Book II in The Vertigo Chronicles, and sequel to Amber Allure's best-seller Vertigo... With a mysterious past he can't remember, and special powers he can't explain, Simon Saint-SaËns hunts the creatures of darkness others fear-beings that come through dimensional rifts into this world from a world called Vertigo. It's a dangerous, desolate existence, and with only one exception from long ago that left him broken-hearted and riddled with guilt, Simon's chosen to isolate himself and fight alone. But when the man he'd once loved and thought dead makes a sudden and shocking appearance, Simon finds himself torn between his self-imposed duty and the deeply entrenched feelings he still has for Jaden Cole. Enslaved in Vertigo since childhood, Jade was one of the innocent lives Simon saved when he first began hunting. Simon took him in and nursed him back to health, but when their friendship grew into something deeper, he sent Jade away and cut him out of his life. Nine years later, when a new evil stirs to life in Vertigo and targets Simon as its enemy, Jade returns. He's not the same innocent he was when he and Simon first met, though. The years as a slave in Vertigo left him with a permanent and savage affliction, one he must battle constantly in order to keep a tentative grip on his humanity. His reunion with Simon is emotional and complicated. But even though he's now a creature of darkness, he's never stopped loving Simon and will risk everything to protect him. After a battle in which Simon is almost killed, Jade knows there's only one being powerful enough to help them. He and Simon journey into the dark caverns beneath the city to an ancient realm of magic and illusion. There, Jade makes a deal that will help ensure Simon's protection from the wraith that wants him dead. In a world where human inhibitions are stolen at the door, however, and primal passions reign, Jade quickly finds himself losing control not only of the beast that lives within him, but a dark dangerous secret he's yet to share with Simon...one that could shatter everything...