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* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns. The pros and cons of the weapons are oft-debated.
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* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.guns. The pros and cons of the weapons are oft-debated.
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* HeroesWantRedheads: George, the pretty redhead psychic Cal is entirely in love with.
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%%* ChekhovsGunman: In ''Madhouse''.,[[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
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%%* ChekhovsGunman: In ''Madhouse''.,[[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, department, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
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* {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler:Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smart assed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
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* {{Reincarnation}}: [[spoiler:Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smart assed smart-assed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
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* SignificantNameShift: Cal was named "Caliban" but his abusive mother as a [[ReferencedBy/WilliamShakespeare reference]] to the monster in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's Theatre/TheTempest. His older brother, Niko, refuses to call him anything but "Cal" until he accepts his little brother might have some monstrousness from his HalfHumanHybrid heritage after all.
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Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half evil elf. His mother was [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of him]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
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Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half evil elf. His mother was [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of him]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
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"Rob" Thurman is a MoustacheDePlume for Robyn, revealing her full first name only in the fourth book of the Cal Leandros series About the Author. She has also written the Trickster novels, ''Trick of the Light,'' and''Grimrose Path,'', and the Korsak brothers' series ''Chimera,'' and ''Basilisk,'', as well as the non-spectulative mystery novel, ''All Seeing Eye''. The Trickster series is set in the same universe as the ''Cal Leandros'' stories and [[{{Crossover}}both include Robin Goodfellow as a character.]]
to:
Additionally, Thurman has self-published a number of short stories for the characters
"Rob" Thurman is a MoustacheDePlume for Robyn, revealing her full first name only in the fourth book of the Cal Leandros series About the Author. She has also written the Trickster novels, ''Trick of theLight,'' and''Grimrose Path,'', Light'' and ''The Grimrose Path'', and the Korsak brothers' series ''Chimera,'' ''Chimera'' and ''Basilisk,'', as well as the non-spectulative non-speculative mystery novel, ''All Seeing Eye''. The Trickster series is set in the same universe as the ''Cal Leandros'' stories and [[{{Crossover}}both include Robin Goodfellow as a character.]]
"Rob" Thurman is a MoustacheDePlume for Robyn, revealing her full first name only in the fourth book of the Cal Leandros series About the Author. She has also written the Trickster novels, ''Trick of the
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%%* BadGuyBar
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%%* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
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* PlagueMaster: Suyolak, a walking plague bomb trying to murder peopel with his off-the-charts healing ability.
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* PlagueMaster: Suyolak, a walking plague bomb trying to murder peopel people with his off-the-charts healing ability.
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Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairFolk evil fairy.]] His mother was [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of him]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
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Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairFolk evil fairy.]] elf. His mother was [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of him]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
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* ''Everwar''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the ''Cal Leandros'' stories.
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the ''Cal Leandros'' stories.
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
to:
The author, Rob Thurman,
"Rob" Thurman is
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was
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%%* DeadlyDoctor: Suyolak.
%%* DemonSlaying
%%* DemonSlaying
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%%* DemonSlaying
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%%* HeroesWantRedheads: George
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%%* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
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%%* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:Cal's nest of 'siblings']] in ''Blackout'' and [[spoiler:Grimm]] in ''Doubletake''. Also Niko's father Kalakos.
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%%* TheMedic: Rafferty.
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%%* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
%%* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
%%* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
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%%* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace: By the fourth book, Cal is the last remaining male Auphe that the Auphe are aware of, so they try to kidnap him as a breeding stud.
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%%* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely. Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
%%--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
%%--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
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%%-->
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
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%%* PlagueMaster: Suyolak.
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%%* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of ''Doubletake'', [[spoiler:she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
%%* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
%%* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
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%%* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
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%%* InTheBlood:
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* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
%%* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
%%* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
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* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** Cal is losing his humanity and what conscience and empathy he has [[spoiler:as his Auphe half becomes dominant]].
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays a wolf.
%%* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
* NamedAfterFirstInstallment: The series is named in Japanese after the first novel, ''Nightlife''.
%%* OccultDetective: Cal,Niko Niko, and Promise's business.
** Cal is losing his humanity and what conscience and empathy he has [[spoiler:as his Auphe half becomes dominant]].
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays a wolf.
%%* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
* NamedAfterFirstInstallment: The series is named in Japanese after the first novel, ''Nightlife''.
%%* OccultDetective: Cal,
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* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point. ''Slashback'' reveals that [[spoiler:peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
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* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin origins of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point. ''Slashback'' reveals that [[spoiler:peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
%%* ThePlague
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** Although Cal's universe has a few differences with our own--a werewolf Mafia, scientists who have developed a treatment for vampirism, and so on, it also shares a lot of similarities. For example:
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* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** Cal is losing his humanity and what conscience and empathy he has [[spoiler:as his Auphe half becomes dominant]].
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays a wolf.
%%* ThePlague
** Cal is losing his humanity and what conscience and empathy he has [[spoiler:as his Auphe half becomes dominant]].
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays a wolf.
%%* ThePlague
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[[caption-width-right:330:The Japanese cover of ''Madhouse'', illustrated by Yu Takashina as Kazusa.]]
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[[caption-width-right:330:The Japanese cover of ''Madhouse'', illustrated by Yu Yuh Takashina as Kazusa.]]
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Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk evil fairy.]] His mother got [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of a newborn]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
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Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk [[TheFairFolk evil fairy.]] His mother got was [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of a newborn]]), him]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
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[[caption-width-right:330:The Japanese cover of ''Madhouse'', illustrated by Kazusa (和紗).]]
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[[caption-width-right:330:The Japanese cover of ''Madhouse'', illustrated by Kazusa (和紗).Yu Takashina as Kazusa.]]
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[[caption-width-right:330:Japanese covers are sometimes better.]]
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[[caption-width-right:341:Japanese covers are sometimes better.]]
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[[AC: Books in the series so far are:]]
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* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the Cal Leandros stories.
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the Cal Leandros stories.
to:
* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
''Everwar''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as theCal Leandros ''Cal Leandros'' stories.
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the
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!!This series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbandonedHospital: shown in ''Madhouse.''
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]]. Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cal counts, seeing as he would like nothing more than to see his paternal race dead. Of course, seeing as 'AxeCrazy' is a wholly insufficient {{understatement}} to describe the Auphe, we cheer him on every step of the way.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
* BadassFamily: The Leandros boys have been forced to become this.
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
* AbandonedHospital: shown in ''Madhouse.''
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]]. Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cal counts, seeing as he would like nothing more than to see his paternal race dead. Of course, seeing as 'AxeCrazy' is a wholly insufficient {{understatement}} to describe the Auphe, we cheer him on every step of the way.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
* BadassFamily: The Leandros boys have been forced to become this.
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
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*
%%* AbandonedHospital:
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]].
%%* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
*
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
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* BadPowersGoodPeople: Cal finds some good uses for his gate-opening ability, but...
* BatmanGambit: Delilah's solution to her pack demanding the death of Cal. [[spoiler: Her Alpha is dumb enough to believe that a girl can't handle killing a guy. Then she sics Cal on them, knowing that Cal is more badass than her pack.]]
* BerserkButton: Cal and Niko are each other's. Mess with one brother, and the other will come after you. Also, don't hit on Niko in front of Promise.
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* BrosBeforeHoes: Referenced in ''Blackout'', when Cal convinces Niko to get a tattoo. He has Ishiah write the text in Aramaic so that Niko won't be able to read it. When asked what it means, he claims it's 'Bros before Hoes'. [[spoiler:It's actually 'Brothers before Souls'.]]
* BusCrash: [[spoiler: George in ''Deathwish.'' Though since she had developed MindManipulation skills in the meantime, she actually faked her death in Grimm's memory.]]
* CannibalClan: Well, Sawney Beane returns in ''Madhouse.''
* CantHaveSexEver: Cal won't have sex with anyone who can have children, which rules out the girl he actually loves.
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally in ''Madhouse''. Cal gives [[spoiler: Wahanket]] a gun as an offering, since he couln't come up with anything else on short notice. It proves to have been a bad idea. [[spoiler: Good thing Wahanket had had no opportunity to practise shooting]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Again in ''Madhouse''. [[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
* {{Chupacabra}}: One shows up in ''Deathwish.'' They're substantially different from the usual perception. [[spoiler: Though Xolo is definitely more dangerous than you'd think.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
* BatmanGambit: Delilah's solution to her pack demanding the death of Cal. [[spoiler: Her Alpha is dumb enough to believe that a girl can't handle killing a guy. Then she sics Cal on them, knowing that Cal is more badass than her pack.]]
* BerserkButton: Cal and Niko are each other's. Mess with one brother, and the other will come after you. Also, don't hit on Niko in front of Promise.
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* BrosBeforeHoes: Referenced in ''Blackout'', when Cal convinces Niko to get a tattoo. He has Ishiah write the text in Aramaic so that Niko won't be able to read it. When asked what it means, he claims it's 'Bros before Hoes'. [[spoiler:It's actually 'Brothers before Souls'.]]
