My mother did not like men. Most women I knew didn't. Her attitude toward us was more contempt than hatred, more disappointment and disgust than dislike.
Joel Desmodus is a male vampire living in a community dominated by female vampires. Unlike the humans who live in the surrounding towns Joel's species is totally matriarchal – from the powerfully mysterious and frightening Old Women to Joel's own fourteen-year-old niece who, despite her youth, is seen to be better equipped to make decisions than he is.
Because of the excessive demands placed upon them all, the women need the winter season to hibernate, leaving the men to indulge in orgies and any other hedonistic activities denied them during the rest of the year. And this particular winter Joel is given the unnatural task of managing his younger sister's weird family while she is asleep.
When he inadvertently stumbles on a horrific secret which has remained hidden for generations – a secret which, if revealed, would threaten the very structure of the vampire society – Joel is forced to kidnap his niece's newborn baby boy, and in doing so face his own complicity in the fearsome legacy of his people.
