Tessaraine Thorn lives alone in a cursed cave by the sea that the villagers steer clear of. She isn't sure if the cave was cursed prior to her taking residence in it or if her presence is what have cursed it, but she has nowhere else to go. Her days are quiet as she waits for a ship that does not come and a family that has long since left without her.

When Tessaraine finds an injured man in the entrance of her home, she does what any decent person would do and nurses him back to health. The last thing she expects him to do once he wakes is to return her kindness by curling his fingers around her neck. His eyes burn a brilliant gold and his fangs are sharp in his mouth. He looks at her as one might look at a particularly delectable meal after weeks of starvation and she thinks to herself that it would have been easier if he did not look so unfairly attractive when he's choking her.

She does not have the strength to free herself from his grip and is helpless to resist when he yanks her in and presses his lips upon hers as though it is his right. In the darkness of the cave, he promises her the world in whispered kisses on bared skin, taking her apart piece by piece.

Just as Tessaraine is about to put her faith in this mysterious stranger who had appeared in her home, he vanishes.