Page 1 of Grim’s Delight (The New Protectorate Syndicate #1)
A note from a librarian at the United Congress Library: The following spotlighted excerpt comes from one of the first recorded scientific studies into the subject of vampiric blood brides, who have the unique ability to mate with their own kind.
It is a jewel in our collection and can be viewed upon special request by members of the public or for research purposes.
A TREATISE ON GRIM’S DELIGHT, THE GIFT AND THE BANE, GIVEN BY THE MERCIFUL ONE HERSELF TO HER MOST CHERISHED CHILDREN THROUGH THE TRANSFERENCE OF LIFESBLOOD AND ENERGY, AS UNDERSTOOD BY THIS HONORED AUTHOR, DOCTOR RAMSFIELD TURNER OF THE MOST ESTEEMED ACADEMY OF ALCHEMICAL AND MAGICAL RESEARCH OF BOSTON
INTRODUCTION
It is a known fact among the learned of the subject that Grim, our most beloved goddess of Death and Mercy, has bestowed her favor on vampires.
This favor began when she created them from the ill and the most wretched of the world; those beings so beyond hope that only Death’s cold fingers could reach their hearts.
In her wisdom, the goddess did not take them to the underworld, where succor is found on the riverbank and justice in the mud, where sinners gasp for air for all eternity.
Rather, she returned the wretched to life with a kiss, and so the first vampires were born, their forms renewed and their vitality forever altered by the venom that coursed through their veins.
And so the first vampires wandered, seeking a return to the lives and homes they left behind.
It was the grief of many to discover doors shut and families beyond reaching.
Such was their fear of vampires, their strangeness and their nocturnal lives, that they could no longer bear to accept those they had so dearly missed.
When their families refused them, believing them to be vile monsters, many turned to creating their own through the sharing of Grim’s Gift.
A father or mother might be made by this exchange, whereby a significant portion of blood is donated to a person’s veins.
These rare children are considered rightful heirs and treated with the due reverence and expectation of a naturalborn child of one’s body.
Though many vampires tried this method of curing loneliness, most could not endure the pain of repeated failure.
When Grim saw her childrens’ agony, she bestowed yet another gift: mates whose blood and companionship tether a vampire to this world.
She called them ancora vitae, commonly shortened to anchor, and commanded vampires to cherish them in all ways; for without them, they would surely perish.
It was through these unions that a vampire could sire offspring, but one of the three ways the Merciful One has allowed her children: through the sharing of lifesblood, the planting of seed with those who are not vampires, and with those rare few of their own kind born with Grim’s mercy in them.
Unlike the rest of their vampire kin, they possess no deadly venom and their bodies are ripe for breeding.
They can feed and be fed on by a fellow vampire, and it is believed that when two vampires create offspring, the child produced of such a union is blessed with extremely powerful blood.
This author has heard them called many names. On the Old Continent, they are commonly referred to by some variation of donum misericors, gift of mercy, or sang béni, blood blessed . In the territories of the North American continent, they are simply called blood brides.
It is the joining of a vampire and his blood bride that is the concern of this book and the subject that has consumed this author’s study for many years.
It is the single most unique mating of any in all the world.
Its very existence proves the hand of the goddess is upon us, for it cannot be explained by other means.
It is only through divine intervention that two vampires might sustain each other and so it is most appropriate that such a miracle is called Grim’s Delight.