The Bitten (Vampire Huntress Legends) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "TELL ME your darkest fantasy," she murmured against his ear, gently pulling the lobe between her teeth..." (more)
Key Phrases: topside masters, sideline glance, bittersweet transition, Big Mike, Father Patrick, Father Lopez (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of Banks's seductive fourth Vampire Huntress Legend fantasy (after 2004's The Awakening), former crime lord/master vampire Carlos Rivera bites his lover, hot hip-hop artist/gifted slayer Damali Richards, and she bites back. This passionate exchange puts Damali's humanity and the fate of the world at risk. As Damali and Carlos struggle with the implications of their bond, the pair work with Damali's Guardian team to recover a "key" containing the blood of Christ (extracted from the Shroud of Turin), which another master vampire has hijacked and injected into an unwilling human. The key's spilled blood could open the seal that unleashes Armageddon: "If he's able to open that seal, then everything you learned in Catholic school about the book of Revelations will go down. All Hell will literally break loose, hombre. You feel me?" To prevent this cataclysm and the sacrifice of an innocent victim, the couple travel to Australia, where they play a high-stakes game with four topside master vampires, with life-changing results. Mixing religion with erotic horror dosed with a funky African-American beat, Banks blithely piles on layer after layer of densely detailed plot, which might overwhelm new readers but will delight established fans. Banks creates smokin' sex scenes that easily out-vamp Laurell K. Hamilton's, though they sometimes scream for tighter editing.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The fourth Vampire Huntress book opens with Damali Richards happy and in the arms of her lover, master vampire Carlos Rivera. Their romantic getaway ends with a shocking revelation: Damali is becoming a vampire. Distressed, Carlos takes Damali back to her friends, hoping that the seer Marlene can reverse the process. Carlos is forced to leave Damali to return to the Vampire Council, which greets him with distressing news: a master vampire has stolen a key to a powerful seal that could enable him to destroy the sun. The council wants the key in its keeping and threatens Damali's life to compel Carlos to get the key for it. Carlos turns to a human associate, detective Berkfield, for help in finding the key, while Damali's friends perform a ritual to keep her from becoming a full-fledged vampire. The stakes have never been higher, and the excitement and tension are palpable in this installment of Banks' complex, sexy series. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (January 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324081
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324087
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #423,047 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 4 in The Vampire Huntress Legend Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deadly oblivion, February 5, 2005

By	The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

L.A. Banks has taken THE BITTEN, the fourth book in the Vampire
Huntress series, to another level. A vampire civil war was averted,
but a master vampire stole one of the keys - the living blood of
Christ which opened one of the gates of Hell, causing a fluctuation
in the balance between Light and Dark, affecting Damali Richards,
the vampire huntress. The added horror is that the stolen key can be
used to open the sixth seal as foretold in the book of Revelations.
This would unlock all of the gates of Hell; the sun would turn to
ashes, and the universe would be in perpetual darkness. The need for
a day walker from the union between the vampire huntress and a master
vampire would no longer exist. The owner of the key and the seal
could decide the outcome of the Final War, `the Armageddon'.

Damali and Carlos Rivera, the Council-level master vampire, are ready
to pursue the contradiction of kinetic emotions that flows between
them. Since reaching her twenty-first birthday, Damali is immune
to attacks of vampirism, but that was before the key was stolen.
Carlos is shocked when in the throes of passion, Damali unleashes
the fangs of a master vampire and feeds from him. A tormented Carlos
knows something major has gone wrong. His Damali, the vampire
huntress, is turning. Damali and Carlos' lives become an oxymoron;
she travels the world of darkness as a vampire, and Carlos crosses
prayer lines to plead for her safety. Their love creates a situation
which could prove to be as ill-timed and as deadly as the stolen key.

Desperate to find the key, Carlos masterminds a plan to prevent
further disaster. He elicits the help of Damali's team, and begins
his mission, but at what cost? A confrontation in Hell with the
vampire Council, Damali's death, or his own destruction? Theory and
real world circumstance always produce different results.

L.A. Banks has crested another realm to her writing, as she unleashes
a battle, between the topside master vampires, so intense it alters
the stasis between good versus evil. With the skill of a veteran, Ms.
Banks takes this horrific storyline and evolves it into a classic love
story without losing the power or the intrigue of the world of darkness.
In awe at the depth of this story, and the intensity with which Ms.
Banks approaches this series, I anxiously await book five. THE BITTEN
is not for the faint of spirit; it will cater to those who love to
embrace the forbidden. At one point I was tempted to lower my collar
and offer my neck. Kudos to L.A. Banks for another masterful link in
this arduous chain. Outstanding!

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Bad Sista comin thru!", January 23, 2005

By	LaShonda Bates "Lady Quick" (Augusta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the best out of the Vampire Huntress Legend series so far. Damali proves that she is a force not to be played with in this book. This book picks up where the last book, "The Hunted" left off, with Damali and Carlos on vacation for 30 days. But Carlos soon discovers that something is wrong with Damali and brings her home early. Once her family discovers what's wrong with her, their first instict is to try and kill Carlos. Once cooler heads prevail they have to work with the priests to find a way to restore the Neteru to her former state.

Meanwhile, Carlos goes to hell and discovers that an important key has been stolen. This key is one of seven and the most important of them all. If it is ever reunited with it's matching seal it can bring about an armagadeon that is fortold in Revelations. It will vanish the sun and allow vampires to walk in the day. The key was discovered by scientist who were playing with forces they knew nothing about. Well, one of the last 4 master vampires left found out about their discovery and crossed Carlos' territory boarders in order to steal the key, which was hidden somewhere in Carlos' territory. So, Carlos has to once again tap dance for the council to get them to back off long enough to find out which master vampire stole the key, recover it, figure out a way to protect his precious Neteru, and save the world.

I loved this book! Chapter 17 will get your head sprung! It was a great read and as usual, L.A. Banks gives us a look into the next book in this series, which is titled "The Forbidden".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EDGE-OF-YOUR -SEAT THRILLER!!!, June 18, 2005

By	Dana Y. Bowles "DYB" (West Chester, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The sexy and dangerous Carlos Rivera is back in this vampiric thriller--and stronger than ever. Now a council level vamp, he is summoned to Hell to address an immediate crisis; one of the topside master vamps has stolen one of the seven keys--the living blood of Christ. Coupled with the sixth seal, Armageddon begins--as foretold in the book of Revelations--and the one who possesses them both can decide the outcome of the final conflict. Council wants possession of the key--after all, ultimate power of the Dark should belong to them. And of course, the Light wants the key also--to ward off the final conflict and to swing the balance of power back to the Light. Worse yet, Rivera's love Damali--also a Neteru, the vampire huntress--has possibly received one bite too many from her dark lover and is now dropping fang. Carlos promises Council that he will find the key for them...and of course, deliver the esteemed "package," Damali. To do so, Rivera must best all four very old, topside master vamps. He has also bargained with the Light to assist them in finding the same. But Rivera's love for Damali may be his undoing...transcends Heaven and Hell....and rather than risk her life and soul, he would rather deliver the world to the Dark side.....

With plenty of action, politics, and sultry drama, L.A. Banks delivers another winner as the saga continues...the struggle between good and evil, Light and Dark...and all readers will be rooting for the love between Damali and Carlos to prevail above all.



DYB