Louis lost his mother when she walked into a ritual murder, believing it to be a healing ceremony for her Lupus-afflicted son. Now he is a ward of the state, confined to an asylum for the infirm and insane. His disease has gone into an inexplicable remission, but something else is taking its place. Panic attacks, blackouts and violent outbursts plague his nights--and though each episode leaves him feeling stronger and healthier than ever before, they seem to feed an irresistible urge, a dark obsession with blood and chaos that pushes him toward his mother's killer.