Shattered Mirror by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

From Barnes & Noble

From the young author of Demon in My View comes another bone-chilling glimpse into the world of vampires. Sarah leads the life of a vampire hunter, and making friends doesn't come easy. When she meets an intriguing boy with a sketchy past, she decides to give it a shot. The only problem? His brother is Sarah's No. 1 target.

From the Publisher

Sarah Vida is a witch and a vampire hunter — and a loner. Christopher Ravena is a vampire trying to pass as a normal high school student who wants to know Sarah better. Drawn to him despite her better judgment, Sarah’s forced to admit that there’s room for gray in her otherwise black-and-white world of good versus evil — until she meets Nikolas, Christopher’s twin and one of the most hunted vampires in history.

Publishers Weekly

In this third installment in the series that began with In the Forests of the Night, Atwater-Rhodes focuses on teen witch (and vampire killer) Sarah Vida, who "never asked for anything more complex than the simple good and evil definitions she had been raised on" but gets more than she bargained for when she befriends vampire siblings Nissa and Christopher. This is trouble: it's harder to kill when you know your prey, and her mother the most infamous witch of all will disown her if she finds out about the friendship. Her conflict intensifies when she discovers that Christopher's twin is Nikolas, the same vampire who long ago murdered a Vida witch. Atwater-Rhodes chooses an interesting theme (no one is purely good or evil), and she builds some creative elements around it. SingleEarth, an organization of all creatures, for instance, includes vampires and witches who work together for peace. Her description of Nikolas, whose home and clothing are completely black and white, plays into this well, and provides for some striking visual images. Some of her writing, though, as in Sarah's final faceoff with Nikolas and Christopher, is over the top ("I want it as much as humans want to breathe, but I have control," Christopher says of Sarah's blood). Still, fans of the teen goth writer will likely find plenty to feast on here. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In this third installment in the series that began with In the Forests of the Night, teen witch (and vampire killer) Sarah Vida gets more than she bargained for when she befriends vampire siblings. "Fans of the goth writer will likely find plenty to feast on here," wrote PW. Ages 12-up. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

VOYA

Sarah, a young blond witch who carries ancient silver knives and drives a sapphire Jaguar, is starting her senior year of high school in a new town after some trouble involving vampire hunting got her expelled from the last one. She still hunts two vampires, Nikolas and Kaleo, when she meets the handsome Christopher, whose aura says vampire but who writes Sarah poetry and leaves roses in her locker. Her mother, Dominique, insists that any contact with vampires is forbidden, even those from the SingleEarth society who want vampires, witches, humans, and shape-shifters to live together in peace. Sarah's hopes for a future with Christopher seem dashed when she learns that he is Nikolas's twin brother but has given up killing, whereas Nikolas still hunts and marks human prey with elaborate cuts on their skin. Just when Sarah thinks she has her feelings under control, Dominique finds out about her contact with Christopher and Nikolas and binds Sarah's powers, leaving her vulnerable to being killed or blood-bonded by the vampires. When Nikolas captures her, she resolves her feelings for Christopher in a surprise ending that will leave readers wanting more novels about Sarah. In her latest book, this teen author of In the Forests of the Night (Delacorte, 1999/VOYA August 1999) and Demon in My View (2000/VOYA August 2000) creates a novel for those on their way to reading Anne Rice or the classics of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker. It will be a surefire hit for fans of television's Buffy or Xena. The simple writing style and Nancy Drew cliffhangers will not matter to teen readers because the action is exciting, the romance is heavy, and clothes and cars are described in detail. VOYA CODES:3Q 5PJ S (Readable without serious defects;Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday;Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9;Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Delacorte, 227p, $9.95. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer:Hillary Theyer—VOYA, December 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 5)

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Fans of vampire fiction will really sink their teeth into this one. A fifth-generation witch who is a vampire hunter finds herself challenging everything she's been brought up to respect and defend when she meets two charming vampires posing as high school students. Instantly attracted to the male, Sarah Vida finds it harder and harder to carry out the duties she and her family have sworn to do. When it's revealed that Christopher is really Kristopher, twin brother of one of the most hunted vampires since the 1800s, Sarah's loyalties are even further divided. Though the ending isn't necessarily a big surprise, readers will be racing to reach it as they devour this compelling tale. Atwater-Rhodes does another fine job of building a suspenseful mood and sustaining it throughout. Characters are likable-both the heroic hunters and the beguiling hunted. The portrayal of a fantastic subculture that lies just beneath the surface of normal suburban teen culture is lurid in its attention to each tempting detail. By the end, one feels as torn as Sarah in deciding which life to choose. Readers will be swept away by the seductive world of good and evil and find themselves lusting for just a few more chapters.-Elaine Baran Black, Gwinnett County Public Library, Lawrenceville, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

With each of her books, teen author Atwater-Rhodes delves deeper into her vampire, witch, and witch-healer world, where by this third outing (Demon in My View, 2000, etc.), humans have practically ceased to matter. Vampire hunter Sarah is a witch in her own right as well as the daughter of Dominique, one of the strongest of her line. Determined to find and kill the infamous vampire Nicholas, Sarah heads off to high school pretending to be human, and discovers that a growing friendship with weak vampire siblings Christopher and Nissa may be as dangerous as it is forbidden. The combination of the mundane high-school scene, broadly painted evil, and the superpowers at war ensures horror fans will be captivated. A quick read, there is less interior exploration and atmospherics than in previous titles, but Atwater-Rhodes will continue to please her many fans with further delineation of the terrible powers and emotional sufferings of her particular brood of vampires and witches. And the rather abrupt conversion of Sarah (though from what to what shall go unspoiled in these pages) is more of a jolting transformation this time around. The power of love and blood rules the creatures we meet in this alternate universe and the only sure things are the horrifying threats to victims, and that further revelations are planned for the future. (Fiction. 12+)

