Three intertwining stories: 1)Ann Silva has gone to Madrid to work at the conservation studio in the Museo del Prado. She is restoring a Flemish painting called Meeting on the Steps to Hades. The painter is Luc Grendel, a 16th-century Flemish painter and one of the three protégées of Hieronymus Bosh. 2)Taylor Bane is considering a run for the senate from California, but he has to rid himself of some bad baggage. In his college days, Taylor and a couple of his fraternity brothers brutally raped two girls at a frat Halloween party. The two girls were Annie and Mariel. Taylor has now hired an assassin, Liesbet Grendel, to kill Annie Silva. No sense bringing all of that into a senate race. 3)Liesbet has been killing for a long, long time. She's very good at what she does. The Prado also has Luc Grendel's diary as well as his painting. Annie has started to read the diary and the painter writes about a "Liesbet" by name. Luc begins to paint Meeting on the Steps to Hades. Liesbet feels betrayed. Angry and still in love, Liesbet can't bring herself to destroy either the painting or the diary. Luc also writes about her talking of "Worlds other than this one.