01x01 - In Throes of Increasing Wonder

[bunniefuu]

[ORCHESTRA TUNING]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

There are stories out there
that need to be told.

There's sh*t out there that's just...

you know, wrong.

People need to know about it.
That's the job.

It's not a complicated job,

other than how it'll mess
with your life.

News used to be a bunch of guys
who look like me

huddled around a desk
at a Page One meeting

deciding what the news was.

This little fucker changed all of that.

I've been fired from three papers,

hired back at two of them.

Third got gobbled up by Knight Ridder.

So, to be clear here,

I'm a g*dd*mn reservoir
of do's and don'ts.

Your sources are your Sherpas.

Your editor is your priest.

Honesty is not a tactic.

You still want this job?

It's your money.

I'm Daniel Molloy.

- This is my...
- REPORTER: The Russian backed

separatists have been
waging guerrilla warfare

- since .
- Can he make his fantasy

a reality?

ANNOUNCER: Walker at the top of the key.

Pick and roll from Jones.
Walker drives and finishes.

With a tough left hand. That's
seven straight for Walker...

[SIRENS WAILING, HORNS
HONKING IN DISTANCE]

[CELLPHONE BUZZING]

DANIEL: Yeah. Hey, doc. Yeah.
Thanks for getting back to me.

I, uh... Yes, that's right. I have...

I have an appointment scheduled
for later in the week,

but the... the thing
I'm trying to figure out is,

what's the deal
with this sub-variant business?

I mean, is that more contagious?

Is it...

Uh-huh.

Yeah, 'cause, I mean,
there's no reason to get more...

Okay. So you think... Yeah.

I mean, that's what I'm thinking.

Why get any closer to the bug than I...

than I need to?

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

I gotta call you back.

[SIGHS]

[INHALES DEEPLY]

[STATIC CRACKLING]

DANIEL: Um, first question.

You weren't always a vampire, were you?

LOUIS: No.

I was a -year-old man
when I became a vampire.

DANIEL: How did it come about?

LOUIS: There's a simple answer to that.

I don't believe I wanna
give simple answers.

I think I want to tell the real stor...

[CLICKS]

LOUIS: "Dear Mr. Molloy.

I hope this letter finds
you safe and thriving,

if such a thing were a possibility

in this bleak hour.

I've been following your career
with some interest

since our last meeting.

Please allow me to congratulate
you on all your successes,

those professional and those
personally redemptive.

The passage of time and the frailties

that accompany it have
provided me perspective.

And I suspect the same
might be for you, as well.

I'm hoping health and pride

won't deter you from
the following proposal.

In a week's time,
in a setting of my choosing,

we revisit the project

boyish youth prevented
us from finishing.

years and thousands of miles

removed from the room
we shared in San Francisco,

I offer, for your
journalistic pleasures,

my full attention and my life story.

All affinities,

Louis de Pointe du Lac".

DANIEL: I told my editor I was
meeting with the, uh,

most dangerous man in the world.

Gave him two choices.

He came back with "Bezos. Putin".

He thinks I'm in Praskovéyevka.

[LOUIS CHUCKLES LIGHTLY]

You've grown old, Daniel.

Yeah, well, mortality
beats a heavy drum.

I wasn't sure you'd remembered me.

Your book makes no mention
of our prior meeting.

Gritty memoir, dr*gs, humiliation,

self-pity kind of thing.

Mention vampires in one of those,

readers tend to call bullshit.

You've had some health concerns of late.

Whole planet's having a moment, I'd say.

You have Parkinson's disease, Daniel.

Yeah.

And you've got your own hangar
at the airport,

privileges on the Royal Meydan Bridge,

and zero presence online.

Have I hit a nerve?

I know the Emirates are big on privacy,

and that's probably important to you,

but I gotta ask, what does it cost,

this haven't-aged-in-half-a-century,

k*ller-views-in-all-directions
anonymity?

Quite a lot.

Only my family and my doctor
know I'm sick.

I don't dig the one-way hack.

Yeah?

And here's another question.

That's the sun out there.

Where's your coffin?

You're standing in it.

I have to be very careful whom I let in.

[SIZZLING]

[GROANS]

Yeah, well, things didn't
end well the last time,

so forgive me if I'm a little nervous.

LOUIS: This, after all I've told
you, is what you ask for, boy?!

DANIEL: Yeah, well, you don't
know what human life is like.

I mean, you've forgotten, man.

I mean, you don't even
understand the meaning

of your own story!

- [CLATTERING]
- No! Hey, stop!

[SHOUTING]

- [CLICKS]
- You were disrespectful.

I was high.

You were not worthy of my story then.

Maybe your story wasn't worth telling.

You've got the tapes.
Hire a transcriber.

I don't do puff portraiture anymore.

And yet, you got on a plane,

with an auto-immune disease,
in the middle of a pandemic.

Alright.

That's my voice,
but I don't remember it.

I ask all the wrong questions.

- Yes.
- There's contradictions

in your story I never follow up on.

Yes.

The few good ones I do
manage to get out,

you steamroll over them.

It's not an interview. It's a...

It's a fever dream told to an idiot.

Yes.

And you?

Why again? What's changed?

The world, circumstances.

Me, I've changed.

And I, too, find the tapes lacking.

So...

a do-over.

[COMPUTER BEEPS]

Truth and reconciliation.

I ask the questions.
You answer the questions.

Anything that can't be verified,
I send to my researcher.

- No third parties.
- I write it.

You get to see it
before it goes to print.

I get the final edit.

That is not the agreement you signed.

And one more thing.

I do my best work one-on-one.

Would you see to Mr. Molloy's room?

