Book Review: Blue Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #5)

Sabina Kane is on the hunt. Her prey: Cain, the father of the vampire race and the one who murdered her family and her friends. Unfortunately, Cain is hunting Sabina, too. The one man who holds the key to defeating Cain is, of course, Abel. A mage with secrets to spare and, hopefully, the power to match it. Unfortunately, for Sabina, he's in Rome and may not want to be found.

Sabina sets out for Italy with her friends, Giguhl and Adam Lazarus, to track down the only man who can get her the revenge she hungers for. But will he help her or oppose her? And just who is Abel, really? Worst of all, when Sabina figures out the goddess Lilith has a plan for her-she realizes this trip is getting deadlier by the minute.

As they say: when in Rome-SURVIVE.

My Review: 
With Cain out and free, Sabina is determined to stop him. With Adam and Giguhl, she goes to see Erron, whose contact in Italy was the man who had imprisoned Cain. With his help, it might be possible to trap him again. The problem is that Cain is tracking them as they try to find him, and Sabina will have to accept help from a whole new group of allies that she struggles to trust. It doesn't help when Asclepius decides that Sabina is to murder someone who once tricked him and that vampire is one of Sabina's new allies. The allies have to plan for a trip deep into the realms of Hell to fulfil Maisie's prophecy and end Cain for good.

The group stop off in New Orleans to once again link up with Zen and Brooks, who is no longer living full time as Pussy Willow and he is starting to deal with the attack that he survived. He and Giguhl make up and start plotting a bit of voodoo mischief together! It gives Sabina the time to take Mac's letter to an angry Georgia who eventually agrees to ask her European contacts for anything on the vampire that Sabina needs to kill. Once in Italy, Sabina finds Persephone who is adamant that she intends to hide rather than take control of the vampires, which is not helpful in the middle of a crisis. She has better luck with Erron's contact Dicky, who gives her a message that was left by Tristan but their first meeting does not go particularly well.  

Finding Tristan and his group opens up a whole new set of issues for Sabina to deal with. The fact that he was expecting to see Maisie and is less than impressed by her stings more than she wants to admit. Tristan doesn't believe that Sabina can be the Chosen and thinks that they are doomed without Maisie. Sabina has to try and prove that she can beat Cain but even she is unsure if she can do it. She also likes Nyx and doesn't want to kill her but she is well aware of the consequences of getting on the wrong side of a God if she breaks the bargain. Just to add to her stress, Giguhl comes face to face with someone that Sabina hoped he would never see again.

I very much enjoyed this final book in the series. There are several action scenes in Italy with Cain, as Sabina tries first to trap him and then evade him. There is the emotional drama of meeting Tristan, and the face from Giguhl's past making a surprise appearance, which I wasn't expecting. I also enjoyed the Nyx side story which presented Sabina with a bit of a moral dilemma. All of the allies Sabina has also make cameo or bigger appearances in the book which I like to see in the final book of the series. I was thrilled to see Brooks back and loved his scenes in New Orleans with Giguhl. It was also nice to see a bit of resolution for the Mac and Georgia story and the reappearance of Erron who is a great supporting character. 

The big finale is the trip through the various stages of Hell. Sabina and her allies have to start by getting through the initial gates and then she has to face down a challenge in the vampire, demon and mage controlled realms of the underworld, all designed to test if she is the Chosen that Maisie predicted. Then it is on to the actual palace where Lilith will be in residence, with Cain and his forces in pursuit. I really enjoyed this mega quest and the challenges faced on the trip through Hell. I liked that there was humour even during these tense scenes and overall I did find the ending satisfying. I hate getting through a series I enjoy and having it go meh in the final book but thankfully this was a good ending to a really enjoyable urban fantasy series. 

Don't miss the short stories in the series as they are also good reads.

Read July 2019
4 stars.