Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (The Vampire Chronicles 12)

Fareed and Seth were looking at one another. Something was wrong.

Suddenly Amel spoke to me softly as if he didn't want anyone else to hear, but of course most of them could hear. "Do it," said Amel. "Nobody will die. You won't die because I'm inside you, and I and your body will simply be waiting for your heart to be restarted, that's all. And they won't die, all the others, because they are safe and intact and they will likely be disconnected almost at once."

"At once?"

"Exactly," said Fareed. "Amel is correct, don't you see? Go back to when the Mother was killed. You all suffered. But if Amel had not been rescued and transferred within seconds, the connection would have broken. And likely none of you would have died. Akasha alone would have died. And Amel would have been--."

"Released," said Seth.

"I'm not following. When Akasha was put into the sun, vampires all over the world died in flames."

"They were all connected," said Fareed. "Don't lose sight of the goal. It is to disconnect."

"Lestat," said David, "what they are saying is--you were almost all disconnecting after Akasha died. If Amel hadn't been rescued by Mekare, you would have all been disconnected. But Amel was rescued and found a new host before the web disintegrated. For the web to disintegrate, it must take some time."

"Same with the second time," said Fareed. "If you had not taken Amel into yourself, Lestat--if Mekare had been allowed to perish with Amel inside of her--all the vampires of the world would be free."

"You're talking in circles," I said. "How could she have perished without us perishing?"

"I think I know," said Louis. "If her heart had been stopped for a long time before her perishing, the disconnect would have been complete, and then however she perished, no one would have felt her death but her."

I was stunned, but even I, with my foolish lack of scientific understanding, could see the logic. Well, almost.

"We might lose Amel," I said. "That's what you're saying. Stop my heart which is death but not destruction. And when it's started up again, they'll all be disconnected, everybody will be disconnected, but what if when my heart stops, he disconnects from me?"

"But I don't think he can," said Fareed shaking his head. "Not as long as your body is intact, and waiting there safely to be resuscitated. No."

He's right.

"This is all too theoretical," said Flannery Gilman. "All that might happen is Lestat is in suspended animation for an hour, and all the rest of the vampires of the world die."

"It's possible," said David.

"Not likely," said Fareed. "What's likely is that some will take longer to disconnect than others, but the web of connections will perish because no blood is being pumped through the body of the host. And when Lestat is revived Amel will be there as before. But the web will be gone."

Another huge free-for-all argument ensued. I was dejected beyond words. I held up my hands for silence.

"Amel, are you willing for us to do this?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"Then I say we do it," said Fareed. "Otherwise we are back to the near-impossible task of severing each vampire individually."

Slowly they all came to full agreement, though Rose was the last one to come around. Rose had been arguing for the disconnect of individuals to proceed exactly as it had taken place with Louis and Fareed. She didn't want to think of my heart being stopped. But when Fareed began to name all of the many individuals, and to speak of how any fledglings I ever made in the future would be connected to me--until severed--and to speak of a multitude of other difficulties, she threw up her hands and agreed.

We would do this tomorrow night while I was still in my crypt, safe from any twilight rays lingering in the night sky. And with the great door sealed, and only Fareed and Louis and Gremt with me inside. That way, if Kapetria drew any conclusions from the radio alert, I'd be protected, with Thorne and Cyril outside my door.

Fareed would give me the injection to stop my heart and he'd be there to reverse it but Gremt would also have a syringe and so would Louis.

There was some other equipment involved, drugs, something, but I couldn't follow it. The main point was we would do it at that time when many young vampires at Court and all over Europe had not risen yet, and hope for the best.

For all we knew not all of the vampires of the Chateau would experience unconsciousness. It was entirely possible that the very old ones like Seth and Gregory would not at all. They might be weak, failing in vision, even limp and unable to move, but they might remain conscious and able to present a deterrent if Kapetria, intrigued by the alert, tried to enter the Chateau. After all Mekare and Maharet, old as they were, had managed to keep functioning when Akasha had been decapitated, but of course that was only for a few seconds...ah, but who really knew?

I could focus upon only one aspect of this: my heart would stop; the blood would stop circulating; but nothing else would really happen to my brain or my body. Amel would remain in me. I'd be safe in my coffin.

Whatever the case, the crypt of the Chateau was the best place to do it, and the more ancient ones would be gathered on the stairway that led down to the crypt.

Benji picked up as soon as we called.