Smoke and Daemons

When retribution is the only thing that drives you, how much are you willing to sacrifice before you lose yourself to the cause? 

A daemon is offering me the name of my parent’s killer, for a price.

I’ve spent my life hunting the daemon who killed my parents. I swore long ago to do anything necessary, including summoning the deadly creatures to hunt for clues, even knowing I walked a razor’s edge every time. Any one of them might turn on me and kill me too. 

When Azimuth, a sweet-talking daemon with ice-blue eyes and a voice like butter, shows up dangling the knowledge I seek in return for a high-risk job, I feel compelled to accept his offer. Sure, I’m wary of the helpful daemon, but the prize is too tempting to pass up. So what if my pulse races when he touches me or I can’t stop thinking about how his lips will feel on my skin? 

I’m embarrassed that I can’t seem to keep myself from dwelling on forbidden fantasies starring Azimuth. Remembering that all daemons are my enemy and that nothing’s going to get in my way helps me. Nothing, including my forbidden attraction to an enemy. An enemy I can’t trust. Won’t trust.

But when the not-so-simple job goes sideways, I’m trapped. Bound to the very creature I despise. 

Now I need to decide how much of my body, or my heart, I’m willing to risk for vengeance?

***

This title was previously published as The Daemon Whisperer.

The Caught Between Worlds series is set in a future dystopian Front-Range Colorado filled with daemons, god-touched, and other not quite human creatures. Liminal beings stand at the crossroads between our world and alternate dimensions and have the ability to set things back to rights, if they so choose.