In 1944, with the world convulsed with war, the Contessa Gabriella Doria haunts the piazzas and canals of Venice. Few people know that she is not only an agent for Britain's MI6 but that she is also a 450 year old vampire. But one SS officer, Kurt Hesselman, knows and has vowed to destroy her, using the occult powers he was born with. Their battle will rage from Gabriella's beloved Venice to occupied France, and hence to Great Britain on the eve of the largest sea borne invasion in history. The outcome of the war and the fate of the world will hang in the balance.