History Literature / BlackDaggerBrotherhood

* TraumaticC-Section: Layla is forced to undergo one when it looks like she's suffering a miscarriage during ''The Beast.'' [[spoiler: One is alive and the other is a stillbirth- until being revived by Payne and Manny. The daughter is named Lyric after Blay's mother, and the son is named Rhampage by Wrath, according to Brotherhood tradition.]]

* TheWoobie: Bitty comes across as this from the beginning. Child of a physically abusive father whose abuse needs to be relived in ''Blood Vow'' when Havers has to break her bones ''again'' and reset them manually (without anesthesia) so she'll be able to walk after Transitioning, her mother dies when Bitty goes to visit her in Havers' clinic, lives in Marissa's Safe Place shelter, is malnourished to the point where she looks 9 years old (she's actually 13), and emotionally dead inside. [[spoiler: She got better thanks to Rhage and Mary formally adopting her.]]

* The Woobie: Bitty comes across as this from the beginning. Child of a physically abusive father whose abuse needs to be relived in ''Blood Vow'' when Havers has to break her bones ''again'' and reset them manually (without anesthesia) so she'll be able to walk after Transitioning, her mother dies when Bitty goes to visit her in Havers' clinic, lives in Marissa's Safe Place shelter, is malnourished to the point where she looks 9 years old (she's actually 13), and emotionally dead inside. [[spoiler: She got better thanks to Rhage and Mary formally adopting her.]]

* Reincarnation Romance: [[spoiler: During ''The Chosen,'' iAm looks at the resume of a Vampire from Detroit named Therese for his Italian restaurant. When she arrives for an interview, he nearly faints when he sees the spitting image of Selena standing in his doorway. Lassiter also arranges for Trez to visit iAm at the same time she's interviewing and Trez completely loses it when he sees Therese (or Tres, as she likes to be called). It's ambiguous whether this is a true reincarnation a la Darius/John Mathew, or is a mundane but damn scary coincidence.]]

** And also the transition to becoming a fully-fledged vampire.
** And the rare transformation from human to vampire.
** Also the transformation from human to lesser.

* KillItWithFire: During the climax of ''The Beast'' Assail and Zsadist assault the home of a Glymera aristocrat and free their blood slave. Assail brings a pistol. Zsadist brings a ''flamethrower.''

* ImmortalProcreationClause: Vampires are only fertile once every decade, and pregnancy is very highly likely to result in miscarriage or death of the mother in childbirth. As Tohrment puts it, 'It's a goddamn ''shellan''-robber'.

** Butch and Marissa hit a very rough spot in ''Blood Kiss.'' Butch's Catholic upbringing drives him to shelter Marissa while he investigates the murder of a vampire that turned up at Safe Place, Marissa sees this sheltering as just another cage like the glymera tried to force her into. They work through it by [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOther talking, hugging it out, and going to a sex club.]]

** When he was alive, [[spoiler: Lash]] was only to happy to terrorize the weaker vampires in the race's boot camp, up to and including potentially raping John Matthew. When he was resurrected by the Omega, he gleefully leads the Lessers on a massive killing spree against the vampire civilians he knew and socialized with in his past life, takes Xhex as his own SexSlave and noisily complains that the Lessers who serve him have reduced him to shopping at Target for clothes and eating McDonald's for dinner.

** [[spoiler: Lash,]] the child of the Omega who briefly took over the Lessening society.

* HaveYouSeenMyGod: As of ''The Beast'' V has discovered that the Vampire deity, the Scribe Virgin, is dead/un-ascended/no longer a deity and will be appointing a successor for the race. The Brothers are all confused by how this could happen but universally agree that this is a bad thing especially when the war with the Lessers was swinging in their favor. As of ''The Chosen'' there is a new deity for the vampire race: [[spoiler: Lassiter.]] And only Layla knows it!

* KillItWithFire: During the climax of ''The Beast'' Assail and Zsadist assault the home of a Glymera aristocrat and free her blood slave. Assail brings a pistol. Zsadist brings a ''flamethrower.''

* LongRunningBookSeries: Eleven so far.

** The Band of Bastards led by Xcor, trying to unseat Wrath and replace the Brotherhood. They achieved what the Brotherhood couldn't- exterminating all of the Lessers in their home country.
** Throe, formerly a member of the Band of Bastards, who seems to be fomenting a coup against Wrath from within the Vampire nobility.

* HaveYouSeenMyGod: As of ''The Beast'' V has discovered that the Vampire deity, the Scribe Virgin, is dead/un-ascended/no longer a deity and will be appointing a successor for the race. The Brothers are all confused by how this could happen but universally agree that this is a bad thing especially when the war with the Lessers was swinging in their favor.

* LoveRedeems

* EasyLogistics: Played straight in the first few books. The Brothers and the Lessers trade enough bullets, knives, and explosives after dark to equip an army, and nobody comments on where they get all of this material- much less the cash for it. In later books the Brotherhood is forced to use [[spoiler: Assail's drug cartel]] contacts to get more weaponry. Meanwhile the new Fore-Lessers increasingly comment about how cash-strapped their organization is and how they're running out of Lessers faster than they can be made. The newest Fore-Lesser has turned to drug trafficking and mass conversion of Caldwell's lower level gang members to restore the society.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Assail crosses a lot of lines in his rise to power. Murder, drug dealing, working with the Lessers to expand his criminal empire despite the fact that they plan to exterminate all Vampires. But blood slavery? There's a line even he won't cross.

* KillItWithFire: During the climax of ''The Beast'' Assail and Zsadist assault the home of a Glymera aristocrat and gree a blood slave. Assail brings a pistol. Zsadist brings a ''flamethrower.''

* MercyKill: [[spoiler: After being seized by her final Arrest, Trez asks Selena to blink twice if she wants to die via lethal injection. She blinks twice.]]

* TheUnFavorite: Quinn, especially when his family measured him against their eldest son Luchas, right up until the entire family was massacred in the Raids. [[spoiler: As of ''The Shadows'' Luchas has been found alive, if horribly disfigured from Lesser torture. He regularly pops up in the Brotherhood's medical facilities undergoing therapy.]]

** Butch is the un-favorite of his father, being cast aside and beaten as a child. He also blames Butch for the murder of Butch's older sister.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted with Mary. A former crisis hotline counselor, she becomes a therapist for Zsadist to help him overcome the psychological scars from his time as a slave. Also moonlights at Marissa's shelter "Safe Place" helping Vampires escape abusive males.

* TotallyRadical: Younger John, Quinn and Blay's slang is a little anachronistic.

* ''The Shadows'' (Trez and Selena)

* BlueBlood: The ''glymera.'' Any scene of their parties, balls, or political discussions involves at least a dozen brand name items, gold rings, or diamond jewelry being described. Usually subordinate to the King of the Vampires while ruling over their servants with diluted bloodlines, they prove to be just as dangerous to Wrath as the Lessers. At least two attempts to unseat Wrath have been made by the glymera, one by assassination and another by invoking Vampiric Law.

* {{Dystopia}}: Vampire society is deeply patriarchal and has very rigid gender roles. Their religious beliefs can be crazy and cruel. And the general social fabric is decayed.
* EasyLogistics: Played straight in the first few books. The Brothers and the Lessers trade enough bullets, knives, and explosives after dark to equip an army, and nobody comments on where they get all of this material- much less the cash for it. In later books the Brotherhood is forced to use [[Spoiler: Assail's drug cartel]] contacts to get more weaponry. Meanwhile the new Fore-Lessers increasingly comment about how cash-strapped their organization is and how they're running out of Lessers faster than they can be made. The newest Fore-Lesser has turned to drug trafficking and mass conversion of Caldwell's lower level gang members to restore the society.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Assail crosses a lot of lines in his rise to power. Murder, drug dealing, working with the Lessers to expand his criminal empire despite the fact that they plan to exterminate all Vampires everywhere. But blood slavery? There's a line even he ''won't'' cross.

** Subverted by Phury; he accepts the role of Primale of the Scribe Virgin and is expected to... "service" 40 of her Chosen. He manages to weasel out of this requirement in order to free the 40 Chosen AND be with his beloved Cormia.

** As of the latest book, Qhuinn has actually gotten his head out his ass and realized that he is in love with his best friend- cue their scheduled HEA in 2013 and many fangirl squeals.

** Human IntrepidReporter Jo and Manny.

* ParanormalInvestigation: Two investigators, professional reporter Bill and real estate agent turned IntrepidReporter Jo, come close to finding out the truth about Vampires in ''The Beast'' during their own investigation of a battle between Lessers and Vampires at an abandoned school. They ultimately drop the story in favor of pursuing something more reasonable, like looking for Jo's long lost brother [[spoiler: Manny]].

** Taken up to eleven with Butch, Manny, and [[spoiler:Jo]]'s shared father. The man had a habit of leaving his girlfriend-of-the-week at the first sign of pregnancy without informing the mother of his ''species.''

** When he was alive, [[spoiler: Lash]] was only to happy to terrorize the weaker vampires in the race's boot camp, up to and including potentially raping John Matthew. When he was resurrected by the Omega, the vampire race's version of the devil, he gleefully leads the Lesser on a massive killing spree against the vampire civilians he knew and socialized with in his past life, takes Xhex as his own SexSlave and noisily complains that the Lessers who serve him have reduced him to shopping at Target for clothes and eating McDonald's for dinner.

* BlueBlood: The Glymera. Full stop. Any scene of their parties, balls, or political discussions involves at least a dozen brand name items, gold rings, or diamond jewelry being described. Usually subordinate to the King of the Vampires, they prove to be just as dangerous to Wrath as the Lessers. At least two attempts to unseat Wrath have been made, one by assassination and another by invoking Vampiric Law.

** See also Trez, after he has to MercyKill Selena during her final Arrest.

* BadassNormal: Butch, at first

** The Omega, an OmnicidalManiac deity and OverarchingVillain of the series, looking to exterminate the Vampire race with his soldiers, the Lessers, just to spite his deity sister the Scribe Virgin.
** The Fore-Lessers, the chief lieutenants of The Omega who often have their own agendas they pursue alongside the Omega's; the last time they killed a named character was near the beginning of the series- they've been drifting into HarmlessVillain territory ever since ''Lover Unleashed.''

** Potentially invoked by [[spoiler: Assail]] of all people, when he tries to seduce [[spoiler: Throe,]] who might have been willing to swing that way, during a scene in ''The Beast.'' It may or may not have been a legitimate pass, as [[spoiler: Assail]] was trying to engineer a break-in at the time and it succeeded in getting the target to run away in anger/confusion.

* CursedWithAwesome: Rhage's alter-ego is a fire-breathing dragon that likes to devour ''lessers'' whole, and can use its wings to fly. Eating ''lessers'' causes Rhage some pretty bad indigestion.

* KillItWithFire: During the climax of ''The Beast'' Assail and Zsadist assault the home of a Glymera aristocrat to free her blood slave. Assail brings a pistol. Zsadist brings a ''flamethrower.''

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The series began with a manageable circle of warriors. Add in their respective shellans, the members of the Glymera, The Lessening Society, The Symphaths, the Shadows, the newly recruited Soldiers, the Band of Bastards, and then your average humans, then the roster of characters in this series starts looking pretty long.

* ParanormalInvestigation: Two investigators, professional reporter Bill and real estate agent turned IntrepidReporter Jo, come close to finding out the truth about Vampires in ''The Beast'' during their own investigation of a battle between Lessers and Vampires at an abandoned school. They ultimately drop the fantastical story in favor of looking for Jo's long lost brother [[spoiler: Manny]].

* TheUnFavorite:

** The Omega, an OmnicidalManiac deity looking to exterminate the Vampire race.
** The Fore-Lessers, the chief lieutenants of The Omega who often have their own agendas they pursue alongside the Omega's.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: At least one per book.
** The dance party in ''Lover At Last'' when [[spoiler: Qhuinn drops on one knee in the middle of the entire Brotherhood and basically asks Blay to marry him. Double heartwarming for Blay's parents' reaction.]]
--> [[spoiler: "This is so wonderful, I have another son- Two sons! I have two sons!"]]
--> [[spoiler: "(Qhuinn) did it properly. He asked me first."]]
** Special mentions in ''The Beast'' when [[spoiler: Bitty calls Mary "Mother"]] and the entire cast of characters shows up for the twins' naming ceremony.

* HappilyAdopted: Mary and Rhage's marital troubles over her inability to conceive are solved when they take in the orphan Vampire Bitty. Mary worries over Bitty's mental health and Rhage's ability to handle the stress of being a parent- until Bitty falls in love with Rhage's GTO and treats Rhage's beast-form like an enormous puppy.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The series began with a manageable circle of warriors. Add in their respective shellans, the members of the Glymera, The Lessening Society, The Symphaths, the Shadows, the newly recruited Soldiers, the Band of Bastards, and the average humans. the roster of characters in this series starts looking pretty long.

** Taken up to eleven with Butch, Manny, and Jo's shared father. The man had a habit of leaving his girlfriend-of-the-week at the first sign of pregnancy without informing the mother of his ''species.''