Nessa meets Mozart
1774
I ended a period of isolation and attended parties once more. With Josef's help I bought a new house in a different area, but still close to my farm. By moving to a new location, I could become thirty years old again because none of the people there knew me. Solomon Abramowitz invited me to a reception at his home, where I met several influential Viennese businessmen, enabling me to reenter the Viennese society.
One evening. I attended a piano concerto written by Mozart and decided to meet him. My escort, Count Ludwig Steinmetz, was one of the most influential men in the city.
After the concert ended, I gazed into Ludwig's eyes. “Do you think it would be possible for me to meet Mozart?” I asked as I stroked his arm.
“Of course. I will speak to the Director of music. Please wait here.” A short time later he returned with a big grin on his face.
“There will be a reception next door. I made sure we would be among the first to meet him.” He proffered me his arm, and we went to the house next door to the recital hall.
After we entered the building, we walked into a large reception room. A cluster of people gathered at the far end. Ludwig marched straight through the crowd until we stood within ten feet of the young genius.
When the music master, Herr Metzenbaum, saw the Count, he led us forward.
“Count Ludwig Steinmetz, may I introduce Amadeus Mozart?”
“Your Excellency, a pleasure.” He made a slight bow to the count.
“I would like to introduce one of Vienna's most lovely women, my good friend, Nessa Harcanu.”
As Mozart's examined my body, he nodded ever so slightly. “You are quite lovely, Fräulein, Harcanu.”
“Thank you. I enjoyed your concert immensely.”
“Thank you,” he said and turned his attention to the Count.
I put my hand over my mouth to hide a smile. The young genius had an eye for women, but he had a bigger eye for potential benefactors.
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A mortal, Frank, finds himself scrutinized by a beautiful vampire.
“You're not an overgrown boy or a self-styled stud eager to add me to his sexual trophy case.”
“You can tell that just by looking at me?”
“That and much more.” “Okay, tell me what you know.” Her gaze caught mine as I issued the challenge.
“You're an architect in his mid-thirties who would rather be a painter,” she said without hesitation. She leaned back in her chair, steepling her fingers, her bright green eyes studying my every move.
“How do you know that?” Was she a mind reader or something?“There are traces of light green ocher paint under the nails of your index and middle fingers on your right hand.” I couldn't see anything, even when I held my nails under a light.
“I have excellent vision, especially at night.”
“There's nothing there to see,” I said.
“You failed to wash off all the ocher and pale yellow egg tempera paint you used.” She licked her lips.
Nessa had just described the colors I had been working with earlier in the evening. “I don't know how you guessed what I was using, but there's no way anyone could see the paint in this dim light.”
“A vampire could.” She leaned forward, opening her mouth, and showing the tips of sharp pointed fangs.
“Are those real?” I asked in a voice barely a croak. My heart beat faster and the hairs on the nape of my neck stood up.
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Strange creatures lurk beneath the streets of Manhattan where Nessa takes Frank on their quest to find the demon. ***********
In a few minutes, a train wheeled into the station, and everybody but us got on it. When the train pulled away, she checked to see if we were alone. Using her fingertips, she lifted the metal plate a couple of inches off the floor. Then she grabbed hold of it with both hands and set it two feet away from the hole.
I looked into the hole and saw the concrete platform twenty feet below us. “How do we get down there?”
“First I jump, then you jump, and I catch you.”
“What?” My heartburn got worse. I doubted there was any antacid in the backpack
“What did I say that you didn't understand?” She frowned.
“I understood what you said. It's the plan I’m wondering about.”
“There's a rope in the backpack, but nothing to tie it to. Besides, could you climb down the rope?”
“Point taken. I feel awkward about jumping and having you catch me.”
“Get over your male vanity. Please do what I ask you.” She rolled her eyes. “Put on your backpack and jump.” She turned and jumped through the hole, landing on her feet so as if she was a trained acrobat. She looked up and motioned for me.
I took a deep breath and jumped into her waiting arms. Nessa caught me and put me on my feet. I followed her when she walked toward the south end of the deserted platform. She walked on the balls of her feet, like a hunter tracking down her prey
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Frank ponders an emotional commitment to a vampire
After leaving her apartment, I was outside walking toward Central Park within five minutes. If I took too long to decide, our relationship would end. Nessa had been lonely for over four hundred years. She made a choice about me, perhaps impulsively, but now I knew how much I meant to her. She would be devastated if I rejected her, and I had no wish to be the cause of such pain. But I also needed to consider the risks involved.
I walked along the outside of the park until I found myself in front of the Museum of Natural History. For all the information it contained, it didn't have displays about creatures the visitors were better off not knowing. Nessa, werewolves, and demons didn't exist in any of the museum's catalogs. However, she was also a woman, one that aroused the strongest feelings I had ever experienced. Should I make a commitment based mostly on feelings? I was always so rational. To go with her was to step into the unknown and far beyond my comfort zone.
When I looked at my watch, I saw five hours remained until dawn. For once in my life I decided to go where my heart led. I walked south until I hailed a cab, and in a few minutes I was back at her apartment. The strong need I felt to be with her contrasted with how I felt two hours ago. Time is not measured in minutes or hours but by the manner in which we experience our lives. When I stood in front of her door, I knew my decision.
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“Succubi are sly creatures who survive by draining the biological essence from men. They seduce their victims by fulfilling their innermost sexual fantasies.”
In Demons Werewolves and Other Creatures of the Night by Thaddeus Romans
The notion of succubi walking among us, holding jobs, and being members of society is completely ludicrous. They are demons of the night that seduce men and drain their energy from them. Succubi do not usually kill the men they seduce, but leave them in a weakened condition. While most men will recover their strength over a period of many months, some spend their life in a permanently disabled. However, anger a succubus and you have signed your death warrant. In Neil Benson's vampire novel, Unholy Embrace, Nessa, the vampiress spots a succubus at a party. Vampires have the ability to see and even feel the presence of demons. The succubus in this novel flees from the more powerful vampire.
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Link to first three chapters