Have Chef prepare a meal for him.

I think it best we start
when our boy's had a rest.

I am not your f*cking boy.

I'm an old man with all
the triggers that come with it.

And I'm ready.

So let's do this.

I'm Daniel Molloy.

It is : in the morning
on June , .

I'm in the penthouse apartment
of the Al Sharaf Towers

across from Mister...

Louis de Pointe du Lac.

So...

Mr. du Lac...

how long have you been dead?

[CHUCKLES]

LOUIS: The year was ,
the fall of the fifth year

of my father's passing
and the fall of the fifth year

as the executor in charge

of the de Pointe du Lac family trust.

- The eldest son.
- The favored son.

And a sizable trust
to oversee as a consequence.

Capital accrued from
plantations of sugar

and the blood of men who looked
like my great grandfather

but did not have his standing.

But then decades of Jim Crow

and the electrified light
of a new century

had vanquished any idea
of a free man of color.

So it followed the only place
in New Orleans

a gentleman of my complexion
could do a righteous business

was a neighborhood called Storyville.

That was the old
red-light district. Yeah?

blocks of drinking, gambling,

and gluttonous whoring.

Okay, so as the honorable executor

of the family's estate, you were in

what business exactly, Mr. du Lac?

You could say I managed and operated

a diversified portfolio of enterprises.

You were a pimp.

The product was desire,

and it came in as many forms
as there were ways to move it.

Of the two dozen sporting
houses on Liberty Street,

I owned eight of them.

Modest in proportion
to the venues on Basin Street.

What they lacked in size and elegance,

they more than made up for
in efficiency and reputation.

Mr. du Lac.

LOUIS: Finn.

You hiding any bills in them
fat f*cking rolls of yours?

I was, admittedly, a rougher thing then.

WOMAN: Mr. du Lac!

You had to be if you wanted to survive.

You couldn't look weak
on Liberty Street.

Damn, Doris, you gon' lose your

good leg runnin' out like that.

Mr. du Lac, sir, we got bad trouble.

I apologize. I apologize. I apologize.

I was only tryna show you my love.

f*ck you.

- [GROANS]
- What happened?

- The cunny hit me!
- Oh, I'm a cunny now?

A minute ago, I was his love.

[GROANS]

- Alderman Fenwick?
- Hmm?

You hit an alderman?
God damn it, Bricks.

He stuck it in my shitbox.

I did no such thing.

Gave him a chance to pull out,
and he kept on f*cking,

so I gave him a little squirt
of my catfish dinner

for going there.

Don't believe me, check his d*ck.

Who the f*ck you talkin' to?
I ain't checkin' no man's d*ck.

- Oh.
- Oh, g*dd*mn.

Hell, I mighta even said yes
if you would just ask.

But I don't care who you is,
you put a d*ck in an assh*le

without asking, that's against Jesus.

f*ck you.

- [LAUGHTER]
- What y'all laughin' at?

Someone go and fetch Doc Johnson.

And you, get some
clean water and a towel.

Get your hands off me, n*gg*r!

You gon' make me regret
my support, you repeat yourself,

Mr. Fenwick.

Louis de Pointe du Lac, sir.

Oh, Pointe du Lac.

Oh, forgive me. I...

It was... There's so much wine.

Don't worry none.
We'll keep this here 'tween us.

Someone got the good doc on the way.

Oh, Miss Williams. Isn't she a vision?

I ain't cleanin' his d*ck.

Oh, Jesus, Mary.

Got a situation here, Finn.

Yeah, well, you got another one
outside .

Man acting the maggot,
driving away business.

Ain't that what I pay you for?

It's a citizen priest.

Do you not realize, sister, your body

is part of Christ the Lord?

- Second time this month.
- When you take that body

and enjoin in harlotry
you are defiling the Lord.

And I could give two moons if
he's your brother, Mr. du Lac.

I'm gonna knock his skull
in the Pontchartrain!

... you deny your victory with Christ.

He shall come again to judge
the living and the dead.

And who has come and gone
will rise again

and throw their bodies
into everlasting fire.

Go on home. Tell Mama not to wait up.

There's blood on your shirt.

What wickedness is it tonight?

You're not helping me here, Paul.

Oh, but I am.

The Lord told me to come, Louis.

In my head, like a family
of birds, many voices,

but also one voice...

Saying it a second time.

Listen to me, please.

I'm having a f*cking night, okay?

I can't have it with you foo...

[GRUNTS]

[CROWD GASPING]

Get on home, else I'll bleed
ya like a kochon, bruh.

[CROWD SHOUTING]

♪ ♪

LOUIS: Did I want to pull
a Kn*fe on my brother?

No.

But as I alluded to before,

you couldn't look weak on Liberty.

You never knew who was watching.

[HORSE NEIGHS]

PAUL: He pulled his Kn*fe on me, Mamaw.

LOUIS: You were disrupting
mother's business interests.

D'you hear that, Mother?
He's made you a madam.

Oh, Paul.

Profiting from the damnation of souls.

Let's not fuss on the particulars.

LOUIS: Mornings with my family
followed a pattern that year.

My mother consumed herself
with preparations

for my sister's wedding,

while Paul confused the dining table

with a pulpit none of us
would recognize.

We should tithe that o'er
to St. Augustine's

'fore this house falls in on us.

This is just a temporary situation

until Louis can find us
a more respectable business.

Daddy was here, we'd
still be in sugar cane.

Daddy was alive,
you'd still be locked up

in that hospital in Jackson.

Louis, let's not have that talk.

A month from my wedding day,
and what do I dream about?

Dancing in my husband's arms?

