Phantom Warriors: Bacchus (Book One) by Jordan Summers

**This blog contains adult language and discussion of...ahem....adult activities.**

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!!  This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself.  Do NOT continue to read unless you want to have the story completely and utterly spoiled.

Book Description: Bacchus is a desperate Phantom Warrior.  Saddled with the quest to find a biologically compatible female species for his people, he stows away on a ship bound for planet Earth.  There he discovers a world teeming with women, but how does he pick just one?  Sex sounds easy enough or it would be, if Bacchus weren't from the Blood Clan.  Where on Earth can he find a woman who doesn't freak out at the sight of blood and three-inch fangs?  Dog breeder Carrie Ritter has had a rough year.  Between a broken engagement, threats to her safety, and an emotionally distant brother, she's ready to throw in the towel.  The last thing she needs is a sexy "bodyguard" trying to charm her pants off.  It'll take more than Bacchus' chemically charged pheromones, dominant nature, and forked tongue to convince Carrie that they're made for each other.  He will have to release all his animal instincts, before giving her her the ultimate love bite.


The grammar, y'all.  Sigh.

By the way, I have a HUGE problem with this cover.  It's a pretty huge point in the story that Bacchus has glowing red eyes and can't change them so this cover is just garbage from the very beginning.

TRIGGER WARNING:  There's some aspects of dubious consent in this book.  The female participates willingly but is affected by an outside influence that might make her consent debatable.  Please don't continue to read if this will affect you in any way.

This isn't our typical shifter book in that the dude never actually shifts.  It's a little more complicated than that.  It's more like the two forms exist simultaneously instead.

So this book starts off with the following sentence and I have a feeling it's really going to set the tone:

“The Pleasurer straddled Bacchus, teasing him with her moist opening.”

I can already tell I picked a winner here.  {{{Shudder}}}

It's been awhile since Bacchus has had an appointment with a Pleasurer. Women are rare and pleasure workers are booked out months in advance at times. He got this one by a little subterfuge, assigning some guy named Talon extra work so he could bogart Talon's appointment. Bacchus rationalizes that he needs the appointment more because he's getting on a space ship bound for Earth tomorrow. He needs to get rid of all his “tension” so that he's able to stow away on the ship without being detected. Because the people on the ship will smell his horniness I guess. {{{shrug}}}

(((Note from future me:  Apparently this plan hinges on Bacchus's ability to remain invisible and intense sexual arousal makes it impossible to stay invisible.  I guess.  It all seems really stupid.)))

The scene continues and we learn this particular woman is of the Claw Clan which means she has “fleshy protrusions” (yes, Summers really calls them that) inside her.....ahem.....love channel if you know what I mean. These protrusions stroke Bacchus like “tiny fingers” as they do the deed. He tells us that this is why members of the Claw Clan make the best Pleasurers. Bacchus is of the Blood Clan which means he needs blood to get his rocks off so he bites her, tasting her blood and injecting her with “venom” that will.....ahem.....keep her 'peaking' for hours. Sounds exhausting to me.

After the woman leaves, Bacchus tells us that his race is dying. They are Phantoms and the men outnumber the women 30-1. Unless they find some compatible females somewhere in the universe, their species will go extinct. Apparently the Phantoms are a race of four shifter species........

*The Blood Clan – basically vampires (how did I end up reading a pseudo-vampire book?!?!?!?) or vipers. Their fangs deliver a venom that can be used for pleasure, numbing or death and they feed on blood.

*The Winged Clan – pterodactyl sized bird shifters.

*The Claw Clan – predatory cats resembling Saber-tooth tigers.

*The Tooth Clan – wolf-bear shifters that walk upright and would probably be mistaken for werewolves on Earth.

The Phantoms live on planet Zaron with the Atlanteans (yes those Atlanteans – they came to Earth, lived in their city for awhile and then returned to their planet). The Atlanteans have a trip back to Earth planned and Bacchus wanted to accompany them to find a potential mate to save his people. The Atlantean King refuses to let him go so he makes the plan to stow away. He feels like it is their last hope.

Chapter Two starts two weeks after Chapter One.  I guess it takes that long to reach Earth from Zaron.  Bacchus has landed in LA along with an Atlantean woman named Cassandra while the rest of the crew has continued on to New York. Bacchus is cloaked right now which means no one can see him. He stands at the beach and tries to make sense of the behavior of the people there.  The joggers really seem to confuse him because they aren't being chased, nor do they appear to be formally training for battle.

Bacchus decides he needs to find a man in order to understand humans better. It can't be a woman because he might accidentally "merge his code” with her and produce offspring. He selects a nearby jogger and....merges his code I guess?? He passes through the guy's body and absorbs his knowledge, experiences and memories.

