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Louis and Claudia visited the Théâtre des Vampires, a private venue open solely to invited guests. Inside, they found a grand theater filled with human audience members. The show opened with creepy music and slowly revealed its horrifying truth. The vampires onstage pretended to be actors playing vampires; however, they were real vampires, and they brutally murdered a woman in front of the crowd. Louis felt deeply unsettled by the performance as he realized one of the actors was the same vampire who attacked him on the street. 

The performance ended and the human crowd applauded, believing they had seen only an illusion, not a real murder. Louis and Claudia were led through a hidden passage into a massive underground ballroom by Armand, an ancient vampire with psychic and supernatural abilities who had invited Louis and Claudia to the theater. The walls were covered in murals of war, plague, and death, and Louis began to hallucinate. In his trance, he felt himself reaching out to Armand, but he didn’t actually move at all. Moments later, in reality, Armand presented him with a mortal boy, Denis, from whom Louis drank.

Armand’s personality became increasingly intense and seductive toward Louis, and he challenged Louis’s beliefs by asking whether he truly accepted God, Satan, or moral consequences. Their conversation turned philosophical as Armand argued that evil exists on a spectrum, but Louis didn’t completely agree. Unable to find clarity in his own beliefs or defend himself from Armand’s probing questions, he became upset. During their exchange, Armand blocked Santiago, another vampire in the troupe, who had shoved Louis and tried to provoke him. In private, Armand told Louis not to reveal his or Claudia’s origin story. 

Meanwhile, the vampires, particularly Celeste and Estelle, were fascinated by Claudia. They complained about her blonde curls and pastel-colored dress, insisting that black was the proper vampire color. Claudia felt scrutinized by the vampires, and their attention made her feel even more alienated. She was especially disturbed that the troupe questioned her and Louis about their unknown sire (Lestat). Santiago urged Louis to live with the troupe, questioned his accent and his background, and said their hotel hideout was unsafe. Later, Claudia fed on Denis in Armand’s room, and Louis felt jealous when the female vampires hugged Armand.

Eventually, Santiago explained the troupe’s most sacred rule: the punishment for killing another vampire was death. Once again, Armand warned Louis not to reveal his and Claudia’s origin story. For selfish reasons, Armand wanted Louis all to himself and shared that he might not be able to protect Claudia from the troupe. As Santiago and Celeste mocked Claudia, she tried to play along, fully aware of the danger she was in. Claudia pulled Louis away, wanting to leave but still pretending to good-naturedly tolerate the teasing. Armand, Santiago, and the others let them go, with Armand smiling and welcoming them back for the following evening and every night after that.

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