Dying Bites: The Bloodhound Files

By DD Barant

DD Barant launches The Bloodhound Files with Dying Bites—a "fresh and original take on urban fantasy" (Romantic Times) with a heroine who's "remarkable, strong-willed and smart" (Publishers Weekly).

Her job description is the "tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers." What this really means in FBI profiler Jace Valchek's brave new world—one in which only one percent of the population is human—is that a woman's work is never done. And reality is getting stranger every day...

Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA. He knows that she's the best there in the business, and David needs her help in solving a series of gruesome murders of vampires and werewolves. David's world—one that also includes lycanthropes and golems—is one with little knowledge of mental illness. An insane serial killer is a threat the NSA has no experience with. But Jace does.

Stranded in a reality where Bela Lugosi is a bigger box office draw than Bruce Willis and every full moon is Mardi Gras, Jace must now hunt down a fellow human before he brings the entire planet to the brink of madness. Or she may never see her own world again...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jun 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781429917681

DD Barant

DD Barant lives in Vancouver, BC, and loves monsters, chocolate, animals, reading, comics and lying naked on the beach, while hating bullies, narrow-minded people, Sea Urchin Sushi and gluten. Awful, terrible, gluten. Barant is the author of The Bloodhound Files, starting with Dying Bites and Death Blows.

Book preview

ONE

I think about monsters a lot.

Real ones, I mean, not Frankenstein or Dracula or Godzilla. I work for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, where I use my degree in criminal psychology to help profile offenders; my area of expertise is homicide-fixated nonstandard patterning. It’s my job to figure out why the crazy ones do what they do and who they’re going to do it to next. This makes me Miss Popular at cocktail parties—until my third tequila, when certain details that really shouldn’t be heard on a full stomach somehow become the punch lines to jokes of incredibly bad taste.

I usually don’t get invited back.

Which is why I’m home alone, again, nursing a throbbing hangover and trying to get back to sleep. I’ve got a bad case of the 3:00 A.M. guilts—you know, when you lie in bed awake and replay all those things you didn’t do right? Because, as we all know, nothing solves insomnia like a nice warm glass of regret, depression, and self-loathing.

Okay, I don’t really hate myself. But I do piss myself off—quite a bit, actually—and sometimes I need a good, stern talking-to about important elements in my life. I think I was criticizing my own taste in clothes when I finally fell asleep.

It’s funny. Dreams can be intimately revealing, or incomprehensible. They can be ridiculous or terrifying, deeply significant or inconsequential. I find other people’s dreams intriguing, because extracting meaning from the psychological jumble of a healthy mind is similar in many ways to finding coherence in the fractured mindscape of a psychotic.

But no matter what they represent or how scrambled they are, dreams are just that—dreams. They aren’t real. But to those whose grasp on reality isn’t quite as solid, a dream can be a message from another dimension, a psychic telegram from their own personal God. It can change their entire life.

I guess that makes me crazy, too.

The dream starts simply enough. It’s not unusual to dream about your work—I know a shoe salesman who kept having nightmares about ogres who came in demanding sandals—so for me, a dream about catching a killer can be pretty mundane. I’m sitting at my desk doing paperwork, when a colleague walks in and tells me I’m wanted in the Director’s office. I get up, walk down a hall, and knock on the Director’s door. A voice I don’t recognize tells me to come in.

On the other side of the door is my bedroom. That’s okay, because I’m wearing my nightshirt. There are two men sitting on my bed, quite formally, backs straight and their legs together. The one on the left is my boss; his name is Robert Miller and he’s spoken to me maybe three times in my entire career. He looks vaguely annoyed—but then, that’s the only expression I’ve ever seen on his face.

The other man is a stranger. He’s dressed much like the Director, in a plain black business suit, but I can tell at a glance there’s something very unusual about him. Sharp eyes, hooked nose, dark hair slicked back, bony, angular features. I have the immediate, strong feeling that he’s an undertaker from another country—somewhere in Eastern Europe, maybe, or some corner of Mongolia.

Agent Valchek, says Miller. You’re being reassigned, effective immediately. This is your liaison. He’ll get you settled. Miller doesn’t introduce the man, and I don’t ask.

You can bring three things with you, the man says. He has no accent, but somehow that just reinforces the idea that he’s a foreigner. In fact, I’m sure this is the first time he’s ever been to my country. The three things you feel are most instrumental to you doing your job. Choose carefully.

I’m pretty straightforward. I grab my handgun, my laptop, and the carton of ammunition I keep under my bed. In typical dream fashion, the undertaker is now standing beside a door in my bedroom wall that wasn’t there before. The Director has vanished. The undertaker opens the door and motions me to step through, cautioning me to close my eyes for my own safety.

Of course, yeah, I say. Thanks.

The first sensation I’m aware of after stepping through the doorway is the cold wooden floor under my bare feet. There’s a strange noise behind me, like a recording of an explosion being played backward. I open my eyes.

I’m standing in an office, one very much like the Director’s. The blinds are drawn. A green-shaded lamp throws a pool of light on the desk, and leaning against the front of the desk, arms crossed in front of him, is a young man. He’s dressed in standard FBI-wear, black business suit and polished Oxfords. He appears to be around eighteen, handsome in an innocent kind of way, and has curly blond hair that makes him look more like a surfer than a Federal agent.

I note three things in quick succession:

One—I’m still in my nightshirt.

Two—I have a loaded gun in my hand.

Three—I’m not asleep.

I file number one as embarrassing but not vital, double-check number three and confirm my first impression, and bring point number two to Mr. Surfer’s immediate attention by aiming it at his chest.

Where the hell am I? I snarl.

In my office, he says. My name is David Cassius. We’re going to be working together, Jace.

The gun doesn’t seem to impress him. It’s a Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan, a short-barreled revolver chambered with .454 ammunition—it packs a bigger wallop than a Magnum .44, and is sometimes even used for big-game hunting. It can take down a grizzly or a bull moose, and it took me every day for six months at the firing range to learn how to handle the recoil. Cassius looks at it like it’s a toy.

I understand your confusion, he says. His voice is strong, deep, confident, not the voice of a young man at all. I have a good ear for accents and I’m trained to identify over a hundred regional differences, but his escapes me.

Actually, he continues, you’re not supposed to be fully cognizant yet. I don’t suppose I can convince you you’re still dreaming?

Only if you turn into my father and tell me you’re disappointed in my grades. I half-expect exactly that to happen, but Cassius only smiles. It’s a boyish, engaging smile, and I bet it makes the sorority girls go all weak and giggly. I seriously consider putting a big hole in it.

No, I didn’t think so. All right, let’s take this one step at a time. How do you think you got here?

Where I come from, the one with the gun asks the questions, I snap. Where’s your partner? The undertaker is nowhere in sight.

You probably mean the . . . one who brought you here. He’s at another location; I elected to be the one to officially greet you, but I was told you’d be in a more receptive state.

I’m getting it now. Okay. So someone drugged me at the party, I was scooped from my apartment, and you expected a little more drool and a lot less firepower. Are we up to speed?

Getting there. His smile widens, going from gee-aren’t-I-cute to something approaching genuine amusement. Keep going—I want to see where you end up.

You’re a government spook, I say flatly. The Bureau doesn’t play games like this. CIA, NSA, one of the black-ops outfits that doesn’t show up in the budget. You drugged me, hauled me out here . . .

I stop. He waits.

Oh, crap, I say. My gun isn’t loaded, is it?

See for yourself.

I do. All six chambers are full. I snap the cylinder back into place and look up, more confused than ever—and starting to be scared. Scenarios involving me being turned into a brainwashed assassin start to percolate in my brain. I level the gun at him again and say, Full explanation. Now. I’m close to convincing myself he’ll say Kumquat, and I’ll turn into a glassy-eyed zombie.

You haven’t been drugged. I am, as you thought, a government operative—NSA, in fact. You’ve been brought here because we need someone in your field of expertise—the tracking and apprehension of mentally fractured killers.

It’s an odd way to put it, but I guess mentally fractured is as accurate as psychotic. What’s the matter with your own specialists? I ask. Or do you just need someone disposable? I have visions of me tracking down some Senator’s son who’s gone off his meds, only to wind up in a shallow grave myself once I’ve caught him.

You’re far from disposable, Cassius says mildly. "As a matter of fact, at the moment you possess one of the most valuable minds on the planet. We’re hoping you’ll use it to help us. Now ask the important question."

Which one? I want to scream. Am I about to die? Have all those years of making myself think like a psychotic finally turned me into one? Why are you so calm with a loaded revolver held by an extremely stressed FBI agent pointed at your heart?

No.

If I wasn’t drugged, I say, "then how did I get here?"

Through that, Cassius says, and glances behind me.

I’m not stupid. I keep the gun on him and move my body to the side, so I can flick my own glance from him to what’s behind me. I’d come through some kind of door, so that’s what I expect—but what I see instead is a blank white wall, with some kind of arcane designs scrawled on it in reddish brown. The designs are outlined in a rough semicircle around six feet in diameter—

I’ve never seen anyone move that fast.

It’s still a stupid thing to do. It’s virtually impossible to take a gun away from the person who’s holding it on you as long as the shooter follows one simple rule: don’t get too close to your target.

I haven’t.

Cassius actually manages to grab the barrel of the Ruger before I pull the trigger. The first bullet takes him in the sternum, and the next three are placed within inches of that. I’m a very good shot.

The sheer kinetic energy throws him backward across the room. He lands on his back on the desk, arms thrown to either side.

Damn, I whisper. Just another crazy—

And then he sits up.

There’s no blood on him, but his shirt and jacket have ragged, gaping holes—and all I can see through those holes is pale, unmarked skin. No body armor, no bulletproof vest. No way.

He looks more annoyed than anything. Thinking back on it later, I’m pretty sure that’s the real reason I put the next two shots into his face.

I can actually see the impacts this time. His skin dimples like an invisible finger just poked him—once in the cheek, once in the forehead—and then the flattened remains of the slugs fall onto the carpet. I wonder why the force didn’t drive him backward like the first time, and then I realize he’s braced himself by holding on to the edges of the desk. The desk is large and solid, unlike my present grasp of reality.

The gun is empty, but I’ve got a carton of ammunition in my other hand. And a laptop tucked under my arm. Right now, they both seem pretty useless.

Cassius gets off the desk. He sighs. If I was going to hurt you, he says reasonably, now would be the time, wouldn’t it?

He looks down at the shredded remains of his tie. He sighs again. Please, he says, and motions to a leather sofa along one wall. Sit. Or perhaps you’d like to discharge your weapon again?

My mind is desperately trying to find some explanation that fits the facts, but it’s not doing so good. In fact, the idea that I’m still dreaming is looking better and better. I stride over to the sofa, toss down my gun, put down the laptop and place the ammo on top of it. Then I sit down, cross my arms, try to ignore the fact that the only thing I’m wearing is an oversize T-shirt with a picture of a panda on it, and glare at Cassius. Okay. Talk.

I apologize for trying to disarm you. It was rude of me.

If you’re looking for an apology in return, you’re not going to get one.

What a surprise. This isn’t your world, Agent Valchek. His tone is suddenly noticeably colder—I think I finally managed to piss him off. I realize that in your world, magic is something only children believe in. Here, it is real. You were brought through an interdimensional portal by extremely powerful sorcery, and it was not done lightly. We need your help.

I smile, and shake my head. "Okay, now you’ve gone too far. Some kind of covert spy operation I might have bought, but this? Over the top. So now I’m thinking practical joke, with really excellent special effects. New TV show, maybe? Special blanks in my gun, maybe hypnosis—"

And then he moves again, in that ultrafast way only animals can, and his face is about a foot away from mine.

Does this look like special effects? he says, and grins.

The grin isn’t meant to be friendly. He’s showing me his teeth.

His incisors are sharp—and as I watch, they get longer. His eyes—a very startling blue—turn bloodred.

I swallow. Kind of, I say. But only when I’m on the other side of the screen.

