A jolt. A small hitch in the rhythmic beating of my heart. Dèjà vu didn't even begin to describe it. ... My heart stopped, my breath jostled forward, shock rippling through my system. It happened again. For a few precious seconds my mind froze up and, together with my body, went into a complete lockdown. It was the same each time I saw him.

... for a moment I thought that everything was back to normal, that I was okay. But then it came crashing down on me. Blood was valuable. Blood was life. The loss of blood had a price. A high one.

Well, you could stare at a white wall until you were blue in the face, it would never be more than a white wall. The same was true for the master vampire. A vampire was a vampire was a vampire. Period. (Anna Johnson)

They are born in the darkness, and they own it like no one else. Anna Johnson stays clear of vampires. She knows what they are capable of. As a witch of the air she is working for the Circle as a researcher, closing her eyes to that which lies in her past. Until one phone call changes everything.