by A. L. Mengel
THE BLOOD
DECANTER
THE TALES OF TARTARUS
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER
Parchman’s Press, LLC
Publisher since 2013
Copyright © 2015 by Mengel, A.L.
All Rights Reserved. This book, or parts therof, may not be reproduced, in any form, without permission of the author or publisher.
Mengel, A.L. – © 2015 PP/AL
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Any similarity to any other work in any format, written or filmed, published or released; unpublished, unproduced or unreleased, is purely coincidental and unintentional. All characters are originally created by A.L. Mengel. Any similarities to any person, living or deceased, is also unintentional and purely coincidental. Any similarities to any other fictional character, from filmed, published or unpublished work is unintentional and purely coincidental.
This is a work of fiction. A.L. Mengel holds all rights to this novel, including television and film rights.
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THE BLOOD
DECANTER
A Novel by
A.L. MENGEL
A.L. MENGEL’S BOOKSHELF
From The Tales of Tartarus –
Ashes (The Complete Novel)
The Transformation
Dirty Little Secrets
The Coming of the Green Mist
Nesmaron’s Egg
The Quest for Immortality (The Complete Novel)
The Mortician’s Mortician
A City Full of Bodies
Attack of the White Worms
My Lipstick Leper
The Story of George Stanley
Other Works –
Curtains and Fan Blades
The Other Side of the Door
The Ashes Special Hardcover Edition
Writestorm
Join the discussion in “The Writing Studio” on his Facebook page. Follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Goodreads. Discover A.L. Mengel’s storytelling at www.almengel.com
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
To my “Beloved Readers from ‘The Writing Studio’ –
I must discuss this with you before you read this novel.
There are elements to this story that suggest that the Catholic Church may be involved with underground organizations of enlightenment (similar to the Illuminati). This is merely for story and entertainment value.
I want to make it clear that this story is fiction, and while this story has many elements and traditions of the Catholic Church realistically portrayed in several scenes, which have been researched and are accurately presented, as far as I am aware, the Catholic Church has no ties to any underground organizations whatsoever, and any references in the story you are about to read are pure fiction and should be regarded as such. I’m Catholic myself, so I wanted to make sure to say that. Felt it was necessary.
That said, I highly recommend starting “The Tales of Tartarus” series with this novel. It’s a fascinating character study of the Blood Ancestry of the series thus far. Aside from the plot, it’s also a dive into the deep cosmology that we all share: blood relation. Our family trees are diverse, branching out in several different directions, and spanning centuries. We all have our ‘Blood Lineage’.
Why I recommend starting with this novel (as opposed to Ashes) is for that reason – it gives you the option to explore the characters’ origins before starting the story (which really starts in Ashes). If you so choose. It depends on what type of reader you are. When I wrote Ashes¸ these characters were not fully revealed to me. Now, Antoine, Darius, Claret and Delia have spoken much more to me – telling me their stories in far greater detail, which I am sharing with you in the upcoming pages of this novel.
Ashes is a novel that sets the stage for “The Tales of Tartarus”, and is a must read to fully experience the series, and it is the true genesis of the story. However, starting with The Blood Decanter will give you a much more enriched read of Ashes. So the choice is yours.
The Blood Decanter was one of the most challenging novels that I have ever written. It was not only a story that has deepened and expanded so much since Ashes, but also a story that has required a tremendous amount of research on my part. This novel will take you to Piazza di San Pietro in Rome, Paris, Lyon and Cairo, as well as Badulla, Sri Lanka – all sequences that have required quite a bit of exploration on my part.
My personal life also had its challenges while writing this novel. I remember calls to my Editor, on several different occasions, questioning if I should even write this novel at all. I was concerned about its content, wondering if the message would be misunderstood, or maybe even, as the author, that I might have been misguided myself.
But I continued on, I managed the fierce inspiration, and finished the story.
What I have done – challenged my abilities, developed my talent and my writing skills, with a clear mission: to take you on a fascinating story with compelling characters, with an important message that hopefully will endure for years to come. My writing goal was to place you right in the locales, standing next to Maderno’s Fountain in Piazza di San Pietro, right across from the Sistine Chapel in Rome; to the streets of Paris, the dusty markets of ancient Jerusalem and bustling Miami. You, the reader, are left to judge my efforts and measure my success.
So I invite you to experience The Blood Decanter. And let’s let the horror continue…
Always,
A.L. Mengel
FOR TY
For coming into my life and showing me that I am not alone;
FOR MY MOTHER
For showing me at the start of my life and continuously that none of us are ever alone.
