“I’m not following. When Akasha was put into the sun, vampires all over the world died in flames.”

“They were all connected,” said Fareed. “Don’t lose sight of the goal. It is to disconnect.”

“Lestat,” said David, “what they are saying is—you were almost all disconnecting after Akasha died. If Amel hadn’t been rescued by Mekare, you would have all been disconnected. But Amel was rescued and found a new host before the web disintegrated. For the web to disintegrate, it must take some time.”

“Same with the second time,” said Fareed. “If you had not taken Amel into yourself, Lestat—if Mekare had been allowed to perish with Amel inside of her—all the vampires of the world would be free.”

“You’re talking in circles,” I said. “How could she have perished without us perishing?”

“I think I know,” said Louis. “If her heart had been stopped for a long time before her perishing, the disconnect would have been complete, and then however she perished, no one would have felt her death but her.”

I was stunned, but even I, with my foolish lack of scientific understanding, could see the logic. Well, almost.

“We might lose Amel,” I said. “That’s what you’re saying. Stop my heart which is death but not destruction. And when it’s started up again, they’ll all be disconnected, everybody will be disconnected, but what if when my heart stops, he disconnects from me?”

“But I don’t think he can,” said Fareed shaking his head. “Not as long as your body is intact, and waiting there safely to be resuscitated. No.”

He’s right.

“This is all too theoretical,” said Flannery Gilman. “All that might happen is Lestat is in suspended animation for an hour, and all the rest of the vampires of the world die.”

“It’s possible,” said David.

“Not likely,” said Fareed. “What’s likely is that some will take longer to disconnect than others, but the web of connections will perish because no blood is being pumped through the body of the host. And when Lestat is revived Amel will be there as before. But the web will be gone.”

Another huge free-for-all argument ensued. I was dejected beyond words. I held up my hands for silence.

“Amel, are you willing for us to do this?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Then I say we do it,” said Fareed. “Otherwise we are back to the near-impossible task of severing each vampire individually.”