Shepherd Bucknam hasn't had a lover in more than a decade and doesn't need one. As a Daka, he coaches men in the sacred art and mystery of sexual ecstasy all the time, and he loves his work. It's his calling. In fact, he's perfectly content-except for the terrors of his recurring nightmare and the ominous blood-red birthmarks on his neck. He's convinced that together they foretell his early and violent death. When Shepherd's young prot...