My Last Gasp
After reading Immortal Obsession, some readers have asked me, how does one become a vampire? I thought about it at length and then decided perhaps it is best if one of them tells you about it. For those readers who have not read my novel yet, here is a little background:
Christian Du Mauré succumbs to a beautiful and seductive woman, along with his best friend Michel Baptiste, during the summer of 1756. All they know is that her name is Gabrielle and with her pale white skin and dark green eyes, they cannot take their eyes off of her. When she invites them home with her, they cannot resist, and so begins a relationship that will take them down a dark path.
My name is Christian Du Maure. I took my last mortal breath on the third of March 1757. I was not quite twenty years old.
Michel and I never knew her last name, or where she came from and it seems she just magically appeared one night at the home of some friends. She caught our attention and we both bedded her that night. I don't kiss and tell but it was one of the most incredible nights of my life. The three of us spent every night together, playing cards, going to the opera, drinking and much more. Michel never wanted it to end but somewhere in the recesses of my heart I knew it had to, for there was something evil about Gabrielle, something missing in her beautiful dark eyes, but we were young and so smitten.
Summer turned to fall and then to winter and suddenly I felt a chasm between the three of us. Michel was seeing Gabrielle despite my protests and warnings so I even went so far as to draw a line in the sand. It was either "her or me" I told him and at that moment I truly believed it until Michel all but disappeared from my life. Oh, I knew where he was and who he was with but he was changing. It was subtle at first; he was no longer eating or drinking much. He grew pale and seemed less humorous, more sullen, which was not like Michel. I was losing my best friend and I was helpless to stop whatever was happening between them.
Always loving physical work, I took to spending more time in my stables, grooming my beautiful black mare, Star Light. Despite the warmth which comes from toiling, I felt a chill and something made me turn around and there they were, standing in the doorway, watching me. By the vague expression on his face, I knew I had lost Michel but to what I could not even imagine, and then he told me. It was so unthinkable that for a moment I thought I had lost my mind. Gabrielle was a vampire he said and he had joined her. I tried not to listen, backing away from them both but I knew in my heart it was true.
He said they were leaving for Paris that night, leaving me behind and if that wasn't enough of an insult, Gabrielle planned to erase all memories of this night from my mind. It was a horror beyond words for me. How could I lose my best friend? How could I never see him again yet know he was out there somewhere with her!
And then, he beckoned to me and in a timeless moment everything stopped and I went to them.
Oh my, forgive me. I will continue another time.
