Herald is the eldest son of a bloodthirsty strigoi and has spent all of his 1100 years in protecting his family from outsiders. He's sent to guard a giant crystal held within the castle, which holds the spirit of an angel. They wind up falling for each other and he seeks a way of freeing her without risking her or his clan. They're found out and it leads to Herald having to choose between himself or his family with someone's death as the outcome whatever he decides.
Golden Dawn contains examples of:
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Herald. Even after losing his twin centuries ago, he's still plagued by his brother's death.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Seeing that everyone in the valley is spawned from the same father, it's implied that a lot of this goes down (likely some Twincest, too).
- Celibate Hero: Given that the women are either "sisters or his father's victims", is it any wonder Herald chose this path?
- Crystal Prison/Soul Jar: Acarna, the angel spirit, has been stuck in the crystal for 700 years. Freedom means risking someone drinking her blood and gaining 12 hour complete immortality.
- Female Angel, Male Demon: The angel, Acarna, is female. Whilst the demons are of either gender.
- Flashback: Both Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 are little else but this.
- Girl in the Tower: The crystal the angel is trapped in is in turn locked away in a tower.
- Hell: The section of it that the majority of the characters are from is shown to be a barren expanse of rock filled with hungry clans of vampire-like demons.
- Meaningful Name: Angels don't have names so much as descriptions of what they are. Acarna's being "Midwinter Sunrise When The Sun's Rays Touch The Snow-covered Mountains And Reflect The Pale, Golden Light".
- Herald's sisters are all named after plants. Viola is clearly violet. Atropa is the genus of the nightshade family. Betula & Asclepias are likewise linked to birch trees and milkweed respectively.
- Whereas Acarna is linked to a type of thistle.
- Our Angels Are Different: Apparently, one type are known as 'children of the sun' and are essentially what sunlight is made up of. How they're made isn't touched on beyond being created by other heavenly beings known as Crafters. They also seem unable to enter Heaven.
- Our Vampires Are Different: A vampire who feeds off a human victim, or has sex with them, creates a vampire-like demon in Hell. These demons have a lot in common with their parents (no reflection, sunlight's deadly). On the flip-side, they lack supernatural strength and the undead bit.
- Although they can become vampires through dying.
- Overly Long Name: Acarna's real "name"? Midwinter Sunrise When The Sun's Rays Touch The Snow-covered Mountains And Reflect The Pale, Golden Light.
- Parental Favoritism: Between the eldest twins, their strigoi father preferred the deadlier brother to the more cautious younger. In the end, it's revealed that only the facial similarities between the two men was the only reason their father believed them to be related.
- Really 700 Years Old: Practically every major character in the story. Herald is 1100 years, believes he looks like a "young man in his prime". His father isn't much older.
- Acarna, being an angel, is at least as old as the valley.
- Romantic Vampire Boy: This would be Herald falling over himself for Acarna. He's even mocked by a sister for trying to ride to the angel's rescue.
- Title Drop: Herald does this whilst trying to discover if the angel has another name after finding out how long her name really is.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Whilst he's fed on his own kind, Herald makes it perfectly clear that, in the mortal realm, he's only ever drunk goat's blood.
- White Sheep: The majority of the valley's populace see no problem with kidnapping people, and even breeding them, to feed their father. Herald is the only one who seems to have an issue with this arrangement.
