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Mortal Companion
For Ulric, a pagan warrior who was turned into a vampire by the Christian crusader in the 14th century, immortality has come at the price of a deep and abiding loneliness. He cannot seek companionship from one of his own kind, because vampires – like many other predators – cannot tolerate one another’s presence. The only person who shares his memories of home is his half-sister Adulfa, but she has spent the centuries sharpening her hatred for Ulric, for it was he who forced her to become a blood-drinker. It matters not to Adulfa that Ulric was also under duress when this tragedy occurred. Now, Ulric has found his soulmate, a woman who loves him despite her own turmoil about the things that he must do to survive. Their passion for one another is tragically heightened by the fact that she cannot live forever. And she refuses to accept life everlasting, because becoming a vampire herself will force her to leave Ulric’s side to establish her own hunting ground, where she would reign supreme, but alone. If anything makes Adulfa angrier than the prospect of Ulric being happy, if only for a few short years, it is his effrontery in raising a piece of prey to the status of his peer. Lost in a frenzied attempt to satisfy their desire for one another, Ulric and his lover, Lilith, do not realize that a sadistic and amoral Valkyrie who has had centuries to plot her revenge is stalking them. In Adulfa’s eyes, Lilith may be nothing more than food, but her submissive charms are not lost upon Ulric’s sister. Like a great cat, once she pounces, she plans to toy with her captive, if only because this will speed Ulric to his beloved’s rescue. When brother and sister clash over the possession of Lilith, none of them will emerge unscathed.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2004
About the author
Patrick Califia
67 books171 followersPatrick Califia, who formerly wrote under the names Pat Califia and Patrick Califia-Rice, is a writer of nonfiction (on men, gender, transgender identity, and sexuality) and fiction (erotica, poetry, and short stories).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 16, 2019
Hot on the heels of his anthology Hard Men, comes Patrick Califia-Rice's novel, Mortal Companion. I don't just mention these two books together because they were released so relatively close to each other, but also because they are wonderful to read back to back. Hard Men contains two short story length excerpts from Mortal Companion, while Mortal Companion re-introduces us to Patrick Kelly and Davy from No Mercy, a sexy D/s story from Hard Men.
Mortal Companion is another of very few examples of how erotica can be literary and intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining. I'm not a long time fan of the vampire story. Most vampire novels are too soap opera-esque for me. I run quickly in the opposite direction of this genre. I hadn't planned to read this one at all, but when Hard Men landed on my desk, I didn't know the proverbial can of worms it would bring with it in the form of the short stories The Wolf is My Shepard, I Shall Not Want and Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow. It was Hard Men that first introduced me to Ulric, the uber-hot, leather clad, brooding and thoughtful vampire.
Mortal Companion gives us a round portrait of Ulric, his suffering and his evil. Having been turned by Sir Hilbert, general of the Germanic Knights, Ulric rapes his sister with eternal un-life. Adulfa hates and hunts him as Ulric fights to control his hunger and retain his humanity by collecting human comforts and finally by taking a Mortal Companion. It is his love of the very much alive Lilith that sets the rest of this story into fierce climactic action.
Mortal Companion covers most of the traditional vampire lore while adding beautiful histories to Ulric's lonely tale. Califia introduces us to the romantic idea of The Elders, older vampires who were responsible for passing wisdom, knowledge and tradition down to the youngest of their Pagan tribes people. Califia also introduces us to vampire cats, which are so true to the spirit of the cat that I read bits aloud to my cats while they licked themselves in feigned disinterest.
There is just enough of the old and new fused together in this novel to make it a wholly new Vampire tale. There are also heaping mounds of hot, on the edge, sex. While the sex was frightening and titillating it is the rest of the story where Califia's talent shines. I was on the edge of every chair and bed that held my ass up while I spoiled myself with this book. This novel has a sequel in it's future and that knowledge alone will have to sustain me, that and re-reading the last three chapters, which I've done twice.
Mortal Companion is another of very few examples of how erotica can be literary and intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining. I'm not a long time fan of the vampire story. Most vampire novels are too soap opera-esque for me. I run quickly in the opposite direction of this genre. I hadn't planned to read this one at all, but when Hard Men landed on my desk, I didn't know the proverbial can of worms it would bring with it in the form of the short stories The Wolf is My Shepard, I Shall Not Want and Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow. It was Hard Men that first introduced me to Ulric, the uber-hot, leather clad, brooding and thoughtful vampire.
Mortal Companion gives us a round portrait of Ulric, his suffering and his evil. Having been turned by Sir Hilbert, general of the Germanic Knights, Ulric rapes his sister with eternal un-life. Adulfa hates and hunts him as Ulric fights to control his hunger and retain his humanity by collecting human comforts and finally by taking a Mortal Companion. It is his love of the very much alive Lilith that sets the rest of this story into fierce climactic action.
Mortal Companion covers most of the traditional vampire lore while adding beautiful histories to Ulric's lonely tale. Califia introduces us to the romantic idea of The Elders, older vampires who were responsible for passing wisdom, knowledge and tradition down to the youngest of their Pagan tribes people. Califia also introduces us to vampire cats, which are so true to the spirit of the cat that I read bits aloud to my cats while they licked themselves in feigned disinterest.