Product Details

• ISBN: 0440229405
  
• ISBN-13: 9780440229407
• Format: Mass Market Paperback, 227pp
• Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers
• Pub. Date: July 2003
• Edition Description: Reprint
• Sales Rank: 4,760
• Age Range: Young Adult
• Series: Den of Shadows

• Read an Excerpt

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1



Sarah Vida shivered. The aura of vampires seeping from the house in front of her was nearly overwhelming. She drove around the block once, then stopped her car a couple of yards away from the white Volvo she had been following. Her sapphire Jaguar was flashy, and she hadn’t had time to change the plates.

She was lucky she had been planning on crashing a different party, or she would never have been ready for this one. She had come across the white Volvo’s owner at a gas station and had tailed her here.

She cut the motor and ran her fingers through her long blond hair, which was windblown by the drive in the convertible. Flashing a killer smile at no one, she checked her appearance in the rearview mirror. The girl in the glass appeared attractive, wild and carefree. The core of stone was not visible in her reflection.

As she stood, Sarah smoothed down her blue tank top and cream jeans and automatically checked to make sure her knives were in place—one in a spine sheath on her back and one tucked into each calf-high boot. Only then did she approach the house.

With blinds and shades pulled, the house appeared empty from the outside, but the illusion was quickly shattered. Before she even had a chance to knock, someone pulled open the door.

Leech, Sarah thought, disgusted, as she flashed a smile as practiced as the one she had given her rearview mirror at the vampire who had opened the door.

Whoa. Her smile did not waver, even though the vampiric aura in the house hit her like a sledgehammer to her gut. Her skin tingled at the sense of power, the feeling as unpleasant as sandpaper scrapingacross raw skin.

Unpleasant feeling or no, she began to mingle, looking always for the prey she was risking her neck to find—Nikolas.

Nikolas was one of the most infamous of his kind, a vampire who had hunted blatantly since the 1800s. His first known prey had been a young mother named Elisabeth Vida. Elisabeth had been a witch, a vampire hunter, and incidentally, Sarah’s ancestor. Her family had been hunting Nikolas ever since—without success.

Nikolas was clever—he had to be to have eluded hunters from the most powerful family of witches for so long. But he was also vain, and that would be his downfall. Every one of his victims wore his marks, decorations cut into their arms with the blade of his knife. Nikolas allowed some of his victims to live, but he twisted their minds to make them sickeningly loyal to him. Hunters had caught more than one of those warped humans, but they each professed to choose death before they would betray the vampire.

One of them, however, had made a mistake. A flat tire on the way to this bash had left her fuming at a gas station off Route 95, and she had been too preoccupied to cover the scars on her arms. The attendant, a member of the hunters’ complex system of informants, had called Sarah; she had followed the girl’s white Volvo here.

Taking a breath to focus her senses, Sarah searched the room with all six of them. Human scents mingled with the overpowering aura of vampires. Sarah felt pity and a slight disgust for the living who flitted among the vampires like flies clinging to dead flesh. Though Sarah did see one human boy leaving just after she came in, most of these humans would stay, out of either ignorance or perverted loyalty.

She didn’t like being inside this group without backup, but the short drive between the gas station and this house had only allowed for a few cell-phone calls, which had reached only busy signals and answering machines. She couldn’t risk making a serious kill, outnumbered as she was, but if she played nice tonight, she had a good chance of wangling an invitation to the next bash this group hosted. She could bring in the big guns then.

The trick was to avoid being killed—or munched on. She was posing as free food, human and helpless, but letting a vampire feed on her was further than she was willing to go. Besides, even the weakest vampire would be able to taste the difference between the bland vintage of human blood and the power in her own witch blood.

It was past ten o’clock at night, and the back of Sarah’s neck tingled with apprehension. Any hunter worth her blade generally knew better than to stay at a bash after midnight. Called the Devil’s Hour, midnight was when the killing was done.

Yet if Sarah wanted an invitation, she needed to stay and convince these creatures she was one of the idiotic humans who bared their throats willingly. Any hunter, from the most amateur to the most respected, would give his right eye and his life for a chance to take down a group of vampires this strong.

Sarah befriended the girl she had followed, and within fifteen minutes she had charmed her way into receiving one of the slick white cards that stated the time and location of the next bash this group was hosting.

Now all she had to do was follow the two simplest rules any hunter ever learned: Don’t get caught, and clean up after yourself.

As the Devil’s Hour drew near, Sarah found the weakest of the vampires and made sure she was alone with him when the clock struck.

“I don’t think Kaleo meant this room to be open to the public,” her companion pointed out, referring to their vampire host. Sarah recognized the name with revulsion. Nikolas was not the only creature in this group the hunters would love to take down.

Hiding her thoughts, she smiled and put a hand on her companion’s shoulder, forcing herself to ignore the unpleasant thickness of his aura. “Maybe I just wanted you all to myself,” she teased, meeting his black vampiric eyes.

The fiend got the message and leaned closer to her. Sarah ran her fingers through his ash blond hair, and he wrapped a slender hand around the back of her neck, gently urging her forward.

She leaned her head back, knowing where his gaze would travel. He fell for it, as they always did, and as she felt his lips touch her throat, she reacted.