When the 'Twilight' series hit with such a splash, it was good news for L.A. Banks.

The best-selling author of vampire thrillers, dark fantasies and paranormal romance fiction saw the buying frenzy of 'Twilight,' 'Eclipse,' 'New Moon' and 'Breaking Dawn' not as competition, but rather as an opportunity.

"Any time there is a rise in our genre that means that even more doors will open for me," said the Philly-bred writer of more than 15 best-selling books, including a 12-book series that kicked off in 2003 with 'Minion.' Her latest book, 'The Thirteenth,' which came out last month, hit the New York Times best-seller list.

Despite the success of her books, Banks is still a relatively unknown author in the black community. She, along with writers like Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due and E.V. Rose, has sold plenty of books but not had the breakout success of Stephen King, Ann Rice or Stephenie Meyer.

Banks has had to fight not just publishers and booksellers who want place her work in the African American section simply because she happens to be black, but also from black readers, many of whom feel reading about vampires, demons and the paranormal is heresy.

"I can't tell you how many people have told me, 'Oh, no, I can't read about that because my pastor said we can't dabble in that dark stuff.' " said Banks, who reads everything from K'wan to Deepak Chopra. "But believe me, my heroes and heroines are putting it down. They know their scriptures; they are using the power of the Word to cast out demons and prayers to battle these vampires. If anything, my books can arm you."

The stark reality of who is buying Banks's books became clear a few years ago when she attended DragonCon, the largest convention in the country for science-fiction, horror, gaming and comic book buffs. "We were in the heart of Atlanta, where the majority of the population is black, but at the convention center, it was about 99 percent white," said Banks, who graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in business and from Temple with a master's in filmmaking.

"I had about 300 people in my room for a book signing and all but maybe five of them were black. I had so many white fans complaining about how hard it was to find my books and asking me why it was in the black section. I didn't have an answer. I went back and told my publisher that they had to do something. They needed to get me into the mainstream section of the stores."

With her publisher, St. Martin's Press, Banks fought the booksellers and won. Her books were moved to the same section featuring King, Rice and Meyer. "And from that point on, my career took off," she said.

More than one million of her Vampire Huntress Legends are in circulation, and she recently signed a major deal for a series of graphic novels using her characters. Banks is also doing a prequel to her first book, 'Minion,' and is writing a screenplay for film adaptation. "My dream is to see my books on the big screen," said Banks. "But I also want to see more writers get into this genre. It's 2009, and I can count on one hand the number of African American writers in this market, which has grown exponentially over the years."