When a vampire's abilities and defects never fully develop, taking on the head of England's biggest vampire sect could be a bad idea. Ever since he was turned, John Grissom, bacteriologist, has worked to find a cure for the disease. A powerful peer of the realm approaches him about research into the immunological properties of vampire blood, but Grissom discovers a far more gruesome scheme at play. He, his newly acquired assistant Henrietta, and the Prussian Van Helsing, a veteran vampire hunter in the employ of the Foreign Service, must seek out the elusive vampire lord before he succeeds in dramatically influencing the outcome of the war.

What could possibly go wrong on a surveillance trip to Parliament? Apparently everything. Vampire and bacteriologist John Grissom and vampire hunter Van Helsing are unlikely friends and coworkers. As members of Bow Street's fledgling clandestine investigative division, Odd Crimes, they find themselves witnesses to an assassination attempt on the Marquis of Wellesley and discover London's most notorious purveyor of stolen goods at the bottom of it. But Sir Antony's ability to influence people is unusual to say the least. The vampire and the hunter investigate, but the Egyptian elixir may prove the undoing of them both.