Bad and Beautiful: Is Dante Baptiste the Sexiest Male Vampire in Fiction?
There are literally hundreds of uber-sexy undead male protagonists in fantasy fiction. Who could forget Anne Rice’s Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Pointe du Lac or Eric Northman from Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire saga or Laurell K. Hamilton’s Jean-Claude from her Anita Blake series or Jeaniene Frost’s Bones or Kim Harrison’s Kisten (R.I.P.) or J.R. Ward’s Zsadist… the list goes on and on. When it comes to the kind of edgy, dangerous sex appeal that makes knees weak and hearts race, the male vampires of paranormal fantasy are in a league of their own. Who knew bloodsuckers could be so wildly erotic?
But in 2008, when Adrian Phoenix published her debut novel A Rush of Wings – the first installment of her A Maker’s Song saga – a vampire was introduced to the literary world that made Stephenie Meyer’s sparkly vamp Edward Cullen look like a prepubescent Boy Scout. Dante Prejean – or Dante Baptiste, as his millions of fans know him – is a hardcore rock star, the front man for the industrial/goth band Inferno. (Cue the skintight leather pants!) And he’s a jaw-droppingly handsome vampire. In the second A Maker’s Song novel, In the Blood, Dante is portrayed thusly: “…this preternatural beauty, this Medusa of heart-stopping loveliness…”
And in the recently released third A Maker’s Song novel Beneath the Skin, Dante is described: “White skin, glossy black hair, Cupid’s bow lips, Dante Prejean was beyond beautiful. Just the sight of him in a photo had made Merri’s heart race, filled her mind with delicious and naughty thoughts. He’s also looked very young – twenty, twenty-two… bad and beautiful.”
But he’s not just any vampire – he’s the son of the fallen angel Lucien and he’s a Creawdwr, a maker, an extremely rare being with the godlike abilities to create or destroy…. Who, on the run from a shadowy government agency known as the Shadow Bureau, just may be losing his mind…
And, as revealed in Beneath the Skin, Dante is nothing short of an unwitting messiah of the apocalypse: “…the future pumped within his heart and flowed through his veins. The future for all of them: mortal, vampire, Fallen, and everything in between. If he fell, the world would fall with him.”
Is Dante Baptiste the sexiest male vampire in fiction? Well, although he has my vote I suppose that’s subjective, but one thing is undeniable – Dante Baptiste is one of the most complex and fully realized vampires to ever grace the pages of a novel.
If you have yet to experience Adrian Phoenix’s A Maker’s Song, I highly suggest doing so: it’s unarguably one of the best – and coolest – series in paranormal fantasy today. And having a sexy vampire rock star who is a fusion of Trent Reznor, Jim Morrison and Christ, well, it’s a must read. And I haven’t even mentioned Dante’s love interest, beautiful FBI special agent Heather Wallace yet….
In your opinion, who’s the sexiest male vampire you’ve ever come across in a novel?
Oh, I will definitely have to read this series. The sexiest in my opinion has to be Eric Northman. He is overly confident and obnoxious at times but just thinking about the shower scene in the 4th book makes me want to pack up, move to Bon Temps and become a waitress! Unfortunately I have no fairy blood in my veins and am not a telepath but Eric just might have a thing for middle aged, curly haired, stay-at-home moms with a little too much junk in the trunk!! 
I can only dream...
I just finished The Maker's song series...I'm a little late I know 
I don't know why I had not heard of it until now. Yes, I fell in love w/dante. Adrian Phoenix does a great job at making him ubber sexy Collar w/ring...sigh. I did like kisten a lot from the Hollow's and about died when he ended but Dante took his spot. thanks for the blog even though I'm way late at finding it.
