Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter in Guilty Pleasures – Issue 8A

During the confrontation between Nikolaos and Phillip, where Phillip reminds her she promised Anita wouldn’t be harmed, Anita learns that Phillip takes his orders from the Master of the City. Nikolaos attacks Phillip, but Anita prevents her from killing him. Nikolaos leaves as screams from the house alert them all to the fact that the Freak Party has been broken up by the congregation of the Church of Eternal Life. Fighting their way to the car, Anita, Phillip and Willie–Nikolaos’s flunky–manage to get away safely. In the car, Phillip confirms that Nikolaos had ordered him to seduce Anita and bend her to the vampires’ wishes. At home, Anita showers and falls asleep, only to once again have her dreams plagued by Jean-Claude, blood and food. Anita awakens to the sickening realization that Jean-Claude has done something to her. A phone call from Dolph takes Anita to another vampire murder. The vampire has had her heart ripped out and has been decapitated. The vampire turns out to be Theresa. A trip to Ronnie Sims’s office reunites Anita with a woman named Beverly. Anita saved her life many years before, when a vampire attacked Beverly. Now a memeber of Humans Against Vampires, Beverly assures Ronnie and Anita that HAV does not have a death squad killing vampires; they work within the law. However, some people have begun bragging about killing vampires, and Beverly agrees to find out any information she can. After Beverly leaves, Anita fills in Ronnie on everything that has happened, and her belief that a HAV death squad–let alone any human–is responsible for the vampire murders.