Mara Cross, a 32-year-old art restorer, has been waiting three years for her husband Ethan to come home. He left for a short business trip the day after their wedding. Last night, he walked through the door—suitcase unscuffed, clothes unwrinkled, skin smelling of nothing. She watches their wedding video at 3 AM. At 01:47:03, for one frame, Ethan's face becomes someone else's. His lips form three syllables: Save me. She learns that her husband's body now houses three souls—the man she married, the vampire who saved him by biting him, and an eight-hundred-year-old Progenitor who recognizes her breathing. The Progenitor spent eight centuries running from an ancient entity called the Hunger. And Mara, the last Sealer in her bloodline, is pregnant with a child that has never existed before. To seal the Hunger, she needs three things: Sealer's blood, a vampire's fang, and something that has never existed. She has all three. In the end, she turns the Hunger into a flower in her basement. Morning comes. The kitchen light falls at forty-five degrees. Crepes. Strawberries. An empty seat. Someone is waiting. Someone is finally staying.
