Thief of Lives by Barb and J.C. Hendee

The second installment in this new series (?) by the Hendees' is fantastic-even better than the first. The novel begins with a horrible death committed by a mysterious assailant who intends the death to bring Magiere, Leesil and Chap to the capital city of Bela. Meanwhile, Magiere, Leesil and Chap have just finished rebuilding thier little coastal bar since it was burned down in the final showdown between Magiere's team and the Rasheds vampire team. Also burned down in the fight was Rashed-the vampires'-warehouse which employed a large part of the town. The economy has suffered drastically and while Magiere and Leesil are heros to many-there are just as many who now have no way to feed thier families and ships are no longer stopping as much in Miiska. Due to the death in the opening scene of the book-a prominent Bela citizens only daughter-the council of Bela has agreed to offer Miiska enough money to rebuild city-owned warehouses in exchange for the services of Magiere, Leesil and Chap. Magiere is horrifed but Leesil has been expecting this all along and has been preparing every morning with his weapons and fighting skills. He is prepared for what awaits them in Bela-or so he thinks. They meet old friends in Bela-the mysterious Westiel who was Magieres' sole informant about her status as Dhampir in the first book; Ratboy who escaped the murders in Miiska and seems to have re-invented himself in Bela-with the help of a new vampire family he created. Also much is revealed about the main character-Leesil gets a visit from a true elf-who is on a mission to murder him as a traitor. Chap is revealed to be much, much more than a clever "wolf" and Magiere finds out if not exactly who than at least what is driving her to discover her true Dhampir nature-and it ain't to rid the world of vampires.....
Nothing is quite what it seems and even though the novel is over the third installment out today-Sister of the Dead-I am still not sure exactly what and who is driving Magiere and Leesil in their quest onward.
I can barely wait until I finish the third book....
~~~~Where ever you go, There you are!