Children running in the yard? No.

I dream of what a quiet
breakfast might look like.

Your man Levi's a Baptist,
no respect for the Holy Mother.

FLORENCE: Paul!

He's gon' make your daughter
jump a broom.

- I'm sitting right here.
- Plenty of brooms

down the street at
the Mayfair sisters' home.

[LAUGHS]

He's calling me a witch, Mamaw.

Paul de Pointe du Lac,
you walk that back.

[LAUGHING]

DANIEL: Your brother sounds
like a pain in the ass.

LOUIS: Fragile, stubborn, indulged.

I'd promised our father on his death bed

to look after him.

But when Paul's mind was right,
he was no burden.

Point of fact, I loved him
more than anyone on earth.

And our daily stroll to St. Augustine

was the measure of a good day started.

- Good morning, Paul.
- PAUL: Good for you maybe.

Morning, Louis.

Pew's got a good shine.

If it wasn't beneath you,
I'd send shoes your way.

Nothing is beneath me, son.

PAUL: I'm ready, Father.

I wanted to thank the family for
last Sunday's donation.

Baby-sitting money.
Church calms him down some.

Well, we're always here for him.

And the money goes a good way
towards the renovation.

I want Father Matthias. Thank you.

You ain't got nothing
to confess to anyhow.

Wasting a good man's time.

Be right there, Paul.

I haven't seen you in
confession of late, Louis.

[CHUCKLES]

You know, you can always come
here if you're in need, son.

LOUIS: My business and my raised
religion were at odds,

and the, uh...

latencies within me, well,
I b*at those back

with a lie I told myself about myself...

that I was a red-blooded son
of the South,

seeking ass before absolution.

DANIEL: And you maintained
this delusion how exactly?

LOUIS: A particular woman who
worked for the competition.

As if rickety shacks were a competition

for Tom Anderson's Fairplay Saloon.

Ah, Louis du Lac. The night begins.

Miss Carroll, Miss Lily working tonight?

Miss Lily's on the terrace.

It was a palace of opulence
and splendor.

A Sazerac, Mr. du Lac?

That'll do fine, Miss Carroll.

And catered to an almost exclusively

Caucasian clientele,

which helped me separate the locals

from those visiting
from other southern states.

Shakin' the money tree tonight I see,

Mr. Anderson, sir.

Can't see the dirt
for the dollars fallin'.

Private game on Friday
if your datebook is free, Louis.

Can do, Mr. Anderson. Can do.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[MAN SPEAKING FRENCH]

WOMAN: I don't know much
what you're saying.

But it sure sounds nice.

"Only the impossible
can do the impossible".

- [LAUGHS]
- Miss Lily.

Bonsoir, monsieur. Do you speak French?

We speak all sorts of tongues
in New Orleans.

It's a hard table to get.
How'd you manage it?

How'd you manage to get yourself
through the front door?

Excuse me?

I mean that as a compliment,

a man of your race
to have privileges here.

Louis has a small empire
of his own down the street.

- [CHUCKLES]
- It gives him privileges.

[LAUGHS]

Somethin' funny about that?

Your name is Louis.

Of course it's Louis.

I didn't get your name, fella.

I know who you are, sir.

You're the man who made me
buy a townhouse in the quarter.

I owe you everything. Please, join us.

I know sometimes men of my race,

we all look alike to you people.

But I didn't sell you no townhouse.

Louis, have a seat.

Let me explain.

New to the... the New World, I am.

That explains the clothes.

[CHUCKLES] A th-century man
at heart, yes,

making his, uh, trans-Atlantic
journey by ship,

planning very carefully
on settling myself upriver.

WAITER: The Sazerac, sir.

Put that on my account, thank you.

And two more for us.

And another round for the
musicians, whatever they want.

Yes, sir.

Oh, where was I?

On a boat.

[CHUCKLES]

- [GASPS]
- So, I'm out on

the Crescent coast,
floating past your village,

when I hear music playing,

and the shadows of men and women
dancing by the water's edge.

I disembarked for the music,
but then there was the food.

What's been your favorite
this year, Mr. Lioncourt?

A favorite?

- Mm.
- Mm.

She puts a p*stol to my head.

LOUIS: I couldn't believe it.

Staring me down as his hands

went wandering the seams
of Miss Lily's dress.

I wanted to take the end of my cane

and slit his throat with it.

DANIEL: Why didn't you?

I couldn't move.

My body was seized with weakness.

His gaze tied a string around my lungs,

and I found myself immobilized.

And the women, all shades of skin...

white, Black, cinnamon.

I've emptied a bank vault
sampling, I must say.

But it was not until
a few nights later...

... that I said to myself...

"Lestat, unpack your trunks.

You're home". [LAUGHS]

What did he say just now?

A little more than he should of.

I had planned to make a new life
for myself in St. Louis.

That was to be my destiny.

And now I know I was right.

Only it turns out the saint
is not a city,

but a handsome man with
a most agreeable disposition.

You're his destiny, Louis.

Destined to be very good friends.

The Orient room is available
for the next few hours,

Miss Lily.

The gentlemen are swappin'

andouille sausage recipes, Miss Carroll.

Hmm.

♪ ♪

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

CARROLL: The Orient room
is yours, monsieur.

LESTAT: Please get my friend
here anything he wants.

Wonderful to meet you.

I do hope I run into you again, Louis.

LOUIS: Emasculation and
admiration in equal measure.

I wanted to m*rder the man,
and I wanted to be the man.

I had come there for Lily.

But I left thinking of only him.

[FOG HORN BLOWS]

[SINGING IN FRENCH]

[SINGING IN FRENCH]

[SINGING CONTINUES]

[SINGING STOPS]

Come now.

