Roumanian sea captain, Josef Maresciu, has accepted on board his ship a passenger named Vlad. All goes smoothly at first but gradually the captain comes to realize he has put himself, his crew and his ship in mortal danger. Vlad uses his powers of darkness to control the ship's direction and the captain's authority. As the ship (the Demeter), sails closer to England, Vlad takes over and leaves the captain with just enough strength to dictate his story...

"In an alternate history of the nineteenth century, Queen Victoria has married Vlad Tepes, better known as Count Dracula, leading to a reign of horror, while, in Whitechapel, Silver Knife, a murderer of vampire girls, threatens the new regime." --

"It is the eve of the new millennium, and vampire princess Christina Light is throwing a party in Tokyo, attended by the leaders of the worlds of technology, finance and culture. But the party is crashed by less enlightened souls. The distinguished guests are held hostage by yakuza assassins and Transylvanian mercenaries, and vampire schoolgirl Nezumi - agent of the Diogenes Club - finds herself pitted against the world's deadliest creatures..."--Publisher...

"A Dowry of Blood is a saga of obsession, desire and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love. Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her...