Anita And Her Men

Spoiler alert!!

I will be talking about relationships further into the series than I have covered so far.

Image Source: Anita Blake Marvel Comics

Anita is the kind of necromancer legends are made of. She also collects men. Let me explain this. A triumvirate is a three-person unit. It is headed by a vampire and has his or her human servant and an animal to call. A vampire only has one human servant and one animal to call. She is part of a triumvirate with Jean-Claude and Richard. Anita is Jean-Claude’s human servant and it has its perks and drawbacks. Jean-Claude is an incubus. Anita inherited this power. She is now a succubus as well as everything else. She is also the leopard queen and lion queen. She is also the head of another triumvirate and has a vampire servant and animals to call. This is completely unheard of. However because of being a succubus and having multiple animals to call she “collects” men. Let me introduce you to the men that Anita has collected.

Richard Zeeman– One time fiancée and on again off again lover, Anita often describes him as a boy scout. Richard is Jean-Claude’s wolf to call and Ulfric (wolf-king) to the Thronnos Rokke Clan. He hates being a “monster” and tries to live a “normal” life as a middle school science teacher. In later books he is often the reason for problems within the triumvirate. He has a really hard time sharing Anita even with Jean-Claude. Anita and Richard truly loved each other but could not agree on basic life things and so could not stay in an exclusive relationship.

Jean-Claude– Is over six hundred years old. He was once made by Lissette in the bloodline of Belle Morte and immediately received the Ardeur essentially making him an incubus. When he was finally free of her and he met Anita while under the control of the former Master of the City Nikolaos. When Anita killed Nikolaos, Jean-Claude became Master of the City in Saint Louis. He eventually became his own sourde de sang (fountain of blood) and is no longer under the control of Belle Morte. In later books he becomes the Vampire King of America. Anita is not only his human servant, she is also his fiancée. She truly loves him for all that he is and all that he is not.

Micah Callahan– Is the Nimir-Raj or leopard king, of the Maneater Clan whereas Anita is Nimir-Ra or leopard queen, of the Blooddrinker Clan. They meet and come together instantly which is completely out of the norm for Anita especially because they moved in together right away. She usually picks everything apart and is way more conflicted in becoming involved in relationships. With this Micha merges his clan with Anita’s and they rule it together as equals though he tends to run it more than she. Things just work with Micha. For a while Anita did push those limits but for some reason just was much more accepting of this relationship. Sharing Anita with other men is not his favorite thing but he is practical. It factors heavily in why the relationship with Anita works. It probably had to do with the Arduer, however they have a deep love and are doing a commitment ceremony with Nathaniel after Anita and Jean-Claude marry officially.

Nathaniel Graison– Nathaniel is Anita’s leopard to call and a third of Anita’s second triumvirate. He is also lives with Anita and Micha. He will be part of the commitment ceremony with Micha and Anita. He is the “wife” of the trio. Nathaniel is a stripper and into BDSM. He is a bottom and that has made Anita really uncomfortable throughout the relationship. She is just now starting to understand what it means to him and how to deal with it. Nathaniel cooks and bakes, grocery shops and loves having a pretty household. Anita often compares him to a 1950’s housewife but not in a bad or demeaning way. She knows her life works because Nathaniel is how he is.

Damian– Damian is Anita’s vampire to call and a third of her second triumvirate. While Anita and Damian’s relationship isn’t necessarily sexual in nature they are drawn to each other. It is the nature of this kind of Master/servant relationship. He lives with Anita, Nathanial and Micha. While he doesn’t sleep with them on a regular basis, he is one of the men in Anita’s life that she deals with his emotional issues.

Nicky– Nicky is Anita’s bride. Yes I said bride. I mean like Dracula’s brides. It is a side effect of the Ardeur. Anita completely rolled Nicky with the Ardeur to save the lives of Micha and Nathaniel when Nicky and another man were sent to kill her. When Anita rolled Nicky he became her slave in every sense of the word. He will lay down his life for her, do whatever he can to make her happy and is unable to disobey a direct order from Anita. Nicky feeds the Ardeur for Anita and has found a place in her heart.

Anita can claim many other male lovers but some happen on a somewhat regular basis but are not part of her core group like the men above. Some of these men want to be part of Anita’s day to day life or want to be her only squeeze. For any number of reasons Anita does not want them in her core group but is still metaphysically bound to them in some form or fashion.

Asher– Once a part of Anita’s core group, his emotional baggage got to be too much for everyone to deal with. Jean-Claude’s love for Asher kept him within the fold of the group but he even managed to hurt Jean-Claude one too many times for their shared past to keep him safely in Jean-Claude’s heart.

Jason Schuyler– He has been a willing Pomme de sang (apple of blood) for Jean-Claude for years. He has on occasion, sometimes regularly and sometimes only in emergencies, been food for Anita’s Arduer. He is not a constant on Anita’s menu mainly because he is a friend, one of Anita’s very best friends. He can tell her truths and not get his head bit off for it.

Haven– Anita called him Cookie referring to Cookie Monster from Seaseme Street because of his blue hair and eyes. He was a werelion and a gangster from Chicago. He was possessive of Anita and she ended up killing him back when he kill Noel because Noel saved Nathaniel who Haven was actually trying to kill.

Jacob Leon– He is Rex (lion king) of his pride. Has a metaphysical connection to Anita as their lions are attracted to each other.

Adam– Anita’s golden tiger.

Crispin– Anita’s white tiger.

Cynric– Also known as Sin much to Anita and Jean-Claude’s dismay. Anita’s blue tiger.