Forget rainy bookstores. The meet-cute here is a hazmat suit. The protagonists meet in a quarantine zone. Protagonist A (let’s call her Lena) is a virologist. Protagonist B (Kael) is a stage-three infected who hasn't turned feral yet. As Lena tries to draw his blood, Kael growls a phrase in Ancient Sumerian. "Tammuz." It’s Lena’s name from her first incarnation. The romance ignites not with a spark, but with a cellular memory.