"You really should go back, Louis," Kathryn said, leaning against the bar, her eyes surveying the club.

"This isn't the answer, Kathryn," Louis said for the thirtieth time. "Come back with me, and..."

She shook her head. "No," she replied again, her eyes lighting on the perfect candidate. She turned back to Louis. "I need to do this, my friend." She lay a gentle hand on his arm. "I've lost so much tonight, you don't know...I need..." She looked away, back to her prize. "I need to feed, and feed well," she added softly, too softly for anyone but Louis to hear.

"You are more like Lestat than you wish," Louis replied just as softly, snapping her gaze back to him.

She opened her mouth to protest, then stopped. She turned back to her prize and hunger rippled through her. "Maybe I am," she admitted finally, turning back to Louis. "Go back, my friend," she said softly, kissing his cheek gently.

"Will you come to the house after?" he asked with a sigh, slowly rising.

She nodded, then hugged him impulsively. "I won't greet the dawn just yet."

His strong arms held her close for one moment, then with a gentle kiss on her cheek, he left the club.

She watched him go. He didn't understand, never had. He'd never truly embraced his vampiric nature. Claudia had tried to help him, once, but he still thought and felt too much like a mortal. She smiled sadly for a moment, then let her dark gaze find her prize once more.

She was dancing with brunette woman, there, in the back. Her glorious mane of blonde hair fell in waves of sunlight. Kathryn smiled and slowly made her way through the club. Once she was about a foot away, she used her power, calling to the blonde.

The blonde's blue eyes found her, and she smiled. One brief word to the woman she'd been with, then she headed for Kathryn, following her out of the club into the dimly lit alley.

The blonde's slim arms wrapped around Kathryn's waist as she leaned into her, pressing her against the brick wall of the club. "I been lookin' at you all night," the blonde said, her hot mouth nuzzling Kathryn's neck, "you and that guy you were with."

Kathryn ran her hands over the blonde's shoulders, skimmed lightly over her braless breasts. She fought down the hunger. Oh, so close. Her blood flowed hot and strong in her veins. Kathryn's mouth watered. "He's just a friend," Kathryn replied, pinching the blonde's nipples lightly through her thin shirt.

The blonde's head fell back as she moaned softly, revealing the pale slim column of her throat. Kathryn's eyes fastened on the pulsebeat, throbbing just beneath her skin. She licked her lips.

The blonde rubbed against Kathryn, arching her hips against her. "Let's go someplace," she said, her hands now squeezing Kathryn's breasts, "I wanna taste you."

Kathryn smiled, revealing her lengthening fangs. "I feel the same way," she said, and buried her face in the blonde's neck.

One startled gasp then the blonde moaned softly, tilting her head to the side.

Kathryn sank her fangs into the vein that pounded beneath her lips. Blood flowed, thick and hot and rich, into her, making her moan. She held the blonde closer, biting now, sucking hard all the blood she could. More, she thought, her nails raking down the blonde's back, pulling her closer. Still the blood flowed, hot and rich. Kathryn shuddered, drinking it all.

The blonde's pulse was dangerously slow when Kathryn pulled back, and looked at her. Her blonde hair still fell in shimmering waves, but her skin was eerily pale. Her face was contorted still in some mute expression of ecstasy.

Kathryn frowned, seeing another face, remembering the same expression when she'd drunk her blood. Growling softly, she raked her nails down the blonde's face, tearing the skin. Drops of blood rose to the surface, and Kathryn licked them away, leaving jagged tears in the blonde's flesh. There, still faint, the beat of her heart. Kathryn gently placed a soft kiss on the blonde's lips, gripped her head in her hands and twisted. The blonde's neck snapped, and her head lolled drunkenly to one side.

"Feel better?"

Kathryn spun, dropping the blonde's limp body to the alley floor and glared at Lestat. "Enjoy the show?" she asked snidely.

Lestat nodded as he walked over to her, gently toed the blonde's body with one foot. "We should dispose of the body in the river. There'll be too many questions otherwise."

Kathryn didn't move, just stared at him.

Lestat met her gaze. "We need to talk, you and I, but not here." He casually lifted the blonde's body, draped her over his shoulder, then met Kathryn's dark gaze. "Be at the house in 20 minutes, it shouldn't take me longer than that." His sapphire gaze held her dark one. "Please, Kathryn."

She hesitated for a long moment, then nodded. "I'll be there."

Lestat nodded as well, then slowly rose.

She watched him until he disappeared from sight. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, let her powers fill her. Then, she, too, was slowly rising. Adrift in the night sky, she concentrated, then she was moving. Lestat's house loomed in her mind, and she went.

End Part 4