The Last Vampire delivers on what I have come to expect from Pike; complicated characters with dubious morals in fucked up situations. Alisa, also known as Sita, was a bit grating as the main character, although she did grow on me over the course of the book. Starting out she was a little bit too obnoxiously good at everything. My eyes rolled more than a few times. I would have liked it better if she struggled with computers. It would have given her a degree of fallibility that I felt was missing. She needed some sort of Achilles heel. An all-knowing, superpowerful 5,000-year-old vampire who can’t find a power button to save her life is something I could get behind. Beyond that, my chief complaints are that the ending felt rushed and I never completely bought into the love story. All that aside, I still enjoyed this book more than I didn’t. I particularly liked Sita’s relationship with Seymour. The Last Vampire may not be my favorite of Pike’s efforts, but it was far from his worst. It kept me guessing as to where the plot was heading, kept me entertained with a fast-moving plot, and continuously raised the stakes throughout the book. The ending was certainly abrupt, but it also went a long way toward ensuring that I will read the rest of the series. I’ll be posting my review of The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood next week!

Score: 3.5

My full review with memes, snark, and spoilers can be found here: https://www.danstalter.com/the-last-vampire/

@miidnighters (continued from here)

Sam uncurls a finger, curls it back. “And that's why I'm the two-in-one special.”

He plays along even if what she said is entirely unproven. Sam gets a good eyeful of her. Bella, honey-haired and flawless… if not for the fact that she smells stale past the roses. That, as instinctively as he can tell up from down and night from day, he knows she's a thing that doesn't belong. She smells of blood on Friday nights.

He motions his hands like ‘exactly.’

“—Not that you know of, knock on wood.” He raps at the air, casual. “‘Et tu, Brute.’ Famous last words.”

Sam looks like he doesn't belong here, either. Club music pulses a block or two down the road. Neon lights radiate from a shop behind him, cotton-candy pink, and he has a bouquet of flowers nestled by his side, an enveloped card. The lights glow over Bella's face. Is he a liar?

“What if I told you… you're a ray of sunshine?” Sam slants his mouth, makes an amused sound. He's bright. “You tell me.”

@miidnighters // x

SPIRIT, TOO, IS UNACCUSTOMED TO A REGULAR DATE LIKE THIS. She doesn't scroll the dating apps looking for men to take her to a free, fancy dinner; she's much more accustomed to sloppy hook-ups arranged during last call at the bar or club.

But Callisto is different from all of that. She's special.

"Really?" Spirit asks softly. During their nights and early mornings of pillow talk, she's gone into detail about her food preferences, eclectic-yet-simplistic as they are.

She holds her spoon up.

"Let's cheers." She wants them to clink spoons.

@miidnighters asked: New Years Kiss (Callie/Isaac, platonic) meme: send “new years kiss” to give my muse a kiss at midnight on new year’s eve ( accepting, specify platonic or romantic if you have a preference !! )

he didn't really know what to do with himself when the time came. he could go out to a random party or club, as he'd done before. but something about being around that many people felt somewhat... unappealing. & so there he was, sat on callisto's couch watching the countdown with mild interest.

despite any lingering awkwardness of the situation ( as mild as it was ), they were close enough that he thought he could get away with kissing her at the stike of midnight. on the cheek, of course, but it felt harmless, yet perhaps mildly annoying for an added bit of fun for himself. either way, he counts down in his mind, quick to dismiss the start of her command in favour of pressing a short kiss just below her cheekbone with the explanation of ❝ you know, it's supposed to be bad luck on new years, ❞ along with a slight grin.

then after her response comes his own, ❝ well, there's only one way to find out. ❞

( @miidnighters​ ) liked for a starter from Zafir !

    “ Rise and shine beautiful --- “ Wasn’t often that he found creatures that had fallen asleep from a drunken prior night. Though the club wasn’t open for religious reasons, he just so happened to find this person right outside the building of the bar. Zafir crouched down to look at the person, taking hold of their chin to make them look upward. “ Party too hard ? ” They look slightly familiar, maybe they came into the bar a few times before. A grin was wore on his face regardless, not really offering to help them or not.