There is just enough of the old and new fused together in this novel to make it a wholly new Vampire tale. There are also heaping mounds of hot, on the edge, sex. While the sex was frightening and titillating it is the rest of the story where Califia's talent shines. I was on the edge of every chair and bed that held my ass up while I spoiled myself with this book. This novel has a sequel in it's future and that knowledge alone will have to sustain me, that and re-reading the last three chapters, which I've done twice.
August 9, 2008
Yes that's right folks it is totally fantasy porn. I love this book and if Patrick ever reads this: God were is the sequel?? How could you leave me hanging like that? Please, please write like ten more books in this world setting...ill do anything...really. I couldnt read 20 pages of this damn book without having to jerk off i swear to god! But seriously DISCLAIMER: there is actual rape, consensual rape scenes, and about ten shades of inbetween rape in this book! Enter Ulric, warrior of the Boar People, Daddy of all Daddies, Master of all Masters(yes...let metallica slip into your head, is okay...), Survivor...Vampire! He has survived centuries and now his tale is laid before us...well, at least some of it that is.
April 15, 2016
There is much that is playful in this beguiling tale, including speaking vampire cats, and a wealth of snappy dialogue, but also scenes of powerful allure, and those of heartbreaking poignancy. What better vehicle for exploring the many pains of love than a full-length vampire novel?
It doesn’t take the reader long to be rooting for leather-clad, biker Ulric, born in the 14th century, and struggling with the loneliness of immortality ever since (Califia’s vampires being cursed with finding the company of their own kind unbearable).
Through the centuries, Ulric wanders lost and largely loveless, his suffering sweetly punctuated by short periods of mortal companionship: Alain, who becomes an early victim of AIDS, and, now Lilith, a small-town librarian ripe for exploring her passion for her new lover.
Califia’s sex is heavily influenced by BDSM elements, presented in glorious techni-colour, and with authenticity (having been inspired by Califia’s own experience of the San Francisco scene). Califia’s sex scenes are not only lava-hot but innovative. Combined with a writing style that embraces the brutally raw and the gently lyrical, this is a recipe for an erotic masterpiece. Califia knows his craft.
Above even his skillful manipulation of language is Califia’s creation of compelling, multi-layered characters. Ulric is both dominant and submissive to his new love, tender and masterful. Their relationship is one of balance, presented as an ideal. Lilith is, of necessity, a less dramatic persona, but carries her own quiet authority and we have a sense of her agency in her own fate. She is the giver and receiver of pleasure, Ulric respecting (almost worshipping) her female sexual power on equal footing with demonstrations of masculine erotic strength.
The plot revolves around an ancient feud, initiated by Ulric’s half-sister, the fearsome, obsessive, ruthless Adulfa. Statuesque, and beautiful in all senses unconventional, she pursues vengeance with a single-mindedness that, in the hands of a less talented author, might result in a stereotype of wickedness: a two-dimensional villainess. However, in blaming Ulric for having sentenced her to vampiric abomination six centuries earlier, we see not only her capacity to inflict pain on others, but the pain she carries within herself.
On discovering Ulric’s mortal companion, her plans unfold with steady inevitability, set against a catalogue of sadistic scenes in which we, as readers, are left in no doubt that Adulfa’s revenge will surpass anything we can imagine.
Adulfa’s brand of perverted domination is explored at length, leaving us disturbed and disrupted, as is clearly the intention. Her behaviour, destructive as it is, to others and herself, is the perfect foil to the mutual love we witness between Ulric and Lilith. Where their sex scenes revolve around pleasure and emotional fulfillment, Adulfa’s couplings are spiced liberally with excruciating humiliation and torture.
The story, in its very concept, is fantastical, and yet Califia makes it so easy to suspend our disbelief. We shiver with delicious fear at the sinister path of Adulfa as readily as we shiver with satisfaction at the sex scenes involving Ulric, Lilith and their lovers.
The closing pages of the story are unexpected, and leave the path open to a sequel (as yet unwritten). Would I like more of Adulfa, Ulric, and Lilith? Oh yes…
It doesn’t take the reader long to be rooting for leather-clad, biker Ulric, born in the 14th century, and struggling with the loneliness of immortality ever since (Califia’s vampires being cursed with finding the company of their own kind unbearable).
Through the centuries, Ulric wanders lost and largely loveless, his suffering sweetly punctuated by short periods of mortal companionship: Alain, who becomes an early victim of AIDS, and, now Lilith, a small-town librarian ripe for exploring her passion for her new lover.
Califia’s sex is heavily influenced by BDSM elements, presented in glorious techni-colour, and with authenticity (having been inspired by Califia’s own experience of the San Francisco scene). Califia’s sex scenes are not only lava-hot but innovative. Combined with a writing style that embraces the brutally raw and the gently lyrical, this is a recipe for an erotic masterpiece. Califia knows his craft.