Who the devil...

♪ ♪

[GROWLS]

[SCREAMING]

Our friends in
the police tell me there's

an outbreak of fever in town.

It's unfortunates living
near the wharf, mostly.

If you find yourself
riverside of Decatur...

- [KNOCKING]
- ... you have only yourself

to blame, I say.

Agreed.

Still, very peculiar, they say.

Each one the same...
small wounds to the body,

and upon examination,
entirely devoid of blood.

It is their theory some new kind of rat

has come ashore.

Of the six-foot variety.

We call those bureaucrats in France.

[LAUGHTER]

Gentlemen, well, you all know
Louis du Lac.

Louis, let me introduce
you to Mr. Lestat de Lioncourt.

We met already, Mr. Anderson, sir.

In front of a florist, wasn't it?

We both wanted
the last bouquet of lilies.

Aren't you gonna ask the
alderman how his head is, Louis?

Now, why would I do that,
Mr. Anderson, sir?

You see, Mr. Fenwick,
just as I told you,

a most discreet n*gro.

Would that his doctor
had the same standards.

Gentlemen, show your cards.

Hoo! Mr. Lioncourt,

your hand is incomprehensible.

- [LAUGHTER]
- Oh, yes.

I'm terrible at cards.

Did I not mention that to everyone?

Would you mind getting me
some more of these money chips?

[LAUGHTER]

TOM: Louis, did you know
that Alderman Fenwick here

recently purchased
both the title and deed

to the Horton rooming house
on Villere Street?

Yeah, Mr. Anderson believes
it could make

a fine sportin' house.

I recommended the alderman
find a managing partner

before he commits his money.

I recommended he think of you, Louis.

Very kind of you, Mr. Anderson, sir.

FENWICK: What do you think
of the location?

It ain't Basin Street.

But throw enough Edison bulbs
on the facade,

get a good margin on the alcohol,

no-nonsense madam
to keep the girls clean,

I reckon a man could make a decent sum.

Yes, sir, Mr. Fenwick, sir.

I said you'd do it for percent.

[CHUCKLES] A-all respects, Mr. Anderson,

but you proposing percent
for all the work?

%?

There's capital investment,

and there's labor.

Both has its seat at the table.

Wouldn't you say, Mr. Lestat?

Well, I can only speak of my experience,

which is, I'm sure,
different in my country.

Par exemple, you fine gentlemen
have heard of the success story

that is Le Bon Marché, shopping
experience like no other.

Aristide Boucicaut invests
in a new vision...

LESTAT: These men look down on you.

I have to say, I find it
appalling how men like yourself

are treated in this country of yours.

It is undeniable. I came
to my wealth honestly

and at great sacrifice, I might add.

However, it was not
the sacrifice of many.

I had no partners in my various...

- LESTAT: percent.
- The financial risks...

percent.

Do you not know your value?

Do you suffer these indignities
for some larger purpose?

♪ ♪

And do you think two pair
will win the hour?

I believe there is great
opportunity in this city,

but to seize it, I'll need
protection from the wolves.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

And that's all to say,

forgive me, Mr. de Pointe du Lac,

for my bias, but where is the business

if there is no capital?

- It does not exist. No?
- Alright, boys.

Show 'em.

Ooh.

Full boat, Mr. du Lac.

Got you b*at, Tom.

LOUIS: He wouldn't tell me
how he did it,

his trick to make the world stop.

"In time, Louis. Patience, Louis.

Ask me next week, Louis".

DANIEL: You started hanging out?

LOUIS: He was in love with my city

and wanted to know
everything he could about it.

DANIEL: So you played docent
to the gentleman vampire?

LOUIS: He had not revealed
his vampire nature yet.

I'm assuming you only met at night.

It's New Orleans.

Days are for sleeping off
the previous evening's damage.

Perfect cover for a vampire.

Racing ahead again, Mr. Molloy.

Let the tale seduce you.

Just as I was seduced.

Money would arrive, wired from France,

and the shopkeepers, who would
usually close at sunset,

were very happy to accommodate him.

He ransacked the import houses
to furnish his town house,

ravaged the booksellers of
their oldest volumes

for a library,

and, with encouragement,
updated his wardrobe

to the fashion trends of the season.

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.

I was being hunted.

And I was completely unaware
it was happening.

I'm switchin' rooms.

I don't need to hear you and
your good man making noise.

GRACE: You'd have to
be home to hear that.

- I come home nights.
- You come home some nights.

Out cattin' with some white man, I hear.

He ain't white, he French.

Oh. That's a new kind of white, is it?

French white?

He different.

Invite him over for dinner.

Mother loves European.

I'm gon' tell Levi you fishin'
for a richer man.

Don't. Don't deny your sister.

I wanna meet this French white.

[INDISTINCT TALKING]

I'm just trying to give you
the word of the Lord.

Understa... Yes. Yes. No.
That is never my...

Paul crawled up on my bed last night.

[PAUL CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]

Wept for good near an hour.

He ain't takin' it, you gettin' married.

Levi told me of a place over in Gretna,

takes in men like Paul.

It's not some crazy
person's house like...

How'd that work last time, huh?

He come out worse than before.

Gretna. It ain't happenin'.

He d*ed on the cross for you.

Yes... you.

I worry.

- I worry so much...
- Worry about your own life.

Worry about being a bride.

Worry about what you gon' wear

in London, in Paris, Florence.

Now, y'all gon' be in
steerage outta New York,

but once you get to Europe,

it's first class on boats,
trains, and hotel rooms.

