NOTE: This is NOT a chapter of the story!  If you are judging me, reading this story because it caught your attention, or looking to meet Eleni, please begin with the Prologue, which is effectively the first chapter. This is where I've tucked author's notes, research, and explanations of things.

Hello, and thank you for reading!

"Immortally Beloved" is the first book in what I plan to be a trilogy chronicling the life, death, life--and who knows, perhaps death again--of a powerful French Revolution-era vampire. Eleni's story is something that's come together over the course of years, and was originally a character created and developed for a roleplay sim. Whether via games, hundreds of years of literature, or collaborative storytelling, I noticed a trend among popular vampire franchises. The charismatic, poetically tragic, dominant, and obsessive vampire is usually male and would make women (and some men) swoon.

Eleni realised she could do that. She was not going to be the damsel in distress turned into a vampire. She was going to be Lestat. At one point, she was dubbed "The Queen Of The Damned With A Makeover." 

I want to thank everyone who left me their characters and asked me to tell their stories alongside Eleni's. It means a lot to people that people believed in my abilities to tell Eleni's story to the point they would do that. While I just didn't feel okay about using things created by another person, everyone I encountered influenced this book. Only two characters who were immensely important to Eleni and left to me "in memoriam" made it into this first book, but many people helped inspire the REALLY large cast of characters and the fictional town of Aubrey Parish. 

I'm not a big fan of disrupting the chapters with explanatory notes unless it's absolutely necessary, so I've added all my extraneous thoughts here. First, literature!

Eleni's journals are always written in first person, meaning from Eleni's perspective. The rest of the story is told in third-person limited through the eyes of multiple characters. Yes, this is difficult. Nope, not everyone is a fan of this technique. Much like George R.R.Martin's "A Song Of Fire And Ice", the story of Aubrey Parish is an unfolding mystery featuring a large cast of characters. Not a single one of them has all the information, and an omniscient narrator would kill all the mystery and suspense. Thus, this is the only conceivable way to tell this story the way I believe it should be told.

Please don't leave notes just to tell me how you hate books that use this point of view and consider it constant head-hopping. Some stories *need* this POV and have to have multiple protagonists to tell the story properly. Please understand this is not a fully edited manuscript, but a work in progress, so tense mistakes and so forth are fairly natural. My focus is on finding a way to tell a story through the eyes of multiple characters, while comparing it to the story of Eleni's life, as told through her eyes. I don't want to accidentally give away plot twists and surprises because I was focusing on "was/were/is/are/had been" problems. ;) This book will be edited to death, I promise.

I love when you tell me you love/hate/ship characters, or one annoys you, or how you feel about a character changes. This means I did what I wanted to do,

"Why don't you rewrite it to make this character more likeable/easy to understand at the very beginning?"

Well, that ruins part of the fun and engagement on the part of the reader. Also, likeability and charm is very subjective, as Eleni herself would tell you. <3

History! Let's talk about history! A good deal of research went into to telling Eleni's story, down to the dates on her journals, which are historically accurate.

For those who are uncertain about Eleni's story, she was born the daughter of a Duc and Duchesse during a time when the seeds of the French Revolution were already being sown. Eleni is approximately the same age as the daughter of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI. Had the Revolution not occurred, Eleni would have remained a part of of the Court of Versailles and encouraged to marry. Though I don't go into in the book, for Eleni to have been born with her title but not considered part of the immediate royal family, her father would have likely been a distant relation of Louis XVI, or have curried favour in a great way and given his Duchy through land and not blood. It is possible Eleni would have been in the family tree of Louis XVI, though she would have no relation to Marie-Antoinette--who was in fact Austrian. Any resemblance between Eleni and the Queen is due to the fact that women of any Court tended to copy the Queen.

A girl such as Eleni would not have been considered a suitable match for the Dauphin or but could have hopes of marrying a second or third son or cousin of the King. At least, that would have been the ambition for her. She may also, like Marie-Antoinette, have ended up marrying into the royal line of another European monarchy. Eleni being sent to marry an Italian noble was fairly normal practise, and not one in which she'd really have any say. It was not yet a world where, Revolution or not, Eleni would have been free to choose her own husband or place of residence. While it may be shocking today that a 16 year-old would bear children and then be married off to a man old enough to be her grandfather, it was fairly commonplace for the time period.

The prologue begins during part of the Revolution known as the Reign of Terror.Maxemilien Robespierre and his followers went to great lengths to abolish the monarchy, and although trials were conducted, they were a formality. Most aristocrats, whether through blood or land ownership, were arrested and found guilty of "crimes against liberty". This also extended to those who were friends of or would aid the ruling class, meaning for a time, there were trials and executions of 20-40 people daily.

Ironically, Robespierre and his followers did not foresee that the generally overlooked French middle-class would come to view them as symbols of tyranny and just as dangerous as a monarchy. Robespierre and his people were executed at nearly the same time as Madame Elisabeth, sister to Louis XVI, and hers. His death is considered to have ended the Reign Of Terror.

