Demon Blood by Meljean Brook (The Guardians #6)
July 6, 2010
Paranormal Romance
Paperback, 432 Pages
Berkley

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote": "I’ve forced a good man onto a path with me. I cannot win without his help. But he has not offered it. I am using him."

"So you are no better then the demons."

"I’d like to think I have better intentions…"

"I imagine you do like to think that. But if the suffering of even one good man is needed to gain victory, it is not a true victory."

Once upon time there was a beautiful princess who greatly loved her family. Her mother, father, and brother all lived in peace and harmony. But one day her father came home and he had changed. Now someone else looked out of his eyes. Someone evil and without conscience. Her father tortured the family until the mother died and the brother and princess lived in constant pain and fear.

The princess ran away and found sanctuary in a church. The father came to the church one day and offered her a choice. She could die by her brother’s hand or all her sisters would die. She choose her own death and on that day the princess passed from this world.But like all fairy tales, that was not the end but merely the beginning.

Rosalia, a manipulative but caring guardian, has suffered the loss of most of her family during the never ending battle against Lucifer and his demons. Now she thinks she has found the answer to kill many demons in one shot. But the solution lies with a vampire who once betrayed her and left her to die.

Deacon betrayed Rosalia in order to save his own family and paid for it in the end.  But that doesn’t lessen his feelings of self loathing and disgust. As these two damaged heroes work towards an uneasy alliance; a passion builds between them that could ultimately destroy or save them.

In Meljean Brook’s sixth Guardian novel, Demon Blood, we meet Rosalia and Deacon. Two broken and weary souls. Rosalia was made a guardian when she committed the ultimate sacrifice…she offered herself up to save another human. From that day forward she has served the greater good by protecting all humans (and vampires)from the demons. Once, she answered Deacon’s plea for help and he repaid her with torture and almost death. Now she needs him. But Deacon is considered a traitor and has his own "demons" to deal with. But Rosalia won’t take no for an answer and uses everything available to convince him to help her.

By all reasoning Rosalie should hate Deacon but does not. But he can’t see that because he hates himself too much. Neither feel worthy of love and watching the two of them is heartbreaking.  Rosalia doesn’t know how to just let go and experience love for the sake of love. She has constantly monitored and protected all those she loves-sometimes to the extreme. She wants to be with Deacon but doesn’t know how. For being as old as she is she seems very naive until you read further about her life and see how being a Guardian limits the ability to bond and love.

Deacon is a vampire who has been beaten down and stripped of everything. He is nothing more then an empty shell who is surviving off his need for revenge.As Rosalia and Deacon navigate the rocky and perilous road of their relationship I will admit there were times when I did not think they would make it. It was if they had to destroy everything between them in order to rebuild and start anew.

This is a very sexy and steamy tale. Very emotional. We see what Deacon and Rosalia are and what they need most. Deacon is the uber alpha who needs some sense of control to give him back what he feels he lost-his dignity. Rosalia is so in control all the the time that she needs to learn to trust someone to catch her.

Ms. Brook holds back nothing back in this story. While there is plenty of action and suspense; we see more evolution of the players in this story. Her characters are shown in a true and sometimes not so flattering light. She shows us their flaws and imperfections but we also see her love for them. We see the everyday life with a more intimate look at their emotions and the ramifications of their decisions.

Her prose is brilliant and the exceptional fast paced storyline keeps you reading till well into the night. There is so much going on and I can’t say to much without spoiling. But we do see some old faces and Ms Brook’s offers us answers to some heavy weighing questions.

Once again Ms. Brook’s takes pen to paper and emerges victorious in her evolving world of heaven, hell and those who stand between them.

Rating: 4.5/5

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