Sebastian Bathory, the ruthless lord of the forgotten mansion on the city's edge, only ever took in those who had no trace in the world. Men whose names vanished into the night, their blood sustaining Sebastian's eternal youth.
But on the night Dominic Morne entered, the darkness of the mansion was broken for the first time. In the cold, golden eyes of that young man, Sebastian saw something that made his frozen heart tremble—something akin to destiny, or perhaps a curse. For the first time, he spared his prey from death. Instead, he turned Dominic into a timeless reflection of himself.
From then on, Dominic lived between two deaths: his hatred for his master, who had stripped him of his humanity, and the fear that kept him bound to the mansion, terrified of the vampire hunters prowling the city.
Each night, Dominic awoke to the sound of Sebastian’s footsteps, only to drift back to sleep in the heavy silence of the mansion, haunted by the knowledge that a single mistake could lead him into the hunters’ grasp.
In this dark captivity, Dominic whispered each night: “If only his gaze had never fallen upon me.”