In the 27th year of daysdeath, Gabriel de León, the last Silversaint, awaits execution in a tower at Château Chastain, having killed the Forever King. Below, thrall soldiers patrol, wearing the crest of twin wolves and twin moons. Gabriel thinks of his lady’s red lips.

Marquis Jean-François of the Blood Chastain, a youthful vampire historian, appears in the locked cell. He is keeper of records for Empress Margot Chastain, ruler of wolves and men. Jean-François explains that before Gabriel dies, the Empress wishes to hear his tale. Gabriel realizes the vampire seeks knowledge of the Holy Grail, possibly to defeat the other vampire houses. Jean-François denies interest in legends, but Gabriel refuses to speak until Jean-François produces a phial of powdered blood. Though Gabriel knows this is manipulation, his addiction overwhelms him. Jean-François provides a pipe, and Gabriel smokes the blood, experiencing a euphoric rush called the bloodhymn. Intoxicated, he fixates on a thrall with predatory hunger before snapping back to awareness.

Jean-François reveals that the blood belongs to Empress Margot and promises more in exchange for Gabriel’s story, which he will record. Gabriel eventually agrees to tell his tale, beginning with his origins.

Gabriel attempts to begin his story with a rabbit hole, but Jean-François insists on a proper start, and Gabriel relents. As the vampire sketches his portrait, Gabriel speaks of his childhood in the village of Lorson and his father, Raphael Castia, an abusive blacksmith and former imperial scout. His mother, Auriél de León, was a baron’s daughter cast out for bearing Gabriel out of wedlock. She later married Raphael and had two daughters—Amélie and Celene—but Gabriel kept his mother’s noble surname. Raphael’s abuse fell solely on him. On Gabriel’s eighth saintsday, his mother warned of a hunger inside him that must be restrained. She told him “the blood of lions flow[ed] in [his] veins” (25).

Gabriel recounts the arrival of daysdeath when he was eight. Tremors shook the earth, and darkness rose to shroud the sun, turning day to near night. Weeks became months, and cold and famine ravaged the land. Emperor Alexandre III’s court named it daysdeath, and the local priest, Père Louis, preached that faith alone would see them through.

When Gabriel was 13, his sister Amélie and her friend Julieta, the first girl Gabriel ever kissed, vanished. After 10 days, the girls returned as “wretched” vampires, their bodies rotting from time spent dead in a bog. Julieta tore out her mother’s throat. Gabriel attacked with a wood axe, wounding Julieta, and then faced Amélie. As she prepared to bite him, his touch inexplicably burned her flesh, raising red steam from her skin. Villagers arrived and set both girls ablaze. Gabriel and Celene watched their sister burn while their mother screamed.

Père Louis refused the girls a proper burial. Gabriel realized the horrifying truth: Because of daysdeath, vampires could now walk in daylight. This was “the beginning of the end” (33).

In the two years after Amélie’s death, Gabriel’s family disintegrated. His mother grew “hollowed,” his father drank even more, and Celene became wild. At 15, Gabriel began secretly meeting Ilsa, the alderman’s daughter.

One night, an argument with his mother culminated in Raphael striking at Gabriel, but Gabriel caught the blow and shoved his father into the hearth, splitting his scalp. The sight and scent of Raphael’s blood triggered an overwhelming thirst in Gabriel. His mother promised to find help for him, but during a later tryst with Ilsa, Gabriel was consumed by the scent of her menstrual blood. His teeth sharpened, and he bit her thigh, drinking deeply.

When the euphoria broke, Ilsa screamed in horror. Her father burst in, and Gabriel fled. The village, led by Père Louis, hunted him to his home. As they prepared to seize him, two riders arrived: Frère Greyhand, a silversaint of San Michon, and a companion. Greyhand presented an imperial mandate and announced that he had come for Gabriel.