The man's name is Brady but he prefers to be called Buzz. In Buzz's memories, Bacchus finds Carrie, Buzz's sister. He learns that Carrie was engaged to Buzz's best friend Ryan but she'd been dumped before the wedding. Bacchus also saw that Ryan had died and for some reason Buzz blamed Carrie for it. Buzz was spiraling out of control and had already lost his job and was thinking of suicide. Bacchus is appalled at Buzz's selfishness. Carrie is in pain and needs him but he's too wrapped up in his own misery to take care of his sister. Bacchus decides he has to find Carrie and make sure she's okay before he continues his search for a mate. It's a matter of honor at this point.

For some reason Cassandra approaches Buzz and the two of them talk for awhile before they leave together. Bacchus follows them to a hotel. He realizes what they're about to do and he follows them into the room to watch. He needs to see exactly how human men mate so he won't have any disasters when he goes to mate with a human female. Buzz and Cassandra choose to get dirty in the shower so Bacchus follows them in there. He doesn't watch long because he gets all....excited....and knows he won't be able to maintain invisibility if he gets too....excited. Buzz puts on a condom which confuses Bacchus to no end and then Bacchus decides to leave. He raids Cassandra's pockets for some Earth money and then goes down to Buzz's Jeep (it later mysteriously turns into a car because Summer forgot it was initially a Jeep) where he finds some spare clothes and shoes. Bacchus has a feeling that Cassandra will be taking Buzz back to Zaron with her whether the guy likes it or not.

So I guess Bacchus stole Buzz's Jeep too because suddenly he's driving around LA. I don't think he's very good at it because.......

“Bacchus still didn't quite understand why they'd put that red octagon-shaped sign on the side of the road, but it mattered not, since it now sat in his backseat, along with a couple of orange cones, the car's bumper and a small pine tree.”

See?  Suddenly a car.  But a car with a big enough backseat for a stop sign, a bumper and a tree.  Curiouser and curiouser.

He finally locates the neighborhood he saw in Buzz's memories and I call BULLSHIT. You can't just find a place in LA without knowing where it is. It's too massive for that. Anyway, he parks and takes off all his clothes so he can go invisible again. He uses his forked tongue to smell for predators. Sensing none, he makes his way to Carrie's window to peek in. She's listening to music and dancing around her living room and he's instantly ready to mate. He doesn't even know if it's physically possible for a Phantom to mate with a human but a certain turgid part of him doesn't much care. He can hear her blood beating under her throat and it calls to him. He's never felt anything so primal before and he doesn't understand it.

We hop into Carrie's head for the first time. She's lonely and feels like it's time for a change. Her original field was herpetology (study of amphibians and reptiles natch) but she's been working as a dog breeder and trainer for years now because a person who studied reptiles is automatically an expert in mammal sex.  \\\sarcasm font///  She's thinking about what she can do to end her ennui when she suddenly feels like she's being watched. She goes to the window but there is no one out there. Still, her body reacts in a sexual way and she can't understand it.

Me neither, Carrie.  Me neither.

We land back in Bacchus's head in time for the arrival of two generic thugs. Ryan owed some people some money and now they are hassling Carrie for it. They threaten to kill Carrie and threaten to kill Buzz and then go on their slimy way. Bacchus is alarmed and decides to watch over Carrie until she goes to sleep. The men do not return.

Bacchus decides to drive around after Carrie goes to bed and think about what he can do. As he's driving, he hears a woman scream and follows the sound to an alley where a woman is being beaten up by some kind of gang. Bacchus realizes what they're about to do to her and decides to intervene. A good fight will do him some good and he knows he's the alpha predator in this alley.

One of the gang members has a gun but Bacchus isn't too worried. It can only hurt him if it hits him in the head. Bacchus gets his 'game face' on – glowing red eyes and fangs dripping with venom. He's able to spit venom directly in the nearest men's eyes and it temporarily blinds them. The one with the gun tries to shoot Bacchus but ends up emptying his gun into a wall instead. I hope the bullets didn't make it through to the other side. Bacchus crushes his hand. Bacchus feeds from him and most of the other gang members run off. Only one remains and he has a knife. He thrusts a crucifix in Bacchus's face thinking this will ward off the 'vampire'. Bacchus laughs and asks why he should fear the symbol when the gang member clearly does not. Bacchus gets another supply of blood from the guy and nearly drains him. He stops just in time and lets the guy go. He hopes the gang will think twice before they attack another woman.

The woman is terrified of Bacchus and I can't really blame her there. He tries to assure her that he means her no harm and eventually she begins to trust him enough to tell him where she lives so he can get her home. He warns the men never to come near her again or he will execute them and they won't see him coming this time.

It's the next day and Bacchus is back at Carrie's house. He's found himself a suit and a briefcase and a pair of tinted glasses to hide his red eyes and now he's ready to make his move. Whatever that is.

Quickly we're in Carrie's head. She sees the handsome man on her doorstop and worries that he's one of the thugs. She puts some pepper spray in her pants before she opens the door. He's more handsome than she realized and his pheromones are wafting about which instantly causes her to relax. She doesn't know what they are but recognizes that he smells incredibly good to her.

Back with Bacchus. All these rapid shifts are making my head spin. Bacchus tells Carrie that he's there on her brother's behalf and she's instantly panicked that something has happened to Buzz. She asks him if he works for Mr Bing (the crime boss Ryan owed money too) and he replies with “who is Mr Bing” so she lets him inside.

Back with Carrie. She invites Bacchus in and goes to make some coffee. She's unsettled by her odd attraction to him but instinctively she knows that he isn't there to harm her. She brings him his coffee and is surprised when he dips a forked tongue into the hot liquid. She just figures he's into body modification and doesn't think much of it but then he downs his steaming hot coffee like a tequila shot and she has the errant thought that he's very reptilian. Because snakes pound down their coffee, yo.

Bacchus tells her that he's there because Buzz has had to go away for awhile. He's found a woman and he's leaving his past behind. Carrie is dismayed. She's been hoping that Buzz would help her out with the Mr Bing situation even though every time she tries to tell him about it he accuses her of lying to get attention. Now she knows she'll have to figure it out on her own. She'll probably have to sell her house. She's in a whirlwind of thoughts when Bacchus tells her he's here to help. He'll talk to the thugs for her and get everything settled. Carrie is doubtful.

Carrie tells him she has to get ready for work and he asks her about her job. She tells him she studied herpetology and he seems oddly happy with that. He asks her if he can go to the kennels with her and says that he promised Buzz he would protect her. She agrees but asks him to wait on the porch while she takes a shower.

Back with Bacchus. He's on the porch when the thugs drive by. He pulls down his glasses so they can see his glowing red eyes and they drive right on by in a hurry but he knows they'll be back.

Back with Carrie. They head to the kennels where she works and what follows is the most intensely detailed description of dogs mating that I've ever had the misfortune to read in my life.  It was more of a porn than the rest of this book put together and I have serious worries about the nature of Summers's kink now.  Watching the dogs get busy turns both of them on and Bacchus stands behind her, running his hands over her arms and his forked tongue over the skin of her neck. She doesn't shove him off. He touches her through her jeans and she just sort of goes with it despite the fact she's known him less than an hour and still hasn't seen him with his sunglasses off. When he bites the back of her neck she.....ahem.....sees stars and then she gets all gooey because of his venom and pheromones.

This part really bothers me.  We're told that she's quiescent and suggestible because of the effect of the venom and pheromones which means she's essentially 'roofied' at this point.  Bacchus tries to tell us that she's under his control and yet it's okay because he's honor bound not to do anything she doesn't want to do.  However, in the same breath he tells us that he plans to "dominate" her because he knows that's what she wants.  To be fair, it is.  She definitely responds to that and did even before the venom/pheromone cocktail.  To be 100% clear, Carrie was a willing participant in everything that follows but I can't help wondering how much that venom affected her.

They go back to her house and Carrie invites him in. Considering he's given her an orgasm she decides she should see his eyes. They're red and she asks if he's having some kind of an allergic reaction to the dogs. He tells her they're contacts and she accepts that. Then things get down and dirty. Normally I'd try to describe some of it, in euphemisms of course, but since I have these icky feelings about her capacity to consent, I'm just going to say they do the deed and leave it at that.

As soon as Bacchus bites her and tastes her blood, he knows she's his mate. He has to do one final test. He turns himself invisible and passes through her. On the other side he senses his scent within her and knows she is truly his. She will become a Phantom now and take on the characteristics of his people.

The thugs come for Carrie as they're lying there naked in the afterglow. Carrie tries to get Bacchus to leave because she thinks he'll be killed. He refuses to go and shows her his fangs. She thinks they're fake and he tosses her on the bed and tells her to wait there while he deals with the thugs. Naturally she doesn't.

He moves unnaturally fast as he gets behind the two men and sticks his fangs into them. I think maybe he used his poison venom but the book doesn't really say. Carrie is horrified and asks him if he's a vampire and he says he's an alien and now she is too. She runs to look in the mirror and her eyes are red and she's grown fangs. She's horrified and demands to know what he did to her. He tells her that he passed through her and now he knows her entire being and she knows his. All she has to do is look inside. She does and feels the deep love he has for her. You know. The girl he met a few hours ago.

This is so infuriating.  He gave her NO choice in whether she wanted to become a Phantom.  He just turned her because it was what he wanted.  There was never a conversation where she agreed to become part of his Blood Clan.  It's like he knowingly gave her some kind of disease without warning her she was at risk.  I pretty much hate this guy and I can't believe she was just okay with all of this.

She asks him what will happen next and he says they will return to his planet and he will spend the rest of his life making her happy and atoning for his deception. He says they can visit Earth anytime she wants and she can even keep her house if it will make her happy. She decides to just give in because she'd been hoping for some kind of a change anyway.  And just like that she scampers off with a man who changed her into a monster without her knowledge or consent - a man she's known for about two hours.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK???????

There's a very brief epilogue to show us that the two of them are living happily for now on Zaron and then the book pretty abruptly ends.  I refuse to believe it's happily ever after because these two people don't even know each other and he's a massive jerk. 

I have a second one of these that I may or may not read.  Maybe the next guy won't be so gross but I have a feeling it's more indicative of Summers than the character.