Cabal:

Born to a vampire mother, and a human father, Cabal has spent much of his life on the edges of two societies - neither of whom want him. Vampires hate and fear dhampirs, and there are standing orders to kill any they find. Humans are much the same, fearful of the ease at which a dhampir can fit into human society, their power, and their vampiric bloodlust.

His mother was the one exception to that rule. She left her brood so that she could bring him into the world - a high price to pay. But her obsession with Cabal's father - now a vampire Second - has led to her unhinging. Eventually she blames Renate's rejection of her on her son and Cabal is forced to defend himself. Despite his efforts to spare her life - she will not acquiesce, and the dhampir is forced to kill her.

Cabal comes to blame his father for his mother's madness - for forcing him to murder her in order to survive. Early in his life he trained as a vampire hunter, specifically with revenge in mind. He's been trailing his father for 550 years…

Renate:

The vampire rogue, Renate, began life as a human.

Home for the week of his step-sister's graduation from high school, Nathan Johnson met Carmen. Alluring and seductive, secretive and coy, she was a pleasant change from the usually women trolling the bars. For three nights they courted, and they consummated their lust for one another in the mountains above Denver.

And then his nightmare began.

In the midst of their lovemaking, Carmen bit him - and then his blood started to burn. Carmen disappears shortly after welcoming him to immortality, and calling him by what will become his new name - Renate - Reborn.

Nathan goes home in an attempt to sleep off the illness - a mistake - and one he has always regretted. Leslie - his step sister - comes to wake him later that evening only to fall prey to a new hunger in him. When he realizes what he's done, Nathan runs, scared of what he's become.

He's never fit in to vampire society; he doesn't play by the rules. They hound him for his differences. Despite carrying the vampiresella virus, Renate can't kill. And civilized vampire society wants him dead for it.

So when the hunter Cabal comes looking for him - he only expects one more in a long line of pissed off vampires. He couldn't be more wrong….

Miranda:

Miranda Arturo was just fifteen when she first met the enigmatic, and yet charming man outside of the church in Jasper. When the man doubles over in the middle of their conversation she attempts to render assistance.

Instead he bites her.

She does the only thing she can think of in the heat of the moment. She shoots him.

Miranda should have run - she should have called the authorities - but when he starts begging forgiveness, of her, of God, she finds herself helping him instead.

Her father John, albeit reluctantly, nurses her attacker back to health, and when he finds out what Cabal is - he offers the dhampir an alternative to warm bodies - he offers the man "Salvation," an artificial blood.

Since that violent introduction, Miranda has come to see something more in Cabal. She's been in love with him since she was twenty-two, despite knowing what he is. He is the most honest and straightforward - if pig-headed - man she's ever met. She hosts the dhampir any time he circles through her area, seventeen years Cabal has been in and out of her life, and each time she welcomes him back with open arms. Always she is hinting that she wants something more from him.

She's seen hints of his true feeling - but he always plays them off. It makes her wonder what's happened in his past that he won't allow himself to connect with her. Her ever more blatant attempts to catch his eye haven't worked.

He's never taken the bait…until now.

Garrett Kelly:

Garrett grew up in the Old Chicago Coven - a den of witches and warlocks nearly two hundred strong. During his seventeenth year the vampire Ancient came looking for his mother - wanting blood for her deception.

He'd always known he was stronger and more powerful than the rest of his coven members. But it wasn't until that moment that he knew why. Meirakat is Garrett's father - which means not only is Garrett a Warlock, but a dhampir as well - a breach of the covenant on both sides of the evenly matched witch/vampire war.

Their coven kicks them out, leaving them to fight or run on their own. Their flight takes them to Denver, where Meirakat finally catches up with, and kills, Katharina. Yet, the Ancient spares the reason Katharina seduced Meirakat.

Despondent over his mothers brutal murder, Garrett does something unorthodoxed - unprecedented. He applies to become a member of the Cathedral - of Victor Sierra.

They are the witch hunters - the vampire slayers - and they are his destiny.

When Garrett runs into Cabal, a fellow dhampir, he tries to befriend him, enlist him with promises of hiding what he is. When Cabal refuses - rudely - and then attempts to kill Garrett in his escape - the warlock wants nothing better than to be rid of him. Since that meeting, he's made it his priority to find and kill Cabal for the insult.