In 1903 St. Petersburg, Kseniya and Stesha are forced into prostitution. Trapped by their controller, they find solace in their inner strength and yearning for freedom, which may help them escape their dire circumstances.
St. Petersburg, 1903. A world of luxury and leisure for men, a world of fear and submission for women. Ksenia and Stesha work in an underground brothel under the control of a handsome and ruthless lady. Girls sell men their bodies, feelings, flirting and the illusion of love. It seems that they have nothing but beauty. In fact, they have access to a secret power — the purity of the soul and the desire for freedom. And with this power, they can change everything.
In modern-day Moscow, disaffected former journalism student Roman follows a cryptic invitation to join “the elite” and finds himself forcibly transformed into a vampire. But not your typical creature of the night. Thanks to a parasitical worm known as the Tongue, Roman (now called Rama) has become part of a ruling class of vampires who exercise an “anonymous dictatorship” over humans based not on a thirst for blood but the hunger for money. As various instructors school him in the ways of their elite breed, and Rama explores his new supernatural abilities, he begins a tentative relationship with another newly turned vampire, Hera. His desire for more knowledge about this intoxicating new world also leads him into potentially deadly conflict with Mithra, his mentor who becomes his nemesis.
In modern-day Moscow, disaffected former journalism student Roman follows a cryptic invitation to join “the elite” and finds himself forcibly transformed into a vampire. But not your typical creature of the night. Thanks to a parasitical worm known as the Tongue, Roman (now called Rama) has become part of a ruling class of vampires who exercise an “anonymous dictatorship” over humans based not on a thirst for blood but the hunger for money. As various instructors school him in the ways of their elite breed, and Rama explores his new supernatural abilities, he begins a tentative relationship with another newly turned vampire, Hera. His desire for more knowledge about this intoxicating new world also leads him into potentially deadly conflict with Mithra, his mentor who becomes his nemesis.
