During a protracted civil war that pitted the North against the South, the outnumbered Northerners used dark magic to create monsterous super-soldiers called Incarnates. Now that the war has ended, those Sacred Beasts must learn to make their way in a peaceful society, or face death at the hands of a Beast Hunter. Nancy Schaal Bancroft, the daughter of an Incarnate, turns to hunting the hunter herself. But once she catches up with her quarry, she discovers hard truths about the lives of these Sacred Beasts.
Schaal and Hnk travel to Whitechurch, where Hank hopes to find Cain Madhouse, the man who “loosed the Beasts upon the world.” As Hank reveals his complicated relationship with Cain, the journeying duo stumble across a second Beast lurking in Whitechurch that is wreaking havoc among the city’s slums out of a twisted sense of justice…