Greyhand displayed a scroll bearing Emperor Alexandre III’s seal, granting him authority to recruit any citizen into the Ordo Argent—the Silver Order. When Père Louis challenged this, Greyhand released a wretched vampire from a sack to demonstrate the threat. As the creature lunged, Gabriel stood his ground while others fled. Greyhand brutally beat the monster with his silvered sword’s pommel and then explained that his Order hunted the Dead.

Gabriel understood that Greyhand had come at his mother’s request. Celene protested, but Gabriel accepted his fate. He had a tearful farewell with his family, warning Raphael to protect Celene, and then was placed on the horse of Greyhand’s companion. Torn from everything he knew, Gabriel was terrified but recognized the wisdom of accepting his fate rather than fighting it.

Gabriel traveled for weeks with Greyhand and his apprentice, Aaron de Coste, an arrogant young nobleman. Gabriel observed both men’s silver tattoos—the aegis that protected them from vampires—and saw them smoking blood-red powder, their eyes flooding crimson.

One night, the captured wretched became agitated after smelling blood from de Coste’s cut finger. When Greyhand savagely beat the creature, Gabriel begged him to stop. Enraged, Greyhand struck Gabriel and forced him near the monster, teaching him that vampires feel only hunger, never mercy. Greyhand then explained the difference between “highbloods,” vampires risen just moments after death, and the more numerous “wretched,” who rise days after death, their bodies already rotting. Before daysdeath, the sun destroyed them because they lacked the intelligence to avoid it, but now they roam freely. Greyhand spoke of Fabién Voss, an ancient vampire who declared himself the Forever King.

As Greyhand talked, Gabriel realized the implication: that his father was not Raphael but a vampire. Greyhand confirmed this, explaining that vampires can sire “palebloods” like Gabriel, Greyhand, and Aaron when they have sex with humans. These palebloods inherit their vampire fathers’ thirst for blood. Their only path to salvation is serving the Church by hunting monsters as part of the Ordo Argent. Horrified yet inspired, Gabriel privately vowed to avenge Amélie and become the fiercest member of the Order.

Gabriel, Greyhand, and Aaron arrived at San Michon, a monastery atop seven massive stone pillars rising from a river valley. They ascended via a chain-operated elevator 500 feet to the main level. There, Abbot Khalid, a scarred warrior from the region of Südhaem, greeted them. Aaron gave Gabriel a tour, showing him the Cathedral, Barracks, Gauntlet training arena, the Priory where the Silver Sorority lived, and the Great Library. Aaron explained the two orders: Brothers of the Hunt (palebloods) and Brothers of the Hearth (human craftsmen who provided the palebloods’ weapons). The sisters, too, were fully human.

In the Armory, Gabriel met Baptiste Sa-Ismael, a young Südhaemi blacksmith. Baptiste gifted Gabriel a finely crafted silversteel longsword engraved with scripture and depicting Eloise, the Angel of Retribution. The blade seemed destined for Gabriel, who named it Lionclaw. Despite his uncertain future, Gabriel felt God’s presence. He vowed to be worthy of the blade.

That afternoon, Abbot Khalid took Gabriel to the stables, explaining that his facial scars came from a duskdancer—a monster that could shapeshift between animal and man. Prioress Charlotte was present with “sisternovices,” who were sketching horses. To his horror, Gabriel noticed that two wretched vampires were suspended above the horses in silver chains to accustom them to monsters.

Khalid told Gabriel to choose a horse. Gabriel selected a magnificent black gelding, unaware it was the subject of drawings by a beautiful novice, Astrid Rennier. In response, Astrid angrily revealed the horse’s name, Justice, and protested Gabriel receiving him. The Prioress rebuked Astrid for insolence and then whipped her with a leather thong tipped with an iron spur. Gabriel attempted to intervene, but Khalid forcefully restrained him. The beating continued until Astrid began to weep. A small, green-eyed novice named Chloe helped the injured girl.

