Dreams of February

“Dreams of February” ( born Fevre Dream ) is a novel by American writer George Raymond Richard Martin , first published in 1982 by Poseidon Press . In Russia, the novel was published by the publishing house AST in 2002 . In 1983, the novel was nominated for the Locus Award ^[1] and the World Fantasy Award ^[2] .

The book takes place in the middle of the XIX century in the United States , in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River . The ruined river captain Ebner Marsh receives an offer from the mysterious rich man Joshua Yorke that he cannot refuse: Marsh is building the ship of his dream with the money of York, the steamer “Feuzy February”, the most luxurious and fast on the river. The only requirement of York is that the ship will make the first voyage up the Mississippi.

However, during the march Marsh discovers a lot of new things. First, it turns out that York, as well as his friends, sailing passengers on a ship, leads a very strange lifestyle - he sleeps in the daytime, and goes on deck only at night. Secondly, York is clearly looking for someone - he now and then descends from the ship to the shore, returning after a long time. The crew of the ship is unhappy with the oddities of their employer, rumors spread among the sailors that York is a demon. One day, Ebner Marsh, who was very close to Joshua during the voyage, sticks him to the wall, and York tells him the truth.

The truth is that Joshua York is a vampire. Vampires are a separate race, only externally similar to humans. The difference is determined only by biology: vampires have an extra stomach for digesting blood, they are faster and stronger than humans, and, moreover, they see perfectly in the dark. Also, vampires have innate longevity, and do not possess any magical abilities described in human books. They are simply a branch of humanity, separated from humans several hundred thousand years ago. In addition, there are very few vampires on earth — people hated them for many years and exterminated them.

Joshua York is one of the last vampires in Europe. He is relatively young - he is only seventy years old. Being humane and widely educated, he spent several decades developing serums that beat vampire’s thirst for human blood. According to York, people and vampires should live in peace and harmony, not killing each other. Joshua invented a red wine made from grape alcohol and sheep blood, which acts exactly as the serum should be. Before visiting America, he found all European vampires, and convinced them that they were right. Vampires who are on Fevra's Dreams drink wine every night and therefore do not carry any threat to people. Now York is looking for its tribesmen, who several hundred years ago sailed on caravels to America. He wants to save them, because he knows that people will find them once and kill them.

In parallel, the second line of the novel is told. In the vicinity of New Orleans, the vampire diaspora lives, the very ones that Joshua York is seeking. The leader of the diaspora is Damon Julian, the oldest vampire on Earth. Damon, unlike Joshua, considers people solely as beef cattle, created for the needs of vampires. Damon's subordinates kidnap girls and women from all around, to then kill and eat them. In this they are helped by a man named Billy Tipton, who dreams of becoming a vampire. It is he who delivers new victims to Damon.

Arriving in New Orleans, Joshua enters into direct negotiations with Damon. Vampires have innate hypnotic abilities, it is in the degree of ability that their hierarchy is worth, and Joshua, being the strongest in his clan, believes that he will be able to subdue Damon. In fact, it turns out otherwise: Julian, who has been wise over a thousand years of experience, easily defeats and subjugates Joshua. Damon Julian gives the order to kill on the ship all the people who know the truth about vampires. Joshua, desperately resisting, does nothing of the kind, but calls on his friend Marsh to flee the ship immediately. Billy Tipton kills the ship's boatswain in a duel, thus becoming the captain. February Dreams is now ruled by Damon Julian and Billy Tipton.

Years passed, the happily saved Ebner Marsh has aged much. One day a message comes to him from Joshua York. York, in the name of an old friendship, asks Marsha to help him. It turns out that the wife of York is expecting a child. An incredible thing happened - for the first time in their entire history, vampires conceived the fruit without first killing several people. York, realizing that such a thing would not have been possible without his guilt, begs a friend to come to the ship “Dreams of Fevre” to assist him in the destruction of Damon Julian. If Julian dies, it will finally free the rest of the vampires who are completely unwilling to drink blood and kill people.

Having risen to the deck of a completely dilapidated and rusted ship, the heroes of the novel meet with Billy Tipton, who in the meantime turned into a dreadful likeness of a man who never came to light. Marsh, reflecting Billy’s knife attack, shoots a double-barreled shot into his stomach and chest, interrupting his spine. Going further, Joshua and Ebner are attacked by Julian: he jumps at them from the chandelier, and, possessing his usual strength and speed for vampires, easily breaks the captain's right hand. Then he gives an ultimatum: Joshua York will sit in the sun until the evening, otherwise the captain will die. Both the captain and York understand perfectly well that this is a death sentence: in five hours the vampire will burn and weaken in the sun, and vampires subordinate to Julian, for whom the one-armed Marsh is not the enemy, will come out on the deck at night.

However, after two hours a man crawls into the cabin. This is Billy Tipton, imploring Damon to complete the transformation and make him a vampire. Damon frankly laughs at Billy, explaining to him that there is an abyss between the man and the vampire, and all his promises were lies. The dying Billy throws a knife, driving it into Julian’s right eye socket. Marsh, taking the opportunity, shoots a gun, turning Julian's chest. But such a shot can not kill a vampire. Julian gets up and orders Joshua to kill Marsh. Joshua submits. Marsh recalls that the hypnotic power of vampires increases when they are hurt, and shoots a shot at Joshua's armpit. Joshua, screaming in pain, converges with Damon and the defeated Damon falls to his knees before him. Marsh, taking advantage of the opportunity, kills Julian with a shot to the head. Joshua, having endured the strongest fight against the thirst for blood initiated by the wound, takes from the hands of Ebner a bottle of his wine, drinking it together with the captain.

The end of the novel is behind the start for many years. On the banks of the Mississippi there is the grave of Captain Ebner Marsh. Every year, on the same night, a man comes to her, accompanied by his wife and children. They bow to the grave, put flowers on it, stand in front of it until the morning, and then leave.