![[Discussion 4/5] (Read The World: Togo) Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja | Chapter 24 - Chapter 27](https://external-preview.redd.it/7RFnLz2Ql2B7hK3GhASnVBu0rejQBbXxb6pDLzFAA_4.jpeg?width=216&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=c6df90978a4c6c5f4a5a5b1f8f4ccb6cecdc34c9)
Hello and welcome to the fourth discussion of our Read the World - Togo 🇹🇬. Today we are discussing Chapters 24 - 27 of Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja
Here you can find the Schedule and the Marginalia.
Discussion questions are in the comments, but feel free to add your own!
You wouldn’t steal a car.
You wouldn’t steal a handbag.
You wouldn’t steal a painting.
Using your eidetic vampire memory to create an exact replica of a painting is stealing.
Regards, the friendly Satanic Vampire Cult.
Hi all, this is the fifth discussion of Blood and Gold by Anne Rice, covering chapters 15-19. Next week we will discuss chapters 20-24.
Below you find summaries of this week’s section, a few miscellaneous things I wanted to mention. I also left some questions in the comments! 🧛✨
Please mark major plot points from past books that are not mentioned in this book (yet) as spoilers to give newcomers the gift of suspense (see r/bookclub’s spoiler policy). Or, if you want to tell certain things without asking whether or not such knowledge is wanted like Marius does, you can always comment in the Marginalia or check the Schedule with links to the next discussions.
Summary
Chapter 15
Mesmerized by the Golden Age of Renaissance Italy, Marius becomes a real simp for Botticelli and eventually finds out where he lives and asks for entrance to see his work in the middle of the night. He also brought a purse of gold for persuasion reasons… as any totally sane person would do. In the studio, he also lays eyes upon the The Birth of Venus, and is starstruck by the sheer beauty of the painting which also represents the re-emergence of Roman values to Marius. This is not only the Birth of Venus, but also the birth of our dear protagonist’s artist name: Marius De Romanus. Sandro thinks Marius is here to criticize him like everyone else, but he urges him to continue creating art and leaves in a haste.
Chapter 16
Marius’ speedruns the Renaissance painter obsession deathrap so much so even the Satanic cult vampires tell him to take it easy and threaten him to not turn Botticelli into a vampire. What really cracks me up is how wildly different even the vampires interpretations of Botticelli’s art are - some seeing them as sacred Roman mythology and others as divine Christianity. Everyone’s a critic. Where was I?
The next part of the chapter is Marius explaining some of Botticelli’s best hits. I won’t summarize them here but I recommend you check out the video I posted in the Miscellanea section.
Marius is so deep into the obsession, he starts painting himself and dreams of painting together with his big idol.
Chapter 17
Slowly recuperating from his obsession with Botticelli, Marius goes back to interior decorating the OG vampires’ shrine and starts painting in his own artstyle again: Gardens and Pandora. Still, the painter's absence leaves a hunger in Marius for the new world. A new idea forms in his head: Reintroducing himself into Italian society. He chooses Venice as his destination, since Florence would be too close to Botticelli.
He hires Vincenzo, an old and kind man, to be his housekeeper and governor to all the boys he wants to hire as painters’ apprentices too. Ah yes, he also intends to house boys to educate and become his apprentices. Nothing to see here, move along please.
He specifically searches for boys that are gifted but are wronged, neglected, or abused and gives them education in his trade but also in classical education. Languages and philosophy lessons among them. In all honesty, I think this idea is born out of a genuine need of Marius’ to be helpful and altruistic. If that’s what he manages to accomplish we will see. Nevertheless, he’s also aware that him being the savior to them from poverty, sickness, death also wields authority he can use to shape them into what he wants them to be.
He is aware of his hypocrisy, and writes in his diary his doubts whether he is using his human persona and the mortals around him to fill his neverending loneliness and neediness. In the end, his reintroduction into Italian society has worked: He has a beautiful palazzo he calls home and the humans around him are happy to be able to live this way.
He begins painting.
Chapter 18
Marius has a new hobby project locked in: Use his vampiric supernatural abilities to create a bootleg of the Procession of the Magi wall paintings in his palazzo. Don’t judge him, if you’d live for thousands of years, you’d probably also get up to some wacky shit.
