In the unsettled time when Imperial Rome totters on the brink of collapse, the vampire Ragoczy Germainus Sanct' Franciscus-the Count Saint-Germain-finds himself targeted by a corrupt Roman official and accused of bribery, tax evasion, and treason.

The storm that hovers over the vampire grows darker when he is accused of corrupting Ignatia, a young virgin. Her brother, a zealous covert to the new religion of Christianity, threatens to purify Saint-Germain with fire. And fire can destroy even the undead.