Austria, 1755. Empress Maria Theresa is fighting to ensure that the lives of her subjects become more prosperous and safer, and that the light of Science and Justice reaches every corner of the country. But the Habsburg lands are huge: somewhere riots do not subside, and somewhere legends come to life and the night itself brings fear. When strange deaths begin in a remote province, which locals blame on vampires, the Empress sends Gerard van Swieten, a doctor, brilliant scientist and opponent of the occult, to investigate. Both Maria Theresa and the doctor are skeptical and consider what is happening only as a consequence of superstition and political intrigue. But when van Swieten realizes what is really hidden in the Moravian mountains, sensible explanations will no longer be so clear-cut. It’s not just that in a small town even a chapel bleeds, and people sometimes don’t know what’s better, life or death.5 reasons to read the book:1. The main character is a doctor and scientist, who partially inspired Bram Stoker's character of Doctor Van Helsing.2. Unhurried plot, dense style, rich atmosphere.3. Alternative history. The book is based on a real investigation, little covered by historians and woven into the fabric of fantasy.4 The concept of vampirism is closer to occult treatises of the 18th century than to modern horror.5. Behind the mystical storyline is a sharp social subtext, recognizable here and now.