Louis de Pointe du Lac was 25 years old when he received the Dark Gift in 1791. Louis' father died when he was young, so he had to care for his mother, sister, and brother as well as run the family plantation. By the age of 12, Louis' brother cared only for the church, its saints and living piously; entering the priesthood was his only dream. At the age of 15, his brother started having religious visions, and everyone thought he had gone insane. Louis and his brother fought about the visions, so he blamed himself when his brother fell down the steps and broke his neck, killing himself instantly. Louis and the rest of his family moved to New Orleans. Shortly after arriving there, the vampire Lestat attacked Louis and gave him the Dark Gift. Lestat wanted Louis' plantation, Pointe du Lac, so they become companions, but Lestat never actually signed the deed over to him. Lestat shows Louis how to feed on humans, but he never reveals any details or insights on being a vampire. They move to the city where Louis deals with killing and Lestat revels in the hunt. Lestat and Louis make Claudia, a five year old girl, into a vampire and they raise her as their daughter. Claudia and Louis grow to hate Lestat, so the fiendish girl poisons him, and then they throw his slashed body into the swamp. Louis and his "daughter" go to Europe in search of more vampires. Louis hunts down a savage vampire that is attacking the countryside and defeats it. Their continuing search for vampires brings them to Paris where they are invited to the Theatre of the Vampires. Here real vampires pretend to be humans dressed up as vampires. Armand leads the coven of vampires there at the theatre, and Louis is in awe of him. Tensions build between Louis and Claudia, so she finds a human "mother", Madeleine.
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?? BC--The vampires that Enkil and Akasha created spread over the world and formed two groups: the "good" and "evil." The evil vampires imprisoned their creators and fed off them to increase their powers. Egyptian priests, worshipping the sun god, Amon Ra, opened the vampires' tombs and burned them with the sun, destroying many of the evil ones.
Circa 0-100 AD?--Marius, the illegitimate son of a Roman noble, is captured by Mael and the Gauls to be made a "god of the Grove." After receiving the Dark Gift from the old god, Marius flees to Egypt to find why the vampires have burned. Marius encounters the Elder who reluctantly tells him the story of the Mother and the Father (Akasha and Enkil). Akasha kills the Elder, allows Marius to drink her blood, and to guard over her and her husband. He takes Those Who Must Be Kept and goes into hiding.
Early Middle Ages?--Armand is separated from his family in the southern Russian steppes and captured by the Tartars. He arrives in Venice and is sold to Marius, an ancient vampire. Marius shows Armand how to paint and eventually makes him a vampire. Their happiness is destroyed when the Children of Darkness burn Marius and make Armand join the ranks of their coven. Armand serves the group and Satan for many years until he becomes a coven master.
1780's--Lestat, the son of a poor French noble, runs away from home with his friend Nicholas and end up in Paris where they become actors. As the two actors sleep, the vampire Magnus kidnaps Lestat and takes him to his run-down tower lair. Magnus make the young actor a vampire, but Lestat has to make him a promise. The old vampire burns himself and Lestat scatters his ashes so he can't be reborn. Using the wealth he inheirited from Magnus, Lestat buys the theatre in once he performed. He turns his dying mother, Gabrielle, into a vampire and then he meets Armand. Lestat and his mother destroy Armand's coven, give them the theatre, and travel around Europe. The mother and son part ways, with Lestat seeking Marius and Gabrielle going to Africa. Marius instructs Lestat in the vampire history and then sends him to New Orleans to care for his dying father.
1790's-1800's--Lestat creates Louis and Claudia. They live together for 65 years, with Lestat and Louis as "fathers" to their "daughter" Claudia. Claudia poisons and slashes Lestat, and then she and Louis put his body in the swamp. Lestat and Claudia travel throughout Europe seeking other vampires and answers about their supernatural nature. Upon arriving in Paris, they meet Armand and his new coven in the Theatre of the Vampires. Lestat reappears and he tells Armand the story of how Claudia tried to kill him. As the coven master, Armand decides to kill Claudia for her crime by leaving her outside in the sunshine. Louis and Lestat return to New Orleans, but Louis wants nothing to do with his old companion.
1976--Louis meets with a young journalist and tells his story. The Interview With The Vampire is published and its readers believe it to be fiction.
1984--After many years of sleeping in the earth, Lestat awakens and reemerges into society. He falls in love with rock and roll and he meets a band named Satan's Night Out. Lestat joins the band and he tells them that he actually is the Vampire Lestat, who they have heard of in the Interview With The Vampire. They don't believe that he is a vampire, but they name the band after him. Defying everything that Marius had told him about never telling mortals about vampires, Lestat tells his own story in the Vampire Lestat.