The novel, Mary the Vampire, continues the story that began with The Dancing Valkyrie. In this installment, Mary Hoffman, aka Erica, the erotic dancer who owns a gentlemen’s club in Schenectady, NY, continues to try to extricate herself from the watchful eyes of the FBI and CIA, as well as deal with organized crime bosses.
The novel, Mary the Vampire, continues the story that began with The Dancing Valkyrie. In this installment, Mary Hoffman, aka Erica, the erotic dancer who owns a gentlemen’s club in Schenectady, NY, continues to try to extricate herself from the watchful eyes of the FBI and CIA, as well as deal with organized crime bosses. On a more personal level, Mary also tries to balance her love for her creator, Elizabeth Gottsched, her love for Ana, the young woman she turned into a vampire, and the love and responsibility she feels for the human, Karen Wilson who is a member to the Schenectady City Council. Karen Wilson is one of only two humans who knows Mary is a vampire. This was the result of Mary sharing her blood with Karen as part of her effort to prevent Karen being killed by organized crime. This sharing of blood did not make it possible for Karen to become a vampire but it did cause Karen to fall wildly in love with Mary. The relationship is complicated by the fact that Karen has two young children who came to love Mary because of Mary saving their mother’s life. There is a back story that involves Elizabeth Gottsched and her creator and lover, Joseph Gottsched, and their having known the real Dracula, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, also known as Vlad Dracula. It was Vlad Dracula who gifted a castle in Romania to the Gottscheds, who later duplicated the castle on property they own in the Adirondacks. Blood, love and sex weave a complicated thread throughout the novel. The vampires in this novel are not demons but are presented as undiscovered, unknown creatures of flesh and blood, skin and bone, who easily pass as humans. Immoral by human standards, they nevertheless try to follow their own moral codes. This can best be hinted at by their view on the killing of humans by taking their blood. They see it as no different from all the plants and animals humans kill to eat and thus survive. They believe God created them, just as God created humans, and have as much right as humans do to live their lives as they see fit. They would no more apologize for being vampires than a tiger would apologize for being a tiger.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Beth suddenly realized she had lied to Mary.
Turning to Joseph, she said, “Why did I lie to Mary? Why did I do that? For some odd reason, I was thinking back to a day when we were with Vlad Dracula and suddenly realized I lied to Mary when I told her that you knew Vlad but I didn’t. I clearly remember what I said to her. I said, ‘Joseph knew Vlad a few years before Vlad was killed in battle. That was in 1476, I think. I know what your next question is. Then how old am I? I was born in the late 1400's. I met Joseph when I was about your age in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But don’t think about age. It doesn’t really apply to us. It no longer applies to you.’ Why would I have lied to her?”
Joseph laughed, “Women always lie about their age. Maybe you just wanted to slash a few years off of your age.”
Beth made a face at Joseph and said, “I’m proud of how old I am. Actually, to tell the truth, I am happier about my looks than my age. I don’t think I look a day older than when we first met. Not bad for a woman well over 550 years and counting.”
“I won’t argue there. To steal from Shakespeare, I’ll say of you what he wrote about Cleopatra. Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.”
“Thank you, Joseph. Flattery like that means I’ll consider keeping you around for a few hundred more years.”
But the idea of having lied to Mary, even if it was petty and didn’t change anything, continued to bother her. She didn’t like to lie. Obfuscate was okay. That was essential to keep humans from knowing she was a vampire. No! She didn’t even like obfuscating and wished she didn’t need to keep humans ignorant of vampires. Vlad knew.
“I’m going out for a walk,” Beth said. “Want to come with me? I feel like howling at the moon.”
“I would but I want to move some funds around. Enjoy yourself. I should be finished by the time you get back.”
They were at the castle that Dracula had willed to them in Romania. The castle they built in the Adirondacks of northern New York was nearly a duplicate of the one they owned in Romania. But Beth liked this one better because it had been bequeathed to them by Vlad and was honestly gothic.
Stepping out into the cool night air, Beth said, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t have turned you, Vlad, and saved your life.”
Beth clearly remembered the last time she saw Vlad.
She and Joseph were seated at a table with Dracula and were sharing a meal with him while they watched Muslims warriors of the Ottoman Empire being impaled. The meal included cups of blood to drink from and it was their willingness to drink the blood that caused Dracula to quip, “So I am not wrong in thinking even for you the blood of enemies is worth drinking?”
Beth remembered saying, “No, my lord, you are not mistaken. I do have one questions.”
“What is that?”
“Have you ever had the opportunity to drink blood from one who freely gives it to you?”
“What a novel idea. Who would do that?”
“I have. Joseph and I sometimes share blood during the heat of passion. Never enough to cause our death, obviously, but enough to demonstrate our total trust of each other.”
Let yourself take on a sexy adventurous read, walk on the sensual dark side of human adventure through the shadows of your mind. And, challenge your senses of the normal versus the paranormal, and the abnormal. Accept the quest, get onboard and disco
The fifth and final book of the Jade Owl Legacy sees a full battle for life as we know it. The world is threatened by the denizens of the Jade Village leading the China Hans through a fantastical world and to a conclusive battle.
