1789. Saint-Domingue. Hispaniola. West Indies. Etienne de Blanchefort has seen incredible success as a colonial planter in the Northern Province of Saint-Domingue. Though uprooting his family from France a decade past was a gamble, life in the tropical West Indies has been good to him, his wife, and four children. With France embroiled in their great revolution across the Atlantic, he harbors little doubt he made the right decision for his family's future. Until, that is, the arrival of his fiend. Etienne's practical nature cannot reconcile what he knows to be true of his world with what he cannot ignore about the abominable creature haunting his family and the island. Nor can he ignore his wife's terrifying dreams that slowly steal her vitality. Or Victorine's burgeoning free spirit and wariness of their way of life. Or Nanette's curious, furtive behavior as she hides in trees. Or Marius' secret new friendship with one he cannot name. Or Flosine's unsettling drawings of a man from a time long before theirs. Etienne's fiend will not stay elusive for long. He has a request. A very particular, very important request, one that will change the lives of Etienne, his family, and his descendants forever.