title: Blood Ninja III: The Betrayal of the Living
author:  Nick Lake 
description: Lake wraps up his historical Japanese ninja-vampire series with fresh monsters, namely dragons. Reluctant vampire Taro has won his girl, aristocrat samurai Hana, and is torn between a peaceful, if impoverished, life with her in a fishing village or accepting the challenge to slay a dragon and gain great wealth and status. The intricate plot of the first two books takes some explaining, and the story really only comes to life once we meet the dragonthen patience is rewarded with action aplenty. Lake weaves in tenets of Buddhism and history of feudal Japan for a satisfying conclusion to an intriguing trilogy. Grades 7-11. --Debbie Carton
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  ![Book Title Page](../Images/Art_P18.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The third party was a boy about sixteen or seventeen, Japanese, and wearing
  the uniform of a nearby school. With the exception of the swords he held in
  his hands, he looked relatively ordinary.
  
  
  But the tenor of his threat suggested he’d really kill her if he wanted to…
  There was something inexplicably dreadful about him—enough to make a person’s
  skin crawl.
  
  
  It was obvious he wasn’t any ordinary person.
  
  
  At this astonishingly unexpected turn of events, the four—Luna, Felicia, the
  young knight, and Sir Kay, poking her head out from a gap in the broken
  wall—were completely stupefied and stunned.
  
  
  This was a group of beings with supernatural strength, capable of dashing
  across the sky in a single leap and splitting open the earth with their
  swords. But even they were overwhelmed by the figure before them.
  
  
  “What—? Who _are_ you?” croaked Felicia, voice quivering as the stranger
  continued to press a sword again