As a fledgling vampire, I did not take to killing.
♪
Man: You really have earned your 15%.
You truly are an exceptional Negro.
Louis: I had powers now, and decades of rage to process.
I wanna buy the Fair Play Saloon.
That's a mighty tall ladder you're climbing, Mr. du Lac.
Never gon' have a family of my own, am I?
[Baby cries]
I no longer kill.
You don't have to humiliate him.
[Chokes]
Embrace what you are! You are a killer, Louis!
♪
[Indistinct chatter]
Man: No, sir.
There's a column in here
about the history of this lovely square.
It says that the man who designed it
did so after the Place de Vosges in Paris.
I can see that.
Used to be called the Place d'Armes.
I prefer that. Don't you?
Mm-hmm.
The Louisiana Purchase was signed here.
Penny wise, franc foolish.
Say anything about how they used to take runaway slaves,
cut their heads off,
and pike 'em on the iron gates as a warning?
I'm only half way through. Let's see.
Do you ever think that we -- that's to say, our kind --
were put on Earth for a larger purpose?
I put you on this earth.
Your purpose is to enjoy yourself.
That can't be all there is.
I know you don't believe that.
Well, tell me what I believe, Louis.
Excavate the hoarded thoughts buried
beneath my damned soul.
We can eat animals and be okay.
Rats, cats, cattle.
Is "okay" what you desire, Louis?
Shall we walk the night
as the gods of easily attainable dreams?
I desire blood as much as you do.
But I wonder, should we be more selective?
What, only eat red-heads? The humanists?
Define your terms.The worst of 'em.
And how would we go about determining that?
We use our powers, read their minds.
Hunting is pure instinct.
Reason is a set of leg irons.
The ones you admire -- the poets, composers,
the thoughtful man who designed this park
you love so much --
shouldn't we spare them the randomness of our killing?
Every one of them is capable of abomination,
even the ones worthy of admiration.
Shakespeare, Brahms, this naturalist that fogs your mind.
Got it off your bookshelf.
Thrust them into circumstance,
whisper to them their Lord, God and Savior
is not listening, and you will see
all kinds of depravity.
They came from apes. We came from them.
We should be better than they are.
You refer to them as "they" to get on my better side.
Try something for me, mon cher.
Say we come upon a murderer
planting a flowerbed, thinking only of flowers.
How long do we wait before his bloody deeds
reveal themselves?As long as it takes.
You haven't thought this through, Louis.
You said you would try.
Man: Just gotta hold it in. Only another mile.
So inebriated, he's worried he'll urinate all over himself.
He's just a drunk.
Man#2: $18 in the dresser.
She ain't never gon' miss it.
Stealing from his mother for a new suit.
Petty larceny.Starts with a suit.
Soon, he'll be knocking over banks.
You gon' take the serious or not?
Wait.
What's that I hear? Ah, yes.
It's the angel of salvation passing over us.
Man #3: All these stupid people. Everybody's so stupid.
Him.
He steals from unfortunates,
breaks into tenements
and robs them of their meager possessions.
And does that meet your satisfaction?
[Grunting]
Don't mind the shaking. I've snapped his spine.
It's merely his nerves spasming.
Well, go on. Here's your criminal biscuit.
See how it tastes.
[Gasps]
Eat before your reason or his heart fails us.
[Cat meows]
[Cat yowls]
[Louis munching, cat yowling]
♪ I've got some good news, honey ♪
♪ An invitation to the Darktown Ball ♪
♪ It's a very swell affair
♪ All the "high-browns" will be there ♪
New singer.
She says she heard about the Azalea all the way in Atlanta.
They talkin' about this place in Atlanta.
You're angry.
I'm pondering.
Pondering what?
Your night had nothing to do
with ridding the world of criminals
or finding some morality to buoy your existence.
You're ashamed of what we are.
Maybe I'm just pondering what I am.
For the infinitesimal time, you're a vampire.
Could you not use the word in my place of business?
Place of business.
A cover, an illusion to throw off the scent of the dogs.
This illusion is frontin' a dozen businesses
up and down Claiborne.[Chuckles] Yes, yes.
