1822 - Rome, Italy

Kate grew up in the stews of London. Her earliest memories are of waking up on a trash heap cold and alone. She makes her living reading Tarot cards and telling fortunes for the rich. Kate's goal is to earn enough money to buy a small cottage in England and hide away in peace, but with the money she earns, her future is precarious. While in Italy plying her trade, she comes into possession of a priceless emerald and meets a man unlike any she has ever met. From the moment Kate meets Gian Urbano, powers she didn't know she had begin to awaken, as does a desire for Gian she's never felt for any man before.

From the moment Gian sets his eyes on Kate, he is fascinated. He doesn't believe in fortune telling, and Kate is far from a typical fortuneteller. Well spoken and beautiful, even with a scar on her face, Gian is entranced by her. But when she begins to read the cards for him, she comes too close to the truth that is Gian's life.

Gian is a vampire. He was born from the union of his vampire mother and human father. He has always lived with the companion in his blood that gives him long life, and a thirst for blood. For hundreds of years, Gian has lived his life with honor and respected his duty to his race. But after the vicious vampire wars in Egypt, duty and honor are all that is left inside him. Haunted by his memories of the wars, Gian contemplates retiring to Mirso Monastery once he has completed his last task, finding the emerald and taking it to Mirso.

From the moment Kate touches the stone, she begins to have visions -- of death, blood and destruction. When Gian and Kate meet again, it is because Gian has come for the stone. But Gian is not the only one after the priceless and deadly stone. Elyta, a female vampire, will kill anyone who gets in her way, and she is determined to own the stone and all the power it holds.

Gian saves Kate from Elyta and whisks her away to his mother's home in Genoa. He has agreed to pay Kate for the emerald and help her return to England. But the longer Gian and Kate remain together, the closer they become. Gian is supposed to take the stone to Mirso, but Kate hears the stone speaking, and it wants to return to the desert from where it came.

Gian and Kate both will need to trust each other and themselves if they are going to return the stone to Egypt and survive. With a deadly enemy on their trail, time is of the essence. As Gian and Kate journey through the desert, they fall in love -- but what future can there be for a charlatan and a vampire?

ONE WITH THE SHADOWS is the seventh book in Ms. Squires's unique and captivating Companion Series. As in each of the previous novels in the series, Ms. Squires's narrative is descriptive and exquisite. The reader is swept into the time and place and feels a part of the story. Kate is a heroine who truly deserves to be called a heroine. The victim of abandonment and the cruelty of the streets, Kate is cynical, jaded and has no ability to trust. But even with her hard exterior, she's a gentle woman who, despite her past, is not cruel. Gian has lived a long time, and having been born a vampire is fully comfortable with his abilities and his powers, but the devastating vampire war in Egypt has left his soul wounded. He considers retiring to the sanctuary of Mirso, the monastery where his kind go to live out their lives in meditation and peace, but once he meets Kate, he begins to realize that perhaps life has more to offer than he thought.

Danger, romance, passion, betrayal, despair, and redemption all figure into this sweeping tale that takes the reader from the villas of Italy to the burning sands of the Egyptian desert. With carefully crafted characters, and a plot that twists and turns, the story unfolds seamlessly. Ms. Squires's meticulous attention to detail and fully developed and engaging characters make ONE WITH THE SHADOWS a powerful and splendid story I highly recommend.

Terrie Figueroa