Midnight Awakening by Lara Adrian

Midnight Awakening by Lara Adrian

With a dagger in her hand and vengeance on her mind, Darkhaven beauty Elise Chase prowls Boston's streets in search of retribution against the Rogue vampires who took from her everything she cherished.  Using an extraordinary psychic gift, she tracks her prey, well aware that the power she possesses is destroying her.  She must learn to harness this gift, and for that she can turn t only one man--the deadliest of the Breed warriors, Tegan.

No stranger to loss, Tegan knows Elise's pain.  He knows fury, but when he slays his enemies it is with ice in his veins. He is perfect in his self control, until Elise seeks his aid in her personal war.  An unholy alliance is forged--a bond that will link them by blood and vow--and plunge them into a tempest of danger, desire, and the darkest passions of the heart...I

I knew I was right to stick with this series! Finally, a book that was good from start to finish with no actions on the parts of the main characters that make me shake my head in disappointment, in fact Tess from book two redeemed herself in my eyes, so bonus points!

Elise, who was portrayed as rather weak in book two, has taken a vow of vengeance.  She might not be strong enough to fight Rogues, but as a human who can go about in daylight, Minions (human slaves to vampires) are fair game.  Her psychic gift, which she views as more of a curse, allows her to hear the vilest of human thoughts which coincidentally leads her straight to Minions as they are often violent in their zeal to do their Master's bidding.  It is in the slaying of one such Minion that Elise is caught too close to dusk and the blood on her clothes leads a group of Rogues to her.  It also leads Tegan to her location and he is able to help her out of the dangerous situation.  He follows her home, surprised to see she is no longer living in a Darkhaven, but is rather in a rather squalid apartment.  When he learns she has been killing Minions he is livid.

Elise is both drawn to and repelled by Tegan in the beginning...he is a threat to her activities which is the only thing that brings her some solace.  It also brings debilitating migraines in the aftermath of her psychic usage, but she has developed some mechanisms that allow her to cope...barely.  Elise knows that the Minion she killed was trying to retrieve a package for his master and she determines to get it first.  While she is successful, it puts her fully on the radar of the evil vampire leading the Rogues causing Tegan to take her to the Breed warrior's compound for her safety.  The contents of the package lead them to Germany and from there things get rather crazy...

I loved the interactions between Elise and Tegan.  He was so hardened at that beginning and watching the slow two-steps-forward-one-giant-leap-back process of Elise working her way under his skin and into his heart was delightful.  Seeing Elise begin to take more confidence in herself and her abilities was also heartwarming.  When Tegan pushed her into a corner, she came out fighting and took him by surprise, something that hasn't happened to him often.  Their road to true love wasn't smooth, but it consistently moved forward which was appreciated--and not at TSTL moment in sight.  The overall story arc of the entire series also took an unexpected left turn that has left me wanting to know more right now!  I have downloaded book four from my library which features Rio who is a tortured character if there ever was one.  Fingers crossed it is as good as this one.