For every 20 people he kills,
he makes one small businessman's dreams come true.
Louis de Pointe du Lac, the Dark Prince of Iberville.
[Cheers and applause]
Antoinette Brown, and I will be here all night long.
[Cheering]
I don't wanna kill people anymore.
There it is.
A fish that doesn't swim.
A bird refusing to fly.
You're going to struggle.
I fear for the feline population of New Orleans.
Mm.
Your pianist has lost his passion.
What?Mr. Morton, you have played
the same melody, the very same way,
for two weeks now.
Your talent is immense, but your mind is elsewhere.
Think you could do better, Jack?
Well, I'm not being paid a small fortune
on top of that tip jar to perform.
My skills are irrelevant.
People didn't come to hear you jabber, Mr. Lioncourt.
Well, they didn't come here to hear you play either.
Otherwise, you'd be in a concert hall
and there'd be fewer prostitutes.
Man: Shut the hell up and let him play.
This ain't your kinda music.
You can pretend you're a vegetarian.
I can pretend the fool.
Woman: There he goes.
Be my guest.Thank you.
For our boys being shipped off to Europe, know your enemy.
Man: What's wrong with that man?
♪
Woman: Oh, hell no!
[Crowd booing]
Oh, didn't that get your dick wet, gents?
Rate your limits, Mr. Morton.
What you hear is genius.
All I hear is a man who's never gotten his dick wet.
Actually, the man had 20 children in his lifetime,
and you're sort of stuck on that wet-dick zinger, Ferdinand.
[Crowd "Ooh"s]
It's like your left hand on the piano,
little walking patterns, isn't it?
[Up-tempo song plays]
♪
[Cheering]
♪
Louis: He admitted later there was nothing wrong
with Jelly Roll's playing, only something he overheard
in an alleyway -- a steady gig for the band in Chicago.
Jelly was going to leave me high and dry in a few days,
and Lestat took umbrage.
If I'm not mistaken, he improved the melody
for what would later become the "Wolverine Blues".
Daniel: Wai-- wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hold on there.
You're saying Lestat wrote the "Wolverine Blues"?
I can't be definitive.
So much of that year was a blur.
And you can imagine what time's inevitable hammer
does to the minute details.
This?
[Piano playing]
Yes, that's it.
Uh-huh.
[Music stops]
Yeah, you know, I-I gotta say,
it's not so much the minute details, Louis,
rather the total rewrite that's giving me pause here.
I mean, 1973.
Louis: He was a sow's ear,
out of which nothing fine could be made.
I was his complete superior,
and I had been sadly cheated in having him for a teacher.
2022.
It was a cold winter that year, and Lestat was my coal fire.
And I found myself, for the very first time,
to anyone other than Paul,
confiding my struggles to another man.
San Francisco.
He appeared frail and stupid to me,
a man made of dried twigs with a thin, carping voice.
Dubai.
I never allowed myself to feel emotionally close to anyone,
much less a man.
Lestat had surrounded me.
The version we speak of now is the more nuanced portrait.
Hmm. Or the more rehearsed.
Perhaps I was mistaken about the "Wolverine Blues".
Fuck the "Wolverine Blues".
Ken Burns can choke on the footnotes.
It's the abused-abuser
psychological relationship I'm talking about.
I do not consider myself abused.
I mean, usually when you're a little too close to it,
the abused still loves the abuser,
but you flipped it completely on its head.
I'm not a victim.
50 years later, you talk like
he was your soul mate, li-- like --
like you were locked in some fucked up gothic romance.
Why?
"I am in my Buick, staring in the rearview mirror
at my daughter in the car seat, an hour after I gave Derek,
a guy I don't know, the last 30 bucks I had.
My editor reminds me,
it's seven years before car seats are mandatory.
My ex-wife reminds me, I never owned a Buick.
This is the odyssey of recollection."
The tapes are an admitted performance.
This is the premise of our interview.
Half a century later, allow me my odyssey.
[Clatters]
Now who's performing?
[Computer trash empties]
[Computer beeps]
You were the prince of your district.
Lestat chased an American icon
outta town because he loved you.
