I’m always fascinated by the many variations of vampires out there in the literature. In Red-Headed Stepchild, vampires are descendants of an illicit union between Cain and Lilith. Most people are familiar with Cain, but let’s take a few minutes to talk about Lilith, who is one scary lady in the folklore. Lilith was known as a night demon. When infants died in their sleep, Lilith was to blame. She appears in a lot of the literature written at the time of the Bible. When Jaye Wells used Lilith as an explanation for the vampire race, I thought it was a very clever idea. Anyhow, back to our book…The vampires in Red-Headed Stepchild had red hair as their mark of Cain. The darker the red, the older the vampire. Our heroine Sabina Kane had red and black hair signifying her mixed heritage: she is half vampire and half mage.This book is a little heavy on the politics. Basically, the vampires do not get along with the mages. Being half vampire and half mage is not the ideal condition since interracial relations were not approved. Sabina is not allowed to serve in the Dominae’s Temple because of her mixed heritage. This is another cool aspect of the book where the author adds a religious dimension to vampirism. I loved Sabina’s character. She is one likable, kickass heroine and a pretty effective assassin, too. Part of what makes this book so enjoyable is the nice touches of humor. What’s the password to the hip vampire club Selphucher? Count Chocula. Yup, got to laugh at that one.There are other comedic moments in the book. Gighul the demon is sent to assassinate Sabina but ends up inadvertently as her minion. Unable to return home, he hangs out at her apartment watching Jerry Springer and ordering all sorts of stuff from the Home Shopping Network. Sabina learns a lot about herself in this book and a few family secrets are revealed. I’m looking forward to reading The Mage in Black soon. Review posted on Badass Book Reviews.