“Need” by Todd Gregory— Vampires and Desire

Amos ♦ September 12, 2012 ♦ Leave Your Comment

Gregory, Todd. “Need”, Kensington Books, 2012.

Vampires and Desires

Amos Lassen

The name Todd Gregory has been associated with gay erotica as well as the supernatural and here he gives us one of those good old vampire stories set in New Orleans (my home town). Cord Logan is a new vampire having only joined the undead two years ago. He is still getting used to his new undead life and is still adapting and trying to figure out who he is and what he wants. He still carries memories of his last few nights as a human and this haunts him.

Cord (quite a romantic name for a vampire) returns to New Orleans and comes upon a friend from when he was human and this is the catalyst for a chain of events that makes the place dangerous for everyone. Cord who has embarked upon a journey of discovery actually discovers that things are getting out of hand when an ancient society of supernaturals has to help to save the vampire race.

If you know New Orleans as I do then you know that there is something for everyone there—it is not just the air that is sultry—there is a feeling of sultriness hovering over the city all of the time. It has been said that New Orleans is the perfect place for vampires and those who drink blood. Everyone who knew Cord knew that he had died two years ago but here he is walking the streets of the French Quarter, stalking people and looking for victims. He knew that returning to New Orleans was not a good idea and risky especially since he has broken with the other vampires who had claimed him and of which he had been a member. He had tried to break the vampire curse was to no avail and now he has to hide from the living and the undead.

When he runs into his old friend, he has a surge of desire which could prove to be his doom and not just his but of all humanity. His quest of self-discovery takes him into the Louisiana bayous and a carnal life and he finds himself in a place where magic rules. He is forced to look inside himself and his new powers and if he is unsuccessful, he will regret it forever and ever.