In a time of airships and steam-powered technology . . . Victorian London rests uneasily in the aftermath of the gruesome Ripper slayings. For desperate rumor whispers of an ancient evil awakened to stalk the midnight streets in search of the souls of the innocent to slake its ghastly thirst for damnation. There are no answers, only mystery, and it is feared that the grisly shadow has returned to the East End to continue with its sickening rampage. After the horrific kidnapping of a priest from his parish church by the ghoulish Dullahan, the talented but clumsy magician Simon Lee, newest member of Her Majesty's classified Ministry of Special Services, finds himself part of a secret mission dispatched to the cryptic Borderlands, a magical realm that mirrors the mortal world, to rescue both priest and other hapless victims from the clutches of the vile monstrosity before it is too late. Traveling between the Worlds aboard Her Majesty's airship, the HMS Nelson, Simon ventures deep into the realm of darkness, facing dangers beyond his most feverish nightmare, as both passengers and crew fight a running battle against terrible foes, drawing ever closer to the heart of Evil, where the fate of England, and perhaps the World, hangs in the balance.