High Demon - La série

"Reah, this is Commander Aris." Bel moved aside once we were inside the spacious office, and I received my first look at the outpost Commander. He stared at me for moments as I stood before him. I was so frightened, I was afraid I'd burst into tears. Aris was a lion of a man with thick, shoulder-length dark-gold hair, swept back from his forehead. He didn't stand as his rank dictated, otherwise I think he would have dwarfed Bel, whom I thought was quite tall. The Commander's shoulders were broader, too and I imagined that he'd gained his rank by working for it. "Reah, how did those two miscreants bring you here when you were underage?" Commander Aris asked me after moments of silence. He sounded as if he'd just gotten his voice back. "They found me and told me I should come with them," I hung my head. I nearly jumped when I imagined that I heard a voice inside my head. I'm sure it was my fear—giving me hallucinations when there was nothing there. , the voice said. I drew a shaky breath and managed to put it out of my mind. The voice didn't come again. * * * The High Demon race is dying, and nothing short of a miracle will save it. Kifirin has promised to provide that miracle, in any way he can. * * * Reah has worked in the kitchens of her family's restaurants since the age of eight. The only daughter among Addah Desh's 27 children from eight wives, Reah has been ignored, belittled and abused all her life. When the conscription notice comes from the Regular Alliance Army, Reah is more than happy to report for duty in order to escape her family. Unfortunately, her liberation is short-lived….

(Reah, I know you're not happy with us right now, but we didn't order the firebombing. RAA moved without consulting us.) (And I'm supposed to believe that?) (Reah, you're being disrespectful with a superior.) I didn't answer him. If he knew how disrespectful I wanted to be—I was staring at Xiri's bones, after all. I sobbed. (Reah? Reah, are you still there?) (You be respectful, Vice-Director, the next time a friend's bones lie beneath your hand.) I cut off the communication. Lendill didn't try again. The Drakus seed trade is threatening to destroy the Alliance as an old enemy reemerges. Reah is placed in the thick of that battle, with no experience and little help from her superiors. Unexpected betrayals and alliances are formed, and Reah must use every bit of her strength and wit to protect those she loves.

"Reah, we have good information on Zellar." That had me jerking my head up to stare at Lendill. Zellar. Just the sound of that name had every member of the ASD seething. Zellar—the rogue warlock who left drained planet cores in his wake. For years, he only worked on worlds outside the Alliance—the ASD had gotten too close to him on too many occasions. Burned him a few times—Ry had almost gotten him once, but Zellar had used the very last of a planet's power and escaped. Ry always insisted that he'd wounded Zellar, though. I thought he could be right—we hadn't heard anything from the murdering bastard in two years. While battling personal grief, Reah is sent after Zellar, who has become one of the worst enemies the Alliance has ever faced. While determined to take down the rogue warlock, Reah learns that Zellar has trained other rogues to follow in his footsteps. Forced to work with the unlikeliest of allies, she pursues Zellar's trained rogues in and outside the Alliance.

"He wants to talk to you again," the girl winced. "I want to bust his nose," I muttered, making the girl laugh. I hefted the tray up and carried it to his table. "I had to wait two clicks to get in here." "I told you to call ahead," I said, settling the tray on a stand and handing off his noodle bowl, followed by the plate of ox-roast. "I thought you were making that up." "I never lie about food," I said. "Is there anything else?" I swept the tray off the stand. "Ex-ASD?" "That's what the Director said. And he's not high on my list, unless it's the list of people I never want to see again." "What's the problem with Director Keef?" "Where do you want me to start?" "Start with the most recent." "My dead daughter," I snapped and walked away. After Reah's brush with death, she is understandable distrustful of most of her mates. Striking out on her own, she is determined to investigate a rash of child disappearances across the universes, in and outside the Alliances. The evil she discovers in the course of her investigations could bring all worlds to their knees if Reah doesn't find a way to destroy it.

"I guess this isn't a good time." Lendill folded into the kitchen. "Here. It has bourbon in it." I pushed my cup of tea toward him and rose from my seat to make another. "Land and sky, Reah, this is strong." Lendill took a sip from my cup. "Yeah. Sit down," I said. "What do you want?" "Is that any way to treat a mate you haven't seen in months?" "You only show up when you want something," I said. "So what is it?" "Bel has disappeared," Lendill swallowed more tea, grimaced and then swallowed again. "Wizard Bel?" I hadn't seen Bel for years, yet I knew he still worked for the ASD. "Yes. I sent him to investigate a problem on Surnath, and he vanished. We can't find him." "What kind of problem?" I asked, sitting down with my freshly poured and spiked tea. I didn't even ask Teeg if he wanted any. I was still pissed at him. "A worker in an electronics factory went crazy and killed twenty of his coworkers after getting his hands on a laser pistol somehow. And then, two weeks later, a secretary at a legal firm kills six people there. The governor of the Realm on Surnath asked us to investigate. We thought it was just a copy crime. Bel was in so he volunteered. Was there for three days before he came up missing." "That's terrible," I said. "And you tried mindspeech and everything?" "Yes. No answer. Bel isn't one to fall easily into a trap. So we're all concerned." "Me, too," I nodded. I'd known Bel when I was a conscript in the Regular Alliance Army. "Norian and I are willing to pay top credit if you'll work a special assignment on this." Wizard Bel is missing, after investigating two crimes on Surnath. Reah agrees to work this special assignment for the ASD, and discovers that Bel's disappearance is linked to far deeper and much darker crimes. The criminals behind these crimes hold the survival of both Alliances in their grip and it is up to Reah to expose them before their final plans become a reality.

"Dad! When did you get here?" Kevis looked up from his comp-vid—he was completing notes on a patient. He entered the last bit of information and stood to greet his father. "Kev, I have a patient I'd like to put in your clinic," Karzac said, walking in to sit beside his son's beautifully polished wood desk. Kevis, a physician for the past thirty years, ran a private clinic for patients with difficult mental problems. "Dad, surely not one of the Saa Thalarr," Kevis sat down again and hit an electronic key on his deskcomp. Kevis looked very much like his father—nearly six feet tall with light-brown hair and green-gold eyes. He'd opened his private clinic twenty years earlier on Refizan, his father helping financially. Kevis was doing very well for himself. "No. Not one of those. And I think when we get her, the Larentii will have already made a great deal of progress in her treatment. What we really need for her, I think, is peace and quiet, where there isn't anyone troubling her with something that needs to be done. She hasn't had a vacation in years, has been attacked and made very ill recently and there are other circumstances that have affected her. She almost killed herself three days ago." "Is there anything unusual about her?" Kevis lifted an eyebrow at his father. He suspected that the prospective patient might not be completely human. "She's High Demon, son, and hasn't been treated well for a very long time." Reah's mental health is compromised, new enemies appear and Teeg's control of the Campiaan Alliance is threatened. While Reah struggles to regain her health, her mates work to redeem themselves and reclaim her trust. Meanwhile, signs begin to appear—are the god wars imminent? Only time will tell…