Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series is a literary sensation, thanks to its strong female hero, well-fleshed (both literally and literarily) characters and unabashed attitude toward sex. The world Hamilton has created is powerfully compelling and stunningly complex—and it gets deeper, richer and more perilous, with every book. Straddling the series' dominant themes of sex and power, Ardeur gives Anita fans a deeper look into the dynamics, both personal political, that have kept readers fascinated throughout the run of the series. Why is the ardeur the very best thing that could have happened to Anita, personally (aside from all the sex it requires her to have with hot men)? How is Anita's alternate United States a logical legal extension of our own? And as the series continues, what other bargains might Anita have to make with herself and others in order to keep the people she loves safe from harm? The collection includes essay introductions by Hamilton, giving context and extra insight into each essay's subject.

Anita Blake is worried that her careers as a Federal Marshal who raises the dead and as a vampire executioner may be jeopardized when she realizes that she may be pregnant--and the father could be a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely. 300,000 first printing.

Four favorite paranormal romance authors present their favorite characters in four tales of bloodlust, appetites that must be sated again and again, and the passion that feeds them... In the heat of the night, anything goes. Boundaries are crossed and secret yearnings take shape. Creatures stalk the shadows, surrendering to their wildest needs—and satisfying hungers that take their victims beyond fear to the dark edge of desire... Includes an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story from New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton.

Watch a video The music came back up and the next group of little girls, slightly older, came out. There was a lot of that in the next hour and change. I liked dance, and it was no reflection on the kids, but my will to live began to seep away on about the fifth group of sequined children... Anita Blake is back in St. Louis and trying to live a normal life-as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a U. S. Marshal. There are lovers, friends and their children, school programs to attend. In the midst of all the ordinary happiness a vampire from Anita's past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. This dark goddess has reached out to her here-in St. Louis, home of everyone Anita loves most. The Mother of All Darkness has decided she has to act now or never, to control Anita, and all the vampires in America. The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with Anita and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to immigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken. Anita is about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing her body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over Anita's body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again. Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to Anita, has sent word: "Run if you can..."

Vampire hunter Anita Blake finds her life is more complicated than ever, caught as she is between her obligations to the living-and the undead.

A collection of books 11-15 in Laurell K. Hamilton's New York Times bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. • Cerulean Sins • Incubus Dreams • Micah • Danse Macabre • The Harlequin

From the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author comes this latest Anita Blake novel in which the vampire hunter faces the challenge of her life.