Montmartre is the rural edge of Paris where Lestat and Gabrielle begin preparing for a battle with the vampires pursuing them. Its scattered farmhouses offer a momentary shelter, but the pair’s stop there turns the landscape into a place of predation as well as refuge.

Setting and Approach

As Lestat and Gabrielle approach the city, he tries to devise a plan but admits he is uncertain how to proceed. He compares the coming fight to the morning when he hunted wolves, relying on rage and will to carry him through. They have scarcely entered Montmartre’s scattered farmhouses when they hear the vampires’ faint murmur, which seems noxious, like vapor.

The Farmhouse

Knowing they must feed to prepare for the encounter, Lestat and Gabrielle stop at a small farm. They creep through its orchard to the back door and find a man and woman dozing beside an empty hearth. After feeding, they leave the house together and pause in the kitchen garden beneath a pearl-gray sky. The scene is quiet: there is no sign of anyone else, only the freshness of the blood, the stillness, and clouds gathering with the threat of rain.

Narrative Significance

Montmartre marks the transition from uncertain approach to immediate readiness. The ordinary farm and sleeping couple provide the blood the vampires believe they need, while the orchard and kitchen garden frame the act in deceptively peaceful surroundings. Once they have fed, Lestat summons his gelding and turns to Gabrielle; the pause is over, and they continue toward the danger ahead.