* BusCrash: [[spoiler: George in ''Deathwish.'' Though since she had developed MindManipulation skills in the meantime, she actually faked her death in Grimm's memory.]]
* CannibalClan: Well, Sawney Beane returns in ''Madhouse.''
* CantHaveSexEver: Cal won't have sex with anyone who can have children, which rules out the girl he actually loves.
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally in ''Madhouse''. Cal gives [[spoiler: Wahanket]] a gun as an offering, since he couln't come up with anything else on short notice. It proves to have been a bad idea. [[spoiler: Good thing Wahanket had had no opportunity to practise shooting]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Again in ''Madhouse''. [[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
* {{Chupacabra}}: One shows up in ''Deathwish.'' They're substantially different from the usual perception. [[spoiler: Though Xolo is definitely more dangerous than you'd think.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
to:
*
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
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* DeadlyDoctor: Suyolak.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, but especially Cal and Robin.
* DemonSlaying
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In every one of their past lives, when either Cal or Niko dies, the other ''' ''always'' ''' soon follows. Sometimes it's direct suicide by the survivor's own hand. Other times, the survivor becomes a DeathSeeker out for revenge. Their present life is no exception, as illustrated by Niko going coldly and suicidally berserk when he's tricked by an illusion of Cal's bloody corpse.]]
* DisappearedDad: Whoever Cal's dad is, he and his race have been keeping tabs on Cal forever. Also, Niko's dad took off before he was born. And Cherish's isn't even mentioned. It's noteworthy for Cal, for [[spoiler: killing his "dad" during his escape from Tumulus]], and then for Niko, for [[spoiler: killing most of the rest of the Auphe and ''all'' of the males, thereby deadending ''that'' genetic lineage of evil]] in the climax of ''Nightlife''.
* DominoRevelation: If the Auphe weren't bad enough all of the other ''weird'' monsters like the Goat Sucker show up or are often mentioned.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Cal.
* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
* EvilCounterpart: Grimm.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Robin's place of employment.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
* InTheBlood:
** Cal is terrified of going Auphe. Leads to TheDarkSide calling, and EvilFeelsGood.
** Niko's father, Kalakos, remarks that their bloodline is said to be descended from Achilles, an idea that Robin reaffirms by saying that Niko and Kalakos look like Achilles. [[spoiler: Of course, the truth behind that statement is [[{{Reincarnation}} slightly more complicated...]]]]
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Niko would burn the world to protect his brother. The only reason Cal ever gets near to any combat is because Niko is a firm believer that the only way to be ready for combat is to actually participate in it.
** Cal reciprocates the sentiment just as strongly. And considering he's slowly slipping into a {{Sociopathic|Hero}} NominalHero over the course of the series with Niko as his sole MoralityChain...the question isn't really ''if'' he kills you, but how much he'll make it hurt before he does so.
* LadykillerInLove: Robin after getting involved with Ishiah ''considers monogamy.'' [[spoiler:He puts the word "monogamite" on his business card--along with the number for the suicide hot-line, which Robin figures everyone will need when they learn he is no longer available.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The plot of ''Blackout'' involves Cal getting a case of this from [[spoiler: repeated!]] Nepenthe spider venom.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, but especially Cal and Robin.
* DemonSlaying
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In every one of their past lives, when either Cal or Niko dies, the other ''' ''always'' ''' soon follows. Sometimes it's direct suicide by the survivor's own hand. Other times, the survivor becomes a DeathSeeker out for revenge. Their present life is no exception, as illustrated by Niko going coldly and suicidally berserk when he's tricked by an illusion of Cal's bloody corpse.]]
* DisappearedDad: Whoever Cal's dad is, he and his race have been keeping tabs on Cal forever. Also, Niko's dad took off before he was born. And Cherish's isn't even mentioned. It's noteworthy for Cal, for [[spoiler: killing his "dad" during his escape from Tumulus]], and then for Niko, for [[spoiler: killing most of the rest of the Auphe and ''all'' of the males, thereby deadending ''that'' genetic lineage of evil]] in the climax of ''Nightlife''.
* DominoRevelation: If the Auphe weren't bad enough all of the other ''weird'' monsters like the Goat Sucker show up or are often mentioned.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Cal.
* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
* EvilCounterpart: Grimm.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Robin's place of employment.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
* InTheBlood:
** Cal is terrified of going Auphe. Leads to TheDarkSide calling, and EvilFeelsGood.
** Niko's father, Kalakos, remarks that their bloodline is said to be descended from Achilles, an idea that Robin reaffirms by saying that Niko and Kalakos look like Achilles. [[spoiler: Of course, the truth behind that statement is [[{{Reincarnation}} slightly more complicated...]]]]
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Niko would burn the world to protect his brother. The only reason Cal ever gets near to any combat is because Niko is a firm believer that the only way to be ready for combat is to actually participate in it.
** Cal reciprocates the sentiment just as strongly. And considering he's slowly slipping into a {{Sociopathic|Hero}} NominalHero over the course of the series with Niko as his sole MoralityChain...the question isn't really ''if'' he kills you, but how much he'll make it hurt before he does so.
* LadykillerInLove: Robin after getting involved with Ishiah ''considers monogamy.'' [[spoiler:He puts the word "monogamite" on his business card--along with the number for the suicide hot-line, which Robin figures everyone will need when they learn he is no longer available.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The plot of ''Blackout'' involves Cal getting a case of this from [[spoiler: repeated!]] Nepenthe spider venom.
to:
*
* DespairEventHorizon:
*
*
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
*
%%* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
*
*
%%* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
*
**
**
*
*
Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Cal's nest of 'siblings']] in ''Blackout'' and [[spoiler: Grimm]] in ''Doubletake''. Also Niko's father Kalakos.
to:
Changed line(s) 84,86 (click to see context) from:
* MeaningfulName: Cal is short for Caliban. His mother made darned sure he knew why he had the name.
* TheMedic: Rafferty.
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
* TheMedic: Rafferty.
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
to:
*
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
Changed line(s) 88,99 (click to see context) from:
* MysteriousPast: Promise doesn't like to talk about the bad old days when she had to kill people in order to eat, and Niko [[YouDidntAsk usually doesn't ask.]]
* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point.
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out that [[spoiler: peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: To quote Cal:
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started and if you took away the hundreds of needle-fine metal teeth, the scarlet eyes, the black talons, shredding jaws, nearly transparent skin, and a raging desire to destroy humanity, then I guess you were close enough. The pointed ears were the same, right?
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely.
** Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called revenants and they're actually alive, for all that they resemble rotted corpses of adult humans.
* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point.
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out that [[spoiler: peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: To quote Cal:
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started and if you took away the hundreds of needle-fine metal teeth, the scarlet eyes, the black talons, shredding jaws, nearly transparent skin, and a raging desire to destroy humanity, then I guess you were close enough. The pointed ears were the same, right?
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely.
** Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called revenants and they're actually alive, for all that they resemble rotted corpses of adult humans.
to:
*
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out
*
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started
*
%%* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that
**
* OurZombiesAreDifferent:
Changed line(s) 102,108 (click to see context) from:
** ''Blackout'' has Spartacus, a mummy tomcat that Cal gave to Robin to keep Salome in line. There's also the three cats Robin gifted to Promise. Lucky girl.
* PlagueMaster: Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* {{Portmantitle}}
* PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers: George, who's a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
* PlagueMaster: Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* {{Portmantitle}}
* PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers: George, who's a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
to:
** ''Blackout'' has Spartacus, ''Blackout'': Spartacus is a mummy tomcat that Cal gave to Robin to keep Salome in line. There's also the three cats Robin gifted to Promise. Lucky girl.
*Promise.
%%* PlagueMaster:Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* %%* {{Portmantitle}}
*PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
*PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As [[spoiler:As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* %%* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers:George, who's George is a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
*
%%* PlagueMaster:
*
*
* PsychicPowers:
Changed line(s) 110,113 (click to see context) from:
* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}: Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smartassed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
* RetCon: the plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, that the brothers [[spoiler: met Robin when they were kids.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
* RetCon: the plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, that the brothers [[spoiler: met Robin when they were kids.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
to:
* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}: Robin [[spoiler:Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smartassed smart assed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
*RetCon: the {{Retcon}}: The plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning mentions something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, It also mentions that the brothers [[spoiler: met [[spoiler:met Robin when they were kids.as children.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile dislike for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
*
Changed line(s) 144,148 (click to see context) from:
* SiblingYinYang: Cal is lazy, foul-mouthed, sulky, not an intellectual, and loves junk food. Niko is a hard-working, rarely swearing, noble, intellectual guy who is a health food snob. The brothers rag on each other for these traits all the time.
* SlapSlapKiss
* SonOfAWhore: The Leandros boys are well aware of being this. Cherish throws it out as an insult to Cal at one point; he assumes she just "knew" from looking at him.
* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of Doubletake [[spoiler: she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.]]
* SlapSlapKiss
* SonOfAWhore: The Leandros boys are well aware of being this. Cherish throws it out as an insult to Cal at one point; he assumes she just "knew" from looking at him.
* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of Doubletake [[spoiler: she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.]]
to:
*
*
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.
Changed line(s) 150,162 (click to see context) from:
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays wolf-only.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
to:
** Cal is losing his humanity and what conscience and empathy he has [[spoiler:as his Auphe half becomes dominant]].
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stayswolf-only.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
*a wolf.
%%* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
*%%* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' ''Blackout'', Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
*%%* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
*
%%* ThePlague
*
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
*
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.
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[[caption-width-right:341:Japanese covers are sometimes better.]]
Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk evil fairy.]] His mother got [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of a newborn]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
Two years later, the guys have [[TiredOfRunning settled]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and made a few friends. But the Auphe aren't going to let Cal go...
[[AC: Books in the series so far are:]]
* ''Nightlife''
* ''Moonshine''
* ''Madhouse''
* ''Deathwish''
* ''Roadkill''
* ''Blackout''
* ''Doubletake''
* ''Slashback''
* ''Downfall''
* ''Nevermore''
* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the Cal Leandros stories.
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
----
!!This series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbandonedHospital: shown in ''Madhouse.''
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]]. Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cal counts, seeing as he would like nothing more than to see his paternal race dead. Of course, seeing as 'AxeCrazy' is a wholly insufficient {{understatement}} to describe the Auphe, we cheer him on every step of the way.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
* BadassFamily: The Leandros boys have been forced to become this.
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
%%* BadGuyBar
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Cal finds some good uses for his gate-opening ability, but...
* BatmanGambit: Delilah's solution to her pack demanding the death of Cal. [[spoiler: Her Alpha is dumb enough to believe that a girl can't handle killing a guy. Then she sics Cal on them, knowing that Cal is more badass than her pack.]]
* BerserkButton: Cal and Niko are each other's. Mess with one brother, and the other will come after you. Also, don't hit on Niko in front of Promise.
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* BrosBeforeHoes: Referenced in ''Blackout'', when Cal convinces Niko to get a tattoo. He has Ishiah write the text in Aramaic so that Niko won't be able to read it. When asked what it means, he claims it's 'Bros before Hoes'. [[spoiler:It's actually 'Brothers before Souls'.]]
* BusCrash: [[spoiler: George in ''Deathwish.'' Though since she had developed MindManipulation skills in the meantime, she actually faked her death in Grimm's memory.]]
* CannibalClan: Well, Sawney Beane returns in ''Madhouse.''
* CantHaveSexEver: Cal won't have sex with anyone who can have children, which rules out the girl he actually loves.
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally in ''Madhouse''. Cal gives [[spoiler: Wahanket]] a gun as an offering, since he couln't come up with anything else on short notice. It proves to have been a bad idea. [[spoiler: Good thing Wahanket had had no opportunity to practise shooting]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Again in ''Madhouse''. [[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
* {{Chupacabra}}: One shows up in ''Deathwish.'' They're substantially different from the usual perception. [[spoiler: Though Xolo is definitely more dangerous than you'd think.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
* TheDarkTimes: Before humans, Earth was ruled by a wide variety of monsters, most of them quite nasty, with the Auphe being the worst.
* DeadlyDoctor: Suyolak.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, but especially Cal and Robin.
* DemonSlaying
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In every one of their past lives, when either Cal or Niko dies, the other ''' ''always'' ''' soon follows. Sometimes it's direct suicide by the survivor's own hand. Other times, the survivor becomes a DeathSeeker out for revenge. Their present life is no exception, as illustrated by Niko going coldly and suicidally berserk when he's tricked by an illusion of Cal's bloody corpse.]]
* DisappearedDad: Whoever Cal's dad is, he and his race have been keeping tabs on Cal forever. Also, Niko's dad took off before he was born. And Cherish's isn't even mentioned. It's noteworthy for Cal, for [[spoiler: killing his "dad" during his escape from Tumulus]], and then for Niko, for [[spoiler: killing most of the rest of the Auphe and ''all'' of the males, thereby deadending ''that'' genetic lineage of evil]] in the climax of ''Nightlife''.
* DominoRevelation: If the Auphe weren't bad enough all of the other ''weird'' monsters like the Goat Sucker show up or are often mentioned.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Cal.
* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
* EvilCounterpart: Grimm.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Robin's place of employment.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
* InTheBlood:
** Cal is terrified of going Auphe. Leads to TheDarkSide calling, and EvilFeelsGood.
** Niko's father, Kalakos, remarks that their bloodline is said to be descended from Achilles, an idea that Robin reaffirms by saying that Niko and Kalakos look like Achilles. [[spoiler: Of course, the truth behind that statement is [[{{Reincarnation}} slightly more complicated...]]]]
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Niko would burn the world to protect his brother. The only reason Cal ever gets near to any combat is because Niko is a firm believer that the only way to be ready for combat is to actually participate in it.
** Cal reciprocates the sentiment just as strongly. And considering he's slowly slipping into a {{Sociopathic|Hero}} NominalHero over the course of the series with Niko as his sole MoralityChain...the question isn't really ''if'' he kills you, but how much he'll make it hurt before he does so.
* LadykillerInLove: Robin after getting involved with Ishiah ''considers monogamy.'' [[spoiler:He puts the word "monogamite" on his business card--along with the number for the suicide hot-line, which Robin figures everyone will need when they learn he is no longer available.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The plot of ''Blackout'' involves Cal getting a case of this from [[spoiler: repeated!]] Nepenthe spider venom.
* TheLegionsOfHell: The Auphe. Tumulus is just where they hang out when they're not murdering and torturing everyone else [[ForTheEvulz for the fun of it]].
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Cal's nest of 'siblings']] in ''Blackout'' and [[spoiler: Grimm]] in ''Doubletake''. Also Niko's father Kalakos.
* {{Masquerade}}: The Vigil operate as "supernatural janitors" to maintain it.
* MeaningfulName: Cal is short for Caliban. His mother made darned sure he knew why he had the name.
* TheMedic: Rafferty.
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
* MysteriousPast: Promise doesn't like to talk about the bad old days when she had to kill people in order to eat, and Niko [[YouDidntAsk usually doesn't ask.]]
* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point.
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out that [[spoiler: peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: To quote Cal:
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started and if you took away the hundreds of needle-fine metal teeth, the scarlet eyes, the black talons, shredding jaws, nearly transparent skin, and a raging desire to destroy humanity, then I guess you were close enough. The pointed ears were the same, right?
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely.
** Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called revenants and they're actually alive, for all that they resemble rotted corpses of adult humans.
* PetMonstrosity:
** Salome the ''mummy cat.''
** ''Blackout'' has Spartacus, a mummy tomcat that Cal gave to Robin to keep Salome in line. There's also the three cats Robin gifted to Promise. Lucky girl.
* PlagueMaster: Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* {{Portmantitle}}
* PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers: George, who's a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
* PsychoForHire: Darkling.
* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}: Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smartassed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
* RetCon: the plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, that the brothers [[spoiler: met Robin when they were kids.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
* SerialKiller: The plot of ''Slashback'' is about Cal and Niko dealing with serial killers, both twelve years ago and in the present day.
* ShoutOut:
** Although Cal's universe has a few differences with our own--a werewolf Mafia, scientists who have developed a treatment for vampirism, and so on, it also shares a lot of similarities. For example:
** In ''Blackout'', Cal uses some [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Name]]s as aliases: [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Calvin F. Krueger]], [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Calvert M. Myers]] and [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Calhoun J. Voorhees]]. It doesn't take him long to recognize that he, a killer of monsters, gets kind of a kick of naming himself after movie monsters.
** In the same book, he also refers to ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'':
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to. Series/{{MacGyver|1985}} had nothing on me."
** And he names a mummified tomcat Film/{{Spartacus}}.
** He also talks about [[Literature/WinnieThePooh Piglet and Christopher Robin]] not getting over it if he kills a baby monster.
** His usual nickname for Niko is [[Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac Cyrano]]. In ''Blackout'', when he can't quite remember the nickname, he asks Nik if he calls him [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio Pinocchio]].
** When talking about an angry and badly injured Wolf, Cal refers to him as Literature/{{Cujo}} and Literature/OldYeller and asks for someone to put the poor rabid bastard down.
** Robin Goodfellow, at one point, asks Cal if he's familiar with the story of ''Theatre/OedipusRex''.
** Cal heard the story of Literature/PeterPan from Nik when he was seven and Niko was eleven. This becomes a fairly important plot point in ''Blackout''.
** The ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' movies also apparently exist in Cal's universe, as he refers to a mummified cat's gigantic yawn as "a preview of ''Jaws 15'', the IMAX version."
** Cal gets a double ShoutOut with one line: "[[Music/RayCharles It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day]], [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Shelob]]," I said with enthusiastic dark cheer.