While books like "Les Miserables"  focus on the plight and suffering of the working-class to merely survive during the French Revolution, this one tells the story of the monarchy that supposedly put people in such a desperate situation. They were not villains, and suffered equally. It was a particularly brutal time that caused much needless suffering, loss, and opportunism.

Eleni's death, sadly, occurs just as the Reign Of Terror ends and France begins a process of recovery, sans monarchy. Eleni's brother survives as long as he does by pretending to be an anti-Royalist, which makes her consider him a traitor. However, both Marie-Therese and the brother of Louis XVI, as well as his son, survived on the condition of relinquishing claim to any title and dubbing themselves anti-Royalists. Traitorous or not, it was the only opportunity for survival for remaining members of the aristocracy and former allies of Louis XVI.

Sadly, the destruction of Versailles and its monarchy did not bring about the peaceful ending France envisioned. In 1815, thirteen years after Eleni's death, Victor Hugo would begin his telling of the epic tale of street urchins, opportunists, the bourgeoisie, and revolutionaries fighting against class divisions and suffering in Paris.  Contrary to how it is often labeled, "Les Miserables" is not a story of the French Revolution. It takes place decades after the beginning of the Revolution, subsequent Reign Of Terror, and rise and fall of Napoleon I. Victor Hugo's story is set prior to, and during, what is known as the "Second French Revolution".

The revolutionaries in "Les Miserables" were anti-Orleanists. Prior to the French Revolution, the Duc de Orleans expressed a strong dislike for Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their followers. They became known as "liberal Royalists", advocating constitutional monarchism. The ideals of the Orleanists did not at all coincide with the more conservative viewpoints of the traditional Royalists, who believed in absolute monarchy by divine right. During the Reign Of Terror, little distinction would be made . The duc de Orleans was executed in 1793, despite having voted in favour of the execution of Louis XVI. Democrats and Republicans didn't get along back then, either--but ultimately, both were despised equally.

1814 saw a second rise of conflict in France, and it is this period during which the epic "Les Miserables" is set. During this time, the nobles of France return, but there is division. There is also opposition to both sides from supporters of Napoleon. While the three groups fought for power in France, the suffering of the poor and the indignation of the bourgeoisie continued.  The elder branch of the Bourbons, known as Ultra-Royalists or Legitimists, fought to see survivors and descendants of Louis XVI restored to power. This group was represented by Marie-Therese, also called Madame Royale, the Comte d'Artois, and his son, who married Marie-Therese. Eleni, born with an aristocratic title during the reign of Louis XVI, would have continued to support this cause. Her journal entries indicate her friendship and support for this group of people, and her remarriage and return to France to restore the monarchy to "rightful hands" would have made Eleni a firm Ultra-Royalist.

Opposition to both the Ultra-Royalists and Napoleonic doctrine came from the Orleanists. Louis-Phillippe, then Duc d' Orleans, disliked both the Ultra-Royalist viewpoint of rule by divine right, and feared the concept of democracy. In simple terms, this group wanted an establishment of a French middle class and a system that combined monarchy with government by the people, a system adopted in Britain to great success.

In the July Revolution of 1830, Charles X (formerly known as Comte d'Artois), his son, and Marie-Therese  (then Madame la Dauphine) were overthrown. This was the final blow to the House of Bourbon and those who held ancestry, titles, lands, and claim to rule by divine right via Louis XV and XVI. Nobles such as Eleni who claimed their legitimacy via the House Of Bourbon left France, and many of that lineage simply never returned. They often found a place in the more traditional courts of the Spanish, Italian, and even British monarchies. Marie-Therese, Comte d'Artois, and the remaining members of the House of Bourbon lived out their final days in exile in Britain and Austria (birthplace of Marie-Therese's mother, Marie-Antoinette).

After the Duc D'Orleans became king, it was then a battle between those who advocated constitutional monarchy and the revolutionaries such as those depicted in "Les Miserables". As anyone who has ever seen the musical knows, there were continued revolutions, but the dynasty founded by Orleanism kept a tenacious hold on France. Of the three right-wing families and philosophies (the others being Bonapartism and Legitimatism/Ultra-Royalism), Orleanism and the vision of a constitutional monarchy and strong French middle class is the only one that survived. Under Orleanism, however,  only males descended from the original Capet line who are Roman Catholics are considered heirs to the throne. Currently, it is Henri d'Orleans, Count Of Paris, who holds the title. However, France is governed by an elected President.

