Blood and Chocolate

Blood and Chocolate (1997), a young adult paranormal fantasy novel by Annette Curtis Klause, became well known for its sultry scenes and teenaged protagonist who embraced her sexuality.

Sixteen-year-old Vivan is a werewolf who chooses to remain in human form. She is part of a pack of loups-garoux, a separate species from humans. According to legend, Vivian’s ancestors were humans blessed by the moon goddess Selene, giving them the power to shapeshift into wolves at will. The urge to transform becomes irresistible with the coming of a full moon. Because of the risk of violence, loups-garoux conceal the truth of who they are from humans. Silver is lethal to them.

The story opens as Vivian starts school in a new town, far away from the town where her pack got into serious trouble. In her previous town, the teenage pack members became increasingly out of control, using their wolf forms to scare humans. One day, the pranking went too far, and Axel killed a human girl. Humans witnessed Axel changing from wolf back to human. Knowing they had to protect Axel’s secret identity while was in prison, the other teenage loups-garoux killed another human to make it look like a serial killer was on the loose. Axel was then released. However, Vivian's father, the pack leader, killed Axel for endangering the pack. Vivian pleaded with him to spare the lives of the other teenagers. Not long after, suspicious neighbors set fire to the pack's house. Vivian's father and a few others were killed, forcing the pack to relocate.



So, Vivian finds herself in a new town in Maryland, grieving the loss of her father and other pack members, and living with her mother, Esmé. Vivian's schoolmates find her intimidating and are envious of her beauty. When she sees a very accurate poem about werewolf transformation in the school magazine, she seeks out the author. She finds Aiden and is immediately attracted to him. She suspects he might be a werewolf, but soon realizes he is simply human. Despite this, she begins a relationship with Aiden, ignoring her mother's disapproval. Esmé fears that Vivian will reveal the secret of the pack to Aiden, but Vivian is joyful that with Aiden and his friends, she is receiving the acceptance that she lacks from the pack.

In the meantime, Vivian’s pack grows restless in the new town. The pack's five teenaged males, Rafe, Finn, Willem, Ulf, and Gregory, are the main culprits. Their family members are also causing issues: Rafe's father, Lucien, has a drinking problem, Esmé and Ulf's mother, Astrid, are sleeping with twenty-four-year-old Gabriel. Gabriel, the prime candidate to become the alpha male, is a slimy man – attracted to Vivian, he does not listen to her repeated refusals of his advances.

The restlessness within the pack makes it clear that the pack needs a new alpha, and soon. Because they cannot decide who it should be, they decide to elect the leader via Ordeal: a giant brawl where any male who is of age can participate. Anyone who has blood drawn is disqualified, and the last two can fight to the death or one can surrender to the other. Once the alpha is determined, the females are to participate in a fight called the Bitch's Dance to determine who will be the new leader's mate.



The ordeal takes place and Gabriel wins. Astrid instantly attacks Esmé, wanting to be Gabriel’s mate and not wanting any competition. Without pausing to think, Vivian leaps in to save her mother's life. She takes out one of Astrid’s eyes and wins the fight; therefore, Vivian is named the alpha female. Horrified, Vivian runs home. The next day, Gabriel declares he will wait as long as Vivian needs, but eventually, she'll come around to him. The rest of the pack agrees with Gabriel's assessment.

Vivian continues to reject Gabriel, pursuing Aiden with even more effort. Before they have sex, however, Vivian decides she has to tell Aiden the truth about her. She reveals her beast form to him and he is terrified. He throws objects at her to chase her away. Devastated, Vivian jumps out of his window and into the night.

The next morning, Vivian wakes up with human blood on her nails and no memory of what happened after revealing herself to Aiden. She sees a news story about a man killed by a wild animal and fears the worst. She begins drinking as a way to cope and spends the next few days trying to get Aiden alone to explain. He avoids her, further increasing her desperation. She attends a concert that they had planned to go to together in the hope of seeing him, but his friends show up instead. They say awful things about her, repeating lies Aiden told them as the reason he broke up with her. Vivian breaks down in tears; conveniently, Gabriel appears and takes her home. Gabriel tries to comfort her, hinting that he once revealed himself to a human and, like her, came to regret it.



Again, Vivian wakes up without a memory of the preceding night, finding a human hand on her bedroom floor. The hand belongs to one of Aiden’s friends, and Vivian thinks she must be the killer. She decides to commit suicide so the pack is not found out. She douses herself in kerosene, but before she can light the match, Willem arrives and tells her that she is not the killer – Astrid is setting her up.

Aiden had sent Vivian a note asking her to meet him. Vivian realizes that Astrid must have found the note, which was carried by Aiden's friend who has been killed. Knowing Aiden is in a tremendous amount of danger, Vivian runs to him to try to save him. Meanwhile, Gabriel, Willem, and Ulf gather the pack to be present when judgment is passed on Astrid.

When Vivian arrives to meet Aiden, he points a gun at her, threatening that there is a silver bullet inside. Vivian pleads with him, trying to explain that she is not the killer, but because Aiden does not know of the existence of Vivian’s pack, he refuses to believe her. Just as he is about to shoot her, Astrid and Rafe show up. Astrid intends to kill both Aiden and Vivian, so she can finally be rid of Vivian. Rafe argues with Astrid; he is hurt that Astrid is still in love with Gabriel. Vivian tells Aiden to shoot Rafe while she leaps for Astrid.



Aiden shoots Rafe, who falls dead, and Vivian and Astrid fight. As the intensity builds, Gabriel steps in with two other pack members who apprehend Astrid. Gabriel snaps Astrid's neck, killing her. Aiden, increasingly afraid of the werewolves around him, turns the gun on Gabriel and shoots. Vivian leaps in front to take the bullet, saving him. Gabriel forbids Aiden from ever contacting Vivian, warning him that they will watch him for the rest of his life. Aiden runs away in fear. The pack's healer removes the bullet from Vivian, but she is stuck in a hybrid form, neither human nor wolf, unable to fully change into either.

Some weeks later, Gabriel visits Vivian. She is grieving – both from being stuck in hybrid form and from her heartache at losing Aiden. Gabriel tells her his story: he once loved a human woman and tried to reveal himself to her. When he made love to the human, he had to suppress the urge to shift; it was too dangerous. Gabriel accidentally shifted in front of his human girlfriend, accidentally killing her. Gabriel’s story makes Vivian realize that she wasn’t really in love with Aiden, but with the idea of acceptance. Moreover, that acceptance comes naturally with Gabriel.

Vivian and Gabriel kiss and Vivian transforms. Gabriel takes her outside for the first time in days, and they run off into the woods together in their wolf forms. Vivian accepts her place in the pack as the Alpha female and Gabriel's mate, joyful that she is a werewolf and has someone who completely understands and accepts her.