** Shortly before that, in the same paragraph, he says, "All we needed was [[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthulhu]] singing [the theme song from] ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''."
** He also mentions ''Film/SpiderMan3'' and Tobey Maguire.
** On recovering from amnesia, he says that Nik needs his real brother back--"not a [[Literature/TheStepfordWives Stepford]] version."
** In ''Roadkill'', he refers to Spock: "Thank God I hadn't gotten the pointed ears. Who wants to look like a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fan boy for the rest of their natural-born lives?"
** When speaking of an immortal and extremely angry entity who can destroy all life on earth, Cal, referring to the entity's habit of singing Roma dirges, says, "Maybe he'll hit ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and that asshole Brit will humiliate him to death."
** When Cal sees a female revenant giving birth, he refers to her as "the size of [[Franchise/StarWars Jabba]], times two." He also refers to Catcher, a werewolf who is stuck in Wolf form as "Chewbacca."
** Rafferty's cousin Catcher was named after ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''.
** Niko's perfectly deadpan delivery of "We're on a mission from Buddha" while wearing opaque sunglasses...while driving an old Cadillac. Apparently he likes Film/TheBluesBrothers
** Cal read Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'' when he was sixteen and his brother, who was homeschooling him, demanded a book report. According to him, the book scared him nearly as badly as the Auphe do.
** Cal says of Catcher, "He was the happiest damn Wolf I'd ever run across. Franchise/{{Lassie}} had nothing on him."
** And he describes Robin offering cologne "like a professional assassin from a Film/JamesBond movie."
** Robin makes a sarcastic reference to Delilah, the Wolf who's Cal's sometime bedmate, "[[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs eating [Cal's] liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti]]."
** Catcher refers to ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''.
** Cal tells Delilah that he doesn't care who else she sleeps with: "This isn't ''[[Series/BeverlyHills90210 Weres and Vamps 90210]]''."
** Robin refers to [[spoiler:his penis]] as [[Myth/KingArthur Excalibur]].
** Cal calls being on the run and being in very large wide-open spaces "a ''Literature/WheresWaldo'' freebie."
* SiblingYinYang: Cal is lazy, foul-mouthed, sulky, not an intellectual, and loves junk food. Niko is a hard-working, rarely swearing, noble, intellectual guy who is a health food snob. The brothers rag on each other for these traits all the time.
* SlapSlapKiss
* SonOfAWhore: The Leandros boys are well aware of being this. Cherish throws it out as an insult to Cal at one point; he assumes she just "knew" from looking at him.
* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of Doubletake [[spoiler: she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.]]
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays wolf-only.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
%%* WorldOfSnark
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[[caption-width-right:341:Japanese covers are sometimes better.]]
Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk evil fairy.]] His mother got [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of a newborn]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
Two years later, the guys have [[TiredOfRunning settled]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and made a few friends. But the Auphe aren't going to let Cal go...
[[AC: Books in the series so far are:]]
* ''Nightlife''
* ''Moonshine''
* ''Madhouse''
* ''Deathwish''
* ''Roadkill''
* ''Blackout''
* ''Doubletake''
* ''Slashback''
* ''Downfall''
* ''Nevermore''
* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the Cal Leandros stories.
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
----
!!This series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbandonedHospital: shown in ''Madhouse.''
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]]. Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cal counts, seeing as he would like nothing more than to see his paternal race dead. Of course, seeing as 'AxeCrazy' is a wholly insufficient {{understatement}} to describe the Auphe, we cheer him on every step of the way.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
* BadassFamily: The Leandros boys have been forced to become this.
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
%%* BadGuyBar
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Cal finds some good uses for his gate-opening ability, but...
* BatmanGambit: Delilah's solution to her pack demanding the death of Cal. [[spoiler: Her Alpha is dumb enough to believe that a girl can't handle killing a guy. Then she sics Cal on them, knowing that Cal is more badass than her pack.]]
* BerserkButton: Cal and Niko are each other's. Mess with one brother, and the other will come after you. Also, don't hit on Niko in front of Promise.
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* BrosBeforeHoes: Referenced in ''Blackout'', when Cal convinces Niko to get a tattoo. He has Ishiah write the text in Aramaic so that Niko won't be able to read it. When asked what it means, he claims it's 'Bros before Hoes'. [[spoiler:It's actually 'Brothers before Souls'.]]
* BusCrash: [[spoiler: George in ''Deathwish.'' Though since she had developed MindManipulation skills in the meantime, she actually faked her death in Grimm's memory.]]
* CannibalClan: Well, Sawney Beane returns in ''Madhouse.''
* CantHaveSexEver: Cal won't have sex with anyone who can have children, which rules out the girl he actually loves.
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally in ''Madhouse''. Cal gives [[spoiler: Wahanket]] a gun as an offering, since he couln't come up with anything else on short notice. It proves to have been a bad idea. [[spoiler: Good thing Wahanket had had no opportunity to practise shooting]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Again in ''Madhouse''. [[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
* {{Chupacabra}}: One shows up in ''Deathwish.'' They're substantially different from the usual perception. [[spoiler: Though Xolo is definitely more dangerous than you'd think.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
* TheDarkTimes: Before humans, Earth was ruled by a wide variety of monsters, most of them quite nasty, with the Auphe being the worst.
* DeadlyDoctor: Suyolak.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, but especially Cal and Robin.
* DemonSlaying
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In every one of their past lives, when either Cal or Niko dies, the other ''' ''always'' ''' soon follows. Sometimes it's direct suicide by the survivor's own hand. Other times, the survivor becomes a DeathSeeker out for revenge. Their present life is no exception, as illustrated by Niko going coldly and suicidally berserk when he's tricked by an illusion of Cal's bloody corpse.]]
* DisappearedDad: Whoever Cal's dad is, he and his race have been keeping tabs on Cal forever. Also, Niko's dad took off before he was born. And Cherish's isn't even mentioned. It's noteworthy for Cal, for [[spoiler: killing his "dad" during his escape from Tumulus]], and then for Niko, for [[spoiler: killing most of the rest of the Auphe and ''all'' of the males, thereby deadending ''that'' genetic lineage of evil]] in the climax of ''Nightlife''.
* DominoRevelation: If the Auphe weren't bad enough all of the other ''weird'' monsters like the Goat Sucker show up or are often mentioned.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Cal.
* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
* EvilCounterpart: Grimm.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Robin's place of employment.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
* InTheBlood:
** Cal is terrified of going Auphe. Leads to TheDarkSide calling, and EvilFeelsGood.
** Niko's father, Kalakos, remarks that their bloodline is said to be descended from Achilles, an idea that Robin reaffirms by saying that Niko and Kalakos look like Achilles. [[spoiler: Of course, the truth behind that statement is [[{{Reincarnation}} slightly more complicated...]]]]
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Niko would burn the world to protect his brother. The only reason Cal ever gets near to any combat is because Niko is a firm believer that the only way to be ready for combat is to actually participate in it.
** Cal reciprocates the sentiment just as strongly. And considering he's slowly slipping into a {{Sociopathic|Hero}} NominalHero over the course of the series with Niko as his sole MoralityChain...the question isn't really ''if'' he kills you, but how much he'll make it hurt before he does so.
* LadykillerInLove: Robin after getting involved with Ishiah ''considers monogamy.'' [[spoiler:He puts the word "monogamite" on his business card--along with the number for the suicide hot-line, which Robin figures everyone will need when they learn he is no longer available.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The plot of ''Blackout'' involves Cal getting a case of this from [[spoiler: repeated!]] Nepenthe spider venom.
* TheLegionsOfHell: The Auphe. Tumulus is just where they hang out when they're not murdering and torturing everyone else [[ForTheEvulz for the fun of it]].
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Cal's nest of 'siblings']] in ''Blackout'' and [[spoiler: Grimm]] in ''Doubletake''. Also Niko's father Kalakos.
* {{Masquerade}}: The Vigil operate as "supernatural janitors" to maintain it.
* MeaningfulName: Cal is short for Caliban. His mother made darned sure he knew why he had the name.
* TheMedic: Rafferty.
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
* MysteriousPast: Promise doesn't like to talk about the bad old days when she had to kill people in order to eat, and Niko [[YouDidntAsk usually doesn't ask.]]
* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point.
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out that [[spoiler: peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: To quote Cal:
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started and if you took away the hundreds of needle-fine metal teeth, the scarlet eyes, the black talons, shredding jaws, nearly transparent skin, and a raging desire to destroy humanity, then I guess you were close enough. The pointed ears were the same, right?
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely.
** Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called revenants and they're actually alive, for all that they resemble rotted corpses of adult humans.
* PetMonstrosity:
** Salome the ''mummy cat.''
** ''Blackout'' has Spartacus, a mummy tomcat that Cal gave to Robin to keep Salome in line. There's also the three cats Robin gifted to Promise. Lucky girl.
