Lightning flashes. Another child disappears... Zorka Circus's big top roars with laughter and cheers, but when it moves on, children vanish. Circus Security Chief Rurik suspects a killer hides among the performers, but they close ranks-they've always viewed lightning-scarred Rurik as the monster. He must find the culprit before anyone else disappears and his home is destroyed by the murders. Into Zorka Circus comes the Skomori clan, despised as gravedigging ghouls. A one-day truce allows bloodwalker Sylvie to marry. Instead, she finds a body. Alerting others will defy her clan's strict code, break the truce, and leave her an outcast. When more bodies turn up, the killer's trail becomes impossible to ignore. Rurik and Sylvie must follow the clues-even if they lead to something unimaginable...