#Here in Dracula we see the aftermath of what is characterized to be a violent and debilitating event for the victim

[immediatebreakfast]

I have noticed something when it comes to vampires bites in this book, or the concept of watching the vampire feeding itself. The book has said how the vampires feed, how the Weird Sisters feed, and how Dracula hunts his prey; however, so far, the actual act of biting and feeding is never described nor shown.

Jonathan sees the Count give the Weird Sisters a child, he hears it cry again and again, then everything goes silent as the horrifying implications hang over his head. Yet, there are no words for teeth sinking into flesh, of blood bubbling as it escapes the arteries, or pained expressions, the act that is so characteristic of vampires is... not seen in what is considered the Vampire Novel.

However, it fits, it fits a lot with how the gothic is constructed. We don't need to read how the Weird Sisters kill a baby in front of Jonathan's eyes, it doesn't need to be described because the implication, and the poiting towards what is happening away is far more terrifying. It creates a sense of helplessness that permeates everything around the biting. You can't save those children, they are already "dead" the second the Count grabbed them.

Weirdly enough, I thought that since Jonathan isn't being actively bitten in front of our eyes, then It could mean that the Count is not biting him to bide time with his new favorite "lady" before consuming him, but no.

He was either dead or asleep, I could not say which—for the eyes were open and stony, but without the glassiness of death—and the cheeks had the warmth of life through all their pallor; the lips were as red as ever.

The lapses of memory, the tiredness, the blurriness between what is real and what is not, Jonathan is suffering from these while he is slowly drained in moments that we don't even know about, but it happens. Dracula now has the warmth of life coursing through his body as Jonathan becomes weaker, his lips are red while Jonathan is more ghastly as the days go by.

I thought he might have the keys on him, but when I went to search I saw the dead eyes, and in them, dead though they were, such a look of hate, though unconscious of me or my presence, that I fled from the place, and leaving the Count's room by the window, crawled again up the castle wall.

The rage of the Count to see Jonathan try to escape once again despite the pure torture he has been subjected. How dare he keep fighting when his body gets weaker every day?

We may not see the bites happen since the aftermath of those bites is what is important. What the victim feels both physically, and mentally is the focus in the story; just because the bite is finished doesn't mean that the horror stops.

[thelatelockdownlist]

A Series on Series 03: Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter

Hi! I’m Alex, a YouTube Newbie and this is The Late Lockdown List where I talk about the list of things I’ve got on my mind since the lockdown started. 

Anyway, for those of you who were here for the previous episode, welcome back. 

For those of you who are new, today on the third episode of A Series on Series, 

we’re talking about Nalini Singh’s other paranormal/supernatural series, Guild Hunter.

Since the series has been out for quite some time, if you haven’t read it and are sensitive to spoilers, well, I talk a lot about certain details. 

However, I’m going to tell you if there are particularly crucial plot points that I’ll talk about. You’ll see this when I’m about to spoil a plot

First off, what is the Guild Hunter series about?

We start with a question: How are vampires made/turned? 

From a bite, right? You’re thinking Dracula, Buffy, Angel and maybe even Twilight. But in this series, vampires are made by angels. That's right, the winged creatures. This series starts with one particular Guild Hunter, Elena Deveraux. I'm not going to spoil the story by telling you exactly what happens to her. I am, however, going to tell you that in this series -- of which there are currently 13 books and 4 novellas, you have vampires who work for angels for 100 years to serve out their contract. In turn, the angels work for archangels who make up the Cadre of Ten, who effectively rule the world.

The Guild Hunter series begins in earnest with the first book Angels’ Blood

with Guild Hunter Elena Devereaux and the Archangel of New York Raphael

https://the-guild-hunter-series.fandom.com/wiki/Raphael; credit to Jennifer H.

-- no last name. 

We first meet Elena at work, tracking down a runaway vampire. 

The Guild Hunters are humans -- mostly -- although some are ‘hunter-born’ like Elena who are gifted with an almost preternatural sense of smell that can track vampires. At the end of her track, she finds the ‘baby’ vamp, a vampire newly turned, and returns him to his ‘master,’ an angel. Said angel tells Elena she has a new assignment which terrifies her: New York. 

Apparently when an angel says New York, it can only mean one thing: the Archangel Raphael who rules North America.

Raphael has a mission for Elena:

To hunt down the blood-born Archangel Uram.

SPOILER END

It reads a little like a detective story, chasing down a bad guy who’s way more powerful and centuries older than you and you have your partner, an archangel. There’s adventure and humor and plenty of steam along the way. One of my favorite characters: the butler. And no, he didn’t do it. 

At the end of the book, 

after Raphael kills Uram, a severely injured Elena -- close to dying, really -- asks Raphael one of angelkind’s most forbidden secret: how vampires are made. Raphael says that angels secrete a substance that turns a mortal into an almost-immortal - a vampire. However, not all humans can process this substance without dying violently. It’s why there’s testing. Before this, a great number of humans died while being ‘made.’

Then Raphael kisses Elena,transferring a substance that’s supposed to make her a vampire… 

Cut to a year later in the Refuge, the angels’ secret hideaway where their children grow up, Elena wakes. However, she is not a vampire. She’s… an angel! 

As it turns out, the substance Raphael transferred was ‘ambrosia’ -- the mythical food of the gods. It turned Elena not into a vampire, but an angel. No one can remember this happening so she’s quite  unique -- among creatures whose love of the ‘quite unique’ can be deadly.

SPOILER END

And Nalini Singh does it again! I’m serious about her talent for building these intricate and fascinating worlds. 

You know what this series sort of reminds me? Dominion. 

Yeah, that two-season show based on the movie Legion with Paul Bettany. 