There are many others who were involved in the creation of this novel.
For all those of you who have encouraged me and my writing career, whether it be a supportive father who has fielded countless phone calls discussing business, marketing and promotion related matters; a brother who supported my first rough copy of Ashes by reading it and analyzing it using his Princeton PhD skills to identify the themes of the story – which helped me, as the author, better understand what exactly I was writing about, and also helped me tell potential readers what the books really were about. Or a sister who helms a photography firm who snapped some of the first A.L. Mengel photos and has become the official photographer of the brand.
Or a beloved writing instructor who provided much inspiration needed to write a novel of this magnitude. Many days I had difficulty getting the words out, and my talks with her have been irreplaceable. I learned from all these wonderful people that these books in the Tales of Ta
rtarus are so much more, so much deeper, than typical ‘horror’ stories. I learned that these books have meaning and purpose, and the messages they deliver between the lines are for far more than just me.
THANK YOU ALL.
ORIGINS
THE VISITOR
ACTUS CONTRITIONIS
THE HOODED MAN
*****
BLOOD LINEAGE:
ANTOINE NAGEVESH
DARIUS SAUVAGE
DELIA ARNETTE
CLARET ATARAH
*****
LIBERA ME
TOWER OF BABYLON: BLOOD RAIN
THE CRUCIFIXION
AGNUS DEI
No matter how the clouds part,
Nor the skies clear,
I open my eyes to blood rain;
Wash the tears away,
And weep again for a different purpose.
ORIGINS
THE ORIGINS OF THE
TALES OF TARTARUS
You can absolutely start reading “The Tales of Tartarus” with this novel. The series was designed for the reader to start with any story they choose. You can start the series with this book and you won’t be lost.
But if you have already read Ashes and The Quest for Immortality, you can opt to skip this section, and skip forward to “The Visitor”. This section may appear redundant, or unnecessary to those readers.
I have placed this short reference section in an unorthodox location – at the front of the novel, rather than at the ending, where many authors will place a section for the reader to refer to. The purpose of this is for the reader to better enjoy the story – by skimming the items, or referring back to them, the reader can educate themselves and gain a sense of familiarity with the world before they read the story, or even as they read the story. Or the reader can choose to skip past these few pages and dive into The Blood Decanter right away – but these pages will remain here, for easy reference, if there is something (or a someplace) in the story that might have been explained in the earlier novels.
“The Tales of Tartarus” has been an interesting series thus far. It has intrigued me to look back on each novel after it’s published and I move on to the next, and notice how my writing and research has matured and grown from one book to the next. It all started with Ashes.
But now, in The Blood Decanter, the story has matured. It has entered adolescence; the characters have changed and become more complex and multi-layered, just as we do as human beings when we grow, mature, educate ourselves, and essentially become more complex individuals.
I have chosen to include this first section, to serve as a reference for the reader – whether it be a seasoned reader who has embraced this series of novels from the point when Ashes was published, to the reader who is just discovering Antoine, Darius, Claret, and others with this particular book.
When compiling this, I worked painstakingly hard to ensure that there would be no spoilers – especially for those readers who have chosen to read the novels out of order (which is absolutely perfectly fine) – and I am interested in feedback from those readers on how different the series may present itself when being read in a different order from whence I wrote the books. Please note that The Quest for Immortality, due to the length of its title, will be abbreviated, in this section only, as “TQFI”.
Always, A.L.
ASMODAI – The Demon Asmodeus, for the Cardinal Sins of the Flesh.
ASTRAL, THE – A paranormal research society.
INSPIRITI, THE – An underground society (some immortals; some who have lost “The Gift” and seek renewed eternal life). They are in place to assist former immortals regain “The Gift”. Delia Arnette is their current leader.
BADULLA – City in Sri Lanka. Antoine’s hometown. He worked in the coffee fields before being discovered by Darius.
CATHEDRALE DE NOTRE DAME – Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Darius meets Madame here when he is searching for a son.
JERUSALEM (ANCIENT) – The city of Claret’s origin.
SACRAFICE – Nightclub on Miami Beach which Darius and Antoine own together.
OCEAN AVENUE – A fictitious street in Miami Beach based on Ocean Drive.
LES LIVRE DES VAMPIRES – “The Book of The Vampires” (French derivation) Published by Parchman’s Press (Ashes)
DAS BUCH DES TARTAROS – “The Book of Hades” “The Book of Tartarus” (German derivation) Published by Parchman’s Press (TQFI)
CATHEDRAL OF THE GARDENS – Fictitious Cathedral in Coral Gables, Florida.
PLYMOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH – The church which the Cathedral of the Gardens is based upon, located in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami.
ASCENSION CEMETERY – Fictitious Cemetery which appears in several scenes in Ashes and The Quest for Immortality, located in Miami, USA.
NEW’S CAFÉ – A Café and restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida which appears in several scenes.
PARCHMAN’S PRESS – A mysterious publisher in the story that published both Les Livre des Vampires and Das Buch des Tartaros.
ABSINTHE – A high-proof liqueur distilled from wormwood. It is generally green in color, drank from a small, stemmed glass, and poured over a sugar cube on a slotted spoon, which is placed on top of the glass.
HELL HOUND – A supernatural dog, known to carry souls to Hell.
THE GIFT – All immortals have the gift. It is a gift given from one immortal to another, a maker to a child/son/daughter, and it grants immortality. The gift can be given in different forms – some makers will choose to bite the neck of their human selection for the gift, others simply bond intimately with them. Once the gift has been received, there is a similar process where the new immortal needs to adjust to their new powers, such as the adjustment period of a newly created vampire. Typically, the new immortal “sheds their skin” and no longer is mortal.
HIGHNESS – A term of respect used among the eldest immortals.
BAAL – The order of the demons to which Antoine and Darius belong. As not every newly created immortal is of the Baal, some are more like the lower rung of “vampires”. Many newly created adopt ways of vampires, but evolve to Baal over time.
PIAZZA DE SAN PIETRO – The outdoor Piazza in Citta del Vaticano (Vatican City) in Rome, Italy. The Piazza is surrounded by soaring columns, four deep.
MADERNO’S FOUNTAIN – The infamous fountain and obelisk in the center of Piazza de San Pietro.
SISTENE CHAPEL – The Chapel in Vatican City on which Michelangelo painted the masterpiece ceiling. In the novel, it is frequently shortened to “Sistene”.
NETHERWORLD – A term used to describe other dimensions. Most often evil in derivation, it can also describe areas of enlightenment which are believed to be located on a different plane from physical reality.
SEA OF SOULS – A sea filled with tormented, writhing bodies at the gates of Hell. Demons guard these gates, and this sea figures in to several of the novels.
THE VISITOR
Miami.
The Devil’s city.
The land where the sun sets later, and the days are hotter, brighter, sweatier, and filled with more caffeine. Where the tall royal palms line the sidewalks; where the manicured lawns are a deep, forested green all twelve months of the year; where the water remains blue and bright and brilliant.
But the darkness of the Devil –
Miami.
It’s the crystalline jewel on the tip of the Atlantic coast – hugging the Caribbean, surrounded by tropical waters and majestic million dollar mansions that line the docks and the inter-coastal waters which were usually scarcely used, except by Hollywood elite and celebrities. Most of the time, the waterfront palaces remained empty. And not far from the mansions and high-rises one finds the tiny, shoebox single level cement homes, dirty, bars covering the windows, litter on the lawns and too many cars parked along the streets.
Ah, Miami.
The brightest city with the darkest shadows. Yes, the city has a dark side. But it’s the place th
at I call home. The place where I work; where I follow my calling. The city I love, and have come to love. And it’s the city where I truly feel that I came face to face with the Devil himself…
*****
Do you remember me?
Have you possibly seen me before? I always wear my black suit and tie. My hair is gelled, slicked back, cut tight and cropped to the sides. I most likely tower over you. I am quite tall. I am also somewhat quiet and reserved. Most of my chatter takes place inside my head. But I still can exude charisma. Can’t I?
But if you have seen me before, you probably won’t ever remember meeting me. Especially if you are wheeled in to my preparation room, just waiting for my trocar. Some of you may recall when I first met you when I was embalming in the preparation room.
Preparing a body. It’s what I do.
The whole process relaxes me.
The cleaning and sterilizing, and then the actual procedure where I plunge the trocar – that long, reflective needle – with its wide mouth, into the neck, pumping the pink fluid into the corpse.
But my descriptions aren’t always so clinical. For when that body arrived, there were always relatives waiting – those who were devastated, awash in loss and despair.
But that is when and where the art really begins.
For then, when a body arrives in my preparation room, that is when I can allow my creativity to run wild. I have a kit – a small, plastic box filled with makeup. Creams and foundations, even lipstick and nail-polish. I apply the foundation to both men and women, bringing life back to the skin, making it appear as if blood still flows through the empty veins, as if the person lying in the casket is not really dead; but just merely asleep.
For that is my calling.