Children of the Vampire (The Diaries of the Family Dracul #2) by Jeanne Kalogridis

From the Publisher

It is Amsterdam, 1871, twenty-five years before the start of Stoker's novel, and twenty-five years following Arkady Tsepesh's flight from his family's ancestral castle with his wife and young son, Stefan, after learning that he and his family are bound by an ancient covenant to serve their ancestor, Prince Vlad Tsepesh, who is also known as Dracula. For Vlad is a vampire, and the fated firstborn sons in every generation must bring him the victims he needs to survive. Arkady had tried to break the covenant and failed. He is now a vampire, separated from his beloved wife and son, with one all-consuming desire - to destroy Vlad before he draws Stefan into eternal service through the blood ritual. But Arkady has come too late to Amsterdam. Vlad kidnaps Stefan, and spirits him away to the castle in Transylvania to undergo the blood ritual. Arkady enlists the help of Stefan's stepbrother, Abraham Van Helsing, in his thrilling battle against Vlad, as he seeks to free his family and put an end to the age-old blood covenant - even if it means he must destroy his own son.

Publishers Weekly

Both a prequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula and a sequel to Kalogridis's own Covenant with the Vampire (1994), this second novel in a projected trilogy suffers by comparison to both. Arkady Tsepesh, the protagonist of Covenant, flees the castle of his great-granduncle, Vlad, Count Dracula, but he can't elude the influence of the vampire bite that has bound him to his sire, as it has the firstborn male of each generation of Tsepeshs for the past four centuries. Meanwhile, Arkady's wife, Mary, who has given her husband up for dead, moves to Amsterdam and marries Doctor Jan Van Helsing. Neither Stefan, her son by Arkady, nor Abraham, whom the Van Helsings have adopted, have reason to suspect they are not blood brothers until the family curse draws Stefan to Vlad's castle in Transylvania. Gratuitous scenes of sex and violence perpetrated by the merciless Vlad and Arkady's hedonistic vampire sister, Zsuzsanna, fail to alleviate the tedium of the narrative, told in diary format through a number of voices. Notwithstanding its occasional plot twists, this novel does little more than rehash the plot elements of Covenant with the Vampire while setting the stage for events that will occur in the last book in the series. Translation, performance rights: Scovil, Chichak, Galen Literary Agency.(Oct.)

Details from Seller

• ISBN: 0385314124
• Pub. Date: September 1995
• Condition:
• Attributes: Dust Jacket

Comments from the Seller: Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use. With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, Best Prices.

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents