NEW ORLEANS - NIGHT
LESTAT roams the dark streets of New Orleans in search for his next victim. He spots a young woman, who is clearly drunk and eyes heavy with sleep, and follows her down a deserted alleyway. As LESTAT licks his lips and gets ready to taste the warm blood in his mouth, an unexpected voice interrupts him from behind.
LOUIS: Stop! Leave her alone!
LESTAT turns to see LOUIS in the far distance, his former companion and vampire.
LESTAT: Louis, what a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting to see you again so soon after our little incident, especially not here of all places.
LOUIS: I’ve been following you, Lestat. Watching you hunt, as you always have, although it isn’t morally right. But I’m afraid I can’t let you kill this woman.
LESTAT: And why not? When are you finally going to accept that you and me are vampires and have to kill to survive. It’s what we do. It’s in our blood and part of our nature. You can’t ignore it forever.
LOUIS: Because it is wrong. While we have the power to take life, we are also capable of giving life. To create something new, something that will last forever, something immortal.
LESTAT: There was always something romantic about you, Louis. That’s why I liked you. But you forget the true cost of immortality. The loneliness, the hunger, the constant battle against our own nature. You forget what being a vampire really means.
LOUIS: It seems like you are the one who has forgotten.
LESTAT’S HOUSE - EVENING
LESTAT and LOUIS sit around the dining table.
LOUIS: Why did you turn me into a vampire, Lestat? Why did you make me a monster like you? Why make me suffer like this, questioning myself and my morals constantly? I did not ask for any of this. I wanted none of this. None.
LESTAT: Because I saw something special in you, Louis. Something that I wished to preserve. You were too beautiful to let go of, so I knew I needed you with me for all of eternity. I thought you would eventually get use to the life of a vampire. But still, after all these years, you cling on to your humanity. Why and how is that possible?
LOUIS: Because I refuse to lose sight of myself completely. Because I refuse to forget what it means to be human even though you try so hard to make me forget. And because I know that one day, the world will change. There will be a new beginning. The sun will rise, and we will all be left in darkness.
LESTAT: And then what, Louis? Will you embrace the sunrise, surrender to it, and let it destroy you?
LOUIS: I don’t know. But I do know that I won’t be alone.
LESTAT’S HOUSE - MORNING
LESTAT sits alone in his dim and darkened room, surrounded with books and relics from his past.
LESTAT: What is happening? How has all of this happened? What have I become? A cruel monster, a monster of the night. And yet, I am unable to escape my own mortality. I cannot seem to escape this vast feeling of emptiness that consumes me day in and day out. I am forever trapped in this world, and yet I am not alive. Nor am I dead. Ultimately, I have been reduced to nothing. Life is meaningless.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, and Louis stands before him, bathed in bright sunlight.
LOUIS: Lestat, come with me. There’s something I want to show you. I need you to trust me for the first time in your life.
LESTAT: What is the meaning of this? Are you out of your mind? You know what will happen if I step out into the light. It will be the end of us. We will shrivel up and die.
LOUIS: I know. But I also know that we cannot remain in the darkness forever. That we must eventually embrace the light, even if it means our own destruction in the process.
LESTAT hesitates for a moment, then stands up and follows LOUIS out the door.
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