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Do I need to say that
this page is one big mass of spoilers if you have not read
the story?
G.R.A.E. has escaped the lab
and is on his way far away from it. He feeds on blood from
butchers shops, and is haunted at night by dreams of his
time in captivity. Being among other people is not something
he's used to, and he feels different. Taking the logical
approach, he searches in the library for books about people
of his kind but finds nothing. Vampires seem to be as close
as he gets, but he isn't even sure they exist.
After having been Outside for just a week or so, he starts
feeling very sick, and in the end he collapses in the snow
in a backyard in the city. Cold and hurting and confused and
hearing his tormentor the researcher Lawrence's voice in his
mind, he thinks he's going to die.
But a young girl called Evelyn finds him and brings her
"uncle" the vampire Vincent Marsellus to help him. When
G.R.A.E. regains consciousness, Vincent practically forces
him to drink his blood, and this saves G.R.A.E. Apparently
nobody told him, Vincent muses, that he needed more powerful
blood than that of a dead cow. He has to drink human blood -
or vampire blood. A thought which distrubs G.R.A.E. as he
has been forced to killed before and does not want to do it
again.
Evelyn accepts G.R.A.E. as
part of the household (counting herself, Vincent, and their
maid Martha), and Vincent claims to be so fascinated by
G.R.A.E. that he is welcome to stay.
Vincent provokes G.R.A.E. into fighting him, and though not
as strong as Vincent, he is evidently very skilled. G.R.A.E.
lives off blood that Vincent brings him, but is not at all
happy with it. He wonders a lot about his own nature, and is
bothered by the lust for human blood. The dreams of his past
change somewhat and become nightmarish visions instead of
plain memories.
Going for a walk late one night, G.R.A.E. finds the
"solution" to his dilemma. He encounters a rapist and his
would-be victim and helps her escape. The criminal attacks
him, but he is much stronger. He ends up biting the man and
drinking his blood. While he does not kill his victim, he is
shocked at what he has done. Vincent shows up and applauds
him.
Soon he starts feeling much
better. All his pent up frustrations have diminished after
feeding, and he is free to walk among humans without wanting
to feed on them. After some time, though, he has to feed
again, and he decides to feed on "sinners".
Vincent wants very badly to taste G.R.A.E., but he respects
him enough not to just force him.
One day G.R.A.E. meets a stranger on the train and feels his
thoughts are being read. He can find no explanation to this.
He babysits Evelyn, and meets and old lady and her dog, whom
he grows to like a lot and basically tries to live a fairly
"normal" life..
Vincent throws a dinner
party for some very strange people including a powerful,
ancient vampire.
Just as G.R.A.E. has grown used to feeding on humans,
something dramatic happens. He is too late to save the
victim of the criminal he intends to feed on. And the crook
manages to shoot him. Seriously wounded, G.R.A.E. kills the
man (and has to feed on him to stay alive). He manages to
get home, taunted and ordered by Lawrence's voice all the
way. Again Vincent saves his life and lets him drink from
him. He is tempted to turn G.R.A.E. into a vampire, but
resists.
G.R.A.E. "slowly" recovers.
He dreams of Vincent and Lawrence arguing over him,
interrupted only by the young man from the train.
It is becoming clear that Vincent and Evelyn and Martha and
even the old lady are starting to depend on G.R.A.E. -
something he can't quite wrap his mind around. Unable to
stand being depended on he flees without telling anyone. In
a town far away he meets a girl in a bar who gets him drunk
and tries to seduce him. It doesn't work, but he come out of
it with a new haircut.
The following day he arrives at the next town and encounters
the ancient vampire who "tests" him. He is curious about
G.R.A.E. and wants to taste his blood. G.R.A.E. agrees, but
manages to bite the vampire in the process. The next day he
has become stronger - something very useful when Vincent
barges in the next night and tries to kill him for leaving
him and Evelyn. G.R.A.E. defeats Vincent, but promises him
to go back with him.
Evelyn is happy to see G.R.A.E. and forgives him
easily.
G.R.A.E. encounters some
other vampires. He asks Vincent about them and is told that
most of them live in clans, dependant on each other and
following a leader - a lifestyle that Vincent himself
doesn't fancy.
One night, G.R.A.E. recieves a warning in a dream from a
friend. It soon turns out that it is regarding a soldier
sent from the lab to retrieve him. He is scared, but
determined not to be captured and kill this ghost if need
be. But the ghost has no idea where to find him.
Vincent takes a slightly depressed G.R.A.E. to the ocean,
where G.R.A.E. finally realises that he "wants the stars
back", that he wishes to carry on with his life despite the
hardships.
Memories still haunt him, and G.R.A.E. makes a hard choice
to resist the temptation of self-harm to keep the inner pain
at bay.
G.R.A.E. is approached by
vampires from a clan whose powerful leader, the Count of
Teufelstein, is interested in him and wants him to join
them. He declines and they let him know they cannot
guarantee his safety if he is not in a clan. The
teenaged-looking vampire Daniel gets very angry with him and
seems to want to kill him.
