The Empress is a distant memory, defeated centuries before by the hero Balthazar, a man venerated as a saint ever since. Only one individual reckons she still lives. Balthazar himself. Now a vampire, feared throughout the protectorate as both judge and executioner, sometimes called the Dark Wanderer but better known as BALTHUS, the former hero of the revolution will not rest until he finds her - though her death will mean his own.