A new emperor rules each year in Yohuachanca.

Only the most delicious of food graces his palate; the realm’s most beautiful women fill his harem; his palace dazzles the mind in its beauty; and four priestesses counsel him in all matters. The life of an emperor is good, luxurious, and short. 

For at the year’s end, he is sacrificed to the Nightlords under the light of the Scarlet Moon.

I am Iztac. A pisspoor orphan and the year’s emperor. A sacrifice bound for the altar. 

But the vampires have made a mistake this time. For I am a sorcerer, whose soul journeys into the secret underworld to plunder the secret spells of the dead. There, in the darkness, hides the power to drag the Nightlords off their throne. I have a year to find it, or perish for good.

I may not be the first emperor, but I will be the last.

In the year 2107, the world has both made astounding leaps forward and reduced humanity to its most basic existence. While the megacorps and those who rule them enjoy lives of extraordinary comfort and ease, most people barely scrape by, doing whatever they can to keep going.

Juliet Bianchi is one of the latter. She works cutting metal in a scrapyard and doesn't have much to show for it except for a small group of equally bereft, fiercely loyal friends. Still, she maintains a bright disposition, possessing more hope and optimism than anyone would expect her to—and she's going to need it . . .

When Juliet stumbles upon what looks like a botched kidnapping, the victim dispatches his abductors and lives just long enough to give her a stolen AI chip. This gift soon transforms Juliet from a worker bee into a killer queen. Armed with far more power and skill than she can comprehend—let alone control—she finds herself drawn into a shadowy world where survival itself counts as victory.

Juliet has never been one to push people around. But when it comes to fighting the corrupt corporate overlords, she's more than happy to push back.