Claudia

The Vampire Claudia
_{Interview With The Vampire}

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In 1794, Louis finds a little girl who was only 5, grieving over her dead mother's plague-stricken body. Half starved from feeding only on the blood of rats for the past four years, he drinks from her in a frenzy. He is discovered by Lestat who doesn't hesitate to mock him for his hypocrisy. In his shame, Louis runs off, leaving the girl for dead. Concerned citizens brought the girl to a make-shift hospital for orphans of plague victims. Infected with the plague and weak from Louis' feeding, she became delirious. Lestat, posing as her father, took her from the hospital.

Upon his return home, Louis is horrified to find Lestat had brought the girl to their home and despite his objections, Lestat makes the dying young girl into a vampire, naming her Claudia. Being incredibly young when made into an immortal vampire, Claudia remembers very little of her previous life as a mortal girl.

For sixty-five years, Claudia, Louis and Lestat lived together as a vampire family. Over time, Claudia grew increasingly resentful at her maker Lestat for giving her the Dark Gift, trapping her in the body of a little girl, never to be a woman, and for his refusal to tell her and Louis what he knows of the history of their kind. Knowing Lestat will never let her or Louis go, she secretly plots to be rid of him so she and Louis can be free.

One night, Claudia tricks Lestat into weakening himself and attacks him. She drains him of his blood, which leaves him presumably dead. Believing him to be dead, she and Louis dump his body in the swamp. The night she and Louis are set to sail to Europe, Lestat surprises them at their home, revealing that their attempt to kill him has failed. To stop Lestat in his rage from killing them, Louis sets fire to their house with Lestat still inside, and the two escaped to Europe.

After years of failing to find other vampires like them, they meet Armand and his coven at the Théâtre des Vampires in Paris. Armand is instantly attracted to Louis who does little to discourage him. Lestat, in his search for powerful old vampire blood to help restore his damaged body, goes to Paris where he knows Armand's blood can help him. In his desperation, he reveals to Armand it was Claudia who put him in his weakened state. Armand takes advantage of this knowledge by calling on Lestat as a witness and sentences Claudia to death by exposing her to sunlight, for it is forbidden by their coven for a vampire to kill their maker or to even make the attempt.

Left alone after Claudia's death, Louis pairs with Armand and for years they travel together. Louis never recovers from the death of Claudia and eventually leaves Armand for his involvement. Armand would later reveal that Claudia's fate was sealed the moment her existence was known by his coven because vampires made at such a young age were never permitted to continue to live.

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