NIGHT TASTINGS : PART ONE: THE INGRESS

In 19th century czarist Russia, Nikolai, a lower-level aristocrat, appeared to have it all. Looks, wealth, privilege. And yet he was adrift. As his 30th birthday had now come and gone, his father’s insistence that he find a wife and settle down and produce an heir were becoming unbearable. He attends yet another ball, and again, much to his chagrin, no one manages to catch his eye. While meandering the palace grounds, he happens upon Tatianya, the duke’s youngest daughter, sobbing as she had been forbidden to attend the ball. Barely more than a child, she unknowingly manages to tame the wild and dashing Nikolai. Although totally smitten with Tatianya, her vast blue oceans constantly gazing upon him, Nikolai is seduced into gambling that a single encounter with a vampire will bestow powers beyond his wildest dreams. He foolishly follows this siren’s call, risking Tatianya’s love and trust and so much more. He finds that a gathering held on the eve of Mardi Gras in New Orleans shatters their world. Unable to return home, the newly minted vampires join forces with an unlikely couple, also in need of finding a new life. Together they venture to Napa Valley and find a way to come to terms with the path that life has challenged them to follow.