Authors: Francis Franklin

Suzie and the Monsters (32 page)

BOOK: Suzie and the Monsters

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‘That’s reassuring,’ he says. ‘You know, I would never advocate vigilante justice, but there are a lot of other people like Valon, people the world won’t miss.’

Would the world miss me? Or Alia, or Cleo? It was strange listening to them last night, laughing about murder, mayhem and other such merriment, skirting their justification. Alia, fearsome creature, still high from having lethal weaponry in her vengeful hands, hands still stained with gunshot residue. I have always tried to protect her from that. She may have chosen the targets, but the blood was always on my hands. I can only hope that this adventure has satisfied her needs, but I fear it has given her a taste for more.

Behind their high spirits, disconcertingly, a shadow of concern for me. Suzie the victim. I don’t like that. I refuse to be a victim, and it distresses me to be treated like one. I don’t want to be someone who needs to be rescued, even if I do yearn to melt into the warmth and security of Cleo’s loving embrace.

I look at the picture in the newspaper. I can’t tell if it’s a triumph or a tragedy. To the extent I feel anything about it, it feels like both. Men who deserved to die, women who should be free, all very well, but am I the only one who appreciates the true cost?

I sigh wearily. ‘I don’t deny that the world is better off without monsters like Valon, and if I were given the choice between killing Valon and a random other person then I wouldn’t hesitate. But would that make it right to kill them? Does it make it any less of a crime?’

‘No,’ he says softly.

‘No,’ I echo. ‘Don’t get me wrong. I would love to kill all the monsters.’ Just the thought of it makes my blood race. ‘But that’s exactly the problem. Don’t you understand how soul-destroying it is to kill someone you hate? Because fundamentally you like it, and the more you do it, the more you embrace rage and hatred, the further it takes you from humanity, until all that’s left of you is another monster.

‘And who would love me then?’

Suzie and the Monsters

- a fairytale of blood, sex and inhumanity...

Author's website: http://www.alinameridon.com/

Cover photographs:
Image ID: 35105968 Copyright Luba V Nel / Shutterstock.com
Image ID: 6551191 Copyright RazoomGame / Shutterstock.com
Image ID: 76196278 Copyright pio3 / Shutterstock.com

* * * WARNING: Adult Themes and Explicit Sexual Content

This is a work of fiction. With the exception of known historical figures, all characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Modern day London: I do not live in London, and have spent very little time there. The cafés and bars are real, and a few other places too, but the Waterfront, Riverside Drive, the coast road and the clubs (including Comatoes and Sauce) are all fictional. Tower 42 is real, of course, but Alex Graham's firm is entirely fictional. Dodgeson's is also fictional, as is The Scold's Bridle.

Author's Comments

I am often frustrated by the difficulty of finding a vampire story worth reading. Back in the eighties almost all vampire stories were inventive and entertaining, but these days it seems like 99% of vampire stories are (a) human girl meets nice vampire boy, (b) Bridget Jones with fangs, (c) gangs of rampaging vampires, and/or (d) ancient vampire men discovering their long lost true love has been reincarnated.

While this book may in places be classified as vampire erotica, and certainly has lots of vampiric and erotic elements, it's really something else...

The Other Countess Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grey (b. 25th March 1505), Baroness of L'Isle in her own right, was daughter of John Grey, Viscount L'Isle, and Muriel (or Marcella) Howard. Her father died shortly after she was born (9th September 1505) and her mother married Sir Thomas Knyvet. In August 1512, Sir Thomas Knyvet died, and her mother died in childbirth in December the same year, and Elizabeth was made a ward of Sir Charles Brandon. In 1513, Elizabeth (aged eight) and Sir Charles Brandon were betrothed, and Sir Charles became Viscount L'Isle by Royal Patent.

Elizabeth refused to go through with the engagement, however, and her wardship was transferred to Katherine Plantagenet, Countess of Devon. In 1515, Sir Charles Brandon married Mary Tudor; and in June, the same year, Elizabeth was betrothed to Henry Courtenay (1496-1538), 2nd Earl of Devon (created Marquess of Exeter on 18 June 1525) and the son of Katherine Plantagenet (Catherine of York), and thereafter she was called the Countess of Devon.

The subsequent fate of Elizabeth is unclear. One possibility is that she died in 1516 (aged eleven), the marriage unconsummated. Another possibility is that she died in 1519 (aged fourteen), in which case it is likely that the marriage was consummated after she reached the age of twelve. What is certain, however, is that no children are recorded, and, on 25 October 1519, Henry Courtenay married Gerturde Blount.

Elizabeth and Anne Boleyn (1501-36) were cousins — their mothers were sisters. Lady Jane Grey was not a close relative, but it is worth noting that both Lady Jane Grey and Henry Courtenay descended from Elizabeth Woodville, one of whose husbands was King Edward IV, and also that Lady Jane's maternal grandfather was Sir Charles Brandon.

Apology

I would like to apologise to the shade of Sarah Fielding, one of England's finest and most influential novelists. I'm sure she would have had the strength of character to resist Suzie's manipulations.

Resources

Wikipedia (of course)

Vampires, the Dark Goddess, and Erzsébet Báthory

Kimberly L. Craft, 'Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory,' 2009.
Voltaire, 'Vampires,' The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VII, Philosophical Dictionary Part 5, (1764), http://oll.libertyfund.org/
Aaron Leitch, 'Lilith: From Demoness to Dark Goddess' (2000) http://kheph777.tripod.com/lilith.html
Kimberly Hirsch, 'Embodying Aphrodite — Using goddess archetypes to heal western woman’s split between heart, power and sexuality' http://www.barbarabrennan.com/studentsalumni/sample_yr4_projects/KimberlyHirsch.pdf

Elizabeth Grey

A Who's Who of Tudor Women, http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/
The Peerage, http://thepeerage.com/
John Burke, 'A General and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire' (1832)

Other Historical

Amy M. Froide, 'Never Married: Singlewomen in Early Modern England,' 2005, Oxford University Press.
Rictor Norton, Gay History & Literature, http://rictornorton.co.uk/
Candace Ward's edition of 'The Governess' by Sarah Fielding.
Wiki: Jack the Ripper, http://wiki.casebook.org/
A. E. & W. W. Wroth, 'The London Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century'.
R Leslie-Melville, 'The life and work of Sir John Fielding'.
Sir Walter Besant, 'London in the Eighteenth Century'.

Human Trafficking

The POPPY Project: http://www.eaves4women.co.uk/POPPY_Project/POPPY_Project.php
Diane Taylor, 'Met police sex trafficking investigations criticised,' 19 March 2012, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/19/met-police-sex-trafficking-investigations-criticised
Mark Townsend, 'Trafficking victims lured to the UK: locked up and raped at £30 a time,' 14 May 2011, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/may/14/trafficking-victims-lured-to-england-locked-up-and-raped
Mark Townsend, 'Sex trafficking in the UK: one woman's horrific story of kidnap, rape, beatings and prostitution,' 6 February 2011, The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/06/sex-traffick-romania-britain

Table of Contents

Just Getting Started (Friday)

Satisfaction Guaranteed (Saturday)

A Day Of Rest (Sunday)

Money Matters (Monday)

Equinox (Tuesday)

Just Another Rainy Day (Wednesday)

Screwing The System (Thursday)

Swings And Roundabouts (Friday)

Confession (Saturday)

Hanging Out (Sunday)

The Dark Goddess (Monday)