Demon's Kiss by Maggie Shayne

Seth Connor is seriously bored with his life. Sure, he's a manager at a local restaurant, but the guy underneath him can't seem to handle things without Seth around. And this time, when Seth walks home afterwards, he steps into the middle of a fight that leaves him dying on the ground. Seth prepares to pass on, never having met the woman he's been dreaming about seemingly forever.

Rafael doesn't go by that name any more. Now, he's the vampire named Reaper. He's on mission for one of the real old vampires, a woman named Rhiannon, when he feels that Seth is in trouble. Not everyone can become a vampire, you have to have a rare gene called the Belladonna Antigen, and Seth is one of those rare people. Vampires have a connection to those with the Belladonna Antigen, so Reaper offers Seth a choice: die or live as a vampire.

Seth, still thinking of the beautiful woman, chooses to become a vampire. And when he wakes up, he's glad he did, because he can somehow sense her better now. Reaper has no choice but to take Seth with him and teach him about being a vampire. He tries to drop Seth off with a human woman named Roxy, who just happens to be a witch. But instead of being a convenient drop-off point, she somehow convinces Reaper he'd be better off with her tagging along on his mission.

Reaper works alone, so all this has him gritting his teeth. But soon they are joined by another, the vampire Topaz, who has been cheated out of money by a vampire named Jack of Hearts. He's gone to join the vampire he is looking for, a man named Gregor, and Topaz wants both her money back and revenge on Jack.

Meanwhile, in Gregor's lair is Vixen, a woman who was a shapeshifter and now has been made into a vampire by Gregor. It is she that Seth has been dreaming of, and she has been desperate to get free of the cage they have stuck her into. But Briar, a sadistic woman who loves to cause others pain, is in charge of her, and Vixen knows that the minute she tries anything, Briar will visit more pain on her body.

Unfortunately for Reaper, Gregor wants something more than just killing him, he's out to set Reaper up for his own crimes, and wants to steal his powers away, along with his life. To add insult to injury, he knows the code words that will change Reaper from a normal man into a kill-crazed assassin, and none of them know the code word that can make Reaper change back. So how can Reaper overcome Gregor and his barely intelligent vampire drones?

Vixen might be able to help him. She can change into a fox form that makes her immune to the sunlight- while it lasts anyhow. But she's much more used to living the life of an animal rather than the life of a human that she finds Seth's love for her as annoying as it is arousing. But when Seth finds out her secret- of changing her shape, will he be able to accept it, or will his rejection of Vixen push her away from all human society, forever?

This was an unusual vampire novel, okay, vampire romance, because of the many intertwining threads from all the different characters. Seth is supposed to be the lead, but oftentimes his and Vixen's story becomes a background to the Briar/Reaper story, or the Topaz/Jack story. And yet, none of them can become the main story, because none of their endings seem particularly happy or long-lived. How can Reaper be happy when he's still got those killing codes in his brainspace? So far, he only knows the command that makes them kill, not the one that makes him stop. Which could be quite bad for any woman he ends up with.

There are three separate stories crammed into this volume, one mainly about love, the others more about lust, but despite all that goes on, the story never becomes confusing about the love matches. On the other hand, the beginning may seem like quite an infodump if you haven't read the other books in the series, from when they began back in the days of Silhouette Shadows. There is so much backstory in this series that it can be confusing if you haven't read all the backstories.

I would recommend this book, but it's very dense with story, and comes off more like a brownie than a cookie. There's a lot of stuff packed in here, and it can be more than a bit overwhelming. So despite it being a romance, something most readers would consider fluff, this is one you'll have to take your time reading.