Two weeks before the start of her senior year of high school, eighteen-year old Calla Franklin is vacationing at her family's beachfront cottage. While her parents are away on a trip, Calla is drawn into a mysterious world that exits just under the surface and into the arms of a young man with powers she can’t escape and attractions she can’t resist.
Out of the storm clouds materializes Kier MacLaughlin who asks for refuge in her family’s guesthouse to escape his enemies. Unable to refuse his request, Calla provides him shelter, keeping his presence secret from even her best friend, who comes to Calla’s beachfront cottage for the last two weeks of summer holidays.
While he insists that he means her no harm, Kier's presence puts Calla into mortal danger. To protect her from his enemies, Kier takes Calla to The City, where magic and danger exists just under the surface of the familiar world inhabited by normal mortals. Kier's is a world ruled by the undead who live at night, a place where debts are paid in blood and where Kier is the heir of a ruling family of vampires, whose dynasty goes back thousands of years.
To survive in this world where blood is the source of all power, Calla must become his ‘pet’ – a human servant who provides him with a fresh supply of life-extending blood. There are only two ways out of this world – through death or being turned into a vampire.
Few have escaped The City once they have entered. Calla hopes to be one of the few who succeeds but as she grows closer to Kier, will she want to?