[[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vampire_huntress_legend.jpg]]

A vampire series by L. A. Banks following Damali Richards, the ultimate vampire huntress, and her team as they fight...well, vampires and other supernatural beings, which are in this series demons from Hell that mainly attack people with darkness in their hearts. This job becomes more difficult when Carlos Rivera, Damali's love interest, is turned into a vampire because of his lifestyle as a drug dealer. The twelve-book series uses religious and mythological lore as the Neteru team fights demons while becoming physically and emotionally stronger, whereas Carlos works as [[TheMole a mole]] for Damali's team, ultimately [[spoiler: God brings him back alive and he is discovered to be the Male Neteru.]] Afterwards, the series shifts from fighting random vampires to fighting Satan's wife Lilith, who is setting up the Apocalypse while tending to the Antichrist, who will rule the world it not stopped.

The twelve books in the series are:
* ''The Minion''
* ''The Awakening''
* ''The Hunted''
* ''The Bitten''
* ''The Forbidden''
* ''The Damned''
* ''The Forsaken''
* ''The Wicked''
* ''The Cursed''
* ''The Darkness''
* ''The Shadows''
* ''The Thirteenth''

Besides these, there are short stories exploring what some characters were during before the start of the series, and ones called Between the Books that tell stories about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin things that happened between the books.]] The latter stories can be read on the [[http://www.vampirehuntress.com series website]]. A comic series taking place after the last book is planned.

The series also has a companion novel, ''Shadow Walker'', which takes place after the Armageddon and follows the children of the Neteru guardian team as they train to become fully-fledged guardians like their parents and continue the battle against the forces of darkness.

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!!Tropes in this series include:

* AbusiveDad: Damali's foster father (and Inez's uncle) was very abusive towards Damali and Inez, and even tried to molest Damali when she was fifteen years old. Damali beat him up and escaped before it could happen.
%%* AchillesHeel
* ActionGirl: Damali and the other females on the guardian team. The Neteru Queens also count.
%%* AerithAndBob
* AffectionateNickname: Carlos often calls Damali "'Mali" in more tender moments.
* AfterActionHealingDrama: There's a lot of this. It's understandable given that the series is about a war between good and evil, with the heroes actually going into battle.
* AllLovingHeroine: Damali, [[spoiler: courtesy of her being an angel.]]
%%* AllThereInTheManual
%%* AmbiguouslyBrown
%%* AndIMustScream
%%* TheAnticipator
%%* AnyoneCanDie
%%* ArcNumber
%%* ArcWords
* AsianAndNerdy: Subverted. J.L. is Asian, but isn't that nerdy, though he's a whiz at technology.
%%* AssholeVictim
* AttemptedRape: Cain attempts to rape Damali when she goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to Hell believing that he's slaughtered her family. Damali does not take it well.
%%* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning
%%* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther
* [[spoiler: BabiesEverAfter: Most of the females on the Neteru team are pregnant in the last two books, with all of the babies born by the end of the series.]]
* {{Backstory}}: Bits of many characters' histories are shown throughout the series, with Damali and Carlos', Rider and Tara's, and Jose and [[spoiler: Juanita's]] having short stories [[AllThereInTheManual outside of the series.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Carlos, in ''The Bitten''. Tara in ''The Wicked'' and Yonnie in ''The Thirteenth''.]]
* BadassCrew: Started off as Damali, her Mother Seer Marlene, and her five "big brothers", and ended as conglomerate of [[BattleCouple Battle Couples]] who would protect everyone with their lives.
* BadassFamily: The Berkfields, especially when [[spoiler: Berkfield is injected with the blood of Christ, making him a healer, and his wife Marjorie, and by extension their kids Bobby and Krissy, is revealed to be a witch.]] Badassness increases when [[spoiler: Krissy marries tactical JL and Bobby marries witch Jasmine.]]
