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No one spoke up.

But there were tears in the eyes of the regal, ashen-haired Allesandra when I said this and Rhoshamandes nodded and took his seat. I'm not sure anyone but I caught Everard's sharp personal glance to me and the confidential negative shake of his head.

Benedict looked confused, and so I directed my remarks to him.

"You are now once more in good standing," I said. "Whatever you did, and why ever you did it--all this is now closed."

But I knew this was small comfort to him. He'd live for years with the horror of what he'd done.

It was by that time almost 4:00 a.m., and sunrise would occur in slightly over two hours.

I stood silent at the head of the table. I could feel all these eyes on me as fixed and probing as ever, but I felt most keenly the scrutiny of Seth and Fareed, though why I wasn't sure.

"We have much to do," I said, "all of us, to establish what it means for us and for all those blood drinkers out there the world over that we are now one proud tribe, one proud People of Darkness, one proud race that seeks to prosper on this Earth. And as it has fallen to me to rule, by invitation and by unique selection, I want to rule from my home in the Auvergne.

"I live now in my father's castle there, almost fully restored, a great stone edifice including as many comfortable chambers as this amazing house in which we're gathered now. And I will be your prince."

I paused to let the point be absorbed, then I went on.

"Prince Lestat I will be," I said. "That is the term that's been offered to me over and over in one form or another, it seems. And my court shall be in my castle, and I invite all of you to come there and help forge the constitution and the rules by which we'll live. I will need your help in deciding a multitude of questions. And I will delegate to those of you who are receptive various tasks to help us move to a new and glorious existence which I hope that all the blood drinkers of the world will come to share."

Benji was now close to tears. "Oh, if only this were being recorded!" he declared. Sybelle told him to be quiet, and Armand was laughing silently at him but also motioning for him to restrain himself.

"You may report my words in full whenever you wish," I said. "You have my express permission."

With a subtle gesture he opened his spiffy little jacket to reveal an iPhone peeping out of his inner pocket.

"Marius," I said, turning to him. "I ask that you write for us all the rules by which you've lived and prospered for centuries, as I've never found anyone more ethical in these matters than you are."

"I'll do my best with this," said Marius.

"And Gregory," I said. "Gregory, you who have survived with such astonishing success in the mortal world, I ask that you help to establish a code by which blood drinkers can effectively interact with mortals to preserve their material wealth as well as their secrecy. Please give us the benefit of all you've learned. I have much to share on this and so does Armand, but you are the past master."

"I'm more than willing," said Gregory.

"We must assist the most befuddled fledgling out there in obtaining whatever papers and documents are required to move from place to place in the physical world. We must do our best to halt the creation of a class of desperate vampiric tramps and marauders."

Benji was beside himself with excitement at all these proceedings. But he was shocked when I turned now to him.

"And you, Benjamin, obviously you must be our Minister of Communications from now on; and wherever in the world I am I will be in communication with you here at your headquarters every night. We must talk, you and I, about the radio program and the website, and what more we can do together through the internet to gather the lost sheep in the Blood."

"Yes!" he said with obvious joy. He lifted his fedora in salute to me and it was the first time that I'd seen his adorable little round face and cap of curly black hair for what they were.

"Notker," I said. "You've brought your musicians here, your singers, your violinists, and they've joined with Sybelle and with Antoine, and given us the extraordinary pleasure that only blood drinker musicians and artists can give. Will you come with me to my court in the Auvergne and help to create my court orchestra and my court choir? I want this with my whole heart."

"Oh, my prince, I'm at your service," said Notker. "And my own humble fiefdom is only minutes away from you in the Alps."

"Seth and Fareed," I said. "You are our physicians, our scientists, our bold explorers. What can I do? What can all of us do to support you in your ongoing work?"

"Well, I think you know," said Seth. "There's much we can learn from you and from ... Amel." Understatement. Burning eyes.

"You'll have my complete cooperation always," I said. "And you'll have your rooms at my court and whatever else you need or desire. And I will be open to you, and offer you whatever knowledge or experience that I can."

Fareed was smiling, obviously pleased, and Seth was satisfied for the moment but not without grave suspicions of what might lie ahead.

"We will never again, any of us here, be isolated from one another, in exile, and unreachable." I stopped, taking the time to meet the eyes of each and every one present. "We must all promise. We must maintain our lines of communication, and we must seek to see how we may benefit from one another as a united people. For that is what we are now, not so much the Children of Darkness, but the People of the Savage Garden, because we have come of age as such."

I stopped. People of the Savage Garden. I didn't know if it was the right or ultimate term for u