"Her hands began to shake as she looked down wide-eyed at the blood-soaked cotton that covered her."
London emerges from the Blitz, and every corner of the city bears the scars. In the East End— a corner faring worse than most—thirteen year-old Beth Wade endures this new way of life with her adoptive family. She also suffers the prejudice against her appearance, an abiding loneliness . . . and now, the trials of adolescence. But with this new burden comes a persisting fatigue and an unquenchable thirst that ultimately steals her into unconsciousness . . .
What happens next is the start of something Beth will fear more than the war itself.
She begins to change in ways that can’t be explained by her coming-of-age—none more frightening than her need to consume blood. The family who took her in and the former best friend who’s taken refuge in their house can never know.
Aware of the danger she poses to everyone around her, Beth has never felt more alone.
But someone else knows Beth’s secret . . . someone who understands just how different she really is. He alone can decrypt her past and explain her future. But he’s been sworn to destroy her kind, and as Beth grows ever more dangerous, he’s forced to take sides.
Can Beth keep all of the secrets? Can she trust a man sworn to kill her? And can she stop the vampire within from consuming her humanity?