Circus of the Damned Anitia Blake [3] Laurell K. Hamilton Headline Book Publishing (2009) Rating: ☆ ★★★★ Tags: Fantasy, General, Fiction, Mystery Detective, Women Sleuths, Horror, Occult Supernatural Fantasyttt Generalttt Fictionttt Mystery Detectivettt Women Sleuthsttt Horrorttt Occult Supernaturalttt Amazon.com Review The third novel of Hamilton's Anita Blake series has the petite necromancer fighting a giant cobra and a rogue vampire, Alejandro, who wants her for his human servant. Anita is still resisting the advances of Jean-Claude, St. Louis's master vampire, but she does need him on her side, if not in her bed. Anita's reluctant involvement in the odd goings-on at the supernatural Circus of the Damned introduces her to Richard, the werewolf of her dreams, and Larry, her powerful but nervous partner in zombie-raising. Mystery fans will love the tightly plotted, Paretsky-esque action, and horror fans will love just about everything in this unusual series. Review One of the most fascinating fictional heroines since Scarlett O'Hara-and a hell of a lot more fun than most. -- _Publishers Weekly_, starred review She's the 'it' girl for bloodsuckers, werewolves, wereleopards and assorted undead types. -- _News Press_ [Fort Myers, FL] [A] gutsy, no-nonsense female unafraid to take on anything that the preternatural world throws her way. -- _Library Journal_ Circus of the Damned Laurell Hamilton Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, #3 –––––––––––––––––––––––––– — Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Laurell K. Hamilton Circus of the Damned Chapter 1 There was dried chicken blood imbedded under my fingernails. When you raise the dead for a living, you have to spill a little blood. It clung in flaking patches to my face and hands. I’d tried to clean the worst of it off before coming to this meeting, but some things only a shower would fix. I sipped coffee from a personalized mug that said, “Piss me off, pay the consequences,” and stared at the two men sitting across from me. Mr. Jeremy Ruebens was short, dark, and grumpy. I’d never seen him when he wasn’t either frowning, or shouting. His small features were clustered in the middle of his face as if some giant hand had mashed them together before the clay had dried. His hands smoothed over the lapel of his coat, the dark blue tie, tie clip, white shirt collar. His hands folded in his lap for a second, then began their dance again, coat, tie, tie clip, collar, lap. I figured I could stand to watch him fidget maybe five more times before I screamed for mercy and promised him anything he wanted. The second man was Karl Inger. I’d never met him before, He was a few inches over six feet. Standing, he had towered over Ruebens and me. A wavy mass of short-cut red hair graced a large face. He had honest-to-god muttonchop sideburns that grew into one of the fullest mustaches I’d ever seen. Everything was neatly trimmed except for his unruly hair. Maybe he was having a bad hair day. Ruebens’s hands were making their endless dance for the fourth time. Four was my limit. I wanted to go around the desk, grab his hands, and yell, “Stop that!” But I figured that was a little rude, even for me. “I don’t remember you being this twitchy, Ruebens,” I said. He glanced at me. “Twitchy?” I motioned at his hands, making their endless circuit. He frowned and placed his hands on top of his thighs. They remained there, motionless. Self-control at its best. “I am not twitchy, Miss Blake.” “It’s Ms. Blake. And why are you so nervous, Mr. Ruebens?” I sipped my coffee. “I am not accustomed to asking help from people like you.” “People like me?” I made it a question. He cleared his throat sharply. “You know what I mean.” “No, Mr. Ruebens, I don’t.” “Well, a zombie queen…” He stopped in mid-sentence. I was getting pissed, and it must have shown on my face. “No offense,” he said softly. “If you came here to call me names, get the hell out of my office. If you have real business, state it, then get the hell out of my office.” Ruebens stood up. “I told you she wouldn’t help us.” “Help you do what? You haven’t told me a damn thing,” I said. “Perhaps we should just tell her why we have come,” Inger said. His voice was a deep, rumbling bass, pleasant. Ruebens drew a deep breath and let it out through his nose. “Very well.” He sat back down in his chair. “The last time we met, I was a member of Humans Against Vampires.” I nodded encouragingly and sipped my coffee. “I have since started a new group, Humans First. We have the same goals as HAV, but our methods are more direct.” I stared at him. HAV’s main goal was to make vampires illegal again, so they could be hunted down like animals. It worked for me. I used to be a vampire slayer, hunter, whatever. Now I was a vampire executioner. I had to have a death warrant to kill a specific vampire, or it was murder. To get a warrant, you had to prove the vampire was a danger to society, which meant you had to wait for the vampire to kill people. The lowest kill was five humans, the highest was twenty- three. That was a lot of dead bodies. In the good ol’ days you could just kill a vampire on sight. “What exactly does ‘more direct methods’ mean?” “You know what it means,” Ruebens said. “No,” I said, “I don’t.” I thought I did, but he was going to have to say it out loud. “HAV has failed to discredit vampires through the media or the political machine. Humans First will settle for destroying them all.” I smiled over my coffee mug. “You mean kill every last vampire in the United States?” “That is the goal,” he said. “It’s murder.” “You have slain vampires. Do you really believe it is murder?” It was my turn to take a deep breath. A few months ago I would have said no. But now, I just didn’t know. “I’m not sure anymore, Mr. Ruebens.” “If the new legislation goes through, Ms. Blake, vampires will be able to vote. Doesn’t that frighten you?” “Yes,” I said. “Then help us.” “Quit dancing around, Ruebens; just tell me what you want.” “Very well, then. We want the daytime resting place of the Master Vampire of the City.” I just looked at him for a few seconds. “Are you serious?”