Sabella

Sabella

Tanith Lee

#6683 of 8,085 books · #615 in Horror

Shortlisted for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (1981).

On the rosy sands of a distant Earth colony, Sabella lives a quiet life in her isolated home—carefully hiding her vampirism from society. Sabella may not be undead, but she is painfully allergic to sunlight, possesses supernatural strength and speed, and feeds on fresh blood. In her youth, Sabella seduced a number of men, killing them all for fear of discovery. But with age comes control, and Sabella has sworn off of drinking human blood. After four years of staying clean, Sabella receives an invitation to her Aunt Cassi's funeral—along with several thousand credits to ensure she attends the reading of the will. But when Sabella arrives at the funeral, she discovers that the funds were a ruse. Before her death, Cassi—a devout Christian Revivalist—discovered the truth about Sabella and tasked her manservant, John Trim, to hunt Sabella down. Trim hires private investigator Sand Vincent to get close to Sabella and suss out the truth. But Sand is only human—and Sabella anything but. As Sand becomes enthralled by Sabella's charm, Sabella must combat her own instincts to keep him alive—and society's suspicions away.