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Description edit see section history

The dead obey her. The undead fear her. Anita Blake, animator and vampire hunter, lives a dual life - and a dual love life.
Dating both a vampire and a werewolf isn't easy. But just to complicate Anita's already messy life, someone has put a price on her head. Love cannot save her this... read more

Summary edit see section history

These days my life is a cross between a preternatural soap opera and an action-adventure movie.

The first hit man came after me at home, which should be against the rules. then there was a second, and a third. Word on the street is that Anita Blake, expert on creatures of the night and... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

These days my life is a cross between a preternatural soap opera and an action-adventure movie.

The first hit man came after me at home, which should be against the rules. then there was a second, and a third. Word on the street is that Anita Blake, expert on creatures of the night and vampire killer extraordinaire, is worth half a million dollars. Dead, not alive.
So what's a girl to do but turn to the men in her life to help? Which in my case means an alpha werewolf and a master vampire. With professional killers on your trail, it's not a bad idea to have as much protection as possible, human or otherwise.

But I'm begging to wonder if two monsters are better than one...

Characters edit see section history

  • Anita Blake: Animator, Necromancer, Vampire Executioner, Jean-Claude's Human Servant
  • Jean Claude: Master of The City of St. Louis, Master Vampire, Anita's Master, Richard's Master, Owns Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and Danse Macabre. Anita's Boyfriend
  • Richard Zeeman: Alpha Werewolf, Fenrir of the Thronnos Rokke Clan. Richard holds a degree in preternatural biology and has a day job as a junior high school science teacher. He is very closeted about his lycanthropy for fear of losing his job. Anita's boyfriend, Jean-Claude's Wolf to Call
  • Ted Forrester: A hitman, he now specializes in assassinating supernatural targets, because humans were too easy. He particularly hunts vampires and lycanthropes, and taught Anita most of her combat skills. Anita considers herself to be possibly Edward's only true friend.
  • Marcus Fletcher: Alpha Werewolf, Ulfric of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, A surgeon and one of the pack's only doctors.
  • Raina Wallis: Alpha Werewolf, Lupa of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, Owner of the Lunatic Cafe, An extreme sadist. She often used her sexuality to manipulate other wolves into doing her bidding.
  • Stephen Dietrich: One of the strippers at Jean-Claude's club Guilty Pleasures, Member of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, His twin brother Gregory is a wereleopard.
  • Cassandra: A new werewolf in town
  • Sabin: A master vampire of Belle Morte's line. Sabin refrained from feeding on humans, living only on animal blood, until his body began to rot irreversibly. With Sabin holding his rotted form together by sheer preternatural force of will
  • Dominic Dumare: Necromancer and the human servant of Sabin. He came in St. Louis to find a way to save Sabin, who was rotting irreversibly because he had refrain from consuming human blood.
  • Rudolph Storr: Dolph is a police officer who was assigned to head up St. Louis' Regional Preternatural Investigation Team (RPIT) after the passage of Addison v. Clark, investigating supernatural related crimes.
  • Gabriel: A sinister looking wereleopard and the alpha of the St. Louis pard, The Blood Drinkers Clan
  • Damian: Green eyed, red haired Viking vampire.
  • Willie McCoy: A small-time hood turned vampire. The first vampire friend of Anita's, he is one of only two or three vampires Anita has known before and after being turned.
  • Mrs. Edith Pringle: Anita's neighbor
  • Zerbrowski: Stereotypical rumpled, smart-alec, but highly competent detective and a loyal friend to Anita. He also makes wisecracks about Anita's personal life and is a cheerful lech.
  • Sylvie Barker: Alpha Werewolf, Member of the Thronnos Rokke Clan
  • Gregory Dietrich: Stephen's twin brother. Like his brother, Gregory is a stripper at Jean-Claude's strip club Guilty Pleasures. Member of The Blood Drinkers Clan
  • Louis Fane: Wererat, Louie is Lieutenant in the Dark Crown Clan, A biology professor at Washington University. Richard's best friend
  • Lawrence Kirkland: Larry is Anita's protégé. He is an animator at Animators, Inc. and his ultimate goal is to become a vampire executioner.
  • Harley: Psychotic but loyal back-up for Edward
  • Tammy Reynolds: She chose to join RPIT and adds to the squad her abilities as a witch. She was one of the first St. Louis police officers to have recognized preternatural abilities and is a member of the Followers of the Way, a group of Christian witches.
  • Jason Schuyler: Werewolf, Member of the Thronnos Rokke Clan, A stripper at Guilty Pleasures
