A Discovery of Witches

Harkness switches again to the third person to show the perspectives of Matthew and Marcus. Matthew watches over Diana while Marcus brings him the results of her DNA test, which reveal that Diana has almost every genetic marker possible for a witch. Marcus met Matthew in 1777 when Matthew was a French soldier with the Continental Army, and Marcus was a surgeon’s assistant. Marcus fell deathly ill with fever and Matthew changed him into a vampire, making Marcus his son. With conscience and compassion, Matthew helped Marcus develop his vampiric sense of ethics (201). Together with another vampire, Juliette, Matthew stopped Marcus from making a boisterous family in New Orleans. Marcus worries about Matthew’s barely controlled rage: The Lazarus coffin talisman Matthew wears means Matthew either fears he will kill someone, or he’s thinking of his love, Eleanor, who died when she intervened in an argument between Matthew and his older stepbrother, Baldwin.

Matthew wants to confront Gillian about the threatening picture of Diana’s parents. Marcus worries Matthew will draw attention from the Congregation, a nine-member council represented by three daemons, vampires, and witches. The Congregation binds all creatures to a covenant that forbids relationships between different creatures and participation in human politics or religion.