Rises the Night: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles: Colleen Gleason

After the death of her husband at her own hands, the Venator Victoria Gardella slips into a yearlong isolation to train and mourn but she is pulled back to her duties by the return of Sebastian Vioget and the news that the vampires are massing in Italy in search of a relic called Akvan's Obelisk. Victoria will have to go undercover in Italy among a group that reverances and guards vampires and must rely on Sebastian for information and protection. With the other Venator Max still missing and her growing attraction to Sebastian to contend with, will Victoria be able to pull off her duty in time to stop this new threat?

Victoria's return to Society is made at the weekend home of a friend where she must stop a raid by a small group of vampires, intent on killing Dr. John Polidori. She is unable to stop the attack on Polidori but she discovers an amulet the leads her to the group Tutella, a society that acts as a watchdog group and breeding ground for new vampires. No one has heard from Max Pesaro in over a year so Victoria decides to go undercover to Italy, where Tutella has it's base, to infiltrate the group and learn what she can. Sebastian, having made a rather convenient return, agrees to help her but as always his help has a price. Having learned that the Italian vampires, under Lilith's son Nedas, plan to activate a relic called Akvan's Obelisk, Victoria's plans are thrown into high gear and she travels to Rome where she comes face to face with the last person she expects to see deep inside the workings of the Tutella. In Rome Victoria will have to fight against treachery from three sides and face a loss that she never could have anticipated in order to stop the vampires from activating the relic and turning the Earth into a mass feeding ground. It will take everything she has to assume the role she knew she would have to take eventually and lead the Venators into a fight they have no choice but to win.

This is a spectacular sophomore effort from Collen Gleason. It will be confusing for those who didn't read the first book but the action is fast-paced as usual and the dialogue is just as witty and sharp. The relationship between Victoria and Sebastian finally achieves the passion and heat that we were waiting for in the first book and it was well worth the wait. Now I find myself trying to hang on until the third and final book makes it's appearance.
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Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Signet (June 5, 2007)
ISBN-10: 045122146X
ISBN-13: 978-0451221469
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