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“Well, I was more than slightly amazed.Lestat talk! I couldn’t imagine this. Never had Lestat and I really talked. Ithink I have described to you with accuracy our sparring matches, our angrygo-rounds.” “我简直惊诧不已，莱斯特要谈谈！真不可思议，我和莱斯特从来就没有真正谈过话。我想我非常精确地向你描述过我们之间的冲突，以及气愤的争斗。”“He was desperate for the money, for yourhouses,” said the boy. “Or was it that he was as afraid to be alone as youwere?” “他迫切需要你的金钱和你的房子，”男孩说道，“要么就是他和你一样害怕孤独？”“These questions occurred to me. It evenoccurred to me that Lestat meant to kill me, some way that I didn’t know. You see, I wasn’t sure thenwhy I awoke each evening when I did, whether it was automatic when the deathlike sleep left me,and why it happened sometimes earlier than at other times. It was one of the things Lestatwould not explain. And he was often up before me. He was my superior in all the mechanics, as I’veindicated. And I shut the coffin that morning with a kind of despair. “这些我都想到了，我甚至想到莱斯特是不是要以某种我还不知道的方式杀了我。我那时不清楚自己每天晚上是怎么会醒来的；是不是就那么自动地从沉睡中醒过来；为什么有时早点，有时又晚点。这是一件莱斯特不愿说的事情。他经常比我先起来，在各方面又高我一筹。那天早上，我就这样怀着一种绝望的心情关上了棺材。“I should explain now, though, that theshutting of the coffin is always disturbing. It is rather like
going under a modernanesthetic on an operating table. Even a casual mistake on the part of an intrudermight mean death.” “我得说一下，关闭棺材往往是很烦人的，很像现代手术台上使用的麻醉，稍不留意都将意味着死亡。”“But how could he have killed you? Hecouldn’t have exposed you to the light; he couldn’t have stood it himself.” “但是他怎么能杀了你呢？他不可能让你见光，因为他自己就不能见光。”“This is true, but rising before me he mighthave nailed my coffin shut. Or set it afire. The principal thing was, I didn’t know what he might do,what he might know that I still did not know. “说得对。但他起得比我早，他就可以把我的棺材钉死，或者付之一炬。问题的关键在于，我不知道他会做什么，不知道他到底还知道什么我不知道的东西。“But there was nothing to be done about itthen, and with thoughts of the dead woman and child still in my brain, and the sun rising, Ihad no energy left to argue with him, and lay down to miserable dreams.” “然而，我感到无计可施。那时太阳快升起来了，我已没有力气和他争辩，于是躺进棺材，脑子里想着死去的那个女人和孩子，渐渐进入了可怕的梦境。”“You do dream!” said the boy. “Often,” said the vampire. “I wish sometimesthat I did not. For such dreams, such long and clear dreams I never had as a mortal; and suchtwisted nightmares I never had either. In my early days, these dreams so absorbed me that often itseemed I fought waking as long as I could and lay sometimes for hours thinking of thesedreams until the night was half gone; and dazed by them I often wandered about seeking to understand theirmeaning. They were in many ways as elusive as the dreams of mortals. I dreamed of my brother,for instance, that he was near me in some state between life and death, calling to me for help. Andoften I dreamed of Babette; and often—almost always— there was a great wasteland backdrop to mydreams, that wasteland of night I’d seen when cursed by Babette as I’ve told you. It was as if allfigures walked and talked on the desolate home of my damned soul. I don’t remember what I dreamed thatday, perhaps because I remember too well what Lestat and
I discussed thefollowing evening. I see you’re anxious for that, too. “你做梦！”男孩惊叹一声。 “经常的事，”吸血鬼说道。“我有时真希望不做梦，可做的梦都又长又清楚，是我生为人时不曾有过的，而扭曲的噩梦也是从未有过的。早年，我往往沉醉于梦中，不想醒来。我有时躺在那里几个小时，回味着做过的梦，一躺就是半个晚上。我往往被梦所迷惑，经常想弄懂其中的含意。这些梦在许多方面和人做的梦一样难以捉摸。比如我梦见我的弟弟，他处于一种似死的状态，在离我不远处，向我呼救；我也经常梦见巴贝特，经常——差不多总是——有一种苍茫茫的背景，就是我前面说到的，我被巴贝特诅咒时所看见的漫漫长夜。就好像所有的人都在边走边谈论着我那邪恶灵魂的凄惨归宿。我记不清那晚我梦见了什么，也许是因为太操心第二天晚上和莱斯特要讨论的内容。看得出来，你也急于知道。
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