A REQUEST FROM THE LADY'S MAID, as told by the Roman vampire, Janus... 7/25/13

I am causing this material to combust upon the page, though from what I gather, it does not combust upon an actual page, but manifests in a rather ethereal manner on the surface of some sort of magic mirror. Yours must be a wonderful age. That 'wilkravitz' person prefers an earlier bedtime now and some woman called 'Edith' set it up so my thoughts are able to come to you in this fashion. In case you've come late to the tale, I am Janus, vampire bodyguard to the illustrious Clan Nesso, in the imperial city of Rome, during the reign of the great Marcus Aurelius. And though not a citizen (my forebears hail from the north-west corner of Iberia), I  move in rarefied circles as the pampered slave (only for legal reasons) to a family of decidedly senatorial rank..... If you don't know who Edith is, google her (whatever that is)... Search for ... Edith, Vampire Wonderland by Billy Kravitz (whoever he is) and the magic mirror will tell you. 

Another member of the household, one lady's maid wants me to assist her. She claims my blood can cure the sick and extend human life. Her father, an old retainer in a nearby villa, suffers from a debilitating illness brought on by guzzling too much Thracian wine pilfered from the master's cellars. Everyone's noticed his sickly body. How can they miss it? The poor man serves as 'companion of the gate' and sits by the portal like a watchdog. No, really. I mean it. Certain chi-chi types in the capital have a thing for human watchdogs. They keep them out front, on little stools facing the street. Such slaves wear what a dog would wear, namely a neck collar attached to a chain, the other end of which is welded to a plaque cemented onto the wall. Duties are light.... BIG greeting for the master, the mistress and important guests. Lots of hand licking and all that. Rome is, after all, a weird and wonderful place. Though all tsk , tsk over his emaciated form..... the delicate rib cage and withered ass.. I don't know. Maybe it's not just the wine. But that's what the physician says and this one is very thorough, often killing people to get at the truth. Many say his shingle should read AUTOPSIES FOR THE LIVING.

The daughter, our lady's maid, wants me to 'sublimate' into his cubicle in the slave kennels and dose him with a bit of my blood. It's not that I am entirely unwilling. But first she has to teach me how this 'sublimation' works. 

I hear it can be dangerous and even fatal to life-eaters (vampires) unversed in such things. 

But she had a book and says she can teach me.....
(more next time)
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THE IMPERIAL ROMAN VAMPIRE BODYGUARD, JANUS, SHARES MORE INSIGHTS... 723/13

Now there was a lady's maid in the Nesso household... a quite comely girl who passed herself off as  British, but everyone knew she was from Panonia (ancient Hungary). I mean THAT accent? Come on! But she was well versed in peasant wisdom and knew her way 'around a cauldron.' That's a saying we have, here in the capital. It means someone, usually a woman, able to conjure and influence events via potions and poultices. 

My unusual condition intrigued her and we'd talk out back, after dark in the kitchen garden. Cook didn't like it. But she didn't like anything. And she was a fanatic against the vampires. Had a copy of The Septuagint (Greek translation of The First Testament), so you KNOW what her favorite part was???... 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.'..... Guess who was the witch? In her eyes, I mean. The poultice girl she considered an idiot. But I was the real thing. She knew what I could do, even if I didn't.

The Britainia girl, by way of Panonia clued me in on 'sublimation.' Had a friend who's husband was a vampire, so she knew. This was before she got sold into slavery. Actually, not so much sold, as pimped. The grandmother, who needed money to buy a nice, little mercantile inn somewhere just outside of the new city of Aquincum ( Budapest) gave her to a returning legionnaire, in return for a gold, ceremonial sword, which she promptly pawned for thirty five thousand sesterces... far less than it was worth...

(Someone doesn't want me to tell you the rest. I am sleepy. I am unnaturally tired. Magic is upon me (in addition to vampiric magic)  and I grow lethargic and heavy-lidded by the moment.

Please..... (heavy lidded yawn) forgive me. All I want to do is curl up after a good, blood feast and retreat to the land of nod...
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click WHAT BILLY WROTE ... and join me on TWitter at ~> @wilkravitz ..... sorry for mistake but I THOUGHT I posted last night, though I apparently was SO tired, I didn't (it was just saved as a draft).. Fixed now. Thank you all.   

THE VAMPIRINA KNOWN AS THE LADY EUDORA STEMS FROM ANCIENT ETRUSCAN ROOTS... 7/22/13

She looked alabaster in the moonlight. Some vampires are that way. The magic settles differently on each of us. And her calm, balanced grace recalled the ladies of Olympia.  Her rich, brown hair was artfully arranged, high up off her neck... a mass of loose curls. Whether she had help, or did it herself, I did not know. But who am I kidding? Vampires always have help. A tiny night bird lit upon her wrist. She gently stroked its velvety back... pondered things for a moment and spoke. 