  • Bert Vaughn: Founder and managing partner of Animators, Inc.. Bert is an unscrupulous boss who is inclined to sign the animators up for almost any job if the price is right. He and Anita often clash over Bert's choices of potential clients and jobs for Anita.
  • Monica Vespucci: A lawyer at Anita's friend Catherine's law firm, and a vampire aficionado.
  • Rafael: Leader of the St. Louis wererats, King of the Dark Crown Clan, He has a brand in the form of a four pointed crown on his left arm, that is visible in both forms.
  • Dr. Lillian: A doctor and a wererat of the Dark Crown Clan. She frequently patches up shapeshifters in their unofficial infirmary.
  • Catherine Maison-Gillette: One of Anita's friends, She is a criminal attorney at the same firm as Monica Vespucci
  • Julianna: Add a description of this character.
  • Sigmund
  • John Burke
  • Heidi
  • Louie
  • Neal
  • Ronnie
  • Asher
  • Judith
  • Monsieur Zeeman
  • Christine
  • Freki
  • Ernie
  • Magnus Bouvier
  • Catherine Maison-Gillete
  • Karen
  • Mr. Dumare
  • Dolph
  • Jamil
  • Liv
  • Serephina
  • Elizabeth
  • Sebastian
  • Robert
  • Rizzo
  • James Dugan
  • Greeley
  • Anita lukoi
  • Anabelle Smith
  • Branswell
  • Dr. Henry Mulligan
  • Mr. Spalding
  • Katie
Show all 61 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “I am sincere, ma petite, even when I lie.”
    Jean-Claude
  • “Lust may die that easily, but love doesn't. True love is a harder beast to kill.”
    Anita Blake
  • “You admit that you have treated me like some guilty secret, hidden away. Exiled from your true feelings while you cuddle with Richard and his living flesh.”
    Jean-Claude
  • “The lukoi call sex the killing dance. We use the same phrase for battles of succession.”
    Richard Zeeman
  • “Take a piece of advice from an old lady. Don't screw up.”
    Lillian
  • “Will the real monster please stand up?”
    Anita Blake
  • “We are in a ... ticklish position.”
    Jean-Claude
  • “I have lived for over three hundred years. In that time, the ideal of beauty has changed many times. Large breasts, small, thin, curved, tall, short, they have all been the height of beauty at one time or another. But in all that time, ma petite, I have never desired anyone the way I desire you.”
    Jean-Claude
  • “Don't you realize by now, Richard, that ma petite is either your equal or your master? She knows no other way to be.”
    Jean-Claude
  • “You prejudiced little werewolf, you.”
    Anita Blake
  • “I would say it's not what it looks like, but it is.”
    Anita Blake
  • “There is nothing that you could ever do that would make me not desire the touch of your body”
    Jean-Claude
  • “Why are you staring at me?" "You are the scariest motherfucker in the room." "Now I know you can't see.”
    Anita, Harley
  • “You look amazing." "I look like a biker slut from hell meets soldier of fortune pinup." "That, too.”
    Stephen, Anita
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • There are only two things you can do when you’re dressed like Barbie Does Bondage; you can be embarrassed or you can be aggressive. Guess what my choice was.
    Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers
  • “In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world—the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.” It was a quote from John Muir.
    Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers
  • If you love someone, truly love them, you should never cause them pain. Never fill their eyes with something so close to grief.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • “I look like a biker slut from hell meets soldier of fortune pinup.”
    Highlighted by 22 Kindle customers
  • He shrugged. “I’m your bodyguard. If you die under my protection, the other bodyguards will make fun of me.”
    Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
  • “Why are you staring at me?” I asked. His voice was quiet, as if he never yelled. “You’re the scariest motherfucker in the room.”
    Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
  • A little boy who’s discovered the monster under the bed is actually real, and it’s screwing Mommy.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • Sex, for want of a better word, but that look in a man’s eyes is too primitive for vocabulary. It’s the darkness we all have inside of us, peeking out. That part of us that we trap in our dreams and deny in daylight hours.
    Highlighted by 15 Kindle customers
  • “In some ways you are as sentimental as Richard,” she said. “But you could kill us, all of us, even Stephen’s brother, and feel nothing.” I met her honey brown eyes and said, “I’d feel something.” “What?” she asked. “Safer,” I said.
    Highlighted by 12 Kindle customers
  • NOT a big one for idle chatter, but Dolph makes me seem loquacious.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
Show all 24 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • Danse Macabre: A modern dance club where customers can dance with a vampire or a werewolf. It is housed in an old brewery warehouse, on the Riverfront, also known as The District.

