"I'd dreaded this day ever since the new Vampire King of America had 'invited' all the Hunters in the country to his little pow-wow in DC. That's what he'd called it, an 'invitation.' I'd called it being rounded up."
— Leon Ragnarson
Vampirocracy: Deadly Sins is a self-published e-book for Amazon Kindle. It follows Leon Ragnarson, a Vampire Hunter who works with the police investigating supernatural crime while running a private investigation firm, also specialized in supernatural cases.
As the title may suggest, the government has been taken over by vampires. Deciding that humanity wasn't mature enough to effectively govern itself anymore, the world's vampires took control over every government in the world literally overnight. Since then, all manner of supernatural beings have been accorded full legal rights, and many of them hold positions of power in the new vampire-run government. And things are going surprisingly well, considering all important decisions are now made by the undead.
Leon, unlike many of his fellow Hunters, took the Vampirocracy up on their offer to work with the new government, investigating supernatural crime. Deadly Sins follows Leon as he investigates a series of murdered vampires, trying to find the person murdering them. Simultaneously, he deals with an unexpected visit from a very unwanted ex-girlfriend, who has a case for his PI firm, while seeking help from lovely young Wiccan Amy to answer some questions about unusual abilities Leon seems to possess.
Intended to be first in a series.
Vampirocracy: Deadly Sins provides examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The three main characters working at the PI firm: Leon, Ling, and Liz.
- Aerith and Bob: Ordinary modern names like Karl, Liz, Leon, Don, and Ellen next to slightly unusual names like Ling to archaic and foreign names like Arnbjorg and Joakim.
- All Myths Are True: In addition to Fantasy Kitchen Sink, Ellen explicitly states that it doesn't really matter what one uses to repel a vampire, so long as it's an actual holy object (not just, say, two candlesticks held perpendicular to each other) and that the person believes in its power.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Called out as cryptids in one of Leon's college classes in a flashback, though with speculation that they might actually be a kind of troll, a mythological creature. Sasquatch, at least, has been reclassified as a troll sometime between the flashback and the current time of the book.
- But Not Too Foreign: Invoked with Ling Birga. She doesn't look very Asian, because she mostly takes after her Scandinavian heritage.
- Chekhov's Gun: A subtle and almost literal example. Leon mentions making sure no one gets a look at the bullets in his clip when he voluntarily disarms, and few other mentions are made of the Vampirocracy having some big secret. Vampires are vulnerable to gold, and Leon carries golden bullets.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Harold and Elizabeth Anderson turn out to be the key to finding out the identity of the murderer.
- Cluster F-Bomb: In true Urban Fantasy protagonist fashion, Leon has yet to meet a swear word he doesn't like. Ling and Karl have quite the mouth on them, too.
- Country Matters: Dropped by Leon in his Atomic, Precise, Cluster F-bomb near the end of the book. Justified, as this occasion really did call for some rather epic cursing.
- Creepy Stalker Van: One of the few leads they have on the vampire killer is an unmarked white van stolen from a depot in Mahtomedi. The killer is using it because it's nondescript, blends in easily, and has room for all the assorted supplies one needs to hunt and kill the modern vampire.
- Fantastic Science: Leon took college courses in mythozoology (study of magical creatures), thaumobiology (study of life processes involving magic), and thaumodynamics.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Vampires running the government with help from loyal werewolves, Wiccan healers hanging shingles, and the (very remote) possibility that the main character might have been a rakshasa before it was ruled out? Yeah, this qualifies.
- Humans are moronic divided flawed bastards: Pretty much the whole reason the Vampirocracy exists. Leon himself states that while the current situation is humiliating, he'd rather be a little humiliated than have the Earth turned into a radioactive asteroid belt.
- Hunter of Monsters: While Leon specializes in vampires, he'll take on anything supernatural that's hurting people.
- Hypocritical Humor: Leon explaining that he doesn't want to be the guy who accuses his ex of being some kind of demon monster just because she broke his heart. When Ling asks why Leon isn't handling her case:Leon: Because there's not enough money on God's green Earth to make me spend one more second with that clawed, fanged, scaly man-bat than absolutely necessary.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Played with, criss-crossing with Shameless Fanservice Girl in Rosie. She strips naked when Amy and her Coven try and cast some spells for Leon, but that's just because it's who she is, though she does seem to enjoy Leon's reaction to her being naked.
- Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair: Averting this trope is the whole point of the vampirocracy.
- Magic Versus Science: Averted. Leon attends college classes on such subjects as "mythozoology," "thaumobiology," and "thaumodynamics." Though he does note that some scientists consider such disciplines "heresy," he notes that science is just a means of understanding the world, and in a world where magic is very much real, scientific methods can be used to study it (mostly) successfully.
- The Masquerade: Before the Vampirocracy, fully half the world's population firmly believed things like vampires didn't exist. Lampshaded when Liz loans Leon a book about how people could possibly still believe such superstitions in a world where science proves they don't exist.
- Mind Rape: Called out by name by Leon when new Duke Joakim uses vampire mind-control powers to confirm a suspect's innocence.
- Occult Detective: Leon and Ling are these, working with their PI agency. Leon is also one for the police department.
- Our Cryptids Are Less Mysterious: Leon and Ling took cryptozoology just as a prerequisite for mythozoology.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Pretty much plays the classic vampire tropes straight, but adds a vulnerability to gold to shake things up.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Karl demonstrates the ability to channel his "Beast" to ramp up a suspects fear and anger to attempt to glean information. It has a. . . negative impact on Karl.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Leon drops quite the humdinger on ex-girlfriend Dierdre.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Leon pretty much admits to himself this is his main motivation for going after Don at the end. This is also given as the reason most Hunters become Hunters, having lost someone they love to "monsters."
- Sage Love Interest: Leon starts a relationship with the Wicca healer Amy, and she provides him with sage personal advice throughout the book.
- Sexy Secretary: Liz is blonde, beautiful, buxom, and reads Shakespeare during her downtime.
- Shout-Out:
- Leon mentally quotes an exchange from Victor/Victoria the first time he meets Karl.
- He also mentions to Don he has no specific desire to "murder death kill."
- Ellen cites Dracula, Blade, and Nosferatu during her lectures to Leon's thaumobiology class.
- Title Drop: "Deadly Sins" are never mentioned by any of the characters, but they routinely talk about the Vampirocracy.
- The Unmasqued World: In the recent past, vampires successfully led a coup across the entire planet literally overnight. Since then, not only are vampires openly running all governments worldwide, all sapient supernatural beings are accorded full legal rights, and many hold down positions within the vampire government.
- Vampire Hunter: Leon still is one, though on the Vampirocracy payroll. Many others retired since the vampires took over, refusing to work with things they used to hunt and kill.
- Wunza Plot: He's a Vampire Hunter. He's a werewolf. They fight crime!