Welcome to the land of the dead - she said..... And she referred not to life-eaters, but to the mortals that surround them....... Make no human friends, for they will die. Their lives are but sparks dancing on the wind. The radiance fades so soon. They are like toys to me now. I see them. I smile. I talk politely and kill them in the nicest possible way. Sometimes I don't kill them. Yet they still die. Three weeks... Three decades. What does it matter? They walk with Persephone and Hades. Their brief time in the sun but an overture to dirges yet to come...... Am I troubling you? - she said..... I shook my head. She smiled. Not a great, beaming smile, but rather a small and knowing one. 

Then she told me of her youth in Etruria (modern Tuscany), almost eight hundred years ago. And how a vampire found her one day as she tidied the family crypt. At first she thought him the resurrected corpse of her uncle. It was dark in there, providing shelter from the sun. Certain vampires, in primitive places and long gone times liked crypts.... I do not, nor does Eudora. And she laughed a little, when she told me how he took her... right then and there... 'A mid-day snack' - he called her. 

She asked me of my nativity and I told her about Iberia and Galicia and my tribe up by the coast. For the first time, I missed them and thought about the children I'd never have. Eudora sensed my pain and kissed me. We embraced on the cool, damp grass. And then we spoke again. 

But there was always the hint of sadness about her. She'd seen cities crumble and cultures die. Night-folk live in an ever changing world. Oh, the on-going cavalcade may seem slow to you. But to her it seemed like the hippodrome (term for Roman race tracks) and the horses never stopped. 

Am I the first to speak to you about such things? Probably not. In truth, I do not entirely understand them myself. I am so newly made. But if I am 'fortunate,' cultures will die before my eyes too.

Remember, I speak to you from your past. And the complexity of my condition still baffles me....

(the channeling stops... wilkravitz stops typing and eats some potato chips...)

til next time...
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WHAT I LEARNED FROM THE VAMPIRINA EUDORA..... 7/21/13

The senior Nesso, my 'master' knew of my curiosity and arranged for a meeting between myself and the Lady Eudora.  Such dalliances are rare in these parts. But he had little to fear from her sponsor (master is basically such a common term), at least not now, so it happened. 

I went out to dine. Not on any predetermined enemy, but on my own. I am told that some of your life-eaters kill but once a month. Well, more power to them. I, though not a glutton, prefer a more regular feeding schedule and polish off a plebian or two nightly.

Most high ranking individuals take lantern bearers and knife-men when they go out after dark. Public illumination is scarce. Oh, don't get me wrong. The empire has the where-with-all. Yet those in power like the darkness.... Keeps people in, especially the hungry classes. Fosters isolation. Cuts down plotting and all sorts of nocturnal intrigue. I suppose a cut-throat or two might be out there toiling away. What am I, after all? But garden variety malcontents are less likely to take to the streets. It's scary out there and they know it. Indeed, my meals depend on stealth and cunning...sublimating through walls.... listening 'neath windows and all that. I've learned to remove my leaden torque and hide it somewhere handy for after. Odd that so few 'sponsors' ever think about that. Granted, a few vampires do go rogue, but only a few. Important connections are indispensable in this place. And the cosseted existence of most lamia-sanguine (the Latin term for what we are) is not so hard to take.

We met in the gardens behind the Temple of Vesta, a discreet, little, hidden oasis... an orchard really, thick with carefully tended pear and apple trees.... Quite shadowy and very private. The mother superior (head mistress of the Vestal Virgins) knew we were coming and left a small pitcher of her best vintage on a lovely stone bench for us to find. Are you familiar with fine cider? If not, you should be. 

The vampirina Eudora was already seated when I arrived...(eight minutes pass)....... Excuse me, but the 'familiar' recording this, 'wilkravitz' stopped for a piece of cheese danish. I believe that is some sort of pastry. We in the empire have many baked confections, but I've never heard of that one. Though from what I pick up from his thoughts, it seems quite delectable. Those vampires who miss mortal food often revisit the experience in this manner. Mental symbiosis is not that hard to achieve. Now let me get back to the telling...

The Lady Eudora was naked, save for a leather quivver holding six gold arrows and a small bow 'cross her breasts. Impersonating the goddess Diana was a 'thing' with her. Made it easier to approach mortals, divine 'visitations' being all the rage. She beckoned me to sit down beside her and I did. She poured some of the delicious cider into a small silver goblet (silver being Diana's color) and I drank. Vampires, as I'm told most of you know, can tolerate and indeed appreciate most wines and fermented spirits. She had some too. In that way we relaxed and she began to talk.....

