The Thing Lay Still is the seventh and final episode of the first season of Interview with the Vampire and the seventh episode of the series overall. It began streaming through AMC+ on November 6, 2022, and aired on AMC on November 13, 2022.
Synopsis[]
The vampire family plans to leave New Orleans after throwing a lavish Mardi Gras ball.
Plot[]
Daniel begins session 7 with Louis by asking if an immortal can meet mortality. Louis replies that they can through several methods, namely starvation, drinking the blood of the dead, fire, and lastly, decapitation. However, Louis admitted that knowing how to kill Lestat and actually being capable of such were two different things.
Lestat killing man with cancer
With Lestat insisting they be together at all times, Louis and Claudia were forced to plot telepathically, though she was reluctant to share the details of her plan in full with Louis. While feeding from their latest victim, a man approached their door, leaving a letter by the doorstep only to be confronted directly by the trio and brought inside, where Lestat killed the man, who claimed he came seeking their help. In feeding upon him, Lestat learned what Claudia discovered from reading his letter, that the man was dying from cancer and was in search of an immortal cure. This was their second visitor of the night. Between that and the dolls, bibles, torches, and pitchforks constantly being left outside their home, Lestat declared it was time for them to leave New Orleans.
While riding a train through town to stalk their meals for the night, Louis and Claudia telepathically discussed her plan, but she could not tell Louis much of what she'd devised, fearful that Lestat would come to learn of their plotting. All she asked of Louis was that he keep Lestat distracted in the meantime.
Lestat had his sights set on Buenos Aires. Until then, Claudia continued to plot, joining Lestat at the piano as they played a French tune while proposing they mock the city like they mock their victims with one final hurrah. On their final night in town, Claudia sought to throw a party, a final feast, which Lestat initially opposed. However, as time passed, he began to consider it more and more. Claudia proposed they throw a lavish, decedent ball, inviting the best that the city of New Orleans had to offer and seduce a choice few for a feast to remember.
Louis telepathically warned Claudia that Lestat was becoming suspicious of her with each passing moment, but that was precisely what she wanted. She sought to kill him at the party and wanted to throw a Mardi Gras ball. If they starved themselves for a few nights prior, their feast would be transcendent, Lestat admitted.
Louis, Lestat, and Claudia asking Tom for help
Louis, Lestat, and Claudia visited Tom, who they hadn't spoken to in 17 years but wanted to acquire his services to throw a Mardi Gras ball. Not only was it far too early for Mardi Gras, Tom couldn't help but notice that Louis and Lestat hadn't aged a day, grabbing a photograph of the three of them from 1910. Lestat sought to be King of Mardi Gras, aware that Tom was on the Committee of Raj. Hoping to persuade an otherwise reluctant Tom, Lestat and Louis offered to replace one of his ships that took a torpedo in the rear. Tom agreed, but he also asked where did they meet the Devil and what were the terms of the agreement, in reference to their youthful appearance.
The Committee Raj were three years into planning their Mardi Gras theme, and they abandoned it within a week after Lestat wired their bribes. Word quickly began to spread that the "weird brothers and their sister were coming out." With their final night approaching as well as the ball, Lestat prepared for their departure.
Daniel deduces that Louis seduced the seducer. Usually enthralled with Louis' stories, Daniel couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Rashid, who he had dreamed was at the bar when he met Louis, yet he couldn't have been a vampire as Rashid stood on the patio in the sun and bore no noticeable vampire traits.
At the ball, Louis and Claudia would follow Lestat's lead. They'd pluck a few select individuals from the party and asked them if they wanted to be young forever. If they agreed, the trio would pin them with a boutonnière.
Claudia acquiring laudanum and arsenic
With the night upon them, Claudia stopped by a local shop, where she acquired laudanum and arsenic before arriving at the ball, where she and Louis searched the room for victims. While Louis recruited Chief Bardeen, Claudia introduced Lestat to the Macphail brothers, Matthew and Mark, who smelled of Rosemary, Lestat noted.
A cascade of feelings came over Louis. He both wanted Louis dead and to himself. The fasting was a mistake, and he wasn't thinking clearly. Louis even began to hear voices before being approached by Tom, who Louis gave a boutonnière after he made a crude remark about his relationship with Lestat and Claudia.
