Josh Cohen is devastated by the death of his girlfriend, Mia. He knows she didn't commit suicide, as everyone claims, but he can't convince the authorities of his small town to open a murder investigation. Pushed to the brink of insanity by the crushing weight of his grief, Josh will do anything to have Mia back. Anything. Love conquers all, but vengeance can transcend death.
Tate McGillis escapes to a secluded mountain cabin with his girlfriend, Lauren, for a weekend away. His romantic plans are destroyed when he encounters an evil the likes of which he never imagined. It's not Lauren's husband; he had no idea she left. It's not the dark, sinister forest constantly changing around them. It's not the undead crawling from the lake with a taste for human flesh. It's not even the mutated spirit of a serial killer tormenting Tate for its own demonic pleasure. A woman claiming only to be Mary Sue Standin is stalking Tate without mercy, and her powers are unrivaled. She can break his bones with a thought. She can rip everyone and everything he loves from the very fabric of realitys. She can teleport him at will, leaving Tate to question the nature of his existence. Because Mary Sue is the writer of his story, and Tate's not in a romance novel.
Some people struggle to stand apart. Some are born weird. Toby knows what it means to be different. His father and grandmother are vampire royalty. His human mother murdered her entire family. Not really a vampire, not really a mortal, Toby is all alone in the world. His only friend is a teenaged necromancer named Karen, who is also the reincarnation of his dead girlfriend. Yes, it's awkward. To become a Pure vampire, he must find the Tepes Chalice then enlist Karen's help to transform him. Sounds simple enough. It's never that simple. Here's the thing; Toby's ex-girlfriend hid the Chalice thirty years ago. Karen might be of more help, if he could get her to stop arguing with him about everything. His daily struggle for survival aside, his mortal enemy has suddenly reemerged, and a horde of wild vampires is rampaging through the city. It's hard to imagine how things could get any worse. Enter the Watchers. A clandestine, deadly, and very well funded organization that's declared eternal war against any threat to humanity, the Watchers are the bane of vampire-existence. Homeless and without a territory of his own, Toby must root out the source of the vampire attacks before the Watchers target him and every other Disavowed vampire in the city.
With the Watcher threat eliminated, life has gotten pretty good for Toby. At least, as good as life gets for a homeless half-vampire. Of course, it doesn't last. The body of St. Justine, patron saint of all vampires, has been stolen from her shrine. Maybe Toby would be more upset, if she wasn't the same woman that cursed him with thirty years of Waking Death. Around the same time, Justine's ghost begins to appear to Toby, mostly just to mess with his electronics. Karen-Toby's closest friend, Justine's reincarnation, and certified necromancer-wants him to participate in the search, but she's too sick to enforce her will. What's a guy to do? Toby's answer: lock himself in his room and blog about how he came to meet St. Justine in the first place. His long journey to find her. How they started off as enemies. The deal they struck for her to eventually turn him into a pure vampire. How she and her daughter became the closest thing he's ever known to family. How it ended. Hopefully, when the long, painful story is finished, he'll be able to put their relationship behind him once and for all.Sometimes the past refuses to be forgotten.
Six months after turning himself in for murder, Toby the half-vampire has been released on bail to await trial. Certain he will spend the next several decades in prison, Toby has precious little time to get his affairs in order. He's prepared to face his fate, except... His best friend, Karen, has been replaced by a doppelganger. A strange plague is turning people all over the city into vicious ghouls. The revenant Justine is still at large. She's out for Toby's blood, and her innocent victims are literally piling up. Worst of all, Toby finds himself the pawn of immortal ex-lovers, each determined to undermine the others' schemes. Toby has less than two weeks to set everything right, but he hasn't been the same since his release. There is something dark and hungry inside of him... and it's growing.
Toby, the half-vampire, has fallen in love. He really, really hates that. His feelings are complicated by the fact they're for his (already-married) best friend. Karen loves him back, but is massively depressed after the role she played in the Black Flu. Hiding out together is awkward. It's fine. No, really, it's fine. Toby has plenty to keep him busy. His grandmother, Hlin, commanded him and Karen to reform the Watchers. She's even recruited a sexy vampire soldier to train them, whether they want to or not. Victims of a psychopathic killer are turning up closer and closer to the Sanctuary, which is so haunted it's becoming unlivable. Toss in an opportunistic drug dealer and dark secrets from Karen's past. Sprinkle it all with a dash of lycanthropy, and Toby has all the ingredients for disaster. It's not all bad. A beautiful witch has come to town. Their connection is immediate, powerful, and undeniable. Toby swears he's met her before, but where...?
