Something is wrong with Seth. At least, that's what his mother believed the night she tried to murder him when he was six. Almost twelve years later, Seth still struggles to reclaim a sense of normalcy after that trauma, an endeavor that isn't helped by his father's alcoholism or the ever-present void of his mother's absence.

It's an emptiness Seth isn't sure how to fill until a romance sparks with Gabriel, a kindhearted college senior who offers Seth the support and intimacy he craves. But Gabriel is more than what he seems-and Seth might be as well.

When he wakes one night to the metallic tang of blood in his mouth and a menacing voice in his head, Seth is forced to confront the very evil his mother had feared. Now, more than one war is being waged inside Seth, and even with Gabriel's help, he isn't sure he's strong enough to win.