A man stands up in a crowded movie theater. A moment later, everything is burning. When the smoke clears and the bodies are removed, there is no trace of any bomb, or device, or even a matchstick. There's just the corpse of one man, a statue in ash, with an obscene grin still upon his charred skull. Nothing human could have done this. Fortunately, Nathaniel Cade isn't human, either. Turned into a blood-drinking abomination 145 years ago, he is bound by a special blood oath to serve and protect the United States from supernatural threats. Together with his White House handler, Zach Barrows, Cade races to find out who was behind the murders of a dozen innocent people. They have no suspects, no leads, and no explanations. All they have is Cade's vampiric talents and a ticking countdown to the next explosion. Because Cade is certain of one thing: this is only where the fire starts...