Raine Black draws comics about the San Francisco Tenderloin, granting wishes to the down-and-out in ten panels or less. The weird thing? Her comics seem to come true. But money is running out and waiting tables isn't cutting it, so it looks like Raine is headed back to the upstanding, Southern, adoptive family that hates her. Typical. That's when Joshua, Raine's secret childhood friend, returns, showing up to save her, just like old times. Only something is wrong. He's dying, she's sure of it. His weird black scar has spread, and he's saying hello just so he can say good-bye. Again. She'd like to be tough enough, mean enough, to blow him off, dying or no. But he's the only one who knows where she came from. And she loves him. If only she could draw him a comic with a happy ending. Joshua, on the other hand, just wants to get out of town so he can kill himself properly. An abolitionist for over a century, a vampire for a bit more than that, he's ready to face the sun in order to kill the revenge demon a conjure doctor accidentally put inside him. The demon is growing too powerful, taking Joshua over for minutes at a time. And the practices of Joshua's vampire religion aren't working to contain it. If he can just get Raine safe from the blood-sucking human trafficker who hates him, Joshua would have his house in order. But things are never simple with Raine. She's trying to save him. Again. And the demon wants to strike a bargain. With Raine.