%%* BecauseDestinySaysSo
%%* BelligerentSexualTension
* BerserkButton: In general, anytime anyone in the Neteru group gets hurt, specifically their partner. Others include anytime [[spoiler: the short vampire marriage between Tara and Yonnie]] is brought up around Rider, [[spoiler: his slave past]] is brought up around Yonnie, and anytime [[MamaBear Inez]] thinks that her daughter Ayana is in danger.
%%* BettyAndVeronica
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Heather, the sweetest person on the Neteru team, [[spoiler: pulls a gun on a witch that indirectly caused her miscarriage.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler: Fallon Nuit]] for the first two books. [[spoiler: Councillor Vlak]] for the third, and [[spoiler: Tetrosky]] for the fourth. [[spoiler: Lilith]] for the remainder of the series. Lucifer/Satan can be considered the BigBad of the entire series, given that he's the head of the Dark Realm's forces.
%%* BigDamnHeroes
%%* TheBigGuy
* BirdsOfAFeather: JL and Krissy. Both spend all their time on the team's computers, and even [[spoiler: marry each other]] before the end of the series.
%%* Bishonen
* BittersweetEnding: The end of ''The Awakening''. [[spoiler: Nuit was offed, but the Covenant was almost wiped out and Carlos left to die in the tunnels.]]
* BodyHorror: The victims of Nuit, who are turned into Amanthra-Vampire hybrids with gaping throats.
* {{Bookworm}}: JL and Krissy again, when they're not...
** BadassBookworm: Helping the team fight the legions of Hell.
%%* BoisterousBruiser
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Yonnie's reason for supporting Carlos when Carlos is a vampire [[spoiler: (and even when he isn't a vampire)]].
* BreakTheBadass: [[spoiler: After Carlos is revealed to be [[TheMole a mole]], the dark side captures and tortures him, resulting in this.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Krissy after seeing demons corrupt young people like herself, [[spoiler: her pregnancy making her more emotional]], and Heather [[spoiler: after losing her first child]]. Heather's husband, [[spoiler: Dan]], is also broken by the above spoiler, but completely loses it when [[spoiler: he thinks that his parents died in the last book]].
* BreakTheHaughty: Carlos has several spectacular ones throughout the series.
* BrokenBird: The dark side tries to make Damali into this, as part of their EvilPlan. Damali doesn't reach this point, though she comes close quite a few times.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Carlos after the events in Australia. [[spoiler: Or so he thinks.]]
* [[ButICantBePregnant But You Can't Be Pregnant!]]: [[spoiler: Yonnie says this to Val when she says that she's pregnant, assuming that the dark side is playing a trick on them because, as a vampire, he can't get her pregnant. Val tells him that an angel told her she actually was pregnant, and Yonnie discovers that he was brought to life, proving that he can get her pregnant.]]
* ByronicHero: Carlos.
%%* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive
* TheChainsofCommanding: Averted with Damali, but played straight with Carlos [[spoiler: once his innate Neteru abilities reveal themselves]], who stresses over not being strong enough to protect everyone.
%%* CharacterDevelopment
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The Berkfields, Juanita, Inez, Yonnie, Val, Dan, and even Ayana]] all appear in the series before they become imperative to the plot.
* ChekhovsSkill: Dan's management skills and Damali's singing abilities really come in handy throughout the series.
%%* AChildShallLeadThem
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Outright stated in the series.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Carlos' interrogation at the hands of the harpies at the end of ''The Bitten''.
* ComingOfAgeStory: ''Minion''/''The Awakening'' is this for Damali, as she grows into full maturity as a Neteru in the days leading up to her twenty-first birthday.
* ConsummateLiar: Carlos, especially as a vampire. Also Lucifer, Lilith, Nuit, Cain and all the other more powerful creatures of Hell.
%%* ContrivedCoincidence
%%* ConvenientMiscarriage
%%* CrazyPrepared
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Rider.
%%* CurseIsFoiledAgain
* CuteWitch: Jasmine, Heather and Krissy count as this.
