cover image Vampire Transgression

Vampire Transgression

Michael Schiefelbein. St. Martin's Press, $23.95 (268pp) ISBN 978-0-312-33021-7

After centuries of feeding on holy monks (in Vampire Vow and Vampire Thrall), Roman aristocrat-turned-bloodsucker Victor Decimus has moved to Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood, where he presides over an S&M club in what was once a Catholic church. Now known as Victor Boudreaux, the protagonist of this graphic gay-themed novel remains haunted by Jesus's romantic rejection 2000 years earlier. But Victor has found love with Paul, an artist from Kansas whom he transformed into a vampire, and the two live together in violation of the rules of the ""Dark Kingdom,"" which forbid vampires to associate. The two defy agents of the Dark Kingdom and a devout Jesuit priest, whose lustful young assistant, Kyle, they ruthlessly seduce. Though Schiefelbein occasionally ignores the novel's internal morality and logic for the sake of quick plot turns, this spiritually-tinged potboiler's nonstop progression of lurid gay sex and bloodsucking scenes will titillate fans of the genre.