The Vampire Huntress Legend Series

The Vampire Huntress Legend Series (VHL) is a twelve book series written by Leslie Esdaile Banks under the pen name L.A. Banks. The series centers around a young "twenty-something" woman named Damali Richards who is a spoken word artist but is also the Neteru, a human who is born once every thousand years to fight the Dark Realms. Her most dangerous and most constant enemy from The Dark Realms are vampires.

The entire series is based on the never ending struggle between good and evil. The Vampire Huntress Legend Series is also about the strong bonds of love. Love that exists in the form of family love, friendship love, love of self, love for the world (environment) and the love between man and woman. There is also intense subject matter on religion within this series. The cover art for this series was done by Vince Natale, while inside illustrations are the work of Eric Battle.

Books 1 and 2 of The Vampire Huntress Legend Series (Minion and The Awakening), have been optioned for Hollywood films by Moontide Pictures, LLC. Originally a nine book series with St. Martin's Press/Griffin, has now become a twelve book series.

Minion

The first book in the series, Minion, introduces Damali - a young twenty-year-old African American woman who is Neteru (the huntress). Damali is a very influential spoken word artist who writes and produces all her material (a lot of which is based on her own life experiences). Damali was orphaned at an early age and her experiences in foster care led her to escape, starting her journey as a vampire huntress. Damali's guardian team is introduced, consisting of Marlene, Nafes Shabazz, Big Mike, Jose, JL and Rider. Every member of the group possesses some sort of paranormal abilities.

Damali's team encounter an unusual breed of vampires, who differ from the "regular" ones in appearance and exude an odor so strong that it makes some of the team members physically sick. The protagonists eventually find out that these creatures are hybrids created by the evil vampire Fallon Nuit, who refers to them as "minions".

Carlos Rivera is a young Hispanic drug lord seeking vengeance for his murdered friends and family, unaware that he is being led into a trap by none other than Fallon Nuit who sees plenty of potential evil and wants him to join his cause as a vampire.

In order to save himself, Damali and the guardian team, Carlos forms an alliance with second highest council of the dark side.

The Awakening (2) Synoposis: Carlos Rivera is on the hunt for the Neteru, and is stronger than Damali's Guardians ever imagined. Prayer lines notwithstanding, he's coming for his woman. This thing between them goes way back; it was there even before he'd turned. As a vampire and a man, he has a lot of decisions to make, a lot of factions after him, but there's one thing that's always been clear—he wants her.

The Hunted (3) Synopsis: Carlos Rivera has descended another level, drawing more power from the dark side. The battle in Hell was nothing compared to the ongoing battle he's fought against his desire for The Neteru. And this fantastically frustrating woman is going after the were-demon realms, too? Not on his watch. He's more than a Master Vampire, he's Council Level now... and still, for all his power, there's one objective that has consistently eluded him—Damali Richards. But not tonight.

The Bitten (4) Synopsis: Yeah... she knew what they’d said about not messing with this man, this temptation... but some things had to be learned by experience. For Damali, this brother was the one thing that had always slayed her, Isis blade notwithstanding. She'd gone to his lair to get turned out, not turned... which was a totally different thing altogether. Only problem is, there is nothing in Marlene's big black book about how to cure this. An Encounter of the Forbidden Kind

The Forbidden (5) The Body of a Goddess...with the Heart of Hell itself. The devil is a dead-beat dad and his consort Lilith couldn't care less. A stolen embryo stirs in Lilith's womb and a plan pulses through her veins: To unleash her child from the gates of hell—as soon as she destroys the only two vampire hunters who can possibly stop her...

Damali Richards is a woman-child in a world running with blood, depravity and demons. Turned by her lover, Carlos Rivera, and brought back again, Damali clings to the one measure of purity that was handed down to her through generations of the wise, gifted and strong. Now, through the power of magic, through the ache of desire and the touch of her lover, Damali is on a journey from the streets of Philadelphia to the ancient earth of Africa. With a small army, with Carlos and with her own mad skills, she might just save the world from the demon seductress who wants her and her faith obliterated—before Armageddon begins...

