The only reason he doesn’t take her completely is that he finds a birthmark on Gabrielle that identifies her as a “Breedmate.” If he takes her and shares blood they are bound for eternity. Here is a woman threatened and he sends her a mind-meld message to leave her doors unlocked so he can come in and have oral sex with her, then leave her thinking it was a dream. Lucan is determined to protect Gabrielle, but he goes about it in a very strange way. All other vampires live in protected reservations, from which they venture to nibble on the human population without causing death.

Lucan is the leader of a band of vampire warriors known as The Breed and their sole purpose in life is to defeat Rogue vampires that threaten both the Breed and humans. Lucan quickly realizes that there is a Rogue uprising led by a mysterious leader and that Gabrielle is in great danger, even if the cops don’t believe her tales of man-eating men roaming Boston’s streets. If you don’t figure out quickly that her rescuer and her mom’s was the same guy, namely Lucan Thorne, you should go to back and retake Romance 101. She is rescued by a handsome Breed warrior vampire. After this cheery prologue, the story opens 27 years later with Gabrielle witnessing a Rogue vampire murder and feeding. Gabrielle’s mother’s life turned out to be a short trip from abandoning her daughter in a garbage bin to the loony bin and ultimately suicide. The warrior sent her on her way without making much of an effort to find her and erase her memory, as he was supposed to do. Despite the wounds on her neck, everyone thought she was crazy, but in fact she had been attacked by a Rogue vampire and rescued by a Breed warrior. Gabrielle Maxwell’s mother died ranting about vampires. In vampire-dark, which Kiss of Midnight definitely is, the hero is a beast with few redeeming qualities.

In vampire-lite the vampire hero sips from necks while inducing pleasure – he doesn’t kill his victims and his role with humans is one of protection. After reading Kiss of Midnight, I realize I prefer vampire-lite to vampire-dark. I am not a huge fan of vampire romances but I have read a few that I really liked.

Kiss of midnight series in order