Well here’s an interesting idea – vampires and werewolves as aliens, and only some people on Earth know that they exist. Earth is neutral, so there are a number of Inns here, and their Innkeepers have incredible powers as long as they’re in the Inn.
Dina has been given an Inn that was abandoned, so she’s in the process of establishing her bond, and rebuilding the Inn’s reputation. She only has one permanent guest (and there are a lots of other aliens than just werewolves and vampires.)
When Sean Evans arrives in town, several of the neighborhood dogs are killed, and Dina immediately suspects him, because he’s a werewolf, and though it’s rather impolite, that could have been him establishing his territory. Naturally, this gets them off on a very bad foot, but they do quickly establish that it’s not Sean, but something else rather nasty is in the neighborhood.
Naturally, the vampires end up being involved. (While the werewolves were genetically engineered to fight in a war on their home planet, the vampires are members of a religiously based empire). They end up with Arland, a rather attractive vampire Marshall, at the inn, tending to this dying uncle, who tried to take out the assassin that’s ended up in the neighborhood.
This is a really interesting set up – the universe has a lot of potential. There’s definitely a possible love interest (or two), which is par for the course of this kind of book, but also doesn’t seem like it’ll be so distracting as others in the genre can be. There are mysteries to solve (Dina’s parents are missing), and I definitely am looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Pingback: 2017 Books Read – The North Wind and the Sea