Editing Interview with the Vampire (section)

== Plot summary ==
A vampire named [[Louis de Pointe du Lac]] tells his 200-year-long life story to a reporter referred to simply as "[[Daniel Molloy|the boy]]".

In 1791, Louis is a young [[indigo plantation]] owner living in [[Spanish Louisiana|Louisiana]]. Distraught by the death of his younger brother Paul, he seeks death in any way possible. Louis is approached by a vampire named [[Lestat de Lioncourt]], who desires Louis's company. Lestat turns Louis into a vampire, and the two become immortal companions.

Louis initially perceives Lestat as an extraordinary being, but he undergoes a rapid disillusionment after joining Lestat as a vampire, as he realizes Lestat has no special moral insights and is in fact not much older than Louis himself. Lestat's elderly father moves to the plantation, and Louis learns a few details about Lestat's boyhood, including that he was denied an education and that his father once considered him the gentlest of his brothers.

Lestat spends time feeding off [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]], thieves, and other plantation families, while Louis, who finds it morally repugnant to murder humans to survive, feeds from animals. The enslaved people of the plantation become suspicious of the vampires, and Louis and Lestat realize they may face an uprising and cannot remain. Lestat's father attempts to apologize for the abuse he inflicted on Lestat as a child, but Lestat remains bitter and aloof and asks Louis to kill his father for him as they prepare to depart.

Louis sets his own plantation aflame; he and Lestat kill the slaves to keep word from spreading about vampires living in Louisiana. Gradually, Louis bends under Lestat's influence and begins feeding from humans. He slowly comes to terms with his vampire nature, but also becomes increasingly repulsed by what he perceives as Lestat's total lack of compassion for the humans he preys upon.

Escaping to [[New Orleans]], Louis feeds off a [[bubonic plague|plague]]-ridden, five-year-old girl, whom he finds next to the corpse of her mother. Louis begins to think of leaving Lestat and going his own way. Fearing this, Lestat then turns the girl into a vampire "daughter" for them, to give Louis a reason to stay. She is then given the name [[Claudia (The Vampire Chronicles)|Claudia]].

Louis is initially horrified that Lestat has turned a child into a vampire, but soon begins to care for Claudia. Claudia takes to killing easily, but she begins to realize over time that she can never grow up; her mind matures into that of an intelligent, assertive woman, but her body remains that of a young girl.

Claudia blames Lestat for her state and, after 60 years of living with him, hatches a plot to kill Lestat by poisoning him and cutting his throat. Claudia and Louis then dump his body into a nearby swamp. As Louis and Claudia prepare to flee to Europe, Lestat appears, having recovered from Claudia's attack, and confronts them. Louis sets fire to their home and barely escapes with Claudia, leaving a furious Lestat to be consumed by the flames.

Arriving in Europe, Louis and Claudia seek out more of their kind. They travel throughout Eastern Europe first and do encounter vampires, but these vampires appear to be nothing more than mindless, animated corpses. Louis begins to regret the murder of Lestat, fearing that they may have killed the one vampire who could provide answers regarding their nature. It is only when they reach Paris that they encounter vampires like themselves, meeting the 400-year-old vampire [[Armand (The Vampire Chronicles)|Armand]] and his [[coven]] at the Théâtre des Vampires.

Inhabiting an ancient theater, Armand and his vampire coven disguise themselves as humans and feed on terrified humans in mock plays before a live audience (who think the killings are merely a very realistic performance). Claudia is repulsed by these vampires and what she considers to be their cheap theatrics, but Louis and Armand are drawn to each other.

Fearing that Louis will leave her for Armand, Claudia convinces Louis to turn a Parisian doll maker, Madeleine, into a vampire to serve as a replacement companion for her. Louis, Madeleine, and Claudia live together for a brief time, but all three are abducted one night by Armand's coven.

It is revealed that Lestat survived the fire in New Orleans, scarred and weakened. He demands that Claudia face punishment, even death, for her murder attempt but screams at the coven that they promised not to harm Louis. The coven does not respect his ranting and proceeds with its punishments. Louis is forcibly locked in a coffin to starve, while Claudia and Madeleine are entrapped in an open courtyard.

Armand arrives and releases Louis, but Madeleine and Claudia are burned to death by the rising sun; a devastated Louis finds their ashen remains. Louis sees Lestat crying over the remnants of Claudia's yellow dress, but loses track of him as he plots his revenge against the theatre coven.

Louis returns to the Theatre late the following night, burning it to the ground and killing all the vampires inside, leaving with Armand. Together, the two travel across Europe for several years, but Louis never fully recovers from Claudia's death, and the emotional connection between him and Armand becomes strained. It remains ambiguous even to Louis whether the murder of Claudia was primarily orchestrated by Armand in his desire to gain Louis's companionship, by the coven in their perception of Claudia breaking ancient vampire law, or by Lestat's arrival and desire for vengeance.

Tired of the Old World, Louis returns to New Orleans in the early 20th century. Living as a loner, he feeds off any humans who cross his path, but lives in the shadows, never creating another companion for himself.

Louis tells the boy of one last encounter with Lestat in New Orleans, where Lestat has hidden himself in a rotting mansion and lost touch with the passing of time. Armand hopes that seeing Lestat might arouse feelings of passion, sorrow, or anger in Louis and expresses despair that Louis remains cold, unreachable, and unable to share eternity with him. The two end their companionship, concluding they have nothing more to offer one another. Louis ends his tale, revealing that after 200 years, he is weary of immortality and of all the pain and suffering to which he has had to bear witness and create.

The boy, however, seeing only the great powers granted to a vampire, begs to be made into a vampire himself. Angry that his interviewer learned nothing from his story, Louis refuses, attacking the boy and vanishing without a trace. The boy then leaves to track down Lestat in the hopes that he can give him immortality.