"I have seen it, " she said. "I had looked at it for hours at my bedside in Paris. It was Nicolas de Lenfent's coat. " I looked at her for a long moment. But I don't think I saw her at all. The rage building in me was absolutely silent. It will be rage until I have proof that it must be grief, I thought. Then I wasn't thinking. Vaguely, I knew she had no notion yet how strong our passions could be, how they could paralyze us. I think I moved my lips, but nothing came out.
"I don't think they've killed him, Lestat, " she said. Again I tried to speak. I wanted to ask, Why do you say that, but I couldn't. I was staring forward into the orchard.
"I think he is alive, " she said. "And that he is their prisoner. Otherwise they would have left his body there and never bothered with that stable boy. "
"Perhaps, perhaps not. " I had to farce my mouth to form the words. "The coat was a message. " I couldn't stand this any longer.
"I'm going after them, " I said. "Do you want to return to the tower? If I fail at this. . . "
"I have no intention of leaving you, " she said. The rain was falling in earnest by the time we reached the boulevard du Temple, and the wet paving stones magnified a thousand lamps. My thoughts had hardened into strategies that. were more instinct than reason. And I was as ready for a fight as I have ever been. But we had to find out where we stood. How many of them were there? And what did they really want? Was it to capture and destroy us, or to frighten us and drive us off? I had to quell my rage, I had to remember they were childish, superstitious, conceivably easy to scatter or scare. As soon as we reached the high ancient tenements near Notre Dame, I heard them near us, the vibration coming as in a silver flash and vanishing as quickly again. Gabrielle drew herself up, and I felt her left hand on my wrist. I saw her right hand on the hilt of her sword. We had entered a crooked alleyway that turned blindly in the dark in front of us, the iron clatter of the horse's shoes shattering the silence, and I struggled not to be unnerved by the sound itself. It seemed we saw them at the same moment. Gabrielle pressed back against me, and I swallowed the gasp that would have given an impression of fear. High above us, on either side of the narrow thoroughfare, were their white faces just over the eaves of the tenements, a faint gleam against the lowering sky and the soundless drifts of silver rain. I drove the horse forward in a rush of scraping and clattering. Above they streaked like rats over the roof. Their voices rose in a faint howling mortals could never have heard. Gabrielle stifled a little cry as we saw their white arms and legs descending the walls ahead of us, and behind I heard the soft thud of their feet on the stones.
"Straight on, " I shouted, and drawing my sword, I drove right over the two ragged figures who'd dropped down in our path. "Damnable creatures, out of my way, " I shouted, hearing their screams underfoot. I glimpsed anguished faces for a moment. Those above vanished and those behind us seemed to weaken and we bore ahead, putting yards between us and our pursuers as we came into the deserted place de Grave. But they were regathering on the edges of the square, and this time I was hearing their distinct thoughts, one of them demanding what power was it we had, and why should they be frightened, and another insisting that they close in. Some force surely came from Gabrielle at that moment because I could see them visibly fall back when she threw her glance in their direction and tightened her grip on the sword.
"Stop, stand them off! " she said under her breath. "They're terrified. " Then I heard her curse. Because flying towards us out of the shadows of the Hotel-Dieu, there came at least six more of the little demons, their thin white limbs barely swathed in rags, their hair flying, those dreadful wails coming out of their mouths. They were rallying the others. The malice that surrounded us was gaining force. The horse reared, and almost threw us. They were commanding it to halt as surely as I commanded it to go on. I grabbed Gabrielle about the waist, leapt off the horse, and ran top speed to the doors of Notre Dame. A horrid derisive babble rose silently in my ears, wails and cries and threats:
"You dare not, you dare not! " Malice like the heat of a blast furnace opened upon us, as their feet came . thumping and splashing around us, and I felt their hands struggling to grab hold of my sword and my coat. But I was certain of what would happen when we reached the church. I gave it one final spurt, heaving Gabrielle ahead of me so that together we slid through the doors across the threshold of the cathedral and landed sprawling within on the stones. Screams. Dreadful dry screams curling upwards and then an upheaval, as if the entire mob had been scattered by a cannon blast. I scrambled to my feet, laughing out loud at them. But I was not waiting so near the door to hear more. Gabrielle was on her feet and pulling me after her and together we hurried deep into the shadowy nave, past one lofty archway after another until we were near the dim candles of the sanctuary, and then seeking a dark and empty comer by a side altar, we sank down together on our knees.
"Just like those damned wolves! " I said. "A bloody ambush. "
"Shhhhh, be quiet a moment, " Gabrielle said as she clung to me.
"Or my immortal heart will burst. "
9
After a long moment, I felt her stiffen. She was looking towards the square.
"Don't think of Nicolas, " she said. "They are waiting and they are listening. They are hearing everything that goes on in our minds. "
"But what are they thinking? " I whispered. "What is going on in their heads? " I could feel her concentration. I pressed her close, and looked straight at the silver light that came through the distant open doors. I could hear them too now, but just that low shimmer of sound coming from all of them collected there. But as I stared at the rain, there came over me the strongest sense of peace. IL was almost sensuous. It seemed to me we could yield to them, that it was foolish to resist them further. All things would be resolved were we merely to go out to them and give ourselves over. They would not torture Nicolas, whom they had in their power; they would not tear him limb from limb. I saw Nicolas in their hands. He wore only his lace shirt and breeches because they had taken the coat. And I heard his screams as they pulled his arms from the sockets. I cried out No, putting my own hand over my mouth so that I did not rouse the mortals in the church. Gabrielle reached up and touched my lips with her fingers.
"It's not being done to him, " she said under her breath. "It's merely a threat. Don't think of him. "
"He's still alive, then, " I whispered.
"So they want us to believe. Listen! " There came again the sense of peace, the summons, that's what it was, to join them, the voice saying Come out of the church. Surrender to us, we welcome you, and we will not harm either of you if only you come. I turned towards the door and rose to my feet. Anxiously Gabrielle rose beside me, cautioning me again with her hand. She seemed wary of even speaking to me as we both looked at that great archway of silvery light. You are lying to us, I said. You have no power over us! It was a rolling current of defiance moving through the distant door. Surrender to you? If we do that then what's to stop you from holding the three of us? Why should we come out? Within this church we are safe; we can conceal ourselves in its deepest burial vaults. We could hunt among the faithful, drink their blood in the chapels and niches so skillfully we'd never be discovered, sending our victims out confused to die in the streets afterwards. And what would you do, you who cannot even cross the door! Besides, we don't believe you have Nicolas. Show him to us. Let him come to the door and speak. Gabrielle was in a welter of confusion. She was scanning me, desperate to know what I said. And she was clearly hearing them, which I could not do when I was sending these impulses. It seemed their pulse weakened, but it had not stopped. It went on as it had before, as if I'd not answered it, as if it were someone humming. It was promising truce again, and now it seemed to speak of rapture, that in the great pleasure of joining with it, all conflict would be resolved. It was sensuous again, it was beautiful.