About
Contains spoilers Lestat was born on November 7, 1760, as the seventh son of the marquis d'Auvergne in the Auvergne region of France. Only two of his brothers survive to adulthood. While they are technically aristocrats, the de Lioncourt family's fortune has been squandered, and they live in relative poverty in their feudal castle. Lestat's mother, Gabrielle, is the only literate member of the family. Lestat's father is blind and spends his days playing chess. Nicolas grew up in a small town in Auvergne, France, the eldest son of a draper. His family is respectably middle-class, and he is educated.

Initially, Nicolas meets Lestat when they are both children and are participating in an outing to "The Witches Place", a location where witches were burned at the stake in previous years. Lestat makes an impression on Nicolas when he begins to scream and cry during the outing. The two meet again as young men, after Lestat defeats a pack of wolves plaguing the village. Nicolas, acting as a spokesperson for the town, presents him with a red velvet cloak and boots lined with the wolves' pelts.

Later, after many events, Nicki pleads to become a vampire. Lestat refuses, but is finally convinced to turn Nicki into a vampire. As Lestat feeds from Nicolas, he is plunged into the darkness in which Nicolas resides. He describes the scene as a seamless black sea, where all colours have faded, and that he sees only a bird soaring over the void expanse. He describes a feeling of having lost all that was once cherished. He describes it also as worse than his moment of darkness at the Inn, and tries to recoil from it. He finally turns Nicki into a vampire, which strains their friendship.

After the transformation, Nicolas becomes catatonic. Lestat and his mother Gabrielle take Nicolas to Paris, where he slips from their grasp and disappears into the night. Lestat cannot read Nicki's mind, but Gabrielle can, and tells him that the only things Nicolas thinks of are the funeral pyre under Les Innocents, upon which he was almost killed, and Renaud's theatre. They deduce that he must have run to the theatre and the find him there, sitting alone. Lestat gives the violin he had retrieved for him and Nicolas begins to play, improvising dark and terrible music. Lestat describes the music as "the darkness exploded, the darkness molten" and is horrified by it.

The remaining members of Armand's coven appear and begin to dance, and Nicolas join them. Nicolas finally becomes vocal, and he demands the theatre, slinging insults at Lestat and finally admitting that he never wanted them to succeed in Paris. Nicolas proclaims his group to be the Theatre of the Vampires, and becomes the troupe's playwright and composer.

Lestat grants Nicki his wish and turns over the theatre. He and Gabrielle decide to leave Paris and leave Nicolas in Armand's care. The coven attempts to care for Nicolas, and refers to him fondly as "Our Violinist", but he becomes progressively more insane and difficult to deal with, accosting strangers on the street and making no attempt to conceal his vampiric nature. Armand finally resorts to restraining him in a cell and cuts off his hands to prevent him from playing his violin so manically. Once released, Nicki writes a stack of new plays, then demands that the coven build him a funeral pyre and hold a sabbat, else he set fire to the theatre and kill himself there. The coven abides by Nicki's wishes and organizes a sabbat for him, where he dances into the flames, committing suicide.

Nicolas's prized Stradivarius violin, as well as an account of his death, are sent on to Lestat. He keeps the instrument with him and, in the later novel Queen of the Damned, plays it for Akasha. Centuries later, during Lestat's journey to Heaven and Hell, he is unable to locate Nicolas in either realm.

[source: wikipedia.org ]