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Around dawn, Louis returned to the hotel, still shaken by his encounter with Armand. Claudia approached Louis and said she knew he had been with Armand and accused him of planning to leave her. Louis felt how familiar and dear Claudia still was despite his growing attraction to Armand. Claudia clung to him and offered to do whatever he wished so he would stay. When he asked if she was happy, she turned the question back on him. Then, she begged him to leave Paris with her, but he refused. Instead, he told her he wanted her to have something new with Madeleine and knew that neither of them could go back to living a life like they had with Lestat. Claudia asked if he truly understood what he was choosing, and Louis said he had to go with Armand, who he believed could make him whole. Reluctantly, Claudia asked Louis if he loved Armand and he said yes. 

Despite her heartbreak, Claudia rested against Louis and whispered that she would always be there if he needed her. She apologized for the pain she had caused him, and Louis held her one last time. Her presence comforted him, but he knew she would not be with him much longer. As the room darkened, he drifted into a calm, dream-like state.

When he opened his eyes, he was startled to see Santiago, Celeste, Estelle, and others moving around the suite. Louis shouted for Claudia to run and pushed her through the door while he fought Santiago and Celeste, who clawed at him and made him bleed. Outnumbered and injured, Louis was pinned down and Madeleine was dragged away.

Taken to the Théâtre des Vampires by his captors, Louis cried out for Armand. To his surprise, he saw Lestat, weak and distraught, standing on stage. Lestat begged Louis to return to him and demanded that Claudia be punished. Santiago restrained Lestat, and when Louis begged for Madeleine’s release, he ordered a chained coffin to be brought to the stage. After Santiago locked him inside,  Louis, panicked and trapped, cried for Armand once again, knowing the troupe intended to bury him alive.

Louis drifted into a restless sleep but awoke to Armand tearing down the wall of bricks and unlocking the coffin, urging Louis to hurry and be silent. Before leaving, Louis begged him to rescue Claudia, but Armand said he couldn’t help her and told him they’d leave together. Instead, Louis rushed back inside. 

In the ballroom, Louis confronted the troupe of vampires again, saw Lestat watching in sorrow, and found Claudia’s yellow dress, torn and stained with blood. Louis froze with the cold realization that Claudia and Madeleine had been burned to death by sunlight. He attacked Santiago, but Armand pulled him away. Unable to collect her remains, the only thing Louis had left of Claudia’s was her dress, and he left the theater with Armand.

As he wandered through the Paris streets clutching Claudia’s dress, he was enraged. Armand tried to calm him, but Louis was inconsolable. He accused Armand of knowing she would die, and Armand admitted he knew but could not prevent it. For Louis, his lack of action was unforgivable.

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