1917 doesn't sound like it was such a bad year.
Rigged to burn, Daniel.
A silent bridge for your voice to float along.
You talk like you play, Mr. Lioncourt.
Louis: Lestat filled in for Jelly the next night.
He and Miss Brown dazzled the waiting johns
and invited their admirers back to the Rue Royale.
So, the last one to leave never left?
No.
He would do his killing away from me now,
out of respect, he said, for the choice I had made.
'Round the back.
[Mouse squeaking]
Louis: The frolicking repeated itself
every night for two weeks.
They would add another song to their set
and work on another at night,
while I tried to adapt to my new diet.
I barely had the energy to hold up a book.
My libido was not what it had been.
Man: Hey!
I understood the indulgence.
I let it happen.
Mr. Louis, you have to convince Lestat
to keep playin'.
Got a better chance makin' the Mississippi run north.
We had a good run, but I did it for Louis.
I do everything for Louis.
Yeah, I heard that about you two.
Oh? Well, what have you heard?
I'm not a gossip.
But I am.
Well, people at the Azalea, they say...
You're confusing me. [Laughs]
Oh, come now.
I don't bite.
What do the employees of the Azalea say
about Louis and Lestat?
I'll answer with a question.
Mm-hmm.
Are there two beds upstairs or one?
Do you want to find out?
No one goes upstairs, Miss Brown.
Well, there's my answer.
Still, what do you imagine confines us to a single note?
Why not a chord? Why not a cluster?
Oh, see, I'm the same.
I like all sorts.
I like soft hands.
I like burnished complexions.
I like men called Daddy.
[Gasps]
Oh, your blouse is soaked in champagne.
Bad Daddy.
I was beginning to wonder about your manners.
I'm hungry.
Think I'm gon' get something to eat.
Is the animal market still open?
Enjoy yourselves. It's the purpose of livin'.
[Door slams]
He gets that way when he's hungry.
[Horse neighs]
She burn quick?
See for yourself.
A dentist from Tallahassee.
There's a dentistry convention in town.
Sinister talk of molars and bicuspids around every corner.
So, you didn't kill her.
No.
She has talents.
Aren't I enough?
[Laughs]
D-Don't --
Don't laugh.
Louis. [Laughs]
Don't laugh. Louis.
You have some squirrel on your --
No, don't.
We'll be together 10,000, nights, 100,000.
What we're doing is hard.
Anything that wards off the dungs
of the everlasting road we walk,
the pleasures of the flesh,
the pleasures of the kill, for me.
Pleasures of the Good Book by the fire for you.
I can smell her on you.
From time to time, I like a little variety.
There. I said it.
We're communicating so much better now, no?
So, I can fuck whoever I want?
Of course.
As long as you come home to me.
Of course. [Chuckles]
Louis: While the domestic front simmered on diet
and sanctioned infidelity,
the Western Front started receiving American troops.
[Laughter]
New Orleans was the last stop before France
for many young men.
And City Ordinance 4118
tried to ensure Uncle Sam's money went into the right hands.
Daniel: Ordinance 4118.
I could Google it, or you could --
A hastily composed attempt by the city
to segregate Storyville.
It required that all prostitutes
of colored or Black race
move their business across Canal Street.
This was the heart of my business,
what the Azalea was known for.
The very men who signed the ordinance into law
were some of my best clients.
It was an absurdity, an affront to a Creole man
who had outpaced his fair-skinned competitors.
How'd you manage it?
I gave five percent of the business to my girls,
made 'em all owners.
How's that help you?
Lawyer said if they were owners, we can file a writ,
saying 4118 was a...
How you put it, Bricks?
Deprives us the use of our property
without due process of law, denying us equal protection
under the Constitution of these United States.
Sounds like some kind of Russian Bolshevik scheme.
You diddled the man's money,
and he bought himself an end-around.
It's pure capitalism, Mr. Fenwick.
Thank you, Tom.
Unorthodox business mind under that hat, Louis.
No security guard on the door, lets a woman count his coin.
No offense, Miss Williams.
Been called a cunny, a cow,
and a bitch that ate a thousand dicks.
