“I’ll teach you how to rise out of the body. I’ll teach you how to make a concerted assault upon James. And remember, there are two of us, Lestat. You and I together will make the assault. And I do have considerable psychic power, to use the simplest descriptive words for it. There are many things which I can do.”

“David, I shall be your slave for eternity in exchange for this. Anything you wish I will get for you. I shall go to the ends of the earth for you. If only this can be done.”

He hesitated as if he wanted to make some small jesting comment, but then thought the better of it. And went right on.

“We will begin with our lessons as soon as we can. But the more I consider it, I think it’s best I jolt him out of the body. I can do it before he even realizes that you are there. Yes, that must be our game plan. He won’t suspect me when he sees me. I can veil my thoughts from him easily enough. And that’s another thing you must learn, to veil your thoughts.”

“But what if he recognizes you. David, he knows who you are. He remembers you. He spoke of you. What’s to stop him from burning you alive the minute he sees you?”

“The place where the meeting occurs. He won’t risk a little conflagration too near his person. And we shall be sure to ensnare him where he would not dare to show his powers at all. We may have to lure him into position. This requires thinking. And until we know how to find him, well, that part can wait.”

“We approach him in a crowd.”

“Or very near to sunrise, when he cannot risk a fire near his lair.”

“Exactly.”

“Now, let’s try to make a fair assessment of his powers from the information we have in hand.”

He paused as the waiter swooped down upon the table with one of those beautiful heavy silver-plated coffeepots which hotels of quality always possess. They have a patina like no other silver, and always several tiny little dents. I watched the black brew coming out of the little spout.

Indeed, I realized I was watching quite a few little things as we sat there, anxious and miserable though I was. Merely being with David gave me hope.

David took a hasty sip of the fresh cup as the waiter went away, and then reached into the pocket of his coat. He placed in my hand a little bundle of thin sheets of paper. “These are newspaper stories of the murders. Read them carefully. Tell me anything that comes to your mind.”

The first story, “Vampire Murder in Midtown,” enraged me beyond words. I noted the wanton destruction which David had described. Had to be clumsiness, to smash the furniture so stupidly. And the theft—how silly in the extreme. As for my poor agent, his neck had been broken as he’d been drained of his blood. More clumsiness.