I loved the premise, but the execution fell a little flat. 

Anyway, I never really put vampires and angels together, much less angels ‘making’ vampires. If you have, please tell me which books these are and I’ll try to read them. 

Singh introduces new mythologies into the angels and archangels. The hierarchy is there: Archangels in the Cadre of Ten ruling vast lands 

and possessing different great and terrible powers, the angels who work under the archangels, the vampires who serve the angels, and the humans who are sometimes left to fend for themselves. 

I like how different the Archangels are. They’re all known to be ruthless and oftentimes cruel. Raphael is characterized as both, and is infamous for having tortured a vampire who betrayed him and left said vampire in the middle of Times Square as a warning. The others have their own quirks, but I’ll let you find out what they are when you read the series. 

I’ll tell you their names and territories though, and forgive me when I mispronounce some of the names. I’ve never heard them, and therefore have my own way of saying them: 

Zhou Lijuan

https://the-guild-hunter-series.fandom.com/wiki/Lijuan; credit to Jelena Price

the oldest, often called an Ancient, and the only one of them who has a last name ;) controls China; 

Charisemnon, Archangel of North Africa; 

Elijah, Archangel of South America and Raphael’s closest ally; 

Favashi, Archangel of Persia (for the first few books) and is the newest archangel; 

Michaela, Archangel of Central Europe and former lover of the Archangel Uram of Russia; 

Neha, Archangel of India; 

Astaad, Archangel of the Pacific Isles and 

Titus, Archangel of South Africa. 

and of course, Raphael. 

And then there’s The Seven -- Raphael’s most trusted and loyal men: 

Dmitri, a vampire, the oldest and Raphael’s closest friend; 

Naasir, a ‘vampire’ and the second youngest; 

Galen, an angel and Raphael’s weapons master, originally from the Archangel Titus’ court; 

Illium, AKA Bluebell; a blue-winged angel who grew up in Raphael’s territory in The Refuge; differently spelled, also means the largest part of the hip bone AND the former name of Troy

https://the-guild-hunter-series.fandom.com/wiki/Illium; credit to pandorangheldeviantart.com

Aodhan, AKA Sparkle; an angel and Illium’s best friend; 

Venom, (real name: Tushar) the youngest and a great cook

and 

Jason, Raphael’s spymaster and possibly one of the few angels who did not grow up in the Refuge.

And of course, Elena. She has had her own share of tragedy. I don’t want to tell you the whole story because believe me, reading it is infinitely more satisfying, but I can tell you a little bit. Her father disowned her when she was 18 because he disapproved of her joining the Guild. You see, being hunter-born, Elena didn’t exactly have a choice. If a hunter-born does not use his/her gifts, they end up going mad. She has a tragic backstory, but you’ll need to find out for yourself. 

Hunter-borns are usually the best trackers in the Guild, stronger than most humans and immune to vampires’ mind control. However, they are highly susceptible to an older, powerful vampire’s scent-lure. One consistently comic point in the series is how Dmitri, a 900-odd-year-old vampire, especially gifted with scent-lure, consistently baits Elena by wrapping her in his signature ‘perfume’ every time they meet. And every time he does this, Elena either threatens violence against him or just outright throws a dagger at him.

I also love Elena’s bond with the rest of the Guild members. Her best friend Sara Haziz, the director, is especially protective of her. Elena and Ransom Winterwolf (you gotta love these names) bicker like siblings all the time.

While the series essentially revolves around Elena and Raphael, the other characters get their moment in the sun, too. 

And since I’m a sucker for cherubs, imagine a place filled with little children -- with wings, flying around like drunken bees! You see that in the second book.

While I love all of the books, my favorite so far has to be Archangel’s Legion

This is when the big battle between Raphael and Lijuan finally happens. At the end, when all hope seems lost, 777 (and that has to mean something) Legion angels come to their rescue and turn the tide. Even better, all of these angels can regenerate FAST! Some angels have that ability, but not at that speed. 

The Legion is sworn to Elena and Raphael, who they call the aeclari. As far as I’ve read, the word means warrior, but that’s it. Neither Elena nor Raphael know, and the Legion don’t seem to know how to define it.

SPOILER END

The book that follows it, Archangel’s Prophecy

is a cliff-hanger. I mean, Elena has to be alive. She has to be.

The next book, Archangel’s War

didn’t come out until September 2019 and it’s an absolute testament to Nalini Singh that I have a countdown on all my devices for when a book of hers comes out. Thirteen books in and I’m still all a-quiver in anticipation. 

And because I wrote this script in 2019 -- intending to do this video that year as well, but didn’t -- Archangel’s War has been out for quite some time. I won’t be talking about it, but it is quite a gratifying read. There’s a part in the book that’s heartbreaking, but necessary. And that just gets to me.

Honestly, I can talk more about this since I already read the latest one, Archangel’s Sun

which came out November 2020, but I didn’t want to strain your patience. However, since this story comes in the aftermath of the war, it’s more light-hearted than the previous ones. BUT it’s the story of an unlikely pairing that’s -- think of it as a ‘mature’ romance -- only since angels don’t exactly age and are effectively immortal, the maturity I’m talking about is more of status and years lived. Seriously, it’s a great book and such a welcome relief after the heightened suspense and intensity of the previous ones.

Not that I don’t appreciate the heightened suspense and intensity of the novels, I do! It’s just that if you’re like me and get very invested in the lives of fictional characters, it CAN get a little overwhelming. So this book was a respite -- a much needed one. 

However, paranoid as I am, I feel like this is a lull. 

But I’m ready for the oncoming storm. 

And that’s it for me. Thank you for indulging me. Catch you in the next episode, when I talk about Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy starting with the first book, A Discovery of Witches, which is also a TV series.