The coterie makes an unlikely alliance with an old enemy as they hunt for Baroness Tala’s assassin. The chase leads Victoria, Franzi, and Goyo to face off with an adversary. Meanwhile, Soma keeps careful watch over his mother as Enrique Escolar attempts to manage the power struggle that is already brewing in Tala’s absence. The coterie is forced to make hard decisions as they try to make sense of recent events.

Fresh from their exoneration of the crime of violating the Masquerade, the coterie is summoned by the Baroness Tala. They discover that a familiar face has returned after ten years: Tala’s own childer, Soma. The coterie helps Soma relinquish his former life, and accompany him to his first Ball in over ten years. They find a moment of joy, but their illusions of levity are shattered immediately once a gunshot rings and tragedy strikes.

Faced with the possibility of condemnation for violating the Masquerade, the coterie spends what they fear is their final moments. Franzi takes the stage to perform one last time, Victoria rekindles a faith lost far too long ago, and Goyo finds comfort in the arms of a lover. When the trial proceeds, the truth unveils itself as our coterie finds itself the target of a notoriously duplicitous but powerful Anarch named Enrique Escolar.

The coterie are now forced to face possible enemies within the bureaucracy of the Barony of Metro Manila, as they are summoned to a trial for their possible breach of the masquerade. One disaster after another arises, as they seek to eliminate the evidence of their ambush. Disasters come one after another as dark omens appear, things break, and old wounds are reopened.

Not all is well in Metro Manila as three vampires—Franzi, Goyo, and Victoria—are sent to investigate the cold-blooded murder of a human family. As they uncover what seems to be a brazen act of war from one of the rival vampire factions, a dark and sinister future looms: an ancient immortal war where Kindred and kine alike are threatened with extinction.