Vampires are real. But don't worry-the government knows all about it. Harry Atwill is a detective. He's also a vampire, in a world where his kind have come out of the shadows and are under governmental observation. They call themselves "drinkers" now, and they go to meetings to keep the urge to hunt at bay. When a drinker couple hires him to find their missing human daughter, he's thrown into a dark underworld where drinkers prey on the people they call "bleeders," and plot to rule a planet they see as rightfully theirs. Harry has to find the girl, and keep himself alive in a world where a powerful, predatory drinker gang and the police would both just as soon see him disappear.