Literature / Immortal Guardians

Immortal Guardians is a series of Paranormal Romance novels by Dianne Duvall. In this universe, there are four species:

• Humans: Most are blissfully unaware of the existence of the supernatural except for a small subset that work as Seconds and blanket security for the Immortal Guardians
• Vampires: humans infected with a symbiotic virus that enhances speed and strength, but eventually drives them to a homicidal rage and causes them to prey on the local populace
• Gifted Ones: humans with "advanced DNA" that grants them special abilities. They have not yet been transformed and are generally unaware of any hint of supernatural beyond their own seemingly inexplicable abilities
• Immortal Guardians: Gifted Ones who've been infected with the same virus that turns non-gifted humans into vampires. However, their advanced DNA means they get the speed and strength without the insanity

The Immortal Guardians safeguard humanity from the vampires and keep an eye out for Gifted Ones who transition to immortal status. The series also features a smattering of sci-fi and a heavy dose of action, with battles between vampires and immortals, vampires teaming up with immortals against the human industrial military complex that wants to weaponize the virus, threats from nominally neutral god-like beings, and the occasional alien from outer space.

As of March 2024, there are 14 books in the Immortal Guardian series, including two novellas. There are also two spinoff series, The Gifted Ones and The Aldebarian Alliance.

Tropes

• After Action Patch Up: It's very common for the heroine of the story to have to patch up the hero after he's been grievously wounded. Sarah meets Roland after he's been staked to the ground in a quasi-crucifixion. Ami meets Marcus as he's suffering from severe blood loss after battling multiple vampires. Melanie's first major interaction with Bastien is when he's unconscious after being tranqued by an unknown drug. And so and so on.
• Action Girl: Most of the women in the series.
  • Ami proves pretty adept at guns and stunt driving and serves as a Second after she is rescued by Seth and David
  • Sarah, Melanie, and Jenna already have nerves of steel before transformation. After they are transformed, they have the physical strength to back it up
  • Krysta's abilities help her fight vampires pre-transformation, something that's all but unheard of for an untransformed human; after the transformation gives her super strength and speed, she is a force to be reckoned with
• Actually Not a Vampire: The Immortal Guardians. Nearly every book has a point where the Immortal has to explain the difference between vampires and Immortal Guardians after their potential mate sees their fangs and glowing eyes. Richart in particular has to do some fast talking after he accidentally he teleports to his girlfriend's home sporting fangs.
• Author Appeal: It's pretty clear that Dianne Duvall thinks more people should eat organic foods, drive environmentally friendly cars, and live in North Carolina.
• Badass Driver: Ami is surprisingly good; almost all of the Immortals.
• Band of Brothers: The Immortals see themselves as a family, even though only Richart, Lisette, and Etienne were actually related before they were transformed. Their extended family includes their human allies as well.
• Battle Couple: Most of the Immortal Guardians who have mated choose to fight together. Notable exceptions include Ami, who spends several books pregnant and then stays home with her daughter for the rest of the series, and Melanie, who is a doctor and works in the Network hospital rather than going out into the field unless Seth calls for All Hands on Deck.
• Berserk Button: Do not threaten Ami in front of Seth or allow her to come to any harm.
• Beware the Mind Reader: Subverted. While the telepathic Immortals are not evil, they are very nosy and non-telepaths have to seriously give thought to information being casually picked from their brains. Seth explains that the younger telepaths aren't malicious, they just forget that brains aren't open books, theirs for the perusing. It's particularly bad when asleep because the younger telepaths unintentionally fall into the dreams (or nightmares) of others, which can be very revealing and/or embarrassing for both parties.
• Black Sheep: Several members of the Immortal Guardians find their transition into the group a bit bumpy.
  • Because of his stint as the leader of a semi-successful vampire rebellion against the Immortals, it takes several years for the rest of the Immortals to stop calling for Bastien's execution and begin accepting him as one of the group. For several books, any time there's any hint of a mole or the vamps do something that is unexpectedly successful against the Immortals, Bastien is blamed. Additionally, there are points where the Network security team is nicer to their captive vamps than to Bastien.
  • It takes a while for Zach to be accepted because when the Immortals first meet him, Seth insists he's not to be trusted. Since Seth generally likes everyone, no matter how surly and/or anti-social they may be, the Immortals don't question his belief about Zach. Only Ami continually vouching for his trustworthiness eventually convinces Seth and the group to give him a chance.
  • Jared has an even harder time since neither Seth nor Zach trust him and he's initially believed to be the shapeshifter who's been feeding forbidden information about the Immortal Guardians to the US Military, risking all of their lives. Additionally, before turning coat himself, Jared was responsible for Zach being captured and tortured simply for daring to talk to Seth. It takes quite a while before Zach stops punching him in the face every time Jared teleports into the room.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: Marcus and Ami are left to face thirty-four vampires on their own. Richart shows up after the battle is over.
• The Chains of Commanding: When Zach takes over for Seth as the Emergency Contact for the Immortal Guardians to give Seth a break, he realizes just how extremely hard Seth works to keep everyone safe. Eventually the work is split up amongst Seth, Zach, Jared, David, and Aidan, and they're still super busy, making it all the more amazing that Seth shouldered the load all by himself for thousands of years.
• Daywalking Immortal: Seth and David are old and powerful enough to be able to withstand the sun's rays.
• Deus ex Machina: For eight books, Seth is the most powerful being in existence. When he is featured in his own books, however, there needs to be an introduction of problems even he can't solve. But how to resolve them? Well, now Seth has a previously unmentioned father who watches from afar with powers that makes Seth's look like cheap parlor tricks. He only steps in when Seth himself is in mortal danger and is powerful enough that he can act across dimensions, so he doesn't have to come on screen for the others to see.
• Dirty Mind-Reading: Subverted. Non-telepathic Immortals will often visualize graphic sexually imagery to discourage their telepathic counterparts from mind reading without consent. A particularly popular strategy for Ethan, who discourages Richart and Etienne by mentally recalling intimate encounters with their sister, Lisette, and Marcus who discourages Seth by imagining the same with Ami, Seth's adopted daughter.
• Dying Race: The Lasarans were infected by a virus that left all of the women infertile. Children are now very rare on their planet. Immortals are unable to reproduce as the same virus destroys their sperm as soon as it leaves the host body and it is unknown how the virus would affect a baby in utero or once born (with the anti-aging aspect being a great concern). Once it is discovered that Lasarans and gifted ones can successfully sire healthy children, their combined DNA negating the negative effects of the virus in each species, the two groups immediately make moves to set up potential matches they may be able to have children.
• The Empath: Several of the Immortals with it being Bastien's primary power. Seth, Jared, Zach, and Stanislov also have the ability to not only feel emotions, but to manipulate them.
• Enemy Mine: Once it becomes clear how much the mercenaries want large quantities of the virus and a vampire or Immortal to study in depth, it's decided that it's best to get word out to the vampires that they should also avoid the mercs at all costs. In one conflict, the mercenaries are so aggressive in their attempt to capture an Immortal and/or get ahold of the virus that Etienne and Krysta are forced to team up with the vampires they were hunting to evade capture.
• Evil Wears Black: Averted. The Immortal Guardians wear all black because they often get covered in blood and it's easier for avoiding attention and being able to salvage clothing for further use. The psychotic vampires, on the other hand, wear whatever they wore prior to being infected.
• Fangs Are Evil: Averted. Both vampires and Immortal Guardians have fangs, making them inherently neutral. The fangs serve as a built in blood transfusion system. Vampires use them for torture, Immortals use them for medical emergencies.
• Friendly Neighborhood Immortal Guardian: The Immortal Guardians serve as a barrier between the clueless humans and the predatory vampires.
• Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty: The entire series is investigating who is instigating escalating waves of vampire uprises. For the first three books, Bastien is blamed for anything vampire related until Zach arrives just as a breed of telepathically influenced vampires emerge. Zach is blamed for everything with blame temporarily bouncing around the other telepathic immortals only to land back on him because of the sheer amount of power needed for the level of telepathy used. He continues to be blamed until Jared shows up just as shapeshifting impersonators become a problem. Jared takes the blame for everything until finally Seth, David, Zach, and Jared realizes that the true culprit is Gershom.
• Immortal Procreation Clause: Once turned Immortal, the Guardians are incapable of conceiving children. The virus that gives them their immortality immediately kills the male sperm as soon as it is ejaculated. They are also concerned that if a woman were to become impregnated, they have no way of knowing if the resulting child would be a Gifted One, a vampire, or an Immortal and whether it would be able to grow once born, given the anti-aging aspect of the virus. When Ami becomes pregnant, everyone is deeply concerned because they have no idea what might happen to the baby. Adira becomes the first baby born to an Immortal in history and Seth notes that with each day, they are learning and hoping for continued health and longevity.
• Healing Hands: Several of the Immortals have the ability to heal others through touch including Seth, David, Zach, Jared, Aiden, and Roland. The younger Immortals have to be careful, though, because they heal by taking the damage into their own bodies which can be dangerous if they themselves are already wounded.
• Heroic Fatigue: Healers and teleporters are particularly prone to this. If healers are too low on blood or energy, the injuries they heal will begin to manifest on their own body. After too many jumps, teleporters will lose the ability to make additional jumps until they rest and feed.
• Hero Secret Service: The Seconds and the workers at the Network basically serve as this. Their job is to make sure that the only thing that the Guardians have to worry about is killing vampire. This includes protecting the Guardians from humans ranging from ill-intentioned lovers to the US military who wants to weaponize the Immortals' abilities.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The female Immortals/Gifted Ones are between 5'1" and 5'5". The male Immortals/Gifted Ones all fall between 6'0" and 6'10".
• Immortals Are Sex Gods: These are romance novels, after all. "Immortal sex is the best sex" is an actual quote from more than one book.
• Inconspicuous Immortal: The Immortal Guardians do their best to make sure know one knows of their existence, especially human governments and militaries. This includes breaking off contact with their mortal families and moving from an area once they've lived in before their lack of aging can draw attention. In many cases this may even mean moving to a different continent to avoid running into old acquaintances.
• Interspecies Romance: Between immortals and gifted ones, and, in Marcus and Ami's case, between immortal and extraterrestrial.
• Kiss of the Vampire: A vampire's bite releases a chemical similar to GHB that causes the victim to be unable to feel pain, and forget any memory of the incident later.
• Magic Pants: Invoked by Roland when he's learning to shape shift and ends up naked in front of Seth and Zach. He asks how they manage to be fully clothed immediately after shapeshifting. Seth explains that he uses a simultaneous combination of telekinesis and teleportation to make sure his clothes are in place after a shift.
• Mass Teleportation: When any of the Immortals who are capable of teleporting do so, anyone or anything that they are touching goes with them. This is actually helpful when they need to get multiple Immortals to a large scale fight quickly. It's not unusual for Seth to declare "Everyone grab a shoulder!"
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Not aging and being unable to bear sunlight limits the Immortals' ability to have human companionship. Even when they find someone that might be a good match, they have to worry about breaking the truth to them. More than one Immortal has nearly been killed or had loved ones killed because they trusted a significant other with the truth of who they are and what they can do. These things combine to mean that most Immortals have been alone for hundreds or even thousands of years despite wanting to be in loving committed relationships.
• Mayfly–December Romance: Averted. Nearly every book in the series features an Immortal falling in love with a Gifted One who will eventually convert in order to spend eternity together. Exceptions include Marcus and Ami (who can't be converted but has a centuries long lifspan), Seth and Leah (who can't be converted via the virus but is magically converted by Seth's uber-powerful dad, and Cliff and Emma. Notably, Cliff is a vampire while Emma is a Gifted One. Cliff is turned back to human by Seth's dad while Emma chooses not to convert so that she won't outlive Cliff.
• Mistaken for Betrayal: Many of the Guardians have trust issues, having been betrayed by friends and/or family during their mortal life or early after their transition. The strongest, however, is Seth whose wife and children were slaughter by a mob raised by locals in the village where Seth volunteered as a healer. When it becomes clear that someone is betraying the Guardians by giving sensitive information to the vampires and humans that makes it harder for Guardians to survive clashes with the two groups, Seth first refuses to believe one of his group would do such a thing. Then he sees potential treachery everywhere. At various points he investigates nearly all of his Guardians, but has severe confrontations with Lisette, Zach, Jared, and Aidan as their unrelated personal behavior comes across as very suspicious.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Melani, Ami, and Adira have the ability to predict future disaster but can generally only save they have a "bad feeling". But it's so accurate, that is enough to mobilize the troops.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Stanislov is very upset that he didn't get to say goodbye to Yuri before the latter was killed in battle.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Immortals can only be killed by decapitation or an overwhelming use of fire.
• The Older Immortal: The Immortal Guardians are Gifted Ones that have been transformed throughout the ages. As such, they are not all the same age. Some are thousands of years old, some a few hundred years, and the most recently converted are only a few decades old.
• Older Than They Look: A given when dealing with Immortals. Not counting the Gifted Ones who become mates and transform into Immortals over the course of the series, Ethan is the youngest Immortal at just over 100 years old. Most books include the featured Immortal hinting that they are much older than they look. Particularly relevant for Seth and Leah. She is in her mid forties and worries that Seth, who appears to be in his early 30s, will eventually lose interest. However, while Seth never gives an exact age, he states that he was around before The Great Flood.
• One-Gender Race: Across 13 books, the Immortals have yet to encounter a female vampire. Seth says this is because the sociopathic, sadistic male vampires tend to lose control and rape and murder any females they capture long before the conversion process can be completed. Female Immortals are also rare as most Immortals were turned against their will only for their enhanced DNA to convert them to immortality. But again, the females tend not to survive long enough to begin the conversion process. Of course, Immortals can turn Gifted Ones, but usually only do so for the person they intend to mate, preferring to allow humans to remain human.
• Only One Name: Seth, David, Zach, Jared, and the Others all predate the concept of surnames. Since they live in anonymity, they have not bothered to adopt a surname either.
• Our Vampires Are Different: They are affected with a virus that essentially replaces their immune system. They can recover from many injuries, but anything too severe will cause the virus to consume their whole body in an attempt to repair the damage. Also, the virus slowly drives them insane. The Immortals have divergent DNA which makes them immune to the virus' negative effects save for photosensitivity. Scientists are working on a cure, but have not found one yet.
• Out-of-Character Alert: The Guardians realize that Gershom is imitating Seth when he not only attacks Aidan for a supposed betrayal, but also Cliff for attempting to come to Aidan's aid and then Ethan and Heather for trying to save Cliff. Gershom knows that the Seth and the Guardians hunt and fight, but he has no real understanding of the loyalty the group has towards each other and their allies. No matter how angry he might be, the real Seth would never harm the others, who he considers family, to get to the target of his anger.
• Psychic Nosebleed: Some of the Immortals, such as Ethan and Aidan, are naturally resistant to telepathy. Attempts to forcefully push past those mental barriers results in gushing nosebleeds. It actually makes them useful in detecting the presence of enemy telepaths.
• Psychometry: Imhotep has the ability to walk through a space and mentally visualize what has happened there. It makes him useful for crime scene reconstruction and tracking.
• Really 700 Years Old: Most of the Immortals look to be in their late twenties and early thirties but are, on average, several hundred years older. In some cases, with elders like Seth and David, they are tens of thousands of years older than they appear.
• The Renfield: Chris Reordon, the other humans in his Network, and the Immortals' "Seconds" all qualify as assistants of the non-evil variety. Vampire assistants usually don't last very long, due to the vamps' dangerous temper.
• Secret War: There are several ongoing wars and skirmishes about which the general public knows absolutely nothing. There's the millennia old war between the Immortal Guardians and Vampires, the years old battle to keep the virus out of the hands of military groups that are looking to weaponize it for profit, and the more recent battle between Seth and a rogue Other, Gershom that threatens to kick off the Apocalypse. Literally.
• Seeking Ultimate Strength: The Immortals' most common reason for conflicting with humans are military factions who want access to the virus that can create Super Soldiers and mega capitalists who want the virus to create anti-aging serums to extend the lives of multibillionaires.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing:
  • When Nick tries to sneak by Kayla in cat form, this becomes a problem when he passes out and shifts back to his naked human form. The best Kayla can do is give him a towel, as she has no idea where he left his clothes.
  • When Roland is demonstrating his newly acquired ability to shapeshift, he ends up naked in front of Zach and Seth, not yet having mastered telekinetic control over his clothing.
• Side Bet: It's a running joke that the Immortals will bet on absolutely anything. When a couple will finally make it official, when someone will finally ask to be transformed, who will be the next to piss Seth off enough to make him effect the weather, anything. They even keep a database so people can check what the bets are going and who is still in the running for the jackpot.
• Sliding Scale of Vampire Friendliness: The Immortals are all on the "friendly" side (with Bastien and Roland closest to being hostile) and vampires all end up on the evil side eventually. Even the ones who start out normal will have bouts of uncontrollable violence, which they regret afterwards. Of course, some vampires start out as sadistic humans and only get worse.
• Stronger with Age: Older immortals tend to be stronger, although this is subverted with Sarah, Melanie, and Jenna, who were all transformed willingly by Roland. Anyone transformed by a healer will be much stronger than the average immortal right after transformation, although Seth and David, the two oldest immortals, are the strongest by far.
• Strong Family Resemblance: It is noted early in the series that most Gifted Ones have black hair and dark brown eyes and many of the Immortal Guardians look similar enough to be mistaken for each other. Later in the series it is revealed that all Gifted Ones are very distantly related by way of being Seth's descendants. This is why he is so protective of them.
• Summon Bigger Fish: The Immortal Guardians are individually pretty badass and capable of kicking a lot of ass. But periodically they get in over their heads and have to call for help. Seth is The Cavalry and completely capable of gamebreaking levels of badassery. Once he arrives, the fight is pretty much over.
• Super-Hearing: Everyone in the general vicinity hearing private moments of each book's main couple becomes a Running Gag. The Immortals and vampires have such sensitive hearing that they can hear a whisper up to two miles away. This, of course, becomes in issue when multiple newly mated couples are attempting to live in the same compound. They eventually have to heavily sound proof bedrooms, although not even heavy sound proofing is effective against Seth's super hearing. The best he can do is tactfully shield his mind against the intimate moments of others.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: As members of the others, Seth, Zach, and Jared's eyes all glow bright gold when they are experiencing strong emotion. The Immortal Guardians' eyes glow a darker amber. It's an involuntary reaction that they all have to be careful of around humans.
• Surprise Incest: The Immortal Guardians find out that they're all very distantly related by way of being Seth's descendants. With most of them having intermarried within the group, they're initially weirded out, but Seth assures them that their bloodlines are so diluted by time and intermingling with normal humans that they're no more related than any random average couple.
• Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Realizing he can't take Seth on in a one-to-one fight, Gershom resorts to hurting the people around Seth, including nearly killing Ami, impersonating other Immortals to cause chaos, kidnapping and murdering Gifted Ones, transforming and brainwashing new Immortals, and even petty injuries to bystanders who happen to be around whenever Seth catches up to Gershom.
• Teleport Interdiction: Given that not all teleporters are friendlies, the Network has alarms to alert security if someone enters the building via teleportation. Anyone doing so is immediately met with a hail of bullets, a lesson Zach learns the hard way.
• Teleportation Rescue: Used quite often, particularly by Richart, Etienne, and Lisette d'Alencon who as the siblings use their combined telepathy and teleportation skills to call for emergency evacuations.
• Teleporter's Visualization Clause: The younger Immortals can only teleport to places they're familiar with. This is sometimes combatted by using satellite aerial imaging to get them as close as possible, but is sometimes a problem, such as when they're having trouble contacting Roland but can't teleport directly to him because they don't know where he lives.
• Vampire Hunter: The Immortal Guardians, their Seconds, and Ami.
• Vegetarian Vampire: Literally. The Immortals eat only (organic) vegetarian meals and drink bagged blood donated by humans who know their secret.
• Welcomed to the Masquerade: Each book has a least one character who has to be introduced to the world of Immortal Guardians and vampires and explained how the virus works, what the Immortal Guardians do, what the difference between Immortals, Gifted Ones, and vampires is, and how they protect humans from knowing any of this. Of particular note are Ami, Taleon, and Leah who are not Gifted Ones who can transform into Immortal Guardians.

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