The tale of the body thief - By Anne Rice Page 0,172

and cheerfully goes ashore. I don’t want to have to … I don’t like the thought of … ”

“I know, I know, but you could simply shove him into that trunk. Nobody would find him.”

“Lestat, I don’t want to frighten you, but there are excellent reasons why we mustn’t try to kill him! He told you those reasons himself. Don’t you recall? Threaten that body and he’ll rise out of it and make another assault. In fact, we’d be giving him no choice. And we’d be prolonging the psychic battle at the worst possible moment. It isn’t inconceivable that he could follow you on your path to Five Deck, and try to get in again. Of course he’d be foolish to do it with no hiding place. But suppose he does have an alternative hiding place. Think on that.”

“You’re probably right on that.”

“And we don’t know the extent of his psychic power,” he said. “And we must remember that this is his specialty—switching and possession! No. Don’t try to drown him or crush him. Let him climb back into that mortal body. I’ll keep the gun on him until you’ve had time to vanish from the scene altogether, and he and I shall have a round of conversation about what lies ahead.”

“I see your point.”

“Then if I do have to shoot him, very well. I’ll do it. I’ll put him into the trunk, and hope the sound of the shot goes unnoticed. Who knows? It might.”

“God, I’m leaving you with this monster, you realize it? David, why don’t we move on him as soon as the sun sets.”

“No. Absolutely not. That means an all-out psychic battle! And he can hold the body sufficiently to take flight and simply leave us on board this ship, which will be at sea for the entire night. Lestat, I’ve thought all this through. Every part of the plan is crucial. We want him at his weakest, just before dawn, with the ship about to dock so that once he is in his mortal body, he can cheerfully and gratefully disembark. Now, you must trust that I’ll handle this fellow. You don’t know how much I despise him! If you did, perhaps you wouldn’t worry at all.”

“Be assured I shall kill him when I find him.”

“All the more reason for him to willingly go ashore. He’ll want a head start, and I shall advise him to be quick.”

“The Big-Game Hunt. I shall love it. I’ll find him—even if he hides in another body. What a lovely game it will be.”

David fell quiet for a moment.

“Lestat, there is one other possibility, of course … ”

“What? I don’t understand you.”

He looked away as if he were trying to choose just the right words. Then he looked directly at me. “We could destroy that thing, you know.”

“David, are you mad to even … ?”

“Lestat, the two of us could do it. There are ways. Before sunset, we could destroy that thing, and you would be … ”

“Say no more!” I was angry. But when I saw the sadness in his face, the concern, the obvious moral confusion, I sighed and sat back and took a softer tone. “David,” I said, “I’m the Vampire Lestat. That’s my body. We’re going to get it back for me.”

For a moment he didn’t respond, and then he nodded rather emphatically and said in a half whisper, “Yes. Correct.”

A pause fell between us, during which time I began to go over each and every step of the plan.

When I looked at him again, he seemed similarly thoughtful, in fact rather deeply engaged.

“You know I think it will go smoothly,” he said. “Especially when I remember your descriptions of him in that body. Awkward, uncomfortable. And of course we must remember what sort of human he is—his true age, his old modus operandi, so to speak. Hmmm. He isn’t going to get that gun away from me. Yes, I think it’s all going to work as planned.”

“So do I,” I said.

“And all things considered,” he added, “well, it’s the only chance we’ve got!”

TWENTY-TWO

FOR the next two hours we went exploring the ship. It was imperative that we be able to hide in it during the nighttime hours when James might be roaming the various decks. For this, we had to know it, and I must confess that my curiosity about the vessel was extreme.

We wandered out of the quiet and narrow Queens Grill Lounge, and back into the main body of the vessel, past