* DaddysGirl: Ayana is this to [[spoiler: Mike]], subverted in that [[spoiler: Mike is her stepfather.]]
* DarkActionGirl: Tara and Raven, [[spoiler: as vampires]].
%%* DarkerAndEdgier
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Shabazz, who [[spoiler: was in jail for ten years]] before the start of the series, but moreso Yonnie, who [[spoiler: was a slave before being turned into a vampire.]]
** Damali lost her parents when she was only a baby, and was shuffled from foster home to foster home while she was growing up. In the last foster home she was in, her foster father tried to molest her, causing her to beat him up, out him to the authorities and get the heck out of there. She spent the next few months living on the streets, before being taken in by Marlene and Shabazz.
** Inez was abused by her own uncle (or stepfather?) for months or even years before Damali came onto the scene and ended it. Later on her first husband physically abused her.
** Carlos' family life was not a happy one, though it's stated in ''The Awakening'' that it ''had'' once been happy, a long time ago. His mother was physically abused by his drunken father, his sister died of a drug overdose.
* DarkIsEvil: Most of the villains in the series are residents of Hell, but...
** DarkIsNotEvil: Both [[spoiler: Carlos and later Yonnie]] worked as [[TheMole moles]] during their time as Vampire Councilmen. Tara, [[spoiler: although a vampire]], and two half-demons from Nod were never evil in the first place. Subverted, however, with Gabby, who helped the Neteru team, but [[spoiler: couldn't be saved because she had sold her soul to the devil]], and the citizens of Nod, who were neither evil nor good at first, but most of them became evil when [[spoiler: their king Cain became Chairman of the Vampire Council.]]
** LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: the half-angel who carried the Anti-Christ.]]
* DeadGuyJunior: Damali and Carlos name their twin children after Damali's mother Sarah and Carlos' brother Alejandro.
* DeadpanSnarker: Rider.
%%* DefrostingIceQueen
* {{Determinator}}: Damali is determined to bring Carlos back into the Light, even going as far as sharing her own heartbeat with him to make it happen.
* DomesticAbuse: Carlos has memories of his drunken father beating his mother when he was just a child.
%%* DrivenToSuicide
%%* DrowningMySorrows
%%* DyingMomentOfAwesome
* DysfunctionJunction: Nearly everyone on the Neteru team has some sort of issue or dark past to deal with.
%%* EarnYourHappyEnding
* EvilEmpire: The Vampire Realm, led by the Vampire Council. Hell as a whole.
%%* EvilGloating
* EvilPlan: The dark side frequently has one.
%%* EvilOverlord
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Cain in ''The Wicked'', after hearing that Damali has married Carlos.]]
** [[spoiler: Gabrielle later in the same novel, when she's turned into a vampire by Lilith.]]
* FakePregnancy: Damali breaks Eve out of her grief over Cain and even gets her to send a little Light into Vampire Council chambers by telling her what Cain tried to do to her and claiming that she might be carrying his child. In reality she has no clue whether she's pregnant or not or by who, and she certainly doesn't want to find out.
* FallenAngel: Lucifer (aka the Devil) started off as this. His fall is what kicked off the battle between Heaven and Hell.
* FamedInStory: The Neterus and their guardian team, for obvious reasons.
%%* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath
* FatalFlaw: Carlos's, and somewhat Damali's, is {{Pride}}.
%%* FateWorseThanDeath
* FemaleAngelMaleDemon: Mostly played straight, but subverted with Lilith and the vampire wives.
* FinalBattle: The Armageddon battle in ''The Thirteenth''.
* FireForgedFriends: Damali and Juanita.
* FirstBoyWins: For Damali, Carlos.
* FlawExploitation: The vampire council uses this effectively against the heroes.
* ForcedToWatch: Toyed with. Damali isn't forced to watch per se, but she can hear the agony Carlos goes through during his torture at the hands of the Chairman at the end of ''The Bitten''.
