History Literature / BlackDaggerBrotherhood

* AnythingThatMoves: Rhage was like this before he met Mary, and more recently, Zypher, compared to a Lenihan, a beast known for its sexual prowess.
** Qhuinn was like this for everyone except Blaylock, for whom he was SleepsWithEveryoneButYou. Blay actually lampshaded this at various points in the series.

* HurtingHero: Every single one of our heroes qualify in some way.

* OverprotectiveDad: Most of the Brothers who have daughters are 100% certain there will be no dating in the future.

* HasTwoMommies Has Two Daddies: Lyric and Rhampage have not one, but ''three'' daddies by the time everything is said and done.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Just how exactly the fuck do you pronounce Xhex's name? Not to mention Xcor, the glymera, etc. (BTW, Xhex is pronounced "Hex" if you go by the audiobooks.)

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Rehvenge and the ''symphath'' colony.

* LongRunningBookSeries: Sixteen so far in the main series, plus three more books in the spinoff series.

* MrFanservice: A group of enormous men chiseled like Greek gods who are [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex skilled lovers]] and can [[BodyguardCrush pulverize anything attempting to harm their woman]]... with some HoYay to boot.

* AbusiveParents:
** Phury and Zsadist's parents, though only inflicted on Phury (emotional abuse, neglect).
** Vishous' [[spoiler: and Payne's]] father, who was abusive in almost every imaginable way, including castrating his son by tearing off one of his testicles. His mother, alternatively, is also seen as abusive by ignoring her son's childhood plight and trying to force him into an arranged marriage. He spends most of his time acting as though he is unaffected by his childhood [[spoiler: until it all comes to a head in ''Lover Unleashed'', and his grief over the fact that his parents did not protect him is forced to the surface. He demands to know why his parents hurt him, as he did not ask to be born to them.]]
** Jane's parents, though to a lesser extent. They were seen as cold and emotionally unavailable to their daughter after the death of Hannah, Jane's younger sister.
** Butch's father [[spoiler: who really isn't]] was physically and emotionally abusive, even blaming him for the death of his sister.
** Qhuinn's father, because Qhuinn is born with heterochromatic eyes. After Qhuinn's transition they expected it to be magically cured. When it isn't, Qhuinn's dad decides he's going to punch Qhuinn in the face. He is excluded from family events with decreasing amounts of subtlety, eventually being disowned entirely.
** Bella's father and Rehvenge's stepfather. He used to police his eight-year-old daughter's eating habits due to the petrifying fear she'd gain weight. This meant Bella went hungry a lot. Watching Bella pour herself another bowl of cereal is a very emotional moment in Rehvenge's life.
** Saxton's father, who disowned him after Saxton came out. In ''The King'' we see Thyme forbid Saxton to address him as "Father."

** Xcor's mother used to chain him up outside at night.

** Sunlight is this to pureblood vampires. Half-breeds range in tolerance.
* ActionGirl: Plenty of love interests do this, but this is Xhex's bread and butter.
** After seeing Wrath shot, Beth brains a man with a blunt object. Then she crouches over Wrath with a small knife and kills an attack dog coming after them. When Butch and Vishous arrive to back them up, she is in full protector mode and hisses at them.
--->'''Vishous''': She was standing over his body, ready to take the cop and me on with her bare hands if she had to. Like Wrath was her cub, you feel me?
** Payne is the only vampire allowed to spar with Wrath.
** Sola has a cat burglar vibe going on, and she's a definite criminal. Then in ''The King'' [[spoiler: we watch her beat a man to death with a chain and then cut off his hand]].
* ActionGirlfriend: Xhex, which given the extremely protective nature of bonded males, creates rifts between her and John.
** Also Payne for Manny, who is a doctor.

** Inverted with Xhex and John. He's damn near a saint compared to the rest of the brotherhood, and she's a maneating assassin with no qualms about killing for revenge or money.

* AlienBlood: Pureblooded sympaths sport blue blood, even after the stuff's been exposed to the air. Half-breeds like Rehvenge and Xhex have normal-looking blood but it tastes slightly different to other vampires.

* ALoveToDismember: Zsadist's relationship with the skull of his mistress, who held him in sexual slavery for over a century.
* AltarDiplomacy: Inverted in The King, when Beth has to engineer a divorce with Wrath so he can hold on to his throne, but sidesteps Vampire law by marrying Wrath in a Human ceremony.
** Played horrifyingly straight with Trez in ''The Shadows''.
* AMatchMadeInStockholm: Vishous and Jane. It's even lampshaded by Jane at various points in the novel.

* AnArmAndALeg: We see a flashback of Phury getting his leg caught in the side of a cliff face and ''shooting it off at the knee himself'' to get free.
* AndIMustScream: The end result of the chronic illness The Arrest. The victim becomes totally paralyzed and calcified so that they resemble a statue.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Played with by Lash. Technically born of the Omega and a female Vampire, he's raised in Vampiric society as a sociopath aristocrat until he's killed by Qhuinn and brought back from the dead by his real father. His first act after being resurrected? Leading the Lessers on a mass killing spree of the Glymera- including his adoptive parents. Most of the political fallout in the more recent books is a direct result of this bloodbath.
* {{Antidisestablishmentarianism}}: In ''Lover Eternal'' Rhage really likes to hear Mary talk.
* AntiHero: All of them, but especially former nice guy Phury, who by the time we get to know him better is [[spoiler: a drug addict, who hears voices in his head, and whose hobby is torture.]]

* AristocratsAreEvil: The ''glymera'' as a whole. They may not necessarily be out-and-out ''evil'', but you'd be hard-put to find any bunch of people more self-serving, cowardly, head-in-the-sand, hidebound, and obsessed with appearances than the vampire aristocracy. From plotting to kill the king and impose a fake democracy, to treating their own family members like shit for genetic flaws that they had no control over (like Qhuinn) or for perceived or actual behavioral transgressions (like Marissa), these people will make you root for the ''lessers'' to butcher them all and improve the vampire race's overall level of decency.
** [[spoiler: Responsible for the attempted assassination of Wrath's mother, Ahna, because they didn't feel she was a suitable candidate for queen.]]
** [[spoiler: In ''The King'' they force Wrath to choose between Beth and the throne. Beth [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]].]]

* ArrangedMarriage: Vishous ''almost'' is subjected to this; Phury takes his place and [[spoiler: falls in love with the Chosen he is mated to, Cormia.]]
** Tohrment and Wellsie had one of these. Luckily, they fell in love all the same.
** Wrath's parents. Wrath's father falls in love with Ahna on sight.
** Wrath's first (unconsummated) marriage to Marissa, which made Marissa Wrath's UnwantedSpouse.
** Trez was nearly subjected to this.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Rehvenge and the ''sympath'' colony.
* BabyFactory: The primary job of the Scribe Virgin's ''Chosen''. Aside from record keeping, feeding other male vampires their blood, and worshiping their goddess, they are trained to serve the Primale and deliver his children and ensure the continuing of the vampire race. [[spoiler: Phury sees the FridgeHorror behind this system when he becomes Primale and opts to shut the Baby Factory part down.]]

* BadassNormal: Butch, at first.

* BetterAsFriends: Phury and Bella, though it was really only Phury who had the romantic feelings.
** Beth and Butch. They made out in ''Dark Lover'' and Beth complimented his technique, but said she felt no chemistry. By this point she was already involved with Wrath, which made Butch something of a HopelessSuitor.
** Marissa and Wrath. After they dissolve their ArrangedMarriage, it's clear that Wrath still respects Marissa very much, [[spoiler: which is why he doesn't kill her brother for the assassination attempt.]]

** The Omega, an OmnicidalManiac deity, looking to exterminate the Vampire race with his {{Mooks}}, the Lessers, just to spite his deity sister the Scribe Virgin.
** The Fore-Lessers, the chief lieutenants of The Omega who often have their own agendas they pursue alongside the Omega's; the last time the Lessers killed a named character was near the beginning of the series- they've been drifting into HarmlessVillain territory ever since ''Lover Unleashed.''
** [[spoiler: Lash,]] the child of the Omega who briefly took over the Lessening society. WordOfGod says [[spoiler: he'll soon be resurrected to lead the ''lessers'' again.]]
** The Band of Bastards led by Xcor, trying to unseat Wrath and replace the Brotherhood. They achieved what the Brotherhood couldn't- exterminating all of the Lessers in their home country. [[spoiler: As of ''The Chosen'' Xcor and the Bastards are loyal to the King and the Brotherhood, having moved into the mansion.]]
** Throe, formerly a member of the Band of Bastards, who seems to be fomenting a coup against Wrath from within the Vampire nobility. [[spoiler: After his coup fails, Throe has turned to mysticism to gain Wrath's throne. He summons a killer ghost/demon/shadow to do his bidding in ''The Chosen'' and hopes to summon an army of them soon.]]

** Havers towards Marissa. [[spoiler: Perceiving Wrath to be abusing Marissa, Havers calls a hit out on the king.]] However, he's younger than Marissa by five years. Then he tries to have her put under permanent house arrest when she's perceived as "damaged goods" by the Glymera.

** Phury and Zsadist; ironically, Phury is the younger twin but has to constantly pull Zsadist's ass out of the fire.
** All of the Brothers have this instinct with John Matthew.
* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Zsadist's *ahem* ''hardware'' is treated in this way. He is repeatedly described as being "enormous" below the belt or otherwise regarded by others with a sense of envy and/or awe.

* BloodKnight: All the brothers, but especially Zsadist.

* BlueBlood: The ''glymera.'' Any scene of their parties, balls, or political discussions involves at least a dozen brand name items, gold rings, or diamond jewelry being described. Usually subordinate to the King of the Vampires while ruling over their servants with diluted bloodlines, they prove to be just as dangerous to the Brotherhood as the Lessers. At least two attempts to unseat Wrath have been made by the glymera, one by assassination and another by invoking Vampiric Law.

* BrainsAndBondage: Vishous, who is well-read and the most intellectual of the brothers, enjoys bondage. When he reveals this to his surgeon ''shellan'', she is highly disturbed. However, after a session in V's "penthouse," she comes around to the idea.

* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler:Rosalhynda]] was prideful about her beauty and her father's high place in society. After being captured and forcibly impregnated, committing suicide and being resurrected as her daughter's maidservant...not so much. In fact she takes to being very servile and takes joy in doing menial tasks that were beneath her before.