I'm pretty sure that Eleni would not have approved of either option. ;)

Despite her compassion for others and seemingly accepting attitudes toward current-day social issues, the fact that Eleni ends up in Aubrey Parish as the widow of a conservative Louisiana judge and politician is not surprising. It is only within a society of vampires, steeped in tradition and hierarchy reminiscent of Eleni's childhood, that Eleni's behaviour could be considered liberal or rebellious. Politically, Eleni's story has her on the wrong side of history most of the time,something that should make her easy to dislike. From the Court of Marie-Antoinette, to the rise of capitalist magnates and corrupt businessmen in America, to the rule of Juan and Eva Peron during WWII, Eleni's belief in protecting wealth and tradition should have made her a world full of enemies. Yet, it is difficult to dislike Eleni for her views. Her journals reveal her to be a lapsed Roman Catholic whose experiences make it difficult for her to have faith in religion or the inherent good of her fellow man, yet she expresses the belief that even as a vampire, she still has a soul and clings to shreds of humanty. While at her core she has always been a wealthy right-wing conservative, it is tempered with a curiosity about the world and a need for a sense of fairness and justice to always triumph in any given situation. Eleni's struggle between her cherished ideals and an ever-changing society is real. Even in 2015, she still believes in wisely-made marriage as a way to protect her way of life.

Given her experiences, it is quite natural she would always be frightened by "revolutionaries" and view those with radically liberal ideals as a threat to her existence. The aristocrats of the French Revolution were not considered heroes in any sense of the word, but neither were those dead-set upon the violent destruction of that way of life. 

Many depictions of the French Revolution paint the monarchy and its sympathisers as villains who drank champagne and said "Let Them Eat Cake". Sadly, they were largely a group of people who were falsely maligned via propaganda. Most were executed by a system where those who preyed upon fear and terror were able to widen the gap between the rich and the poor and place their suffering at each other's doorsteps. Though Robespierre didn't outlive his enemies by very long, he would go on to become an inspirational figure to Stalin and Lenin. Eleni blames Robespierre and his followers for the Revolution. While this is not entirely accurate, he is indeed largely responsible for the deaths of the royal family and their supporters. Without Robespierre, the Reign of Terror would have been less terrifying.

It is true that the tides turned against the execution of the nobility with the beheading of Madame Elisabeth, the pious sister of Louis XVI who was forced to watch the executions of twenty-four people who assisted her and her family before her own. She prayed with them and each one bowed to her before being led to the scaffold. Madame Elisabeth was actually extremely guilty of "crimes against liberty", meaning being a Royalist and making plans to protect what remained of her family and those who supported them. Neither Elisabeth nor Marie-Therese knew of Marie-Antoinette's execution until being released from house arrest. Unlike the character of Eleni's brother, Madame Elisabeth would not betray her family's legacy to save her life. At present, she is still being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church.

Marie-Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake" in response to being told that people were starving and there was no bread. The line was uttered by Spanish Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XIV. She didn't suggest letting them eat cake, either. The infamous line translates to "Let them eat brioche", a more expensive type of bread made with an egg-base not usually eaten by the poor. She helped pass a law mandating that brioche be sold at the same price as flour-based bread when grain ran low, causing anger from the middle-class at their businesses taking a loss for the good of the people.

The seeds of Revolution and class war were already well-planted by the time Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette came to power. While they did not make things better, being very young people with few reliable advisors and were (often unknown to them) living beyond the means of their country their entire lives, they were sadly also victims. Both were teenagers when they took their thrones, left with little help and told to end famine and stop a class war. Inevitably, they did not succeed. Both were only in their 30's when they were executed, but looked as old as poor Mr. Grimm.

The character of Cosette in Victor Hugo's legendary "Les Miserables" is often considered a symbol of the triumph of the bourgeoisie and hopeful establishment of a prosperous middle class and balanced government at the end of the Revolution. It is a time of hope after those like Eleni had been deposed in one way or another, and the tyrannical rule of Napoleon that replaced the monarchy was eliminated. On the other hand, Eleni's character is a reminder that much was lost and many injustices committed in the name of liberty and freedom. France's revolutions and bids for power had no heroes and no villains, simply a good deal of suffering. The aristocrats taken to the guillotine for no reason other than having royal ties or blood suffered as much as the selfless revolutionaries murdered on the barricades and starving women and children willing to die for the simple dignities and comforts of life.

No, it is not a coincidence that both Cosette and Eleni have love interests named Marius. ;)

I have read a few of Anne Rice's books, but not all. In an ultimate coincidence, I've been told there are minor characters called Eleni and Eugénie de Landen in one of her books. There is zero relation or inspiration, and I see it as a bit of a good luck sign from the Universe to have discovered such a coincidence. Anne Rice's Eleni did not survive, which makes me sad. :(

Aubrey Parish is a completely fictional place. The idea of a creepy small town with supernatural beings, strange occurrences, and a lot of mystery is one that's been well-executed on television many times. In books, it's not attempted as often. It is an idea that intrigued me and gave me ideas for endless stories and characters. I had to cut myself off at some point to not have 80 storylines.

Eleni has a playlist that tells her story through music, although that is more applicable to the second book.

However, I suggest listening to Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" and Lana del Rey's "In The Land Of Gods And Monsters" back to back. Better yet, watch the videos. They are attached to the prologue, and also to chapter 7.  These are Eleni's theme songs, and if you do so, you'll actually hear her in there. It's a bit spooky. :)

Thank you all for taking the time to read, review, and perhaps even influence this saga that was meant to tell the tale of a powerful female vampire, but ended up being a story about so much more. <3

*~ Alayna