Vampire hunter Anita Blake has overcome everything that has stood in her way. But this time, she's faced with a monster that even she doesn't know how to defeat... A remote Florida island is the perfect location for the wedding of a US Marshal's colleague and Edward's best friend. For Anita, a vacation is like mana from heaven, since this is the first trip in a long time on which she manages to take only wereleopards Mika and Nathaniel. But it's not all fun, games and a bachelor party...In this tropical paradise, Mika discovers a terrifying new form of lycanthropy that has plagued one family for generations. Supposedly the result of an ancient Greek curse, it turns human bodies into a tangle of snakes. When slow-simmering resentment explodes at the wedding party, the last thing Anita needs is more drama. But, one way or another, it catches up with her when women begin to disappear from the hotel and worse - her friends and lovers are considered the main suspects. This is a strange force that Anita has never encountered before, a force that those around her are powerless to help with. Unable to cope with this on her own, Anita is willing to accept help from even the most lethal sources - help that she will certainly regret - if she survives...