#Review/Excerpt - Rise of the Demon by Diana Rowland #Fantasy

Series: Kara Gillian (#9)
Format: Mass Market, 464 pages
Release Date: November 15, 2022
Publisher: DAW
Source: Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy

The long-awaited ninth book in the Demon series returns to the adventures of Kara Gillian and the supernatural threats that surround her

Kara’s drastic ceasefire deal with the formidable demon Imperator Dekkak slowed the attacks on Earth to a trickle, but her troubles are far from over. The god-like demahnk are desperate to return to their own kind, but unless they can stabilize the demon realm, they’ll be forever exiled—and they’ve subjugated Kara’s beloved Mzatal to further their hellacious cause. One faction of demonic lords and demahnk has a plan to fix their world, yet their salvation would come at the expense of Earth.
 
Meanwhile, Kara is wrestling with government bureaucracy, backstabbing allies, enemy lords, as well as the powerful young demonic lord Ashava, who’s packing the drama, angst, and rebellion of the terrible teen years into just a few months.
 
Kara’s in a race to stop an apocalypse, but in order to prevail she’ll have to make a terrible sacrifice or risk losing everything she holds dear.

Rise of the Demon, by author Diana Rowland, is the Ninth, and final installment in the authors Kara Gillian series. Even though the author gives you an encyclopedia of events that have happened years before thanks to the 6 years before books, I really must recommend that readers start and finish Legacy of the Demon (2016) before beginning this story. I really don't think anyone can remember things from 6 years ago, but I may be wrong! If I am reading my notes correctly, the book takes place around 4 months after the events of Legacy of the Demon.

DIRT (Demonic Incursion Retaliation & Tactics) Arcane Commander Kara Gillian’s home has become an armed compound where she has the latest gadgets and a security force including her own Alpha Team which is supposed to hunt and stop demon incursions. DIRT technically answers to IDTF (International Demon Task Force). Thanks to a drastic ceasefire deal made with the formidable demon Imperator Dekkak, demon attacks on Earth have trickled, but her troubles are far from over. She still must find a way to complete her deal with Dekkak in which she is supposed to acquire (3) essence blades (Xhan, Vsuhl, and Khatur) which are arcane prisons for Juntar elite's. 

Kara's beloved Mzatal has been subjugated by Jesral and Ilana, and he's attempting to send her dire messages. The god-like demahnk are desperate to return to their own kind, but unless they can stabilize the demon realm, they’ll be forever exiled. One faction of demonic lords and demahnk has a plan to fix their world, yet their salvation would come at the expense of Earth. Kara is also wrestling with government bureaucracy, backstabbing allies who are more like enemies, enemy lords aligned with Jesral, as well as the powerful young demonic lord Ashava, Jill Faciane's half breed daughter, who’s packing the drama, angst, and rebellion of the terrible teen years into just a few months. 

Kara’s in a race to stop an apocalypse, but in order to prevail, she may have to make a terrible sacrifice or risk losing everything she holds dear. Including becoming the one thing that she knows will change her forever. On top of all of this, Kara's aunt Tessa, who raised her, shows up at the compound nearly dead, and Kara learns that Tessa is as much of a victim of the demons manipulations as she was after Rhyzkahl brutal betrayal earlier in this series. I am able to say that Rhyzkahl and Tessa redeem themselves in this story which is a good thing since the series is now finished.

Also, in case you find yourself bogged down with demon terms, Rowland has graciously created a demonology section at the end of this story. I did my best to keep things as simple as humanly possible without any spoilers knowing this review is posting almost 30 days before the book releases to the public. Thank you for reading my reviews!

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 seem impossible."

"Doing the impossible is in our job description. Together we can do anything."

"Even if we aren't together." A smile I felt to my core lit his eyes as he echoed my thought from what seemed like an age ago.

"I'm just so tired of it all." I buried my face against his neck, sensed the arcane flare of my sigil on his chest-the scar he had sculpted to remind him of our connection. Of himself. "Oh! I have a ring for you. Made from-"

"Not here. Not yet." The intensity in his voice set the earth shaking.

A reyza bellowed, and an icy vortex sucked away the peace of home and deposited us back in the solarium.

Mzatal gripped my shoulders, eyes flint-hard on mine. "Worlds are breaking." The demon-glass wall shattered into a billion iridescent shards that reminded me of something I couldn't place. Wind whipped at my hair, and a flight of reyza-somehow merely the size of geese-swarmed in, screaming profanities. Their aerial antics toppled a gimkrah from its pedestal, scattered scrolls, and sent a portrait of demonic lord Seretis crashing to the floor.

"Could you not?" I snarled.