* CareerEndingInjury: [[spoiler:When Wrath breaks Payne's spine.]] Paralleled with a subplot involving Manny's prize racing horse and his decision to try to repair her leg rather than having her destroyed.
* CarvedMark: Endemic to vampire culture. The Brothers all have a star-shaped scar on their left pectoral, made by the Brothers striking them with their daggers as part of the initiation process. The marriage ceremony for male vampires involves having the female's name carved into his back. Zsadist later does the same with his daughter's name.
* CasualKink: V's preferred after hours activity. He practiced BDSM with both men and women, humans and vampires. The Brotherhood even asks to borrow some of his high end restraints for holding [[spoiler: a comatose Xcor]] during ''The Beast.''
* CelibateHero: Phury [[spoiler: until he meets Cormia.]]
* ChildByRape: [[spoiler: Rehvenge, Xhex. Most half-sympaths are stated to be this.]]

* CrazyJealousGuy: All of the members of the Brotherhood are this towards their shellan's, as its said in the lore that all vampire males are extremely possessive once mated.
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: Butch and Vishous have a BDSM session where Butch emotionally breaks Vishous down using a blindfold, a spoon, and a glass of water. His putting away his utensils after Vishous passes out is played like this.
* CursedWithAwesome: Rhage's alter-ego is a fire-breathing dragon that likes to devour ''lessers'' whole, can take mortal wounds on Rhage's behalf, and can use its wings to fly. Eating ''lessers'' causes Rhage some pretty bad indigestion.
* DatingDoSiDo: In the beginning of the series, Marissa and Wrath are mated. But then Wrath leaves Marissa for Beth, on whom Butch has a crush. Then Butch meets Marissa. In later books, this causes jealousy from Vishous, who has an IfItsYouItsOkay thing going on with Butch. But then Vishous meets Jane. Jane worked with this guy named Manny, who asked her out once. Then it turns out that Vishous has a twin sister, Payne, with whom Manny falls in love.
** Blaylock and Qhuinn have UnresolvedSexualTension. Blaylock starts dating Qhuinn's cousin, Saxton. Qhuinn has an encounter with Layla, [[spoiler: and they decide to raise a child together]]. Through this, there is continued WillTheyOrWontThey between Blay and Qhuinn. [[spoiler: They do.]] Then Layla ends up in a love triangle between Throe and Xcor. Then [[spoiler: Throe]] moves on, but the remaining two are on opposing sides of a civil war.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: EVERYONE.

** John Matthew was abandoned as a baby, raised in an orphanage and then sent out into the world at 16, with no idea what or who he is. [[spoiler: As a young adult, he is raped by a large man in the hallway of his apartment complex.]]

** Butch grew up emotionally and physically abused by his father [[spoiler: who wasn't his biological father, and knew it]], and was blamed by his entire family for the rape and murder of his older sister, Janie even though he couldn't stop her from going out that night. It's pretty obvious throughout the books that this has messed him up a bit psychologically.

** Xcor was given up by his father and mother for his birth defect, and the nursemaid who raised him occasionally kept him chained outside her house like a dog. He was then found and raised by the Bloodletter...
* DatingCatwoman: Xcor and Layla become this to each other--whilst neither is a villain, per se, they're closer to this than anything else, what with him trying to kill her king and all.
* DeadpanSnarker: Surprisingly, ingenue-waif Marissa becomes a bit of a FirstPersonSmartass.
* DeathByChildbirth: Extremely common as pregnancy is very risky for vampires. Bella is noted to have a very shaky pregnancy and much time is spent by all characters hoping against this.
** [[spoiler: Beth narrowly avoids this by having an emergency hysterectomy.]]

** Havers and the Glymera had this view of Marissa after Wrath divorced her- despite the fact that it was a political marriage and the two never even slept in the same ''room'', let alone the same ''bed''.

* {{Dhampyr}}: Beth, John Matthew, [[spoiler: Butch, Manny, and Jo]]

* DivineParentage: [[spoiler: Vishous & Payne]]

* {{Dystopia}}: Vampire society is deeply patriarchal and has very rigid gender roles. Their religious beliefs can be crazy and cruel. And the general social fabric is decaying to a feudal state where pure vampiric bloodlines hold the most value.

* EroticDream: Manny has one about Payne after having his memory wiped in ''Lover Unleashed''. Jane had one about Vishous after her memory was wiped.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Assail crosses a lot of lines in his rise to power. Murder, drug dealing, working with the ''lessers'' to expand his criminal empire despite the fact that they plan to exterminate all Vampires. But blood slavery? There's a line even he won't cross.
* EveryoneIsRelated: Both played straight and averted; the Brotherhood call themselves "brothers," but are not related (most of them) by blood. However, if a new (usually male) character is introduced, there's a high chance they're related to the Brotherhood in the traditional sense. Butch turns out to be a cousin of Wrath's, Manny is discovered to be Butch's half-brother, and Xcor is initially introduced as Vishous' half-brother through the Bloodletter but ends up being Tohr's half-brother. John Matthew is an interesting case; he is thought to be Darius' son due to a close DNA match, and therefore Beth's half-brother, but WordOfGod implies that he ''is'' Darius, reincarnated. Which still makes him related to Beth, but in a very different way.
* EvilSmellsBad: Subverted by the lessers, who give off a smell of baby powder.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: When John finds out where Xhex is being held, and why, his vision reds out and his claws extend. He comes to himself hunched over on the floor which is now slick with lesser blood--the lesser's severed head sitting on the countertop staring at him in horror.
* EyeScream: Mr. O ''sews Bella's eyelids shut''.
* FantasticRacism: Wrath towards humans, before falling in love with the half-human Beth.