Louis and Lestat's final dance
Louis joined Lestat on the balcony, where his maker confessed that he was going to miss New Orleans. It would seem that hunger had gotten to him as well, referring to himself as desperately fragile. Louis then revealed that all the boutonnières had been given out. A last dance before the feast, Lestat proposed, as he and Louis headed into the ballroom and danced before sharing a kiss in front of their entire party. Claudia parted the lovers, taking Louis as a dance partner and revealing to him that her plan was already in motion, as she had given the laudanum and arsenic to one of the twins, who Lestat would then feed on, weakening him and allowing them to take advantage of him in his weakened state.
Claudia killing Chief Bardeen
Louis, Lestat, and Claudia lured their select few back to the Rue Royale, where Lestat concocted a story about a 14th century traveler who discovered the elixir of life. Among them was Tom, Chief Bardeen, and the Macphail brothers. Eager to gain true immortality, Tom removed the lid from the punch bowl, only to discover its emptiness. Though it would not remain so for long, as Lestat made Tom his first victim, leaping across the table and ripping into his throat. As Claudia killed Cheif Bardeen and Louis ripped off a man's jaw, the others fled, searching for an exit, but the doors were locked and windows barricaded. They followed their remaining victims into the living room and kill them as well, at which point, only the brothers remained. By the time Lestat joined Claudia and Louis, only one of the brothers was still alive, though he was unconscious. Unbeknownst to Louis and Claudia, Lestat was not working alone. He used his powers to unlock the door for Antoinette, who had been following them and knew all about their plan. Even more startling, Lestat turned her into a vampire.
Lestat weak from laudanum and arsenic
Lestat restrained Louis as Antoinette overpowered Claudia and made her drink the laudanum and arsenic from the Macphail brother. However, it was Lestat who suddenly became ill and dropped to his knees. With Antoinette distracted, Claudia stabbed her in the chest with a poker. She then revealed that she knew all along that Antoinette was watching her, and that's why she poisoned Tom instead of one of the twins. As Lestat pleaded for his help, Louis grabbed his cane, gently embracing Lestat from behind, and sliced his throat. As he lied there on the floor, with the irises in his eyes dancing from side to side as he looked up at the ceiling, Claudia approached. She took a pen, dabbed the tip in his blood, and proceeded to write in a journal Lestat's final words: "Mets-moi dans mon cercueil, Louis, Louis," which translated to "Put me in my coffin, Louis, Louis."
Immediately following Lestat's death, Louis and Claudia began to burn the bodies, starting with Antoinette, who screamed out in agony. By the end, all that remained was Lestat's lifeless corpse. They admittedly needed to burn him, but neither seemed to possess the will to do so. So instead, they wrapped him in a carpet, threw him in a trunk, and left him out with the garbage before getting in their car and driving away, heading for a boat with sails set for Europe.
Daniel is skeptical of Louis' story, questioning the legitimacy of his retelling. He claimed that he and Claudia had the "adventure of our lives" but given that some of the pages had been removed, Daniel got the impression that for a time, Claudia hated Louis and questions why that was. Louis claimed to be haunted by the murder of Lestat, but as Daniel and Louis both know, he didn't kill Lestat, in fact, Louis spared him. Louis knew that the trash would be taken to the city dump, filled with plenty of rats for Lestat to feed on and regain his strength. Rashid intervenes and ends the session. With Daniel now turning his attention to Louis' servant, he asks Rashid how many days are in the Islamic year and how many names there are for Allah. 355, and 99, Rashid answers. Daniel then asks how a 200 pound bouncer passes out after Louis fed from him but Rashid, just barely over 100 pounds, seemed rather unaffected by Louis feeding from him. Louis doesn't answer the question, bringing the conversation back to Lestat, who Louis confesses he didn't have the will to burn, though Daniel argues Claudia could, despite Louis initially claiming that she was reluctant to do so. In that, Louis recalls what actually happened after Lestat died. Claudia pushed him to burn Lestat in the incinerator, but he refused, slamming her against the wall and then crying over Lestat's body.
Rashid is the vampire Armand and Louis's lover
Rashid comes to Louis' defense, informing Daniel that he's only heard half of the story. When Daniel continues to confront Louis regarding his story, Rashid removed his gloves, takes out his contacts, and begins to float in front of Daniel, revealing that he's a vampire and that he's the only reason Daniel survived his first encounter in San Francisco with Louis. Rashid claims that he protects Louis from himself. Daniel recalls seeing Rashid come into direct contact with the sun, to which Rashid replies that as they age, the sun loses its power. "What's a mediocre star to a 514-year-old vampire?," he asks sarcastically. Louis then officially introduces Daniel to the vampire Armand, the love of Louis life.
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