Completing the tasks makes him actually feel better. Painting in general makes himself feel free and unburdend and the other mortals appreciating his works makes it all the better.
Unwilling to host social gatherings at his house as he did in Rome, he instead becomes a socialite, visiting many high-society people in Venice. One of them is Bianca Solderini. The young woman secret poisoner has Marius fall under her spell because of her beauty and brilliance. She resembles a Botticelli painting. He paints her portrait and many more paintings. She sees through him and asks him who he really is, making Marius scram like the scaredy-cat he is. This also fuels his new obsession with her, which shifted from Botticelli to Bianca. He wants to turn her into a vampire and make her his companion, but he is fighting against the guilt he feels for having those feelings.
Disturbed by his own thoughts, he travels over the canal in his gondola, listening to others with his Mind Gifts so that he does not have to hear his own thoughts. His session of thought-stalking is interrupted by flashes of iconographic paintings interspersed with cries of pain in Russian. A traumatised painter with memory issues. Intrigued, Marius follows the thought-crumbs to a brothel. He buys the boy he heard calling out, who is near death. He names him Amadeo and is starstruck (yet again) by his beauty. Amadeo sees Marius believing him to be Jesus.
Chapter 19
Marius brings Amadeo, fifteen at the time, to live with the other boys in his palazzo. However, Marius treats Amadeo differently from the others. From the outset, Marius plans to turn Amadeo into a vampire and mould him to his will. Recalling Eudoxia’s doctrine when she turned Zenobia, he plans to do the same with Amadeo. Not to mince words here, Marius himself acknowledges he grooms Amadeo. At this point in time, he seems to be less interested in the moral repercussions of his actions. Instead, he seems to be extremely obsessively in love and on a power-trip.
Amadeo craves the attention and love he is getting from all in the palazzo. However, Marius’ exposure “therapy” to force him to remember his past before he was abducted, leads to multiple panic attacks. In an attempt to improve his weak health, Marius also gives Amadeo his blood multiple times. This leads Amadeo to realise that there is something wrong with Marius (probably in more ways than one, lol).
Amadeo and the other boys eventually go out and also get invited to Bianca’s gatherings, which she uses to send a letter to Marius requesting him to come back to her. The jealousy in Amadeo increases.
Time passes and Marius learns of Botticelli’s religious fanaticism, and seeks solace in Amadeo’s progress. He wonders if he had made Bianca a vampire if not for Amadeo, and questions his obsession with both. This rare moment of introspection is stopped the next day when a “strange man” visits the palazzo and demands to see Marius: Surprise, it’s Mael!
They are both briefly happy to see each other after such a long time, but the peace doesn’t last long and they soon start squabbling again. Mael tells Marius what happened after he left. Avicus and Zenobia got on well, eventually leaving Mael behind. He has been wandering ever since. He blames Marius for his misery, but more out of habit than anything else. Mael is also lonely, but says he’d rather convince a Sanatic blooddrinker to join him than make a new vampire.
Mael found Marius through Santino, who had a sense where Marius was, but hadn’t yet discovered the secret of Those Who Must Be Kept. Marius is horrified by this, but Mael makes him realise that he isn't paying as much attention to other vampires and monitoring as he used to.
They separate amicably. Mael feels new joy in life after the brief chat with Marius (he probably thought: “At least I’m not that guy”). And Marius leaves for a few days to go to the OG vampires. Amadeo is distressed at Marius leaving, but Marius assures him it is just for a few days.
Miscellanea and Lore-Dump Ramblings
Goths, ARISE!
No no no, Siouxsie, Robert, Edgar, stay seated. I’m talking about historically accurate goths!
This is the third discussion of Blood and Gold by Anne Rice, covering chapters 7-10. Next week we will discuss chapters 11-14.
Below you find summaries of this week’s section, a few miscellaneous things I wanted to mention. I also left some questions in the comments! 🧛✨
Please mark major plot points from past books that are not mentioned in this book (yet) as spoilers to give newcomers the gift of suspense (see r/bookclub’s spoiler policy). Or, if your head is about to rip off from excitement, you can always comment in the Marginalia or check the Schedule with links to the next discussions.
Summary
Chapter 7
Marius occupies his mind painting his walls anew, so he doesn’t have to think about Mael or Avicus. He paints as his house fills with party guests and throughout the night, neglecting feeding him or attending to Akasha and Enkil (which I’m gonna call “OG vampires” from now on for simplicity).