What did you go and do? [LAUGHS]

You should put the band by the deck

and the food by the fountain.

[LAUGHS]

Mamaw!

I'm goin' 'round the world! [LAUGHS]

♪ ♪

[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]

I can't thank you enough, Mama du Lac.

I never been east of Alabama,

and now I'm going to see the pyramids.

Oh, I think every young family deserves

a little adventure.

Wouldn't you say, Monsieur Lioncourt?

Oui, Madame.

My mother, she gave me
every advantage in life

as a young man.

My first Mastiff, first flintlock r*fle,

the means to make my way to Paris.

It was Louis that purchased
your holiday, Levi.

It's Louis who controls the money.

Pay no mind, Levi.

And I don't know who gave you the right

to call our mother your mother.

She's not your mother yet

and will never be
your scientific mother.

FLORENCE: Paul.

I do love this bouillabaisse.

Wha?

Down here, we call it gumbo.

We had a gumbo the other night,
didn't we, Louis?

Uh, right after the opera.

Oh, we've got Louis to an opera.

- "Iolanta".
- 'Bout some blind princess,

didn't know she was a princess.

Stomach got grumbling,
left half way through.

And what exactly is the nature
of your relationship with

my brother, Monsieur Lioncourt?

Your brother and I have been discussing

a few investment opportunities.

The birds asked me to ask you.

I wasn't being rude.

Monsieur Freniere, would you tell me

how you came to propose
to this delightsome young woman?

Oh, that's a good yarn.

Are you one with Christ, Mr. Lioncourt?

How 'bout you shut your damn mouth?

- FLORENCE: Louis.
- That's alright,

Louis, Madame, the birds speak for him.

I came to know Christ in a monastery.

I wanted to be a priest.

Just like you, Paul.

And under the guidance
and discipline of the monks

who lived there, I came
to memorize both the testaments,

the writings of Assisi,

Aquinas, Erasmus,
all the saints and scholars.

My father, a vulgar man, did not
think much of this education,

and so he and my brothers
conspired to pull me out,

lock me away, where, between beatings,

starvations, and the failure of Christ

to intercede the beatings
and starvations,

I slowly forgot all about
the testaments, Assisi,

Aquinas, Erasmus, all of it.

- Stop.
- And so to answer

your boring question, there is an ocean

- between Christ and myself.
- Stop!

Don't do that sh*t here!

Not with my family.

You understand?

I am cursed with my father's
temper at times,

and the rudeness is all mine.

FLORENCE: That's alright.

It's the humidity.
It does that sometimes.

Why don't we have some ice wine?

[BELL RINGING]

And Levi here can tell us all again

how he won my joychild's heart.

I fear your family has taken
a permanent offense at me.

When Paul ain't pickin' at his plate,

he pickin' a fight.

If I had your tricks,
I'd have done the same.

You must envy him.

The boy thinks God speaks to him
through birds in his head.

How you figure envy?

The liberty he has with his thoughts.

However misshapen they may be,

your brother has no shame
in sharing them.

You sayin' I got shame?

The lie you told about leaving
the opera house early.

You were near weeping
when the curtain fell.

Why hide that from your family?

Don't everybody need to know what I do.

Dishonesty breeds dishonesty.

They sit in judgment.

Paul is the only one
to say it to my face,

but I know my ma
and Grace think it, too.

My daddy ran our sugar business
into a swamp.

When he passed, we was four months...

four months from going bankrupt
if I didn't do something.

You don't need to defend
yourself to me, Louis.

I know what you go through
to keep your family

ignorant in their comfort.

It ain't easy, the work I do.

Nothing but broken souls around me,

and the ones that
ain't broke are greedy.

Bone-tired.

Drink up, my good man.

The Earth's a savage garden.

You did good gettin' off
that boat when you did.

St. Louis is dull as dishwater.

Yes, I feel quite at home here.

Shall we have a nightcap?

Um...

Probably had enough for tonight.

Gotta make my rounds back on Liberty.

You must, Louis.

I bought you a gift.

A gift?

A flower.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[MUSIC BOX PLAYING]

♪ ♪

That's a nice music box you got there.

It's one of the few things
I brought with me

from the continent.

What's that lil' song playin'?

Do you like it?

I composed it for a young
violinist I once knew,

a boy of infinite beauty
and sensitivity.

I believe that is for
the lips, Miss Lily.

I don't like the way mine look plain.

And Mr. du Lac don't mind when I do it.

Mm-hmm.

A pair of misfit beauties.

I can see why you both run to the other.

Miss Carroll know you're here, Lily?

I can assure you, the Fairplay has been

handsomely compensated for the evening.

Sent a two-horse carriage to pick me up.

Felt like the queen of the quarter.

I told Mr. Lioncourt,
you and me usually just talk.

And why is that, Louis?

What kind of a man
wastes this waist with words?

A beautiful man.

There's nothing to be nervous about.

The curtains are closed,
the servants sent home.

Even the planets and stars
are blindfolded.

That's your thing, then?
You like to watch?

LESTAT: I've been watching you
for some time now, Louis.

From river to lake, lake back to river,

looking for my companion heart.

How you do that?

Do what?

Do what?

Get in my head like that.

Such a pretty head.

♪ ♪

[MOANS]

♪ ♪

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

That's fine, love.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Ah. Ah.

[SHUDDERS]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

It bears repeating,
I did not consider myself

a h*m* man at the time.

I mean, I had had experiences.

Guilt, shame,

floating-on-a-sea-of-vodka
type encounters.

Obviously, I've come
to embrace my sexuality.

Course, you know that.

We met at a gay bar, didn't we, Daniel?

It was a good place to score.