"Welcome to this side, he says. I’m a vampire. Not a demon, not a creature of pure evil, not a figment of some writer’s imagination. I drink blood, I’m extremely allergic to sunlight, I’m effectively immortal. I’m a supernatural creature, not a natural one, and if you’re going to survive here, you’re going to have to learn how to deal with beings like me—because I’m far from the only one."

And, just like that, I believe him. The human mind always searches for order, no matter how chaotic or insane events become—we want to believe in a pattern, any pattern, and when somebody offers you one in the middle of a storm of craziness, you grab it and hang on until something better comes along.

Vampires, I say calmly. Lots?

Thirty-seven percent of the population. Worldwide.

Barely a third. How’s the war going?

His eyes fade to normal. His fangs recede. It was over a long time ago, he says. He straightens up from his feral crouch, seems almost embarrassed. You lost.

So the other sixty or so percent is what—livestock?

Forty-three are lycanthropes. Nineteen are golems.

Werewolves and living clay. How’s that work? The bloodsuckers and werewolves take turns biting each other while the Jewish statues referee?

We aren’t monsters, Jace. We drink the blood of animals, not men. We shop in supermarkets, we drive cars. This world isn’t so different from your own.

"Why am I here?" I shout. Bulletproof vampire or not, I’m about ready to rip the truth out of him with my bare hands.

"Because one of the ways this world is different from yours is in the sickness you call insanity. Most supernatural creatures are immune to disease—our minds as well as our bodies. Only human beings are experienced in dealing with madness, and—well . . ."

We’re hard to come by? I’ve already done the math. "One percent. That’s all that’s left of us, you bastard? One percent?"

Less than that, he says quietly. "Your species numbers under a million. And one of them is slaughtering my people."

Why should I care?

Because catching this madman, Cassius replies, is the only hope you have of ever seeing your home again.

Suddenly I don’t feel so well. Nauseous, dizzy, one step removed from reality. Which is exactly right, I think and a huge wave of relief surges through me. This can’t be real, because I feel like I’m about to throw up and I never, ever do the Technicolor yawn. Not when I saw my first floater, not when they hazed me at the Academy, not when we opened that root cellar outside of Augusta. Therefore, this is something simple—a brain tumor, maybe—and not the horrifying predicament the Vampire Surfer just described.

I sigh happily, throw up all over my panda, and pass out.

I wake up in a hospital bed. I put a checkmark in the Brain Tumor column and look around for professional corroboration.

No one in the room but me. Vomit-stained panda shirt replaced by standard-issue green hospital gown. No plastic ID band on my wrist, though. Odd.

Also, I’m strapped to the bed. Maybe I should have mentioned that first.

The door opens and a doctor walks in. He looks like a doctor, anyway, white coat over blue scrubs, with a stethoscope slung around his neck and a clipboard in his hands. He’s in his thirties, clean shaven, with shaggy brown hair and a face that reminds me a little of a young Harrison Ford.

Ms. Valchek, he says, smiling at me. I’m Dr. Adams. Sorry about the restraints—you were convulsing when you were first brought here, and we didn’t want you to hurt yourself. He starts undoing buckles.

Where am I? I ask, resisting the urge to grab him by the throat. Ask questions, then shoot. As soon I find out where my gun is.

St. Francis Infirmary. He finishes unbuckling the straps and steps back. How are you feeling?

I lift my hand and put it to my forehead. My head hurts. I’m a little queasy. And I think I may have had some kind of hallucinatory episode.

He nods. The nausea and headache are common in cases of RDT—though there aren’t that many case histories to study. Hallucinations are a more severe symptom, though; they usually only manifest in the later stages of the syndrome.

So I guess my RDT is pretty bad. What’s that stand for—Raging Doom Tumor?

Reality Dislocation Trauma. To put things simply, Ms. Valchek, you come from another universe, with a different set of physical laws. Your body doesn’t like it. It’s trying to reject what it’s being told on a very basic level, but there’s nowhere to go.

I stare at him. I like to think I’m adaptable, but I kind of had my heart set on the whole brain cancer thing. Rational, tragic, possibly fixable—all I had to do was pick out some fashionable head scarves for my post-operative look. And now?

Now I don’t have to worry about any of that. Just vampires, werewolves, and being allergic to existing.

I know it’s a big shock, Dr. Adams says. But it’s not as bad as it sounds. There is a treatment available; it’s effective and noninvasive. I was just waiting for you to wake up before administering it.

Does it involve ruby slippers? He gives me the blank look I often get when I’m trying to be funny. Never mind. A sudden and very nasty thought strikes me. Wait a minute. Does this mean I’m going to be developing a sudden aversion to sunlight and/or silver?

Now he’s the one who looks shocked. "Of course not! Ms. Valchek, we have something here called the Hippocratic oath, and we take that very seriously. Turning a human being against their will is a Federal crime, not to mention extremely rare. No, the treatment you’re going to receive—"

The door opens and a nurse enters, holding a white mug with steam rising from it. She doesn’t seem to have fangs or claws or an excessive amount of body hair, but I study her suspiciously just the same; she’s young, Asian, and has blue streaks in her short dark hair. She hands the mug to Adams, giving me a curious glance in return.

Ah, thank you, he says. I guess in this reality nurses are expected to bring doctors their coffee, or maybe Miss Blue Streaks is just a suck-up.

To my surprise, he hands the mug to me. And here it is. Drink up, but be careful—it’s hot.

I take the mug and sniff it. It doesn’t smell that bad, kind of like juniper with a hint of ginger. What—you’re going to cure me with tea?

It’s an herbal preparation called Urthbone, specifically formulated to reinforce your connection to this world. It’ll help ground you, physically and psychically—basically, a spiritual immunosuppressant.

I try a sip. Bitter, of course. But if they were trying to poison me, I’d already be dead. Or undead. Or hairy.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I start feeling better immediately. I take a proper mouthful, ignoring the heat—I like my coffee hot.

Oh, God, I say.

What? He’s closer in an instant, looking concerned.

"You do have coffee in this world, right?"

He smiles. It’s a nice smile, warm, completely unlike Cassius’ relaxed smirk. Yes, we have coffee. I’ll get you some as soon as you finish the Urthbone. Before you do, though, there are some side effects you should be aware of.

