Yes, I know there are books about vampire-everything these days, from brides to PI's, but these are not Twilight vampires, boys and girls, nor are they the silly watered-down harlequinesque vamps found in chick lit. DeVante and his coven love and hurt, and fuck and kill. There are no neutered vampires between these covers.  (Scroll for book back synopsis).

DeVante's Coven by SM Johnson

 When Roderick abandons new vampire Daniel to the care of his sire, DeVante, Daniel flounders under DeVante's attitude of benevolent neglect. He establishes an after hours party house, which becomes his primary source for blood, and wonders how much autonomy DeVante will actually allow. Yearning for guidance and supervision, Daniel pursues Reed, a mortal man, and finds himself ensnared in a relationship rich with elements of BDSM.

 Meanwhile, Roderick has fled to Las Vegas, where he saves the life of a young man named Tony by changing him to vampire. Only something goes wrong, because when Tony wakes up he doesn't act like a fledgling vampire should. And when the sun rises and Roderick sleeps his vampire sleep, Tony walks out into the daylight and goes home, where he accidentally changes his roommate Lily to vampire. Roderick wakes to find that he now has two brand new fledglings, neither of whom he can control. He panics and does the only thing can think to do; bring them to DeVante in San Francisco. When they arrive, Roderick is shattered to learn Daniel has a new lover.

Vampires, mortals, and Tony, who's something else altogether, are all beholden to DeVante for protection, though each has a special talent. DeVante notices this and begins to suspect that an outside force has brought all these children to him for some nefarious purpose. Before he can put the pieces together, the whole group is snatched and held for ransom. The price? Help a vicious vampire from DeVante's past take over the mortal world. The monster would use their talents against them, but the coven discovers that together they can defeat even the strongest evil.

“DeVante’s Children” by S.M. Johnson is an excellent paranormal story dealing with vampires. The characters are all fully developed with histories, passions, and idiosyncrasies.

The main character, Daniel, is a young man drowning his emotional hurt with drugs and self-destruction. He is willful yet naïve, intelligent yet foolish, impulsive yet cautious. In short, Daniel is a typical young man finding his way in the world, after being unfairly treated by his family. His internal turmoil in dealing with the many challenges and curious events that befall him is a realistic and engaging one. He is an intriguing character.

Roderick is the other main character and a fascinating creature. He, like all the vampires in this tale, is in turns seductive and very scary. He is enamored of Daniel, but he is also a creature of prey, and Daniel is food. This conflict, for Roderick, is his weak spot and is almost the undoing of both of them.

All the various vampires are well defined. They have complete back-stories that reveal a lot about each of them. They all walk a fine line between civilized and monster. Unlike a lot of vampire stories in which the vampire is portrayed as seductive and superhuman, these ones are actually scary. Their desire to not only feed but enjoy the hunt, like a cat plays with a mouse, really emphasized their inherent danger.

The story is well written and the plot moves along at a quick pace. There are a couple of plot arcs that develop over the course of the tale, and it is interesting to see how they all get tied together. There is enough here that it reads like an epic tale, just not as long.

This is a great paranormal story, and a lot of fun! Enjoy

Read original review: http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=1065

Woudl you like to buy this little story? http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72&products_id=1798

When Roderick abandons new vampire Daniel to the care of his sire, DeVante, Daniel flounders under DeVante's attitude of benevolent neglect. He establishes an after hours party house, which becomes his primary source for blood, and wonders how much autonomy DeVante will actually allow. Yearning for guidance and supervision, Daniel pursues Reed, a mortal man, and finds himself ensnared in a relationship rich with elements of power and control.

Meanwhile, Roderick has fled to Las Vegas, where he saves the life of a young man named Tony by changing him to vampire. Only something goes wrong, because when Tony wakes up he doesn't act like a fledgling vampire should. And when the sun rises and Roderick sleeps his vampire sleep, Tony walks out into the daylight and goes home, where he accidentally changes his roommate Chloe to vampire. Roderick wakes to find that he now has two brand new fledglings, neither of whom he can control. He panics and does the only thing can think to do; bring them to DeVante. When they arrive back in San Francisco, Roderick is shattered to learn Daniel has a new love.

Vampires, mortals, and Tony, who's something else altogether, are all beholden to DeVante for protection, though each has a special talent. DeVante notices this and begins to suspect that an outside force has brought all these children to him for some nefarious purpose. Before he can put the pieces together, the whole group is snatched and held for ransom. The price? Help a vicious vampire from DeVante's past take over the mortal world. The monster would use their talents against them, but the coven discovers that together they can defeat even the strongest evil.

DeVante, desperately missing his mortal love, searches his heart for the humanity that will make it possible to love and protect them all.

Assassin Jaxx – 54,500 words

Raised by an activist father and a passive mother, Jacqueline “Jaxx” Jenkins was raised to think for herself. But when her father is killed and her mother marries into the Church, Jaxx finds herself thrown into the hypocritical society of America’s national religion. After years of quietly simmering with rage, Jaxx comes of age and embarks on a quest to uphold both her parents’ beliefs: She’s going to assassinate Jesus. Well, sort of. Maybe.

The year is 2070, and Jaxx Jenkins is 21 and coming into her own. The United States of America has become the United Church of America. Jaxx is stumbling toward adulthood and although she believes in the separation of church and state, she's also become accustomed to the perks of being a Church member. She accepts training as an assassin, believing that her assignments will target false prophets bilking common people for personal gain.