Organizations edit see section history

  • Regional Preternatural Investigation Team: RPIT, usually pronounced "Rip-It", is an extension of the St. Louis Police Department charged with keeping the peace between the human and supernatural communities by investigating all crimes with a supernatural aspect, and apprehending and/or exterminating the guilty parties. It has only recently been formed, largely as a half-hearted effort to placate the liberals and the press after the groundbreaking Addison vs. Clark case. Its remit is to investigate all supernatural crimes, whether it be committed against humans or against the supernatural beings themselves, including Vampires, Lycanthropes, Zombies, Ghouls, and more. Derogatorily known as the "Spook Squad", it is not considered a positive career move to join it, and it is comprised mostly of police officers who have aggravated their superiors in some way or another.
  • Animators, Inc: One of the most successful animator companies in the US. Although having begun as a small business in a spare room above a garage, it has grown, moving to bigger and better offices and hiring additional animators and secretarial staff. Though primarily aimed at raising the dead, the nature of the business has attracted other clients who wished to utilize the animator's expert supernatural knowledge, especially after vampires won civil rights. The firm usually receives contracts to have the dead raised as zombies, usually as witnesses in legal cases, setting will disputes, and sometimes as a last chance to have a word with a loved one who has passed away; Anita's place of employment

First Sentence edit see section history

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL corpse I'd ever seen was sitting behind my desk.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Acknowledgements
Chapters 1 - 46

Glossary edit see section history

  • triumvirate: this is a specialized term within this series to refer to a grouping of a Master vampire, her/his human servant, and the Master's beast to call. Jean-Claude, Richard, and Anita are one triumvirate
  • Ulfric: MALE head of the werewolf pack
  • Lupa: female head of the werewolf pack, submissive to the Ulfric
  • Ma Petite: French: When used as an adjective it translates to honey-sweet. It is also a cute double entendre that refers to Anita's height.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 6 of 26 in Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. (standard series)

Preceded by Bloody Bones, and followed by Burnt Offerings.

This book is in Vampire (community list). (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Craig White (artist) (Cover Artist)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Ace Books
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1997
ISBN: 0441004520
Page Count: 387

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3558.A443357 K55 2006
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Some sexually explicit scenes and profanity

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • A Stroke of Midnight
  • Cravings
  • Saint City Sinners
  • Conspiracy in Death
  • The Royal Treatment
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
  • Undead and Unemployed
  • Master of the Night
  • Beyond the Pale
  • Bite
  • Club Dead

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • Guilty Pleasures
  • The Laughing Corpse
  • Circus of the Damned
  • The Lunatic Cafe
  • Bloody Bones

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