Lestat's reticence couldn't really annoy Claudia anymore, not with the clarity of a few years of separation and every conversation noted in her diary ending with the distinct impression that Lestat never knew what he was talking about. He could withhold all he wanted, and she had no reason to shriek about it anymore. As long as she grit her teeth.

Lifting her chin loftily, refusing to take the question as a slight, she said, "Only when there was no one interesting enough around." She may have had to go hungry a few nights when too many bodies turned up in study carrels and library security started looking too closely at anyone that didn't match the colour of the paper. "I thought educated boys would be so much more engaging. They all say the exact same thing when they die, though." It had gotten tedious quickly, though that didn't take the joy out of getting to mock, "'You bitch, how dare you, you can't do this.'"