Yayy, I'm caught up to the current point of the story, and it has been well worth it, Spider! I usually don't go into a lot of detail in my bumps and praise, but I will say that this is excellent work.
The present/past tense didn't matter to me at all, because the writing is solid. The adversarial relationship with Lyle was great. I really liked the 'bad side' of Vampire - flawed or partially cursed weapons always intrigue me.
Anyways, I look forward to the next installment.