But they shouted louder-"No no no no no! Watch out!"-drowning out Mzatal's words. I tried to read his lips, his thoughts, but-

I jerked awake to a crash and David Nguyen yelling in the back yard. "Dammit, Prikahn. I told you to hold the rope steady. You almost killed me!"

"I am not beholden to you, tailless chekkunden." No mistaking the threat in the demon's growling tone toward the compound's arborist.

I scrambled up from the desk and flung open my office window, letting in a wave of frigid air. The Jontari reyza Prikahn loomed over Nguyen and his two assistants, wings spread and lips pulled back from fangs as long as my hand. A branchless pine lay downed between them. Nguyen held an idling chainsaw that had zero chance of injuring the demon should violence commence, while Dagor-a reyza half the height of his comrade at a mere nine feet-crouched nearby, a red pulsing orb of rakkuhr gathered in his clawed hand, ready for a strike. Bryce Taggart, head of security, and three of his team stood a debatably safe distance away, monitoring the uncertain situation.

"Prikahn!" I hollered. "You're sure as hell beholden to me. Don't make me come out there!"

The warlord pivoted my way, sinuous tail thrashing. "I will not abide disrespect from this unscarred weakling, Kara Gillian." He thrust a wicked claw in Nguyen's direction.

I packed every lick of arcane potency I could muster behind my words. "You and Dagor damaged the tree, my property-against our agreement-and you will abide by whatever Nguyen says needs to be done to clear it." I paused to reinforce potency. "Are we in accord?"

Prikahn spread his wings wide, threw back his head, and let out a roaring bellow that rattled windows and sent birds flying.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a serious badass," I muttered, then counted to three to honor his dominance display. "Are we in accord?"

Nguyen scrambled back as the warlord hefted the tree-surely a strain even for a demon as massive as Prikahn.

"Kri, Kara Gillian. We . . . Are . . . In . . . Accord." The demon snarled each word through clenched teeth, but folded his wings, a signal of acquiescence.

Prikahn loped off east with the tree, but Dagor went still, eyes locked on Nguyen. Only the tip of his tail twitched, and the gathered orb of rakkuhr throbbed like a beating heart in his hand. Shit. Sunlight struck him as clouds shifted. His battle-scarred skin glistened rich burgundy, and adornments of gold glinted on his arms, ears, wings, and horns. Dagor didn't appear as formidable as Prikahn, but I wasn't fooled for an instant. He was wicked-fast, a master of the arcane, and could more than hold his own in a fight with the larger warlord.

"Dagor!" I called. "Enough! It's over. Stand down."

He paid me no heed other than to issue a deep growl I felt more than heard.

Double shit.

Bryce's voice crackled through the desk comms speaker. "Kara . . . SkeeterCheater's ready."

My focus didn't leave Dagor as I fumbled my comms earpiece into place. "And I'm building potency for bindings, but hold on." Deploying the cannon-fired graphene net would probably snare the demon, but it would piss him off royally, making him triply dangerous, and no doubt bring Prikahn right back. Dagor was waiting for something, but what?

He was riveted on Nguyen, who was holding-

"Nguyen, you got comms on?"

Nguyen nodded just enough for me to see.

"Okay, listen." I kept my voice calm and confident, even though my gut churned and flipped. "You need to rev the chainsaw, wave it over your head, and give the biggest baddest war cry you can muster."

"Kara," Bryce said in a voice filled with what-the-fuck.

Nguyen didn't move, but his two assistants edged back toward Bryce's position.

"Nguyen. Trust me." I hoped beyond hope I wasn't misreading the situation. "It's demon social behavior. Dagor's waiting for you to show you're either as weak as Prikahn said, or that you're fearless and worthy. That's what you want to show him. Pretend you're Prikahn. Badass. Scared of nothing. Do it."

Dagor stood from his crouch, and the rakkuhr flared.

Nguyen remained frozen in place.

Time for Plan B. Net. Potency. Deal with the fallout later.

"Bryce, SkeeterCheater on three . . . two . . ."

The chainsaw roared. Nguyen swung it over his head and yelled, "I AM THE ONE AND ONLY DAVID NGUYEN! NO ONE FUCKS WITH ME! I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING TAIL, BUT I'VE GOT SCARS OF MY OWN AND THE CHAINSAW OF DOOM!" He followed up with a bloodcurdling bellow that was an impressive cross between a mountain lion and a gorilla.

I remained poised to act, but I'd spotted the demon's telltale flick of his tail. "Bryce, I think we're good."

Bryce didn't seem so certain. Dagor raised his hand, and crimson wreathed in black blasted the ground where the tree had been, sending up a plume of dirt and smoke, and leaving a two-foot crater.

To his credit, Nguyen staggered back but kept the Chainsaw of Doom revved and swinging. Dagor bugled, a piercing but non-menacing cry, and launched into flight.