After the sisters departed, Khalid warned Gabriel never to question his orders again, explaining that Gabriel was now a soldier who must obey. Khalid then cryptically told Gabriel that someone would die at mass that evening.

Gabriel attended his first duskmass in the Cathedral. As part of his induction, Sisternovice Astrid applied his first silver tattoo—a sevenstar, a religious symbol, on his left palm. The process was excruciating, but Gabriel endured by focusing on the suffering of the Redeemer, the founding figure of their religion, who was tortured to death on a wheel.

After Greyhand formally vowed to be Gabriel’s master, Abbot Khalid called forth Frère Yannick, a gray-haired silversaint. The congregation processed to Heaven’s Bridge, a stone span overlooking the river 500 feet below. Once there, Greyhand explained the Red Rite to Gabriel, saying that all palebloods eventually face the sangirè—an overwhelming bloodthirst. Rather than become “monsters,” silversaints choose death as men.

After Yannick underwent a series of rituals that mimicked the Redeemer’s suffering, Khalid cut his throat with a silvered blade and gently pushed him off the bridge. The gathering, including the horrified Gabriel, responded with the affirmation: Véris.

Unable to sleep, Gabriel met Theo Petit, Frère Yannick’s grieving apprentice. The next morning, Greyhand gave Gabriel salve for his tattoo and then led him to the Gauntlet. The Order’s luminaries awaited, including Abbot Khalid, Prioress Charlotte, and the trial master, Seraph Talon de Montfort, a harsh man with an ashwood cane. Also present was the wretched from Lorson.

Talon explained that the Trial of the Blood would use sanctus—powdered vampire blood—to determine Gabriel’s bloodline and thus the gifts he inherited from his sire. Talon detailed four major lineages: Voss/Ironhearts (steel-like flesh, mind-reading), Chastain/Shepherds (animal control), Ilon/Whispers (emotional manipulation), and Dyvok/Untamed (superhuman strength). Talon, a Voss, briefly demonstrated mind-reading on Gabriel.

Sœur Aoife prepared a pipe of sanctus. Gabriel smoked the blood and was overwhelmed by the powerful bloodhymn—a euphoric rush of music. His perception sharpened, and strength surged through him. When he opened his eyes, he saw the wretched rushing toward him.

Empowered by sanctus, Gabriel moved with supernatural speed, dodging the wretched and wrapping its silver chain around his fist. He beat the creature’s head to pulp, lost in the bloodhymn’s red chorus.

Talon then released a pack of mongrels that began to maul Gabriel despite his efforts to command them; his wounds and inability to control the dogs implied that he was neither Chastain nor Voss. Greyhand called them off with a gesture, revealing his own affinity for beasts. Next, Talon tried to goad Gabriel into projecting anger. Gabriel concentrated but produced no effect. Finally, Talon noted that while Gabriel had defeated the wretched, his strength was not the overwhelming power of the Dyvok line. He declared Gabriel a “frailblood”—the child of a vampire too young to pass on gifts. Gabriel possessed only the basic abilities all palebloods shared. A sister named Aoife offered kind words, but Talon’s final assessment lingered in Gabriel’s mind: “disappointing.”

That night, Aaron de Coste and another initiate mocked Gabriel for being a frailblood. In response to Gabriel’s ambitions, Aaron also claimed the Order was merely Empress Isabella’s pet project rather than a serious answer to the vampire problem. Theo Petit intervened, defending Gabriel. Though disheartened, Gabriel still felt fated to be at San Michon, believing God wanted him there and resolving to prove himself.

In the present, Gabriel reflects on his youthful naïveté, confessing his fear that the war would end before he could win glory. Jean-François continues sketching, feigning disinterest as Gabriel deduces that Empress Margot seeks the Grail to defeat rival vampire bloodlines. Over the historian’s objections, he refuses to continue chronologically, declaring that he will jump forward to how he found the Grail. Gabriel concludes that it all began with a rabbit hole.