Lestat makes a dying Gabrielle his first vampire companion when she comes to Paris in search of her son, wishing to see him before she succumbs to consumption. Lestat also makes his friend and lover, Nicolas de Lenfent, a vampire. They find work at a small theatre called "Renaud's". Lestat starts off as a stage hand and then, to his surprise, becomes star of the show when he steps in for another actor. Nicolas is a violinist and performs with the theatre's small orchestra. After Lestat is abducted and made a vampire, he tries to distance himself from his mortal friends and family, but he still provides for them. He buys Nicolas an apartment and many other luxuries, such as a Stradivarius violin, with his newly acquired "coin of the realm". Nicolas is suspicious, and insists that Lestat was in fact abducted from their room at night, calling out to Nicolas. Lestat gives in to the love he feels for Nicolas and makes him a vampire as well after saving him from the self-proclaimed Children of Darkness, a coven of vampires led by Armand. But Nicolas rejects Lestat and sinks into 'madness'. Lestat collapses Armand's coven, buys Renaud's old theatre, and gives it to Nicolas and Eleni, one of Armand's former acolytes. Nicolas founds the Théàtre des Vampires, while Lestat and Gabrielle leave Paris to explore the world. Unhappy with life as a vampire, Nicolas immolates himself in a bonfire, leaving Lestat scarred with his insanity and death. Another fledgling and long-term companion is Louis de Pointe du Lac. Louis is from a family who emigrated from France to North America when he was very young, he is described as young beautiful man like an angel with "fine black hair" and deep green eyes, whom Lestat turns into a vampire in 1791. For many years, Lestat and Louis live, travel, and kill together. Though Louis claims that Lestat made him into a vampire because Lestat merely wanted his fortune, Lestat refutes these claims in the following novel. He points out that he was heir to a vast fortune well before meeting him, and says that he "fell fatally in love with Louis", who reminded him of Nicki. Lestat and Louis "adopt" a dying orphan named Claudia in 1795. Lestat turns her into a vampire in order to tie Louis to him. While Lestat spoils Claudia and tries to teach her