15 pages

Another short section of BA, done. A bit of background alluding to Book One and some information about Leonides' followers -- Gregory, Loronce, Stephane, Doric, Tellis and Reyndahl. All regular vampires and happy to be part of his gay troupe. It's 800 years after they joined together, and over that length of time they've become quite wealthy. They were also turned when they were in their 20s, albeit of the course of a few centuries, so they're almost like a good-looking Gen Z group, even though it's 1870.

Gregory also has Meron, a duòlos (a slave) he turned during the Battle of Borodino, when Napoleon's army beat the Russian forces but suffered so much damage they were never able to fully regroup. Meron was a French captain wounded in the fighting and Gregory saved his life. They're also a couple, as much as they can be.

A duòlos is a step up from a familiar but not a vampire. He lives to serve the one he considers his lord and can handle whatever the vampire needs to be done during the day, like Renfield did but without the feasting on spiders and flies. Sunlight doesn't affect him. In the Korea section, Leonides will hire a vampire captain (I may make him a BA, too) to pilot his ship from Hong Kong to Marseille, and his crew will be made up of duòlos sailors. 

Gregory wants to make Meron into a vampire, but he needs permission for the process from the Oiym, the rulers of the vampire world. At this point in time, they have forbidden vampires from turning humans; they may only feed until true death. But Léon thinks he can get them to agree to Gregory's wish. Gossip is, he's the Oiyms' favorite...much to his sister's displeasure.

Oh, and contrary to my intention not to do so, I've completely rewritten the first chapter. Shifted parts of it into chapter 2. I should learn never to say never.