Rise of the Demon

Chapter 1

Mzatal stood facing away from me, hands clasped behind his back, and framed by the glass wall of his solarium. Beyond, demons wheeled and sparred above the restless, sunlit sea, their bellows clear and resonant.

Surely if I didn't move, didn't breathe, I could hold on to this moment.

"Zharkat," he murmured. Beloved.

My resolve evaporated. I wrapped my arms around him, rested my cheek against his back, breathed in his familiar scent-like petrichor with the faintest whiff of sulfur. I would take whatever moments I could get.

"Boss." My term of affection for him, our private joke-one I thought I might never have a chance to speak again.

He turned in my arms and cradled me to his chest. I sighed into the comfort of the embrace, relaxed for the first time in ages. The deep thud of his heart amplified into a rumble of thunder, a perfect complement to our communion. After a time, he eased back and laid his palm against my cheek. The demons were gone, and lightning streaked through roiling clouds. Warmth filled eyes the color of the storm, and a flicker of a smile touched his lips. "I miss you."

My throat tightened. "Miss you, too." I wiped a trickle of blood from his temple. "I'm so worried about you. About what Ilana has done to-"

He held a finger to his lips. With his shushing exhale, the solarium phosphoresced, flowed away. Stars shimmered in a moonless sky, crickets rasped, and a soft breeze carried the fragrance of rain and pines. We sat on the back steps of my house, his arm around me. Weedy grass stretched unbroken to the surrounding trees, and deer grazed near a trail leading into the woods.

Home. My haven and retreat. Like it used to be. Before it became a militarized compound.

Mzatal tightened his arm around me. "Do not worry for me, beloved."

"How can I not?" I tugged his braid and found it bound so tightly it felt like steel cable. "I just wish I knew how to fix the worlds. How to free you."

"It would

Diana Rowland has lived her entire life below the Mason-Dixon line. She has worked as a bartender, a blackjack dealer, a pit boss, a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant, which means that she's seen more than her share of what humans can do to each other and to themselves. She won the marksmanship award in her Police Academy class, has a black belt in Hapkido, and has handled numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition. A master of urban fantasy, she s the author of the Demon series and the White Trash Zombie series. She can be contacted via her website, www.dianarowland.com.

Praise for the Demon novels
 
Mark of the Demon is a nifty combination of police procedural and urban fantasy. Not too many detectives summon demons in their basement for the fun of it, but Kara Gillian is not your average law enforcement officer. Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels
 
Mark of the Demon is a fascinating mixture of a hard-boiled police procedural and gritty yet other-worldly urban fantasy. L. E. Modesitt, Jr., author of the Saga of Recluce
 
Crosses police procedure with weird magic. Diana Rowland's background makes her an expert in the former, and her writing convinces me she's also an expert in the latter. Carrie Vaughn, New York Times bestselling author of the Kitty Norville series
 
"Rowland has done a fantastic job building her insanely complex world and making its multitude of inhabitants truly unforgettable. Rowland is an extraordinary storyteller!" RT Reviews (top pick)