"Not a love story...a dark spiral into blackness."
"If you've read Shades of Gray, you know how this has to end." The prequel to Shades of Gray tells the story of Patrick and Michael, how they got tangled into Claudius' web, and their valiant fight to escape. Patrick's missing brother Michael returns, bringing with him a world of darkness. Turned into a vampire against his will, he's the coven's whipping boy. When Patrick tries to help, he's claimed as a slave who spends his weekends preparing victims, scooping ashes, and falling prey to the vampires' twisted desires. There's only so much hell he can take. When vampires from a warring coven offer sanctuary in exchange for cooperation, Patrick quickly agrees. What he expected to be a few months drags into a long smear of nightmares. Just when he's ready to give up, he meets Katelina. Though he knows he should let her go, she becomes his only moments of sanity. When the vampires threaten her, deep down he knows what protecting her will cost, and it's a lot more than he ever wanted to pay.