Cover art by Robert Adragna (Ace edition). Cover art by Joe DiVito and Ivan Zorad (Tor edition 1987). Cover photos by Getty Images (Tor edition 2006).
"Vampires with a difference ! And the difference is Fred
Saberhagen. His writing mesmerizes." – Brian Lumley.
Kate Southerland has been murdered. But she is not dead. Johnny
Southerland has vanished, a severed, bloody finger the only clue.
The Southerlands are trapped in a blood-feud older than history.
Their enemy is no mortal madman but the undying mistress of evil
enchantment, Morgan Le Fay.
But the Southerlands are not Morgan's true target. She seeks to do
battle with their protector, their defender, the only being who can
save these mortals.
* * *
Kate did not sleep, or lose consciousness completely, but lapsed
into a queer, semi-waking state. Her eyes, half-open, ached in the
sunlight reflected from one dingy wall. But she did not even blink,
afraid that if she tried to move she would find that she could
not.
There were feet on the stairs, voices outside the door, then in
the room with her. Three or four men, talking in low voices. A couple
of them wore fur-collared blue Chicago police winter jackets, with
badges on their fur-flapped caps. She could see details very clearly
whenever they came into the center of her field of vision.
They'll take me home. Kate thought, they'll snap me out of this.
One of the men took her arm to lift it. It clung to her side,
amazingly stiff, resisting her pull without the least effort on her
part.
The policeman said, "My guess is two, three days since she
died."
