As I muddle through the first draft of my fourth novel I thought I would share a bit of it with you. In the Prologue, Julien asks many questions that ironically my readers keep asking me and so I thought I would drop a bit of book IV here for you. Enjoy, oh but spoiler alerts abound so if you have not finished Eternal Hunger, hurry up and do so and then enjoy this bit of the future.
Prologue
Dear Michel, Dad, Michel,
Something inside of me refuses to address you as “dad.” It’s not that when I look in the mirror I don’t see you staring back at me. Physically, I am definitely your son, yet there is nothing maternal about you. Yes, we have spent the last ten years together, and yes, you saved my life, and yes, you are a vampire! We share an incredible bond as well as a town house – dare I say, a mansion, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I know you have had me followed, all for my own good, as I travel the world, but calling you “dad” – no. You are simply “Michel.”
I profess, I never have had a normal life – not a complaint, just an observation. The circumstances of my miraculous birth and my life in France with you and my mother is the stuff of novels. I have led a very privileged life, yet I was always extremely lonely and although I understand all the reasons why, there is more I need to know; especially about my mother, who was both your lover, Christian’s lover and no, let’s not forget Victor.
I still miss her – shrouded in all of her mystery; wondering if her myriad of vampire lovers are still out there, waiting to seek me out, or if her true love, Christian Du Mauré is alive somewhere? Is the monstrous Josette Delacore roaming the French countryside, waiting for us both? All of these questions swirl around my head and beg answers.
The one I dwell on the most, is my mysterious “grandfather” whom you will not speak of. Is this why you have forbidden me from ever setting foot on French soil? Is he truly that dangerous?
When you receive this letter I will have already landed at Charles De Gaulle airport, rented a car and headed back to La Maison des Rêves, my childhood home. There is so much I need to understand and I feel it is time for me to uncover my family history in France.
I’m not sorry for disobeying you but I am sorry for being such a coward and not telling you of my plans to your face. I can wait no longer……I love you,
Julien
Chapter I
Amanda ~ Salem Massachusetts, Halloween Night
It was time.
Ten years had passed and although to a vampire, it was a blink or a slight nod of ones’ head, every one of those days had been painful for me. Fraught with sadness, guilt and anger, I lived hidden away, waiting for the moment, for a sign that it was time to return home. Home was not France where I had lived for the last thirty years, or Salem where I have lived for the last ten years, but New York City, where I had lived and worked as a mortal woman and where this story began. As far as I knew, Michel Baptiste, my vampire lover and protector was living there along with my grown son Julien, now a thirty year old journalist for the New York Times; and as far as they knew, I was dead.
It’s really complicated for you see I had yet another vampire lover, one Christian Du Mauré, who had survived a fire that destroyed his home, the Chateau de Singes on the outskirts of Paris, ten years ago on a Halloween night, hmmm. Sporadically, yet another vampire named Victor would visit me, sharing what he could ascertain about Christian’s whereabouts, for you see, Christian had been whisked away after the fire by his immortal father, who by the way had started the fire, after he thought he had destroyed me.
Like I said, it’s complicated. Victor had the brilliant idea of both making me immortal and then faking my death, therefore allowing me to leave France in order to avoid the wrath of Ghislain; Christian’s immortal father, someone I hope never to cross paths with again. I am not sure why I am still alive, quite frankly, perhaps Victor, who by the way was another of my vampire lover’s has been able to keep him at bay. All I know is that I have had a relatively peaceful existence, until now.
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