Kaia has had it with her mother. Talk about touchy. Offend the sea witch and pay the price. Oy. Granted, Kaia's last boyfriend had been an idiot, but nearly sacrificing him to a dark god had been totally unnecessary. And those deals her mother keeps making with demons to obtain more power? Not a healthy way to achieve balance. To stop her mother from sacrificing some other poor schlub, she sneaks into her mother's lair and finds more intended sacrifices. But one of them has fangs. Needing to get to safety before her mother returns and loses her mind, Kaia, a sea nymph, swims away with the guy and soon learns he's under a spell. In order to cure him, she overrides her mother's magic with her own, weak though it may be. But now this male—a freakin' vryko, a vampire who can swim like the merfolk—thinks he loves her. Curing Orion of the enchantment should have ended their association, but he's still obsessed with her. And for some reason, she's intrigued by him as well. But the dark one to whom her mother promised a soul doesn't care where it comes from. And since her mother has reneged on Orion, the dark one decides Kaia will do nicely in his place.