Her family and village slaughtered when she was a child, TALON is the last of a little-known species called “Blackbloods.” Now a formidable young woman, her search for vengeance takes her to a desolate military OUTPOST on the edge of the realm where she meets an assortment of desperate and colorful characters, all with secrets and ambitions of their own. Despite her better judgment, an instant attraction is sparked with GARRET SPEARS, a captain of the tyrannical Prime Order, her sworn enemies. An unlikely friendship is formed with the spoiled but spirited GWYNN, the daughter of the base commander. In the tavern brewer JANZO, Talon finds her complete opposite -- a bumbling genius who, poring over books and dissected corpses, is able to save her life more than once as she continues to seek her vengeance. Soon befriended against her will by an old, mysterious SMITH, Talon begins to learn deep secrets about herself and her kind, including her ability to summon a terrifying creature. Struggling to control the inadvertently summoned beast, Talon is forced to watch as night after night it kills another innocent victim in defiance of her authority. The gruesome deaths draw the scrutiny of Gate Marshal WYTHERS, an uncompromising man of the law, who begins to investigate Talon, convinced she’s connected to the killings. Continuing to advise Talon, the Smith insists that fate has brought her here, that it is her destiny to learn to command the murderous beast and fulfill prophecies of old that Talon struggles to understand. When the killers from Talon’s childhood realize that a Blackblood survived their slaughter years ago, the Outpost becomes the center of attention both for the vicious mercenaries as well as their original employer -- EVERIT DRED, Ambassador of the Prime Order. Dred’s religious zealotry convinces him Talon’s existence poses a grave threat to the Prime Order’s rule. Soon the Outpost and all inside it threatened by the Order’s ruthless hunt for the last surviving Blackblood. Talon must learn to trust in her supernatural powers and band together with her newfound comrades before the slaughter of her childhood is repeated on her new friends and "family" at the Outpost.