I did what I had to.

You've been married?

Twice.

But we're not here for me, are we?

When you were using dr*gs, Mr. Molloy,

do you remember the best you ever had?

Berkeley, .

Some Mexican black tar that
Carly and Pedro were slinging.

So imagine that

flowing inside your veins again.

Now multiply it by miles,

to the rings of Saturn and back.

[BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY]

LOUIS: He had taken what
he called "un petit coup"...

the little drink.

Not enough to k*ll me,

but just enough to keep him fit.

It takes an enormous amount
of restraint for us,

the little drink.

For a human, experiencing it
for the first time,

it was...

unsettling.

And not for the physical toll
on my body,

which was significant,

but for the feelings of
intimacy it awoke within me.

♪ ♪

I had never allowed myself

to feel emotionally close to anyone,

much less a man.

I had no room for feelings
like these in my life.

♪ ♪

You could be a lot of things
in New Orleans,

but an openly gay n*gro man
was not one of 'em.

[DOOR OPENS]

I vowed never to return again.

I shut that night out of my mind

and turned my attentions back
to life as it was before.

[DOOR CLOSES]

CROWD: One, two, three, jump!

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

PHOTOGRAPHER: Hold still now.

GRACE: We are missing my father today.

He's supposed to dance with me
to start the night off.

[FLASH BULB POPS]

I'm trying not to cry now.

And I thought the best
way to honor Daddy

would be to make my brothers
do the work.

WOMAN: Mm!

Mm-hmm.

Half of y'all don't know this,

but these no-good boys used to
shuffle for pennies on Sunday.

Called themselves "The ABCDEFGs".

- [LAUGHTER]
- Remember that, Father Matthias?

Oh, yes. ABCDE...

"Alter Boys Come Dancing

- Every day For God".
- "For God".

That's right!

FATHER MATTHIAS: I remember
their collection hat

didn't always make it
to the collection plate.

That's right. [LAUGHS]

Paul, Louis?

- LEVI: Oh, come on, now.
- Please!

- Hey, now.
- Come on, please!

It's for me

- on my wedding day.
- Come on, brother.

[LAUGHS]

- [GROANS]
- Alright!

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Shoes are tight.

Oh, the shoes is fine.
It's the feet that's fat.

[LAUGHTER]

Hey, what kinda rhythm you want, boss?

Just play it loud
so they can't hear our feet.

[LAUGHTER]

[UP-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYS]

Alright. What you remember?

Um...

♪ ♪

Hey, come on.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[LAUGHS]

- Hey!
- Go ahead now!

[MUSIC STOPS]

[CROWD CHEERING, WHISTLING]

- Whoo!
- Hey! Hey!

- [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
- You still got it!

[SHOES TAPPING RHYTHMICALLY]

MAN: Alright! Okay!

[MUSIC RESUMES]

They still got it!

[CHEERING]

[TAPPING CONTINUES]

- Oh!
- Yeah, Louis!

[CHEERING]

♪ ♪

Okay. You ain't gon' do it.
You ain't gon' do it.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

♪ ♪

That's right!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

Amazing.

♪ ♪

[MUSIC ENDS, APPLAUSE]

♪ ♪

[DOG BARKING]

♪ ♪

We gonna miss it.

Quit talkin'. I have to concentrate.

It's them three pieces of
checkered cake holding you back.

Five pieces of checkered cake,
the Pompano fillet,

three boudins, dirty rice,

beef, green beans, five, six wines.

- [GROANS]
- Eat anything else,

the buttons on your vest gon' pop off

like cannon balls,

take down the neighborhood.

[PAUL GROANS]

♪ ♪

, .

That's how many days
we've been in his house.

You do that math all by yourself?

You remember the day
I got taller than you?

Always bringin' that up.

sh*t up like a Nuttall oak.

Daddy said I was gon' look down
on you for the rest of days.

Yeah, yeah.

Half an inch.

That was a good month, that month.

♪ ♪

I think you should get married next.

Do you now?

And you should marry Hazel.

Hazel? Who that?

The one you were dancing too close with.

You dance that close,
you ought to be married.

I didn't catch her name.

Well, it's Hazel.

[CHURCH BELLS TOLL IN DISTANCE]

[GRUNTS]

You still doing business
with that man Lestat?

Nah. Didn't work out.

That's good.

'Cause he the Devil.

You think everyone's the Devil.

He's here to take souls. He told me so.

He spoke to me without moving his lips.

He got tricks is all.

Mortal sins must be confessed, Louis.

Ain't never gon' see him again, Paul.

You think Levi loves her enough?

You know, Grace needs a lot of love.

I do.

Do you think he's givin' her
everything he's got inside him?

Mm-hmm.

♪ ♪

Mother made a good party for Grace.

Mm-hmm, yeah.

Yeah, they gon' talk
about this one for years.

Yeah.

♪ ♪

I love you, Louis.

And I love you, too, baby brother.

♪ ♪

I ate too much checkered cake.

♪ ♪

Paul.

♪ ♪

Paul!

[THUD]

Paul!

[WOMAN GASPING]

- MAN: Oh, my lord!
- WOMAN: Paul!

♪ ♪

That was the last sunrise I ever saw.

Perhaps the kindest thing
the dark gift has given me.

♪ ♪

I don't miss the sun,

the reminders it carries.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I have seen death over and over

and over and over again.

It's boring.

That'll make a great blurb.

The diagnosis you received, Daniel,

it winds your clock.

This virus has turned
the world sideways.

I get it.

I'm gonna die.

They're gonna die.

But not the vampire.

The vampire is bored.

The human was destroyed.

Utterly destroyed.