Of course. I take another swallow anyway—in for a penny, in for a pound. Go ahead.

You’ll experience an increase in empathy as your life force becomes attuned to this plane of reality. You’ll be able to tell what the people near you are feeling—it may even affect your own emotions. If so, let me know and I’ll adjust the dosage.

I nod. Compared to seizures and hallucinations, a little sensitivity to the moods of others doesn’t seem so bad. My colleagues are always telling me I need to be more sensitive, anyway.

Where’s my handler? I ask. Cassius.

"He’s a busy man. He’ll be by to debrief you eventually, but he thought you needed a little time to acclimatize, first. I have to apologize for how you’ve been treated, Ms. Valchek—dimensional extractions aren’t done very often, but there are protocols for a new arrival. You should have been eased into your transition, not yanked fully conscious into the Director’s office."

Call me Jace. And it’s fine—I’m used to being thown in the deep end of the pool. I take a long breath and let it out, trying to shift into Active Case mode. In abductions or murders, the first forty-eight hours are always the crucial ones; you have to learn to hit the ground running and go full tilt. I’d gotten through multiple homicide, rape, and pedophile cases—I could get through this.

If you’ve got any questions, Jace, I’d be happy to answer them. And please, call me Pete.

Okay. Pull up a chair—there’s one or two tiny details I might need clarified.

He grabs a plastic stool from near the door and sits. Go ahead.

Where to begin? I think about it and realize just how big a problem this could be. It depends on how knowledgeable he is about not only his own world but also mine. Let’s start with broad strokes, Dr. Pete. My world doesn’t have magic, yours does. What kind of magic are we talking about? Witchcraft, voodoo, gypsy curses? Gandalf, Dumbledore, or Aleister Crowley?

His face does one of those things where the bottom half smiles and the upper half frowns. Most magic is based upon animist principles—the idea that all things, animate and inanimate, have a spirit inside them. Different cultures interpret this energy in different ways, but the principles remain the same. The terms ‘witchcraft’ and ‘voodoo’ are seldom used, but elements of both approaches still exist. The two major forms are Japanese Shintoism and African Shamanism, though there are hundreds of different subdisciplines and offshoots within each. Vampires tend to like the formalism of the Shinto, while werekind lean toward the African.

How about you?

I’m a Shamanist. Guess I like the earthier approach.

So you’re a . . .

Lycanthrope, yes.

His brown eyes meet mine. I find it hard to imagine him howling at a full moon—he seems more the milk-and-cookies-before-bedtime type. Sorry if I seem skeptical. But try to see it from my point of view—where I’m from, this is just flat-out impossible.

"I get it. I can give you more immediate proof, of course." He raises an eyebrow—a pretty thick eyebrow, actually.

Change, you mean? Right here, right now? You can do that?

Sure. All lycanthropes assume were form for three days a month, but we can shift whenever we want. There are some disadvantages, though—our mouths aren’t properly shaped for speaking, for instance. But we still have hands, so we use sign language.

Okay, go for it.

Not until you’ve finished your tea. I want you grounded before I inflict further psychic trauma. He smiles. Ask me another question.

How much do you know about my world?

A little. I was given a dossier by the NSA when they assigned me to you, with a cultural overview put together by government shamans. They defined what they call the cusp divergence at sometime in the twelfth century; before that, our worlds were practically identical. Afterward, not so much.

So vampires and werewolves showed up here in the twelfth century?

He shakes his head, then brushes a shaggy lock of hair back from his eyes. "No, our kind have been around a lot longer than that—but until then, we’d largely stayed underground. It was something that happened in your world that caused the divergence. You developed a technology called firearms."

"We—wait. Are you saying this world doesn’t have guns?"

That’s correct. We have weapons, of course—just not that particular innovation. Can’t say I’m sorry—from the description I read, they sound unreliable and potentially lethal to the user as well as the target.

I’m not about to waste time arguing the merits of sidearms with a doctor. Okay, so we invented guns and you guys stuck with, what, longbows and swords?

Amongst other things. It was around that time that golems started being used for warfare.

Golems. Details, please.

A golem is an artificial person, usually man-shaped but sexless. Basic animist magic: shape a humanoid form and charge it with life force. Early versions were made of clay and—despite certain legends—usually charged with the essence of some simple but strong animal. The famous Golem of Prague was powered by the spirit of a bull.

And they were used as soldiers?

Yes, but without much success—they were hard to kill, but moved slowly. It wasn’t until the Song Dynasty in China began building large golems—fifteen feet tall or so—and using them as a combination battering ram and mobile catapult that warfare really started to change.

I try to wrap my head around that. Giants made out of clay.

Fired pottery, actually, filled with pebbles. The joints were hinged metal. They were incredibly strong—they’d rain boulders of a hundred pounds or more down on the enemy from half a mile away.

I try to imagine what it would have looked like to a fortress under siege: a row of terra-cotta titans standing back and hurling rock after rock, while three or four of them charge at the front gates, a handy redwood tucked under their arms. No wonder these people aren’t impressed by guns; while we were still experimenting with fireworks, they’d invented a tank that could follow

Reviews for Dying Bites

[starknits_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's like a crime mystery and urban fantasy all rolled into one with a strong female lead of course I liked it!

[mlleehreen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In a crowded genre, Dying Bites is fresh. The premise is so simple that it feels obvious, which is the mark of a really ingenious idea: Jace Valcheck is an FBI profiler pulled into another dimension, a same-yet-different world where humans make up only 1% of the population. In this new world, vampires and werewolves have all the physical advantages and all the political power; humans are barely scraping by.

There are some original twists on vamps and weres - like the spell that allows vampires to reproduce by donating biological years to their child, with the baby growing one year older for each six months the parents age - but the really fun new addition is golems. In Barant's world, the golems are technologically advanced versions of the clay statues of legend; a slaughtered animal's spirit is fused with sand and then poured into a plastic casing. The golems don't eat, don't sleep, don't have sex, and can't swim (they're too heavy!). Jace, as a weak human, is assigned a very intimidating golem bodyguard, Charlie, made from the spirit of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. For all his limitations, Charlie is just about the best character in the novel - he has a dry wit, a dapper style, and he's utterly fearless. I didn't expect to find the golems very interesting, but it only took a few pages with Charlie before I was totally sold.