You wanna apologize for callin' me a woman?
Whoo, leave your wife.
I'll make you a happy man, Mr. Anderson.
Bricks don't take wooden nickels,
and I'm the only security this place needs.
Christ on a cracker.
We're writing another ordinance.
You know that, don't you?
The council is not your problem, Louis.
It's Woodrow Wilson, this war he's backed us all into.
You think you're printin' money here?
Them hay pennies compared
to what the build up's brought the city here.
Just ask Mr. Anderson here.
Not as colorful as club ownership,
but you'd be amazed at the high pile
made supplying the military camps
with cigarettes, chocolates, and prophylactics.
Well, I'm doing my part to see them jimmy hats get used.
Son, I can tell you, the Navy doesn't see it that way.
You got 400 men over in charity
gettin' treatment for the clap.
I got pristine pussies walkin' my floor.
Now I'm offended.[Scoffs]
Washington's making us choose, Louis.
It's either win the war or fuck the whore.
Well, just, Council's just stallin' for time, chasin' race.
Don't feel like a stall.
Feel a little beside the point.
Feel like a boot on my neck.
He's one man on a council of 17, Louis.
Well, maybe he's still sideways
'cause I turned down his 15%.
[Thuds]
Yeah, I'll admit, I prefer the days
you let us win on occasion, days of deference.
[Knock on door]What is it?
There's a gentleman asking for you, Mr. du Lac.
A man in uniform.
What I say, Mr. Anderson?
The war's come a-knockin'.
[Laughter]
Cash me out.
[Trumpet plays]
Good Lord.
Jonah?
Louis de Pointe du Lac.
Jonah Macon.
How long's it been?
A day and forever.
Told Grace you wouldn't remember me.
'Course I remem-- You're enlisted?
Ain't you good at noticing what's plain?
[Chuckles]
You seen Grace?
Saw her this mornin', getting the yard ready
for a birthday party.
Oh, yeah, right. Twins.
She got twin girls.
Could barely keep her head straight,
all those kids runnin' round, tuggin' at her dress.
So, you a big-shot businessman now.
Heard about Paul.
Yeah.
Paul.
Where you been, Jonah?
Philadelphia for a spell, hotel work.
Then, a gunpowder mill in Delaware.
Fella working next to me blew off three fingers.
I saw enough. Hell.
Thought this might be a way to rise through the ranks,
and -- and all that.
Look like you already rose up, and by a fair amount.
I done all right.
Done all right? You own all this.
Sign me up for "done all right".
You ever think about those old days
when we were kids?
How long you here for?
Couple of nights. In the boat over the ocean.
Me and a couple thousand other fellas wearin'
this same costume.
You think this is nice?
Wait till you see my pretty automobile.
Louis de Pointe du Lac.
[Chuckles]
Nothin' much changed here, I see.
Crickets and katydids.
You gon' ruin those sharp shoes in this mud.
I got another pair back at home.
I'll bet you do.
Easy livin' Louis. [Laughs]
There's nothing easy about my life, I'll tell you that.
Well, you've been blessed.
Ain't aged a day since I seen you last.
That's the moonlight lyin' is all.
[Both laugh]
You worried about goin' over there?
Some nights.
I mean, my squad's all colored,
so we mostly gon' be in the rear,
supply lines and shit.
Better than gettin' shot at for a country
makes you use the side entrance.
And most of why I signed up is I kept hearing
something about something they call
"European sensibilities".
They care less what you look like or who you're lookin' at.
Yeah, I got someone.
I figured as much. No ring on your finger?
Not a woman.
Well, what's he like?
He's...a lot.
It's not perfect.
Mm-hmm.
But we kind of have this agreement.
One of those "you can drive out to the bayou"
kind of agreements?
Good fit, this, uh, uniform.
Well, it's the moonlight.
[Heart beating]
♪
[Heart beating increases]
♪
Lestat: Hello. Hello.
How was your night?
Fine. Yours?
Fine.
He found me, you know.
Went to my old house on Esplanade.
Grace told him where to find me.
An old love.
We had a few early fumbles.
He was 16. I was...older.
We both knew, even then, we were a little different.
