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After Lestat died, Louis and Claudia disposed of the poisoned boys’ bodies as they fled through the swamps. Louis carried Lestat’s corpse into the water, feeling a painful urge to sink with it and drown himself. The next morning, Claudia celebrated their freedom, but her mood turned angry as she destroyed Lestat’s belongings. Louis could not handle Claudia’s rage and left, but when he returned, he found her crying. She begged him not to leave her and told him she couldn’t live without him. Louis comforted her and promised that they would stay together. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, and Claudia dreamed of eternal happiness and the beginning of a new life.

Later, Louis visited the cathedral where his brother’s funeral was held, and he became overwhelmed by his memory. At this point in the story, Louis was aimlessly searching for meaning in his life and longing for something more permanent; he compared it to the hopeless way he had once searched for Claudia’s lost doll. As he grieved, he felt haunted by thoughts of the life he had left behind. 

Sitting in a pew, Louis hallucinated and had nightmare visions. In this state, he envisioned a funeral procession where Claudia cursed him, then watched as a coffin appeared. Inside the coffin, instead of seeing Lestat, he saw the reanimated body of his mortal brother, Paul. Louis reached out to touch him, but his vision suddenly ended.

In reality, a priest touched Louis’s shoulder, snapping him out of his vision, and invited him to confession. Overcome by emotion, Louis confessed to seventy years of murder and revealed to the priest that he was a vampire. When the priest responded in horror, Louis attacked him. He grabbed the priest, pulled him down, and fed on him at the foot of the altar.

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