Complete series

The Vampire Huntress Legend Series: (12 Book Series)

  • Minion (trade paperback) (Book 1) (2003)
  • Minion (mass market) (2004)
  • The Awakening (trade paperback) (Book 2) (2004)
  • The Awakening (mass market) (2004)
  • The Hunted (trade paperback) (Book 3) (2004)
  • The Hunted (mass market) (2005)
  • The Bitten (trade paperback) (Book 4) (2005)
  • The Bitten (mass market) (2005)
  • The Forbidden (trade paperback) (Book 5) (2005)
  • The Forbidden (mass market) (2006)
  • The Damned (trade paperback) (Book 6) (2006)
  • The Damned (mass market) (January 2007)
  • The Forsaken (trade paperback) (Book 7) (2006)
  • The Forsaken (mass market) (June 2007)
  • The Wicked (trade paperback) (Book 8) (February 2007)
  • The Wicked (mass market) (Book 8) (January 2008)
  • The Cursed (trade paperback) (Book 9) (July 2007)
  • The Cursed (mass market) (Book 9) (June 2008)
  • The Darkness (trade paperback) (Book 10) (February 2008)
  • The Shadows (trade paperback) (Book 11) (July 2008)
  • The Thirteenth (trade paperback) (Book 12) (February 2009)

NOTE: The Darkness (10), The Shadows (11), and The Thirteenth (12) are called The Armageddon Finale to The Vampire Huntress (trademark) Legend Series. NOTE II: There are "between-the-novel" chapters available from the author on the Vampire Huntress Legend website.

Anthology:

  • “Make It Last Forever” In Stroke Of Midnight (2004)

(Rider and Tara's Story)

  • “Ride the Night Wind” In Love at First Bite (2006)

(Jose Ciponte's Story)

Other media

Films

The first two books have been optioned by Gotham Beach Entertainment and Griot Entertainment.[1]

Comics

Dynamite Entertainment is releasing a limited series which continues the Vampire Huntress stories.[2][3]

Young Adult Series

Shadow Walker: A Neteru Academy Novel Sixteen years prior to the end of days, two Neterus, along with a Neteru Guardian team, known as The Warriors of Light, fought shoulder to shoulder with Guardian teams around the world. Although they vanquished the Ultimate Evil it still came back with insidious vengeance, taking over all the war-ravaged countries slowly but surely. Those who fought against it were hunted, but those brave men and women of the resistance kept the faith and honed their skills, always at the ready to save humanity from demonic forces.

Children of these brave warriors will one day take their parents places in the ongoing struggle. But until that time, they must become adept at using the special talents they were born with and must be kept out of harm's way while their parents continue to fight for justice.

Hence the Neteru Academy (a.k.a. Temt Tchaas Academy - meaning sacred texts) was born. Secreted away in the Appalachian Mountains, this magic-glamoured pyramid that was relocated from the Mayan ruins as well as the capstone taken from Egypt during the big war, hides the entrance to a forgotten bunker left over from the old 1950s cold war between the United States and Russia. Originally built by President Dwight Eisenhower, the actual school is underground and is housed in what was to then be a fall-out shelter for the executive branches of the American government in the event of a nuclear catastrophe. But it never came to that.

The big war everyone feared was not between rival nations, but rival worlds. The conflict between the Light and the darkness unleashed plagues, and vampires, werewolves, zombies, and all manner of demons. It created refugees amongst both the human and supernatural populations. Some individuals were given a chance to choose sides based upon their service to humankind. Others were already too far gone. Some angels wept; some turned dark. It was a time of complete chaos and anarchy was the order of the day.

Initially, only the Guardians and the Neterus saw what was happening and became the small, rag-tag line of defense against a growing, slithering evil. These brave warriors frustrated the dark side at every turn and still battle on in the new millennium.

Now, with time being short until the Ultimate Evil returns, the children of the Guardian resistance must quickly hone all their special talents and learn expert battle skills - skills that their parents had years to perfect. Time is not on their side, but one can only hope that the Light will make the critical difference.

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References
  1. Pierce, Lauretta (October 2005). "L.A. Banks: Minion". Literary World. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  2. Brownfield, Troy (May 7, 2010). "L.A. Banks' VAMPIRE HUNTRESS Stalks Dynamite in July". Newsarama. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  3. Sunu, Steve (May 25, 2010). "L.A. Banks' "Vampire Huntress" Continues in Comics". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
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