Hmm.
How's Antoinette?
Tedious.
No, I don't see that happening again.
These affairs always flame out.
Shall we have a night out tomorrow?
I was gonna go see Grace and the kids, keep up appearances.
How 'bout after?
Fine.
Lock us in, would you?
Louis: Many streets in New Orleans
weren't paved at the time.
The mud on his boots could have come from anywhere.
Was it raining that night?
Yeah, I got someone.
I figured as much. No ring on your finger?
Not a woman.
Did it rain?
[Thunder crashes]
Yeah, I got someone.
I figured as much. No ring on your finger?
Not a woman.
I don't remember now.
It could have been dry on the bayou and wet in the Quarter.
It's Louisiana.
The odyssey of recollection.
Hmm.
I would meet Jonah decades later.
You're lingering, Rashid.
Rashid: Apologies, Mr. du Lac.
What did he say when he met you again,
when you were young and he wasn't?
What they all eventually say in one articulation or another.
Girl: Here comes the ghost!
[Girls screaming]
Hurry! He's gonna get us!
The party was this afternoon.
Seem my invitation got lost in the mail.
You wanna come around,
you come around when people are awake.
It's barely dinnertime, Ma. I don't wanna make a fuss.
Six months and you just show up!
You're not welcome in this home!
I own this home.
I'm the executor in charge, so welcome don't matter.
The Devil walks at night.
What? What did you say?
What's goin' on out here?
I got your girls some paper dolls.
Go back inside, son.
Son? I'm your son.
Let me handle this, Mamaw du Lac.
Don't.
Comin' off a little hot, now.
I ain't come here to see you.
I didn't come here to see you.
Louis.Came here to see Grace
and give the girls some paper dolls!
[Screaming]
Children, go to your room, now.
What did I tell y'all?
There he is.
Grace.
Grace.Get out!
♪
[Indistinct chatter, music playing]
[Indistinct singing]
♪ First of all, at the call, when the war began ♪
♪ Pat enlisted in the army as a fighting man ♪
♪ When the drills began, they'd walk 100 miles a day ♪
♪ Though the rest got tired, Paddy always used to say ♪
♪ Where do we go from here, boys? ♪
♪ Where do we go from here?
♪ Slip a pill to Kaiser Bill
What is this?♪ And make him shed a tear
♪ And when we see the enemy
♪ We'll shoot them in the rear ♪
What are you thinking?
Well, I thought we could have an orgy.
You can fuck them, and I can eat them.
What about the coffin room?
Well, that would require curiosity and intelligence.
All these murderous slobs want is more wine
and a German on their bayonets!
Kill the Hans!Kill the Hans!
I brought them back after they cut the electricity
at the Azalea. What?
Miss Bricktop wanted you to have this.
I think she's on to us.
Get 'em out of here.
Well, now that I know you have a type,
I thought you'd be pleased.
Lestat!
[Indistinct chatter]
[Chatter stops]
♪
♪ Oh, joy, oh, boy, where do we go from here? ♪
Not funny.
What can I say?
I'm a lot.
I'm not perfect.
[Scoffs] I knew it. I knew you were there.
Yes. You're jealous?
Yes. I don't like sharing.
What about Antoinette?It's different.
I don't have feelings for her.
He did me some face, and I drove him home.
I heard your hearts dancing!
You watched the whole thing like some creeper!
And then, I watched you pull over and drain a dog
and run down an alleyway for two more rats!
This is not a life!
That's 'cause you took my life!
I got nothing! I lost everything!
I lost my brother. I lost my family.
'Bout to lose the last fucking thing I care about.
How am I supposed to get bodies in the door
without hookers, hooch, or cards?
Hey, you were given a courtesy, and you ignored it.
Finn O'Shea, a man who used to work for me,
got a dirty house across the street.
City ain't shut off his lights.
Finn O'Shea serves sandwiches at his bar.
That makes him a supper club.
In time, Mr. O'Shea will move his business
Riverside Basin Street, along with everyone else.
Oh, so you just startin' with
the colored businesses, then?
It does appear businesses run by white gentlemen are thriving.
