A chance to live life over, to correct one’s mistakes — is it a blessing or a curse? In Beguiled by Night , Vauquelin, an ancient, queer vampire living in present-day Los Angeles, finds his time unwinding like a spool of dirty thread til he’s re-deposited into seventeenth century he seizes the chance for redemption. In Citizens of Shadow , he clings frightfully to his aim — until he learns the hidden costs of tampering with fate. Centuries of self-exile and isolation claim their due. What glory might unfold when you open your heart to what else is to come … and what rewards will you reap when you embrace your authentic self?
Lush, gothic horror unfolds in Citizens of Shadow , a queer dark fantasy of vampires, time travel, and sinister secrets threatening to unravel an eternal existence.
**The convoluted chronicle of Vauquelin — a queer, ancient vampire — unfolds in a tapestry of paradoxes. Born into the tumultuous backdrop of elegant, monied, 17th-century France, an ill-fated broken carriage wheel alters the trajectory of his life for eternity.**
After centuries of ennui, his blood-stained past provokes him to seek new horizons: he emigrates to the United States. There he witnesses Los Angeles evolve from primitive dirt roads into its present-day incarnation: a sprawling, soulless metropolis. His life in self-imposed exile is peaceful and relatively carefree: until one night it's abruptly shattered. The very fabric of time itself begins to unravel without explanation, casting him adrift in the chaos of mid-century LA and beyond.
Vauquelin fumbles his way through history in reverse, ripping the scabs off of old wounds and mourning the loss of his futurepast joys, while attempting to keep certain skeletons firmly locked in their closets where they belong.
But the past has a way of making its presence known, especially when one is reliving it. As the threads of his history fray, the vampire finds himself ensnared within the fragmented labyrinth of his existence. Vauquelin’s mundane modern existence is systematically erased, compelling him to confront all his missteps over the last three centuries and acknowledge his defeats. The cobblestoned streets of old Paris beckon, and he is obligated to confront his own macabre history: but with newfound clarity.
An unanticipated glimmer of hope emerges amidst the chaos of his unravelling timelines: a chance for reconciliation, for atonement, tantalisingly presents itself. Yet even as the wheels of time threaten to grind to a halt, uncertainty looms large. As he regresses through time, he surrenders to his brutal nature and faces an unexpected choice that could alter his life completely, and in turn, extinguish the only true happiness he ever knew.
What will become of Vauquelin when — and if — time begins to march forward again? He has two choices: emerge from the wreckage reborn, or be forever ensnared within a bloody web of his own making.
