The vampire hunter and animator in Laurell K. Hamilton’s The Harlequin is Anita Blake.
Anita Blake is the central character of Hamilton’s Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. She works as an animator, a specialist who raises and communicates with the dead, and as a vampire executioner or hunter. In the series’ alternate version of the United States, supernatural beings such as vampires, werewolves, and other shapeshifters exist openly under the law.
The Harlequin is the fifteenth novel in the Anita Blake series, published in 2007. Its title refers not to Anita but to an ancient and secretive group of vampire enforcers who serve the vampire council. They operate as assassins, investigators, and punishers, making them a major threat to Anita and the people around her.
A common mix-up is treating “The Harlequin” as the name of a single vampire or as Anita’s title. Anita is the protagonist; the Harlequin are the vampire enforcers. Her other recurring roles include federal marshal, necromancer, and supernatural consultant.