Borne in Blood (Saint-Germain #20)

The year is 1817.  In Switzerland, the Count Saint-Germain leads a comfortable life with his paramour Hero whose husband died fighting Napoleon. Saint-Germain's loving kindness cannot keep Hero from missing her children who are being raised by their hard-hearted grandfather.   
 
The Count has become intrigued by the work of an Austrian noble investigating the properties of blood, a subject always of key interest to a vampire.  But when the noble's beautiful ward fixates sexually on the Count, the vampire fears for himself and his gentle lover.
 
With Borne in Blood, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's saga of Count Saint-Germain, reaches a milestone--the twentieth volume of the vampire's adventures.  The Saint-Germain cycle is one of our age's most compelling bodies of work of dark fantasy and horror, and the longest running series of vampire novels.  Historically accurate, these deeply emotional novels have a devoted readership. Recognizing her impact on the genre, the International Horror Guild named Chelsea Quinn Yarbro a Living Legend at the World Fantasy Convention in 2006.