Bloodline (2005 novel)

"Bloodline" is a 2005 novel written by Kate Cary. It is an unofficial sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Like the original novel, "Bloodline" is an epistolary novel written entirely in letters, diary entries and news articles. A second novel, titled "Bloodline: Reckoning" was later released.

Plot summary

"Bloodline" takes place during the early years of World War I. Nineteen-year-old John Shaw returns from the trenches of the war, haunted by the battles he witnessed, but also of the memories of Quincey Harker (the son of Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray from the original novel), his regiment commander whose ferocity and cruelty knows no limits.

Upon returning, it is most unfortunate that his first days are spent in a clinic, as he was injured in the trenches. A young Miss Mary Seward tends to him, having recognized him as a schoolgirl crush she had harbored from some past event not entirely known to the readers.

While John's illness leaves him completely oblivious to Mary Seward's identity, and just about everything else around him, he remains delusional, his mind still in the trenches while his body was, indeed, back in England.

After John's illness seems to pass, Harker soon follows, returning to England where he meets and seduces John's sister, Miss Lily Shaw. Mary and John also begin to grow feelings for each other and spend a lot of time together. Having witnessed the indifference that the commander possesses, John feels obligated to stop him and protect his younger sister from the dark audacity of the allegedly hostile Quincey Harker he had come to know. Mary, who read John's journal while he was sick (searching for a way to cure him), also uncovers Harker's dark secrets and wants to help John.

With the aid of Mary, they travel to Transylvania in an attempt to stop Hark after learning that he has swept her away to get married. Lily is still oblivious to the danger that Harker poses and has fallen in love with the vampire who is descended from Count Dracula himself!