He is elite among slayers. She is a newborn vampiress, clinging to mortality. He should kill her-not love her. James Lauren's deadly bloodline has made him one of the most feared and respected slayers in history. He is the perfect assassin for a one-man mission to wipe out the most powerful vampyre of them all-even if it means risking his own soul. Yet on a night train in the middle of nowhere, a renegade blue-eyed vampiress lands him deep inside a battle between the Old Realm and New Royals-and between his heart and everything he ever learned as a slayer. Wild child Daelyn Bakerville was never a Royal, should never have been bitten-a mistake Dracula is apparently willing to overlook in view of her extraordinary precog gifts. But Daelyn doesn't plan on becoming the Count's immortal plaything. If she can control her hungers, there's a chance for her soul to remain in the light-a chance to feel the kind of love she never knew as a mortal. She may have escaped Dracula's castle, but how will she ever escape James Lauren?