[Scoffs] Look, I-I tried to persuade the city council.
They said it was short-sighted at best.
Fenwick: Mm, this tedious Negro,
still clinging to his Creole heritage like a life raft.
We're all hurtin'.
Anderson: It's these damn teetotalin' types, too.
As if we're supposed to turn New Orleans into Topeka,
or God help us, Salt Lake City.
Might I suggest, Mr. du Lac, that you move your
operation to the Quarter?
Just keep your girls out the windows.
Who do you suggest gon' sell me a property in the Quarter?
Make Mr. Lioncourt here the public face
of your operations.
This is Louis' hobby, not mine.
Well, there's, shall we say, a clannish majority
amongst the property holders in the court.
Well, maybe old Tom here had it right.
Maybe in the end, Louis, you're a dumb pimp
who got robbed blind years ago.
It's bend or break, I'm afraid.
Did you sell me the Azalea 'cause you knew
this day was comin', Tom?
You put a "sir" on the end of that.
And he sold you the Fairplay for a price you set.
You ain't answer my question, Tom.
[Clicking tongue]
Now, we're all in this together, Mr. du Lac.
I'll be happy to buy the property back from you.
Say...
15 cents on the dollar.
[Anderson chuckles]
When your mother sees the Devil in your eyes,
it's a hard assessment to abandon.
Am I from the Devil?
Is my very nature that of the Devil?
I had hedged against the question,
but now, it completely overwhelmed me.
Lestat: We don't need the money.
It's not about that.
You think I'm gon' let that snake bite me and my people?
You have your investments on the Claiborne Avenue.
What, hats, little grocery stores?
Nickels, dimes, quarters.
So, it is about the money.
[Knock on door]What is it?
I'm gon' speak for the girls and say, as minority owners,
that's a stupid fucking business plan.
Louis: The state I was in, I was what -- I was manic.
[Laughter]
You put up a sign like that, you're inviting chaos.
And the hubris on display caused me to
neglect my thirst.
[Whistle blows]
Policeman: This cease and desist order is granted
by the New Orleans Council of Aldermen
for the final infractions...
Louis: And in neglect, my thirst grew harder,
my temples throbbed, and finally,
I could not stand it any longer.
Broken? What broken windows?
And I was through struggling.
Fenwick: Illicit activity and thuggish behavior
will not be tolerated.
We have families and service members nearby,
and it's for their concern, we remind...
Louis: Rats, cats, dogs would no longer suffice.
...and Baton Rouge supports the actions
of the City Council, as well.
Daniel: Take a Black man in America, make him a vampire,
fuck with that vampire, and see what comes of it.
[Gasps, glass shatters]
Breakin' into my home is one thing.
Making me drop my Atherton, now that's a new low.
You're here to threaten me, I suppose.
You think I have a vendetta against you,
against your race.
Well, think that if you must.
Storyville is a sinking ship,
and naturally, you are the first to drown.
But that's your problem, Louis, always has been.
You're arrogant.
You haven't accepted your place in this world.
And your pale lover,
with his seemingly endless supply of capital,
and the weird goings-on in your Sodomite townhouse
won't change the fact that you're a tiny man
flying too close to the sun.
And that's what I am, Louis -- the sun.
[Heart beating]
Walk away.
Why is your heart beatin' so fast?
Everything that's been done is legal
under the City of New Orleans charter.
And again, I'm merely one alderman on that council.
There's a harder way of doing this.
You're thinking about your wife and your two daughters
and how fortunate it is
that they're away in your winter home.
It is fortunate.
[Gunshots]
I'll let you reload.
[Panting]
[Screams]
You said I'm arrogant?
[Screams]
Maybe I am arrogant!
What -- What are you?
I'm a vampire.
♪
[Screams]
[Bell tolls]
♪
Lestat: I must confess, I'm very proud of you, Louis.
It goes against much of my teaching,
but you managed to execute it with such aplomb.
I didn't do it for me.
I did it for my city, my people.
Destroy our businesses and buy the land for cheaper.
I know what they doing!
So, that torturous death was for your people?
That garish display of his body,
like some public art piece, was for your people?