** ''Lessers'', towards vampires. Mr. X thinks of the race as a good excuse to get away with a murder spree.

* {{Forgiveness}}: In ''Blood Kiss,'' Paradise and Craeg argue about Craeg's {{Revenge}} quest and his DeathSeeker behavior. Paradise straight out says that the CycleOfRevenge will make him [[HeWhoFightsMonsters no better than his enemies]].
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires
* FunetikAksent: When Butch imitates his father's [[{{Southies}} South Boston]] accent, it's rendered phonetically. Ditto Mr. D's Texan twang.

* GoodScarsEvilScars

* HalfHumanHybrid: Beth, [[spoiler: Butch]], and [[spoiler: Manny]]. Only Wrath is full-blooded of all the vampires. And since most of the narrative is from the vampire POV, the vampire-''symphath'' hybrids function in the same way.
** A big sticking point for the ''glymera'', who use this as a reason Beth is unworthy to be queen in ''The King''. Their logic is that any children she has with Wrath, and therefore any heirs to the throne, will be too human.

** Tohr and Wellsie. [[spoiler: For a while.]]

** Butch and Marissa hit a very rough spot in ''Blood Kiss.'' Butch's Catholic upbringing drives him to shelter Marissa while he investigates the murder of a vampire that turned up at Safe Place, Marissa sees this sheltering as just another cage like the glymera tried to force her into. They work through it by [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers talking, hugging it out, and going to a sex club.]]

* HandicappedBadass: Phury. And later Wrath, when he loses his sight completely.
* HandSignals: John Matthew, being born without working vocal chords, communicates by way of a pen and paper, using American Sign Language, or by a whistling system.

* HaremSeeker: The most notable would be Rhage, before falling in love with Mary. Vishous to a lesser extent before his own book.
** Subverted by Phury; he accepts the role of Primale of the Scribe Virgin and is expected to... "service" 40 of her Chosen. He manages to weasel out of this requirement, free the 40 Chosen, AND be with his beloved Cormia.
* [[HasTwoMommies Has Two Daddies]]: Lyric and Rhampage have not one, but ''three'' daddies by the time everything is said and done.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod: As of ''The Beast'' V has discovered that the Vampire deity, the Scribe Virgin, is dead/un-ascended/no longer a deity and will be appointing a successor for the race. The Brothers are all confused by how this could happen but universally agree that this is a bad thing, especially when the war with the Lessers was swinging in their favor. As of ''The Chosen'' there is a new deity for the vampire race: [[spoiler: Lassiter.]] And only Layla knows it!

* HellBentForLeather

* HonorRelatedAbuse: Qhuinn's father regards him as a stain on the family because of his heterochromatic eyes. [[spoiler:It escalates until he orders Qhuinn's brother to form an honor guard to beat Qhuinn to death on the side of the road.]]
* HopelessSuitor: Butch, for Beth, in ''Dark Lover''.

* HurtingHero: Rhage in his book mentions how thanks to his Beast he needs the constant sex he has, in order to keep himself under control enough to not attack his friends, and how it was just emotionless, connectionless grinding to him--he feared he neither deserved nor was capable of truly loving someone or being loved.

* IdleRich: The Glymera families. Their nights are spent dancing at balls or politicking over cigars and fine wine while comparing the purity of their bloodlines or arranging marriages between their children. Their homes and bodies are adorned with so much gold, jewelry, and name-brand clothing, attended by so many servants, and given such deference by common Vampires that one has to wonder where they got all of this wealth from in the first place- and why the Brotherhood fights so hard to defend them.
* IHaveNoSon: Happens frequently when the Glymera are unhappy with their offspring.
** Qhuinn is thrown out of his house by his father and all of his things are ritually burned after he kills [[spoiler:Lash]] while defending John Matthew.
** In ''The King'' Saxton point blank asks if his father, Thyme, hates him. Without skipping a beat he responds "Yes," and later disowns him for being homosexual.

* IfItsYouItsOkay: While each are in their very happy relationships, WordOfGod states that Butch is this towards [[HoYay V.]]
** In ''Lover Unleashed'' Jane tells V she'd be okay with him cheating on her, as long as it was with Butch.

* IncompatibleOrientation: Initially between V and Butch, with V coveting Butch who was in love with Marissa. Recently, it's been Quinn and Blaylock with Blay covering Quinn who doesn't seem to know what the hell he wants.
** As of ''Lover At Last'' Qhuinn has actually gotten his head out his ass and realized that he is in love with his best friend- cue their scheduled HEA in 2013 and many fangirl squeals.

* IntimateHealing: Vishous does this with Butch, after the latter sucks up a lesser. To the point that Jane initially assumes Vishous is gay.
** [[spoiler: Manny finds that sexual arousal is the way to heal Payne's paralysis in ''Lover Unleashed''. He even makes reference to the Marvine Gaye song "Sexual Healing"]]
* InterspeciesRomance: Technically, humans, vampires, ''doggen'', and ''sympaths'' are distinct species that only occasionally successfully cross-breed.

* JamesBondage: When [[spoiler:Rehvenge]] is taken by the ''sympaths''.

* LoveTriangle: [[SiblingTriangle Phury/Bella/Zsadist]], Rehvenge/Marissa/Butch.

