Summary
The protagonist, an "Abigail" from Kansas City, has become involved in a world of necromancy — the art and science of raising the dead. The book opens with Abigail leaving her unfulfilling corporate job to go to the University of Chicago in pursuit of a PhD in sociology. After being drugged and molested by a colleague while on a class field trip, she abruptly decides to quit. The next morning, she is involved in a car accident. When paramedics pronounce her dead, she wakes up in the morgue. Abigail is later found to be alive and imprisoned in a vault, where she is rescued by necromancer Saul Stone, a "partner" in an illegal company that deals in resurrection. Although Saul would prefer to create new identities, Abigail's psychological makeup is such that she proves to be the ideal candidate for transformation. Saul sets about finding Abigail's half-sister, Arvit, who has been murdered by a jealous boyfriend, but Arvit is killed.
Soon Abigail is training Saul's apprentice, Valko, on how to properly raise a vampire. Valko is furious at the idea of a female vampire, but Abigail assures him that she is not "no-man's-folly" (p. 25), and that she is fine with her new blood status. One night, Saul takes Abigail to a banquet at the home of the family of his partner, Malcolm. Malcolm's old butler, Jerry, recognizes Abigail and tries to lock her in the wine cellar, but she flees into the basement. She is caught and bitten by a werewolf, Jean-Claude, who is jealous of Saul's attention. It is later revealed that the city's vampire council has sanctioned Valko's existence.
Abigail is reluctantly coerced into taking part in an experiment designed to see whether or not Saul can get a vampire to "commit" suicide. This is achieved by forcing the vampire to drink wine laced with cyanide. Abigail is to be the test subject, since she has exhibited suicidal tendencies, but the experiment fails and the vampire kills himself rather than allow himself to be drained.
Abigail realizes that Saul, who had avoided similar vampire council attempts to control him, had stolen this file from them. She goes to see Malcolm, but is caught by Valko and Jean-Claude. They
Related links: