Lash 4 — Tara Fox Hall

Returning weary from the carnage and horror of World War II, weresnake Lash searches for revenge on the demon Hex, whose treachery years ago lead to the death of Lash's best friend and former employer, the vampire Abraham Hamilton. With the help of old friends like fellow weresnake soldier Dieter, Lash's current vampire boss Devlin Dalcon, and the demon Shaker, Lash digs into the murky depths of Abraham's past, trying to find answers. But with every riddle solved, a new question surfaces, as more and more conflicting details of Abraham's human life come to light.



Burned vampires are also being found mysteriously indoors, an occurrence that U.S. Vampire Ruler Devlin asks Lash to resolve. Blackened as if they were exposed to sunlight, the scorched vampire corpses leave no clues. Vampire hunters are suspected, but the facts don't fit. No other group claims responsibility, panicking the vampire population as the charred bodies mount up.



Stymied in both quests, Lash accepts the help of the werewolves Morwen and Darwin, refugees from a supernatural hunter group that was decimated by an evil spirit. But even as his allies increase, so do Lash's enemies, several vicious attacks leaving him triumphant but badly injured. Nursed back to health over a period of months by Morwen, Lash adjusts his revenge plans, even as he begins to fall for the skittish female werewolf whose short life has been as terrible as his own. Upon realizing Morwen's terrible secret, Lash kills her tormentor, and the two begin a troubled affair, slowly finding a measure of healing on one another's arms. With new concern for Morwen's safety, Lash realizes that he must have more help, and heads west, undergoing a Test of Wills to win the werebats -- ancient allies of Devlin's -- to his cause.



Partnering with the werebat colony, their wise leader Mather, and his ancient golem bodyguard known as Outlaw months later, a newly healed Lash follows the winding, twisting trail of clues to the small town of Malone to unearth a secret horror long buried and solve the mysterious riddle of Hex's hate for Abraham. But Hex has been waiting years to claim that secret for his own, plotting from the shadows and enlisting his own horde of demons as allies, waiting for just the right moment to strike back and avenge himself. And this time not even a weresnake hell bent on a mission and his friends will stand in Hex's way.