Nguyen stopped the chainsaw and sagged to one knee. Bryce hurried over to crouch beside him. "We'll take care of Nguyen and mop up, Kara."

I gave a shaky laugh. "That's why I let you have all that juicy responsibility." I eased my hold on the potency I'd gathered, released it. "We got lucky."

"You made a good call. We get through this one minute at a time."

Neither of us addressed the elephant-or demon-in the room. We didn't have to. We lived with it 24/7. Though the four Jontari demons-Ambassadors? Observers? Foreign Exchange Students?-were oathbound not to harm, maim, or kill, one vexed flick of a reyza's tail could end a human-and they were getting surlier by the day. This incident had come closer to a bad outcome than ever before. Logically, I couldn't blame them for not being beacons of positivity. We were all stir-crazy and feeling the effects of the constant stress, and the demons had the added stress of being away from their home world. Yet understanding and empathy wouldn't make a lick of difference if it all blew up in my face.

These four warlords were here as a condition of the agreement I made a few months ago with the ancient Jontari Imperator Dekkak: her eyes and ears on Earth. But it was the two reyza-Prikahn and Dagor-who were my big headaches, both of them sick of Earth and chafing at restrictions.

They could be stuck here for a while, though. Dekkak had fulfilled her part of the bargain by rescuing Elinor from Xharbek, but I had yet to fulfill mine- acquire and relinquish to Dekkak all three essence blades, each the arcane prison for a millennia-old Jontari elder: Xhan, Vsuhl, and Khatur. Problem was, the demonic lord Szerain held Vsuhl, and a very closed-off and dangerous Mzatal possessed the other two. Piece of cake! The only bright spot was that I still had over two months until the agreed upon deadline.

I shut the window before returning to my desk-or rather tried to shut it, letting out a barrage of filthy words when it jammed open with an inch to go. After a brief and fruitless struggle, I gave up and left the window to think about its life choices. Hell, maybe the crisp January air would help me stay awake since, as always, I had a buttload of work still to do. That said, if there was a chance in hell a nap would take me back to dream-Mzatal's arms, I'd snuggle into the recliner in the corner and snooze the day away. To hell with obligations. But dreams didn't cooperate that way, dammit.

I stroked my thumb over the ring on the middle finger of my left hand. Mzatal's ring, which I'd someday be able to give to him. Beside it, on my fourth finger, rested its mate, both reforged from a ring he'd given me what seemed a lifetime ago, though it was barely over a year.

Pushing down the emotion that threatened to swamp me, I collapsed into the desk chair and slapped the spacebar of my laptop to wake it up. The yard beyond the window was nothing like the peaceful refuge of the dream. Instead of an expanse of grass to the tree line, my nexus-an arcane circular slab of obsidian-dominated the center, flanked by a rift to the demon realm on the right and a white-trunked demon-grove tree on the left. The tree was a sentient extension of Rho, the demahnk-Ekiri entity who had merged with the demon realm planet millennia ago in order to stabilize it. Beyond it, portable buildings crowded the woods' edge: workspaces, barracks for the security team, along with equipment and weapons storage.

Cory Crawford-my former sergeant from when I was a detective with Beaulac PD, and who was now known as Krawkor-emerged from the communications building and glide-walked toward the front gate, his trio of tails working in oddly harmonious conjunction with his prosthetic right leg. He'd lost his leg during the chaos and destruction of the ground zero valve explosion the previous July. Moreover, he was one of several humans who'd been affected by the mutagen flowing from that valve. It had triggered a bizarre podding process that involved merging with a demon-one of the mysterious and fog-like ilius-and he'd subsequently metamorphosed into . . . well, he was still definitely the same person on the inside, but now his skin was a constantly shifting canvas of brilliant color. Then there were the three prehensile tails. They not only helped him with balance and mobility, but also served as tentacle-like extra hands. Even better, he'd gained two valuable skills: a keen sense of the arcane, and the ability to counteract the constant and frustrating arcane interference that plagued our comms systems-a talent that I suspected was influenced by his prior expertise as a ham radio operator. Within a week of emerging from the demon pod, he'd overhauled and upgraded our system, and now carried a compact sound deck slung across his body like a purse, which he used to control and adjust pretty much everything related to compound communications.

A shadowy form wavered along behind him: the zhurn Sloosh, another of the Jontari warlords. Sloosh had hit it off with Krawkor-maybe because Krawkor was kinda sorta part demon now?-and also seemed to seek out humans for games and simple company, unlike the other three more standoffish warlords.

The fourth warlord perched atop the security office, silently observing everything with sharp eyes set in a face akin to a Chinese dragon. Weyix was a kehza, and though far smaller than the two reyza, he was a clever and dangerous fighter, as I'd learned from seeing him spar the other warlords. Every. Single. Day.

