Rice, Anne - VC 10 - Vittorio, The Vampire

277 Pages·2016·0.64 MB·English

by  Rice Anne

With Pandora, Anne Rice began a magnificent new series of vampire novels.
Now, in the second of her New Tales of the Vampires, she tells the mesmerizing
story of Vittorio, a vampire in the Italian Age of Gold.
Educated in the Florence of Cosimo de’ Medici, trained in knighthood at his
father’s mountaintop castle, Vittorio inhabits a world of courtly splendor and
country pleasures-a world suddenly threatened when his entire family is
confronted by an unholy power.
In the midst of this upheaval, Vittorio is seduced by the vampire Ursula, the
most beautiful of his supernatural enemies. As he sets out in pursuit of
vengeance, entering the nightmarish Court of the Ruby Grail, increasingly more
enchanted (and confused) by his love for the mysterious Ursula, he finds himself
facing demonic adversaries, war and political intrigue.
Against a backdrop of the wonders-both sacred and profane-and the beauty and
ferocity of Renaissance Italy, Anne Rice creates a passionate and tragic legend
of doomed young love and lost innocence.
A Main Selection of the Literary Guild
ALSO BY ANNE RICE
Interview with the Vampire
The Feast of All Saints
Cry to Heaven
The Vampire Lestat
The Queen of the Damned
The Mummy
The Witching Hour
The Tale of the Body Thief
Lasher
Taltos
Memnoch the Devil
Servant of the Bones
Violin
Pandora
The Vampire Armand

Under the name Anne Rampling
Exit to Eden
Belinda
Under the name A. N. Roquelaure
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Beauty’s Punishment
Beauty’s Release

VITTORIO,
THE VAMPIRE

VITTORIO,
THE VAMPIRE
NEW TALES
OF THE VAMPIRES
ANNE RICE

ALFRED A. KNOPF
NEW YORK • TORONTO
1999
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC., AND ALFRED A. KNOPF
CANADA

Copyright (c) 1999 by Anne O’Brien Rice

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,
New York, and distributed by Random House, Inc., New York-Published
simultaneously in Canada by Alfred A. Knopf Canada, a division of Random
House of Canada Limited, Toronto, and distributed by Random House of
Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.randomhouse.com
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random
House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rice, Anne, [date] Vittorio, the vampire / by Anne Rice. - 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-375-40160-1
Includes bibliographical references (p.).
1. Title.
PS3568.I265V58 1999
813’.54-dc2i 98-14209
CIP
Canadian Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rice, Anne, [date]
Vittorio, the vampire : new tales of the vampires ISBN 0-676-97186-5
I. Tide. PS3568.I22V361999 8i3’.54 C98-9324I2-5
A signed first edition of this book has been privately printed by The
Franklin Library. A limited signed edition of this book has been
published by B. E. Trice Publishing, New Orleans.
Manufactured in the United States of America First Trade Edition
FRONTISPIECE: Farewell of Saint John the Baptist from His
Parents by Fra Filippo Lippi. Duomo, Prato, Italy.
Scala/Art Resource, New York
DEDICATION BY ANNE RICE

This novel is dedicated to
Stan, Christopher, Michele and Howard;
to Rosario and Patrice;
to Pamela and Elaine;
and to Niccolo.

This novel is
dedicated
by
Vittorio
to the people of
Florence, Italy.

1

WHO I AM, WHY I WRITE,