Kingdom of Hungary, 17th century. As she gets older, powerful Countess Erzsébet Báthory (1560-1614), blinded by the passion that she feels for a younger man, succumbs to the mad delusion that blood will keep her young and beautiful forever.

The near future. Every night the media show new reports about war and terror which constantly loom like a dark cloud over the nation. To protect the citizens from possible air attacks the GNOSIS Corporation has developed a personal bomb shelter for everyone - the new BS-2016. While nearly every household in the city has one installed already, 12 year old Alex is still begging his dad to finally buy one so he can feel safe. As the air raid alarms go off that night and lights from exploding rockets gloom in the dark skies it seems too late: Alex has to face his fears and soon discovers a dark conspiracy that not only threatens his life but the life of his whole family as well.

Diamond expert Ronnie discovers a real gem: Ginnie. Struck by Cupid's arrow, he follows the pretty chance acquaintance to Belgium. As a front man for Ginnie's boss Demarre, he is supposed to pull off a deal involving fake diamonds. And suddenly he gets caught up in a dangerous game of confusion. In addition to gemstone friends, gangster bosses, contract killers and a kidnapped diplomat also get involved.

Virus alert in Cologne: a deadly influenza pathogen has been released. Shortly afterwards, Sonja Kessler finds her husband Reinhard, a virus researcher, dead in their apartment. Everything points to suicide, but an unusual trail leads her and her stepson Jan to an apartment rented by Reinhard. Reinhard was apparently secretly researching a deadly virus there.