* PlagueMaster: Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* {{Portmantitle}}
* PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers: George, who's a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
* PsychoForHire: Darkling.
* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}: Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smartassed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
* RetCon: the plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, that the brothers [[spoiler: met Robin when they were kids.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
* SerialKiller: The plot of ''Slashback'' is about Cal and Niko dealing with serial killers, both twelve years ago and in the present day.
* ShoutOut:
** Although Cal's universe has a few differences with our own--a werewolf Mafia, scientists who have developed a treatment for vampirism, and so on, it also shares a lot of similarities. For example:
** In ''Blackout'', Cal uses some [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Name]]s as aliases: [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Calvin F. Krueger]], [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Calvert M. Myers]] and [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Calhoun J. Voorhees]]. It doesn't take him long to recognize that he, a killer of monsters, gets kind of a kick of naming himself after movie monsters.
** In the same book, he also refers to ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'':
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to. Series/{{MacGyver|1985}} had nothing on me."
** And he names a mummified tomcat Film/{{Spartacus}}.
** He also talks about [[Literature/WinnieThePooh Piglet and Christopher Robin]] not getting over it if he kills a baby monster.
** His usual nickname for Niko is [[Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac Cyrano]]. In ''Blackout'', when he can't quite remember the nickname, he asks Nik if he calls him [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio Pinocchio]].
** When talking about an angry and badly injured Wolf, Cal refers to him as Literature/{{Cujo}} and Literature/OldYeller and asks for someone to put the poor rabid bastard down.
** Robin Goodfellow, at one point, asks Cal if he's familiar with the story of ''Theatre/OedipusRex''.
** Cal heard the story of Literature/PeterPan from Nik when he was seven and Niko was eleven. This becomes a fairly important plot point in ''Blackout''.
** The ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' movies also apparently exist in Cal's universe, as he refers to a mummified cat's gigantic yawn as "a preview of ''Jaws 15'', the IMAX version."
** Cal gets a double ShoutOut with one line: "[[Music/RayCharles It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day]], [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Shelob]]," I said with enthusiastic dark cheer.
** Shortly before that, in the same paragraph, he says, "All we needed was [[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthulhu]] singing [the theme song from] ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''."
** He also mentions ''Film/SpiderMan3'' and Tobey Maguire.
** On recovering from amnesia, he says that Nik needs his real brother back--"not a [[Literature/TheStepfordWives Stepford]] version."
** In ''Roadkill'', he refers to Spock: "Thank God I hadn't gotten the pointed ears. Who wants to look like a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fan boy for the rest of their natural-born lives?"
** When speaking of an immortal and extremely angry entity who can destroy all life on earth, Cal, referring to the entity's habit of singing Roma dirges, says, "Maybe he'll hit ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and that asshole Brit will humiliate him to death."
** When Cal sees a female revenant giving birth, he refers to her as "the size of [[Franchise/StarWars Jabba]], times two." He also refers to Catcher, a werewolf who is stuck in Wolf form as "Chewbacca."
** Rafferty's cousin Catcher was named after ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''.
** Niko's perfectly deadpan delivery of "We're on a mission from Buddha" while wearing opaque sunglasses...while driving an old Cadillac. Apparently he likes Film/TheBluesBrothers
** Cal read Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'' when he was sixteen and his brother, who was homeschooling him, demanded a book report. According to him, the book scared him nearly as badly as the Auphe do.
** Cal says of Catcher, "He was the happiest damn Wolf I'd ever run across. Franchise/{{Lassie}} had nothing on him."
** And he describes Robin offering cologne "like a professional assassin from a Film/JamesBond movie."
** Robin makes a sarcastic reference to Delilah, the Wolf who's Cal's sometime bedmate, "[[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs eating [Cal's] liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti]]."
** Catcher refers to ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''.
** Cal tells Delilah that he doesn't care who else she sleeps with: "This isn't ''[[Series/BeverlyHills90210 Weres and Vamps 90210]]''."
** Robin refers to [[spoiler:his penis]] as [[Myth/KingArthur Excalibur]].
** Cal calls being on the run and being in very large wide-open spaces "a ''Literature/WheresWaldo'' freebie."
* SiblingYinYang: Cal is lazy, foul-mouthed, sulky, not an intellectual, and loves junk food. Niko is a hard-working, rarely swearing, noble, intellectual guy who is a health food snob. The brothers rag on each other for these traits all the time.
* SlapSlapKiss
* SonOfAWhore: The Leandros boys are well aware of being this. Cherish throws it out as an insult to Cal at one point; he assumes she just "knew" from looking at him.
* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of Doubletake [[spoiler: she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.]]
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays wolf-only.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
%%* WorldOfSnark
----
[[caption-width-right:341:Japanese covers are sometimes better.]]
Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk evil fairy.]] His mother got [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of a newborn]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
Two years later, the guys have [[TiredOfRunning settled]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and made a few friends. But the Auphe aren't going to let Cal go...
[[AC: Books in the series so far are:]]
* ''Nightlife''
* ''Moonshine''
* ''Madhouse''
* ''Deathwish''
* ''Roadkill''
* ''Blackout''
* ''Doubletake''
* ''Slashback''
* ''Downfall''
* ''Nevermore''
* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the Cal Leandros stories.
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
----
!!This series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbandonedHospital: shown in ''Madhouse.''
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]]. Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cal counts, seeing as he would like nothing more than to see his paternal race dead. Of course, seeing as 'AxeCrazy' is a wholly insufficient {{understatement}} to describe the Auphe, we cheer him on every step of the way.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
* BadassFamily: The Leandros boys have been forced to become this.
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
%%* BadGuyBar
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Cal finds some good uses for his gate-opening ability, but...
* BatmanGambit: Delilah's solution to her pack demanding the death of Cal. [[spoiler: Her Alpha is dumb enough to believe that a girl can't handle killing a guy. Then she sics Cal on them, knowing that Cal is more badass than her pack.]]
* BerserkButton: Cal and Niko are each other's. Mess with one brother, and the other will come after you. Also, don't hit on Niko in front of Promise.
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* BrosBeforeHoes: Referenced in ''Blackout'', when Cal convinces Niko to get a tattoo. He has Ishiah write the text in Aramaic so that Niko won't be able to read it. When asked what it means, he claims it's 'Bros before Hoes'. [[spoiler:It's actually 'Brothers before Souls'.]]
* BusCrash: [[spoiler: George in ''Deathwish.'' Though since she had developed MindManipulation skills in the meantime, she actually faked her death in Grimm's memory.]]
* CannibalClan: Well, Sawney Beane returns in ''Madhouse.''
* CantHaveSexEver: Cal won't have sex with anyone who can have children, which rules out the girl he actually loves.
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally in ''Madhouse''. Cal gives [[spoiler: Wahanket]] a gun as an offering, since he couln't come up with anything else on short notice. It proves to have been a bad idea. [[spoiler: Good thing Wahanket had had no opportunity to practise shooting]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Again in ''Madhouse''. [[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
* {{Chupacabra}}: One shows up in ''Deathwish.'' They're substantially different from the usual perception. [[spoiler: Though Xolo is definitely more dangerous than you'd think.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
* TheDarkTimes: Before humans, Earth was ruled by a wide variety of monsters, most of them quite nasty, with the Auphe being the worst.
* DeadlyDoctor: Suyolak.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, but especially Cal and Robin.
* DemonSlaying
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In every one of their past lives, when either Cal or Niko dies, the other ''' ''always'' ''' soon follows. Sometimes it's direct suicide by the survivor's own hand. Other times, the survivor becomes a DeathSeeker out for revenge. Their present life is no exception, as illustrated by Niko going coldly and suicidally berserk when he's tricked by an illusion of Cal's bloody corpse.]]
* DisappearedDad: Whoever Cal's dad is, he and his race have been keeping tabs on Cal forever. Also, Niko's dad took off before he was born. And Cherish's isn't even mentioned. It's noteworthy for Cal, for [[spoiler: killing his "dad" during his escape from Tumulus]], and then for Niko, for [[spoiler: killing most of the rest of the Auphe and ''all'' of the males, thereby deadending ''that'' genetic lineage of evil]] in the climax of ''Nightlife''.
* DominoRevelation: If the Auphe weren't bad enough all of the other ''weird'' monsters like the Goat Sucker show up or are often mentioned.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Cal.
* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
* EvilCounterpart: Grimm.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Robin's place of employment.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
* InTheBlood:
** Cal is terrified of going Auphe. Leads to TheDarkSide calling, and EvilFeelsGood.
** Niko's father, Kalakos, remarks that their bloodline is said to be descended from Achilles, an idea that Robin reaffirms by saying that Niko and Kalakos look like Achilles. [[spoiler: Of course, the truth behind that statement is [[{{Reincarnation}} slightly more complicated...]]]]
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Niko would burn the world to protect his brother. The only reason Cal ever gets near to any combat is because Niko is a firm believer that the only way to be ready for combat is to actually participate in it.
