Wait For Dusk by Jocelynn Drake

Spoiler warning!! Spoilers from the previous book, Pray For Dawn, here. None for Wait For Dusk.

"There is no sanctuary in the night...

Feared even by her own kind for her mastery of fire, the nightwalker Mira is summoned by the coven to take her rightful place as Elder. But with this honor comes grave responsibility - a commitment to the annihilation of the un-leashed naturi. For now the foul creatures walk the earth - and neither vampire nor human will survive their horrific onslaught.

A tide of blood is sweeping relentlessly across the European continent, as Mira is dispatched to Budapest for the most devastating test yet of her astonishing powers - and falls in to a well-laid trap. With the dark secrets that haunt her growing darker by the hour, she must confront the terrible truth of her past and protect her fragile sanity in the face of unanticipated treachery - a betrayal by her trusted ally, her beloved enemy, the vampire slayer Danaus."

This is the 5th book in the Dark Days series and after Danaus' POV for Pray For Dawn (book #4) we're back with Mira. PFD ended on a hell of a cliff hanger and WFD picks up exactly where it left off. Mira is confronted with a new enemy, someone who could prove worse than the now prisoned bori to deal with. He wants something from her and is determined to get it. As he leaves, promising to be watching, Valerio appears on the Coven's orders to tell Mira to return and take her place as an Elder. She knows it can't be avoided, but she refuses to appear alone, taking Danaus with her under the lable of 'consort'.

The other Elders and a few ancients (vampires who've hit the 1000 year mark) make life difficult for Mira, as expected, but it's not until she arrives in Budapest, to rid it of naturi, that the real games begin. She's sure Elder Macaire wants her dead, and at any cost, so she knows being in Budapest at his request will be dangerous. But Danaus betrayal is something she never saw coming. Mira's fighting several different fronts, trying to rid the world of naturi, keep the supernatural world hiden from humans, and now she's doing it not knowing who, if anyone, she can trust.

Got hooked from page one and couldn't put it down. It's fraught with tension and pain as Mira faces new, bigger challenges and Danaus' betrayal. Which I wouldn't have seen coming if not for it being on the blrub. But having it there was a great hook and I think maybe added something because I knew it was coming and I was wondering how he could possibly end up on the opposite side to her with how things were going.

From book one I've been sure Mira is not strictly a nightwalker. I've always thought that she can't have been completely human before she was turned because of her ability to manipulate fire. And it is finally addressed in this book. But the answer surprised me and the repercussions are huge. Not something that can be cleared up all in one book either. I love the developments of Mira and Danaus relationship, including the bad stuff. They just play off each other so well, their differences, the way they've both changed through the series, how they've gotten so close and understand each other so well. With Valerio in Budapest with Mira though, it also gave an interesting glimpse in to her past. The was she used to behave with him when they spent time together a couple of centuries ago. And how she's changed since then, and why. It's almost a darker Mira we're faced with here as she attempts to do the right things, filled with guilt and grief over the loss of Lily, the street kid she and Danaus more or less adopted in the previous book. She's determined now to destroy the naturi by whatever it takes. Nothing is about to stop her. She comes face to face with Rowe again here as well, for the first time since book 3, Dawnbreaker.

As always there were twists and turns I didn't see coming and the tension just build until the ending. It was shocking and sad and made me cry, second Dark Days book running to do so! It was dark, and passionate and fantastic. I love the world building in this series, how the different creatures all work against each other, their own limitations and strengths. It all just comes alive on the page and it's easy to get lost in it. I can not wait for the next book, and while I'm very grateful for getting 2 books within a month of each other, I'm wishing the next one was out with the same time frame! This has become one of my favourite series having only felt so-so about the first, and not much better about the second one. I love Mira and Danaus and both their strengths and weaknesses. But alongside Pray For Dawn this is my favourite of the series so far. Awesome book, awesome series and I'd highly recommend it. 9/10