<div class="floatleft">(http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9779/claudiaheadsmall.jpg)</div>Claudia heard Lestat as he landed on the balcony.<strong>"Oh, Anna, Papa is home!"</strong>she exclaimed. She put a finger to her mouth, playing with the point of one long fang.<strong>"I wonder if he brought me supper. I'm so hungry!"</strong><br/><br/>The girl rose from her bed, and strode over to the locked bedroom door. Lately, they had taken to locking her in her room when they went out. Louis had promised that the situation was temporary, meant only to keep Claudia safe until she learned self-control. But something in Lestat promised that this could be the way of things; he often seemed frustrated with the child vampire.<br/><br/><strong>"But you catch more flies with honey, than vinegar,"</strong>she murmured to her dolly. Her mother--her human mother--had told her that once, in another life.<strong>"Lestat!"</strong>she called, banging on the iron-bound door.<strong>"Let me out, please. Your daughter is so hungry!" </strong>Claudia's tummy rumbled again, and she felt the ache of emptiness in her little belly<strong>"Please, I'm so hungry, Lestat! Let me feed?"</strong>