Blood Bonds and the Darkness that enshrouds it

With the release of Blood Bonds, here is a little deep dive to sink your teeth into (pun intended). So Victor and Talon are part of the ‘Erebus’ family- a esteemed and well-respected vampire dynasty. The etymology of Erebus dates back to ancient Greek as a personification of darkness or gloom and is often associated with the underworld. Hesiod, one of the oldest Greek poets, writing at around 700BC, describes Erebus as one of the first beings to exist. In his account of the origin of the gods called the Theogony, his parents are Chaos (no explanation needed) and Nyx, who is the personification of night.

In a questionable decision, Hesiod writes that Erebus mates with his mother Nyx to produce Aether (the personification of a bright upper sky) and Hemera (the personification of day). Other much later accounts, such as Damascuis, writing in around 550 AD said that Erebus also fathered Eros (the personification of erotic love) and Metis (the mother of most sea creatures). Cicero, one of the most esteemed Roman writers, said that he had many more offspring- more than 20 children- with Nyx. One of the great comedic playwrights Aristophanes hatched Eros out of an egg laid by Nyx and fathered by Erebus in his play ‘The Birds’ in 414 BC.

Most commonly, to many Greeks Erebus is a region of the underworld, in which the souls of the dead travel to reach Hades. In the Iliad, Homer writes that Erebus is where the Furies live, goddesses of vengeance who are tasked with hearing the complaints of mortals and punishing their crimes. Kinda like a Greek version of karma. Hesiod writes that Erebus is where Hades and his wife Persephone live, whilst tragic playwright Euripedes says that Erebus is where Nyx lives. Ovid, a roman poet, writes that Proserpina, the greek version of Persephone is crowned the ‘Queen of Erebus’.

It’s worth noting here that both Greek and Roman writers can quite happily interchange Erebus with other words like Tartarus and Hades. There is no set definition of what the underworld is like in mythology- so a lot of classicists have to go off the weird and wonderful things written by people at the time. But Erebus is not the Greek god Hades- brother of Zeus and Poseidon.

In an absolutely unnecessary but interesting tangent- The HMS Erebus, a British naval ship that alongside the HMS Terror, were both lost in the Arctic on an 1845 expedition to charter the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (Britain to Nanvut in Northern Canada). Explorer Sir John Franklin had made two previous attempts to charter this passage, but the third ended with him and his 129 men missing until the two ships were discovered in 2016, with rumors of cannibalism and lead poisoning circulating from a doctor that had returned from the Arctic.

More can be said about the voyage- but the Royal Museums Grenwich in London has an amazing website and artifacts from the wreckage on display in its museums.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-happened-to-erebus-terror-crew-true-story

Erebus has also given its name to a watch company, and a rally car company amongst others. There is even a volcano called Erebus. Located in Antarctica, it is the southernmost active volcano on earth, named in 1841.

Whilst Erebus can be depicted as more of a concept than a person in Greek and Roman Mythology, how Stephanie translates this into her new depiction of Vampires is just as interesting. The archaic and overpowering nature of eternal darkness consumes her new vampire family, shrouded in secrecy through the creation of their own mafia underworld.

Darkness inhabits their being to the point that it becomes part of their powers. Chapter three Victor states: “There was the darkness./ One we could manipulate, becoming one with it for a short time. Absorbing it, twisting it to our heart's desire and using it to travel or at times, as a weapon. We were known as the stuff of nightmares and stories of us were even told to our younglings as something for young vampires to fear. At one time they had tried to hunt us, to rid the world of us, fearing the uprising and that we would become too powerful to control.”

Combined with Erebus’ ties to erotic love through his son Eros, deceit and forbidden lust may become a precedent of this series, one which only Stephanie knows its twisted destination. Stephanie- you’ve picked the perfect name for this Vampire family!

Blood Bonds is available to read now by clicking on this link