Slowly, Gretchen raised her right hand and laid her fingers instinctively and protectively against her chest, at the base of her throat. Her pulse quickened. I saw her fingers close as if over a locket, and then I saw the light glinting on the thin little thread of gold chain.

“What is that around your neck?”

“Who are you?” she asked again, her whisper scraping bottom, her lips trembling as she spoke. The dim light from the office behind me caught in her eyes. She stared at my face, my hands.

“It’s me, Gretchen. I won’t hurt you. It’s the farthest thing from my mind to hurt you. I’ve come because I promised I would come.”

“I … I don’t believe you.” She backed away on the wooden floor, her rubber heels making the softest sound.

“Gretchen, don’t be frightened of me. I wanted you to know that what I told you was true.” I spoke so softly. Could she hear me?

I could see her struggling to clear her vision as only seconds ago I had struggled to clear my own. Her heart beat fiercely inside her, breasts moving beautifully beneath the stiff white cotton, the rich blood rising suddenly in her face.

“I’m here, Gretchen. I’ve come to thank you. Here, let me give you this for your mission.”

Stupidly, I reached into my pockets; I withdrew the lucre of the Body Thief in thick handfuls and held it out, my fingers trembling as her fingers trembled, the money looking soiled and foolish, like so much rubbish.

“Take it, Gretchen. Here. It will help the children.” I turned and saw the candle again—that same candle! Why the candle? I laid the money down beside it, hearing the boards creak under my weight as I stepped to the little table.

As I turned to look back at her, she came towards me, fearfully, eyes wide.

“Who are you?” she whispered for the third time. How large her eyes, how dark the pupils, as they danced over me, like fingers drawn to something that would burn them. “I’m asking you again to tell me the truth!”

“Lestat, whom you nursed in your own house, Gretchen. Gretchen, I’ve recovered my true form. I came because I promised you I would come.”

I could scarcely bear it, my old anger kindling as the fear intensified in her, as her shoulders stiffened and her arms came tightly together, and the hand clenching the chain at her neck began to shake.

“I don’t believe you,” she said, in the same strangled whisper, her entire body recoiling though she did not even take a step.

“No, Gretchen. Don’t look at me in fear or as if you despise me. What have I done to you that you should look at me that way? You know my voice. You know what you did for me. I came to thank you—”

“Liar!”

“No, that’s not true. I came because … because I wanted to see you again.”