%%* ForgotAboutHisPowers
* GildedCage: Damali in ''Minion'' views the L.A. compound as this, as she is guarded 24/7 and not even allowed outside on her own lest the vampires take her.
* GoodCostumeSwitch: [[spoiler: Carlos and Yonnie]] traded in their tailored suits for jeans and T-shirts once they stop working for the Vampire Council.
* GoodIsImpotent: Averted, although Carlos believed so in the beginning.
%%* GoodIsNotDumb
%%* GoodIsNotNice
%%* GreenEyedMonster
* HappilyMarried: Damali and Carlos, after ''The Forsaken''. The rest of the team after ''The Cursed''.
* HeroicBSOD: Damali gets hit with this hard after [[spoiler: Cain beats her up and almost rapes her. It takes Carlos to bring the old defiant spirit back into her.]]
** [[spoiler: After Carlos' death in ''The Bitten'' Damali is so grief-stricken and broken that she vows never to fight for the Light again. She takes it back though after seeing Carlos come back to life minutes later.]]
%%* HeroicLineage
* HeroicSacrifice: Carlos stays behind to fight to the death the demons in the tunnels during the team's first battle in Hell, to give Damali and her crew a chance to escape to topside. In Australia, while on the yacht and with his powers failing Carlos' last act is to teleport Berkfield to safety with the Covenant instead of saving himself as he initially intended to do.
%%* HiddenDepths
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: [[spoiler: Both of the Neteru Councils]] are basically historical, mythological, and biblical people made into [[spoiler: Neteru, i.e. Adam, Eve, Ausar (Osiris), Aset (Isis), Nefertiti, Amenotep, etc...]]
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: [[spoiler: Vlad the Impaler (as usual), Elizabeth Bathory, and Lucrezia Borgia]] are all made vampires in this series.
* HomeSweetHome: [[spoiler: After Armaggeddon, the Neteru team gets to peacefully live with their children for approximately twenty years before Lucifer rebuilds his army of demons.]]
* HormoneAddledTeenager: Krissy becomes this way [[spoiler: when she is affected by the virus of the damned.]]
* ImperiledInPregnancy: In ''The Shadows'', during a battle a demon knocks the pregnant Damali unconscious. This causes Carlos and Marlene to have a major freak-out, as the foetus in Damali could've been injured as well. [[spoiler: Thankfully, it wasn't.]] This incident also alerts the dark side to Damali's pregnancy.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Rider, frequently, whenever he hears some shocking or frustrating news.
%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
%%* JumpedAtTheCall
%%* KarmicDeath
%%* KickTheDog
* KilledOffForReal:
** [[spoiler: Padre Lopez]] in ''The Forbidden''.
** [[spoiler: Gabrielle in ''The Wicked'' (and by her own ''sister'', no less), after she is turned into a vampire]].
%%* KingIncognito
* LeftForDead: Carlos at the beginning of ''The Hunted''.
* LightIsGood: Most of the characters against the Legions of Hell are working for Heaven/Nirvana/whatever different religions call their most hallowed place.
* TheLostLenore: Tara is this for Rider.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Mike is attracted to Inez the moment he first sees her. The attraction is mutual. They eventually admit their love for each other and get married.
** Marlene and Shabazz met in an alleyway while fighting off a group of vampires. They've been together ever since.
** Damali and Carlos were attracted to one another and began falling in love when Carlos took Damali under his wing after seeing her in trouble on the streets.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Cain turns his back on the Light after realising that Damali has married Carlos and essentially rejected him. Though there's also his anger at being deceived by the Male Neteru Council and his resentment at being locked away, but this is a major factor.
* MagicalNegro: Marlene and Shabazz.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: How the dark side offs Carlos' family.
* ManipulativeBitch: ''Lilith''.
** Elizabeth Bathory. [[spoiler: Most notably, she tricks her mate Sebastian into resurrecting her late husband, Vlad the Impaler, which results in Sebastian getting a major beat-down and his conjuring arm chopped off.]]