Above even his skillful manipulation of language is Califia’s creation of compelling, multi-layered characters. Ulric is both dominant and submissive to his new love, tender and masterful. Their relationship is one of balance, presented as an ideal. Lilith is, of necessity, a less dramatic persona, but carries her own quiet authority and we have a sense of her agency in her own fate. She is the giver and receiver of pleasure, Ulric respecting (almost worshipping) her female sexual power on equal footing with demonstrations of masculine erotic strength.
The plot revolves around an ancient feud, initiated by Ulric’s half-sister, the fearsome, obsessive, ruthless Adulfa. Statuesque, and beautiful in all senses unconventional, she pursues vengeance with a single-mindedness that, in the hands of a less talented author, might result in a stereotype of wickedness: a two-dimensional villainess. However, in blaming Ulric for having sentenced her to vampiric abomination six centuries earlier, we see not only her capacity to inflict pain on others, but the pain she carries within herself.
On discovering Ulric’s mortal companion, her plans unfold with steady inevitability, set against a catalogue of sadistic scenes in which we, as readers, are left in no doubt that Adulfa’s revenge will surpass anything we can imagine.
Adulfa’s brand of perverted domination is explored at length, leaving us disturbed and disrupted, as is clearly the intention. Her behaviour, destructive as it is, to others and herself, is the perfect foil to the mutual love we witness between Ulric and Lilith. Where their sex scenes revolve around pleasure and emotional fulfillment, Adulfa’s couplings are spiced liberally with excruciating humiliation and torture.
The story, in its very concept, is fantastical, and yet Califia makes it so easy to suspend our disbelief. We shiver with delicious fear at the sinister path of Adulfa as readily as we shiver with satisfaction at the sex scenes involving Ulric, Lilith and their lovers.
The closing pages of the story are unexpected, and leave the path open to a sequel (as yet unwritten). Would I like more of Adulfa, Ulric, and Lilith? Oh yes…
June 20, 2007
I just finished reading this book, i loved it! sexy librarians, dominant vampires, love, fucking and bdsm all rolled into one how could you go wrong i ask?
September 3, 2007
Small-town librarian falls in love with a vampire and becomes sex radical, 'nuff said!
December 11, 2007
I liked this book; I really did. Anything that has vampires, LOTS of good homo-sex and SM is a definite must-read for me. And I'm a huge fan of Patrick Califia-Rice: read him when he was the Advocate Adviser, LOVED (loved, LOOOOVED) "Macho Sluts", even met/chatted w/ him at a dungeon party....
There was, however, one leetle bitty prob w/ this book that kinda killed it for me. And it happened RIGHT at the very end and it left me feeling rather sad and empty inside.
To wit, there was a very "deus ex machina" moment that, when it happened, had me thinking, "Wait, what just happened? Why did it happen now? If it could have happened at ANY TIME, why didn't it happen about 100 pages ago???"
Apart from that, the book was fun, the characters were sexy, and the sex was HOTTT!!!
...as long as you don't mind upsettingly implausuble endings...
There was, however, one leetle bitty prob w/ this book that kinda killed it for me. And it happened RIGHT at the very end and it left me feeling rather sad and empty inside.
To wit, there was a very "deus ex machina" moment that, when it happened, had me thinking, "Wait, what just happened? Why did it happen now? If it could have happened at ANY TIME, why didn't it happen about 100 pages ago???"
Apart from that, the book was fun, the characters were sexy, and the sex was HOTTT!!!
...as long as you don't mind upsettingly implausuble endings...
April 20, 2010
I was REALLY disappointed in this book. It had everything a girl (or me, at least) could want... Vampires, BDSM, lesbians, and lots of sex. But I thought it was awful. The depiction of the BDSM subculture was ridiculous, the graphic rape scenes were so horrendous I almost threw the book across the room, and the plot made absolutely no sense. Not to mention the ending, which completely nullified the entire storyline. It's very open-ended and was supposed to have a sequel, but now it will never be written due to the author's illness. Overall a huge let down.
January 15, 2008
Vampires and leather sex? The two prove to be an amazing combination. And with a good vampire and a bad vampire, you end up seeing both the loving dominant and the abusive asshole. While the abusive asshole is sometimes difficult for me to stomach, I think I'm glad it's included.
Oh, and some of those sex scenes, like when the librarian walks naked into the most "dangerous" biker bar she can find. Califia swept me away several times in this book.
Oh, and some of those sex scenes, like when the librarian walks naked into the most "dangerous" biker bar she can find. Califia swept me away several times in this book.
September 22, 2015
Definitely more graphic descriptions than expected compared to most of todays erotica literature. But generally a good storyline, the back history left a little to be desired and I was ultimately unsatisfied with the ending. I wish there would have been a little more explanation. The ending really felt rushed and only half done compared to the detail in other sections of the book. But generally a reasonable read.
December 23, 2007
a fun read. witty, humorous & sexy
January 18, 2010
A bit sweet, a bit shocking, and very hot. Does this thing have a sequel or one in the works? The ending is left rather hanging...
Want to Read
October 5, 2010OMG VAMPIRE EROTIC FICTION BY PATRICK CALIFIA I WANT I WANT I WANT! HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews