Alma Drake was a typical suburban college student before she was turned into a Succubus by her less-than-perfect boyfriend. Ian turned out to be a powerful soul-sucking Incubus with a harem of other Succubi feeding him souls. Now Alma’s up to her eyeballs in soul debt and flat broke in terms of real-world cash. She can’t turn to her friends because she had to drop out of college to keep from accidentally killing her classmates. Her mom, who thinks Alma’s a junkie, sleeps all day and stays out all night. And Alma can’t run away, because Ian… well, Ian always finds her. Shadowy figures have begun stalking Alma’s hunts and chasing her through the night. If she could, she’d just hole up and hide, but she’s driven out by her insatiable thirst for the souls of men. After all, a girl’s gotta eat.
Annie Fitch, a former police detective, struggles to make ends meet as a private investigator in the sleepy town of Leesburg, Virginia. On partial disability because of gunshot injuries, she’s relegated to doing surveillance gigs and background checks. But things are looking up, since her on-again, off-again relationship is back on and might stay that way.
When Annie is hired by Laura Carlton to follow her husband to get evidence of cheating, Annie is certain the case won’t take long. Nick Carlton grew up with money and privilege and has a sex addiction dating back to his high school days. But things go sideways when Annie finds her target dead in an alley just a few blocks from her own home.
Working with her former partner, Gunnar Jansson, Annie digs deeper into Carlton’s background, slowly excavating his past to reveal the multiple suspects and motives. The list includes his many lunch-hour-tryst partners, a local shop owner, and his business partner, among others. Layer by layer, Annie uncovers a truth that runs much deeper than anyone expected.
As a former cop turned private investigator, Annie Fitch hopes to never be in the line of fire again, so she’s expanded her business to include installing security systems. She’s thrilled to be hired by Preston Farr, a farmer with a vandalism problem on his family’s historic apple orchard and farm.
Preston’s roots in the community run deep. His family has held the same property in Leesburg, Virginia, since the 1700s. The two get to know each other over the course of the job. When Preston asks her out after the work is done, she accepts. After all, Annie’s on-again, off-again love affair with her childhood best friend, Ford, is currently off. Why should she mope until he decides it’s on again?
What she intended to be a fun, casual romp with Preston turns serious quickly when Annie’s newly installed security cameras record startling footage. Family secrets begin to unravel, echoing over two hundred years of heartache and violence.
