SCENE FIFTEEN: AN UNDERGROUND VAULT
(MARIUS and LESTAT enter a vaulted room. The walls are covered in paintings of ancient Egypt: palm trees, pyramids, the desert, the blue waters of the Nile, delicate Egyptian figures in narrow green boats. A golden tabernacle dominates the room. MARIUS lifts his hand. The scrim doors of the tabernacle bleed through to reveal two human-sized marble statues of an Egyptian man and woman sitting side-by-side on the altar. The statues are dressed in real Egyptian clothing and hair.)
[Lestat:]
[hushed] Enkil and Akasha.
[Marius:]
Yes.
[Lestat:]
May I go near them?
[Marius:]
Of course.
(LESTAT puts the violin down and slowly approaches the statues. He studies them, their clothes, their necklaces, their faces.)
[Lestat:]
Real fabric. Real hair. Is the stone marble? May I…
[Marius:]
You may touch them.
[Lestat:]
It seems almost sacrilegious.
(LESTAT raises a finger as is to stroke Akasha's cheek.)
Such perfection. I want to…
(Instead of touching her cheek, he leans in and kisses her stone lips. LESTAT gasps and falls back…)
[Lestat:]
They're alive! They're not statues! Oh God! They're alive!
[Marius:]
It's all right. I don't think she disliked your kiss.
(LESTAT is clearly horrified. He trembles.)
[Lestat:]
They're breathing, thinking, living… how long have they been this way?
[Marius:]
Calm yourself.
(MARIUS helps him sit down.)
[Lestat:]
But they're alive inside their bodies and they can't move or speak!
[Marius:]
How do you know they can't?
[Lestat:]
Have you ever seen them move?
[Marius:]
Not directly. But I have come in to find them changed. Once, she was standing at the door.
[Lestat:]
Trying to get out?
[Marius:]
Perhaps. But they could easily get out if they wanted to. I always carry them back. It takes enormous strength. They're like flexible stone if you can imagine it.
(He fusses with the altar, their clothing.)
[Lestat:]
Do they…
[Marius:]
Drink? Not any longer… at least not for the last few hundred years. Do something for me.
(He opens the case and takes out the violin.)
Play for them.
[Lestat:]
I don't know how to play the violin.
[Marius:]
You do. We are powerful mimics.
[Lestat:]
But I don't have the strength.
[Marius:]
You have enough. Think back. Remember how Nicolas played.
(He hands him the violin and bow.)
[Lestat:]
I watched him so often.
(He sets the violin on his shoulder and speaks apologetically to AKASHA and ENKIL.)
I don't really know how to play this. But I had a friend.
(He places the bow on the strings, closes his eyes and concentrates. He plays the same music that NICOLAS played and exactly the way he played it. MARIUS leans back to listen. As LESTAT plays, AKASHA slowly rises to her feet. MARIUS is astounded. Seeing her LESTAT drops the bow. He gets to his feet and steps forward as if answering her call. He slowly climbs the steps of the altar and kneels before her. AKASHA'S hand reaches down and lifts LESTAT up. She pulls her long black hair back, revealing the white bare flesh of her throat. She reaches out to him. Cupping the back of his head with her hand, she presses his mouth to her neck… allowing him to drink her blood.)
[Marius:]
[with awe] Never before.
(As LESTAT experiences AKASHA'S SWOON, the proscenium arch flies away. Music, light and images fill the entire theatre: ancient images of Egypt, the desert, of AKASHA as a human queen, her husband ENKIL, the village, the demon itself, AKASHA and ENKIL as vampires, and OTHER VAMPIRES, their descendants the world over, throughout time including brief, fleeting images of MAGNUS, ARMAND, the Paris VAMPIRES, NICOLAS, GABRIELLE, LOUIS, CLAUDIA, MARIUS and LESTAT. After a few moments, AKASHA pushes LESTAT away.)
[Lestat:]
[to her] Yes. Exactly.
[Marius:]
Lestat? Tell me…
(LESTAT turns to MARIUS. Filled with AKASHA'S ancient blood, he stands tall, strong, full of light and energy, entirely healed of his wounds… a truly enlightened being. When he speaks, he is calm… at peace at last.)
[Lestat:]
The blood, Marius. We are bound through the blood…her blood which flows through us all. No one we've loved is ever lost to us… mortal… immortal. The blood binds us all until the end of time.
Song: From The Dead (Finale)
[Lestat:]
Before today this body bore the burden of his kind
The quest to learn why I was made, the endless search for signs
Through all my rage and tender stages, through decades drenched in blood
The source of our existence came between the ones I loved
The well spring of our line gives me a power beyond belief
She feeds me understanding, an overwhelming sense of peace
From what I've learned I've come to terms with bonds of brotherhood
I'm seeing clearly now when I never thought I could
I'll never make another to satisfy desire
Playing god for family only orchestrates the fire
I know to slay the innocent is wrong
And from the dead this new awakening comes
And from the dead I feel a strength I've never known
A thrill that fills my heart helping me to stand alone
And from the dead their ancient eyes watch over me
It seems from death this tortured heart is finally free
And from the dead there comes a healing and a hope
Like music on the wind, the perfect pitching of a note
And from the dead the cold pale moon begins to bleed
It seems from death I sense this night was made for me
I'll only take what's evil to satiate my thirst
Prey on those who murder, I'll only drain the worst
I know to slay the innocent is wrong
And from the dead this new awakening comes
(On different parts of the stage, those whom LESTAT has lost appear one by one: MAGNUS, GABRIELLE, NICOLAS, LOUIS and CLAUDIA, even ARMAND. They sing. MARIUS joins in as well.)
[Vampires:]
And from the dead I feel a strength I've never known
A thrill that fills my heart helping me to stand alone
And from the dead their ancient eyes watch over me
It seems from death this tortured heart is finally free
And from the dead there comes a healing and a hope
Like music on the wind, the perfect pitching of a note
And from the dead the cold pale moon begins to bleed
It seems from death I sense this night was made for me
(LESTAT sings alone.)
[Lestat:]
It seems from death I sense this night was made for me
(As the song end, the stage transforms to a modern hotel room.)