Darkness Raging Excerpt

Jenn here wishing you all a very happy Monday! Here is this week’s excerpt from Darkness Raging, out February 2, 2016.

For a personalized, signed copy preorder by Feb 2, 2016, from Seattle Mystery Bookshop! http://www.seattlemystery.com

“Do you think any good came out of it?” I asked as a couple of officers drove us back to our cars.

Delilah frowned. “I think so. For one thing, there’s nothing like a common enemy to unite strangers, and while the world as a whole has accepted the presence of Supes, we have reached that odd time when we’re trying to integrate into society instead of being the novelty act, you know?”

I nodded. “Yeah, and it’s one thing to admire and enjoy the circus, but when the freaks want to set up camp in your town for good, well . . . that can be a whole different ball of wax.”

We had reached the parking lot where we had left our cars and were about to split up and drive home when Camille’s phone rang. She frowned at the Caller ID. “Trytian?”

Oh, wonderful, I thought as she answered it. Just what we needed. Trytian was a daemon. Unlike demons, daemons were a bit more organized and got along better with everybody else, in general. They still weren’t trustworthy and they were dangerous and tended toward the evil side of life, but they could work with others a lot more easily. They were less chaotic, if I was forced to pinpoint the difference. Demons tended to act first, think later. Daemons were smarter. And Trytian’s father was leading a covert army, aimed at taking down Shadow Wing.

Trytian was one of our frenemies. He made no bones about his designs on Camille, though he was cautious and kept himself at bay given the force he would face if he tried to do anything about it. But he was also cagey and knew enough to realize that keeping on our good side was better than getting on our bad side. We had a common enemy—Shadow Wing— and while our methods of going against him were different, we did have the united goal of destroying the Demon Lord.

Camille shook her head as she finished the phone call.

“We need to head over to Carter’s before we go home. Trytian asked us to meet him there in twenty minutes. Something is going down.”

The fact that Carter and Trytian hung around together at all was unsettling. Carter was part demon, but he was also part Titan. His father was Hyperion, a major Titan, and Carter was head of the Demonica Vacana Society, working as a records keeper to keep watch over how the Demonkin interacted with humans.

“I don’t know which is worse— the chaotic mess we just dealt with, or the prospect of having tea with Trytian.” Morio wrinkled his nose.

“The former. Nothing got done, except— I guess—perhaps swinging a strong number of people in favor of enforcing Supe Rights and maybe instituting Vamp Rights. I guess it’s worth it if we managed to win over a few influential organizations to our side.” I shrugged. “Okay, Vanzir, Roz, hop in and let’s head over to Carter’s apartment.”