Weyix's gaze tracked Turek as the ancient savik made his way across the yard, translucent scales gleaming on his seven-foot-long reptilian torso. The only non-Jontari demon at the compound-and Szerain's essence-bond mate-Turek was well-liked and exchanged friendly greetings with every human he passed as they bustled back and forth, carrying out their duties of the moment.

Duties. Fuck. I scrolled through my to-do list. Everybody and their grandma wanted something, from reports to interviews to testimony. I'd returned only last night from a Congressional grilling in D.C., and my calendar was crammed with obligations. As the Arcane Commander of DIRT-Demonic Incursion Retaliation and Tactics-I carried the burden of responsibility for damn near everything demon-related, along with oversight of personnel, safety, tactics, and intel. Since making the "ceasefire" agreement with Dekkak, rift activity and demon attacks had decreased by about eighty percent, with the remaining twenty percent instigated by Jontari clans outside of Dekkak's authority. Yet that simply meant we could keep up-for the most part-rather than be overwhelmed. A DIRT response still happened a couple times per week somewhere on the planet.

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#Review - Legacy of the Demon by Diana Rowland #Fantasy #Paranormal

Series: Kara Gillian (#8)
Format: Mass Market, 480 pages
Release Date: October 4, 2016
Publisher: DAW
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal

The demon invasion of Earth has begun, and as the world’s top arcane expert, demon summoner Kara Gillian is leading the battle against them. Unnatural catastrophes, odd plagues, and martial law of the norm, and Kara is hard-pressed to keep up with the mounting threats. Add in the arrival of demonic lords with conflicting goals, and she has the perfect recipe for global disaster.

Yet when a centuries-old scheme puts the future of humanity on the line, Kara must scramble to stop the machinations, though treachery, hidden dangers, and ancient enemies block her at every turn. Soon she uncovers the disturbing legacy of the demon realm and the hideous betrayal at its core. However, before Kara can unmask the one behind the assault on Earth, she’ll need to perform the most dangerous summoning ever attempted―and if her enemy has its way, it may just be her last.

But no matter how much of her own blood she has to spill, it’ll be a cold day in hell before she surrenders.  

Diana Rowland's Legacy of the Demon is the Eight installment in the authors Kara Gillian series. Legacy of the Demon fills in the missing gaps and open questions from the previous books and continues to build on the complex world Dianna created. So, timeline wise, we are looking at (2) months from the ending of Vengeance of the Demon. Demons have been coming through the rifts ever since the arcane valve explosion at the Beaulac Police Department, and Kara has become a member of DIRT (Demonic Incursion Retaliation and Tactics) as well as Arcane Commander along with Vince Pellini, arcane specialist.

It is now a new world order where the higher ups want Kara and DIRT to capture as many demons as possible, especially Reyza's. Kara's arcane skills are still frizzing since being ambushed. Everyone knows her connections to the realm and what she's about, so she has the edge when ridges start opening over the world and Earth starts going to literal hell. She even talks to the president at some point, although the reader just gets the one-sided phone call gist of the conversation.

On the home front, Kara’s home has become an armed compound where she has the latest gadgets and a security force, best friend Jill Faciane is not happy that her newborn daughter Ashava suddenly flew away and disappeared with Zach, Sonny, and Ryan. (No spoilers but all 4 make an appearance later in the story.) Rhyzkahl is still contained in the backyard, Mzatal and other demons are fighting a war they are close to losing, and a rash of humans are suddenly finding themselves transformed after coming out of a jelly like cocoon. Add an enemy from the Core who may be more dangerous than any Demon Lord, and it’s just another day of work for Kara and her allies.

It is fair to say that this series has moved far, far away from the police procedural facet which make Kara a different sort of character than others. An awful lot happens in this book. The action is nearly non-stop. Readers get a much greater understanding of the demon realm and just how almost dependent on each other the two worlds are. We find out a lot more about the Elinor Bayliss/Szerian/Giovanni story and it was pretty shocking to learn that Rhyzkahl isn't as bad as you thought he was. In fact, one might say that Kara and Rhyz have a moment where all the anger she has built up because of what he did to her, is finally time to let it go and deal with more dangerous threats.

This book released in 2016 and yes, I have decided that I am going to try to clean up my large pile of to be read books while also moving forward slowly into 2021 releases. Unfortunately, it now appears that the final installment in this series has been delayed from 2020 to TBA due to a variety of reasons. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another 4 years for Rise of the Demon.