Avicus and Mael could not be ignored forever, and eventually they entered his house, now dressed in the popular Eastern Empire fashion. This is a moment of secrets revealed: Marius explains to them that their vampire powers get stronger with time, and they reveal they saw telepathically transmitted images of the OG vampires while he was drinking Marius’ blood.
Mael presses him to tell them the truth on it while Avicus cautions Mael that this is his burden and there must be a reason why he keeps secrets. Marius breaks under the pressure and tells them about Egypt (I wanna be honest and say “pressure” is putting it generously, Mael’s pressure was as strong as a mild gust of wind).
Avicus remembers then that he once kneeled before Akasha, before he was told to go to Sanhaim to use his vampiric skills to become effectively judge, jury, and executioner for the druids praying to him.
They all understand they have to protect the OG vampires from the Satanic Christian blood drinkers invading Rome and trying to get their blood to become powerful. But not before another Marius / Mael level 2 out of 10 verbal slap fight, the equivalent of two 8 year olds saying “no, you!”. Marius concedes by leading them to the OG vampires, who Mael demands to see in the flesh (or stone to be factual).
Under a lot of scrutiny from Marius (and Enkil lol), Mael even gets to drink from Akasha.
Level 3 verbal slap fight commences, the equivalent of a soft and ineffective shoulder push, and then they all go their merry way again, and Marius goes back to painting gardens on the walls. Avicus often observes him from afar.
Chapter 8
Years pass. The Satanic Christian vampires continue to come, and their numbers increase, until a ploy Marius, Mael, and Avicus conjure, baits their ancient vampire leader to Rome who promptly gets killed by them. No more Satanic Christian vampires under my roof, says concerned Roman vampire!
Now Rome is peaceful again. Wait, do I hear hoofbeats?
Is that Marius’ house burning?
Yes, it just so happens that while the vampires were busy killing Satanic Christian vampires, Alaric was busy bringing the Western Roman Empire to a fall, which culminates in an invasion of Rome that completely destroys Marius’ possessions and will to live. He goes to sleep. For a very long time. Dreaming of his vision garden and Akasha watching over him.
After a hundred years, and multiple attempts at waking him, Mael and Avicus urge him to leave Rome together for Constantinopel.
Chapter 9
Marius is aghast at what happened to his beautiful city. They package the OG vampires in mummy-authentic sarcophagi and they travel by boat to Constantinopel. They befriend the crew, all the while horrified by the thought what would happen if they ship sank and the OG vampires end up on the ocean floor.
Another big change takes place: Marius, Mael and Avicus are now an item! Congrats to the happy throuple! No, I decline to read the “we’re intimate companions” line any other way.
They are overtaken with fascination of Constantinopel. Marius already plans to infiltrate the policital scene of the city. They purchase a house and start to build an intricate and grandiose tomb below it for the OG vampires.
Still, Marius’ initial excitement is gone after a few weeks. He misses Rome, nothing replaces Rome in his heart. Not even splendid Constantinopel (are we still talking about cities?)
After six months, other vampires that live in the city make themselves known. They demand of our throuple to introduce themselves before their boss vampire, Eudoxia.
The vampire in question is layed out on a gilded couch like the actual empress of the city, a young and extremely beautiful woman.
It becomes clear very soon (maybe sooner for the reader than for our vampires) that Eudoxia is an ancient and powerful vampire, who is able to read their minds without issues.
Chapter 10
Eudoxia is ready to let them live in her city under some conditions. She tells them her past:
A hoarder vampire transformed her when she was fourteen in ~300 BCE, a Greek-born girl moved to Alexandria, and used her to get easier access to riches in Alexandria. After some time, he gets bored of her, and takes her to the followers of the OG vampires, where she is made to bow before Akasha and drinks her blood. She goes her own way, eventually falling in love with a man (who initially believes she is a man too because she dresses like one). She makes him a vampire too (sort of like a punishment at his horror of finding out she’s a woman) and travels with him to Ephesus. Their time is short-lived as shortly after the big story event happens which causes all vampires to get burnt. She survives, because she drank Akasha’s blood. Her lover was less lucky, and got ashified.
