Shadowed Steel by Chloe Neill

 

In the newest installment of the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, the vampires in Elisa Sullivan’s world are out for blood.

 

Elisa Sullivan is the only vampire ever born, and she bears a heavy legacy. After a sojourn with the North American Central Pack of shifters in the wilderness—where she turned a young woman into a vampire to save her life—Elisa returns to Chicago.

But no good deed goes unpunished. The ruling body of vampires, the Assembly of American Masters, is furious that Elisa turned someone without their permission, and they want her punished. When an AAM vampire is found dead, Elisa is the prime suspect. Someone else is stalking Chicago—and Elisa. She’ll need to keep a clear head, and a sharp blade, to survive all the supernatural strife.

 

Shadowed Steel (Heirs of Chicagoland, book three) by Chloe Neill

Start date: September 3, 2021

End date: September 6, 2021

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Elisa’s actions in Wicked Hour have come to bite her in the butt in Shadowed Steel. Someone has turned Elisa into the Assembly of American Masters, the governing body for vampires, for the woman she changed into a vampire in Minnesota, Carlie. The AAM has devised the punishment for the crime of turning someone without that person’s permission (and without their permission) is to force Elisa to join a House and submit to Testing.

Some of the things mentioned in this series sort of require knowledge of the Chicagoland Vampires series. I’d say vampire houses and what joining one entails need some explanation especially since it’s central to the plot of this book. I’ve read the main series so I’m already familiar with the process but a quick summary of Novitiates, Testing, and Masters would be helpful for the average reader.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the terms. Houses are groups of vampires living under one Master vampire. All vampires must either join a House or register as a Rogue, meaning they owe allegiance to no Master but also aren’t afforded the same advantages as House-affiliated vampires. Joining a House is sort of like joining a North American fraternity/sorority except there’s no “rushing.” The benefits of joining a House usually involve employment and housing, which can be crucial to a new vampire. New House members are called Novitiates until their Commendation ceremony. Testing is what vampires must go through when they want to become a Master of their own House.

As it turns out, this isn’t the first time Testing has been brought up by the vampires in charge. Elisa’s parents, Ethan and Merit, reveal to her that they had been pressured to Test her since she was born. Being the first vampire born instead of changed seems to have made many vampires in power prickly. Elisa hasn’t joined a House or registered as a Rogue, which is another thorny issue. This coupled with the knowledge that someone outed Carlie’s creation leads Elisa to believe that she’s been singled out for her otherness to force her to toe the line. Elisa rejects the AAM’s proposal—I didn’t know you could just say no when the police tell you do something—which doesn’t go over well at all.

To make matters worse, one of the members of the AAM (Blake) is found murdered, decapitated, and Elisa is the AAM’s prime suspect for the crime. Because she has been accused of murder, Elisa is put on leave at her job with the Office of Supernatural Ombudsman, which is a police unit that is the go-between for humans and supernatural creatures. She’s been working with the group since Wicked Hour. Her partner is Theo Martin, who in turn investigates Blake’s murder. Unofficially, Elisa helps him.

My luck must have turned, because I got a message from Theo:

IT WOULD BE REASONABLE FOR A CERTAIN CIVILIAN VAMP TO FIND HER WAY TO OMB TO REQUEST ASSISTANCE FROM SAID OMBUDS AND OBTAIN AN UPDATE. WE AIM TO SERVE.

“A certain civilian,” I murmured with a grin, feeling hugely relieved by both the contact from Theo and by the invitation. (Neill 126)

There’s also a mystery stalker who seems to be infatuated with Elisa and leaves her hand-delivered notes in the mail. This stalker admits in one letter that he killed Blake for Elisa and he attempts to run over Connor, Elisa’s boyfriend, while he’s riding his motorcycle. Luckily, Connor survives with minor injuries but Elisa fears for the safety of her friends and family. Connor offers to house Elisa and her roommate, Lulu, while they solve the murder to avoid the stalker knowing their whereabouts. The safe house ends up being a townhouse Connor bought for the purpose of getting breathing room from his shifter family. At first, Elisa is upset that Connor made such a huge change without telling her about it, but she softens when she realizes he might have had other reasons for buying the house.

Lulu muttered, stalked to the bookshelves, pointed. “Look,” she said again.

Confused, but trusting, I walked closer, looked at the books, the titles. They included The Care and Feeding of Vampires and The Official Guide to Vampire Etiquette. (Neill 180)

“I saw the books,” I said, when we were nearly eye to eye again.

His eyebrow lifted. “Books?”

I poked him in the shoulder. “The ones in the front room. About vampires.”

“Ah.”

I brushed a lock of dark hair from his temple. “I think it was very thoughtful. And I look forward to lengthy discussions about the order in which ranked vampires can enter a room.”

“Not in a million years.” (Neill 183-184)

            I liked that the sexual tension from the previous books is finally resolved. I was getting irritated that every time Elisa and Connor would kiss, something would interrupt them. It seemed unrealistic for two people with that much shared background not to know how to find time for privacy. I also enjoyed the further exploration of their relationship. I mean, Connor bought a house possibly to ask Elisa to live with him! Considering she’s currently sharing a room with a mannequin and a stuck-up housecat, I think she would revel in making a home with her boyfriend. But these are things that will likely be discussed in coming books.

            Speaking of things likely to come up in later books, I see the relationship between Elisa and Carlie strengthening. When Carlie learns that the AAM has their sights on Elisa, she offers her assistance without a second thought. The reader learns that Carlie’s life is largely unchanged from when she was human. She still works at a donut shop, only in the nighttime now. She’s seeming to come into her vampiredom and somewhat jokingly sees Elisa as a motherly figure. In the final showdown between Elisa and Clive, Carlie and Ronan show up to offer her support. My favorite quotes from Carlie:

I found a message from Carlie checking in, and my heart melted a little more. VAMPIRE MOM, she said. EVERYTHING OK WITH THE AAM? WE AREN’T HEARING MUCH AND WE’RE WORRIED. (Neill 125)

“But I didn’t even get to unsheathe this thing.” She pointed to the dagger at her belt. “And I’ve been training.”

“Good! How’s that going?”

“With your vamp genetics, pretty damn good.” Her grin was wide and cheerful, and it tugged at my heart. She was so open, so willing to be vulnerable. That, I thought, made her exceptionally brave. (Neill 301)

            I guessed in my last review that Elisa would do some investigating in this book, and I was right. With the help of the Ombudsman team, Elisa reveals the identity of her stalker and ties him back to Cadogan House (something even her parents couldn’t do!). She questions a new character, Jonathan Black, an elf who’s offered Elisa a boon by way of his unidentified clients. And she even does some research in the Cadogan House library to learn more about the rules the AAM might be working with. By the end of the story, she’s offered a fulltime position with the Office of Supernatural Ombudsman due to her great detective work. I can’t wait to see what she ends up investigating next.