FATHER MATTHIAS:
I was at the funeral home.

Everything is going as it should.

Good men there. Promised me that...

You musta said something to him, Louis.

You musta said something to him

to make him do that to himself.

Paul slipped and fell, Florence.

I don't think this is something
you want to pursue.

He was a fragile boy.

He always was.

And you, you always had
to have the last word,

didn't you, Louis?

You always had to take him down a peg.

Mamaw.

What did you say to him?

Why was you even up there?

Watchin' the sun come up, Mama.

[SIGHS]

You don't get past the gates
iffen you k*ll yourself.

Don't you know that?

Paul gone down the other way.

Paul's in Hell because of you.

♪ ♪

LOUIS: Storyville lowered their hats,

gave their propers,
because it was custom.

But if you look past those
lined up on the sidewalk,

you'd see the bars
hadn't stopped serving,

the whores hadn't stopped whoring.

What was Paul's life worth to them?

What was my life worth?

The big man of Liberty Street,

trailing the satin-lined
evidence of his failure.

Easy prey for the discerning predator.

An elegant coffin. Would you
tell me where you purchased...

Move on.

I wait on my balcony every night.

- You've been avoiding me.
- I have been occupied.

Miss Lily proved herself
a poor substitute.

And I don't take kindly
to being avoided.

It's my brother's funeral!

Believe me when I tell you,

your brother longed for that flagstone.

What'd you say to me?!

I got it, boss. Keep walking.

♪ ♪

[GROANS]

♪ ♪

LOUIS: Lestat's ambush
had disoriented me.

The sermon that was given,
I could not hear.

And when the gathering
cut loose the body,

I could not join the transformation

of those in attendance.

He would not let me.

LESTAT: Come to me.

Come to me.

No.

♪ ♪

Walk you home, Mama?

No, thank you.

Levi, do you mind?

Of course, Mama Du Lac.

She didn't mean nothin' by it.

Oh, but she did now.

She just needs to put it somewhere.

Don't let it inside.

[SMOOCHES]

See you back at the wake?

♪ ♪

Come to me.

LOUIS: I did not go to the wake.

I did not want to face
my mother's blame...

[THUNDER CRACKS]

... my sister's pity.

I wanted to grieve alone.

But he would not allow it.

LESTAT: Come to me, Louis.

Come to me.

♪ ♪

Hello, handsome.

Sazerac.

My heart broke when I heard of
your brother's passing.

Miss Lily.

Oh, my dear.

I don't care if she busy with someone.

I'll pay more.

'Cause I like Miss Lily,
and I need Miss Lily.

Miss Lily d*ed, Mr. du Lac.

Two weeks ago.

[TABLE CLATTERS]

Police found her under the docks.

Said she contracted the fevers
that's been going around.

Blood went and dried up inside her.

Viens à moi.

[POUNDING ON DOOR]

LOUIS: Father! Father Matthias!

Help me!

[POUNDING CONTINUES]

Help me, please.
He's in my head, Father.

The Devil is in New Orleans.

FATHER MATTHIAS: Calm down, son.

Catch your breath.

[PANTING]

Bless me, Father, f-for I have sinned.

Grievously sinned.

Sign of the cross, son.

♪ ♪

[BREATHING RAGGEDLY]

I'm a drunk, Lord.

I'm a liar.

I am a thief, Lord.

I profit off the miseries of other men,

and I do it easy.

dr*gs, liquor, women.

I-I-I-I lure them in and
grab what they got, Lord.

I take daughters with no homes

and I-I put 'em out on the street, Lord,

and I lie to myself, saying
I-I'm giving them a roof

and food and dollar bills
in they pocket,

but I look in the mirror,
I know what I am...

the big man in the big house,

stuffing cotton in my ears
so I can't hear their cries.

And Lord, I dragged my family
into this mess with me.

I shame my father.

I f... I failed my brother.

No, son.

I lost my mother and sister,

and rather than fix it
like a man should, Lord,

I run like a coward.

I run to the bottle.

I run to the grift.

I run to bad beds.

I-I laid down with a man.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

I laid down with the Devil.

And he has roots in me,

all his spindly roots in me,

and I can't think nothin' anymore

but his voice and his words!

- [DOOR OPENS]
- Please, help me!

- [METAL CLATTERS]
- I am weak!

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

I wanna die!

[RATTLING]

Oh!

[CRASHING]

[SCREAMS]

[FLESH TEARING]

[cr*ck]

[MUFFLED GROAN]

♪ ♪

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

No!

♪ ♪

Do you think God heard you, Louis,

in that tawdry box,
through this pig vessel,

this... this charlatan?

Do you not see how unworthy he is?

How can you humiliate
yourself like this?!

[GROANS]

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

♪ ♪

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

You k*lled Lily.

Cut short that magnificent
life she was living.

What a tragedy.

Ain't no fever out there. That's you.

You bringin' the death to town.

I give death to those deserving.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

I'm not the Devil.

You were wrong about that.

But I can give you death.

[SHOE SQUEAKS]

[THUNDER CRASHES]

♪ ♪

[GASPS]

♪ ♪

[WHIMPERS, GRUNTS]

♪ ♪

[FOOTSTEPS ECHOING]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

This primitive country
has picked you clean.

It has shackled you in permanent exile.

Every room you enter,

every hat you are forced to wear...

the stern landlord,
the deferential businessman,

the loyal son...

all these roles you conform to

and none of them your true nature.

[THUNDER CRASHES]

What rage you must feel
as you choke on your sorrow.

The first time I laid eyes on you,

your beautiful face,

I saw that sorrow.