** [[spoiler: The Scribe Virgin]] informs Vishous that she's his mother.
** [[spoiler: Xhex's]] mother is a member of The Chosen.
** [[spoiler: Butch, Manny, and Jo]] share the same father through different mothers.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Butch has this, which he chalks up to his Catholic upbringing. [[spoiler:It causes tension between him and his wife when there are sexual things that he refuses to discuss with her or admit that he wants because he thinks they would demean her. In ''Blood Kiss'' they work it out and go to a sex club in full latex gear together.]]
** [[spoiler:Butch admits that some of his guilt around this is based on the rape and murder of his older sister Janie. In his worst moments, Butch admits that he has some [[GoodVictimsBadVictims victim-blaming thoughts about Janie's promiscuity]]. Marissa helps him to work through the logic of this train of thought so that he can dismiss it and focus more on what he loved about his sister than about his own guilt.]]
* ManlyGay: Pretty much all the gay or bisexual characters. The closest to come to flamboyant is Saxton, and he's still portrayed as pretty manly.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Vampires are immortal unless killed; humans are not. [[spoiler: Originally]] the arrangement with Rhage and Mary, Vishous and Jane, and [[spoiler: Manny and Payne]].
* MercyKill: [[spoiler: After being seized by her final Arrest, Trez asks Selena to blink twice if she wants to die via lethal injection. She blinks twice, and Trez, Manny and Doc Jane assist in the act.]]

* {{Mooks}}: The unnamed ''lessers'' fit this trope to a T, being about as disposable as used tissues.

** Subverted when the Brothers engage lessers on their own. While the lessers will still be left dead, the individual Brother will usually be left bleeding out on the pavement.

** Xhex is an aversion. It is mentioned that she had an affair with Rehvenge and a liaison with Butch; and ''Lover Mine'' revealed she was once happily mated to a brother named Muhrder ([[{{Narm}} yes, Muhrder]]), before he found out about her ''sympath'' half.

** Phury also gender flips this, though Cormia was also a virgin.

* NeverLearnedToRead: Bitty's uncle Ruhn has to have her adoption papers read to him because, as a Vampire craftsman, he spent his whole life making works of art for the Glymera. He signs the papers by making a quick self-portrait.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Ruh, Bitty's biological uncle, is introduced as an illiterate, softspoken artist for the Glymera. One book later? [[spoiler: Turns out he was some kind of underground, Vampire MMA fighting champion capable of deadly feats of close combat. [[AssPull That information is dropped without any foreshadowing or subtlety, delivered via a phone call from a Brother to Saxton]].]]
* NoPronunciationGuide: Just how exactly the fuck do you pronounce Xhex's name? Not to mention Xcor, the glymera, etc...
* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: Lash uses this to taunt John Matthew with, having raped his LoveInterest Xhex while holding her in captivity. When Xhex vehemently denies that the sex was consensual, John Matthew is reminded of his own rape and mops the floor with Lash.
* OddNameOut: Among the Brothers there is Tohrment, Wrath, Rhage, Vishous, Zsadist, Phury, and... Darius. [[spoiler:Guess who dies...]]

* ParanormalInvestigation: Two investigators, professional reporter Bill and real estate agent turned IntrepidReporter Jo, come close to finding out the truth about Vampires in ''The Beast'' during their own investigation of the aftermath of a battle between the Lessers and the Brotherhood at an abandoned school. They ultimately drop the story as too unreal in favor of pursuing something more reasonable, like looking for Jo's long lost brother, [[spoiler: Manny]].

** Xcor's adoptive mother/nursemaid used to tie him up outside in the yard at night.
* PanickyExpectantFather: All of the Brothers whose mates become pregnant get like this, to some degree due to the high mortality rate for both the child and the mother.
** [[spoiler: Wrath, in ''The King''. Justified, as it's stated Beth would have died if not for ghostly intervention.]]
** Blay and Qhuinn, after Layla nearly has a miscarriage- ''twice.''

* PleaseDontLeaveMe: [[spoiler: Qhuinn goes off the deep end in ''The Chosen'' when he learns Layla was seeing Xcor while pregnant. He threatens to strip Layla of her parental rights, fires off his pistol in the nursery (while the twins are there), and tells Blay that he is not a father to the twins. Blay packs up and leaves and tells Qhuinn it's over between them. Qhuinn apologizes and practically begs Blay to come back. Blay does forgive him and come back after Qhuinn apologizes to Layla and restores her rights to see the Twins.]]
* PolarOppositeTwins: Zsadist and Phury. Although they're not so different as the story continues...
* ProductPlacement: Holy Scribe Virgin, everyone in the series is a brand whore.
** Particularly {{JustForFun/egregious}} offenders are Butch and Vishous (who wear Gucci and Louis Vuitton), and John Matthew and Qhuinn (who are strictly into Affliction t-shirts and Abercrombie and Fitch jeans).
*** Phury was the one who got Butch started on his clothing fetish. He favors Dior, Tom Ford and Armani.
** Not to mention specific brands of alcohol, cigarettes, shoes, ties...
** There is even a mention of a specific brand of cat food in ''Dark Lover''.

* PsychicAssistedSuicide: [[spoiler: Assail]] seems to have the ability to do this.
* PunishmentBox: Qhuinn recovers his brother from imprisonment in a barrel.
* PurpleIsPowerful : Rehvenge has amethyst eyes. [[spoiler:He later becomes king of the sympaths.]]

* RagsToRoyalty: Butch finds out about two-thirds of the way through his book that he is of Wrath's bloodline.

* [[RapeAsBackstory Rape Is The New Dead Parents]]: And four of the major characters get both!
* ReallyGetsAround: Rhage is the biggest one, before meeting Mary. Vishous, as well, before meeting Jane.

