The future of the vampire clan

All civilised races, when they do things, like to be nominally justified.

The vampire clan, for one, is no exception.

Tim Ashama, for example, was able to kill Biden Bruch outright because he was given ample evidence that Biden had killed his wife.

And although Imad Bruch killed Duke Landier, which led to the Giovanni family declaring war on the Bruchs, the Giovanni family couldn't just kill Imad if they wanted to support Lestat as the Bruch's patriarch.

After all, the killing of Landier Bruch by Imad Bruch was an internal matter for the Bruch family, and it would be somewhat untenable for the Giovanni family to try to avenge Landier Bruch's death by killing Imad over it.

As for Lestat, he could have justifiably killed Imad to avenge his mother's death.

But Lestat, whose power had been brought to bear by the Giovanni family, would not have had enough credibility to become the new Bruch patriarch.