I didn't see this coming.
Save that lie for yourself.
Did you not smile when he begged?
Did you not feel pleasure as you carved him up?
Maybe you saw it comin' and didn't stop me.
Maybe you went quiet on purpose.
You did what you did because it gave you pleasure.
Companion of the dark gift, finally.
We should make this our anniversary.
Anniversary?
That out there, that's on me.
Well, yes. Yes, you merely provided them the excuse.
It's as I say -- toss them into circumstance,
they go for the throat.
And that's why you and me ain't never gon' work.
That's why you're always gonna be alone.
Louis: I ran from the Quarter that night,
ran to where the violence spread most wild.
I stumbled through the streets like an irrational child
who had tested his strength on the small bird
and now asked, "Can I make it whole again?"
Can I help you? Please let me help.
Don't help, just run.
Their faces raced past me like snow in a terrible wind,
unaware it was I who had brought this retribution.
It was I who should pay for this sin.
And then...
Claudia: Help me!
...one of those inconceivable moments
where who you were before
and who you would be forever after is marked in time.
[Screaming]
Help!
A rooming house, now a fire trap.
I could not save the Azalea.
I could not save Storyville.
I could not save the aunt on the wrong side of the wall,
but I could save her.
My light.
My Claudia.
My redemption.
♪
Claudia: The Black angel took me to a fine house
The white angel, he bit me,
And I realized what I thought were angels
were really hell demons.
♪
We're a family?
Lestat: You're a vampire now.
So is this what you always do for a first date?
Do you think are the right people to adopt?
[ Claudia roars, screams ]
For a killing machine, I kind of like her.
♪
Do you ever think that we -- that's to say our kind --
were put on Earth for a larger purpose?
Episode 3, "Is My Very Nature that of the Devil" --
this is all about vampire identity.
That's what Louis is dealing with in this episode.
Who am I? How am I going to be
a different kind of vampire than Lestat?
Is it possible?
I desire blood as much as you do.
But I wonder, should we be more selective?
What if we just ate the worst people in the world?
What if we have some sort of moral architecture
around our killing?
Him.
He steals from unfortunates,
breaks into tenements, and robs them
of their meager possessions.
And does that meet your satisfaction?
It's a pretty chippy thing he does at the beginning,
which is say, "Let's go kill the worst people,"
then we find one of the worst people,
and even then, he doesn't want to do it.
Well, go on. Here's your criminal biscuit.
See how he tastes.
So he eats a cat.
[Cat screeches]
That's sort of a horseshitty thing to pull off.
What are you really after here?
Oh, you're ashamed. Okay, fine.
Maybe I'm just pondering what I am.
You're a vampire.
In New Orleans, he's never even said he's a vampire yet.
Won't even say the word.
I don't want to kill people anymore.
There it is.
A fish that doesn't swim.
The fraught complexities of what happens when you are with
the right/wrong person?
The Azalea is his last little bit of humanity,
but these blue laws are coming in.
There was a call from Washington to kinda say,
"Eh, we need to move this back underground."
The cutting away of everything you thought was your life.
I am being removed from my family.
Storyville's beginning to crumble.
Maybe I am a vampire.
And here is a person who has decided
to fuck with me directly.
And I'm gonna take it all out on him.
A little bit like Lestat in the church,
he lets these predatory instincts
get the way better of him.
He is in a mania when that is happening.
Why is your heart beating so fast?
And if the club is the last thing that he had,
the last bit of humanity,
and that's about to be taken away from him,
who is he?
[Screams]
He unleashes all that rage that's inside him.
You said I'm arrogant?
He does finally come to a very tortured conclusion.
What are you? [Whimpers]
I'm a vampire.
[Screams]
When he finally lets it loose,
great reverberations come back from it...
[People shouting]
...that lead to a lot of pain and anguish for his city.
And it rolls back on people that he formerly would have said
were his people in this world.
And he's wandering around in a very, very dark,
near-suicidal place.
And then there's this meeting that happens,
and there is a chance for some new thing
to pour the best parts of yourself into.
[Grunts and breathes heavily]
Louis: My light. My Claudia.
My redemption.
♪