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Name: Lestat de Lioncourt, also known as 'The Brat Prince' or 'The Damndest Creature'
Age: Over 200 years old. Born in 1758
From: L'Auvergne, France
Mortal death: Kidnapped by Magnus who forced the Dark Gift on him at his tower
Maker: Magnus
Fledglings: Nicolas, Gabrielle, Louis, Claudia, David Talbot
Books he appeared in: 'Interview With The Vampire', 'The Vampire Lestat', 'The Queen of the Damned', 'Tale Of The Body Thief', 'Memnoch The Devil' and briefly in others

It's hard to know where to start as far as Lestat is concerned. He is, of course, the star of the show!

Lestat was the youngest son of the Marquis and Marquise de Lioncourt (Gabrielle). He was the most rebellious and adventurous.

He chose a life of priesthood when he was 12 so he could study at a monastery. His father intervened and took his books from him. This caused Lestat to run away with a travelling Italian theatre group, but he was found and taken back home to the family castle. His mother Gabrielle was upset by his running away - it was not very often she showed any emotion, although Lestat was undoubtedly her favourite.

He showed his wild side when he hunted troublesome wolves on his father's estate. This experience nearly killed him but he was victorious, despite being out-numbered by the hungry beasts! His reward was a red velvet coat and fine boots by the local villagers.

He befriended a talented musician, Nicolas de Lenfent, and they decided to leave Auvergne for Paris (encouraged by Gabrielle).

They quickly found work at Renauld's theatre where Lestat fancied himself as an actor and Nicolas played the violin.

As Lestat took centre-stage, he noticed a ghastly creature with a maddening white grinning face in the crowd, night after night - a vampire called Magnus was stalking him. His words "Wolf Killer" echoed in Lestat's head. In 1779, Lestat was abducted by Magnus and taken to his tower. That very same night Magnus drained Lestat of all his blood and gave him his vampiric blood without giving him any choice on the matter.

Now that Lestat was a vampire, Magnus showed him the tower's concealed chamber with a large stone sarcophagus where he now had to sleep to protect him from sunlight. Magnus' priceless fortune was hidden there too and he also gave that to Lestat. He took him to the dungeons of the tower which, to Lestat's horror, had many rotting corpses of young blonde-haired men. Lestat could so easily have been one of those corpses, but Magnus chose him is as his successor because he was a brave 'Wolf Killer" with an adventurous personality. After giving Lestat a very brief explanation of his background, Magnus lit a fire and jumped into it... much to Lestat's distress. Not only was he now this new transformed creature, but he had no teacher and was alone to face his bizarre predicament.

Lestat quickly taught himself survival skills and adapted very quickly to hunting mortals. He loved being a vampire.

He decided it was time to return to Nicolas who was shocked to see Lestat transformed. Lestat never disclosed what he had become or why he didn't stay with Nicolas any more.

From the money he inherited from Magnus, he bought the theatre. He employed an accountant and paid him to manage his finances and ask no questions.

His mother Gabrielle visited him in Paris because she knew she was close to death and wanted to say farewell to her dying son. Lestat offered to "save" her by making her a vampire. She agreed instantly and was transformed into a strong-willed creature of the night. Lestat never called her "mother" again.

The new companions discovered a roguish vampire coven, led by Armand. These vampires were quite the opposite to Lestat and Gabrielle. They were ancient, dirty and wild. They lived under the Paris cemetary and hunted in the shadows. Lestat learned that Magnus originally belonged to this coven but deserted them to live above ground. The majority of the coven vampires disapproved of Lestat and Gabrielle walking amongst mortals and became their enemies. Armand was intrigued by them.

Armand told them his history, about Marius and 'Those Who Must Be Kept'. He pleaded to join them but was rejected. Armand captured Nicolas to lure Lestat back to him. Nicolas' experiences with the coven affected him badly. He was never the same with Lestat again. Lestat decided to make him into a vampire hoping it would bring them closer. It did quite the opposite. Nicolas chose to remain with the coven and demanded that Lestat give the theatre to them. Armand destroyed the ancient vampires and he, with Nicolas and the remaining coven, moved into the newly-named 'Theatre des Vampires'.

The demented Nicolas destroyed himself in a fire much to Lestat's distress and Gabrielle was becoming restless and distant. Eventually, she left him for good and Lestat was alone again.

