Bleed in the Night

I picked this book because the level of supposed dark undertones to the story seemed promising, but the angst and darkness turned out to be of medium intensity. However, the author really surprised me with the depth of the world building, the thrilling twists and turns, the distinct dystopian vibes, and the bottomless pit of conflicted feelings at their rawest. The story revolves around a really big challenge for the human race - the integration of haemophiles/vampires/ and the challenges and unexpected mishaps that process brings in its wake. It was a gritty, violent, dirty clash of 2 species trying to coexist and failing to find the balance.
After a terrifying attack from a haemophile, Tyler's life comes to a screeching halt. For someone who has lived all his life throwing his money and weight around and used to receive what he wants, he is shell-shocked being touched by the new reality where he isn't amongst the biggest, baddest fish in the small pond where he lives. The world is changing and not in a good way - new threats and new status quo are emerging from the deepest recesses of the night, irrevocably shifting the power balance. In the sleepless nights after the attack, Tyler is battling his inner demons - anger, frustration, rage. And not only!!! The fleeting moments of closed proximity with his attacker, Lucien, left him an even less than wanted present - a primal, unexplainable desire towards the monster, desire for something more, something forbidden. So Tyler spends his time obsessed by the overwhelming need to find Lucien again and understand the inferno of feelings, eating him alive. Deep down inside of him, he knows what the need is but just can't accept it. His mind and body are in a vicious conflict.
Lucien, on the other hand, is one of the oldest, probably the last of the oldest vampires in existence. Uncontrollable menace, amongst his kind, he lives by a long forgotten moral code, that was the reason he was turned centuries ago - to be a judge, jury and executioner when the human juridical system fails to protect the innocent. But haemophiles like him are detrimental to the efforts of the majority to blend in, adapt and be accepted as a part of the modern world.
The appeal of the story, from my perspective, is that the author has created not likable but plausible characters - they aren't pretty picture perfect. On the contrary- their decisions are often morally grey, self centered or plainly repulsive, the results - messy and ugly, but the story is so much more intense, unpredictable and out of control fascinating.
When Tyler met Lucien again, the collision was explosive. The world he knew and the world he never known about, merged together creating something unknown and frightening, that he has to learn and embrace as his new reality. The ending of the book was a HFN and I hope the questions will be answered in the next installment.