Ever since they saw each other across a glittering ballroom centuries ago, Jean-Marie St. Just and Hélène d’Agelet have loved each other. Yet no matter how passionate their attachment, it’s always been blocked by demands of duty and honor that neither can break. Jean-Marie, conceived for profit then tormented for decades before being saved by the vampire knight Don Rafael, would rather die than betray the only family he’s ever known. Hélène, firestarter and British secret agent, longs to regain a simpler life, while always haunted by an unsettled legacy of family ghosts and eternal evil. Now Jean-Marie and Hélène face each other over something far stronger than ancient ecstasies: Jean-Marie is determined to kill Hélène’s sister, Madame Celeste – the vampire Queen of New Orleans – before she can destroy Jean-Marie’s family. But for Hélène, that means choosing between the love of her life—or murdering her own flesh-and-blood…