A runaway slave girl kills a bounty hunter who attacks her in a barn near New Orleans, using her stolen knife.

A vampire named Gilda discovers the runaway girl and takes her to Woodard's brothel on the outskirts of New Orleans.

A Lakota woman named Bird begins teaching the Girl to read, and the two develop a deep bond.

The elder vampire Gilda exchanges blood with the Girl, beginning the process of turning her into a vampire.

The elder Gilda walks into the ocean to take the true death; Bird returns and completes Gilda's transformation.

Gilda arrives in Yerba Buena and receives a warm welcome from Sorel, the patriarch of her vampire lineage.

Eleanor orders Gilda to kill Samuel for her; Gilda refuses, declares she is no longer a servant, and walks away.

Aurelia invites the Harlem Renaissance writer Alice Dunbar to speak at her Church Circle, inspiring her toward local activism.

Gilda tells Aurelia she must leave Rosebud, unable to bring herself to tear her friend away from her roots.

Bird arrives unexpectedly at Gilda's Boston beauty shop, and the two women weep and hold each other in reunion.

Gilda and Bird kill the vampire pimp Fox by slicing out his heart and setting his body adrift on the water.

Gilda goes to Julius's apartment and exchanges blood with him, turning him into her first vampire creation.

Effie arrives at Gilda's door, reveals herself as a vampire through a thought-message, and the two become lovers.

Gilda stages a fake suicide by leaving clothes on a cliff, then flees her New Hampshire cottage for good.

Ermis drags Gilda's paralyzed body across the Panama Canal; they later spot Julius and Effie heading toward Machu Picchu.

A young runaway slave kills a bounty hunter and is discovered by an immortal vampire who brings her into a New Orleans brothel community and eventually transforms her into a vampire before choosing her own death. Gilda travels west to California, where she learns from the patriarch of her vampire lineage and has her first encounter with reckless vampire behavior, ultimately walking away from the dangerous Eleanor. In Missouri and Boston, she navigates Black communities, chooses not to uproot a beloved mortal friend, and teams up with her lifelong companion Bird to destroy an evil vampire pimp. In New York, she turns her first vampire — a young activist named Julius — and in the 1980s she finds deep romantic love with an ancient vampire named Effie. As the 21st century brings political and environmental collapse, Gilda is forced to abandon her hidden New Hampshire life and head south. In a dystopian 2050, she rescues a suicidal woman named Ermis, survives a harrowing crossing of the Panama Canal, and finally reunites with her vampire family converging on Machu Picchu.

The headline events of Gilda's two-century journey from slavery to immortality.

The runaway Girl wakes in a barn near New Orleans, dreaming fitfully of her mother's cooking and wisdom.

The elder Gilda explores the sleeping Girl's memories of slave life and reflects privately on her own 300 years of exhaustion.

A white patron corners the Girl at a birthday party at Woodard's; the elder Gilda enters and warns him off.

Bird promises to teach Gilda the principles of vampire life; the narrator refers to the Girl as Gilda for the first time.

Samuel corners Gilda on a street in Yerba Buena, makes racist threats, and orders her to leave town.

Gilda and Eleanor climb to the top of Mount Tamalpais and share a rare moment of safety in the fog-filtered sunlight.

Gilda returns to Sorel and Anthony, heartbroken over Eleanor, and decides to stay in Yerba Buena to keep learning.

Two white horsemen attack Gilda on a nighttime hunt; she kills one and whips the other with his own horsewhip.

Fox burns down Gilda's beauty shop, and the women realize his glowing orange eyes reveal he is a vampire.

Gilda sneaks into Julius's apartment while he sleeps, takes his blood, and gives him a vivid dream of her in return.

Gilda performs her new vampire love song at a club, dedicating it to someone she does not yet know.

Gilda and Effie say farewell to their mortal women friends in New York and leave together for Effie's New Hampshire cottage.

The national press airs hidden footage identifying Gilda as the bestselling romance novelist Abby Bird.

Gilda leaves her guard Houston an envelope of money for Off-world passage and slips away from her cavern hideout.

Gilda finds Ermis unconscious from a drug overdose in an abandoned penthouse and exchanges blood with her to bring her back.

This pool tracks the quieter but essential beats that give texture to Gilda's two-century journey, beginning with her first fragile moments of freedom and the nurturing community of women at Woodard's brothel who shape her earliest sense of self. In Yerba Buena, Gilda navigates racist threats from a hostile vampire and experiences a rare moment of sunlit beauty alongside Eleanor before parting with her for good. Missouri brings a violent encounter with nightriders that displays her full power as a free woman, and Boston brings a dramatic fire, the exposure of a vampire pimp, and a tense retreat to Cape Cod. New York sees Gilda step into her public voice as a lounge singer and build a life rich with mortal friendships before Effie draws her northward. The final events trace her years as a hidden romance novelist, her quiet preparations to abandon her last refuge, and her fateful rescue of a suicidal woman as the world collapses around her.

The behind-the-scenes moments and supporting scenes that fill out Gilda's long life.

The elder Gilda tells the Girl she plans to end her immortal life and invites her to join Bird's way of life.

Sorel warns Gilda that Eleanor lives through deception and conquest, citing her role in Samuel's wife's death.

Eleanor and Gilda share an intense kiss in a Yerba Buena street before Gilda realizes Eleanor is secretly taking her blood.

Gilda takes blood from a hopeless young prostitute in St. Louis and plants a desire for a meaningful future in her mind.

Gilda sends Aurelia a letter documenting the full truth of her vampire life before leaving Rosebud.

Gilda hears Bird calling to her with her mind while saying goodbye to Aurelia and knows she must seek her old companion.

Gilda and Bird agree that Fox's cruelty is so profound it requires them to break their aversion to killing a fellow vampire.

Julius tells Gilda about his dream of her and asks to stay connected; Gilda warns him her lifestyle demands too great a commitment.

Anthony tells Gilda that Eleanor has chosen the true death in order to spare Samuel from further harm.

Bird's letter from New Zealand advises Gilda to make roots for herself, and Gilda goes straight to Julius's apartment to turn him.

Anthony warns Gilda that Samuel has arrived in New York on a revenge mission, unsettling her life in the city.

Gilda realizes she cannot sense Effie's presence among mortals the way she normally can, revealing that Effie is a fellow vampire.

Julius calls Gilda via video to encourage her to leave New Hampshire; Effie calls next and wholeheartedly agrees she should move on.

A journalist found hiding in Gilda's cottage is discovered; she takes his blood and plants a false story of Abby Bird's death in his mind.

Gilda mentally converses with Bird while paralyzed near the Panama Canal and chooses not to take the true death.

This pool focuses on the pivotal moments of revelation and choice that drive Gilda's development across two centuries, beginning with the elder vampire's offer of immortality and the moral framework Sorel provides about what it means to use vampiric power responsibly. Gilda's decisions about who deserves to be brought into vampire life — refusing to steal Aurelia from her mortal roots, eventually welcoming Julius after Bird's well-timed advice — reflect her slowly maturing understanding of love and responsibility. Along the way, discoveries about the people around her reshape her world: Samuel's arrival in New York, the truth about Eleanor's fate, and the shocking revelation that the woman she has desired for weeks is a fellow immortal. By the novel's final chapter, the stakes become existential as a collapsing world forces Gilda toward the same question the elder Gilda once faced — whether to keep living and fighting or surrender to the true death. Bird's voice in her mind tips the balance, and Gilda chooses to cross into an uncertain but hopeful future.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that define who Gilda becomes.