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Saint-Germain #12
Communion Blood
Olivia Atta Clemens, Saint-Germain's love from the days of Imperial Rome, has died the True Death and left her lavish estates to her servant, Niklos Aurilios, but they have been claimed by a young noble who says he is the long-lost son of Olivia's dead husband. Saint-Germain may not be able to convince a court of Niklos's rights without revealing Olivia's true nature, and therefore, his own.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
318 people want to read
About the author
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
259 books477 followersA professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-1962 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 23, 2009
Saint Germain travels to 17th century Rome to help Niklos in a legal dispute over the property left to him by Atta Olivia Clemens. I like Niklos, and wish there had been more of him in this novel.
It's a pretty typical entry in the Saint-Germain saga: nicely detailed historical fiction that's only a slightly impacted by the fact that the protagonist is a 4000-yr-old vampire. There's a damsel in distress, as always, and Saint-Germain treads a narrow path to avoid persecution by the Church. Don't expect happy endings from one of these books, although this one is not as sad as some.
It's a pretty typical entry in the Saint-Germain saga: nicely detailed historical fiction that's only a slightly impacted by the fact that the protagonist is a 4000-yr-old vampire. There's a damsel in distress, as always, and Saint-Germain treads a narrow path to avoid persecution by the Church. Don't expect happy endings from one of these books, although this one is not as sad as some.
September 11, 2012
Setting: Roma (Rome) Italy, 1689
Politics, church power, women’s lack of power, evil priests, homosexual
Summary:
Saint-Germain returns to Rome to assist Niklos Aurilios, Olivia’s ghoul companion who inherited her wealth and lands when she died the True Death - another loss for Ragcozy… and he manipulates a bit to defend Olivia’s will – creating a letter from a 12th century pope granting the 12th century Olivia control of her money & lands (not unheard of, but very rare) allowing her to pass them down to her female relatives. He rebuilds his villa (paying an exorbidant amount to the artes).
And Ragcozy writes an opera of the fall of Rome… and his current sex partner stars in it… he is more than generous with her (money, jewels, a home – that he encourages her to keep in her own name even after she marries) – and accepts when she marries another, but comes to him after the birth of her children for a few more rounds of sex (where her pleasure is upmost) with husband’ permission…hmmm
He befriends Ettore Colonna, a gay and a cardinal’s brother – going to some of his over-the-top parties. They both are sponsoring Scarlatti, a musical group who stays with one or the other of them and play for a wide audience – sometimes in their homes, sometimes for the pope, sometimes in a regular theatre. They are the ones that perform his opera.
And Martin, cardinal Calaveria y Vacamonte (who is sponsoring the made up claim against Niklos – Olivia had fictitious husbands who left her a widow, and the cardinal’s friend makes the claim that he is one of her husband’s sons – we know she never had a husband, but they can’t bring that to court) is playing politics and wants his sister, Leocadia, to marry the 2nd son of a German family- allying the two families… but she refuses, as the 2nd son has advanced pox (nose caved in?)… and he beats her, locks her in her room, denies her food and drink, and rapes her – blaming her beauty and insolence causing him to rape her)… mid point she manages to run away, dressed as a penitent, and Ragcozy finds her in his barn and shelters her, recognizing her… she will not speak to him, stays in the small house he allotted her, and she begins the self flagellation, prayer and fasting… after a few weeks, he goes to her and finds her bloody with infected wounds on her shoulders and back, so he takes her to the house, hires a nurse/maid to be her constant companion, cleans her up, medicates her, and visits her 2 times a day with the maid in attendance – to protect her reputation… one of the musicians, a very talented but undisciplined violin player, is staying with him and begins to play outside her window, to offer her some solace. Though Ragcozy invites the penitent’s confidences , she will not talk with him. She makes the mistake of asking him to bring her priest/confessor (one she’s had since childhood), and she tells the priest of her brother’s rapes… and after a few weeks, the priest, unable to believe the cardinal would do such a thing, and that she needs his protection, tells him where his sister is… He still insists she marry (she refuses) and when he comes in a rage to rape her again, she grabs scissors, and stabs him over and over again… her halfbrother and the musician take her to the gay man’s home for sanctuary – where they discover she is pregnant with her brother’s child… they call on Ragcozy to whisk them away on one of his merchant ships and he reluctantly agrees to do so… but one of the staff tell a 3rd brother, who snags her the day before she is to leave… she gives birth to a deformed infant who is placed in a convent, and she herself goes to live in another convent.
This is the 1st book in which Ragcozy goes against the church assertively, and he succeeds in protecting his friend. And for once, though the church investigates him, he gets a fair conclusion.
What did we learn?
The politics of choosing a new pope.
Women have no power
The church terrorizes
How gay men may have lived
Quotes – “ I too, rejoice when I discover a collegue who knows truth is always acceptable to God.” (anti - Inquistion)
Speaking of bad churchmen – “It’s the power… They all come to think it belongs to them instead of God… They decide that their position makes them capable of acting in God’s stead, and from there, it’s an easy step to convincing yourself all you do is right as long as you have power enough to do it.”
Politics, church power, women’s lack of power, evil priests, homosexual
Summary:
Saint-Germain returns to Rome to assist Niklos Aurilios, Olivia’s ghoul companion who inherited her wealth and lands when she died the True Death - another loss for Ragcozy… and he manipulates a bit to defend Olivia’s will – creating a letter from a 12th century pope granting the 12th century Olivia control of her money & lands (not unheard of, but very rare) allowing her to pass them down to her female relatives. He rebuilds his villa (paying an exorbidant amount to the artes).
