Pompeii lies complacent and decadent in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, the populace thriving on their depravity and their hunger for blood and Games. In the midst of the looming destruction, an ancient evil emerges, and claims not only a celebrated general of Rome, but the slave girl he has slowly grown to love and cherish. A girl who will follow him into hell itself?While intrigues threaten to destroy him, and the corruption within his own family grows darker, Lucius confronts emotions he is both uncomfortable and unfamiliar with. Loyalty he does understand, and in the eyes of his prize slave and lover, Xina, he sees courage and strength to match his own. When Vesuvius begins to rain death on the city, Xina is confronted with hope for survival in the guise of evil...