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Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY ANNE RICE
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. A Brief History of the Vampires
  8. Blood Argot
  9. Proem
  10. Part I
  11. 1
  12. 2
  13. 3
  14. 4
  15. 5
  16. 6
  17. 7
  18. 8
  19. 9
  20. 10
  21. 11
  22. 12
  23. 13
  24. 14
  25. 15
  26. 16
  27. 17
  28. 18
  29. Part II
  30. 19
  31. 20
  32. 21
  33. 22
  34. 23
  35. 24
  36. Part III
  37. 25
  38. 26
  39. 27
  40. 28
  41. 29
  42. 30
  43. 31
  44. 32
  45. 33
  46. Appendix 1
  47. Appendix 2
  48. What’s next onyour reading list?

“I don’t know,” I said. I sat back and looked around the café. The lights were too bright here and people were staring at the strange men with the luminescent skin. The violet sunglasses always distracted people, and helped to cover a face that was too white and eyes that were too bright. But it was never enough. And Louis had no such glasses. Time to move on.

“You’ll enjoy the Court,” I said. “There are beautiful things to hear and see.”

5

Fareed

THEY WERE SEATED together in the “blue” salon of Armand’s house in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in the suite that Armand had given to Fareed for his private use. Fareed was at his desk, and Gregory sat opposite at a round table on which he had spread out a game of solitaire with gilt-edged playing cards.

Fareed was staring at the material on his computer screen.

“I understand what you’re saying,” he said to Gregory. “You don’t hands-on manage Collingsworth Pharmaceuticals. But there’s a reason I’m asking about this particular project.”

“I’m happy to tell you anything I know,” said Gregory. “It’s just that I’m not likely to know the slightest thing.” He sat back in the gilded armchair and looked at the unyielding cards. “There must be a more amusing game than this,” he said under his breath.

“It’s the doctor involved—a woman.”

“I wouldn’t know a thing about her,” said Gregory absently. “Others vetted her, hired her, approved her projects, not me.” He turned up another card and looked at it with disappointment. “Maybe I should start devising our own card games, card games for us.”

“Sounds like a stroke of genius,” said Fareed, his eyes still on the screen. “Solitaire for blood drinkers. Perhaps you could devise a new deck of cards.”

“Now that’s a thought, or possibly an exquisite deck with face cards that have special meaning for us. Would our beloved Prince be the jack of diamonds? If so, who would be the king?”

“It’s too early to be talking treason,” Fareed murmured, eyes on the central monitor before him. There were three monitors, all the same size, and a couple of small monitors, dedicated to specific purposes, off to each side.

It was near 4:30 a.m. and there was little noise coming from the narrow streets that surrounded the immense nineteenth-century townhouse. The restaurants and cafés of the famous district were far away.

“Bear with me,” said Fareed. “This doctor’s reports to her superiors have been brilliant; but she’s not who or what she claims to be. And her projects all have to do with cloning. You know this, of course.”