LOGINYanmei, a two-thousand-year-old vampire, is a creature of destruction. As an assassin for the Queen of the Vampires, she is in charge of population control, which means she kills any fangling unsanctioned by the council. Yanmei is also the executioner of misbehaving vampires. If a vamp offends the Queen three times, Yanmei takes him out. In an ongoing war with the werewolves, Yanmei is one of the Queen's top warriors. She succeeds in her endeavors because she doesn't get involved with vampires or humans. She avoids entanglements because they detract from the mission. But when a male mortal named Sebastian catches her eye, she inadvertently puts a target on his back. She'd had no one to care for till now, so her enemies couldn't leverage anyone against her. When Sebastian is hurt during a skirmish with the wolves, Yanmei must decide if she should turn him or allow the wolf bite to infect him with lycanthropy so he wouldn't have to die. If she turned him, another hunter would destroy him. If he became a wolf, then he'd be her enemy. Sebastian pleads with her to let him die. Meanwhile, an unknown third party is creating fanglings as though he were making an army and these young vampires are faster, smarter, and harder to kill. For the first time in centuries, Yanmei and her team of hunters struggle to put them down. They must protect the Queen at all costs before this shadow Usurper takes over and kills them all.
View MoreAccording to my cell phone, I returned to the club at two-thirty in the morning, three hours before sunlight. The hardened regulars had gone home, save for a couple of stragglers sitting at the bar talking to one of the human servers as she cleaned up. I jerked my head toward the door, and the patrons and the wait staff scrambled to their feet and hauled ass. Fiona looked up from her sweeping as I approached and tilted her head almost imperceptibly towards the dance floor.The first thing I noticed was the stench--a cross between a wet dog, pine-scented Lysol, and animal musk. The stink only meant one thing. If Fiona hadn't pointed them out, only a blind idiot would have missed the group of enormous men standing by the dance floor. They looked like pissed off linebackers from hell. They did not look like they
I killed the engine when we reached the front of his apartment complex. For a moment, he sat quietly behind me and did not say a word. My entire body stilled in response as he yanked the helmet off and thrust it between me and the handlebars. He was pissed at me. He broadcasted his emotions loudly, and his anger felt like the sting of early morning sunlight on my skin.
I spent the next night patrolling the area around the Tyger’s Lounge. Two nights ago, I found a half-breed in the back alley snacking on the neck of a pretty Goth girl without bothering to put her under. Fear, after all, made the victim’s blood taste better and even gave it a little kick, so some vamps didn’t mesmerize their donors for this benefit. It was number four on my top ten list of things that piss me off. I yanked the half-breed away from the girl, and he starte
The first time I encountered my human, he was loading his underwear into a washer in a laundromat down a block from his apartment complex. He was wearing an old, faded T-shirt that sported a Union Jack on the front and a pair of blue jeans that had seen better days. It was evident from his outfit that he desperately needed to do laundry.He had an unruly mop of wavy blond hair trimmed to the top of his neck and sparkling, thick-lashed gray eyes that flashed whenever he smiled. For a tall man—an inch or two about six feet—he had an effortless grace about him exhibited by athletes, especially swimmers.He reminded me of a courtier I knew once in King Louis