In America a young man inherits a million dollars, from a grandfather he thought was poor Meanwhile, across Europe old men and women are being killed, in the most barbaric and elaborate of ways And a brilliant scientist has disappeared from his laboratory in London, taking his extraordinary experiments with him Tying these strange events together is an ancient Biblical curse, a medieval French tribe of pariahs, and a momentous and terrible revelation something that will alter the world forever One couple is intent on discovering this darkest of secrets, others will kill, and kill again, to stop them