Sabella, or the Blood Stone

Tanith Lee 1980 Buy from Amazon.com

Sabella is Tanith Lee’s most unusual interpretation of the old vampire myth. Incorporating many of the standard elements, like an aversion to sunlight, and the use of sex to hunt for victims, she nevertheless manages to make it fresh and new.

One of Sabella’s victims named Sand follows her to her home. She takes care of him, feeding him, but he dies after a few days. She puts him in the incinerator out the back.

Two months later a man shows up at her door, Sand’s brother Jace, playing games, getting inside her head. Her sends her flowers, wine, perfume, toys. He comes back to her house and starts digging up the incinerator. He finds Sand’s bones.

He thinks that she is a drug addict, that her stash of blood and fruitjuice is her drug mix, and he threatens to keep her from it until she tells him what really happened with Sand. But he doesn’t, and neither of them seem to know what he’s doing there.

Sabella is a strange and somewhat confused vampire, with no real idea of how she became like that. Jace is an attractive and appealing nemesis, clever and dangerous. As they learn more about each other, they learn more about themselves, until the confusion about Sabella’s nature is clear to both.

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