Blood and Gold (2001) is the eighth book in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series. It tells the story of Marius de Romanus from his perspective, including his point of view on some of the events included in Pandora and The Vampire Armand. The story of his origins as a vampire already being told in The Vampire Lestat, Blood and Gold primarily focuses on Marius's experience of the late years and collapse of the Roman Empire, and the late 1400's up until shortly before his first meeting with Lestat in the late 1700's.
Plot Summary[]
The book begins with an ancient vampire of Nordic descent awaking after being frozen in a block of ice for hundreds of years. The vampire, Thorne, meets Marius de Romanus and inquires about Marius' past. Marius then provides his life story.
Marius briefly summarizes how he was kidnapped by the Druid Mael, transformed into a vampire by The God of the Grove, came into possession of Those Who Must be Kept in Egypt, and fell in love with and then fell out with Pandora in Antioch, events included in prior books. Marius then returns to Rome, where he creates a life for himself as a socialite, fraternizing with mortals and practicing painting. It is here that he meets Mael, who has become a vampire, and Avicus, the latter of which is a former God of the Grove - a vampire older than Marius, but who does not seem to know his own power. There is still much enmity between Mael and Marius, and Marius asks them to leave. They do so, but remain in the city of Rome. Marius does not mind this, as they keep the city free from other blood-drinkers who may pry the secrets of Those Who Must Be Kept from his mind. Marius continues to live this way even as the Roman Empire splits, with its capital city moving to Constantinople.
Eventually, Marius, Mael, and Avicus leave Rome when it is sacked by barbarians. They travel to Constantinople, taking with them the Mother and Father. There they meet a powerful vampire named Eudoxia, who wants Marius to put Those Who Must Be Kept into her care. After praying to Those Who Must Be Kept for an answer, he relents just far enough to allow Eudoxia to see them. After a series of violent conflicts, Marius angrily drags Eudoxia back down into the shrine and casts her at Akasha, who suddenly awakens to destroy her.
Realizing that he cannot live with other vampires due to his custody of the Divine Parents, Marius elects to return to Italy. He becomes disheartened by the horrors of the Black Death and sleeps for hundreds of years. He awakes again during the Renaissance and travels all around Italy, visiting Venice and Florence, admiring the art and culture. In Rome he meets the vampire Santino, who claims that Marius is living in sin by not serving Satan. Marius threatens him and tells Santino to never come near him again.
Marius decides to make his home in Venice, and he establishes himself as an amateur painter. His house is set up as a place where young boys can come and improve themselves, preparing to go to university or to become craftsmen. During this time, he also falls in love with the works of Botticelli, whom he briefly considers turning into a vampire.
In Venice, Marius establishes a home and takes on apprentices, and befriends the courtesan Bianca Solderini, but becomes distraught upon discovering that she is a poisoner. Riding through the canals after learning Bianca's secret, Marius telepathically hears a boy in the cellar of a brothel praying to be allowed to die. He purchases the boy from the slave traders, naming him Amadeo, taking him back to his house where he bathes him and promises him a better life. As the years pass Marius happily continues his life, disappearing occasionally to attend to the Divine Parents. Amadeo grows up, and the two often share a bed. Marius is sorely tempted to give Amadeo the Dark Gift, making him into a vampire, but he stops himself from doing so.
When Marius is away looking after the Divine Parents, his house is attacked by the Englishman Lord Harlech who became obsessed with Amadeo after sleeping with him. Amadeo manages to kill Harlech, but sustains several wounds from Harlech's poisoned blade. He slips into a fever. Marius arrives and is told that Amadeo will die as the poison is too strong. Marius turns Amadeo into a vampire in order to prevent the boy from dying. He teaches him to prey only on evildoers in order to save his conscience.
Some time after Amadeo becomes a vampire, the house is attacked by a large mob of Satan-worshiping vampires under the leadership of Santino. Marius is burnt and almost killed, but manages to save his own life by jumping into a canal. Nonetheless, he is severely wounded and calls Bianca to his aid. The two have known each other for a number of years and have a close relationship. Marius is too weak to hunt, so he transforms Bianca into a vampire in order to have her help him to recover his strength. The two move to the shrine of Those Who Must Be Kept and live there for over a century, where Marius gradually recovers his strength by drinking from Akasha.
Hearing rumors that Pandora is being kept hostage by another vampire and moved around Europe and Russia, Marius decides to move to Dresden to try meeting with Pandora, whom he still loves. He does not tell Bianca of this. Marius does indeed find Pandora there, but is told by her that she does not want to live with him and Bianca and wants to stay with her traveling companion, her fledgling Arjun, who was not holding her hostage after all. In desperation, Marius offers to leave Bianca for Pandora, but Pandora refuses this offer. When Marius sees Bianca the next day, she declares that she is leaving him because she overheard what he said to Pandora. Some time later, Marius discovers a letter left for him from Pandora offering to live with him if he comes to collect her at a certain place, but by the time Marius discovers her letter, it is too late and she is gone.
The story then moves back to the present day, where Marius and Thorne are at a jungle hideaway with other old and powerful vampires - Amadeo (now going by the name Armand), Santino, Maharet, Mekare, and Pandora. Marius wants justice against Santino for taking Armand away from him, but Maharet refuses to let Marius kill Santino since there are so few vampires left in the world after Akasha destroys most of them in the 1980s. Thorne doesn't accept her decision and kills Santino himself with the Fire Gift. In penance for his deed, he gives over his immortal eyes to Maharet to replace the degenerative mortal eyes she uses and is bound as her prisoner for the rest of eternity.