After fleeing the plantation, Louis and Lestat book a suite in a hotel in New Orleans. Louis hunts rats while Lestat preys on humans. Louis’s appetite grows, and he eventually relents and searches for a human victim. He hears a child crying and finds her with her dead mother. As Louis feeds on her, he sees Lestat watching and laughing. Lestat comes in and dances with the dead mother. Louis runs back to the hotel, but Lestat chases him, and they fight.

The next night, Louis awakens to the sight of two women in the parlor. Lestat drains them and seats their bodies at the table as Louis watches. He fills two wine glasses with their blood. Lestat asks what Louis thinks a vampire is. They debate their respective natures, and Louis says he is leaving to find other vampires. Lestat says other vampires will want to kill Louis because they are solitary predators who do not want company. Otherwise, one is always enslaved, like Louis.

He puts one woman in a coffin and sits on the lid as she screams. Lestat taunts her. Louis can’t stand to see Lestat torturing her, so he drains her to make it stop, but he doesn’t drink enough to satisfy himself.