Evelyn worries about G.R.A.E., and expresses her feelings
for him, and he has trouble telling her of his.
Catching up, he writes a letter to his readers, re-capping
the whole story. He states that he has not yet been found by
the ghost, but that he is aware that there is one more
looking for him.
Eventually, he meets with
the ancient vampire again and gets caught in the middle of a
fight in which the vampire singlehandedly kills a large
number of other vampires. Daniel is there and tries to kill
G.R.A.E., and escapes in the end. G.R.A.E. manages to drink
(and get drunk on) some of the vampire's blood after taking
a hit from a crossbow for him. Vincent is annoyed with him
for it, but realises that he can't control him.
It is Christmas time, and G.R.A.E. for the first time
participates in the celebrations with Vincent and Evelyn. At
New Year’s Eve, the three of them watch the fireworks
together.
The idyllic nature of G.R.A.E.’s life is cut short when one
night he has a dream of Lawrence asking him to kill him.
Unaware that he is sleepwalking, he is surprised by Vincent
in the kitchen who knocks a sharp knife out of his hand.
After this episode, G.R.A.E. decides to lock himself up when
he goes to sleep, because he is afraid that he might
accidentally harm Evelyn. Provoked by being confined to his
room at night, he starts remembering more of his past in the
lab, including a room which he once entered and saw
something he was not supposed to see. He is, however, not
certain what it was.
He asks Vincent about his
past to hear how he feels about it, but Vincent is
uncooperative and tells him very little.
One night, G.R.A.E. encounters the blue-eyed man whom he
seems to have met on previous occasions. He confronts him
and asks him who he is, but the man gives him no real
explanations. G.R.A.E., however, is left reassured that he
has nothing to fear from him.
Lawrence returns in G.R.A.E.’s dreams to try and talk him
into opening a door in the lab so he can see what it is that
he has forgotten. But G.R.A.E. is afraid that it might be
his own door and refuses to do it.
Vincent asks G.R.A.E. to go with Evelyn to the doctor to
have a vaccination, and this proves very difficult for
G.R.A.E. The antiseptic smell and the sight of the syringe
makes him panic, and he faints and has to make up a
plausible explanation for it. Evelyn is concerned about him
and advises him to see a psychologist, but he is determined
to work with his problems on his own.
A woman called Susan finds
G.R.A.E.’s diary when he drops it in the train and returns
it to him after having read bits of it. She is convinced
that he is writing a novel and is an eccentric who pretends
to be a vampire, but she finds his writing very good and
offers him a freelance writing job for her magazine about
art and culture. G.R.A.E. agrees to do this.
Vincent teasingly tells him that Susan only found him
interesting because he is mad, but goes on to seriously ask
him for a favour. It seems that Vincent and the ancient
vampire have talked about G.R.A.E.’s physical strength, and
they want to make sure that he is capable of escaping an
encounter with Daniel or other vampires on his own. To this
end, Vincent asks him to fight one of them and is slightly
disappointed when G.R.A.E. says he will fight the ancient
vampire because he is afraid that he would not be able to
fight to his full potential against Vincent. Genuinely
worried, Vincent tells him to give up before the ancient
vampire hurts him. The fight is held at a secluded place,
and G.R.A.E. discovers that he really stands no chance
against the vampire. At least not on his own. For the first
time, he consciously evokes Lawrence to order him to fight,
and this enables him to put up a very good fight. G.R.A.E.
almost loses control and attempts to keep fighting after he
has evidently lost. In the end he managed to banish Lawrence
again. Both vampires are very impressed with his
efforts.
Lawrence, in G.R.A.E.’s
dreams, is not fond of having been used and reprimands
G.R.A.E. for it. For a while, G.R.A.E. has trouble sleeping,
but feeding helps him considerably.
Susan is pleased with what he has written for his magazine
and wants him to write more. Vincent is a little testy
because of G.R.A.E. spending time with her, but he takes
G.R.A.E. to the city one night to watch the harbour.
G.R.A.E. is very fascinated by the water in the canal, and
while they are there, Vincent tells him a little more of his
past and his views upon life as a vampire.
The vampires in Teufelstein’s clan, apparently, think that
G.R.A.E. has done something to harm Daniel, and he
encounters some of them who have attacked a man in the
street. While they flee, he decides that he has to help the
man. He attempts to close the wound by dripping some of his
own blood into it and takes the victim to the hospital.
Fortunately he manages to slip away before anyone notices
him too much.
Vincent is angry with him for being so reckless. He blames
G.R.A.E. for trying to better than other vampires. They have
an argument followed by days of nearly not talking to one
another until the ancient vampire pays a visit and tells
them both off for acting that way. He also reveals that he
reads G.R.A.E.’s diary online and says that it alright to
put his name, Lyon, in it.
Through his public journal, G.R.A.E. has made several
acquaintances. He writes about how he feels very close to
some of them, and considers them close friends. He seems to
address one reader in particular who has helped him by
talking to him.