She was quite mad when she found out the OG vampires were gone when she returns after, and has to heal all on her own.
She explains her condition for letting them live in Constantinopel are that the OG vampires go back into her possession, and tries to force them to agree to her terms immediately. Mael and Marius both are not reacting super well to pressure, and when it comes to choosing between diplomacy and brawling, Mael will always choose the brawl.
They fight. Marius discovers he can incinerate one of the vampires with his mind, and apparently she isn’t the only strong ancient vampire here!
She demands to kill Avicus since they killed one of hers, but lady, you have no bargaining chips left.
Not wanting to immediately resolve the plot, Marius chooses to leave with Mael and Avicus in tow. He threatens to speak to the manager about this as well… eh I mean Akasha!
Miscellanea and Lore-Dump Ramblings
Salvete!
^(So, have you ever overreacted in the moment and regretted your actions for the next 300 years, and instead of working on improving yourself, you get suuuuper into mural painting and occasionally spying on the nice vampire neighbours who just want to be friends with you but everytime you start the conversation you say something awkwardly offputting that ends the conversation? And then you throw extravagant parties to show off but you just get angry about the most inconsequential things that don’t even affect you in your daily life like the change of the capital, and that all drives you into a spiral of despair?)
No? Neither has Marius! He’s fiiiinnnneeeee. Let’s not get a-head of ourselves. Ok!!!
Below you find summaries of this week’s section, a few miscellaneous things I wanted to mention, and I left some questions in the comments! 🧛✨
This is the second discussion of Blood and Gold by Anne Rice. Next week we will discuss chapters 7 - 10.
Please mark major plot points from past books that are not mentioned in this book (yet) as spoilers to give newcomers the gift of suspense (see r/bookclub’s spoiler policy). Or, if your head is about to rip off from excitement, you can always comment in the Marginalia or check the Schedule with links to the next discussions.
Summary
Chapter 5 - The Story
Marius was born during Augustus’ reign (27 BC – AD 14) which makes him a real Millenial. And a true Millenial he is at heart. After a massive overreaction after his first big fight with his new vampire girlfriend Pandora in Antioch, he chooses to scram in the dead of night, taking Akasha and Enkil, their vampire progenitors and object of constant religious fervor among the vampire community, with him. Where does he go but back home to mommy. Mommy Rome that is.
This is not the first time he escaped with the Divine Couple, who are like stone in their motionlessness afer centuries as vampires. He took them away from their abusive caretaker in Egypt, after an incident left Akasha, and in turn all vampires existing at the time, burnt up.
Marius likes taking care of them, but Akasha’s silence is dispiriting him. It was a better with Pandora at his side, who believed herself to be ordained by Akasha. Together they slaughtered any vampires who wanted to forcibly drink Akasha’s blood, which is basically the cheat code for vampire power.
This led Marius to spiral into existential questions like: “How can new vampires believe in other gods and not pray to Akasha?” He doesn’t want Pandora to see his uncertainty (Uncertain and emotional- he, a Roman man?! No, surely only women and barbarians could face such things!)
The rest of the chapter is Marius gushing over Rome’s beauty, which, like, he’s not wrong.. Rome is stunning.
He tracks down his family’s descendants but chooses to break all ties with them and not keep any further record of them. He also burns all other writings he created over the years, because in his eyes they are tainted, because they were created by a monster.
Eventually, he notices the presence of other vampires in the city: It is Mael and another burnt fake-Druid god tree vampire, Avicus. Despite saying otherwise, Marius is still mad at Mael for sacrificing him to a Druid fake-tree god vampire, and Mael is mad at him for opening his mind to ask critical questions about his fake-vampire druid tree god beliefs (>!if Marius’ ramblings got him this existential, I wonder what Lestat Breaking-a-Cult-in-a-Week De Lioncourt could do to this guy!<). He’s also mad Marius never came back to the Druid murder club who kept him prisoner for months. Relatable.
They are at each other's throats but Avicus can de-escalate the situation and Marius invites them to his house, where he’s clued up to their backstory, which TL;DR: Mael got nominated to become the next vampire fake-tree druid god, but he convinced Avicus to flee together instead after seeing Marius accomplish it. Since then, they have been strays, wandering around cities. It’s not said explicitly, but it’s kinda obvious they are an item, too.
