“Jesus,” Eddie says, then exhales heavily. This is it, he figures, the moment he either breaks through for a second or gets his life drained out of him and he may still be a bit of a coward, but the one thing that can override Eddie’s fear is his need to care for people.

Even his vampire person.

“You can just say we’re friends,” he says before he loops both his arms around Lestat and hugs him tightly.