 

Chapter 1


“Volcanoes spew the devil’s flame in our heartland. Fire rains from the sky. Sinkholes suck sinners into the bowels of hell, while rifts vomit a scourge of demons into the streets of our cities. These are the plagues of our times, the signs of God’s fury at our wicked—”


The bellow of a reyza accompanied by the shriek of tearing metal cut off the rest of the protester’s tirade. I threw myself to the asphalt as the demon whizzed a tank hatch cover in my direction. It careened off the Stryker Armored Personnel Carrier behind me and slammed edge first less than a foot from my head into the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.


“Gillian! Status!” That was the squad leader, Sergeant Debbie Roma.


“Five by five!” I shouted as soon as I found my voice—and after I made sure I was still in one piece. The red block letters on the quivering metal hatch seemed to mock me. DIRT—Demonic Incursion Retaliation and Tactics. Yeah, we were retaliating. Like kids throwing marshmallows at rabid dogs. “DIRT” was supposed to represent our willingness to fight hard and dirty, but ten minutes into the skirmish and we’d already lost one tank.


But no people, to my relief. Petrev and Hines had managed to scramble clear of the tank and take cover behind an abandoned Toyota. Both Strykers and the Light Armored Vehicle were still intact, as were all fifteen members of Alpha Squad—though at the moment we were pinned down while the demon threw chunks of metal and arcane shrapnel at us. A scant meter in front of me, a two-foot-long, frost-rimmed crevice rippled with magenta flames. So far, the demon had only flown reconnaissance passes over the small dimensional rift, but I knew perfectly well he hadn’t made a trip from the main incursion rift a quarter mile away just to sightsee.


Demons had been coming through the rifts ever since the arcane valve explosion at the Beaulac Police Department two months ago, and I—along with every other DIRT arcane advisor—still had no flaming clue why. Rifts opened at unpredictable intervals all over the world, destroying anything or anyone in the location. An incursion of demons inevitably followed, during which they harassed and attacked nearby citizens while one or more of their number made enigmatic adjustments to the rifts. If I could figure out what their end goal was, humans could develop a counter strategy.


In the meantime, we fought back with what tools we had: guns and grit and graphene-composite nets.


The demon beat his wings and roared a challenge. He was, hands down, the biggest reyza I’d ever seen in all my years as a demon summoner. At least twelve feet tall, with a wingspan four times that—half again as big as Gestamar or Kehlirik. Needle-sharp black horns thrust from his head on either side of a thick ridge, and yellowed fangs curved from a mouth filled with flesh-rending teeth. Broad nostrils flared within a bestial face, and his thick, sinuous tail thrashed back and forth, a weapon as deadly as his claws. Scars crisscrossed his skin in patterns that spoke of claws and teeth and frequent battles—unlike any reyza I’d known before. And though I’d never heard of a demon wearing jewelry, there was no mistaking the gold that glinted from a half dozen thick hoops in his ears or the heavy bands that circled biceps and wrists.


“Two months now since Satan and his demons were hurled to Earth. Time is running out for you sinners to beg for salvation, lest you be thrown into the lake of fire with the idolaters, the vile, the unbelievers, the sports fans, the comic book freaks, the hypocrites.” The protester ranted on from the “safe” distance of the far side of the highway, his voice amplified by speakers mounted in the bed of his pickup and punctuated with random squeals and shrieks from arcane interference. Half a dozen people mingled near him, carrying enormous signs that said, in a variety of ways, that everyone was going to burn in hell except them.


Above the protesters, the morning sky shimmered with orange and magenta, beautiful and hideous, painted by arcane flames. Two days ago, the Beaulac Country Club tennis courts had crumbled into the maw of a fifty-foot-long dimensional rift, the tenth to form in the area. Small wonder that Beaulac was practically a ghost town now. Everything within a half-mile radius of the valve blast had been quarantined and cordoned off, and anyone who could leave Beaulac did. These days, nowhere was truly safe, but anywhere was safer than here.


The rift at the tennis courts was a relatively small one, but it had disgorged a number of vicious demons over the past forty-eight hours. Dozens of kzak, savik, and graa, and less than an hour ago this big ass reyza who was determined to transform the Piggly Wiggly parking lot into his own demon playground. Not that it would hurt business. A good two-thirds of the grocery store had been destroyed last week by a tornado that appeared out of a sunny sky, tracked an arrow-straight line for a hundred yards, then disappeared. Sadly, that wasn’t the weirdest disaster to hit the area since the valve explosion. Hell, that didn’t even make the top five.


The reyza leaped into flight from the top of the tank.


“The skeeter’s aloft!” Roma shouted. “Cover!”


