Blood Prophecy Returns Us to Classic Vampire Tales

Blood Prophecy: Queen’s Destiny by Barb Jones

Blood Prophecy begins in a familiar place for vampire tales, ancient Macedonia, where the first hint of the prophecy that this tale hangs on is revealed. An ancient city with an even more ancient people in it, they wait to find out if the child stolen from the Greek temples will answer their questions. What it says is chilling, and foretells of great doom for the immortal race whose language the child speaks.

We quickly move from these ancient vampire tales forward, to our own place and time. It is New York City, today, and Amber is preparing for a final run through the city before leaving for Seattle and a new job with a hopefully new life. She has been something of a child prodigy, adopted at a young age by simple farm folk, she went on to attend and outshine academically everyone around her. Graduating from university with a double major in Archeology and Cultural Anthropology she is offered PHD programs, jobs from headhunters, but nothing interests her until a box arrives from the Seattle Museum of Science and History.

The Mystery Begins

It contained a human skull, a bag of pottery shards and a small assembly of flint knives, along with eight clay masks and a note. The offer was generous, the box intriguing and after some haggling for appearances sake, she accepted.

The Witch’s Child

We are soon introduced to Chloe, who has talents of a different nature. A natural gift for seeing what is about to be, in another era she would have been called a witch. She too works at the museum and once Amber and Chloe meet they become friends. It is Chloe’s ability to see the history of objects when she touches them that has made her particularly valuable to the museum.

And then Michael arrives. He is a vampire who has an interest in all of them, and most of all an interest in the prophecy. For the problem with Michael is that he knows that Amber is part of that prophecy. What that means for each of them and how it will affect their lives, is something that they will have to find out as it unfolds. For there is a battle looming, and they all must play their part.

The Start of a New Series of Vampire Tales

Queen’s Destiny is the beginning of a new series of vampire tales called Blood Prophecy. It is a fascinating tale told with a deft hand and generous skilled use of language. The story takes a bit to unwind, and the frequent shifting of the point of view takes some getting used to, but never enough to be distracting. I actually liked that we see the prophecy at the beginning so we get an idea of what everyone is struggling over.

The characters are well rounded and the vampires are definitely of the dangerous variety. The author Barb Jones has said that she wrote this vampire tale with the clear intention of bringing back the old classic vampire character and I think she pretty much succeeds here. There is plenty happening, the characters really do make the story work and I am going to be curious to see where she goes with the second part of this series of interesting vampire tales.