Anita Blake has faced great horrors in her career as a vampire hunter and an animator of the undead, but being left in a dungeon with an army of were-rats is hardly her idea of a good time. Fortunately, she is able to escape when her vampire hosts intercede, but her good luck seems short-lived when she is brought before Nikolaos, the master vampire of St. Louis. What Nikolaos wants is unclear, but one thing is certain - even an experienced vampire hunter like Anita cannot stand against a being as powerful as this! But can she survive the night?