The following is a reprint of a post originally made to the Novel Thoughts blog. (http://novelthoughts.wordpress.com/)


Thanks so much for being with us today, Rene. Weve heard a lot about you already from Tessa Davenant, who joined us here yesterday.

Rene: (dryly) I bet you did, oui.

Q: Why dont you tell us a little bit about yourself, and how you found yourself in the role as the hero?

Rene: (laughs) Ive been called a lot of things in my lifetime, chere, but I have to say that hero isnt high among them. That ****s for Batman or Superman, that kind of thing. Me, I was born poor white trash and raised up a Cajun. Most folks will tell you that put me two lengths behind before I was even out the goddamn gate.

Q: But youre helping Brandon and Tessa. You saved Brandons life.

Rene: Let me tell you a little secret, chere. Brandon didnt need me to save his life. And he sure as hell doesnt need me to protect him. Hes a good kid and hes got more power than he realizes at least not yet. I think thats why his granddaddy and the other Brethren Elders really want him. Hes stronger than they are and hes starting to figure that out for himself. And they know when he does, theyre going to be in big trouble. I think that scares the **** out of them.

Q: What about Tessa? Is she strong like that, too?

Rene: Tessa. (snorts) Shes a whole different animal, mon ami. From pretty little head to her pretty little tail.

Q: What do you mean?

Rene: I mean Tessas a beautiful girl, but shes got a big goddamn mouth and an even bigger attitude. Shes like Paris Hilton or that onewhats her name? Posh Spice. All prim and prissy in her designer clothes and her perfect hairdos. If she chips a goddamn fingernail, shes wailing for an hour like a cat with its goddamn paw stuck in a screen door. And lucky me I get to chauffeur her from Louisiana clear to Lake Tahoe, California.

Q: Whose idea was that?

Rene: (blinks in surpise) Whose? Well, itit was my idea. Look, dont get me wrong. Shes got a mouth that could curdle milk but thats all there is to her, chere. Just talk. Hell, shes never even been off that pony farm her family owns in Kentucky before now. She wouldnt know what to do with herself without me around. Shed end up dead in a ditch somewhere, I guarantee it, and theres no telling what would happen to the bébé. Shes pregnant, you know. She needs someonesomeone to look out for her. Someone to look out for the baby.

Q: So why are you bringing her and Brandon to Lake Tahoe?

Rene: I have property there, a little cabin in the woods. It belonged to my father. He left it to me when he did. He left me a lot of stuff when he died.

Q: But you said you were born

Rene: poor white trash, Oui, I was. And worse than that Cajun. Lived in a little shack down in Bayou Lafourche, just south of New Orleans, near a little town called Thibodeaux. I grew up not knowing what I was, a vampire, I mean. One of the Brethren. I knew I was different there werent any other kids I knew of who could talk to the animals with their minds or hear what other people were thinking, much less drinking blood but I never understood why, not until I was nearly grown and my daddy found me. Couple days later, he ate the business end of a shotgun, scattered his brains across the backside of a hotel bed and left me everything he owned. Which turned out to be controlling interest in an off-shore oil company. So you could say I went from rags to riches. (drops a wink) Lots and lots of riches, chere.

Q: Do you think you can keep Brandon and Tessa safe,in Lake Tahoe?

Rene: I told you before Brandon, he doesnt need anyone to keep him safe. Least of all me. Hes going to surprise himself with the things he can do, the power hes got locked up inside of his head. I just know it. But, yeah, Ill keep Tessa safe. No matter what it takes her and the bébé.

Q: Why? I thought you didnt like her. She annoys you.

Rene: Quoi? I neverI didnt mean I dont like the girl. I justthere are things about her and Isome of them I can tolerate just fine, in fact. She smells good for one thing, some kind of nice perfume, something floweryI dont know. But when Im riding in the car with her, its all in the air, all inside the car and its nice. And its not that she annoys me. The things she does sometimes, yeah, but not her. She tells me about her life, about how it was back in Kentucky, this grandmother she liked a lot Eleanor, her name was. How she used to want to dance ballet, so her granddaddy made a studio for her to dance in, with mirrors on the walls and all that ****. She talks about her family, and she gets this look in her eyes, this little smile to her mouth, sort of crookedsort of sad I dont know. Sometimes its nice. Being with her, I mean. Having her around.

Q: What do you think will happen with her baby?

Rene: Nothing is going to happen to that bébé. Not as long as Im around, not while Ive got breath in my lungs and bullets in this Sig Sauer nine-millimeter. I keep telling her thatTessa,  I mean, and I keep wishing like hell that shed listen to mebelieve metrust in me, for Christs sake. Ten Elders, twelve Elders, a bakers dozen, a goddamn hundred, it doesnt matter. They have to get through me to get to her and that bébé and there aint no way in the world no way in hell am I going to let that happen.

Q: I see. But you still say youre not a hero.

Rene: I told you. You find heroes in romance books and cartoons on TV. This is real life, chere, the real world. Im just a man. One with promises to keep. And I always keep to my word.