The Lupin are a breed of creature which resembles an amalgam of human and beast. Alvin has spent his life hunting them, killing them, shoring himself against their calls that mimic human voices, calling the names of the unwary, drawing humans under their thrall. Consequences came in the form of a living child. Alvin has raised Reuben since then, a Lupin hunting dog for the Lupin hunter. But is Reuben really just a hunting dog? Or Alvin's adopted child? Or maybe...