Vampires are such fascinating creatures. They have incredibly long lives, though they are not immortal because they can be killed. They’re enticing and sexual, and appeal to our darkest fantasies. So why all the secrecy? Apparently, once one becomes a vampire, you have to ‘die’ so that your family doesn’t come looking and stumble upon something better left alone. Ms. Rhodes shows what it’s like to hide from your family after you’re made a vampire. What it’s like to have to leave everything behind and start over fresh. Being a vampire isn’t all blood and sex. It’s loneliness and more than an oops or two as you learn the undead ropes. And Ms. Rhodes proves it.

In Alexandru: A Vampire’s Legacy Lives On, Nicollette “Nikki” Winter is happy in her life. She’s a well-known writer, and, though single, she isn’t upset that she’s got no man in her life. When leaving her class one night, she notices that a shadowed man has started following her. She tries to run and falls, and the person who picks her up isn’t a criminal, but a man she loved with all her young heart ten long years ago. Alexandru was her true love. She wanted to spend forever with him. And now he’s back. But he’s not aged at all since she last saw him.

Over a decade has come and gone and he still looks like a young man. He tells her tales of vampires, and then says that he too is one. At first she thinks he’s lying, telling her some cock-and-bull story to get him off the hook of not calling her after all these years. But once faced with proof, she has to come to terms that her window to reality isn’t nearly as big as she thought it was. Nikki makes the decision to stay with him forever, and despite his feelings on the matter, he changes her into a vampire.

After faking her death, the two lovers set about showing her how to be a vampire and how not to get caught. Ok, so it’s really Alexandru doing the teaching and Nicollette is doing the learning. Leaving a trail of bodies isn’t the way to survive in present day society. People may not believe in vampires anymore, but they can still kill you. Then Alexandru is murdered and Nikki is left alone. A rogue vampire is slaughtering and changing people as fast as it can, and the rogue has decided that Nikki is the enemy and needs to die. While Nikki is still learning the ropes, she hasn’t a clue how to stop the vampire that is turning her city into a town of the undead.

Ms. Rhodes has written an enticing tale about what happens after you’re made a vampire and your sire suddenly dies. Or rather, is murdered. Where most stories dealing with vampires are dark and gothic, she’s managed to make Alexandru very believable. While not entirely light-hearted, it isn’t one that will leave you feeling depressed after you’re through.