Mael asks him if he ever found the "Good Mother" (aka Akasha), which he was set out to do. Marius chooses to keep them secret and tells himself he will be eternally alone, because he will always be afraid he could accidentally let others know of Akasha.
Chapter 6
Annoyed by Mael’s presence, and envious of his companionship with Avicus, Marius reduces his visits to Akasha and Enkil, who are safely stored outside of the city in a chapel. Mael and Avicus make things easy for Marius by unintentionally acting as their bodyguards, scaring away or killing any renegade vampires who dare to get too close.
300 years pass. Emperors come and go. Christianity becomes more and more popular.
Marius’ loneliness has him nibbeling blood from Akasha, which makes him better, faster, harder, stronger (order not representative of actual events). It also lets him see LSD visions of a beautiful garden.
Marius starts throwing lavish parties that become more and more extravagant in an effort to scare away loneliness.
^(Also, have you heard the affront that is Constantine wanting to abandon Rome for a shiny new capital in the East called Constantinople!? The audacity! Marius might be throwing the odd citizen into the Tiber or even leaving his kill lying in the street, but he draws the line at Rome slander!)
Marius always had a passion for interior decoration. In Antioch, he created mosaics. In Rome, he starts decorating the vampire couple’s room with murals and even (quote) “paints sunlight and the effects of it upon green leaves”. Don’t ask me how that works.
The room is increasingly resembling the vision he had when he drank Akasha’s blood. He also paints people, predominantly women, who look eerily like Pandora. It finally dawns on him that he made a shrine of Pandora and panics. He orders his slaves to paint everything over.
His panic is interrupted by Avicus, who comes to him for help: Something terrible has happened to Mael.
Both him and Mael, dressed as soldiers, got attacked and Mael was dismembered and beheaded. This, however, didn’t kill him. So Avicus tried to help by forcing his head and arm back, but does it wrong, so now he looks like a trampled insect which is still moving the odd leg.
Marius has an idea. But first he asks Mael if he wants to continue to live before doing anything (>!That’s how you do it Armand! You ask for consent first before detaching and re-attching a head!<).
He holds Mael while Avicus rips off his head and arm again, then places them close to his body so they auto-attach themselves again (new headcannon: Vampires are basically Mattel dolls).
Avicus thanks him, and Marius awkwardly ends the conversation by confirming that “There is no Good Mother” before running away again.
Miscellanea and Lore-Dump Ramblings
Hello readers,
This is the schedule for Blood and Gold by Anne Rice, the eight book in the Vampire Chronicles series. We’re gonna read it over a period of 8 weeks.
How does it work?
The readrunner will post about that week’s chapters on the day listed. There’s no set time because r/bookclub has readers all over the world. The post will have some questions you can answer, or you can just share your own thoughts. You can check out the previous reads linked below if you want to see how it looks like.
You can read at your own speed, just be cautious not to accidentally spoiler anything if you've read ahead. In that case, you can share your thoughts in the Marginalia linked below.
For more info on r/bookclub's spoiler policy, check out this post.
Schedule (Fridays)
This schedule will be updated with links to the posts as we progress. See you all in July! 🩸 👑
Links:
Hello fellow bookworms of the sanguine persuasion!
With the tv show just on the cusp of introducing him, wouldn't you like to find out more about this mysterious Italian vampire by the name of Marius De Romanus that's been alluded to all this time directly from the source?
Join my fellow book read-runners and me in July and August as we read Marius de Romanus' saucy biography, complete with personal drama and Italian Renaissance glamour. Who knows? Maybe we'll even stumble across some juicy gossip about Armand. At ~700 pages, we will definitely learn something new about our favorite gremlin and his maker.
What am I actually talking about?
We will read Blood and Gold by Anne Rice over at r/bookclub in the coming months. It is the eight book in the Vampire Chronicles series, so some knowledge about the Vampire Chronicles books is helpful. My experience from the previous books is however that the author usually gives a short recap with the most important facts at the beginning of the book.
This is the announcement post. A separate schedule with exact dates and some more info will be posted soon on r/bookclub.
How does it work?
We'll divide the book into manageable ~90‑page chunks. Each week, on a set day, one of the three read-runners (two fellow book addicts and myself) will post about that week's chapters on r/bookclub. The post will have some questions you can answer, or you can just share your own thoughts.
