Renquist Quartet by Mick Farren

The Time of Feasting

"A colony of vampires lives unrevealed in New York City. But with The Time of Feasting at hand they must make the warm kill and drink the living blood. The colony is vulnerable now both from the younger vampires, tired of living in hiding and from a drunken ex-priest and a tenacious city cop who have begun to suspect what they really are." (from Amazon.com)

Paperback Info: ISBN 031286213X, Tor Books, 1996

Darklost

"Los Angeles - City of Angels, City of Dreams. But sometimes the dreams become nightmares. Victor Renquist, centuries-old Master of a small group of Nosferatu, is working to establish the Colony in their new home, after leaving New York just one step ahead of exposure. In many ways, life in Los Angeles is easier - the city is full of enough lost souls, with no one to mourn them or question their disappearance, that the awesomely powerful Nosferatu experience no difficulty sating their need for fresh human blood. They have become a deeper, darker part of the city's nightlife.

And Hollywood's glitterati are hot on the scent of a new thrill, one that outshines all others - immortality. Never to die. Even though it means joining the ranks of the Undead, some - especially one aging superstar who fears the waning of his popularity - are ready and willing to pay the price.

Renquist is faced with a dilemma. For the Colony to remain viable, it must grow. He knows this, the other members know this, and each seeks to control the choosing of the new blood. But every new member brought through the rituals into the ancient compact of blood and terror poses a new problem of politics, of group dynamics, of power. As Master, Renquist must walk a tightrope - balancing the conflicting desires of the members and himself while still remaining in control.

And Renquist is uneasy. Ancient instincts warn him that someone, somewhere, is meddling with even darker powers, powers that even the Nosferatu fear, powers that are totally inimical to all life. The Council of Nine, governing board of Apogee, a highly successful quasi-religious cult, is attempting to summon the entity of ancient evil know as Cthulhu - a being that figures all too frequently in Renquist's dreams. He must find a way to stop them and also solve the problem of the Darklost, a human brought partway along the road to becoming Nosferatu and then cruelly abandoned.

Can Renquist overcome the growing dissent in his own Colony and unite all his forces, old and new, to save the world - of humans?" (from the publisher)

Hardcover Info: ISBN 0312869797, Tor Books, 2000
Paperback Info: ISBN 0812589548, Tor Books, 2000

More Than Mortal

"Summoned to England by a trio of female Nosferatu, vampire lord Renquist investigates a mysterious presence within an ancient burial mound. His research leads him to the discovery that none other than Merlin sleeps beneath the ground, ready to awaken. When a group of Scottish vampires enters the picture and Merlin demonstrates his own ruthless agenda, Renquist finds himself questioning everything he once believed. Continuing his series featuring a cultured and humane vampire protagonist, the author of The Time of Feasting and Darklost has produced another vivid tale that should appeal to the genre's many fans." (from Library Journal)

Hardcover Info: ISBN 0312879016, Tor Books, 2001

Underland

"Victor Renquist, centuries-old master of a small colony of Nosferatu, has been "recruited"-forcibly-by an undercover branch of the National Security Agency, Paranormal Operations and Research. They need his help. It seems that certain members of Hitler's Third Reich escaped to a secret world below Antarctica, taking with them some very advanced technology. Human teams have failed to infiltrate the base, and Renquist is the NSA's last chance.

The team is small: Renquist; his right-hand man, Lupo; an extremely unorthodox hardline NSA operative named Jack Coulson; and Thyme Bridewell, a failed NSA brain-control experiment originally intended as Renquist's lunch. What they find in Underland taxes even Renquist's supernormal powers. The quondam Nazis have some very powerful allies -- the Dhrakuh, a race of sentient reptiles from the dawn of time. Their goal is nothing less than the conquest of the entire world.

To make matters worse, Renquist is hampered by some throwbacks from his own race and by the unexpected arrival of one of his own colony members, Julia, together with Philipa, a darklost whom Julia has led through the Change into Nosferatu. The future of civilization hangs in the balance." (from Amazon.com)

Paperback Info: ISBN 0765342162, Tor Books, 2003