** Cal reciprocates the sentiment just as strongly. And considering he's slowly slipping into a {{Sociopathic|Hero}} NominalHero over the course of the series with Niko as his sole MoralityChain...the question isn't really ''if'' he kills you, but how much he'll make it hurt before he does so.
* LadykillerInLove: Robin after getting involved with Ishiah ''considers monogamy.'' [[spoiler:He puts the word "monogamite" on his business card--along with the number for the suicide hot-line, which Robin figures everyone will need when they learn he is no longer available.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The plot of ''Blackout'' involves Cal getting a case of this from [[spoiler: repeated!]] Nepenthe spider venom.
* TheLegionsOfHell: The Auphe. Tumulus is just where they hang out when they're not murdering and torturing everyone else [[ForTheEvulz for the fun of it]].
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Cal's nest of 'siblings']] in ''Blackout'' and [[spoiler: Grimm]] in ''Doubletake''. Also Niko's father Kalakos.
* {{Masquerade}}: The Vigil operate as "supernatural janitors" to maintain it.
* MeaningfulName: Cal is short for Caliban. His mother made darned sure he knew why he had the name.
* TheMedic: Rafferty.
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
* MysteriousPast: Promise doesn't like to talk about the bad old days when she had to kill people in order to eat, and Niko [[YouDidntAsk usually doesn't ask.]]
* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point.
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out that [[spoiler: peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: To quote Cal:
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started and if you took away the hundreds of needle-fine metal teeth, the scarlet eyes, the black talons, shredding jaws, nearly transparent skin, and a raging desire to destroy humanity, then I guess you were close enough. The pointed ears were the same, right?
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely.
** Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called revenants and they're actually alive, for all that they resemble rotted corpses of adult humans.
* PetMonstrosity:
** Salome the ''mummy cat.''
** ''Blackout'' has Spartacus, a mummy tomcat that Cal gave to Robin to keep Salome in line. There's also the three cats Robin gifted to Promise. Lucky girl.
* PlagueMaster: Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* {{Portmantitle}}
* PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers: George, who's a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
* PsychoForHire: Darkling.
* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}: Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smartassed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
* RetCon: the plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, that the brothers [[spoiler: met Robin when they were kids.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
* SerialKiller: The plot of ''Slashback'' is about Cal and Niko dealing with serial killers, both twelve years ago and in the present day.
* ShoutOut:
** Although Cal's universe has a few differences with our own--a werewolf Mafia, scientists who have developed a treatment for vampirism, and so on, it also shares a lot of similarities. For example:
** In ''Blackout'', Cal uses some [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Name]]s as aliases: [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Calvin F. Krueger]], [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Calvert M. Myers]] and [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Calhoun J. Voorhees]]. It doesn't take him long to recognize that he, a killer of monsters, gets kind of a kick of naming himself after movie monsters.
** In the same book, he also refers to ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'':
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to. Series/{{MacGyver|1985}} had nothing on me."
** And he names a mummified tomcat Film/{{Spartacus}}.
** He also talks about [[Literature/WinnieThePooh Piglet and Christopher Robin]] not getting over it if he kills a baby monster.
** His usual nickname for Niko is [[Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac Cyrano]]. In ''Blackout'', when he can't quite remember the nickname, he asks Nik if he calls him [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio Pinocchio]].
** When talking about an angry and badly injured Wolf, Cal refers to him as Literature/{{Cujo}} and Literature/OldYeller and asks for someone to put the poor rabid bastard down.
** Robin Goodfellow, at one point, asks Cal if he's familiar with the story of ''Theatre/OedipusRex''.
** Cal heard the story of Literature/PeterPan from Nik when he was seven and Niko was eleven. This becomes a fairly important plot point in ''Blackout''.
** The ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' movies also apparently exist in Cal's universe, as he refers to a mummified cat's gigantic yawn as "a preview of ''Jaws 15'', the IMAX version."
** Cal gets a double ShoutOut with one line: "[[Music/RayCharles It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day]], [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Shelob]]," I said with enthusiastic dark cheer.
** Shortly before that, in the same paragraph, he says, "All we needed was [[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthulhu]] singing [the theme song from] ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''."
** He also mentions ''Film/SpiderMan3'' and Tobey Maguire.
** On recovering from amnesia, he says that Nik needs his real brother back--"not a [[Literature/TheStepfordWives Stepford]] version."
** In ''Roadkill'', he refers to Spock: "Thank God I hadn't gotten the pointed ears. Who wants to look like a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fan boy for the rest of their natural-born lives?"
** When speaking of an immortal and extremely angry entity who can destroy all life on earth, Cal, referring to the entity's habit of singing Roma dirges, says, "Maybe he'll hit ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and that asshole Brit will humiliate him to death."
** When Cal sees a female revenant giving birth, he refers to her as "the size of [[Franchise/StarWars Jabba]], times two." He also refers to Catcher, a werewolf who is stuck in Wolf form as "Chewbacca."
** Rafferty's cousin Catcher was named after ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''.
** Niko's perfectly deadpan delivery of "We're on a mission from Buddha" while wearing opaque sunglasses...while driving an old Cadillac. Apparently he likes Film/TheBluesBrothers
** Cal read Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'' when he was sixteen and his brother, who was homeschooling him, demanded a book report. According to him, the book scared him nearly as badly as the Auphe do.
** Cal says of Catcher, "He was the happiest damn Wolf I'd ever run across. Franchise/{{Lassie}} had nothing on him."
** And he describes Robin offering cologne "like a professional assassin from a Film/JamesBond movie."
** Robin makes a sarcastic reference to Delilah, the Wolf who's Cal's sometime bedmate, "[[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs eating [Cal's] liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti]]."
** Catcher refers to ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''.
** Cal tells Delilah that he doesn't care who else she sleeps with: "This isn't ''[[Series/BeverlyHills90210 Weres and Vamps 90210]]''."
** Robin refers to [[spoiler:his penis]] as [[Myth/KingArthur Excalibur]].
** Cal calls being on the run and being in very large wide-open spaces "a ''Literature/WheresWaldo'' freebie."
* SiblingYinYang: Cal is lazy, foul-mouthed, sulky, not an intellectual, and loves junk food. Niko is a hard-working, rarely swearing, noble, intellectual guy who is a health food snob. The brothers rag on each other for these traits all the time.
* SlapSlapKiss
* SonOfAWhore: The Leandros boys are well aware of being this. Cherish throws it out as an insult to Cal at one point; he assumes she just "knew" from looking at him.
* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of Doubletake [[spoiler: she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.]]
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays wolf-only.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
%%* WorldOfSnark
----
to:
[[caption-width-right:341:Japanese covers are sometimes better.]]
Cal Leandros is [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk evil fairy.]] His mother got [[SonOfAWhore paid by the Auphe to produce a child]], and that's all she did. He was raised by his AloofBigBrother Niko ([[WiseBeyondTheirYears who was]] ''[[ImprobableAge four years old]]'' when he was [[PromotionToParent put in charge of a newborn]]), and Niko has spent [[ChildSoldiers his entire life protecting his brother]] and becoming a badass. They've also been [[SternChase on the run.]] At age fourteen, the Auphe caught Cal. He came back two days later, [[YearInsideHourOutside two years older]], with no memory of the EldritchAbomination that he'd seen.
Two years later, the guys have [[TiredOfRunning settled]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and made a few friends. But the Auphe aren't going to let Cal go...
[[AC: Books in the series so far are:]]
* ''Nightlife''
* ''Moonshine''
* ''Madhouse''
* ''Deathwish''
* ''Roadkill''
* ''Blackout''
* ''Doubletake''
* ''Slashback''
* ''Downfall''
* ''Nevermore''
* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
The author, Rob Thurman, is an example of MoustacheDePlume. She has also written the novels ''Trick of the Light,'' ''Grimrose Path,'' ''Chimera,'' ''Basilisk,'' and ''All Seeing Eye''. The first two are set in the same universe as the Cal Leandros stories.
Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
----
!!This series provides examples of the following tropes:
* AbandonedHospital: shown in ''Madhouse.''
* AbusiveParents: Sophia.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: the [[TheFairFolk Auphe]]
* [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Always Save The Brother]]. Cal and Niko frequently display this trope. The world had better hope it doesn't come to a choice between it and one of the Leandros brothers.
* AntagonisticOffspring: Cal counts, seeing as he would like nothing more than to see his paternal race dead. Of course, seeing as 'AxeCrazy' is a wholly insufficient {{understatement}} to describe the Auphe, we cheer him on every step of the way.
** [[spoiler: Promise's ManipulativeBitch daughter, Cherish.]]
* AnythingThatMoves: Robin. Oh, Robin.
* BadassFamily: The Leandros boys have been forced to become this.
* BadassNormal and BadassLongcoat: Niko.
%%* BadGuyBar
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Cal finds some good uses for his gate-opening ability, but...
