The Vampires of Athens

Seventeen-year-old Gertrude Morgan, the only child of one of the wealthiest couples in America, is shipped away from her home in New York City to the American school in Athens against her will. She would rather remain in the world of her books. After settling in with her poor and boisterous host family, she discovers that the vampires and Greek gods that people her favorite books actually exist!

Seventeen-year-old Gertrude Morgan, the only child of one of the wealthiest couples in America, is shipped away from her home in New York City to the American school in Athens against her will. But the city of Athens has secrets. Her host family calls them tramps. In Greek, they are called vrykolakas, or vryks, which sometimes gets translated to freaks. They are the vampires of Athens, created centuries ago by the Maenads.

Gertie has found herself an unwitting member of a vampire uprising, even though her heart is being pulled by its enemy, Hector. How could she possibly leave Jeno, who needs her now more than ever? The vampires have been oppressed for centuries in caves beneath the acropolis without economic resources. They've been wronged, and Gertie wants to help to liberate them. But the vampires want liberty at any cost—even human life. Can Gertie go along with that?

When seventeen-year-old Gertie leaves New York to study abroad in Athens, she learns that vampires and demigods are real and unwittingly becomes a catalyst to an uprising led by Dionysus, lord of the vampires.

Banished from Mount Olympus, Dionysus wanders the earth until he finds solace in a magical vineyard on Naxos. Heartbroken by Ariadne, he immerses himself in wine and dancing, inadvertently creating a band of bloodthirsty companions and becoming the lord of the vampires. His hopes of using this new purpose as a means for respect 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.