Dark Lover (black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)

The first installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is set in Caldwell, New York, where a secret race of vampires lives alongside humans. These vampires are a separate species who must drink the blood of the opposite sex to survive, cannot tolerate sunlight, and face extinction at the hands of the Lessening Society, an ancient order of de-souled human killers who serve a malevolent entity called the Omega. Defending the vampire race is the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a small band of elite warriors.

At a nightclub called Screamer's, a warrior named Darius tells his fellow brother Tohrment that he wants Wrath, the brotherhood's leader and the last purebred vampire, to help Darius's twenty-five-year-old half-human daughter survive her upcoming transition, the dangerous biological change that transforms a young vampire into an adult. The daughter, Beth Randall, was raised without knowledge of her father or her vampiric heritage. Wrath refuses, saying he lacks the gentleness such a task requires. Outside the club, Wrath kills a lesser, one of the Omega's soulless soldiers. Darius gets into his BMW, and a bomb hardwired to the ignition detonates, killing him instantly. His last thought is of the daughter he never met.

Beth is a beat reporter at the local newspaper. Walking home from work, she is dragged into an alley by two men. The larger attacker pins her against a wall and threatens her with a knife. Beth uses self-defense training to strike back and flees home. Homicide Detective Butch O'Neal, a hard-drinking cop, later tracks her attacker to a hospital, identifies him as Billy Riddle, an eighteen-year-old whose father is a U.S. senator, and arrests him.

Wrath learns of Darius's death from Fritz, the loyal butler who served Darius for decades. Fritz delivers an envelope containing Beth's name and address and a plea to watch over her. Consumed by grief, Wrath summons the five remaining brothers, including Vishous and Zsadist, and orders them to investigate local businesses linked to the Lessening Society. The man responsible for the bombing is Mr. X, a martial-arts instructor just elevated to Fore-lesser, the society's leader. Mr. X reorganizes his forces and shifts strategy toward hunting the brotherhood directly, while recruiting Billy Riddle as a potential new lesser.

Wrath enters Beth's apartment one night, moving through her locked door. She is terrified yet overwhelmed by physical attraction. They sleep together, and Wrath leaves without revealing his true nature. Beth, shaken, does not follow up. Wrath performs a daylong death ritual for Darius, kneeling on rough-cut diamonds so his blood flows in tribute, and senses Beth's transition approaching.

Over subsequent nights, Wrath draws Beth into his world. At a formal dinner in Darius's mansion, he tells her that her father was a warrior and aristocrat who stayed away to protect her and ran out of time when he was killed. Wrath then reveals his fangs. Beth flees in horror, but he appears on the front lawn through dematerialization, the ability vampires possess to transport themselves instantly. She collapses, and he carries her to his underground chamber, where he explains the transition, the need to drink vampire blood, and the war against the lessers.

Beth and Wrath grow closer, but complications arise. Wrath's bloodlust surges so violently that he nearly bites Beth and forces her to leave. He calls Marissa, his shellan, or arranged mate, who has served in this role for centuries despite his complete indifference to her. During the feeding, Wrath fantasizes about Beth. Marissa reads his thoughts and formally breaks their covenant, telling him she has endured centuries of loneliness. Fritz later reveals to Beth the full depth of her father's devotion: Darius tracked her from infancy through every foster home, attended her college graduation in secret, and read every article she published.

Butch, suspended from the police force for his treatment of Billy Riddle, finds Beth collapsed in her apartment as her transition strikes with devastating force. He carries her to the mansion. In the underground chamber, Wrath cuts his own throat and drips blood into Beth's mouth. She is unresponsive for an agonizing stretch before reviving with a violent jolt and drinking from his neck. He proposes marriage. Hours of excruciating pain follow as her body transforms, and when it subsides, she whispers yes.

Wrath visits the Scribe Virgin, the mystical figure who counsels the vampire king and keeps the race's archives, in a nontemporal realm. She blesses the mating but demands a price: Wrath must ascend to the throne and lead his people, a duty he has avoided for centuries. He agrees. She gives him the Saturnine Ruby ring for Beth and briefly restores his vision so he can see a rainbow. In a parallel thread, Mr. X takes Billy Riddle through the Omega's induction ceremony, transforming him into a lesser designated Mr. R.

The mating ceremony takes place with the Scribe Virgin presiding and the brothers standing as witnesses. Each warrior carves Beth's name into Wrath's back with a black dagger as proof of devotion, and salt water is poured over the wounds. Zsadist, the scarred and seemingly soulless brother, stuns everyone by singing in a soaring tenor that transforms the room. That same night, Butch meets Marissa and is captivated by her.

The day after the ceremony, while Wrath is trapped underground by daylight, Mr. X spots Beth wearing the queen's ring, breaks into the house, tranquilizes her, and abducts her to a barn outside town. At sundown, Wrath tracks Beth through their blood bond, the supernatural link forged when they exchanged blood, and arrives with explosive force. Beth frees herself, strikes Mr. X with a hammer, and kills an attacking pit bull with Wrath's dagger. Billy Riddle shoots Wrath in the abdomen with a shotgun, and Wrath kills Riddle by tearing out his throat. Mr. X escapes unseen.

Butch and Vishous arrive. Beth feeds Wrath her own blood, and they rush him to the clinic of Havers, Marissa's brother and the vampires' physician. Marissa donates her blood to keep Wrath alive during surgery. When Wrath recovers, he confronts Havers, who confesses he tried to arrange Wrath's assassination out of fury over Wrath's treatment of Marissa. Zsadist, whom Havers first approached, rejected the treasonous offer and reported it to Wrath. Wrath spares Havers's life as a gift to Marissa.

Wrath announces sweeping changes: He will leave the fighting ranks, appoint Tohrment as operational leader, and ascend to the throne. The brothers will consolidate into a single compound, the mansion Beth inherits from Darius. Butch, now severed from his former life, is invited to join the household. Beth will rule beside Wrath as queen.

In the epilogue, Darius petitions the Scribe Virgin in the Fade, the vampires' realm of the dead, for a chance to return to life and cross paths with his daughter. She grants his request but demands he surrender his memories of Beth and accept an altered form. He agrees without hesitation. Separately, Mr. X regains consciousness in a remote cabin, wounded but alive, as the Omega appears at his door.