I, Sam Quinn, werewolf-bookworm, owner of the Killed Sheep bookstore and bar. Clive, my vampire-pleaser, asked me to marry him. His nocturne is not at all happy about this. Unfortunately for them, as well as the misfortune of the sexy vampire who does everything possible to seduce him, his cold, dead heart beats only for me. Even though my love life is a minefield, I have to push it aside a second plan to a much more pressing problem. The time has come. I need to deal with my aunt, the woman who has been trying to kill me my entire adult life. She learned new tricks. Figured out how to turn my friends into weapons against me. To have any hope of survival, I must learn to use necromancy. I need a teacher. We found one among the fairies, and it turned out to be a completely different problem. I need to find out what I'm capable of as soon as possible, because my aunt doesn't care how many people get hurt or killed as long as she gets what she wants. Unfortunately for me, she wants to see my name on a stone tombstone. I gather my friends - werewolves, vampires, witches, a gargoyle, a Fury, a half-demon, an elf and a couple of dragons - into something called the Brotherhood of Sam. It's going to be one hell of a fight. We can only hope that San Francisco will stand when this is all over.