Broadsided...nicely...

I was detailing the dust jacket for HNH and went looking for an old post on Tumblr that I was sure contained some notes I'd once made about the synopsis...and this image popped up. David Beckham. Who I think is pretty hot, even if he isn't what I normally go for.

But it sidelined me. Reminded me of Franz and Léonidès' obsession with him. Got me to thinking and I came up with a reason for Blood Angel to be completed. This is what came out:

Léonidès winds up turning Franz into a Blood Angel, deliberately ignoring the wishes of the Oyim. But the guy turns out to be a full-scale horror. Killing at will. Fighting with Leon. Wreaking havoc in the clan. Leon finally tracks down Gabrielle and asks to trade Dmitriy for him. He thinks she could better control him. And she's thinking about it as she tells him...

“It’s hard to believe we are of the same blood. The same lineage. We approach the mortals in the same way, with the same goal...to feed. But for different reasons. I sought those who might help me in some way. Add to my wealth. To my retinue. To my pleasure, if you will. I cared nothing about the individual or their place in the world. It was only centered around my wants and needs, and theirs meant nothing to me.

“You, however, are the opposite. Your greatness is immaterial to you, but neither do you care about advancing theirs. No. Your reasoning is to end their cruelty and brutality. Your preference is to be judge, jury and executioner to those whom you deem unworthy of life, and you have excused this in your own mind as something good and not merely just as cruel and brutal as those you feed upon.

“How you behaved with Franz now shows me you are just as depraved as I. Just as selfish. Proving we are of the same blood. The only difference is, I am honest with mine. And more aware of it. You are still too much the little carpenter you were, before you were turned, thinking yourself an innocent youth.

“The Oyim are not our equals, you know. They can still lord it over the vampire world as much as they like. Maintain a sort of control. Present it as protection. Defensiveness. And the common members of our race will agree and follow. The mere vampires. They even have you convinced that they are more evolved than you or I, but it’s a lie.

“They are not our lords but our serfs. We are their masters, Léon, you and I. They can exert no control over us, because we are not merely Blood Angels. We are Die BlutEngel. A higher caste, even to them. And after millennia of being the highest of the high, they cannot accept being made secondary in their world. So they do all they can to keep you ignorant of the reality that you and I can do whatever we want, and need no one’s permission. Not even theirs.”

“Does this apply as well to Dmitriy and Franz? They are of our lineage.”

“No. Somehow...I do not yet fully understand how, just yet...impurities entered their strain. Franz more than Dmitriy. I almost believe with him it was his line becoming tainted by Germanic aristocracy. They have a tendency towards the brutal and mundane, cultivated due to their treatment by the Romans, no doubt.

“With Dmitriy, my feeling is his came through the Hebrew line, which added a hint of victimhood. Which is very damaging to one's self-confidence.

“However, you and I are pure Norman. No Saxon mingled in. Nor Hun. Nor Moor.”

“BlutEngel is Germanic in origin.”

“It is only their version of our true title...L’Ange de Sange.”

“Which is the same thing. Blood Angel.”

“Don’t be simplistic. There is a subtle difference in the emphasis, and that is where you and I depart from their bloodline. Evolve, if you will.”