Over the centuries Philippe, the oldest known vampire, has been making thousands of children. To keep his kind a secret from humanity, he and his children built human breeding nests in underground caves and caverns throughout the world to provide a safe supply of human blood, instead of feeding on the general population, which threatened discovery as their numbers grew. The initial supply of human livestock was taken centuries before and subsequent breeding has resulted in a race of subhuman beings without awareness of their humanity, referred to as "Scragglies." The Scraggly population is replenished when necessary by captured humans. To protect themselves and further their future plans, Philippe has had his most promising children infiltrate the human population at almost all levels of government. Unknown to Philippe, some of his children have been gradually regaining their human emotions of guilt and compassion and, wishing to be free of Philippe and his ambitious plans, have been building an underground organization, hoping for the opportunity to destroy Philippe. Principal among these is Palao, a trusted lieutenant in the Mesa Verde nest, who has finally been able to make contact with potential allies in the outside human world who are willing and able to help him and his fellow vampires...