Vampires are real and so are vampire slayers. The latter are known as lessers and have some powers of their own, even though humans only achieve that status by losing their soul. On the vampire side there is a brotherhood of powerful vampires - the black dagger brotherhood - that exists to exterminate the lessers and protect the rest of the vampire race. The story begins when it is revealed that one of the brothers has a human daughter called Beth, who is about to turn into a vampire. Since the conversion is dangerous, said brother asks Wrath - the only pure-bred vampire in the world - to help her during the conversion by giving her his royal blood. Initially Wrath refuses but when Beth's father dies, he steps in and takes Beth into his protection.

Everyone in Goodreads seems to love this book/series and now I know why. The author didn't lose any time starting the action and we are plunged into an ocean of vampires, humans and lessers right in the first pages, which is awesome. At first I was confused by the brothers' names - there are a lot of them - but the identification gets easier as the story progresses and we learn more about the characters. The book is hard to put down, not so much for the suspense as it is clear what's happening, but it's the connection to the characters that kept me reading and wanting more, even after the book ended. Great first book, I look forward to read the second.