DemonessTenebrae

A short story starring Vladlena and Nathan, an unlikely pair.

Nathan is a special sort of a vampire who manages a club called Thirst. For decades he has felt dead inside and nothing matters to him anymore. Since he was bitten and turned by Thanatos he had to hide his true self. He could walk in the sun and he was stronger than other vampires. But all of that didn't help him when Fade, the club's owner, killed his wife Eleanor in an arena with him watching the entire thing. He swore on that day that he would avenge her. But as that rage piled up decades past. And the rage turned to ice and to nothingness. He remained working for Fade with no idea why anymore.

Vladlena is a shifter who can't shift. She works as a nurse at the Underground General Hospital. Eidolon, her boss, tried to help her with special medicine but it didn't work on her. Since she turned 24 and still didn't shift she knew her days were numbered and there was nothing she could do to stop it. One day, her brother was brought in half-dead and while dying spoke his last words to her - Thirst... club... It gave Lena a purpose. Avenging her brother's death will be her last act. On that note, she managed to get a job at club called Thirst as a nurse. It was all going well until she met her boss, Nate.

Since their first encounter they knew they were drawn to each other but both of them had secrets and until those secrets were out and dealt with, they couldn't do anything with their mutual desire.

I really liked this short story that was published in a book Supernatural, along with some others from different authors. It depicts a life of one of the UGH nurses and it brings about the variety of characters and world building in the Lords of Deliverance Series. The main characters from the Demonica Series also appear and they add to the credentials of the story itself.

It's really amazing how the author can bring to life such an "unimportant" character and make the rest of the series and the storyline work in her favor. Vladlena is a likeable character, kind of a naive, troubled woman who hadn't experienced much in life but she still shows a great deal of potential and spark. Nathan is on the other hand an egoistic, arrogant vampire who knows just how much he impacts the woman's senses and manipulates it to his advantage. As his character develops we see the other side of him as well, the lonely, self-loathing side. And his will to protect a young but fierce woman that brought him back to life, so to speak. It's a nice respite from all the tension and lack of breathing in the books of the Lords of Deliverance Series.

I would recommend the Vampire Fight Club to everyone, even to those who hadn't read the other books in the Demonica or LOD series. You can read it in an hour or so and it will keep you amused and happy. You will start caring for the other characters as well and who knows, maybe you'll get hooked on the other works from Larissa Ione as the rest of us.