The storyline could be an episode of CSI, with the addition of supernatural beings. The NSA is tracking a serial killer, a human murderer with three victims under his belt. The NSA bigwigs are certain that the guy is crazy, and that's why they need Jace. Vampires and Werewolves are immune to mental illness, and with so few humans around there is little knowledge of such diseases. Her expertise is literally non-existent in this parallel world.

I was really hooked on the plot as Jace pieces together an understanding of the villain's motives and, simultaneously, discovers that she can't trust her own team. The murders are clearly political in nature - a human being outraged at the way his species is treated - and the NSA people don't feel like telling Jace about all the horrors and atrocities fueling the killer's anger. At some point, as the information trickles in, Jace starts to wonder if she's on the right side.

Mixed in with all this good stuff are a few pretty serious flaws. First of all, all the romantic elements here are horribly botched. There isn't one moment of sexual tension that felt real to me. All the men capable of having urges in this book are attracted to Jace - that's annoying. It's especially annoying because these guys give off vibes which seem really low key to me - "That Jace Valcheck, she's spunky and good-looking, wouldn't mind sleeping with her" - but Jace interprets these mild urges as cause for serious drama, which made me think she was a little pathetic.

Which brings me to my biggest problem with the novel: Jace. She is supposed to be a consummate professional but she is not. In the course of this one novel she gets drunk on the job, she sleeps with a colleague, and she goes AWOL repeatedly. In general, if Jace has to choose between calmly taking control of a situation and running off half-cocked, she'll go for the latter. As a character, she felt incoherent to me.

I've been reading urban fantasy for a long time now, and it's harder and harder to hook me on a series. Books that would have put an author on my auto-buy list five years ago don't make the cut anymore. There's just a lot more out there, and fans can afford to have higher standards. This one would have made the cut a couple of years ago. Today? I'm not so sure.

[leiahc-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The world of The Bloodhound Files is, in my estimation, one of the more interesting written of today. Based upon a world in which humans are very much in the minority, the story pulls you in and doesn't let you go. As an FBI profiler, Jace Valchek is drawn across into a world filled by vampires, werewolves and golums, and humans are a tiny portion of the population.

This is definitely an 'edge of your seat' storyline. Jace is drawn into this new world by the equivalent of the head of the NSA, and is dumped directly into saving the world from madness - madness this world has never known before. And, even though these are the same "people" who actually pushed the humans to the edge of extinction, you can't help but like them. And Barant goes out of her way to make her Jace believable. She isn't a super-woman, but a hard working, tough minded woman working hard to get herself back home.

The story is excellent, the characters are likable (and 'hate-able' too) and everything is done very much like the very best of the mystery/suspense thrillers - just with vampires, werewolves, and golums. Politics, angst, interracial stressors, it is all there, and all facinating as seen from Barant's angle.

And yes, I own them all, and love them all . . .

The Bloodhound Files:

Dying Bites (The Bloodhound Files, Book 1)
Death Blows (The Bloodhound Files, Book 2)
Killing Rocks (The Bloodhound Files, Book 3)
Undead to the World: The Bloodhound Files

[thebooknerd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This started off fairly strong, but I began to lose interest as things progressed. By about halfway in, I just wasn't hooked. Points for the world-building and some of the ideas. Maybe I'll try it again some other time.

[cmwilson101 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dying Bites: The Bloodhound Files by DD Barant is a good, fun, urban fantasy with a twist: monsters (such as vampires, werewolves, and golems) exist in alternative worlds, and the heroine, Jace, is pulled into one of those worlds. Jace has been deliberately brought into the alternate universe because of her skills. She is a serial killer profiler and the alternate universe needs her expertise to solve a case. It is a very well done cross-over of two of my favorite genres (detective/profiler and urban fantasy). The combination makes the story unique and fresh, and the characters make the story captivating. The heroine, Jace, is a complex character; she is somewhat jaded, irreverent, and sarcastic. She lives to work and deals with her stressful job by laughing it off. She doesn't have much of a social life since a very acrimonious & painful split with her boyfriend. She has a hard time adjusting to being uprooted from her universe and dropped into another one, but gets caught up in the case and begins to adapt. She is helped by a vampire colleague Gretchen, a Golem bodyguard Charlie (who is a wonderful character and a perfect balance to Jace), and the dishy werewolf Dr. Pete. The supporting cast are all complex & authentic characters. Jace herself is completely believable, likeable, and fun -- she struck me as a cross between Kate Daniels and Clarice Starling. The world-building is detailed, consistent; the author has created a very interesting world in which I hope to spend more time.

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

FBI profiler Jace Valchek opted for a career in law enforcement to put away predators - the mentally disturbed kind. But when she wakes up from a really bad dream to find she's been abducted by the NSA from an alternate universe to track down one of their worst serial killers, Jace is in for a whole new kind of crazy. In this reality, humans make up a mere one percent of the population. Someone's been targeting the vampires and werewolves that make up the majority of the world's population, and the bloody, gruesome murders point to an insane, human killer. It's a job that's tailor made for someone with Jace's skills, but this time she's not sure if the right side of the law might not be the wrong side to be on...One of the more unique premises for an urban fantasy I've read recently, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

