There was a time when the universe was young and Cosmic Laws written. Our progenitors were born into a broken world. Why was it broken? The answer is simple: Cosmic Laws were broken. Cheating death is the ultimate taboo, and karma is a dish best served long after the fact. But when dealing with immortal beings, they have more than enough time to live in the ugly world they’ve created; karma becomes the very air they breathe. Love. Lust. Hate. Jealousy. Travel throughout the world 70,000 years ago. Learn the origins of the major players: Ascended Humans, Vampires, Rogues, Shamans, the Great Pyramids, and much more. Learn the ancient names, the precursors to their modern iterations. Follow Arson, Ramanlese, Illgress, Goser, Tomakis, Hemily, and Jezzeria from Eden to hell. Follow Zento, Ekka, Edril, Bestick, Ry-ala, Ephisiostecles, Roch, Mephiantone, Rubidicus, Karianus, Styre, Vane, and Marschelle through their many stories. Their world was a world of sadness, crisis, loss, but some happiness. Right or wrong, their stories are told. There were no true winners nor losers, and aspects of each will endure till the end of time. The gray just got a whole lot grayer.

"STARTLING . . . FIENDISH . . . MEMNOCH'S TALE IS COMPELLING." --New York Daily News "Like Interview with the Vampire, Memnoch has a half-maddened, fever-pitch intensity. . . . Narrated by Rice's most cherished character, the vampire Lestat, Memnoch tells a tale as old as Scripture's legends and as modern as today's religious strife." --Rolling Stone "SENSUAL . . . BOLD, FAST-PACED." --USA Today "Rice has penned an ambitious close to this long-running series. . . . Fans will no doubt devour this." --The Washington Post Book World "MEMNOCH THE DEVIL OFFERS PASSAGES OF POETIC BRILLIANCE." --Playboy "[MEMNOCH] is one of Rice's most intriguing and sympathetic characters to date. . . . Rice ups the ante, taking Lestat where few writers have ventured: into heaven and hell itself. She carries it off in top form." --The Seattle Times

Bridget Felderman was an investigative journalist investigating the disappearance of a drug addict, stripper named Sam in Baltimore who allegedly later re-emerged as a vampire from a mysterious group called The Order. Oddly, before Bridget could publish her work, she approached me, H.S. Darke, a colleague of hers, and bequeathed to me all of her research and notes, and then she apparently died shortly thereafter. Her Death Certificate read, “Cause of Death: Natural Causes.” As she was no longer with us, I published her version under my name in 2013. Years later, I was approached by interested parties, some who were rather mysterious, fascinating, and a few frankly a little intimidating, but they insisted I write the true version of events, so I agreed. I was led to believe that the original, published version was a corrupted narrative built around a rather Bridget-centric slant. Therefore, I was instructed to add as little color as possible to the actual events that took place so that the interested parties’ legacy in novel form be accurate enough to imbue respect and possibly fear, for they are apparently wealthy, hidden, and very powerful. Travel throughout the city of Baltimore into the darkest depths of society to seek answers to the many questions about Sam, her disappearance, and subsequent transformation.

Sixteen-year-old Dylan Highmark thought his winter was going to be full of boring shifts at the Dairy Queen, until he finds himself in love with a boy who's literally too hot to handle. Dylan has always wanted a boyfriend, but the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia do not have a lot in the way of options. Then, in walks Jordan, a completely normal (and undeniably cute) boy who also happens to run at a cool 110 degrees Fahrenheit. When the boys start spending time together, Dylan begins feeling all kinds of ways, and when he spikes a fever for two weeks and is suddenly coughing flames, he thinks he might be suffering from something more than just a crush. Jordan forces Dylan to keep his symptoms a secret. But as the pressure mounts and Dylan becomes distant with his closest friends and family, he pushes Jordan for answers. Jordan's revelations of why he's like this, where he came from, and who's after him leaves Dylan realizing how much first love is truly out of this world. But if the attraction between them defies the laws of physics, love may be the only thing that can keep Jordan and Dylan together. THE TEMPERATURE OF ME AND YOU is the story of first love, and the lengths we'll go to figure out our hearts. What starts as an electric, chance encounter at a Dairy Queen quickly evolves into a heated romance, a journey of trust and identity, and a ticking clock for survival.

Queen Levana is a ruler who uses her 'glamour' to gain power. but long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story - a story that has never been told ... until now.

The "New York Times" bestselling first and second volumes in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles now join Ballantine's monthly "Special Low Price" mass market reissue program.

A sleepy Colorado town harbors a deadly secret; ancient covens of vampires, battled by an unlikely hero-- a pizza delivery driver. Jack Holladay finds himself violently dragged into the world of the supernatural. He soon learns that things do go bump in the night, but even in the darkest of nights a romantic flame can spark. One thing is for sure, his life will never be the same.

Dealing with divorce is never easy to do, especially when a child is involved. But Brian was having a particularly hard time. It seemed he never got over losing Angelica to her new lover, but that wasn't the greatest loss he'd faced. If ever there was a guardian angel in his life, perhaps he was no further away than his best friend Jason. While Jason seemed an unlikely candidate to be a guardian angel in the biblical or even noblest sense of the term, he may have what it takes to save Brian from his own demise. But that's a big maybe.

Few books have so seized the public imagination as Bram Stoker's Dracula, even more popular now than when it was first published in 1897. This critical work represents a rereading of the horror classic as a Christian text, one that alchemizes Platonism, Gnosticism, Mariology and Christian resurrection in a tale that explores the grotesque. Of particular interest is the way in which the Dracula narrative emerges from earlier vampire tales, which juxtapose Apollonian and Dionysian impulses. A strong addition to vampire and horror scholarship.

Grab a stake, a fistful of garlic, a crucifix and holy water as you enter the dark, blood-curdling world of the original pain in the neck in this ultimate collection of vampire facts, fangs, and fiction! What accounts for the undying fascination people have for vampires? How did encounters with death create centuries-old myths and folklore in virtually every culture in the world? When did the early literary vampires—as pictured by Goethe, Coleridge, Shelly, Polidori, Byron, and Nodier as the personifications of man’s darker side—transform from villains into today’s cultural rebels? Showing how vampire-like creatures organically formed in virtually every part of the world, The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History by renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D., examines the historic, societal, and psychological role the vampire has played—and continues to play—in understanding death, man’s deepest desires, and human pathologies. It analyzes humanity’s lusts, fears, and longing for power and the forbidden! Today, the vampire serves as a powerful symbol for the darker parts of the human condition, touching on death, immortality, forbidden sexuality, sexual power and surrender, intimacy, alienation, rebellion, violence, and a fascination with the mysterious. The vampire is often portrayed as a symbolic leader advocating an outrageous alternative to the demands of conformity. Vampires can also be tools for scapegoating such as when women are called “vamps” and bosses are described as “bloodsuckers.” Meet all of the villains, anti-heroes, and heroes of myths, legends, books, films, and television series across cultures and today’s pop culture in The Vampire Almanac. It assembles and analyzes hundreds of vampiric characters, people, and creatures, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vlad the Impaler, Edward Cullen and The Twilight Saga, Bram Stoker, Lestat De Lioncourt and The Vampire Chronicles, Lon Chaney, True Blood, Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Dark Shadows, Lilith, Vampire Weekend, Batman, Nosferatu, and so many more. There is a lot to sink your teeth into with this deep exhumation of the undead. Quench your thirst for facts, histories, biographies, definitions, analysis, immortality, and more! This gruesomely thorough book of vampire facts also has a helpful bibliography, an extensive index, and numerous photos, adding to its usefulness.