Tainted Night, Tainted Blood, the riveting second installment in the Kat Redding series, opens with Kat—a vampire on a mission to wipe out all werewolves and vampires that attack and abuse Purebloods (humans)—arriving at the home of Countess Telia, a relatively new but particularly vicious head of a vampire house. Kat does not expect to find her target and everyone else in the house dead, but the massacre she discovers makes one thing very clear: someone or something using both claws and a sword has been on a rampage. After consulting with Mikael, her source of information, Kat learns that other similar attacks have been occurring, mostly attributed to her Lady Death persona.

Mulling over the disturbing information while riding home on her motorcycle, Kat has a run-in with a werewolf following her, which results in her feeding from a policeman—an action she greatly regrets. Feeling miserable, the next night, Kat decides to just get on her bike and ride and she finds herself in the unusual town of Delai where most of the inhabitants have blank stares and exhibit no fear of the night, unlike most other areas. After the sun goes down the next evening, Kat gets a visit from Jonathan, the werewolf leader of the Luna Cult den, who wants her to join up with him to track down the killer whose work has been getting blamed on her. Despite her misgivings at working with the werewolves again, Kat agrees, hoping that solving this one problem will remove some of the turmoil from her life, but she does not expect the surprise awaiting her.

In this outing, readers get a much clearer picture of Kat and her motivations, enriching the story. Despite her vampire state, Kat realizes she cannot ignore her emotions or the people around her. Going out and doing her job as Lady Death becomes more difficult as her actions have greater ramifications on others than they did in the past. The complicated relationships may make Kat’s life more challenging but also require her to engage more fully. The town of Delai proves both intriguing and creepy, and adds another layer to the narrative. Moore does not shy away from the violence and gore that one would expect to find in a life like Kat’s, but the use of those aspects never feels gratuitous. This reviewer very much looks forward to book three, Blessed by a Demon’s Mark, due December 31, 2012.

Book Stats:

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; 1 edition (July 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758268734
• ISBN-13: 978-0758268730

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Books in the Kat Redding series in the order they should be read:
To Walk the Night
Tainted Night, Tainted Blood
Blessed by a Demon’s Mark