The Raven's Song: From the Files of Eric Baine, the Dead Detective Hardback - 2004

Move over, Lestat...Main's fast-paced, hard-boiled tale takes the world of the undead to a whole new level....A twenty-first century detective novel that turns the traditional genre upside down and inside out with its cast of supernatural characters and wild plot twists...a mix of tradition and originality, The Raven's Song bursts at the seams with imagination, magic, and great fun.--Lisa A. Stolley, Pushcart-nominated author of Your Own Personal Project and Other Stories

In Blood & Shadows, Eric Baine had to stop a psychopathic vampire bent on releasing shadow demons to destroy the world...

In The Raven's Song, he's the prey instead, as two beautiful assassins stalk Baine to track down his friend, the assassin-without-peer Azrael, the Eternal Death.

But nothing is as it seems, and as Baine works to stay alive (relatively speaking) and begins to unravel the plot, it seems that everyone involved is being played as pawns in a deeper game...

From The Raven's Song:
Chained to a chair in my own offce, with a bag over my head. Not a good way to start the day.
A voice said, "Mr. Baine."
A deep, sultry female voice. A voice tinged with amusement, sensuality, and overwhelmingly with barely contained violence. I detected the slightest hint of an unidentifiable accent.
I heard the sound of a lighter being flicked, and a moment later I caught the faintest whiff of cigarette smoke. "Speak when you're told to speak," said the voice.
"Okey-dokey," I said, smiling.
Another blow upside the head. I continued smiling.
For five minutes the only sound in my office was the occasional inhale and exhale of the cigarette.
I presumed she was waiting for me to develop some degree of anxiety. People tend to underestimate me, especially vampire people; they don't know me well enough.
During those rare times when I'm chained to a chair by an unknown stalker, this can be comforting.
So whether she was waiting for me to betray some emotion, or just trying to get me scared way deep down inside, the only thing I was feeling was a mild curiosity.
I had her right where I wanted her.