Anita Blake, Necromancer and Federal Marshal travels with her best friend Jason to his hometown to reconcile with his dying father only to find herself under attack by the Mother of All Darkness. Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Federal Marshal and Necromancer finds it easy to handle the big bad guys on a daily basis that infect the city of St. Louis, but when it comes to personal matters she is a little less savvy. So when her best friend and lover, Jason Schuyler, a werewolf and stripper at Guilty Pleasures (the local vampire hot spot) asks her to come to his home town of Asheville so he can say goodbye to his dying father, she is thrown off guard. Anita is aware that Jason loves and trusts her, and she loves him and is one of his dearest friends, but she knows that Jason's father, despite dying was a man who abused him. He is the reason Jason struggles with his social issues and self-worth and Anita knows a simple trip could become so much more, especially giving her track record.
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Anita, reluctantly agrees, despite Jean Claude's warnings that leaving St. Louis could be a mistake, especially with Marmee Noir, the mother of all vampires, and one who has a psychic connection to Anita, has been on the move. However, against her best judgments, Anita travels with Jason, knowing he needs her now more than ever.
When the pair arrive in Asheville, Jason and Anita are swarmed by the local townspeople who mistake Jason for the son of Jebediah Summerland, the town governor who also tends to get around. Anita and Jason come in contact with this creepy family who all happen to be twins. Jessica and Elizabeth as well as Margo and Nora. And let us not forget, Steve who happens to continue to see dead women. While not directly related it is discovered that Governor Summerland tends to get a round and that is why most of the town seems to look alike.
For Anita it is a little too much, and it gets even worse when she is pulled into a love triangle dealing with the governor's son Keith who is engaged to be married to a woman his father as selected due to his upcoming run for president. Unfortunately, Keith has other plans and wants to marry a vampire, though the situation is even more complicated because his vampire love interest is married and her husband is none too pleased with the affair.
To make matters worse, two were-tigers, Crispin, a young and spunky teenager of sixteen, and Alexander, a reporter who happens to be gay. Anita finds herself pulled to both men, as she is a pan-were (has the strains of multiple animals) and her inner-tigress is pulled to them. During this time Marmee Noir, strikes out and breaks the psychological connection Anita has to Jean Claude. Knowing she is now completely vulnerable, Anita calls her ex-boyfriend and leader of the St. Louis werewolf pack, Richard. He agrees to come to Asheville in order to protect her.
Unfortunately, before Richard arrives, Marmee Noir attacks again. Anita tries to fight off the metaphysical attack but succumbs to the darkness and loses consciousness. When Anita wakes up, she finds Alexander and Crispin in bed with naked, the room trashed. Jason informs her that Marmee Noir had overtaken her and for two days she had been having sex over and over again and feeding the ardeur, Anita's new power that has her feed off of sexual energy. Anita is mortified, knowing that Crispin is only sixteen and she had no intention of stealing his innocence. To make matters worse, when he wakes, she realizes she has completely stripped him of his free will and he is now a slave to her desires.
At the worst possible moment, Richard arrives and finds Anita along with Alex and Crispin. Enraged that she would take even more men into her bed, he berates Anita from losing all sense of morality. As Richard becomes more furious, Anita focuses the ardeur on his anger and begins to feed off of it, in doing so, the anger repairs her link to Jean Claude. Though, now there is another matter to attend to as Anita senses she could possibly be pregnant. Unable to handle another pregnancy scare as she had a month before, Jason provides her with a morning after pill which she takes in secret. Anita then must contend with the were-tigers whom she sends away. This destroys Crispin as he is now completely linked to Anita, but she knows it would be best for him due to his young age. Her world is less than teenager friendly.
Once the drama dies down, Anita allows Jason to finally have his resolution with his father, who realizes all of his years without Jason were not worth it. He and Jason make amends before his death. After, Anita and Jason begin the journey back to St. Louis, with Anita troubled as to what Marmee Noir's end game is and what she could possibly want with her.
Best part of story, including ending:
I really enjoyed going to Jason's home town and getting to see why he is so emotionally damaged. Jason loves Anita and loves his family but is so damaged by his father's rejection that it is nice to see him finally healed.
Best scene in story:
I loved when Richard bursts into the hotel room and finds Anita with the two weretigers. He is so over her sexual play and it was such a perfect moment.
Opinion about the main character:
Anita is continuing down this path of sexual craziness and it is beginning to overtake her life so much it is betraying her original morals and desires.
