Rating: 5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Short Story
Paul commutes by plane once a week and has the routine down pat. When he sees Victor, it appears Paul and Victor were chummy the week before, and the week before that, which is odd since Paul does not remember him. However, deep down inside, he knows Victor, he knows that Victor knows him, he just does not know how. Paul’s frustration is steadily growing and he is anxious for release, except that when he tries to hookup with someone, his illogical guilt sends him running. How can Paul feel guilty when he is not in a relationship?
When Paul figures out about Victor, he is less upset realizing Victor has been hiding that he is a vampire, and more upset that it has caused Paul to lose his memory of Victor and their relationship. Victor must decide if he can allow his obsession with Paul to progress, to let himself become vulnerable to a human. Meanwhile, Paul thinks he knows what he is getting himself into, but does he really understand what he is asking of Victor?
If I am being honest, I did not realize that this was a vampire story and boy, am I glad I wasn’t paying attention because this short story rocked!
En Memoriam follows a vampire and the human he feeds from, but Veldura went in a different direction from other authors. This story explored the effects of a vampire repeatedly feeding and wiping the memory of one human and how that affects the human long term.
For a short story, both the characters were satisfying and had sufficient depth for my liking. I found that the story flowed well, although I wondered at the length of time Paul worked on the project that had him commuting by plane for so many weeks. I also must say that the ending caught me off guard to the extent that I posted a “WTF just happened?” on Social Media as soon as I finished the story. Well done Tami, well done.
