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"That's true," Louis said. "It was there inside me and it would have remained there until the ashes were scattered. It would have remained suspended, waiting, waiting for how long we don't know. Remember the old admonition from Magnus, Lestat? Scatter the ashes? Well, no one scattered my ashes and I was brought back--by your blood, and David's blood, and Merrick's blood too."

"Then you were not really dead, Louis," said Fareed patiently.

"Oh, but I was," said Louis. "I know now that I was. I was dead according to one ancient and highly significant definition of 'dead.' "

"I'm not following you," said Fareed. I saw the first signs of impatience but it wasn't impolite.

"My heart had stopped," said Louis. "There was no blood pumping in me. All circulation had stopped when my heart stopped. That is how I was dead."

I was speechless. Then slowly it dawned on me. It came back to me what Kapetria had said...something about the invisible tentacles--or the cord--being the only part of us that was not filled with blood.

Nobody

was speaking. Even Fareed had narrowed his eyes and was looking at Louis in the hard sightless way of someone peering only into his own thoughts. Seth too was pondering.

"I see!" said David in amazement. "I don't know the scientific explanation for it. But I see it. Your heart stopped; the blood wasn't pumping. And the cord snapped. Of course!" He looked to me. "Lestat, how many times have you ever seen or heard of a vampire brought back from such a state where the heart had stopped, where the ashes were still perfectly formed, and everything remained there but the heart had stopped!"

"Never seen another example of it, ever," I said.

"Neither have I," said Seth, "but I know the old admonition, scatter the ashes."

"Well?" asked Louis. He looked to Fareed. "You want to try an experiment or two to see if I'm right? Viktor here is bravery personified. If you put a candle flame to Lestat's hand Viktor will feel it. Unfortunately so will Rose and so will every vampire in the world, though in different degrees, correct? I won't feel it. You can see this for yourself. And ancient blood or no, I should feel it, because I'm not even three hundred years old."

"I wish there were some other way of proving it," David said. "There has to be."

"There is," I said. "It's simple. Stop my heart! Stop my heart. Stop it until the blood in me stops circulating, and what will happen to all the others all over the world? They'll lose consciousness, yes, but..."

"But that's what happened when Akasha was decapitated," said Seth. "You told me."

"But only for three or four seconds, Seth," I said. "It was no longer than that. She was decapitated and her skull was shattered by the falling glass. And Mekare scooped up the brain in her hands and had it in her mouth immediately, just as Maharet ripped open her chest and took out the still-beating heart. I know the heart was still beating because of the way the blood was flowing. So it was only a matter of seconds. What if the heart of Akasha had really been stopped and stopped for a long time?"

"It's been proven in tests on animals," said Fareed, "that the brain lives for perhaps as long as seventeen seconds after decapitation."

"Well, there you have it," said Louis. "It was only a matter of seconds."

"He's right," I said. I was almost too excited to speak. "Fareed, he's right. Stop my heart. Stop it for a long time, and then start it again."

"If I do that, Lestat, I'll lose consciousness and there won't be anyone here to restart your heart. Unless you trust a mortal with such a responsibility."

"No, wait a minute. There's no need to trust a mortal," said David. "Gremt can do this. Gremt can restart it. You only have to give him the instructions. Gremt knows all about the theory of the silver cord. Good Lord, Gremt founded the Talamasca and he probably has read more literature on the silver cord than anyone, and Gremt can be trusted to do this!"

"You don't need Gremt," said Louis. "You have me. If you stop Lestat's heart and every other blood drinker worldwide suffers it in one form or another, I won't suffer it. I will be wholly conscious and able to restart Lestat's heart. You just have to tell me how."

"If you're right about the disconnection," said Fareed.

"I am right," said Louis. "But if you want Gremt to do this, then ask Gremt. I'll sit with Gremt for the duration. Doesn't matter to me. The question is, do you have a simple way to stop and restart Lestat's heart?"

"Yes," said Fareed. "But think what might happen to all the vampires everywhere when this little experiment is carried out! There's no way in the world to warn everyone."

"What do you want us to do?" I said. "Send out an alert? We don't even know how to reach all the blood drinkers of the world."

"Yes, we do," said Louis. "Use Benji's broadcast. Set a time for this tomorrow night, and tonight have Benji broadcast the alert, that at a certain hour Greenwich mean time all blood drinkers must be in a safe and secure place for the space of sixty minutes. And have Benji loop the broadcast all day tomorrow and up to the time of the experiment. That's the best you can do, really. And have all the old ones send out the word telepathically. We come here at sunset and Fareed stops your heart. If it's started a half hour or forty-five minutes later by Gremt..."

"We could lose some of the young ones doing this," said Seth. "Louis did not die when things appeared hopeless. But we are talking about Lestat. And suppose the minute the invisible connection is severed, death follows for all who are disconnected."

"But death didn't follow for me," said Louis again. "Look, you're not thinking of all aspects at the same time."

"We're about to face pure annihilation!" I said. "I say do it. Do it now! The Hell with sending out a message. Where is Gremt? Gremt is at the Chateau or he's at his home in the country. That's not three minutes from here for one of us."