In truth, I had planned to tell more this time, but it grows late in Philadelphia, or wherever that 'wilkravitz' is. And he must sleep. For dawn comes early in the summer and the dogs will be up soon....
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Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: DOCTOR FRANKLIN'S COMPOUND UNDER THE PHILADELPHIA ...

Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: DOCTOR FRANKLIN'S COMPOUND UNDER THE PHILADELPHIA ...: The Anti-Enchantment Bureau is in utter pandemonium. The Delaware River is expected to reach unprecedented levels. The underground compound... This is how they evacuated all the 'special' people back when hurricane Sandy hit. Can't post a new blog thing, 'cause PC acting screwy tonight and it's starting to scare me...(might have seen it all over on Twitter, if you were with us a few minutes ago)... but a real good episode just the same... Click on NEWER POST or OLDER POST down at the bottom if you want to see more. thanks.

Kieran Movie... no vampires, just this ... no fantasy... real life... 7/19/13

Deby Browne, popular Twitter social/political commentator and painter known as @Twit__Trending ... lost her son Kieran recently. She posted this video as a remembrance. Please click the 'Watch on YouTube' line up above (if necessary... not too digitally savvy about these things) to see it. A very positive film and truthfully, a really good video. 

If you want, you can always wander through all the blog posts at browse.feedreader.com/c/Billy_Kravitz_vampire_wonderland ... Thank you

OTHER ANCIENT ROMAN LAMIA SANGUINE (vampires) in the environs of NEAPOLIS (Naples) .. 7/18/13

I saw other life-eaters gliding through the shadows as I made my way about the city. We never spoke and rarely acknowledged each other's presence. They existed to serve their 'clan.' Free vampires were extremely rare in my world. I'm told they exist in the capital and certain other cities. Returning legionnaires report feral pockets out beyond the River Hister (Danube). They travel in packs and are known to decimate remote country hamlets, before travelling on to kill again someplace else. I am glad I am not one of them. 

But occasionally I trade glances with the Lady Eudora. She is a Greek vampire, ostensibly created and trained in the esteemed vampiric academy on the island of Thera. They say it goes back to Minoan times. Imagine, a culture quite as old as Egypt. Her mistress is a wealthy dowager, the surviving wife of a general laid low in the wild, out beyond the walls of Colonia (Cologne) and one of the few female devotees of Mithra. They say she plans to use her vampirina bodyguard to escape death. They have a pact, upon her thirtyfifth birthday, the night-girl brings her over. Conventional men-at-arms, veterans of the late general will witness the event... each one armed with a specially prepared, lead tipped spear. Should Eudora renege, or intentionally kill the mistress outright, those in attendance will dispatch her as well.

The whole thing is very hush-hush and highly illegal. Ruling families are not to dabble in necromancy. That's why certain Jewish sects, such as Christianity are still outlawed. Only Caesar is a god, though the Imperial Cult withers every day. And from what I hear, our great Marcus Aurelius believes in his own divinity about as much as he believes the Cybilline Prophesies. Money makes the world go 'round in ninth century Rome (reckoned from its founding by Romulus and Remus) and only the Jews (plus their variants) harangue us with 'morality.'

I am off to the bear pits, a secret nocturnal pass-time known only to the wealthy. We meet in a cave, hidden deep withing the confines of a large, old edifice, ostensibly a warehouse dating back to the days of Magna Graecia (Greek colonies in the south of Italy concurrent with the birth of Rome farther north). The master knows I go. He does too. And although unorthodox, allows me to revive certain grievously mauled dwarfs with small draughts of my miraculous blood. You know how expensive they are and they who keep 'stables' hate losing favorites. 

The heavy bronze doors to our private sanctum silently swing open, powered by an ingenious hydraulic set-up designed by  a certain engineer out of Syracusa. I cannot tell you his name, for he also creates weapons for the military and they don't want it to get around. Parthian spies are everywhere you know. 

The doorman knows our faces. He nods. We nod. Money changes hands. We go in. I can smell the ursine stench down below. Apparently mortals are not so lucky. Besides dwarfs, they also have children, the vilest of urchins scraped from the sewers and fit for nothing else. I'm looking forward to it. Some of them put up quite a fight.

After the slaughter... a fine wine tasting. And even a vampire like me can appreciate that... 

Ego vobis valedico (Farewell to you all)...
Til next time...
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