Blackwood Farm - Anne Rice [260]
“She clawed at me as I pulled her hair with both hands; she clawed at my head and dragged me off herself, so that I had hair in my fingers, and then she slammed me down on the floor and she kicked me across the room and against the wall. Then she sat down at the desk and with her face in her hands she sobbed. She sobbed and sobbed.
“I climbed to my feet and slowly made my way towards her. I felt that tingling in all my limbs that meant the bruises she’d inflicted were healing. I saw bits and pieces of the diamond chains from her hair on the floor, and I gathered them all up, and I came to the desk where she cried and I laid them down where she might see them.
“She had her face buried in her hands, and her hands were stained with blood.
“ ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
“She took her handkerchief out and wiped her face and her hands. Then she looked up at me, prettily.
“ ‘Why should you be sorry?’ she asked. ‘It’s only natural for you to hate a creature like me. Why shouldn’t you?’
“ ‘How so?’ I asked. I expected her at any moment to fly at me again.
“ ‘Who should be made into creatures like us?’ she asked. ‘The wounded, the slave, the destitute, the dying. But you were a prince, a mortal prince. And I didn’t think twice about it.’
“ ‘That’s true,’ I said.
“ ‘And so you . . . you fool the fools?’ she asked gesturing with her right hand in a roving motion. ‘You live with your mortals lovingly around you?’
“ ‘Yes, for now,’ I said.
“ ‘Don’t be tempted to bring them over,’ she said.
“ ‘I’m not tempted,’ I said. ‘I’d rather go straight to Hell than do it that way.’
“She looked at the diamonds. I didn’t know what to do about them. I looked around. I had gotten them all. She picked up the strands and put them in one of her pockets. Her hair was mussed. I took out my comb. I gestured, Would she let me comb it? She said Yes, and so I did it. Her hair was thick and silky.
“Finally she stood up to go. She took me in her arms and she kissed me.
“ ‘Don’t run afoul of the Vampire Lestat,’ she said. ‘He won’t think twice about burning you to a cinder. And then I’d have to fight him and I’m not strong enough.’
“ ‘That’s really true?’
“ ‘I told you in Napoli to read the books,’ she said. ‘He’s drunk the blood of the Mother. He lay in the sands of the Gobi Desert for three days. Nothing can kill him. It wouldn’t even be fun to fight him. But just stay out of New Orleans and you don’t need to worry about him. There’s something ignoble about one as powerful as Lestat picking on one as young as you. He won’t come here to do it.’
“ ‘Thank you,’ I said.
“She walked towards the door as though she was making a graceful exit. I didn’t know whether or not she knew there was blood on her clothing. I didn’t know whether or not to tell her. Finally I did.
“ ‘On your suit,’ I said, ‘blood.’
“ ‘You just can’t resist white clothes, can you?’ she asked, but she didn’t seem angry. ‘Let me ask you something. And answer me truthfully or not at all. Why did you leave us?’
“I thought for a long moment. Then I said, ‘I wanted to be with my aunt. I had no real choice in the matter. And there were others. You know this already.’
“ ‘But weren’t we interesting to you?’ she asked. ‘After all, you might have asked me to bring you home now and then. Surely you know my powers are very great.’
“I shook my head.
“ ‘I don’t blame you for turning your back on me,’ she said, ‘but to turn your back on one as wise as Arion? That seems rash to me.’
“ ‘You’re probably right, but for now I have to be here. Then later perhaps I can bring my suit to Arion.’
“She smiled. She shrugged. ‘Very well. I leave you the Hermitage, my boy,’ she said. And she was gone just as if she had vanished. And so our one brief visit ended.
“And so my story is at an end.”
44
I SAT THERE in silence. We had perhaps two hours before dawn, and I felt that all my life was pressed against my heart, and, though I was a sinner, I had not sinned in holding anything back. It was all laid out before