Blackwood Farm

Synopsis

Blackwood Farm is one of the new tales of the vampires written by Anne Rice. In the story, the main character is Tarquin Blackwood, a child of the Blackwood clan, a powerful and old family in New Orleans. It quickly becomes evident that Tarquin is haunted by a mysterious ghost named goblin who is mercilously tormenting him.

After a period of time, Tarquin, also referred to as Quinn, realizes that he is unable to defeat this creature alone. Risking severe punishment and possibly death, Quinn embarks upon a quest to enlist the aid of the vampire Lestat.

Lestat, after a fashion, agrees to help Quinn. The novel develops as Quinn recounts the tales of his growing up, his youth, his family, and even his forced conversion and acceptance of the Dark Gift. This allows Lestat to better understand the reach and the power of this goblin which continues to haunt Quinn. This information, combined with his failure to defeat goblin, force Lestat to request aid from Merrick.

Merrick, a powerful Mayfair witch made vampire, agrees to help and it is revealed that the now blood-thirsty goblin, who looks exactly like Quinn, is in fact a baby boy's spirit---the spirit of Quinn's stillborn twin brother. Ever since, the child has not left this world, bound to Quinn and relentlessly jealous to experience what Quinn does.

Merrick fashions a ritual, using the corpse of the dead twin, to exorcise the spirit. During the ceremony Merrick joins herself with the flame and the corpse and carries her spirit and that of the child to the Light and perishes. Lestat is left without Merrick, one he adored, and is left with Quinn, a new vampire, and one he cherishes.