Book One: The Darkwing Chronicles
It's post-9/11 New York and US intelligence has a new, supersecret weapon against terrorism: Team Darkwing. Daphne Urban is recruited as a member...although "recruited" is an understatement. Either sign up as a spy for the US, or she would be terminated. Sounds a bit extremist for new recruits, but Daphne plans on staying around for a little while longer.

It's a perfect challenge for someone who has drifted through life with no purpose, and Daphne jumps at the opportunity. No doubt she will fit right in because Daphne -- like the other members of Team Darkwing -- are vampires. Giant vampire bats on a mission to stop an arms dealer dead in his tracks and find the terrorists hell bent on detonating a suitcase nuclear device in the middle of New York City.

To add to the mix, Daphne is a modern girl and not without baggage. She has been celibate for far too long, since her last affair accidentally went awry and her lover died. Her memories of him are like yesterday, and his words linger even now. Mad with love for Daphne, he penned "She Walks in Beauty" just for her. Yeah, she walks in beauty alright -- then she'll suck you dry like a cold beer on a hot day.

Still heartbroken and damned determined to break her sexual dry spell, she meets Darius della Chiesa while working on the mission at hand. Darius is a drop-dead gorgeous gun for another branch of US intelligence, with his own determination to stop the terrorists. Oh, and take out Daphne along the way since he's a vampire killer. Nevermind that, because love will be love and it doesn't matter if he's plotting her demise. Animal instincts have a way of taking over, even when things end badly between them.

Not only is the action fast-paced, but the details of Daphne's long life are both entertaining and amusing. The electric attraction between Daphne and her handler known only as "J" is enough to keep the pages turning through the first chapter or two. When she scares the living bejeebus out of him by turning into a huge bat in the middle of his drab government office? Yeah...this reader wanted to see what happened next.

The secondary cast of characters fill out the roster quite nicely with Cormac O'Reilly's brooding diva persona (he isn't really), Benjamina Polycarp's ditzy blond with a Southern accent so thick it pours like molasses, and Daphne's meddling mother with a scheme of her own. They may be vastly different in personalities with stewing issues, but they are still vampires and stick together when things get complicated in a hurry.

This is a lot of fun to read. Russe has enough imagination leaking out all over the place to make this novel original.

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Publisher: Signet (June 7, 2005)
ISBN: 0451215648