His new obsession was to track dow Marius and find out about 'Those Who Must Be Kept'. He wrote countless messages to Marius across the world but gave up hope and went into the earth to sleep.

It was Marius himself who rescued Lestat, from the ground. Lestat was a dried out husk and was renewed when Marius gave his blood. He took Lestat to his sanctuary where he cared for 'Those Who Must Be Kept'. Lestat loved Marius' company and listened, fascinated by Marius' story of how he became a vampire. Marius then took him to a secret vault where he protected Akasha and Enkil, the first ever vampires - 'Those Who Must Be Kept'. Lestat was shocked when he saw them. he at first thought they were statues until he realised they were still alive and hadn't moved for over 1,000 years. Marius explained the whole story. Lestat felt drawn to visit the ancient vampire couple on his own and sneaked to the vaults without Marius' knowledge.

He took Nicolas' violin and played it passionately in front of them. Akasha, much to his amazement, stood up and let Lestat drink her powerful blood. Enkil awoke and furiously grabbed Lestat by the neck while Akasha screamed loudly. Marius rushed down to help Lestat and had to tell him to leave. This was devastating to Lestat because he wanted to stay and be taught by Marius. He was made to promise not to tell any other being, mortal or immortal, his secret.

Lestat then returned home to discover his father was now blind and ailing. He had no choice but to look after him. Lestat had no love for his father because it was he who stopped him from becoming a priest when he was mortal.

Lestat and his father travelled to New Orleans where Lestat discovered Louis De Pointe Du Lac, a gorgeous creole plantation owner.

He immediately loved Louis and offered him the Dark Gift which Louis accepted to appease the pain of his brother's death. Lestat and his father moved in to Louis' plantation where they lived from 1791 to 1794. When his father was dying Lestat asked Louis to kill him because he could not. Suspicions rose about Lestat and Louis and eventually they had to leave.

Lestat struggled with Louis' reluctance to kill mortals. He now had to live with Louis' conscience and regrets at becoming a vampire. He couldn't understand why Louis wouldn't give in to his vampire nature or why he chose to live only on the blood of animals. Lestat was a cunning killer, the hunt was in his nature and he loved it. This caused a lot of friction between them. He also never disclosed what he knew about 'Those Who Must Be Kept'. He gave Louis no insight to their background.

After a moment of weakness, Louis succumbed to his vampire nature and took a vulnerable 5-year Claudia in his arms, and drank her blood. Horrified at this he ran from the scene. Lestat discovered she was still alive and bribed Louis to come back to him by making Claudia a vampire. This caused temporary happiness amongst them because they reared Claudia together. Louis was her mother-figure who lavished affection on her, and Lestat taught her how to be a vicious killer. He liked the way she enjoyed killing like he did.

The vampire family lived happily together for 65 years until they noticed a change in Claudia. She resented being treated like a doll. She was angry because her appearance never changed. She had the intelligence of a 70-year-old woman but was trapped inside her child's body. She blamed Lestat for this when she learned it was he who made her a vampire. She plotted to kill him so she and Louis could go away together.
Lestat was getting weary of both Claudia and Louis and he spent most of his time visiting a young man, whom he fancied making his next fledgling. He was surprised to discover Claudia waiting for him, offering him a peace offering: two young boys, drunk, apparently, on brandy wine. When Lestat started drinking he started shivering, his shoulders convulsed and he looked decidedly ill. It was then that Claudia announced the young boys were poisoned with Absinthe and Laudenum. As Lestat called to Louis for help, Claudia lunged forward and stabbed Lestat brutally. The blood poured out of Lestat's body and his body became skeletal.

Louis and Claudia dumped his body in the swamp and set out to organise passage to Europe.

Lestat was not dead. He was extremely sick but he managed to return to the house in New Orleans, furious and intent on revenge. Louis fought with him and managed to overpower him, leaving him for dead in a fire which had started in the house.

Lestat survived this second attack, possibly due to the strength Akasha's blood gave him. Broken and weak, he once more sank himself into the ground. He had a lot of healing to do.

