Yum, we can always use fresh blood! >;}

Why couldn’t Claudia access the full extent of her vampire powers? Are they really that biologically discriminate? 

^They don’t all automatically get all the vampiric powers, and some powers are only “earned” over time (like the cloud gift, which is flight). Some vampires automatically do get certain gifts upon being turned, like Lestat and the mind gift, but Louis didn’t get that one (debatable somewhat, as

Armand notes in TVA that Louis can spellbind others inadvertently but that might also be bc Louis is just too adorable and dreamy for anyone to handle). 

We don’t know just how strong/gifted Claudia was, I don’t think there are any scenes that explicitly talk about her abilities. She was most likely stronger than her mortal self, even if she was weak compared to other vampires. Even if she had the mind gift, she would not have been able to read Lestat’s mind, and he wouldn’t be able to read hers, due to the barrier between fledglings and makers. But she might have been able to read Louis’ mind, since she’s his sibling. We don’t know.

Not sure where you’re at now, but in TVL there’s some discussion about fledglings and strength when Armand tells Lestat what he knows about the Dark Trick, and later, Marius that tells Lestat what he knows about it. Claudia is not specifically mentioned at the time, bc she doesn’t exist yet in the story.

The Dark Gift is not an exact science, and even makers with gifts cannot purposely give/withhold them to/from their fledglings :- Armand mentions in TVL: 

But let Armand understand here also that the effect of the Dark Trick is unpredictable, even when passed on by the very young vampire and with all due care. For reasons no one knows, some mortals when Born to Darkness become as powerful as Titans, others may be no more than corpses that move. That is why mortals must be chosen with skill. Those with great passion and indomitable will should be avoided as well as those who have none.

The Dark Gift in unpredictable, despite all good/bad intentions; it’s the vampiric form of pregnancy. But there are things about the procedure that can affect the strength of the fledgling:

• Whether the blood is transferred

  between maker and fledgling

  once (for Louis and Claudia) or multiple times (for Marius) – IIRC, Marius doesn’t tell Lestat this in TVL, but multiple times seems to make for a stronger fledgling. Why didn’t Lestat do it multiple times for Claudia? I think Claudia was already in such bad physical shape that Lestat didn’t want to risk it. Plus, he had already turned 3 fledglings using the single transfer procedure, he probably felt like that was good enough.

• Age and/or power of the maker – Lestat was only ~15 yo vampire himself when he turns Claudia. That’s still almost a fledgling himself, even tho he had been turned with powerful blood from a 300+ yo vampire.
• Timing of making previous fledglings of the maker – Marius tells Lestat that the gift is weaker from the Maker to fledglings if given close in time period. Lestat had already made 3 vampires in his 15 year time, each one was weaker in strength than the last. It seems like whatever the Maker’s power, it’s outweighed by this timing issue.
• The fledgling’s diet after turning – Louis was feeding on animals for the first 4-ish years of vampiring, which is like bad junk food, and probably not drinking the volume of blood he needed, either. Claudia seemed to have a voracious appetite, but she did have the body of a child, so it’s possible that she was physically unable to consume the amount of blood needed for the vampiric parasite to really transform her body properly. Possibly another reason why vampires generally don’t approve of turning children.

Hope that helps!