Twenty-seven-year-old Kristi Bentz is lucky to be alive. Few have nearly died twice at the hands of a serial killer, and lived to tell about it. Her dad, New Orleans detective, Rick Bentz, wants Kristi to stay in New Orleans and out of danger. But Kristi's experiences have made her even more fascinated by the minds of serial killers.

When three troubled, vulnerable girls have disappeared from All Saints College in less than two years, the police call them runaways -- but Kristi senses there's something more. She enrolls, and follows in the missing girls' footsteps. The once-stodgy university has lured an edgy new professor who has a reputation for envelope pushing with classes like "The Influence of Vampirism in English Literature," and elaborately staged morality plays that feel more like the titillating entertainment of some underground club than religious spectacles. And there are whispers of a dark cult on campus whose members wear vials of blood around their necks and meet in secret chambers. To find the truth, Kristi will need to become part of the cult's inner circle, and play a game with a cunning and blood-thirsty killer.