Brief Encounters

Title: Promises to Keep
Author: Jules Jones
Length: 5,040 words (16 pdf pages)
Publisher: Loose Id
Genre: m/m paranormal
Rating: B

Blurb:

Middle-aged and ill, a computer science professor assumes the obvious when he’s propositioned by a young man. But the man isn’t young, he’s offering more than sex, and it’s not good exam results he’s after. He’s an immortal vampire who needs the professor’s help to stay on the right side of the law. A vampire who wants to show him that it’s still worth making a fight for life…

Review:

This short paranormal story starts at the end of the story, then takes you back to the beginning. The story is told from the first person perspective of the professor above, a middle-aged man suffering from an unnamed autoimmune disorder, but not HIV. He has reached the end of his treatment options in a conventional hospital and is prepared for his vampire lover to keep his promise and turn him.We then discover how they met and how it came to this point.

As the story is all told from the professor’s perspective, you don’t get much of a feel for the vampire. He approaches the older man in the library, at first seeming to want a simple sexual encounter. However after revealing himself to be a vampire, he explains his need for help to create a false identity as it’s getting harder to exist without one, and he is quite aware of the illness. A lot of the story is the professor’s thoughts about youth – as the vampire appears very young – the wisdom of being older, of not holding back because his life may not last that much longer anyway, and deciding what his options are and if they are worth it. Because you only get the perspective of the older man, the story does make it seem like “it’s all about him”, but given the circumstances and that he’s telling his story, I suppose it would come across that way.

I’m a bit torn as to whether this is a romance – there is a definitely attraction between the two men – or a character study in facing your own mortality, or immortality I suppose. It seems to be a bit of both but I felt the musings about his life were the stronger portion of the story. It’s a bit of a poignant ending, not a guaranteed HEA, but gives that bit of hope that maybe even when modern medicine fails, there can be something more.