** Taken up to eleven with Butch, Manny, and [[spoiler:Jo]]'s shared father. The man had a habit of leaving his girlfriend-of-the-week at the first sign of pregnancy without ever informing their mothers of his ''species.''

* ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler: During ''The Chosen,'' iAm looks at the resume of a Vampire from Detroit named Therese for his Italian restaurant. When she arrives for an interview, he nearly faints when he sees the spitting image of Selena standing in his doorway. Lassiter also arranges for Trez to visit iAm at the same time she's interviewing and Trez completely loses it when he sees Therese (or Tres, as she likes to be called). It's ambiguous whether this is a true reincarnation a la Darius/John Mathew, or is a mundane but damn scary coincidence.]]

* RoadsideSurgery: Tohr performs this on [[spoiler:Wrath when he is shot in the throat]].
* {{Sadist}}: Many of the ''lessers''. Lash sticks out.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: In ''Blood Kiss'', the night the first Black Dagger Brotherhood training program meets, they don't actually throw them straight into combat with ''lessers.'' But they do poison the trainees, submerge them without warning in a swimming pool, and force them into feats of endurance to prove their worthiness to join the program.

* TortureCellar: The Brotherhood has one in the Tomb. They go here when Zsadist has to whip Rhage, and they hold prisoners here.

* TrainingFromHell: Life in the Bloodletter's warrior camp.
** Slightly less so for the Black Dagger Brotherhood training program. They stop just shy of physical abuse.

* {{Awesome McCool Name}}: Oh, man...to the point of {{narm}}. We have [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Rhage, Vishous, Wrath, Zsadist, Phury, Tohrment, Rehvenge, Dehstroyer, Tehrror, Lash, Hharm, Torhture, Ahgony, and Hurt]]. The list goes on and on.
-->'''Butch''': Yeah, no Tom, Dick, and Harry names for the vampire types. But come on, could you really imagine some lethal bloodsucker named Howard? Eugene? ''Oh, no, Wallie, please don't bite my--''
** There's even a one-shot human tattoo artist named ''R.I.P.''.
** As of ''Lover At Last'', we have Trez, iAm, Assail, Qhuinn, Blaylock (Blay for short), Zypher, Throe, Syphon, and ''Balthazar.''
** Xcor's name seems to be a weird amalgamation of XtremeKoolLetterz until you realize it's a shortened form of 'excoriate' - to severely criticize or to ''flay off skin''.
** In ''The King'' we have a guy named s'Ex.

* KnifeNut: Vishous

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The series began with a fairly manageable circle of unique warriors as its main cast. Add in their respective love interests, the members of the Glymera, the different Fore-Lessers, The Symphaths, the Shadows and their society, the newly recruited Vampire Soldiers, the Band of Bastards, and the average humans of Caldwell, then the roster of characters in this series starts looking pretty long.

** The Omega, an OmnicidalManiac deity and OverarchingVillain of the series, looking to exterminate the Vampire race with his {{Mooks}}, the Lessers, just to spite his deity sister the Scribe Virgin.

* ''Lover Unveiled'' (Sahvage)

* HalfHumanHybrid: Beth, [[spoiler: Butch]], and [[spoiler: Manny]]. Only Wrath is full-blooded of all the vampires. And since most of the narrative is from the vampire POV, the vampire-''sympath'' hybrids function in the same way.

* Eye Scream: Mr. O ''sews Bella's eyelids shut''.

* CrazyJealousGuy: All of the members of the Brotherhood are this towards their shellan's, as its said in the lore that all vampire males are extremely possessive once mated.

* Sadist: Many of the ''lessers''. Lash sticks out egregiously.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVillified: Wrath reaches his limit with the constant politicking of the glymera especially around his wife Beth, and, with Saxton's help, abolishes the monarchy and establishes a Vampire democracy. He is ele

* ''Lover Reborn'' (Tohrment and No'one)

* ''The Shadows'' (Trez and Selena; [[spoiler: iAm and Catra]])

* ''The Savior'' ([[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent Muhrder and Dr. Sarah Watkins?]])

* ''Blood Truth'' (Between ''The Savior'' and ''Where Winter Finds You''; Boone and Helaine)

* ''How Winter Finds You'' ([[spoiler:Trez]] and Therese)

* ''Blood Fury'' (Novo and Peyton; Saxton and Ruhn)