Maroon-fatigued squad members moved, but though I kept my eye on the “skeeter” as he gained altitude, I stayed put. My arcane skills were still a long way from their previous full strength—before I was ambushed and my abilities nearly obliterated—but I’d managed to regain complete use of my othersight. That allowed me to assess the little rift and the demon’s arcane tactics, and give my squad a snowball’s chance of winning. However, there were moments—such as this one—where I felt the loss of my abilities keenly. Even though we had no way to close the rifts, it was possible to arcanely “lock” them to prevent them from expanding. A rift this small would take about ten minutes of uninterrupted focus to lock it, but unfortunately I couldn’t shape the potency to do so on my own. Vince Pellini and I usually partnered up to set the locks, but I’d split off with Alpha Squad to chase the big reyza, and only realized the beastie had been heading toward this mini-rift when we damn near fell into it.


The reyza swooped past, and I shielded my head with my hands, expecting the whine of the stinging arcane scattershot he’d peppered us with a dozen times before. Instead, a heavy thoop thoop thoop signaled the demon equivalent of an arcane grenade launcher.


No time to run for cover. Shiiiiiit. Adrenaline spiking, I tucked into a tight ball in the hopes of reducing the size of the demon’s target. It was a solid plan except for one tiny detail: the demon wasn’t aiming for me. The salvo struck the crevice, sending up flashes of purple and green.


For a heartbeat, nothing changed, then the asphalt heaved and buckled. The ring of frost expanded from the now gaping crevice, raced toward me and past to cover the parking lot. Magenta flames shot high, and the fissure screamed like a tortured soul.


Dismay left me colder than the frosted ground. I pushed up to a crouch and called out to Roma. “Sarge! He’s widening the rift!” There was ample room now for demons such as luhrek and immature savik to come through—no less dangerous despite their smaller size. Not good when our resources were already strained to the breaking point.


“SkeeterCheater!” At Roma’s command, Petrev and Wohlreich scrambled to deploy the lightweight, graphene-enhanced net over the rift and anchor it deep into the asphalt. DIRT had developed the nets as a counter-incursion measure since the demons were a helluva lot easier to kill before they emerged. The nets weren’t a perfect solution, especially for large rifts, but anything that delayed the demons gave us a bit more advantage.


The reyza let out a triumphant bellow as he landed atop a Buick sedan. The roof buckled under his weight, and the side windows cracked, then burst.


Breathing deeply in an effort to settle my racing pulse, I remained crouched as I studied him. He’d already dodged and deflected everything we’d thrown at him, but there were a few tricks left in our bag.


The reyza beat his wings once, then folded them close. He swiveled his head toward me and bared his teeth—his personal promise to give me the extra special painful death—then traced a swooping pattern on his chest with one claw. Potency the color of old blood flickered. Sigils flared on his torso and sent a shimmering web over his head, limbs, and wings. I grimaced. No wonder we hadn’t touched him yet.


“Triple duty,” I called out to Roma. Her sharp curse told me her opinion of full arcane armor on a demon this size. We’d learned the hard way that aiming center mass on any demon was a waste of ammo, but we also knew that limbs and wings usually weren’t shielded as well—until this bad boy.


I’d become an expert at adapting tactics in order to defeat demons, and I had no moral dilemma about killing them. They were attacking us.


It was the brand new orders, handed down this morning, that I had qualms about: Capture as many demons as possible, with reyzas the highest priority targets.


“Kowal!” Roma’s voice carried across the grocery store parking lot to the Stryker on the far side. “Shimmy that lizard before it finishes getting into its party gown!”


I couldn’t help but smile. Force the demon out of that position before it gets fully armored. Radio comms were useless so close to a rift, which meant the majority of commands were shouted. But since the demons could hear every word, human soldiers used idioms and code phrases that would be tough for any non-native speaker to understand. It made for a glimmer of humor in an otherwise grim setting.


“On it!” A woman with messy red curls peeking from beneath her helmet swiveled the APC’s grenade launcher toward the reyza. I tensed as she fired two grenades. With inhuman reflexes, the demon swatted the first in my direction while the other sailed into the vehicle under him. I scuttled away, but to my relief—and horror—the grenade bounced across the pavement, danced on the SkeeterCheater, then tumbled through and into the rift.


The ground shuddered, and a gout of magenta fire erupted from the rift even as a blast rocked the Buick. Flames leaped through the windows, and the reyza roared and took flight.


Roma barked orders, and squad members scrambled to new tactical positions. I took the opportunity to belly crawl behind an upthrust of asphalt then resumed my search for the demon’s weak spots.


Roma remained crouched behind a pile of concrete rubble, skimming her gaze over the area as she checked on her people and considered options. At fifty-something, she wasn’t quite as fast as the youngsters, but she had nerves of steel and a serious knack for close quarter tactics. Yet she and I both knew that, even with the new weapons and materials that had been developed in the past two months, it would be a stone bitch to take this demon out, much less capture it.


