When a fortune-teller shows bridesmaid Lauren Crow anomen of her gruesome death, she and her friends laugh itoff as cheesy theatrics--until women begin disappearingin the night. Even as the streets become more dangerous, Lauren findsherself lusting after a man who is himself dangerous--and quite possibly crazy. Mark Davidson prowls the cityby night armed with crosses and holy water, in searchof vampires, whose existence, he insists, is real. He is asirresistibly drawn to Lauren as she is to him, and not onlybecause she's the image of his murdered fiancée. ButMark's frightening obsession with finding his lover's killermerely hides a bitter vendetta that cuts deeper than griefover a lost love. As Lauren wrestles with desire and disbelief, sinistershadows lengthen over New Orleans, threatening herfriends and foretelling a battle that may spell the end ofthe city's uneasy truce between the living and the undead.