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: See LiteraryAgentHypothesis.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Ward has always spoken of the books as being dictated to her by the characters, and not written by her.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVillified: Wrath reaches his limit with the constant politicking of the glymera especially around his wife Beth, and, with Saxton's help, abolishes the monarchy and establishes a Vampire democracy. He is elected King for life by the non-glymera vampires.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Two of them drive the plot in ''The Thief.'' Ricardo Benloise's sister comes to Caldwell to investigate the disappearance of her brother and dish out some old-fashioned drug cartel justice to his killer. [[spoiler: She's unaware of the Vampires and politics surrounding his death, but is able to put together the fact that Assail had something to do with it. She even finds her brother's remains- to her horror, considering how much time has passed. She succeeds in manipulating Ricardo's former employees to work for her, fools the Caldwell PD about her activities (for a little while), and manages to put a bullet or two into Assail.]] Then Sola catches her trail and uses her burglary skills to put an end to it- because no one gets between a thief and her vampire aristocrat boyfriend!
* RoyalBlood: Wrath is the king of all vampires, Butch is his cousin, and Rehvenge becomes King of the Sympaths.
** iAm's beloved Catra becomes Queen of the Shadows after the death of her mother.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Wrath maintains (secretly) an active role in the war with the lessers, and Rehvenge goes to meet with the colony every so often to keep the peace.
** [[spoiler: Kicked UpToEleven in ''The King'', when Wrath begins to hold private audiences with civilians who had previously never seen him in public. It wins him the popular vote for leadership in their new democracy.]]
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: If a vampire has had your blood, he (or she) can find you forever, no matter where you are or how far you run.
* SecretWar: By unspoken agreement, vampires and lessers will stop fighting and move the battle to a less human-populated location. As it's explained, having human cops poking around is bad news for both species.
* SelfSurgery: Rhage used to do this all the time before Jane came along.
-->'''Rhage''': When you can use your large intestine as a belt loop, that's how you know you've hit the pros!
* SemiDivine: [[spoiler: Vishous]] is the son of the Scribe Virgin, the deity vampires pray to in his universe. [[spoiler: He also has a twin sister named Payne.]]
* SeparatedAtBirth: Phury and Zsadist were separated as infants; their nanny kidnapped Zsadist to be sold into slavery. Phury takes it upon himself to find his twin (who is the favored first-born twin), and takes a vow of celibacy after he finds him.
** Vishous and Payne. Vishous was sent to his father's training camp, and Payne stayed with their mother [[spoiler: in the realm of the Chosen]].
* ServantRace: The ''doggen''. Distinguishable from vampires in that they don't seem to need to feed and they can go out in the daylight, but are highly involved in vampire culture.
* SexEqualsLove: Averted.
* SexSlave: Zsadist was one, as well as a blood slave.
* SharpDressedMan: Phury and Butch. Each, in their interviews, mentions having multiple closets and favoring high-class designer clothes.
* ShowerOfLove: Used a few times in the series, notably between Manny and Payne in ''Lover Unleashed'' and a non-sexual but romantic example between Xhex and John in ''Lover Mine''.
* SiblingTeam: Phury and Zsadist
** Vishous and Payne
** Trez and iAm.
* SingleTargetSexuality: Once a brother 'bonds' with a female, formally or informally, it is virtually impossible for them to do anything without the female's approval.
* SinisterScythe: Xcor, Throe, and the Band of Bastards have them.
* SlidingScaleOfGenderInequality: Vampires are a highly patriarchal society. Bonded males are highly protective of their mates, which in terms of the Brothers means they stay safely in the mansion, away from the fighting. Most of the women are fine with this (or mostly fine), [[spoiler: but Xhex takes major issue with it. Xhex and John spend most of ''Lover Reborn'' separated over this issue. She wants to fight, but John's protective instinct means he keeps babying her in the middle of battle and putting himself in harm's way. Xhex, being highly independent and a skilled fighter, naturally gets pissed off.]]
** There's also [[spoiler: another vampire-like society out there]] that completely flips this on its head; women seem to be in charge of almost everything with any men in positions of power being religious leaders or those with positions that must answer to women. [[spoiler: The society is ruled by a queen whose consort]] must live in total isolation in the Palace grounds, with the only visitors being servants and family. One of the characters lives in terror of this fate.
* SlidingScaleOfVampireFriendliness: Pretty solidly in the friendly end of the scale.
* SmellsSexy: The bonding scent is used as a warning to other males and an aphrodisiac to the female who inspires it.
* SocialDarwinist: The entire Primale/Chosen breeding program. [[spoiler: Also the Scribe Virgin's reason for choosing the Bloodletter to father her children.]]
* SoulJar: The ceramic jars of the lessers that hold their hearts.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Payne nicely demonstrates the trope in ''Lover Unleashed''.
-->'''Payne''': And if you try to dissuade me by the fact that I have not lived long enough to judge, I say unto you...fuck off.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Brothers names are [[AwesomeMcCoolName cool words]] with an extra "H" or "S" thrown in.
* TheSociopath: All ''sympaths'' are believed to be this, since they tend to have a total lack of morals and empathy. Half-breeds [[spoiler: like Xhex and Rehvenge]] ''can'' subvert this, though they have to constantly battle their SuperpoweredEvilSide throughout their lives.
** When he was alive, [[spoiler: Lash]] was only to happy to terrorize the weaker vampires in the race's boot camp, up to and including potentially raping John Matthew. When he was resurrected by the Omega, he gleefully leads the Lessers on a massive killing spree against the vampire civilians he knew and socialized with in his past life, takes Xhex as his own SexSlave and noisily complains that the Lessers who serve him have reduced him to shopping at Target for clothes and eating [=McDonald=]'s for dinner.
* TheSpeechless: John Matthew, who was born without vocal chords. He alternately uses pen and paper and sign language to communicate with those around him.
