"I am the Firstborn. The firstborn of Eve. The firstborn of Sin. The firstborn of the Fallen One. His blood courses through my veins. Freely it was offered. Willingly it was accepted. I've made eleven like me before you. You will be my twelfth. My last." After ten years of political dirt-digging, Gabriel Hawthorne was accustomed to unearthing all the usual skeletons. But he digs up more than he bargained for when he's hired to investigate the newest rising star on the political landscape. This time, the skeletons are covered in the inhuman flesh of vampires. That rising star's "father" is one of the vampires known as The Ancients. And Gabriel's old flame, Claudia is that rising star's girlfriend. Complicating Gabriel's life, the ancient and secret society dedicated to the destruction of the vampires, and finally possessing the technology to realize that purpose, forces its own demands upon Gabriel: He can be a willing prisoner or unwilling sacrifice to their cause. Gabriel's gardening feels more like grave digging when it leads to the brutal murder of his friend and business associate. After attempts on his own life by friend and foe, Gabriel learns there are fates far worse than death.