* MarryForLove: [[spoiler: Damali and Carlos at the end of ''The Forsaken''. Also the rest of the guardian team at the end of ''The Wicked''.]]
* MasterPoisoner: Lucrezia Borgia was known for her skill in poisoning her enemies while she was alive. [[spoiler: Even as a vampire she retains this skill and uses it against the Neteru guardian team.]]
* MeaningfulName: Damali's name literally means 'beautiful vision'.
* TheMedic: Marlene, in the very beginning of the series. She is known for her 'white baths'. Later on Damali has a larger role in this, being able to draw darkness out of a person via her Isis blades and also heal using the Caudeuceus. Berkfield literally becomes known as 'Medic' after discovering that he can now heal other people through tactile contact as an affect of the Blood of Christ temporarily being in his veins.
* MenacingStroll: Carlos, Fallon Nuit, Lilith, and the Devil himself have all done this before.
* MercyKill: Marjorie to her sister Gabrielle after she is forcibly turned by Lilith.
** In ''The Awakening'', Carlos stakes his brother and closest friends so that their souls can go into the Light.
* MindRape: [[spoiler: Carlos' interrogation at the hands of the harpies in ''The Bitten'' could be said to be this.]]
* MookFaceTurn: Yonnie was just a random third-gen vampire when he was first introduced. When [[spoiler: Carlos gives him an elevation bite, which means that as Carlos moves up in Vampiric rank, so does he]], however, he becomes completely loyal to Carlos, and therefore the entire Neteru team. By the end of the series, this turns out well for him. [[spoiler: He gains a lover/wife in Val, is brought back to life by the light (while still keeping his powers), and has a son.]]
%%* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Lucifer. Lilith.
%%* NatureHeroine
%%* Necromancer: Sebastian is one.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Carlos screws up big time when he accidentally turns Damali into a master vampire. Though it's only temporary, it gets him in big trouble with both the Vampire Council and Damali's guardian team.]]
** Damali's decision to let Cain feed from her comes back to haunt her when Cain breaks free from Nod and chooses to embrace the dark half of his lineage. If Cain hadn't had that trace of her blood still in him when he had his coronation, he wouldn't have been able to invade Damali and Carlos' marriage bed like he did, resulting in a dangerous link between him and Carlos.
%%* NiceJobFixingItVillain
* TheNicknamer: Rider. He makes a habit of nicknaming every person on the Neteru team.
%%* NobodyThinksItWillWork:
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: The beginning of ''The Forbidden'' makes this abundantly clear. [[spoiler: The guardian team is trapped on a plane and on the run from the vampires and demons, Carlos is no longer a vampire and has to figure out how he fits into Damali's group, the Vampire Empire is in tatters with almost all high-level vampires dead and Carlos' line (except Yonnie and Tara) dusted, and Carlos' family are killed (except Juanita) and the Guardian Compound in L.A. burnt to the ground.]]
* NotMeThisTime: [[spoiler: Cain's general response to Damali's accusation that he killed her family in ''The Wicked'']].
* OfficialCouple: Each of the Neteru guardians is in one by the end of the series.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Shabazz.
** Rider as well. His full name is Jacob Rider, but only Marlene calls him that and even then not that often.
* OppositesAttract: Damali and Carlos, and [[spoiler: Yonnie and Val]].
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Lucifer basically sits around in the seventh level of Hell while his wife Lilith and her minions do all the dirty work. Subverted, in that [[spoiler: once he comes up, no one can stop him, but he has to retreat when Lilith and most of his legions are killed, and he has to regroup and protect the Anti-Christ]].
* ParentalAbandonment: Damali's parents died when she was just a baby, leaving her an orphan. Marlene, her destined mother-seer, refused to raise her, being pregnant herself and hunted by vampires. So Damali was placed in foster-care.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The motto of Hell: "Fair exchange is no robbery."
