The Vampire Armand (1998) is the sixth novel in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series. It follows Armand's apparent death in Memnoch the Devil, and provides his life story from his perspective, also briefly touching on his involvement in stories told in previous books. Catching up to the modern day, Armand also explains how he survived his attempted suicide after seeing the Veil of Veronica, and his relationship with the human children to helped save him.
Plot Summary[]
With Lestat still in slumber after his adventures in Memnoch the Devil, the vampire coven is united around the "brat prince" in New Orleans, and the vampire David Talbot takes the opportunity to request that Armand tell David his life story. Armand, who first appeared in Interview with the Vampire, agrees to tell his tale.
Born in Kiev Rus in the late 15th century and given the name Andrei by his parents, he becomes an icon painter in a monastery. He is taken out of this life of prayer and devotion by his father, but is then kidnapped by slave traders, who take him to Constantinople and then to Venice, where he is destined to work in a brothel. Soon after his arrival in Venice he resolves to allow himself to die of starvation rather than work in the brothel. He is purchased by the vampire Marius de Romanus (whose life story is told in Blood and Gold), who gives him a new name, Amadeo.
In Venice, Marius lives the extravagant life of a respected Renaissance painter, and mentors many boys who serve as his apprentices. Amadeo struggles to access memories of his life prior to Venice, and becomes close to the other apprentices, including the eldest Riccardo as he embraces their lifestyle. Amadeo sleeps in Marius's bed, and their sexual relationship begins on Amadeo's first night in the palazzo. Over time, Amadeo becomes increasingly frustrated by his mysterious reactions to religious symbols, only having flashes of memories from his time as a painter of icons, and by Marius's secrets. At one point when Amadeo is overcome with illness, Marius gives Amadeo his blood to heal, and Amadeo becomes addicted to the effects of vampiric blood. During this period, Amadeo also befriends Bianca Solderini, a wealthy courtesan.
After about two years of living in Venice, when he is about seventeen, Amadeo demands to be told the truth about Marius's secret nature, and Marius insists that Amadeo experience mortal life first. Marius sends Amadeo to brothels to have sexual encounters with men and women, but is jealous once he returns. Amadeo has a brief affair with an Englishman called Lord Harlech, who becomes obsessed with Amadeo, but his love is not returned. Amadeo ultimately rapes the willing Bianca, and commiserates with her about his relationship with Marius. Marius ignores Amadeo when he returns home, leading Amadeo to break down the door of Marius's bedroom with a decorative battle axe, and Marius to punish Amadeo for it, resulting in a BDSM sexual encounter.
Marius divulges his vampire nature to Amadeo, who almost immediately begins asking to be made a vampire. Marius attempts to show Amadeo the truth of what it means to kill people as a vampire, and murders Bianca's relatives, who have been forcing her to poison their enemies on their behalf. Amadeo is not dissuaded, and Marius asks him to attempt to embrace human life and his relationships with the other apprentices while he waits to be given the Dark Gift.
On a night when Marius is out of the country, Lord Harlech breaks into Marius's palazzo and attacks Amadeo, murdering two apprentices in the process. Amadeo kills Harlech, but not before the Englishman wounds him with a poisoned sword. Amadeo falls critically ill, and over several days falls into fever and delusions. Upon returning and finding Amadeo on his deathbed, Marius heals Amadeo's external wounds, cleans and grooms him, then gives him the Dark Gift, turning him into a vampire.
Marius sets out to train Amadeo, and sets up a coffin in a secret basement with his own. Amadeo quickly takes to vampirism, developing a strong ability with the Mind Gift. Amadeo, having recovered some of his memories during his transformation, Marius and Amadeo return to Kiev, where Amadeo visits his home and the monastery. He finds his mother and father there, reveals that he is alive, and says farewell to them, leaving them with all the money and jewels he has with him. Amadeo thanks his father for freeing him from the monastery and for believing he had a future elsewhere.
After they return to Venice, the vampire Santino and his coven (the "Children of Darkness") attack Marius' home, kidnap Amadeo and the apprentices, and burn the palazzo. Marius is burned and thought to be destroyed; his boys are taken to a bonfire that the coven has created and thrown in one by one as Amadeo watches. Santino spares Amadeo and educates him in the laws of the Coven. Amadeo later goes to Paris, changes his name to Armand, and becomes the leader of his own coven under the Cimetière des Innocents, which Lestat would years later drastically impact thus resulting in the creation of the Théâtre des Vampires.
Armand also shares with David his version of some of the events recounted by Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire, the end of the Théâtre des Vampires, and the time that Armand and Louis shared together. The book also includes Armand's feelings about several of the major vampire characters from the previous books. It is also revealed that Armand thinks he saw Bianca in Paris in the 18th century, and has wondered ever since if Marius made her a vampire.
In the final segment of the book, Armand explains what occurred to him after the final chapters of Memnoch the Devil. At the end of Memnoch the Devil, Armand stood in the sun at daybreak, intending to be killed to prove the miracle of the Veil. Armand explains to David that by some means beyond his understanding he survived, somehow killed a man who was terrorizing a young woman, and ended up on a rooftop in a stairwell protected from further exposure to the sun. He is badly burned and unable to move or fully function. While in this delirious state, he hears Sybelle's piano playing coming from a nearby apartment and is discovered by twelve year old Benji, Sybelle's friend and protector. Sybelle and Benji rescue Armand from the rooftop, and bring him into their apartment, which Armand recognizes as the place where he killed the man, though he is uncertain how that occured.
They are curious when Armand divulges his true nature to them, and are grateful to him for having killed Sybelle's brother. Armand cannot hunt, so the two agree to trick a drug dealer up to the apartment so that Armand may feed on him. The plan works, and Armand recovers enough to hunt on his own until he is fully healed. He becomes friends with and develops a deep love for Sybelle and Benji, lavishing them with riches and intending to facilitate their most ideal lives in whichever way he can.
Armand arrives in New Orleans to attempt see what Lestat saw on his journey with Memnoch, and leaves Benji and Sybelle in Marius's care. After being allowed to bite Lestat and to see his encounter with Jesus, Armand returns to Marius's house to discover that Marius has given Benji and Sybelle the Dark Gift. Armand is furious at Marius because he wanted Sybelle and Benji to have full, mortal lives, and Marius explains to Armand that he transformed them knowing Armand never would, but that Armand would not be willing to live after their deaths. Armand and Marius argue about their relationship, and Marius confesses that he no longer believes in the optimistic future he told Akasha humanity was headed for, and that Armand's love for Benji and Sybelle is less selfish than his own for Armand's was. Armand explains to Marius that his encounter with the veil and what he saw in Lestat's memories have given him a new belief in Christ as a manifestation of love for humanity, separate from superstition.
Armand, Benji, and Sybelle talk, and Sybelle begins to play the piano once more. Lestat, awoken from his comatose state by the music, arrives and asks her to play it again.