“Morons,” I muttered, which was the kindest thing I could say about DIRT HQ at the moment. The order to capture demons was perfectly logical, especially when it came to reyzas. They did the most damage and were the hardest to kill. HQ and their researchers wanted to find out what made these creatures tick, what their strengths and vulnerabilities were. I understood it. I really did.


And I hated it. The demons were sentient, resourceful beings. I didn’t have to stretch my brain very hard to come up with how the researchers would find the demons’ weaknesses. It wouldn’t involve a pleasant conversation, that much I knew. Yet... we were at war. And we sure as hell weren’t winning.


It sucked from every possible direction.


The reyza settled in the bed of a big pickup truck near the shopping cart corral, amber eyes blazing with keen intelligence as it assessed us and the rift. It spread its wings as if taking a stretch, then threw its head back and sounded a deep note that shook the air and lifted the hair on my arms. Across the highway, the protesters’ speakers crackled to life.


“These demons have been sent to test us and punish the sinful and the wicked. Fornicators and masturbators, drunks and porno freaks—”


“Hey, that’s me!” Scott Glassman—my former coworker—called out with a laugh from the Stryker behind me.


“—you false soldiers defy God’s law and embrace sin by employing evil witches and sorcerers to battle these demons.”


“And that’s me,” I said with a snort. Yeah, well, the preacher could rant all he wanted about my evil nature but, as an Arcane Specialist, my “sorcery” was part of the reason the DIRT forces could mount any defense at all.


Like right now, as my othersight revealed a nasty orange
glow forming on the demon’s clawed left hand.


“—demons to punish the sinners and—”


“Yek ziy!” the demon bellowed. To punish all.


“Double-M left,” I yelled, scrambling up to dive behind the thick tires of the Stryker. Hatches clanged shut, and “umbrellas” made of an arcane-resistant polymer snicked open as the troops without cover deployed shields.


The ground heaved with a concussion that set my ears ringing, followed an instant later by a blast of heat and shriek of metal. My pulse slammed in reaction. A reyza cast that? I’d only ever felt an arcane detonation that powerful from a demonic lord.


Fear seized me. “Oh no...” I surged out from behind the Stryker. The umbrella shields were arcane resistant, meant to deflect a typical demon strike—not a blitzkrieg.


My heart dropped to my toes. I barely registered that the SkeeterCheater lay intact but unanchored over a widened rift. My focus was locked a dozen yards beyond it, where two squad members crouched motionless, fatigues seared and smoking while around them the asphalt popped and boiled. Nothing remained of their shields but the twisted metal of the frames.


The reyza let out a roar of triumph and sprang into the air with powerful strokes of his wings.

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#Review - Vengeance of the Demon by Diana Rowland #Fantasy #Paranormal

Series: Kara Gillian (#7)
Format: Paperback, 416 pages
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Publisher: DAW
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal

Demon summoner Kara Gillian is on the wrong side of the law—and there’s evidence to prove it. Too bad the courts don’t accept “fighting demonic forces” as justification for murder and mayhem.

Yet Kara has problems that go way beyond her legal woes. When the enemy demonic lords spur their human accomplices into high gear, master summoner Katashi aggressively pursues their goal to establish a permanent gate between Earth and the demon realm. To hell with the consequences for humanity.

The line between ally and enemy blurs as Kara gathers the remnants of her posse to prevent a devastating demonic incursion, but a shattered trust may cost them the war and put Kara behind bars. With treachery rife, and her loved ones in danger, Kara must call upon the essence of who she truly is in order to rally back from a crushing loss.

And if she can’t, the world is going straight to hell.

Vengeance of the Demon is the Seventh installment in author Diana Rowland's Kara Gillian series. This series has a modern urban fantasy feel and has all the elements readers want: supernatural danger, sex, a feisty heroine, and a familiar American setting (the outskirts of New Orleans). Each book in this series is a whole story with a beginning and an ending, however the plot of each book relies heavily on the prior books in the series. It is recommended that you read the books in the order they were published. I restarted reading this series knowing that the final book in this series will be releasing sometime early in 2020. 

I would suggest not waiting as long as I did before reading books 6 and 7 or you will be discombobulated. Kara Gillian is a former police officer, former FBI consultant, and Demon summoner who finds herself in deep trouble as this book opens. This book takes place mostly in and around Kara's home and not in the Demon realm which is a huge plus. As I said, you really have to know what happened in Fury of the Demon to understand why she's in trouble. Kara is wanted by as an accessory after the fact, principal to murder in the 1st degree and a key witness to the execution style murder of a criminal. 