And Ragcozy writes an opera of the fall of Rome… and his current sex partner stars in it… he is more than generous with her (money, jewels, a home – that he encourages her to keep in her own name even after she marries) – and accepts when she marries another, but comes to him after the birth of her children for a few more rounds of sex (where her pleasure is upmost) with husband’ permission…hmmm
He befriends Ettore Colonna, a gay and a cardinal’s brother – going to some of his over-the-top parties. They both are sponsoring Scarlatti, a musical group who stays with one or the other of them and play for a wide audience – sometimes in their homes, sometimes for the pope, sometimes in a regular theatre. They are the ones that perform his opera.
And Martin, cardinal Calaveria y Vacamonte (who is sponsoring the made up claim against Niklos – Olivia had fictitious husbands who left her a widow, and the cardinal’s friend makes the claim that he is one of her husband’s sons – we know she never had a husband, but they can’t bring that to court) is playing politics and wants his sister, Leocadia, to marry the 2nd son of a German family- allying the two families… but she refuses, as the 2nd son has advanced pox (nose caved in?)… and he beats her, locks her in her room, denies her food and drink, and rapes her – blaming her beauty and insolence causing him to rape her)… mid point she manages to run away, dressed as a penitent, and Ragcozy finds her in his barn and shelters her, recognizing her… she will not speak to him, stays in the small house he allotted her, and she begins the self flagellation, prayer and fasting… after a few weeks, he goes to her and finds her bloody with infected wounds on her shoulders and back, so he takes her to the house, hires a nurse/maid to be her constant companion, cleans her up, medicates her, and visits her 2 times a day with the maid in attendance – to protect her reputation… one of the musicians, a very talented but undisciplined violin player, is staying with him and begins to play outside her window, to offer her some solace. Though Ragcozy invites the penitent’s confidences , she will not talk with him. She makes the mistake of asking him to bring her priest/confessor (one she’s had since childhood), and she tells the priest of her brother’s rapes… and after a few weeks, the priest, unable to believe the cardinal would do such a thing, and that she needs his protection, tells him where his sister is… He still insists she marry (she refuses) and when he comes in a rage to rape her again, she grabs scissors, and stabs him over and over again… her halfbrother and the musician take her to the gay man’s home for sanctuary – where they discover she is pregnant with her brother’s child… they call on Ragcozy to whisk them away on one of his merchant ships and he reluctantly agrees to do so… but one of the staff tell a 3rd brother, who snags her the day before she is to leave… she gives birth to a deformed infant who is placed in a convent, and she herself goes to live in another convent.
This is the 1st book in which Ragcozy goes against the church assertively, and he succeeds in protecting his friend. And for once, though the church investigates him, he gets a fair conclusion.
What did we learn?
The politics of choosing a new pope.
Women have no power
The church terrorizes
How gay men may have lived
Quotes – “ I too, rejoice when I discover a collegue who knows truth is always acceptable to God.” (anti - Inquistion)
Speaking of bad churchmen – “It’s the power… They all come to think it belongs to them instead of God… They decide that their position makes them capable of acting in God’s stead, and from there, it’s an easy step to convincing yourself all you do is right as long as you have power enough to do it.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2025
Another excellent tale of Saint-Germain by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, this one set in 17th century Rome.
As usual, despite the lead character being a vampire, the only monsters are human - usually the Catholic Church.
Yarbro’s works are always well researched, and beautifully paced.
As usual, despite the lead character being a vampire, the only monsters are human - usually the Catholic Church.
Yarbro’s works are always well researched, and beautifully paced.
February 6, 2016
17th century Rome - a man's death leaves his widow in charge of his vast estate. But as goes with money and politics, someone else wants to challenge the claim by saying they should be the rightful heir. And the main character, a vampire, must obey said customs and traditions even though he yearns to help his friend, the widow.
All this sounds good, the theory, but this was one of the most boring books I have ever read. There was one entertain quote ( I am a foodie!):'Bruschi looked at the light meal he was being given: cold duck with pureed raspberries over it, a cup of vegetable broth covered with baked cheese, a wedge of polenta with mushrooms and onions, and sliced apples cooked with cinnamon and covered in heavy cream.'
All this sounds good, the theory, but this was one of the most boring books I have ever read. There was one entertain quote ( I am a foodie!):'Bruschi looked at the light meal he was being given: cold duck with pureed raspberries over it, a cup of vegetable broth covered with baked cheese, a wedge of polenta with mushrooms and onions, and sliced apples cooked with cinnamon and covered in heavy cream.'
March 6, 2015
And, once again, Sanct'Germain must contend with those mean old two-faced Christians who just want his beloved Olivia's money and estate for the Church. This was when I started seriously asking myself if there was *ever* a good Christian in a Saint-Germain novel, or just evil ones and ones who are somehow ruined by the evil ones (Ranegonda, Demetrice, Gynethe Mehaut, etc).
February 18, 2022
One of the better ones enjoyed this book almost as much as Hotel Transylvania, i think it had more plot than some of the others.And i liked Giorgianna Ferrugia,she stood out a bit more than the other female characters in these books,shes not perfect she even used Saint Germain to advance her career as a singer.So i liked that aspect of her character it showed she wasn't perfect she had flaws.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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August 23, 2008isbn,original
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September 1, 2013St. Germain (Rome, 1688-1698) Book 13
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews