My Urban Fantasies: Review: Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake

Title: Dayhunter

Author: Jocelynn Drake

Series: Dark Days, #2

•Source: Purchased
•Publisher: EOS
•Publication Date: May 2009

Opening Line: We needed to feed.

A new day dawns blood red...

A master of fire, Mira is the last hope for the world. For centuries, she has secretly enforced the history-altering edicts of the Triad. Now she and her unlikely ally—the human vampire hunter, Danaus—have come to Venice, home of the nightwalker rulers. But there is no safety in the ancient city, for the threat of conflicts is in the wind... with unholy alliances and earth-shattering betrayals taking hideous form in the shadows.

Banished for eons beyond the world's boundaries, the malevolent naturi prepare to feed once again upon a vulnerable earth—and treachery is opening wide the portal that will enable their dread re-emergence. The great battle that has always been Mira's destiny is looming, and she must remain powerful in the face of a shocking revelation: that Danaus, the only creature that she dares to trust, is something that the man he claims to be...

The naturi are back. Rowe is trying to release his queen. All that is needed is a human sacrifice, at the right place at the right time, to break the seal. The newly formed triad, Sadira, Jabari and vampire hunter Danaus, is humanity's only hope. They will use the most powerful weapon the nightwalkers have to defeat the naturi, Mira.

Mira has just learned that she is nothing more than a weapon. She was created to be a tool for the original triad, a way to focus their power through her. Mira finds out that the Coven has been experimenting on her for centuries, seeing who can control her and then wiping her memory of the entire thing. Mira is crushed to learn that Jabari, a man whom she thought was her mentor, savior and friend, thinks she is nothing more than a weapon to be used and disposed of when she is no longer useful. Lucky for Mira that she is still needed because not only can she be used against the naturi, Mira is the one who created the seal that traps the naturi queen.

Dayhunter picks up a few moments after where Nightwalker ended. Mira now has to stop the naturi while being tangled up in Coven politics. Mira finds that she is a pawn in a chess game, being manipulated by powerful nightwalkers, each with their own agenda.

It's hard to go into more detail without giving away spoilers. Needless to say Dayhunter is much better than Nightwalker. It's action packed and character relationships become more complicated, especially between Mira and Danaus. Mira is quickly becoming my favorite character, even though lately she doesn't know what the hell is going on or who she can trust. Despite all of this Mira tries to stick to her code of honor. Even under the haze of blood lust and fatigue Mira refuses to kill a human when she feeds.

My favorite scene is in the church, when Danaus and Mira have this incredible conversation about how good and evil are not as black and white as most people believe. And as an added bonus we find out who/what Danaus is. Sorry boys and girls, it's just to good to spoil.