The sinister castle of 15th century duchess Elizabeth Laskaar looks down on the Swiss village of Murdenwald and a secret military complex nearby. There the UN hopes to end world conflict with a vast military simulation that will dramatize the apocalypse that will follow the next major war. To head the project, they hire notorious Hollywood producer Donald Vito, master of explosive action-adventures, who still mourns the murder of his teenage love in the 1950s. Vito’s simulation team uses new technology to build hundreds of virtual soldiers and terrorists you can touch, speak to, and reason with. But they soon begin to feel the influence of Elizabeth Laskaar—often called Bloody Bess, the first real vampiress—because she maintained her youthful beauty by slaughtering her maidservants and bathing in their blood. Recklessly inspired by their surroundings, the team creates a virtual vampire that soon takes on the characteristics of Elizabeth’s magnificent, long-dead husband. Soon, he and Bess stalk the compound, seducing everyone working on the project, until vampire blood surges beyond the humans to the virtual characters with unthinkable consequences. In the end, perhaps, only the power of Vito’s long-lost love can save humanity.
Donald Vito, a Hollywood producer has been called upon to assemble hundreds of virtual soldiers for a military simulation dramatizing the apocalypse that will follow the next major war. Donald will soon be confronted with the heartbreak of his past when the legendary dutchess vampire Elisabeth Laskaar and her husband infiltrate his world and a virtual vampire emerges with an age-old hunger. I was pleasantly surprised by the intelligent and complex plot that I was not expecting from this book. I enjoyed the varying perspectives of multiple characters and visiting different timelines that carried the story. This brings the world of vampires into present-day situations that are cutting edge as well as spooky.