Blue-Blooded Vamp

Wells brings her Sabina Kane urban fantasy series to a satisfactorily fast-paced conclusion with this fifth installment (after Silver-Tongued Devil). Mage/vampire halfbreed Sabina must face Cain, the father of all vampires, in the aftermath of a series of assassinations. Sabina’s twin sister died at Cain’s hands; now Sabina hopes to be the Chosen who can destroy him. She goes to Rome to seek the assistance of the mysterious mage Abel, from whose imprisonment Cain had escaped. Assisted by comic-relief demon Giguhl; her lover, Adam Lazarus; renegade mage Erron Zorn; and former vampire assassin Alexis Vega, Sabina must juggle high-level vampire politics, the secrets of her difficult family history, and a perilous debt to the god Asclepius while evading Cain and negotiating with the less-than-cooperative Abel. Wells packs in plenty of action and neatly wraps up most of her series’ loose ends, but, as in previous tales, her heavy-handed humor undermines the building emotional tension of Sabina’s dramatic final confrontation with Cain. Agent: Jonathan Lyons, Lyons Literary. (June)