A Day in the Life of a Rookie Vampire
07/31/2006
Shepard, Lucius. The Golden. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2006. 203 p.
The typical vampire in both literature and cinema is a powerful and almost fearless creature. He waits for the cover of darkness, stalks into the world of timorous mortals, and takes their blood for both sustenance and sport. The question that Lucius Shepard raises in The Golden, however, is whether neophyte vampires born into the unfamiliar and bizarre world of immortals instinctively have this knowledge and power.
The tale begins as the branches of the “Family” gather for a grand affair taking place in Castle Banat, a sanctuary for the vampires of Europe for centuries. A project three hundred years in the making was finally coming to fruition. A mortal, the “Golden,” has been bred to produce the most perfect blood, “a vintage of unsurpassing flavor and bouquet.” The vampires assemble to experience a Decanting, which promise to be unlike any other in the past. They do know that the Golden will be viciously murdered—torn asunder—before she can be judged.
Beheim, a former officer with the Paris Police and a new member of the Agenor branch of the Family, is appointed to investigate the crime and, ultimately, bring the perpetrator to justice. In the world of these immortals, justice means an Illumination, in which the guilty may face both the interrogation and the light. Beheim, although an adept and skillful officer in his human life, is not entirely prepared for the rigors and terrors of investigating the Family and the mysterious depths of Castle Banat.
For starters, Beheim has not unequivocally let go of his human emotions. It takes time to completely shed one’s former self, and he is simply too young in his new life to fully understand that concept. Rather than shunning his past, he struggles to keep a piece of it. In the intimate moments that he shares with his mortal servant Giselle, he finds that it is “neither her eagerness nor the ripeness of her body that inspired him to make love to her, but rather his desire to do the human thing, to keep alive that measure of humanity remaining to him.” Perhaps Beheim’s attachment to his past life dilutes his recognition of what he has become and slows his progress toward understanding his new world. Nevertheless, his appointment as investigator forces him to immerse himself in the “Mystery,” whether he is prepared for it or not.
It takes more than just an inventive mind to concoct the bizarre imagery that Shepard presents in his work. The text seems more like a careful recording of the most horrific nightmares. As Beheim explores Castle Banat, he sees such disturbing spectacles as “a grossly fat woman [lying] naked on a canopied black bed” with an “emaciated man no more than eighteen inches tall,” surrounded by “little, yapping, white dogs.” Later, as he falls through the abyss of “Mystery,” he observes “a white sun at whose heart nestled a gigantic worm…a fly wearing a crown” and “winged rats and apes with human genitals.” In the lowermost corridors beneath the castle, he discovers a secret society of mortal faux-vampires, engaging in rituals with crudely fashioned metal fangs. Despite having been a brave officer with the Paris Police, Beheim is not a stoic and unquestionably brave investigator in this case. He shrieks and cries out on more than one occasion, and soils himself to boot. Of course, these complex realities would be a lot for anyone to handle with total equanimity. Naturally, as the story progresses, Beheim matures as a vampire and accepts the truths of his circumstances. As one may deduce, he also solves the case of the Golden’s murder.
Shepard’s writing is, at times, verbose and borderline pedantic. A single sentence can last an entire paragraph and ten-dollar words are peppered throughout the text. The plot is occasionally muddled by literary tangents. Nonetheless, the story has the vital elements of horror fiction: gory violence, sex, and disturbing imagery. It is not the typical tale of a blood-thirsty vampire on the prowl, and fans of vampire fiction may appreciate this departure from the norm. The Golden is a frightening glimpse into the brutal and grotesque world of the vampire Family.