Simone Charvez admits she's high maintenance, but she's also more than the pretty piece of fluff everyone seems to take her for. When Kael Gardener walks into her shop tattoos, piercings and bad boy attitude she knows she's in for trouble. But it's the kind of trouble she can't help but want. For Kael, the news that not all vampires are like the monsters that slaughtered his entire family is nearly as hard to take as his all-encompassing attraction to a witch with a family that includes one. Simone fights to get Kael to let his guard down and love her and Kael fights to keep his emotional distance from a woman he's sure he has nothing to offer as they race to find and kill the oath breakers who threaten not just all of New Orleans, but Simone's very soul.