L.A. Banks, The Wicked

The Wicked

L.A. Banks

Griffin, February 2007, $14.95, 400 pp.

ISBN 0312352360

Damali and Carlos are finally married and spending the last day of their honeymoon making love. Both are Neterus, beings who work for the Light, fighting the minions of darkness whenever they cross paths. There job will never be over until they are called upon to play their destined role in Armageddon.

Eve's son Cain, locked away in the land of Nod, discovers that his beautiful Damali married Carlos, a vampire Neteru like him. Cain breaks out of Nod and assumes the Chairmanship of the Vampire Council in the sixth level of hell, a job that suits him perfectly since he is Lucifer's grandson. He intends to gather up an army and kill the guardians that surround Damali and Carlos so that he can destroy Carlos and mate with Damali. Cain knows that she is the descendant of an angel, and she has wings that come out whenever she uses her healing powers. Cain is linked to Damali, and through her to Carlos, because during a time when Carlos and Damali's relationship was on the rocks, she let him bite her. He shows his link to Damali to Carlos hoping to draw a wedge between them before the two sides meet in battle.

The eighth installment in the vampire huntress series is filled with romance, action and adventure. This storyline leads up to the battle between the forces of light and darkness, and until the dust settles nobody will know who the winner is. The love that exists between the two protagonists is wondrous, and gives them the strength to keep fighting when all they want to do is get some peace. L.A. Banks is a talented world builder who writes a great vampire thriller.