Mary Anne Moore doesn't know what she is. She can't explain why she has lived so long. Or why she never gets sick. Or why the dreams she has come true. She has hidden herself as a lowly servant to the households of Dublin's English elite for decades, until the night that changes her life. Now her sole purpose is the child she never expected to have. She will do anything in her power to keep the black-eyed monsters from discovering him and turning him into one of them. For Kieran Moore the dark is an ever-present parasite, waiting to devour his humanity. His mother's love and the girl in his dreams has kept it at bay for years, but the more time that passes-the longer he has to wait for her-the more it grows. When tragedy strikes, it is all he can do to keep from being consumed by the darkness that infects him. He must continue to hold on to the hope of peace her presence will bring him, because it's not just his fate on the line, but that of the entire world.