Richard Venneman, former vampire, weeps in frustration. His prey has eluded him. That prey is a vampire. Venneman was the first vampire in history to transform himself into an even more terrible being who preyed on vampires. And then he was the first to become human again. Now he hungers-not for blood, but to find a vampire who will make him a vampire for the second time. His obsessions have forced others through strange transformations. Karen Belmont, trapped between human form and werewolf shape, hungers for both blood and flesh. Elizabeth Vallé, content for three centuries to be a beautiful, seductive vampire, has become the stalker of vampires that Venneman once was-but monstrous in size and appetites. Now Elizabeth wants an eternal soulmate and has chosen Venneman, while Karen is hunting him so that she can take revenge by tearing him apart. Their meeting will trigger a catastrophe.