Louis and Claudia leave America on the ship Mariana. Louis worries, believing Lestat survived the fire. He knows he may never feel safe again. Claudia hates the trip, feeling uncomfortable and cooped up as she listens to Louis’s ruminations on good, evil, and the nature of vampires. He says, “It struck me suddenly what consolation it would be to know Satan, to look upon his face, no matter how terrible that countenance was, to know that I belonged to him totally, and thus put to rest forever the torment of this ignorance” (163).

They discuss how Lestat might have survived. Louis is worried that Lestat is immortal, but Claudia says this is why they must find other vampires: they need teachers. He wants to know why any God would allow such suffering.

They travel by extravagant carriage after the ship, and Louis finds rural Europe lonely and dark. They reach a small village inn with garlic hanging above the door. Inside, there is more garlic, and a large group of frantic people. An Englishman shows him a dead woman lying on a table. He shows Louis two puncture wounds on her neck and tells Louis his story.