* StockNinjaWeaponry: Wrath uses ''hira shuriken'' in ''Dark Lover''.
* SuddenlySexuality: The side romance in ''Blood Vow'' between Saxton and Ruhn comes out of left field. There were few if any indications that Ruhn was anything other than heterosexual. He even lampshades this at one point in the book.
* SueDonym: When Rhage tries to pass as human with Mary, he takes his nickname (Hollywood) and makes it Hal E Wood.
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Let's see, there's Vishous, Butch, John, Wrath, Rehv....
* TearsOfBlood: Xhex and Rhevenge do this in place of normal tears. A ''sympath'' trait, apparently.
* TellMeAboutMyMother: Beth does this for Darius with Wrath and Fritz. Fritz' is specifically about how invested Darius was in Beth's life.
* TheDandy: Throe is outright stated to have been this before he fell in with the Band of Bastards.
* TheDiaperChange: Qhuinn is subjected to this by his son Rhampage [[spoiler: after Blay breaks up with him.]]
* TheSpartanWay: The Bloodletter's war camp where Vishous and Darius trained.
* TheUnFavorite: Qhuinn, especially when his family measured him against their eldest son Luchas, right up until the entire family was massacred in the Raids. [[spoiler: As of ''The Shadows'' Luchas has been found alive, if horribly disfigured from Lesser torture. He regularly pops up in the Brotherhood's medical facilities undergoing therapy.]]
** Phury was the second-born twin, which in vampire culture is ingrained as TheUnfavorite because it signifies a curse upon his family. After his twin is kidnapped, Phury is alternatively ignored and abused by his parents. He mentions that they did not notice when he left to find Zsadist, and that he did not attend their funerals.
** Butch is the un-favorite of his father, being cast aside and beaten as a child. He also blames Butch for the murder of Butch's older sister. It's implied that his father knew Butch was the result of infidelity.
** Jane was this in comparison to her terminally ill sister Hannah. After Hannah died, the situation turned into AbusiveParents.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted with Mary. A former crisis hotline counselor, she becomes a therapist for Zsadist to help him overcome the psychological scars from his time as a slave. Also moonlights at Marissa's shelter "Safe Place" helping Vampire females escape abusive males.
* TitleDrop: Done in ''Lover Mine'', page 482. Also somewhat done in ''Lover Eternal'', ''Lover Awakened'', and ''Lover Enshrined''.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Arguably [[spoiler: Wellsie, along with Tohr's unborn son, who were murdered by a Lesser in ''Lover Awakened.'']]
** Implied with Wrath's parents. ''The King'' makes it seem as though their relationship and their love for one another was this, as it doomed them to be murdered.
* TookALevelInBadass: This seems to happen to all vampires upon their transition from pre-trans into full vampires. After the awkward, getting-used-to-new-larger-limbs phase. Especially notable in John Matthew between his transition and ''Lover Mine'', owing to the fact that his LoveInterest was kidnapped by his enemy.
* TotallyRadical: Younger John, Qhuinn and Blay's slang is a little anachronistic.
* TraumaticCSection: Layla is forced to undergo one when it looks like she's suffering a miscarriage during ''The Beast.'' [[spoiler: One of the twins is alive and the other is a stillbirth- until being revived by Payne and Manny. The daughter is named Lyric after Blay's mother, and the son is named Rhampage by Wrath, according to Brotherhood tradition.]]
* UnwantedHarem: Phury accepts the title of Primale from the Scribe Virgin to spare V the fate of being an eternal Vampire Stud for the Chosen. Half of his book is devoted to trying to deal with his celibacy and the effect it has on the lives of the Chosen. [[spoiler: Phury keeps the title of Primale but he "frees" the Chosen from their duty of being baby factories for the Scribe Virgin via LoopholeAbuse. He and Cormia instead take the Harem to a private lodge where they now live and are slowly integrating in the modern world, under his protection.]]
* UnwantedSpouse: Marissa, for Wrath at the beginning of the series.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Kind of the whole point of the series.
* VampireMonarch: Wrath. [[spoiler: Until they become a democracy in ''The King''. Then he's just elected as King for life!]]
* VampiresOwnNightClubs: Just ask Rehvenge, owner first of ZeroSum, and then of The Iron Mask.
* VetinariJobSecurity: Havers is the ultimate Vampire Poster Boy for this. He's the only modern Doctor among the Vampire race, trained in modern medicine and intimately familiar with Vampire Physiology. For all the double-crossing and misogynistic BS he pulls in the books, he's too valuable a resource to the race for Wrath and Company to do anything more than beat him senseless- even with Doc Jane and Manny working to play catch-up.
* VegetarianVampire: Havers is working towards this, trying to find a way to feed without having to involve anyone else. He's repulsed by the idea since the death of his ''shellan'' before the series.
* VomitDiscretionShot: S'ex tries not to let any of the guards hear him throwing up after he overhears them murdering his infant daughter.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Havers. Whether he's trying to cure the need for drinking blood or restore Marissa's reputation through assassinating the King, he always views himself as the good guy.
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude
* WillTheyOrWontThey: It drives the plot of the couple featured in the book, but that is pretty much cut and dry, since they're romance novels with a fairly predictable formula. The real "Will They, Won't They?" couple would probably be Qhuinn and Blaylock.
** Eventually, [[spoiler: TheyDo; it just takes them a looooong time.]]
** Now it's looking like it's going to be [[spoiler: Layla and Xcor. And TheyDo too.]]
* WomenPreferStrongMen: This series ''is'' this trope. And shamelessly so.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Payne and the Chosen throw around a lot of "verily"s, along with the occasional "thine" (used ungrammatically) and reversed verb-noun order. It is also seen in the flashbacks.
* YourCheatingHeart: By [[spoiler: Vishous]] of all people in ''The Thief''! The scene is unclear about whether or not they went through with it but their partner discovers them after the nameless third person has left. The scene also doubles as PlotIncitingInfidelity as [[spoiler: Jane and V take a hiatus to come to terms with what happened and decide what it means for their relationship, and Jane ultimately investigates The Sanctuary to discover Throe's theft of The Book and the status of the ex-goddess Scribe Virgin.]]

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