. STREETS. NIGHT.
Louis running through an assortment of streets. All the night life of New Orleans flows by him.
LOUIS (VO)
For years I had not savoured a human. And when I had Lestat's words
made sense to me. I knew peace only when I killed and
when I heard her heart in that terrible rhythm I knew again what peace
could be. Yet even then I could not contenance it...
EXT. WATERFRONT. DAWN.
Fingers of light in the sky. Louis, pale and shivering, walks splashing
through the water. He comes to a huge
sewer-pipe, crowded with rats. He crawls inside.
EXT. WATERFRONT. SOME EVENINGS LATER.
The same sewer-pipe. Now the bodies of dead rats lie all around. A pire
of fine leather boots splash through the water -
LESTAT'S.
INT. SEWER-PIPE. EVENING.
Louis huddled there, so pale and shivering he seems close to death. Lestat comes through.
LESTAT
All I need to find you Louis is follow the corpses of rats.
He bends down to him, suprisingly gently and puts his own coat around him.
&nb sp; LESTAT
Pain is terrible for you. You feel it like no other creature because you are a vampire. You don't want it to go on.
LOUIS
No...
They emerge from the sewer and walk along the waterfront.
LESTAT
Do what it is in your nature to do. And you will feel as you felt with that child in your arms.
LOUIS
Oh God Lestat. I felt peace. I felt an end to the craving.
LESTAT
That and more.
He puts his arm around Louis, to stop his shivering.
LESTAT
Evil is a point of view. God kills, indiscriminately, and so shall we.
For no creatures under God are as we are, none so like him
as ourselves.
LOUIS
Is God merciless? Greedy and cruel?
LESTAT
Ah, but we have even more in common with our creator. come, I am like a mother tonight. I want a child.
Louis is baffled. He follows.
INT. INN. SUPPER ROOM.
Lestat enters.
LESTAT
She's here, your wounded one.
LOUIS
What are you saying?
LESTAT
You need company, Louis. More congenial than mine...
Lestat holds up a candle and walks towards a large four-poster bed.
Claudia lies there, angelic, under the coverlet,
two marks on her neck.
LOUIS
Lestat!
LESTAT
You remember how you wanted her, the taste of her -
LOUIS
I didn't want to kill her.
LESTAT
Don't worry, Louis, you're conscience is clear. You left her alive.
Lestat shakes her gently.
LESTAT
Claudia, Claudia, listen to me. You're ill, my precious and I'm going to give you what you need to get well.
LOUIS
Lestat, what do you mean?
Louis runs at him, but Lestat brushes him aside efforlessly, so he falls
to the floor. Lestat bites his wrist and presses the
bledding wound to the child's mouth... He winces in pain.
LESTAT
That's it dear. More. You must drink it to get well.
Claudia sucks on the wound, reviving, making little noises like a person waking from sleep.
Louis rises to his feet as Claudia clutches Lestat's arm, sucking the blood fiercely. Lestat moans.
LESTAT
Stop, that's enough. No more.
He pulls her losse and she growls and stares at him with big clear astonished eyes.
CLAUDIA
I want more.
LOUIS
What have you done?
Lestat puts her down on the bed and sits beside her, holding his wrist, obviously in pain.
CLAUDIA
More.
LESTAT
Yes, cherie, of course you want more. And I'll show you how to get it.
You drink from morals, my beauty, but from me? Never
again.
Still suffering, Lestat pulls the bell-rope.
CLOSE ON CLAUDIA
Being transformed. Becoming white yet robust, bright-eyed yet crazed.
She shakes her beautiful curls and the dust falls
from them. They are shining in the candlelight.
Louis cannot stop looking at her. He does not notices as --
The MAID enters.
MAID
Ah, quelle Belle enfant!
The maid comes near the bed, kneels in front of Claudia. Lestat lays
his hand on the maid's throat and Claudia
watches keenly.
LESTAT
Gently, cherie. They are so innocent. They must not be made to suffer.
Claudia lunges for the throbbing vein in the neck, locking on to the flowing blood.
The Maid is transfixed.
Close on Louis, his anguish, his fascinated horror.
LOUIS
You are the devil! You are the instrument of Satan!
LESTAT
That's enough, cherie. Stop before the heart stops.
He lets the dead maid onto the floor. Claudia looks at the corpse.
CLAUDIA
I want some more.
LESTAT
It's bet in the beginning, lest the death takes you down with it. yes, that's it. My child. My beloved child.
Lestat and Claudia sit on the Louis XVI settee. Claudia is a vision, a doll made out of pearl. Animated, voice crisp.
CLAUDIA
Where is Mamma?
The words echo in Louis' head, as he puts his hands to his ears.
LESTAT
Mamma's gone to Heaven, cherie, like that sweet lady over there. They
all go to Heaven. And you did very well, cherie. Not a
drop spilt. Very good! You're going to be our child now.
Lestat takes out his comb and begins to comb her hair.