I did not know how it got there

or why it was so voluminous.

I can take away that sorrow, Louis.

I can give you that death

you begged your feeble,
blind, degenerate,

nonexistent god for.

But I can do it...

joyfully.

I can swap this life of shame,

swap it out for a dark gift

and a power you can't begin to imagine.

You just have to ask me for it.

You just have to nod
your beautiful head...

and say yes.

♪ ♪

I love you, Louis.

You are loved.

I send my love to you,

and you send it back round to me.

And this circle,

this home we barely had a glimpse of...

... know it frightens me
as much as it does you.

LOUIS: It is difficult to explain

how his words disarmed me,

how efficiently succinct
and impenetrable

his argument was.

All my conceptions,

even my guilt and my wish to die

seemed utterly unimportant,

and I completely forgot myself

and the barbaric scene
that surrounded me.

For the first time in my life,
I was seen.

Be my companion, Louis.

Be all the beautiful things you are,

and be them without apology.

For all eternity.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

He drained me to the
very threshold of death.

♪ ♪

[GROANS]

Mm.

♪ ♪

[SUCKING]

♪ ♪

[BREATHES DEEPLY]

♪ ♪

[SUCKING]

The blood, it came
as a dull roar at first.

And then a pounding,

like the pounding of a drum,

growing louder and louder,

as if some enormous creature

were coming through
a dark and alien forest.

A huge drum.

[HEART b*ating SLOWLY]

And then, there came
a pounding of another drum,

as if another giant
were coming behind him,

each giant intent on his own drum,

giving no notice
to the rhythm of the other.

Throbbing in my lips, fingers,
and flesh of my temple.

[HEARTBEATS THRUMMING]

Above all, in my veins.

Drum, and then the other drum.

[GASPS]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[SIGHS]

♪ ♪

I opened my eyes.

And it was then that I realized

the drum was my heart,

and the other drum had been his.

I saw him sitting a length away from me.

Radiant.

And we sat there for some time.

In throes of increasing wonder.

♪ ♪

The end.

♪ ♪

The beginning.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I'm a vampire.

♪ ♪

I walked my entire life as a dead man

and now could finally receive
the secrets of existence.

You alone of all creatures
can strike like the hand of God.

I did not readily take to k*lling.

You're ashamed of what we are.

And then my Claudia, my redemption.

We're a family?

No! Don't!

[MAN SHOUTS]

DANIEL: For a k*lling machine,

I kind of like her.

Am I from the devil?

- Is my very nature...
- [BABY CRIES]

... that of the devil?

♪ ♪

This is not a life!

That is 'cause you took my life!

♪ ♪

Embrace what you are!
You are a k*ller, Louis!

♪ ♪

Okay.

Did you eat the baby?

[CHUCKLES SINISTERLY]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I'm Daniel Molloy, across from Mr...

Louis de Pointe du Lac.

So, Mr. du Lac, how long have
you been dead?

[LAUGHS]

Hi, I'm Rolin Jones,
Executive Producer for

"Interview with the Vampire",

and this is your Episode Insider.

There are stories at there
that need to be told.

I'm Daniel Molloy.

Daniel Molly, he's a journalist
who's sort of on

the nadir of his career,
and a package arrives

and inside is a great deal of history

that he did not want to remember.

I got to call you back.

JONES: When he was a young journalist,

he made a series of tapes
with a vampire.

LOUIS: I think I want
to tell the real stor...

He's sort of given an invitation
to revisit this interview

and do it right and proper when both

have lived a little life
and are way more

comfortable in their skin.

So... a do over.

Truth and reconciliation.

He's a very different vampire,
so he's got a lot on his mind.

Lestat sees Louis de Pointe du Lac

for the first time pulling
a Kn*fe on his brother,

and oh, that's intriguing.

There's some potential there
to be a companion predator.

Then, in the middle of this poker scene,

you can see he has been on his mind.

There's a sh*t where
he's sort of staring longingly

at Louis while Louis is shining
his business acumen,

and he goes, "I'm gonna show him.

I'm gonna give him a little insight

about what I can do.

These men look down on you.

I find it appalling
how men like yourself

are treated in this country.

So he does a little vampire
parlor trick, as it were.

I believe there is great
opportunity in this city,

but to see that, I'll need
protection from the wolves.

[BANGS TABLE]

JONES: There is a sort
of predator angle to this.

Louis fully admits later
I was being hunted.

Lestat would not see that.

Lestat would say I was courting him.

LESTAT: Come to me, Louis.

That take Louis to a place

where he find the church
is the only place he can go.

Help me, please.
He's in my head, Father.

Lestat has entered his mind,
heart and soul,

and he wants it out and
he's feeling great regret.

I laid down with the devil.

Help me!

I am weak, and I want to die.

He just pours it out, screaming to a God

he hasn't talked to in a long time.

[GASPS]

[SCREAMS]

Lestat has a very different idea
about organized religion.

[GRUNTS]

This charlatan!

Do you not see how unworthy he is?

How could you humiliate
yourself like this?!

We are catching Lestat
at a very vulnerable

and emotionally out-of-control moment,

and he takes it out on these two priest

in front of Louis and then has
to make a very, very

quick and aggressive and try
to really give the big pitch.

I can swap this life of shame,

swap it out for a dark gift

and a power you can't begin to imagine.

He manages to pull it off...

the idea of being seen,
the idea of him being loved.

Be my companion, Louis.

Be all the beautiful things you are.

And despite the barbaric scene,
as he says,

he got him at the right moment.

♪ ♪

LOUIS: And we set there for some time

in throes of increasing wonder.

The end.

♪ ♪

The beginning.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