Book VI of The Vampire Chronicles. Eternally young and angelic in looks, the Vampire Armand returns to New Orleans where the Vampire Lestat sleeps. Armand tells his tale and recalls the brutality, magnificent decadence and devil worship of his past, from a half forgotten childhood in Russia to slavery in Constantinople: from Renaissance Venice where he is saved from death by the dark gift of Marius, the greatest Vampire of them all, to nineteenth century Paris, where he is the leader of the Theatre des Vampires. Now, in New Orleans, Armand is forced to make a decision - he must choose between the existence of twilight immortality and the salvation of his immortal soul.