It was the middle of November. I was supposed to be out jogging, but instead I was sitting at my breakfast table talking about men, sex, werewolves, vampires, and that thing that most unmarried but sexually active women fear most...

Anita Blake needs to be concentrating on a dangerous situation: the ardeur, the sexual power that flows between Anita and Jean Claude, master vampire of the city, and Richard, the volatile werewolf who loves her passionately, is reaching new levels, perhaps evolving into something altogether new. The ardeur seems to be choosing new love affairs for Anita, acting with a will of its own. As Jean Claude says, the ardeur is hunting powerful prey,. The unexpected effect of this is that Jean Claude 's own power as a master vampire has grown to new levels -- and Richard, never predictable, is changing, too.