* PregnantBadass: Damali in ''The Bitten'' (though before her miscarriage) and later in ''The Darkness'', ''The Shadows'' and ''The Thirteenth''. The other female Neteru guardians also count, after they're discovered to be pregnant.
%%* PragmaticHero
%%* PragmaticVillainy
%%* ProperlyParanoid
%%* ThePowerOfLove
* PublicExecution: [[spoiler: Cain is executed publicly by his own mother at the end of the battle of Morales, witnessed by both living Neterus and both Neteru Councils.]]
* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: The first battle in Hell is this for the Neteru guardian team and the Covenant, as the Covenant is wiped out except for a few survivors. They also lose Carlos.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Most of the vampires, [[spoiler: all of the past Neterus, and everyone from Nod.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: Fiery, passionate, aggressive Damali and calm, cool, collected Carlos. Their zodiac signs are even Leo (fire sign) and Scorpius (water sign), respectively!
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Specifically the Amanthra demons.
* RousingSpeech: Damali and Carlos create one together in ''The Cursed'' for the guardian team.
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething
* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Vlak's offer to Carlos in ''The Hunted'': Take the Amazon were-demon to the Vanishing Point, or Vlak will accuse Carlos of being a traitor to the Vampire Council and will make sure that Damali suffers horrifically for the next seven years until her next ripening.]]
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: All the olfactory sensors (especially the Neterus) are this by default. Lopez and Jose are especially skilled in tracking when it comes to Carlos, as all three of them are from the same vampire line.
* ScreamingWarrior: Val, more than likely because she [[spoiler: is half-Valkyrie]].
%%* SheCleansUpNicely
* ShootTheDog: Victims include Raven, [[spoiler: Marlene's daughter Christine turned into a shape-shifting demon]], and [[spoiler: Gabby, who was shot by her sister Marjorie when she was turned into vampire and couldn't be saved.]] This nearly happens to Yonnie, but [[spoiler: Val asks Heaven to save him.]]
* SmokingIsCool: Rider. Subverted in that he stops eventually.
* StarCrossedLovers: Damali and Carlos, before [[spoiler: Carlos comes back into the Light]]. Also Rider and Tara. Marlene and Kamal play this straight, as they fell in love in backstory but were forced to separate after Kamal became a were-human.
%%* SorcerousOverlord
* SurprisePregnancy: Damali falls pregnant after sleeping with Carlos in Australia, something which surprises both of them since it shouldn't have been possible with Carlos being a vampire at the time. Much later, in The Thirteenth, Yonnie is shocked when Val announces her own pregnancy to the team (and much for the same reason).
%%* SwitchingPOV
* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: While the Neteru guardians are in Greece Lucrezia poisons their food with arsenic. Thanks to Yonnie's warning about it, the team realise what has happened when they start to have typical arsenic poisoning symptoms and are able to save themselves from it.
* TeamDad: Shabazz, at least early on in the series.
* TeamMom: Marlene. Marjorie also takes this role, later in the series.
%%* TooDumbToLive
%%* TookALevelInBadass
%%* TookALevelInKindness
* TragicVillain/TragicMonster: [[spoiler: The Amazonian were-demon in ''The Hunted''.]]
%%* UndyingLoyalty
* UnwittingPawn: Damali in ''The Forsaken'', as Cain uses her to obtain the Cauduceus for himself to kick-start his grand plan of TakeOverTheWorld, and also manipulates her into letting him taste her blood (something which factors into his plan). Cain's own mother is also this, as he does much the same to her as he did to Damali.
* VainSorceress: Liz Bathory, who even as a vampire soaked in the blood of innocent virgins to keep her beauty from fading.
* TheWarHasJustBegun: The final book of the series ends with this trope. ''The Cursed'' starts with this, as it kicks off the beginning of the opening of the seals, which will lead to the Armageddon.
%%* WeakButSkilled
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Damali's entire relationship with Cain]] was her way of giving this to Carlos.
* {{Wildcard}}: The Light calls Carlos theirs.
%%* WoundedGazelleGambit
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