When she meets her first assignment, Dio, she’s astonished to find that he actually performs miracles... and beyond that, he’s sexy as hell and she likes him. Dio doesn't admit to being Jesus come again, and he doesn’t preach for profit – rather he promotes tolerance, fairness, and love. He’s looking for a team of people who will help him “win” the next Presidential decision, a position in which he can officially divorce church from government and reinstate the democracy that was the original foundation of America. The country is ready for change, and Dio is ready to make it happen.

Jaxx's failure as an assassin becomes unquestionably clear when she falls in love with the man she is supposed to kill. In the course of this discovery, she suffers friendly ridicule from her best friend, spends a night in a psychiatric unit, and searches her cynical inner self to figure out what she really believes.

Jaxx Chapter 01

I blew into town with a quarter tank of gas, twelve bucks in my pocket, and a world of bitterness gnawing me from the inside out. 

Duluth, Minnesota. Where Hell could, in fact, freeze over.

I stormed across the parking lot to my truck and kicked the tire. 

Fuck me. 

I wanted to scream it, let the world know I was pissed off.

And then I did what every twenty-one year old girl does when stranded out of town. 
 

I called my mom.

           
"I'm here, and I'm out of gas, and Richard didn't pay my Tithe. Twelve bucks isn't going to get me any fuel."

           
"Well hello to you, too, Dear. I'm fine. Trey is good, he's excited for his birthday. And Richard's quite well, thanks. He says you need to prove your loyalty and pay your own Tithe."

           
"What? Are you kidding me? This is an inconvenient time for that news flash. I've been denied at the gas station. I haven't even been paid yet."

           
"Richard says you'll get paid when you complete the project you were assigned."

           
"Great," I snapped. "I'm barely here and I'm broke. I don't know how I'm supposed to even start my 'project,' much less finish it."

           
"I'm sure you'll think of something, Dear, you're a very resourceful girl."

           
"Thanks for that vote of confidence," I said, and didn't even try to hide my sneer.

           
She ignored it-- she was good at that. "Anytime, Jacqueline. Call again." 

           
She hung up on me.

           
"Shit, shit, shit," I sputtered at the truck. For twelve bucks I could plug it in for a couple of hours, and that would get me, what, six blocks up the hillside? I didn't even know where I needed to go.

           
"Perhaps I can help?"

           
The voice rolled into me and stuck in my gut. 

           
I looked through my long blue-streaked bangs at the speaker. Thirty-ish, maybe thirty-five, shaved head, and built like a brick shithouse, in a good kind of way. I might have been afraid of him if I were a different sort of girl, and if his mouth wasn't curved up in an easy smile. But I'm not a different sort of girl, and he was definitely smiling.

           
"I don't know," I said. "It depends on how charitable you're feeling at the moment."

           
"I prepaid fifty dollars on your pump-- how's that for charitable?"

           
My heart skipped. And not because of the fifty dollars. His voice was no longer stuck in my gut-- it was pouring liquid shivers directly to my girl parts.

           
"Damn," I said softly.

           
He thought it was a 'thanks,' but I was appreciating a lot more than his gift of fuel. "No problem, I like to pay it forward – good deeds, I mean. I hope it gets you where you need to be."

           
"Me too. I mean… just…" I paused to take a breath and look away from him so I could think. "Thanks. Thanks a lot. I'm Jaxx, by the way." I risked a glace at him as I offered my hand.

           
He accepted the gesture, his hand swallowing mine. A warm, safe feeling traveled up my arm. "Dio," he answered.

           
My eyes flew to his, then away, and I took a deep breath. 

           
My quarry. My paycheck.

           
He still held my hand, and I knew I should be thinking fast about what to do next, but trouble was I couldn't think at all.

           
"Where are you headed, Jaxx?"

           
I eased my hand away. "I'm not sure, exactly. I came for..." words failed me. 

           
You, I was thinking, I was sent here to find you. "A thing. An underground rally, I guess."

          
  "A meadow on the lake?" he asked, with raised eyebrows and a wicked little flash of teeth.

           
My eyes jerked back to his, and I gave a quick nod. That was it, I was supposed to find something in a meadow on the shore of Lake Superior. Because that's where I was supposed to find Dio. 

           
Dio, who was leaning against the fender of my beloved red truck.

           
"This is truly a fortuitous meeting for you, because oddly enough, I'm heading that way myself. We call it a gathering. "

            
 "Sweet," I said. "Can you give me directions?"

          
  "Better," he said. "I can give you a map, which is also your ticket through the gate."

           
He pulled a flyer out of an inner pocket of his leather jacket and handed it to me. "Maybe I'll see you there." He flashed me another smile and started walking away.

           
"Wait!" I called after him. "Where are we now? Like on the map?"

           
"Just look at the map," he said, with a rumbling laugh that rolled to me over his shoulder.

           
I got in my truck, fastened my seat belt, and opened the flyer. Inside the tri-fold was a nicely detailed map. Near the left edge was a bright red "You Are Here" star.

* * *

     It’s human nature to reach your heart out, and human complexity is endlessly fascinating when you meet someone who draws out your truth, who seems to share theirs… when there appears to be no hidden agenda, no building to something more than this, no pressure and no consequence.  Moments of paranoia – is it real?  Followed by moments of shrugged shoulders because if it’s real, it’s worth the risk that it isn’t.