Blood and Gold: The Vampire Marius (The Vampire Chronicles) [Hardcover]

With Blood and Gold, Anne Rice is firing on all cylinders again, producing the kind of heady mix that distinguishes her best work: a bizarre mélange of gothic horror, overripe romanticism and a genuinely poetic vision that is very much her own. This latest vampire novel boasts all the Rice specialities, notably a moody, patrician vampire protagonist.

Marius, from a noble family (and a distinguished scholar), is one of the oldest of all vampires, his origins lost in the mist of ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus. But all of his encounters over the centuries have not prepared him for his meeting in the present day with a sinister being of snow and ice. The northern vampire Thorne is seeking Maharet, his "maker", a centuries-old Egyptian vampire queen whose unbreakable hold over him rests in chains made of her red hair. As the Visigoths looted and pillaged, Marius looked on; he strode the decadence of the Roman empire, still seeking his lost love Pandora, but was later beguiled by Renaissance beauty Bianca, and the boy Amadeo. Rice, as usual, intertwines her diverse and complex narratives, keeping a massive cast of characters always alive for the reader. But the emphasis here is on the brilliantly created Marius, in thrall to Pandora and his alter ego Mael. As Rice conjures him, Marius may be the most distinctive protagonist in all her fiction. Throughout the seven volumes of the Vampire Chronicles, and most notably in such recent books as Memnoch the Devil and Merrick, Rice showed that she would never be content to repeat herself. Blood and Gold is further evidence of her willingness to tackle new areas in her colossal vampiric mythos.--Barry Forshaw

The latest mesmerising and exotic Vampire Chronicle from the mistress of the immortal - a must for all readers of The Vampire Armand. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The story of Marius, one of the oldest vampires of them all, and his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of his maker, the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair, bound with steel and with her blood and gold...

Blood and Gold is the latest mesmerising and exotic vampire novel from the mistress of the genre. Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his ‘maker’, the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair,‘bound with steel and with her blood and gold'.When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora,but bewitched in turn by Botticelli,the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo. Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice’s glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter-ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of ‘those who must be kept’ is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.

Here is the glorious and sinister life of Marius: patrician by birth, scholar by choice and one of the oldest vampires of them all. From his genesis in ancient Rome, to his present day we follow the story of this aristocratic and powerful killer.

His is a tale that spans the breadth of time. When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory of Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora. So prevalent is Marius that it is he who gives the dark gift to the illustrious vampire Armand.

Intertwined with the stories of a magnificent Pantheon of the undead this account of Marius is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.

'Rice has produced a novel that is erotic and sensuous'

The Times

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Born in New Orleans in 1941, the second daughter of an Irish Catholic family. Author of the phenomenally successful Vampire Chronicles and many other novels, she lives in New Orleans.

His name was Thorne. In the ancient language of the runes, it had been longer - Thornevald. But when he became a blood drinker, his name had been changed to Thorne. And Thorne he remained now, centuries later, as he lay in his cave in the ice, dreaming.
When he had first come to the frozen land, he had hoped he would sleep eternally. But now and then the thirst for blood awakened him, and using the Cloud Gift, he rose into the air, and went in search of the Snow Hunters.
He fed off them, careful never to take too much blood from any one so that none died on account of him. And when he needed furs and boots he took them as well, and returned to his hiding place.
These Snow Hunters were not his people. They were dark of skin and had slanted eyes, and they spoke a different tongue, but he had known them in the olden times when he had traveled with his uncle into the land to the East for trading. He had not liked trading. He had preferred war. But he 'd learnt many things on those adventures.
In his sleep in the North, he dreamed. He could not help it. The Mind Gift let him hear the voices of other blood drinkers.
Unwillingly he saw through their eyes, and beheld the world as they beheld it. Sometimes he didn't mind. He liked it. Modern things amused him. He listened to far-away electric songs. With the Mind Gift he understood such things as steam engines and railroads; he even understood computers and automobiles. He felt he knew the cities he had left behind though it had been centuries since he'd forsaken them.
An awareness had come over him that he wasn't going to die. Loneliness in itself could not destroy him. Neglect was insufficient. And so he slept.
Then a strange thing happened. A catastrophe befell the world of the blood drinkers.
A young singer of sagas had come. His name was Lestat, and in his electric songs, Lestat broadcast old secrets, secrets which Thorne had never known.
Then a Queen had risen, an evil and ambitious being. She had claimed to have within her the Sacred Core of all blood drinkers, so that, should she die, all the race would perish with her.
Thorne had been amazed.
He had never heard these myths of his own kind. He did not know that he believed this thing.
But as he slept, as he dreamt, as he watched, this Queen began, with the Fire Gift, to destroy blood drinkers everywhere throughout the world. Thorne heard their cries as they tried to escape; he saw their deaths in so far as others saw such things.
As she roamed the earth, this Queen came close to Thorne but she passed over him. He was secretive and quiet in his cave. Perhaps she didn't sense his presence. But he had sensed hers and never had he encountered such age or strength except from the blood drinker who had given him the Blood.
And he found himself thinking of that one, the Maker, the red-haired witch with the bleeding eyes.
The catastrophe among his kind grew worse. More were slain; and out of hiding there came blood drinkers as old as the Queen herself, and Thorne saw these beings.
At last there came the red-haired one who had made him. He saw her as others saw her. And at first he could not believe that she still lived; it had been so long since he'd left her in the Far South that he hadn't dared to hope she was still alive. The eyes and ears of other blood drinkers gave him the infallible proof. And when he looked on her in his dreams, he was overwhelmed with a tender feeling and a rage.
She thrived, this creature who had given him the Blood, and she despised the Evil Queen and she wanted to stop her. Theirs was a hatred for each other which went back thousands of years.
At last there was a coming together of these beings -old ones from the First Brood of blood drinkers, and others whom the blood drinker Lestat loved and whom the Evil Queen did not choose to destroy.
Dimly, as he lay still in the ice, Thorne heard their strange talk, as round a table they sat, like so many powerful Knights, except that in this council, the women were equal to the men.
With the Queen they sought to reason, struggling to persuade her to end her reign of violence, to forsake her evil designs.
He listened, but he could not really understand all that was said among these blood drinkers. He knew only that the Queen must be stopped.
The Queen loved the blood drinker Lestat. But even he could not turn her from disasters, so reckless was her vision, so depraved her mind.
Did the Queen truly have the Sacred Core of all blood drinkers within herself? If so, how could she be destroyed?
Thorne wished the Mind Gift were stronger in him, or that he had used it more often. During his long centuries of sleep, his strength had grown, but now he felt his distance and that he was weak.
But as he watched, his eyes open, as though that might help him to see, there came into his vision another red-haired one, the twin sister of the woman who had loved him so long ago. It astonished him, as only a twin can do.
And Thorne came to understand that the Maker he had loved so much had lost this twin thousands of years ago. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.