Ch. 4. Clinton and Sugarman travel from Newark [see p. 72] to Blood, a West Virginia mountain village. The train and bus only take them so far; the rest of the journey is on foot. In flashback, we learn that Clinton and his half-brother Jared are the offspring of mortal women ravished by the vampire Duquieu. Both women died shortly after giving birth; according to Sugie, "all their red blood cells was et up." [Note: this telegraphs information that Portia learns later in the Morgantown hospital.] Clinton is ashamed to be Duquieu's son, but Sugie tells him (still in flashback) that "you're my boy and the boy of everyone in Blood who's trying to be a Christian while livin' in the middle of Beelzebub's circus." The boys often play in Duquieu's mansion, where their father day-sleeps inside an impregnable iron cage.
Ch. 5. Clinton and Sugie return to the mountain shack where Clinton spent his youth. This scene is very sad. Clinton learns that his childhood sweetheart Coley Nagl married Jared. Weird detail about the village: vegetables grow to enormous size there; everyone lives off abundant, self-canned food.
Ch. 6. Flashback: A much younger Clinton and Jared try to ride Duquieu's powerful horse, Baron. Later Jared attempts to break into Duquieu's cage and fails. He declares that one day he'll be master of the Lamprou estate.
Ch. 7. Blood resident Marsh Nagl (Coley's father) makes deliveries to the mansion, informs Duquieu that Clinton has returned to Blood. Clinton has violated "the law": anyone can leave the mountain but no one can return without permission. Obviously Duquieu rules the village like a medieval landowner.
Ch. 8. Duquieu locks Gilda in the mansion's basement and tells her she'll live on rats and cockroaches. She has evidently done something bad to the child, Charlie. She tells Duquieu he'll need her soon, because his sons are going to "bring him down."
Ch. 9. Clint and Sugie debate the serfdom of Blood's residents. We learn that Duquieu fled the old country in 1693 and has ruled the mountain village since. Sugie thinks the villagers are dependent on the abnormally large yields from the hybrid "freak seeds" that Duquieu brought with him from Europe; he defends Duquieu as a "civilized thing [who] only goes haywire once in a while." After Sugie goes to sleep, Duquieu appears to Clint and gives him 24 hours to leave town; the old vampire offers Clint some of his seeds, and says certain tribes in Mexico might welcome a savior. Clint calls Duquieu a rapist, and Duquieu taunts that it was he, Clint, who consumed his mother's body in the womb. [Second telegraphing of this info.] Clint says that Duquieu is evil, and Duquieu replies: "Imagine long, long life[...] Do you picture yourself as noble and as the perpetrator of good works or does time begin to pall on you? [...] Aye, that it does, and every little bit of diversion can lure you at any time. The flash of a slender ankle or an angle of loveliness in a cheek is enough to transport you into a frenzy of desire." We also learn here about Clint's death in the war and subsequent transformation, and that Clint is a "day man," meaning the rays of the sun don't hurt him (yet). Later, villager July West arrives and announces that Portia Clark, who injured Clint in Chapter 1, has arrived in Blood.
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Ch. 4. Clinton and Sugarman travel from Newark [see p. 72] to Blood, a West Virginia mountain village. The train and bus only take them so far; the rest of the journey is on foot. In flashback, we learn that Clinton and his half-brother Jared are the offspring of mortal women ravished by the vampire Duquieu. Both women died shortly after giving birth; according to Sugie, "all their red blood cells was et up." [Note: this telegraphs information that Portia learns later in the Morgantown hospital.] Clinton is ashamed to be Duquieu's son, but Sugie tells him (still in flashback) that "you're my boy and the boy of everyone in Blood who's trying to be a Christian while livin' in the middle of Beelzebub's circus." The boys often play in Duquieu's mansion, where their father day-sleeps inside an impregnable iron cage.
Ch. 5. Clinton and Sugie return to the mountain shack where Clinton spent his youth. This scene is very sad. Clinton learns that his childhood sweetheart Coley Nagl married Jared. Weird detail about the village: vegetables grow to enormous size there; everyone lives off abundant, self-canned food.
Ch. 6. Flashback: A much younger Clinton and Jared try to ride Duquieu's powerful horse, Baron. Later Jared attempts to break into Duquieu's cage and fails. He declares that one day he'll be master of the Lamprou estate.
Ch. 7. Blood resident Marsh Nagl (Coley's father) makes deliveries to the mansion, informs Duquieu that Clinton has returned to Blood. Clinton has violated "the law": anyone can leave the mountain but no one can return without permission. Obviously Duquieu rules the village like a medieval landowner.
Ch. 8. Duquieu locks Gilda in the mansion's basement and tells her she'll live on rats and cockroaches. She has evidently done something bad to the child, Charlie. She tells Duquieu he'll need her soon, because his sons are going to "bring him down."
Ch. 9. Clint and Sugie debate the serfdom of Blood's residents. We learn that Duquieu fled the old country in 1693 and has ruled the mountain village since. Sugie thinks the villagers are dependent on the abnormally large yields from the hybrid "freak seeds" that Duquieu brought with him from Europe; he defends Duquieu as a "civilized thing [who] only goes haywire once in a while." After Sugie goes to sleep, Duquieu appears to Clint and gives him 24 hours to leave town; the old vampire offers Clint some of his seeds, and says certain tribes in Mexico might welcome a savior. Clint calls Duquieu a rapist, and Duquieu taunts that it was he, Clint, who consumed his mother's body in the womb. [Second telegraphing of this info.] Clint says that Duquieu is evil, and Duquieu replies: "Imagine long, long life[...] Do you picture yourself as noble and as the perpetrator of good works or does time begin to pall on you? [...] Aye, that it does, and every little bit of diversion can lure you at any time. The flash of a slender ankle or an angle of loveliness in a cheek is enough to transport you into a frenzy of desire." We also learn here about Clint's death in the war and subsequent transformation, and that Clint is a "day man," meaning the rays of the sun don't hurt him (yet). Later, villager July West arrives and announces that Portia Clark, who injured Clint in Chapter 1, has arrived in Blood.
- tom moody 4-25-2002 6:08 pm