[mardel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked Dying Bites. I didn't love it like I loved reading Suzanne McLeod, Devon Monk or Ilona Andrews. There's no denying that DD Barant can tell (write?) a good story. There's plot, twists and turns, suprises, and humor. There's also scenes of horrific sadistic killings, which is probably why I didn't love the book.The main character, Jace has been brought over from earth to another dimension, another parallel earth. Only this world has a teeny tiny percentage of humans. Everyone else is vampire (pire), thrope (lycanthrope) or lem (golem). There are sorcerers which are humans. Jace is brought over to solve a series of killings by an alledgedly insane human. She is assigned to this worlds version of the FBI, which is her job in her world.DD Barant has done well with the world building. Almost anything you can imagine here, he has addressed for there. Music, TV shows, courier services, the nazis, all the different wars we had and there counterparts for their world; there is bigotry and superiority expressed by the different races. That would be natural, though not commendable. I found the worldbuilding very imaginative. Jace didn't seem like a woman though; to me she read like a man, or how I would imagine a man to think (could be totally wrong, though I have three sons and a husband....). But I guess not all women are the same anyway. I certainly don't have a lot of "feminine" traits (hate shopping). I liked the character's toughness, and her extremely smart-assed attitude. I like smart-ass. I especially liked the relationship between Jace and Charlie, the golem assigned to protect her. The murders she has to solve though are very sadistic, reminiscent of the "Saw"-like movies that have come out. I'm not really into those type of movies, so that's what lowered my enjoyment of this book. The murders were very imaginative, but too sadistic for me, (and not a fun sadistic). If you like torture/horror movies along with your humor and a good mystery you'll like this book. The writing was good, the plot and mystery was excellant, as was the world itself. I also liked that you learned about the world as Jace learned about it. That was great. At this point I'm not sure if I would read a sequel. I kind of want to, because I did enjoy Jace's and Charles' jabs at each other, as well as Gretchen and Jace. I'm just not sure if I want to read anymore sadistic murder. There is an excerpt of the second book (Death Blows) at the end of Dying Bites. I like the title puns also, always enjoy those type of titles.

[page.fault · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Gotta say, I'm impressed: this contains the shoddiest, most illogical worldbuilding I have so far encountered. Congrats on that!

I'm not currently planning on writing a careful or even remotely fair review for this one, because writing it would probably take more effort than the author put into the book. So sorry, no review; just a rant.

Basically, our protagonist is dragged into a parallel world in which guns were never invented (Barant incorrectly dates their creation to the 12th century and says that history "went differently"), vampires and werewolves fought and won a battle with humans, and despite this, literally almost every single aspect of society evolved in precisely the same way as our own. Every country, every city was colonised in an identical fashion. Despite the radical disruption in timelines, practically every invention, institution, and product of our world--Crown Vics, plastic, the internet, servers, the Seattle Needle, the FBI, Prohibition, 401K's, Harleys, even freaking napalm--evolved identically. (That's right--they have napalm and still are considered firearm-free.) hover for spoiler Barant assumes almost every aspect of pop culture and carelessly mentions historical figures and cultural icons of our world (e.g. Hitler, Mussolini, heck, Casablanca, etc), apparently forgetting that all the humans were exterminated and that this should have altered the world. He assumes (at least in the "humor") all of the racial tensions and stereotypes of our world. He loves making fun of political correctness (e.g. a golem who wants to be referred to as a "Mineral-American" or Jace, who claims that she prefers to be called "opinion recognition deficient" rather than stubborn.) This book should win points for its sheer insensitivity. Jace meets a black (the colour) golem who tells her that golems are colour-coded and blacks are enforcers. (How surprised would you be if I told you that light-coloured golems get higher-ranking jobs? And that it apparently never occurred to the author that this might be problematic?) There are two main types of magic; the sophisticated Asian-inspired version is used by vampires while the bestial weres prefer African magic. (Wince.) Barant attempts to throw in nonsensical differences whenever he remembers--their WWII was over something slightly different and ebay is a porn site--and these differences are just as illogical and lazy as the rest.

The sheer amount of infodumping that piles up is impressive in its own right. All of the characters are apparently knowledgeable enough about Jace's world to translate tiny details, except on the random occasions where Barant decides to have them paradoxically ignorant. They also always explain their world in terms of our world; for example, a native of the were world tells Jace, "A selkie is a mythological Celtic creature who can assume different forms." That's right--he refers to an actual creature of his own world as mythological. In another scene, one of the supernatural creatures refers to Jace's gun as "angry white girl voodoo" despite the apparent absence of voodoo from the world and, one would expect, the innate racism that this phrase references. In general, all the in-world characters repeatedly make comments like, "Oh, X is not the same as it is in your world. In our world, it's Y"--despite the fact that either they should be unaware of how it is as X, or there should be more bleed elements from the supernaturals stealing earth culture. Everything about the book is rough, lazy, and illogical, from the immature Jace who apparently passed an FBI psych exam to the treatment of humans in the other world to basically every ineptly drawn aspect of the culture. This may actually be the worst worldbuilding I have ever encountered, which is, in itself, a rather impressive achievement.

Redeeming features? Well, personally, I didn't really find any, but I get hung up on inaccuracies, plotholes, and lazy and inconsistent worldbuilding. This was a perfect example of using a parallel world to try to have your cake and eat it too: radically change certain aspects of the world, but use the "parallel" part to assume that all pop-culture and history evolved identically, all while ignoring the utter illogical absurdity of this. I'm racking my brains for redeeming characteristics, and I realise that I actually do like Charlie, Jace's sidekick, quite a bit. I also though her doctor friend was nice enough. I suppose in general most of the characters are inoffensive urban fantasy stock. If you can overlook all my complaints above (and it's gonna take effort), plus ignore the random offensive racial stereotypes, then it's probably an entertaining enough read.

I tend to choose books based on library availability. I'm beginning to wonder if I should ask myself, before reading, why a particular book is still on the shelf.

[carolesrandomlife · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book but I didn't love it. I have had a copy of this book for years and finally decided to dust it off and give it a try. There were some things about the book that I really enjoyed and other things that made me question why things happened the way that they did. This was a pretty fast listen for me and I did enjoy the overall story.I liked the overall premise of the story. Jace is an FBI profiler that is pulled into an alternate reality to help solve a crime. The alternate reality is filled with vampires, shifters, and other interesting beings with humans as a small minority. The paranormal beings in this reality are not prone to mental illness but there is a killer on the loose targeting the paranormal population that happens to be human so Jace has been enlisted to help.The population of these realities are so different but I was amazed by how much everything looked like our world. Language was mostly the same. Cars developed in the same manner. There were some difference but I really would have thought that there would be a whole lot more since these really were different worlds. According to the story, the worlds became different when guns were invented in our world and not used in theirs. It just seemed strange to me.I did think that the story was exciting. The murders were quite interesting and I was really interesting in learning who was responsible. There were several surprises along the way that I did not see coming. I liked the characters in the book well enough. Jace was tough and smart but I kept thinking that she adjusted to everything a whole lot faster than could be expected. I really liked Charlie, her golem assistant, and thought that many of the other secondary characters were equally well done.One of the reasons that I decided to pick up this audiobook was Johanna Parker's narration. I am someone that listens to audiobooks at regular speed and don't like to speed things up. I immediately felt this book was going really fast so I check to see if I had changed a setting on my device since the narrator seemed to be talking really fast. I decreased the speed of the narration and was able to enjoy the story much more from that point forward. I did like the range of voices that she used in this book although I did have a bit of trouble keeping everyone straight for a time. I would encourage anyone interested in the series to give it a try. I thought that it had a lot of unique points and found it to be rather entertaining. I am not sure if I will continue on with the series at this point but I am glad I gave this one a shot.

[laphenix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book and I liked the characters, but it never really captured my imagination.

[lostkiwi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book in the The Bloodhound Files. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Jace is smart, funny, strong and very likable. Her partner, Charlie, a golem has a wonderful dry wit and the other supporting characters mesh well.

[les121 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dying Bites exceeded my expectations! I was immediately drawn in by the world building, which is by far the best part of the story. I loved the concept of an alternate reality in which supernatural creatures have made humans an endangered species. The historical details of this reality are so similar, yet so different from our world - from Hitler’s genocide, to war in the Middle East, everything is slightly off, and I find it fascinating. One major difference I enjoyed is that guns do not exist in this alternate universe. As you can imagine, this presents some interesting and hilarious challenges for our heroine, an FBI agent from our world who is very attached to her firearm.The story is well written, and the descriptive prose is particularly vivid. The protagonist, Jace, is brazen, snarky, and fearless to the point of stupidity... yet likable. It’s difficult not to sympathize with her as she is thrown into a new world and suddenly has to learn how to navigate the supernatural. The ethical dilemmas Jace faces are gut wrenching. In a world where humans are fighting for survival, she can’t help but question who she can trust and whose side she should take. I really felt Jace’s sense of sadness, hopelessness, and inner conflict, which made me root for her despite her occasional dumb behavior.The supporting cast is well drawn, especially Charlie, a golem and Jace’s new partner. He’s the perfect counterpoint to Jace’s mood swings, and he doesn’t take crap from her or anyone. The plot is fast paced and the mystery intriguing, though I’m surprised that we don’t get to see more of Jace’s profiling abilities since she’s supposed to be a criminal profiler. I also could have done without as much relationship angst, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. Action packed and entertaining, Dying Bites was a fun adventure, especially as the last few chapters devolved into a furious race to save the world from am insane terrorist. All in all, this was a surprisingly good read, and I’m looking forward to reading Death Blows, the second book in The Bloodhound Files series.

[thewalkinggirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Between the gore, the first person present narrative, and the please-no-love-triangles mantra I kept chanting, I feel like I shouldn't like this, but I'm a sucker for a competent, smart-ass heroine. Overall, I enjoyed the story and found the alternate Earth the author created to be fascinating -- I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of vampires being Muslim Shintoists. Another major plus: whenever a character has an accent, be it Japanese or French-Canadian, the author just says that instead of trying to write in dialect (thank you!).I think my favorite part, though, is Jace's burgeoning friendship with her golem bodyguard, Charlie: "... where I come from [we have] partners. A partner is a person who watches your back, points out when you're screwing up, trusts you completely and occasionally saves your life. They do that for you... and you do that for them." We glare at each other for a long moment. "Problem is," he says at last, "we're here, not there." "Doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me." He considers this. "You know, that'd be a lot more reassuring if you weren't so damned fragile." "I'm fragile? At least I don't burst into tears when I'm feeling unappreciated." "True. You're more likely to shoot something." "I find it therapeutic. You should try it sometime." "No thanks. I'll stick to knitting tea cozies and sobbing into my pillow." "We done?" "Pretty much."NB: While the murder victims' deaths are gruesome, the descriptions aren't gratuitous. Also, the swearing is mild and the sex takes place off screen.

[dorie.craig · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good read, I enjoyed this book a lot and will probably read the sequel. FBI profiler Jace Valchek has just been reassigned -- to an alternate world. The world is populated mostly with vampires, lycanthropes and golems, with humans being an endangered species. But Jace is a specialist in the criminally insane, and this world now has its first serial killer. The world in this book was well imagined and described, and Jace makes an appealing heroine who is tough enough to be believable. Although infected with the usual sarcastic humor urban fantasy seems to be plagued with, it doesn't overwhelm the plot, and some of it was actually funny.

[jac8604_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It has the requisite sassy, smart, butt-kicking heroine, but with a refreshingly unique sense of humor.

[perpetualrevision · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The promo material for this book made it sound funnier than it turned out to be, and it took me a while to get over having the voice of Sookie Stackhouse (from the audiobook series) talking from the perspective of a different character. I even stopped half way through the book to listen to something else. But I did return to it and enjoyed it well enough to finish it. I'm just not sure if I enjoyed it enough to read the next book in the series. I read a LOT of books that feature weres and vampires and other common inhabitants of urban fantasy, and this one didn't really set itself apart with any memorable distinguishing features, other than being in an alternate universe. I also had a hard time believing Jace could adapt to this alternate universe so quickly, but maybe later stories will reveal more about what in her background would've made her so flexible.

[capnrandm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A blend of action, police-procedural, and urban fantasy, DYING BITES is both a gateway drug and a satisfying book in this own right.

[soireadthisbooktoday · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The world of The Bloodhound Files is, in my estimation, one of the more interesting written of today. Based upon a world in which humans are very much in the minority, the story pulls you in and doesn't let you go. As an FBI profiler, Jace Valchek is drawn across into a world filled by vampires, werewolves and golums, and humans are a tiny portion of the population.

This is definitely an 'edge of your seat' storyline. Jace is drawn into this new world by the equivalent of the head of the NSA, and is dumped directly into saving the world from madness - madness this world has never known before. And, even though these are the same "people" who actually pushed the humans to the edge of extinction, you can't help but like them. And Barant goes out of her way to make her Jace believable. She isn't a super-woman, but a hard working, tough minded woman working hard to get herself back home.

The story is excellent, the characters are likable (and 'hate-able' too) and everything is done very much like the very best of the mystery/suspense thrillers - just with vampires, werewolves, and golums. Politics, angst, interracial stressors, it is all there, and all facinating as seen from Barant's angle.

And yes, I own them all, and love them all . . .

The Bloodhound Files:

Dying Bites (The Bloodhound Files, Book 1)
Death Blows (The Bloodhound Files, Book 2)
Killing Rocks (The Bloodhound Files, Book 3)
Undead to the World: The Bloodhound Files

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jace Valchek is taken from this world and brought into a world where normal humanity are rare, where vampires and werewolves are quite common. Jace is an FBI profiler and is brought to investigate killings, a serial killer who appears to be human, is killing supernaturals in very particular places. She's got to adapt to a new world and investigate the killings. It's complicated and involved and I should have liked it more, but it's just a little bit off. I'm hoping it's just issues with the first book, because the concept is cool and it shows a lot of promise. Jace is nicely jaded but also wide-eyed with the situation she finds herself in.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Quick Thoughts - Derivative, fast paced, Good Beach Read, Don't think too much reading this.Review: Jace is a profiler with the FBI. She is taken from her own world to a modern day society where there is magic and the majority of the population is Vampires and Werewolves. Its an interesting take, but there isn't anything new with this book. The world is exactly the same as ours, even the computers work together! The vampires and werewolves are essentially human, there is nothing that differentiates them from each other and humans, besides the blood drinking and changing into a wolf. Jace is a typical female hero character that is taking urban fantasy by storm - that is walks around with a chip on her shoulder, doesn't listen to anybody, sarcastic, and quickly sleeps with somebody in the book. I really want to see a lead female character that is grounded in real life, maybe has a family and friends. That isn't to say Jace is badly written, but her character is a bit cardboard, and there is not much depth to her decisions.This book is a quick read, but it feels like so many other books out there. It would make a good beach read if you are looking for a book with a bit of action, but not a lot of the romance that you find in books of similar nature (there is one or two love scenes, but the romance is not the bulk of the story)

[itentertainsme · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was really intrigued by the idea of this book. What mostly interested me was the change-up to the traditional urban fantasy where, instead of editing the current world, the author took her character and placed her in a parallel one.
So where did everything go wrong? I don't entirely know, but I think a lot of the problems can be traced back to the fact that the world wasn't well-built enough to make it either interesting or believable. There was entirely too much explanation of HOW the two worlds paralleled and not enough action to counteract all the exposition.
For another thing, the two worlds are miraculously EXACTLY alike other than the fact that one world has guns, and the other world has... supernatural creatures. That is literally the ONLY difference. Because of this extreme lack of difference, the two worlds may as well have been combined, or else the editors should have removed the elaborate descriptions of the "differences" between the two worlds to help the pacing.
I had no major issues with the characters, and I was particularly fond of Charlie - which was surprising considering vampires are generally more my thing. Well, I take that back. I had one really huge issue with Jace: after her initial complaint, she basically just accepted the fact that she was to take up permanent residence within this alternate reality, that she would now live her life at the whim of a vampire who basically killed most of her entire species. And all she wants out of it is an office and some plants? Hahahaha what???
Since I didn't exactly DISlike it, I'll probably try out the next book in the series. I'm expecting most of the exposition to be missing from now on since the world is now established, and that might help with the pacing and character development.

[skybalon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good and interesting twist on the whole Vampire/Werewolf thing. I will be continuing this series, but I do have a nagging suspicion that it might end up being like the Anita Blake series--start strong and then turn into a Harlequin Romance series.

[whatsmacksaid · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The second half is considerably better than the first--it was at that point that I quit checking how many pages were left. A lot of the book, though, is just the main character scoping out potential paramours. She's surrounded by guys and they're all interested. Borrrring.

[burrowk-446725 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I could not put this book down. I have read some of the books in this genre and was really sick of heroines that were, well, for the most part passive and, for lack of a better word, weak. Jace is the perfect antidote. She's strong, sarcastic, witty, and she takes no guff from anyone knowing her value as a detective. IN a world where humans make up 1% of the population and in which she meets some very anti-human characters she is more then willing to take them on, even if it means possibly fighting a battle she would be unable to win without her werewolf and golem cohorts. Obviously I like strong heroines, but I also really appreciated the alternate reality that this book was set in and how we got to experience it from inside Jace's head - if we were ripped unexpectedly into that world I assume many of us (or at least I) would have similar reactions.

I can't wait for the next book to come out.

[theyodamom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Audio- ( 2.7 stars)
I liked it, I didn't like it. it was thrilling, it was annoying. This has to be the most conflicting book I have read this year. I am a big urban fantasy/mystery fan and this did have that feel. But, yes there is a but- it didn't flow evenly. I wanted more time with the story and less time with Jace. I liked it enough to continue the series.
The Positives- I liked the CSI feel to the detective work. I liked the world where vampires, lycanthropes and golems rule. It was a fresh new angle, with a devastating past history. The side characters all had a unique perspectives and abilities. Charlie, The Gollum was a show stealer. he is the reason I am continuing the series. I think he should have been the center of the story he was much more interesting than Jace. Jace, a smart, often stubborn to a ridiculous level, Psychological Profiler- when she's is thinking work, she's good.
The negatives-Alternate universes/realities are hard for me to read. I just have a hard time going between what is her and what is there. I had some issues with inconsistency with the blending of the two realities. Somethings blended because of fans and yet another didn't because they didn't know anything about that world ? *Conflicting bits* I also thought she took the whole ripped out of my reality thing way to easily, it needed more conflict. Jace talking to her brain was very irritating. Jace was rude, hurtful, and acted mean to a couple of the characters. I am not a fan of mean. The narrator on the audio made Jace sound like a spoiled teenager.