In a remote mansion in North Wales in the savage winter of 1794, two vampires – a cold fish inventor and his siren wife – join in an uneasy partnership to change the past.

Kenrick has come to a standstill in his calculations. The only mathematician skilled enough to solve the problem is the villainous young émigré Frenchman Émile Dubois, staying with relatives nearby.

Kenrick has used his experiments to record images of Émile's violent past, living undercover in Paris as a robber, and later in London as the highwayman Monsieur Gilles. Knowing his savage wife's liking for violent men, Kenrick entertains her with these images, and sends her to to win him over. Ceridwen has no objection: she already has taken her coachman for a lover, amongst others.

The only problem is Émile's feelings for his aunt's young companion, Sophie de Courcy...

A short story taster for 'That Scoundrel Émile Dubois'.