The next time he saw Louis was at 'The Theatre des Vampires' in Paris where he told Santiago and the other vampires what Claudia had done to him. He bargained with them to let them punish Claudia so he could take Louis back with him. Of course they did nothing of the sort and let him watch Louis being thrown in a coffin to be buried alive for punishment. As Lestat was weakened from his injuries he could do nothing to save Louis. Louis, after being rescued by Armand, never forgave Lestat for this, because it led to Claudia being burned alive in the sunlight.

He rose again in 1929. He was weak for long time until he slept some more.

It was rock music which woke him in the 1980s. The music from 'Satan's Night Out' envigorated him and helped him rise. He approached the band and offered himself as their frontman, promising he could make them famous. When he told them his name he was surprised that they'd heard of him. It was then that he discovered Daniel and Louis' book, 'Interview With The Vampire'. He read the book from cover to cover, quite annoyed with Louis' for making him sound so evil.

Here he announced that all his victims were evil-doers and he was doing good killing them. He decided to write his own biography, 'The Vampire Lestat' - but he was going to tell absolutely everything he knew - including Marius' secret.

Of course his book was a sell out (we all bought it, didn't we :o) ) and he gathered a huge rock following. He made music videos of his story and enjoyed the fact that he was going public about being a vampire and that the mortals just saw it as a clever gimic. He knew he angered other vampires but loved every minute of it.

The band, 'The Vampire Lestat', were to have one album and one concert - all with the same name. Lestat was delighted to see Louis and Gabrielle arrive before the concert. They were both fearful for him and warned him of impending dangers. Lestat brushed this off and was ecstatic at the fuss he was causing. The night was a success, despite thousands of vampires arriving to kill Lestat. They were mysteriously being burned by a powerful force.

Just as Lestat was ready to begin his daytime sleep, he was lifted out of his crypt. Through his sluggish state, he could tell it was Akasha who was carrying him, flying high up into the clouds, away from the sun.

He woke her from her trance-like sleep with his music and story-telling lyrics.

She killed all the vampires intent on destroying her precious new prince, leaving the few who Lestat knew and loved to be her angels if they also chose to follow her. She taught Lestat how to will himself in the air and "fly: long distances. She let him drink her rich blood until he was delirious.

Akasha's vision was to rule the world and destroy most of the male population leaving women to be the peaceful majority. She insisted that this was the only solution to end male-led wars and greed. She loved Lestat deeply and tried desperately to bend his will to hers. Lestat battled with his conflicting emotions and pleaded for her to reconsider, or even wait. She refused, frustrated and upset by his reaction, threatening to kill him if he did not support her.

Lestat was torn between complete adoration for her and her powerful blood and fear of her terrifying plan for world domination.

When they arrived at Maharet's coven, Akasha was furious that they were trying to stop her too. It was here she was killed by Mekare, who became the new Queen of the Damned by consuming her brain and heart. Lestat was broken-hearted at this as he now loved Akasha deeply.

Lestat's adventures continued when he swapped bodies with Raglan James. It was his chance to live in a mortal body again. For the first time in 200 years, he could see daylight again, eat and make love. He enjoyed this experience but disliked the weakness he felt. He was only supposed to swap his body with Raglan for a week but the body thief disappeared and Lestat had the major disadvantage that he was now in a weaker mortal body. He sought the help of Louis and had a hard time convincing him who he was. This was the first time he saw how strong Louis appeared to a mortal, although he was really just a weak vampire. Lestat pleaded to be made into a vampire but Louis refused - he was envious of Lestat's new found mortality and he hated the whole process of making a vampire. David Talbot helped Lestat recapture his body, and the event led to David Talbot anchoring in Raglan James' younger body and Raglan James being killed in David's old body by Lestat (lost? I am!). Lestat then decided he wanted David to be a vampire so he attacked him, making David his last fledgling.

Lestat's most devastating adventure took him to Hell and back - literally! Memnoch (the Devil) told his story and took him on a guided tour of sorts through the history of the earth. Lestat drank the blood of Christ, and he collected the image of Christ in Veronica's Veil and brought it back to present day. This whole experience over-whelmed him and he never recovered. (I'm sorry this isn't longer - I didn't really like 'Memnoch The Devil').

He is currently in a deep sleep again. David Talbot is keeping a watchful eye over him.

Please wake soon Lestat. Is there anything you've still to do in your long life?