* BatmanGambit: Delilah's solution to her pack demanding the death of Cal. [[spoiler: Her Alpha is dumb enough to believe that a girl can't handle killing a guy. Then she sics Cal on them, knowing that Cal is more badass than her pack.]]
* BerserkButton: Cal and Niko are each other's. Mess with one brother, and the other will come after you. Also, don't hit on Niko in front of Promise.
* BlackSpeech: The Auphe language. Cal learned it during his two-year stay in the Tumulus but the ability to speak it is buried in his suppressed memories and only comes out very rarely and only in very bad situations.
* BodyHorror: Abbagor.
* BrosBeforeHoes: Referenced in ''Blackout'', when Cal convinces Niko to get a tattoo. He has Ishiah write the text in Aramaic so that Niko won't be able to read it. When asked what it means, he claims it's 'Bros before Hoes'. [[spoiler:It's actually 'Brothers before Souls'.]]
* BusCrash: [[spoiler: George in ''Deathwish.'' Though since she had developed MindManipulation skills in the meantime, she actually faked her death in Grimm's memory.]]
* CannibalClan: Well, Sawney Beane returns in ''Madhouse.''
* CantHaveSexEver: Cal won't have sex with anyone who can have children, which rules out the girl he actually loves.
* ChekhovsGun: Quite literally in ''Madhouse''. Cal gives [[spoiler: Wahanket]] a gun as an offering, since he couln't come up with anything else on short notice. It proves to have been a bad idea. [[spoiler: Good thing Wahanket had had no opportunity to practise shooting]].
* ChekhovsGunman: Again in ''Madhouse''. [[spoiler: Seraglio]], of all people, turns out to be quite a nasty version. [[spoiler: Wahanket]] is no slouch in the nasty version departement, either, though it comes as less of a shock.
* {{Chupacabra}}: One shows up in ''Deathwish.'' They're substantially different from the usual perception. [[spoiler: Though Xolo is definitely more dangerous than you'd think.]]
* DarkSkinnedBlond (Niko) as well as his father and DarkSkinnedRedhead (George)
* TheDarkTimes: Before humans, Earth was ruled by a wide variety of monsters, most of them quite nasty, with the Auphe being the worst.
* DeadlyDoctor: Suyolak.
* DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, but especially Cal and Robin.
* DemonSlaying
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In every one of their past lives, when either Cal or Niko dies, the other ''' ''always'' ''' soon follows. Sometimes it's direct suicide by the survivor's own hand. Other times, the survivor becomes a DeathSeeker out for revenge. Their present life is no exception, as illustrated by Niko going coldly and suicidally berserk when he's tricked by an illusion of Cal's bloody corpse.]]
* DisappearedDad: Whoever Cal's dad is, he and his race have been keeping tabs on Cal forever. Also, Niko's dad took off before he was born. And Cherish's isn't even mentioned. It's noteworthy for Cal, for [[spoiler: killing his "dad" during his escape from Tumulus]], and then for Niko, for [[spoiler: killing most of the rest of the Auphe and ''all'' of the males, thereby deadending ''that'' genetic lineage of evil]] in the climax of ''Nightlife''.
* DominoRevelation: If the Auphe weren't bad enough all of the other ''weird'' monsters like the Goat Sucker show up or are often mentioned.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Cal.
* EnemyWithin: The Darkling does this to Cal.
* EvilCounterpart: Grimm.
* FirstPersonSmartass: Cal. ''All'' the ''time.'' He can't open his mouth without snark coming out of it. Catcher is this in ''Roadkill,'' though since he can't talk, he types out his comments on a laptop.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires / OurVampiresAreDifferent: Promise. Vampires are born, and thanks to modern technology can live off supplements rather than drinking blood.
* ForkFencing: Amnesiac Cal takes this up in ''Blackout.'' On Robin. [[RunningGag Multiple times.]]
* GoldDigger / BlackWidow: Promise has had five rich, elderly, now-dead husbands. BlackWidow is most likely a subversion since (a) she's a vampire and would outlive them anyway, and (b) given that she's a generally nice person, she probably made their last few years enjoyable.
* HeroesWantRedheads: George.
* HeroicBSOD: Niko at the end of [[spoiler: Deathwish]]. Do ''not'' get this guy mad at you.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Cal and Niko.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Grimm even mentions the original quote (taught to him by one of the teachers he ate) after his showdown with Cal. Both brothers have to watch this, but Cal the most.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Robin's place of employment.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Cal, of course. By the end of Blackout, [[spoiler:he's accepted his monster side and his human side is slowly slipping away.]]
* InTheBlood:
** Cal is terrified of going Auphe. Leads to TheDarkSide calling, and EvilFeelsGood.
** Niko's father, Kalakos, remarks that their bloodline is said to be descended from Achilles, an idea that Robin reaffirms by saying that Niko and Kalakos look like Achilles. [[spoiler: Of course, the truth behind that statement is [[{{Reincarnation}} slightly more complicated...]]]]
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Cal to George and Delilah. Justified in that the Auphe have promised to slaughter his loved ones first.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Niko loves swords. Cal prefers CoolGuns.
* KnightTemplarBigBrother:
** Niko would burn the world to protect his brother. The only reason Cal ever gets near to any combat is because Niko is a firm believer that the only way to be ready for combat is to actually participate in it.
** Cal reciprocates the sentiment just as strongly. And considering he's slowly slipping into a {{Sociopathic|Hero}} NominalHero over the course of the series with Niko as his sole MoralityChain...the question isn't really ''if'' he kills you, but how much he'll make it hurt before he does so.
* LadykillerInLove: Robin after getting involved with Ishiah ''considers monogamy.'' [[spoiler:He puts the word "monogamite" on his business card--along with the number for the suicide hot-line, which Robin figures everyone will need when they learn he is no longer available.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The plot of ''Blackout'' involves Cal getting a case of this from [[spoiler: repeated!]] Nepenthe spider venom.
* TheLegionsOfHell: The Auphe. Tumulus is just where they hang out when they're not murdering and torturing everyone else [[ForTheEvulz for the fun of it]].
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Cal's nest of 'siblings']] in ''Blackout'' and [[spoiler: Grimm]] in ''Doubletake''. Also Niko's father Kalakos.
* {{Masquerade}}: The Vigil operate as "supernatural janitors" to maintain it.
* MeaningfulName: Cal is short for Caliban. His mother made darned sure he knew why he had the name.
* TheMedic: Rafferty.
* MoralityChain: As Cal's humanity is slowly eaten away by his Auphe side, he comes to consider Niko to be this.
* MuggingTheMonster: a random junkie tries this in ''Doubletake''. His intended victim? Cal.
* MysteriousPast: Promise doesn't like to talk about the bad old days when she had to kill people in order to eat, and Niko [[YouDidntAsk usually doesn't ask.]]
* OccultDetective: Cal, Niko and Promise's business.
* OneGenderRace: Pucks.
* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Cal believes that the peris and the Greek gods with wings are probably the origin of stories about angels. Given that peris are winged humanoids and that Cal's peri boss, Ishiah, can not only seemingly appear out of nowhere but owns an actual flaming sword, he might have a point.
** In ''Slashback,'' we find out that [[spoiler: peris are former angels who quit heaven for Earth.]]
* OurElvesAreDifferent: To quote Cal:
--> After all, the Auphe were where the elf myth had started and if you took away the hundreds of needle-fine metal teeth, the scarlet eyes, the black talons, shredding jaws, nearly transparent skin, and a raging desire to destroy humanity, then I guess you were close enough. The pointed ears were the same, right?
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Particularly the ones who got bred to be more werewolf-y. And Catcher, who lost the "were" part of that entirely.
** Also, according to one of the Wolf characters, they aren't humans who can turn into wolves. It's the other way around:
--> "We were wolves first. We started that way. We evolved as wolves and along the way a mutation did occur. We did split from the primary race...but that primary race was wolf."
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: They're called revenants and they're actually alive, for all that they resemble rotted corpses of adult humans.
* PetMonstrosity:
** Salome the ''mummy cat.''
** ''Blackout'' has Spartacus, a mummy tomcat that Cal gave to Robin to keep Salome in line. There's also the three cats Robin gifted to Promise. Lucky girl.
* PlagueMaster: Suyolak. Dear God, Suyolak.
* {{Portmantitle}}
* PointyEars: The Auphe. See OurElvesAreDifferent above.
* PowerLimiter: [[spoiler: As of ''Roadkill'', thanks to Rafferty, Cal can only open two gates within a period of a few days before he dies. In ''Blackout'', however, Cal implies that he believes his Auphe genetics will eventually override the block. In ''Doubletake,'' he turns out to be right.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: Cal may love the "F-bomb," but when Niko drops it in ''Deathwish'', you know it's serious. It also goes for ''Slashback'', where Niko even drinks soda and wine in that book.
* PsychicPowers: George, who's a [[TheFatalist fatalist]] on the subject of whether or not anything she sees can be changed.
* PsychoForHire: Darkling.
