He is banished from Mount Olympus through no fault of his own. After roaming the earth for decades in search of a purpose, Dionysus creates his own magical vineyard on the island of Naxos, where he falls in love with Ariadne. But their marriage is doomed from the start and, broken-hearted, he creates a group of female companions to fight his loneliness and despair, and he begins his tradition of drinking and dancing on Mount Kithairon. But the women return home and tear their husbands and children limb from limb, and the only thing that can repair this horrific toll on humanity is human blood; thus, the first generation of vampires is born, and Dionysus finds himself their lord. His hopes of using this new purpose as a means for respect among the other gods is dashed when the vampires destroy Athens and become the scourge of the human race. Dionysus neglects the vampires and spends his time drowning his sorrows with wine and dancing until . . . Desperate to fill the ache in his broken heart, he searches for love again, but his second love story ends even more brutally than the first, leaving him gutted. Then, seventeen years later, he learns that Philomena's child-their child-did not die with her, and although he's slow to allow himself to hope, everything changes.