SCENE ONE: THE LIONCOURT CASTLE
(Exterior of an aging castle in the winter countryside. LESTAT staggers into the great hall. Lestat's father, the MARQUIS DE LIONCOURT, his two brothers, JACQUES and AUGUSTUS, and his mother, GABRIELLE DE LIONCOURT, are stunned by his bloodied condition.)
[Jacques:]
[with disdain] Good God, Lestat. Look at you!
[Augustus:]
We told you not to attempt it.
[Lestat:]
There were eight. I killed them all.
[Augustus:]
You little bastard, you did not kill eight wolves!
[Jacques:]
He'll say anything to draw attention to himself.
[Marquis de Lioncourt:]
Lestat, why must you always go to extremes? The truth now. We need to know what to tell the villagers.
[Lestat:]
Tell them their sheep are safe.
(LESTAT throws the carcass down. The scene transforms as he goes to his room. He sits alone on his bed. GABRIELLE enters. She's frail and ailing. She sits on the bed next to him.)
[Gabrielle:]
I know how it was out there. You were utterly alone. You had no fear, only pain and the fierce belief that somehow you would survive. When it was over, you felt like you had been to the circle of hell and come back out.
[Lestat:]
How did you know?
[Gabrielle:]
I have given birth. Seven times. But your father and brothers have never been in the circle of hell. They cannot know what happened to you out there.
[Lestat:]
There's more to it. Mother, I've had terrible dreams… even before the wolves. In my dreams, I go from room to room killing my father and brothers in their beds.
(She doesn't react with anger or horror. She merely nods.)
[Gabrielle:]
I have had such dreams. But not so much murder as abandon. In my dreams, I strip off my clothes and bath in the mountain stream naked.
(She smiles at his shocked expression.)
Then I go down to the inn and take into my bed any man who comes.
[Lestat:]
[embarrassed] Mother.
[Gabrielle:]
In the dream, I am not a mother nor a wife. I am simply Gabrielle and I belong to no one.
[Lestat:]
I don't want to murder. I want to be a good person.
[Gabrielle:]
I know. That is the reason you ran away to the monastery.
[Lestat:]
I wanted to be locked in with people who could bring out the good in me.
[Gabrielle:]
And you were dragged back and beaten for it.
[Lestat:]
But out there on the mountain, the wolves brought out the killer in me. I became someone else altogether. He rose up and slaughtered them, and now I don't know who is sitting here with you… Lestat or that other one.
[Gabrielle:]
My son is here with me. You are both things. The hunter and the boy in the monastery. That is what lifts you above them…above this place…
Song: Nothing Here
[Gabrielle:]
I see the longing in your eyes
You always were the dreaming child
This house is old and torn apart
It holds no future, has no heart
The world is changing every day
But here they cling to their own ways
They taunt you with their cruel tongues
On you their callous jokes are hung
So much in you that I can sense
You hate them for their ignorance
I hate them for the ties that bind
Your freedom with their narrow minds
You'll only suffer if you stay
These cold grey walls will have their way
I beg of you to free your mind
And leave this sinking ship behind
It's in the past, they'll always live
A crumbling future up ahead
And years of grief and bitter tears
I tell you that there's nothing here
There's nothing here, you don't belong
You must escape while you're still young
The path for you is bright and clear
I tell you boy there's nothing here
[Lestat:]
Where could I go that they wouldn't find me and drag me back?
[Gabrielle:]
They would never follow you to Paris. You could disappear into the city.
The colors run so deep out there
Find joy to trade for this despair
Go seek the wonders of the stage
Of music and the printed page
The time is now I beg of you
Cast off the old, embrace the new
Drink deep of life and love my son
And damn this house to kingdom come
It's in the past, they'll always live
A crumbling future up ahead
And years of grief and bitter tears
I tell you that there's nothing here
There's nothing here, you don't belong
You must escape while you're still young
The path for you is bright and clear
I tell you boy there's nothing here
The path for you is bright and clear
I tell you boy there's nothing here
(AUGUSTUS enters.)
[Augustus:]
Lestat, you have visitors from the village. The draper and his son.
[Lestat:]
Send them away.
[Gabrielle:]
He will be down in a moment.
(AUGUSTUS goes out. GABRIELLE presses a folded cloth into LESTAT'S hand.)
To start your new life.
(He opens the cloth and shakes his head. She pushes it toward him.)
Take them. They are no use to me. I will never leave here. I doubt I will see another spring. The pain in my lungs is too bad.
[Lestat:]
[shocked] Mother.
[Gabrielle:]
I did not tell you this to keep you with me. I told you because I want you to live the life never could.
[Lestat:]
But I cannot leave you now. What kind of person would I be?
[Gabrielle:]
The good son.
[Lestat:]
Then I am not a good son! I will not leave you now!
[Gabrielle:]
Keep the jewels, Lestat. We do not need to speak of this again. But if one morning, wake up to find that you've gone… that day will be the happiest of my life.
(LESTAT goes out as the scene transforms to the great hall where the draper, MONSIEUR DE LENFENT and his son, NICOLAS DE LENFENT, wait.)
[Marquis de Lioncourt:]
Monsieur de Lenfent and his son have come to pay their respects.
[Monsieur de Lenfent:]
You remember Nicolas? He has been away studying in Paris.
[Lestat:]
[pleased] Of course. I remember!
[Nicolas:]
It has been a long time.
[Lestat:]
You're looking well.
[Monsieur de Lenfent:]
We want to thank you, Monsieur. We went up the mountain and found the wolves.
[Nicolas:]
How did you manage to kill all seven of them?
(LESTAT shoots his father and brothers a sharp look.)
[Lestat:]
There were eight, actually. I brought the largest one home as a gift for my father.
[Nicolas:]
But you deserve a gift as well. In gratitude for the hunt.
(NICOLAS presents him with beautiful red velvet cloak.)
[Augustus:]
[disgruntled] Now he really will be impossible.
[Nicolas:]
[aside to LESTAT] I, too, am impossible, Monsieur. Someday, perhaps, you will tell me how you killed them all. Only the impossible can do the impossible.