Lestat here. This question is from Chuck Johnson: “Undoubtedly you know of Armand’s attempted suicide following your acquisition of Veronica’s Veil. Do you have any theories on how he saved Sybelle and Benji? Was it truly Divine Intervention, or a form of projection?” — Chuck, no, I don’t have any theory on how Armand managed to save Sybelle and Benji — based on his description in his memoir. I suspect, however, that it was as you said, “a form of projection.” Armand has always had enormous psychic powers as a vampire, including the power to spellbind others with immense and very convincing illusions, the ability to hypnotize and control others, and to slip into altered states himself in which his dreams seem to provide some real gateway to another plane. I don’t doubt that he could do what we call astral projecting and take it perhaps one step further than many others, materializing or affecting matter in the location to which he’s projected himself. But I’m a novice in all this. I make no judgments on Armand’s abilities but I don’t fully understand them. I take him at his word that he did save Benji and Sybelle, and I’m not entirely sure that even he knows quite how he did it. Due to those mysterious psychic abilities, Armand makes a much better friend than an enemy. His spellbinding gifts are particularly dangerous. Being a person of action and a sensualist, I’m not really on Armand’s level when it comes to these mental skills. Armand’s thoughts are almost impossible for me to penetrate, and his boyish countenance often reveals nothing of his true calculations and feelings. I love him and I respect him — and I know that he loves me — but I never for a moment imagine I’m entirely safe with him.