For a long time, G.R.A.E.
has not read anything by the man who was sent to hunt him
down, but who had seemed to have given up on that goal and
started living his own life. But suddenly there is a message
in his public journal by the boy Maeve, whom G.R.A.E. has
met on two previous occasions. Here is it stated that the
hunter, Ghost, is badly hurt and may be dying. G.R.A.E.
feels responsible and that he may be the only one who can
help, and so he meets Maeve and is taken to a deserted attic
where Ghost is located. Vincent lets him go, but is clearly
not happy about him doing it on his own. G.R.A.E. forces
Ghost to drink some of his blood, because he seems to have
lost a lot and is healing very badly.
After a while, Ghost regains consciousness, but he is not
himself and attempts to attack G.R.A.E. Eventually he sleeps
peacefully while Maeve and G.R.A.E. take turns watching over
him. The next time Ghost wakes up, he is in pain, but aware
of his surroundings and who G.R.A.E. is. They talk a little,
but during their conversation, G.R.A.E. finds it very hard
to communicate with him and is overwhelmed by emotions.
Returning to Vincent, G.R.A.E. finds himself unable to speak
at first, and Vincent comforts him the best he can. He
slowly comes to terms with having finally met Ghost.
Daniel returns in what seems
like a chance encounter. He wants to make G.R.A.E. fight
him, and only succeeds because he uses G.R.A.E.’s fear of
needles to drug him. G.R.A.E. is half paralysed and very
confused because Daniel seems to be making advances of a
sexual nature on him. He finally overpowers Daniel by biting
him and drinking his blood. This makes him drunk, and they
have a rather strange fight where G.R.A.E. again uses
Lawrence’s voice to his advantage. In the end G.R.A.E.
simply leaves.
Vincent is furious with Daniel for having hurt and attempted
to molest G.R.A.E., but G.R.A.E. does not seem to be
entirely certain what was really going on.
Meanwhile, it seems that the reason for Ghost being so badly
hurt is a vampire called Markus. G.R.A.E. asks Lyon for
information about him, but he knows very little. Lyon does
suggest that if G.R.A.E. intends to confront him, or Daniel
again, he might benefit from curing his phobia of
syringes.
Vincent, reluctantly, assists G.R.A.E. in performing some
exposure therapy. While it takes time, and G.R.A.E. is
nearly panicking in the beginning of their experiments, he
becomes better at handling his fear.
Ghost has a file from the lab on G.R.A.E., and they meet one
night. Ghost gives the file to him, and they talk about
their different experiences. Ghost tells G.R.A.E. that he is
a clone of him, a modified copy. They are not entirely the
same (Ghost, for instance, can read thoughts), but they are
very much alike. They both seem to feel that they are
brothers in a way.
The file holds very little of importance that G.R.A.E. did
not already know. There is no answer to what he is, but
there are elaborate descriptions of his physical and mental
abilities and shortcomings. Reading it is highly unpleasant
for him, and when Vincent asks, he is allowed to read it
only if he promises not to talk about it.
Evelyn is growing up, and when she first gets her period, it
is very hard for Vincent and G.R.A.E. to contain themselves.
It upsets them both greatly, but they keep each other from
responding to the smell of blood, and it gets easier with
time.
More memories from his time
in the lab return to G.R.A.E. There was a woman there,
Helen, who was actually kind to him. He recalls meeting her
and becoming friends with her, despite his insecurity.
Having been Outside for two years, G.R.A.E. concludes that
he can’t really conclude anything, but that he has realised
that he can’t just forget his past, so he is trying to make
peace with it and keep it from haunting him. He realises he
has changed very much, but that he is still, ultimately, the
same person.
Feeding one night, he is confronted with a young boy who
thinks he attacked his friend (the person on whom G.R.A.E.
is feeding, after having rescued a girl he attempted to
rape). He tries to convince the boy that he meant no harm,
but he seems to be very suspicious. The boy, however, is
high on drugs, and so G.R.A.E. thinks that he won’t be a
very reliable source of what really happened should he
decide to tell anyone.
Vincent challenges G.R.A.E. to a chess game and loses, but
they have a good time together playing.
Christmas time approaches, and Evelyn and G.R.A.E. go
looking for a present for Vincent. In the shopping centre,
they encounter Mist, the second hunter who (like Ghost) has
given up her search for G.R.A.E. She is also a modified
clone of G.R.A.E., but a mechanism inside her makes her
unable to see G.R.A.E. without growing long talons and fangs
and wanting to kill him, so their conversation is very
limited, and she cannot look at him. They talk for a while,
and G.R.A.E. is glad to know that she does not intend to
harm him (if she can help it).
In the new year, G.R.A.E. writes of finally controlling a
dream with Lawrence in it. Lawrence, however, assures him
that it is only that one time and that he will return.
G.R.A.E. describes going to the Zoo with Evelyn and Vincent,
the idea of which he has previously expressed his dislike
of.
(Summary complete until
this entry.)
Stories, characters,
images, etc. are © by Marie Mortensen and other MW
"conspirators".
Please do not use elsewhere without permission.
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