* [[spoiler: {{Reincarnation}}: Robin knew the brothers in many former lives, recognizing them again in ''Slashback'' when he deals with a smartassed 11-year-old Cal. He even asks for the brother or cousin or whoever it is that's tied to him, so he can deal with the reasonable one. He says that Niko was once Achilles and Cal was once his cousin Patroclus.]]
* RetCon: the plot of ''Slashback'' is pretty clearly one, newly mentioning something that Cal actually considers worse than being stalked and taken by the Auphe. Also, that the brothers [[spoiler: met Robin when they were kids.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Sophia, Abelia-Roo and the Sarzo Clan. Cal and Niko are half-Roma, not that that counts.
* SaltSolution: PlayedForLaughs. While working as a bartender at the Ninth Circle, [[FirstPersonSmartass Cal]] regularly gets in trouble for forgetting to leave the salt out when making a cocktail for a vodyanoi, causing his boss [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Ishiah]] to have to remove slimy, melted vodyanoi from the bathroom floor. Considering Cal's diskile for anything that preys on humans, though, forgetfulness isn't always at fault.
* SerialKiller: The plot of ''Slashback'' is about Cal and Niko dealing with serial killers, both twelve years ago and in the present day.
* ShoutOut:
** Although Cal's universe has a few differences with our own--a werewolf Mafia, scientists who have developed a treatment for vampirism, and so on, it also shares a lot of similarities. For example:
** In ''Blackout'', Cal uses some [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Name]]s as aliases: [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Calvin F. Krueger]], [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Calvert M. Myers]] and [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Calhoun J. Voorhees]]. It doesn't take him long to recognize that he, a killer of monsters, gets kind of a kick of naming himself after movie monsters.
** In the same book, he also refers to ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'':
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to. Series/{{MacGyver|1985}} had nothing on me."
** And he names a mummified tomcat Film/{{Spartacus}}.
** He also talks about [[Literature/WinnieThePooh Piglet and Christopher Robin]] not getting over it if he kills a baby monster.
** His usual nickname for Niko is [[Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac Cyrano]]. In ''Blackout'', when he can't quite remember the nickname, he asks Nik if he calls him [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio Pinocchio]].
** When talking about an angry and badly injured Wolf, Cal refers to him as Literature/{{Cujo}} and Literature/OldYeller and asks for someone to put the poor rabid bastard down.
** Robin Goodfellow, at one point, asks Cal if he's familiar with the story of ''Theatre/OedipusRex''.
** Cal heard the story of Literature/PeterPan from Nik when he was seven and Niko was eleven. This becomes a fairly important plot point in ''Blackout''.
** The ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' movies also apparently exist in Cal's universe, as he refers to a mummified cat's gigantic yawn as "a preview of ''Jaws 15'', the IMAX version."
** Cal gets a double ShoutOut with one line: "[[Music/RayCharles It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day]], [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Shelob]]," I said with enthusiastic dark cheer.
** Shortly before that, in the same paragraph, he says, "All we needed was [[Creator/HPLovecraft Cthulhu]] singing [the theme song from] ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''."
** He also mentions ''Film/SpiderMan3'' and Tobey Maguire.
** On recovering from amnesia, he says that Nik needs his real brother back--"not a [[Literature/TheStepfordWives Stepford]] version."
** In ''Roadkill'', he refers to Spock: "Thank God I hadn't gotten the pointed ears. Who wants to look like a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fan boy for the rest of their natural-born lives?"
** When speaking of an immortal and extremely angry entity who can destroy all life on earth, Cal, referring to the entity's habit of singing Roma dirges, says, "Maybe he'll hit ''Series/AmericanIdol'' and that asshole Brit will humiliate him to death."
** When Cal sees a female revenant giving birth, he refers to her as "the size of [[Franchise/StarWars Jabba]], times two." He also refers to Catcher, a werewolf who is stuck in Wolf form as "Chewbacca."
** Rafferty's cousin Catcher was named after ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''.
** Niko's perfectly deadpan delivery of "We're on a mission from Buddha" while wearing opaque sunglasses...while driving an old Cadillac. Apparently he likes Film/TheBluesBrothers
** Cal read Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'' when he was sixteen and his brother, who was homeschooling him, demanded a book report. According to him, the book scared him nearly as badly as the Auphe do.
** Cal says of Catcher, "He was the happiest damn Wolf I'd ever run across. Franchise/{{Lassie}} had nothing on him."
** And he describes Robin offering cologne "like a professional assassin from a Film/JamesBond movie."
** Robin makes a sarcastic reference to Delilah, the Wolf who's Cal's sometime bedmate, "[[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs eating [Cal's] liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti]]."
** Catcher refers to ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''.
** Cal tells Delilah that he doesn't care who else she sleeps with: "This isn't ''[[Series/BeverlyHills90210 Weres and Vamps 90210]]''."
** Robin refers to [[spoiler:his penis]] as [[Myth/KingArthur Excalibur]].
** Cal calls being on the run and being in very large wide-open spaces "a ''Literature/WheresWaldo'' freebie."
* SiblingYinYang: Cal is lazy, foul-mouthed, sulky, not an intellectual, and loves junk food. Niko is a hard-working, rarely swearing, noble, intellectual guy who is a health food snob. The brothers rag on each other for these traits all the time.
* SlapSlapKiss
* SonOfAWhore: The Leandros boys are well aware of being this. Cherish throws it out as an insult to Cal at one point; he assumes she just "knew" from looking at him.
* StarCrossedLovers: Cal and Georgina. As of Doubletake [[spoiler: she peeks into their future and confirms that any relationship they would have is indeed doomed.]]
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Cal has PerfectHealth (other than getting injured all the time, he's been sick once in his life), and can [[TeleportersAndTransporters open gates to other worlds.]]
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody:
** Catcher is slowly losing his human patterns of thinking the longer he stays wolf-only.
** Cal is also losing his humanity (and what conscience and empathy he has) [[spoiler: as his super-potent Aulphe DNA becomes dominant]].
* ThePlague
* TimeAbyss: Robin and many of the older pucks. [[spoiler: Hob]] apparently went crazy because of this.
* TomboyishName: George (really Georgina).
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Cal's inability to remember the two years he spent with the Auphe.
* TricksterArchetype: Robin and Cherish.
* TrueCompanions: Cal and Niko acquire some in the series.
* UrbanFantasy: Really speaks for itself in some regards.
* WarringNatures: Cal is half-human, half Auphe (really really really evil fairy). What are the most despised races in the world? Take a guess.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: After getting amnesia in ''Blackout,'' Cal assumes everything nonhuman is a monster. This is ''really'' awkward when he's being introduced to his nonhuman friends.
* WillNotTellALie: Niko, mostly, as a reaction to growing up with a ConsummateLiar mother. He considers [[spoiler: his decision to lie to Cal and dose him with Nepenthe spider venom, even to let him stay happy,]] to be a MoralEventHorizon.
* WingedHumanoid: Peris.
%%* WorldOfSnark
----
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* PurpleEyes: Promise Nottinger.
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** In the same book, he also refers to ''Series/MacGyver'':
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to. Series/MacGyver had nothing on me."
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to. Series/MacGyver had nothing on me."
to:
** In the same book, he also refers to ''Series/MacGyver'':
''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'':
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to.Series/MacGyver Series/{{MacGyver|1985}} had nothing on me."
--> "I could impale a nosy son of a bitch on a Norman Rockwell picket fence if I had to.
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** Cal gets a double ShoutOut with one line: "[[Music/RayCharles It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day]], [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Shelob]]," I said with enthusiastic dark cheer.
to:
** Cal gets a double ShoutOut with one line: "[[Music/RayCharles It's going to be a bright, bright, bright sunshiny day]], [[Literature/LordOfTheRings [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Shelob]]," I said with enthusiastic dark cheer.
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** In ''Roadkill'', he refers to Spock: "Thank God I hadn't gotten the pointed ears. Who wants to look like a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' fan boy for the rest of their natural-born lives?"
to:
** In ''Roadkill'', he refers to Spock: "Thank God I hadn't gotten the pointed ears. Who wants to look like a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fan boy for the rest of their natural-born lives?"
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to:
* ''Everwar (cancelled)''
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Though ''Everwar'' was intended to be the last book in the series, it was cancelled, leaving the series fate up in the in the air.
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** Cal heard the story of PeterPan from Nik when he was seven and Niko was eleven. This becomes a fairly important plot point in ''Blackout''.
to:
** Cal heard the story of PeterPan Literature/PeterPan from Nik when he was seven and Niko was eleven. This becomes a fairly important plot point in ''Blackout''.
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** Robin makes a sarcastic reference to Delilah, the Wolf who's Cal's sometime bedmate, "[[TheSilenceOfTheLambs eating [Cal's] liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti]]."
to:
** Robin makes a sarcastic reference to Delilah, the Wolf who's Cal's sometime bedmate, "[[TheSilenceOfTheLambs "[[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs eating [Cal's] liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti]]."