In Allies of the Night, 2nd in the Hunters trilogy, Darren and Larten Crepsley go back to the city they visited in my favorite in the series, Tunnels of Blood. Accompanying them is Darren's loyal grey-skinned 'Little Person' friend, Harkat Mulds. The 'War of the Scars' (vampires versus vampaneze) has begun and Darren, Mr. Crepsley and Vancha March (who later joins the others in the city) must defeat the Lord of the Vampaneze, or die trying.

When our heroes of the night find the city aroused by 'a gruesome killing spree', they naturally suspect that vampaneze have been feeding. Then comes a fate worse than death for Darren - someone has forged papers to register him in school, and a school inspector is on his case. Is it a trap? The half-vampire is forced to attend, despite the fact that his fellow students consider him 'seriously weird'. Then Darren gets a major shock when he meets his English teacher. And she's not the only familiar face in this episode, which is full of surprising reunions with characters from earlier adventures.

There's romance for Darren (sort of) complicated by an age difference that can only widen; encounters with a vindictive vampaneze ('Hooky') who has gold and silver metallic attachments instead of hands; a chase across rooftops and through underground tunnels; and a trap that's sprung by the arrival of the mysterious Vampaneze Lord himself. Allies of the Night ends with a true cliffhanger (or perhaps it should be called a manhole-hanger) - we'll just have to wait for the ninth in the series, Killers of the Dawn, to find out who comes out on top.

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