You can read at your own speed, just try not to spoiler anything for others. If you’ve already read ahead, you can share your thoughts in the Marginalia linked below.
Will you sink your teeth into this intriguing tale of blood and gold? Let me know in the comments if you're planning to read along and whether you are a first time reader.
See you all in early July! 🩸 👑
Some Links:
Hello fellow bookworms of the sanguine persuasion!
Do you want to read more about the vampires of the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles universe who aren't magnetically drawn to lamplight like Lestat or being their wet‑blanket selves like Louis all the time, yet still manage to make their problems everyone else’s?
Can I interest you in an ancient vampire who absolutely does not have his life together and absolutely will bitch about it the whole time?
Join my fellow book read-runners and me in July and August as we read Marius de Romanus' saucy biography, complete with personal drama and Italian Renaissance glamour. Who knows? Maybe we'll even stumble across some juicy gossip about Armand. At ~700 pages, we will definitely learn something new about our favorite gremlin and his maker.
What am I actually talking about?
We will read Blood and Gold by Anne Rice over at r/bookclub in the coming months. It is the eight book in the Vampire Chronicles series, so some knowledge about the Vampire Chronicles is helpful. My experience from the previous books is however that the author usually gives a short recap with the most important facts at the beginning of the book.
This is the announcement post. A separate schedule with exact dates and some more info will be posted soon on r/bookclub.
How does it work?
We'll divide the book into manageable ~90‑page chunks. Each week, on a set day, one of the three read-runners (two fellow book addicts and myself) will post about that week's chapters on r/bookclub. The post will have some questions you can answer, or you can just share your own thoughts.
You can read at your own speed, just try not to spoiler anything for others. If you’ve already read ahead, you can share your thoughts in the Marginalia linked below.
Will you sink your teeth into this intriguing tale of blood and gold? Let me know in the comments if you're planning to read along and whether you are a first time reader.
See you all in early July! 🩸 👑
Some Links:
Hello readers,
Do you want to learn more about the vampires of the Vampire Chronicles universe who aren't busy stealing the limelight from everyone else or being their wet‑blanket selves all the time, yet still manage to make their problems everyone else’s?
Can I interest you in an aristocratic vampire who absolutely does not have his life together and absolutely will bitch about it the whole time?
Join u/IraelMrad, u/epiphanyshearld and myself next month and the month after (yes this book is long) as we read about Marius De Romanus’ tell-all biography, with lots of personal drama and Italian Renaissance glamor sprinkled on top. And who knows, maybe we’ll even stumble across some juicy Armand gossip. At ~700 pages, there better be some meme material.
This is the eight book in the Vampire Chronicles series.
The schedule post will follow soon with the exact dates.
Will you sink your teeth into this intriguing tale of blood and gold? Let me know in the comments if you're planning to read along and whether you are a first time reader.
See you all in early July! 🩸 👑
Links:
Blurb
>!Here is the gorgeous and sinister story of Marius, patrician by birth, scholar by choice, one of the oldest vampires of them all, which sweeps from his genesis in ancient Rome, in the time of the Emperor Augustus, to his meeting in the present day with a creature of snow and ice. Thorne is a Northern vampire in search of Maharet, his 'maker', the ancient Egyptian vampire queen who holds him and others in thrall with chains made of her red hair, 'bound with steel and with her blood and gold'. When the Visigoths sack his city, Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory that was Rome, he is there, still searching for his lost love Pandora, but bewitched in turn by Botticelli, the Renaissance beauty Bianca, with her sordid secrets, and the boy he calls Amadeo (otherwise known as the Vampire Armand). Criss-crossing through the stories of other vampires from Rice's glorious Pantheon of the undead, haunted by Pandora and by his alter ego Mael, tracked by the Talamasca, the tale of Marius, the self-styled guardian of 'those who must be kept' is the most wondrous and mind-blowing of them all.!<
Welcome to our second discussion of Days in the Caucasus by Banine!
Revolution, requisitions and the romanticism of communism…. this section has it all! Imagine the whiplash of becoming a multi-millionaire at 13 and losing it all moments later to geopolitical events completely out of your control.
Useful Links:
Join us next week for Part 2 Chapter 6 - End!