Kara still has to decide who she really is, and what path she is willing to take in order to settle some old betrayals at the hands of demons and so called friends. If she isn't a cop any longer, what exactly is she? Is she just a demon's pawn to be used by anyone who comes along and offers her protection or maybe a bit of understanding? Is she a consultant to the FBI when they are given strange and unusual cases? Is she humanities savior against the demon lords who want to establish a permanent link between worlds, and take what they think they are entitled to? Is she Lord Mzatal's newest object of affection or just someone he can use as he feels the need?

With her best friend and very pregnant Jill Faciane ready to have her baby at any moment, Kara wonders if Zack will be around when it's time, or will he be off in the demon realm? Now that she's found Idris, will she tell him that they are related, or will she keep that secret bottled up? Kara's allies in this book are a curious bunch that includes Detective Vincent Pellini who she's never gotten along with, but who has some interesting abilities that come in handy. Pellini is actually a good guy who is finally being taken seriously. Idris is free of the demon world and trying to help Kara closing any demon valves that continue to open in the human realm thanks to Katashi and his minions.

Bryce Thatcher is a former hit man now an ally of Kara's. Bryce was the one who is responsible for Kara being wanted by the Police. This book has brief appearances with Ryan Kristoff and Zack Garner as well as Lord Mzatal who is fighting fires in the demon realm. Even though Rhyzkahl tried to bend Kara into becoming a new being named Rowan, Kara managed to escape but with a series complex and hideous scars on her body. She's had time to get used to some new powers, and yet in this installment, they kind of fizzle. I've learned over the past several books not to trust Rhyzkahl, so his continued connection and appearance kinds of makes me scream. 

Kara and accompanying allies are pulled from one emergency to another. There are some horrible and puzzling revelations and a betrayal nobody saw coming. There's a lot of self introspection, heartbreak and high emotion but some of it fell flat. Perhaps it was because it's been several years since I read Fury of the Demon, but I have to wonder how the author is going to wrap up this series in a way that doesn't seem to be rushed for the sake of ensuring the readers haven't lost interest after so long of not having one of these books released.

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*Book Review* Fury of the Demon by Diana Rowland (UF)

Series: Kara Gillian # 6
Publisher: DAW
Released: January 7, 2014
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback, 484 pages
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Who can Kara Gillian trust?

That’s what she’d like to know. Demon summoner and now a consultant for the FBI, Kara Gillian has spent the past several months in the demon realm training while recovering from the treachery of the demonic lord Rhyzkahl. Yet though the torment and betrayal she suffered at his hands continues to plague her, she’s not about to let that slow her down.

Kara returns to Earth to search for a fellow summoner being held by allies of Rhyzkahl. Aiding in the hunt are Kara’s friends, FBI agents Ryan Kristoff and Zack Garner. However, Kara and Zack know Ryan’s true identity—though he himself does not—and questions of loyalty threaten to tear apart their previously close-knit group. Rhyzkahl’s machinations run deeper than they could have ever imagined, and the search for the missing summoner takes on a desperate edge while dangers from ancient demon oaths loom and enemies increase in power and numbers.

Armed with her skills, wit, and attitude, it is up to Kara to save her friends and her world.

The price of failure will be her soul. 

Demon summoner and former cop Kara Gillian returns in Fury of the Demon, the sixth adventure in the series. After spending the past months in the Demon Realm training with her new demon buddy Mzatal and healing from being betrayed and nearly turned into a play toy by her former demon lover Rhyzkahl, Kara has to face a whole slew of problems when she returns home, including yet another powerful villain, and a wholesale change in Kara’s homestead.

Her problems start with finding out who she really is, and realizing that things have changed since she was summoned to the Demon Realm. If she isn't a cop any longer, what exactly is she? Is she just a demon's pawn to be used by anyone who comes along and offers her protection or maybe a bit of understanding? Is she a consultant to the FBI when they are given strange and unusual cases? Is she humanities savior against the demon lords who want to establish a permanent link between worlds, and take what they think they are entitled to?

Then there are her friends, or as they are now called, Kara's Posse: FBI agents Ryan Kristoff aka Szerian, Zack Garner, along with her best friend and very pregnant Jill Faciane. At the top of her to do list, however, is finding Idris, her friend and fellow summoner who was taken away to Earth by someone who betrayed Kara's new lover, and has plans in place to lure Kara into a trap that will change who she is forever. But, let's take things one at a time.

Kara & Mzatal's relationship is mind boggling to me and not on the same level as her connection to Ryan. Out of one relationship, straight into another one after he forcibly summoned Kara to the Demon Realm. One could say that there is a connection between the characters. Or, one could say that Mzatal is exactly what Kara needs after being brutalized and betrayed. But, in the end, Mzatal has become a rather unique and powerful friend, lover, and partner to Kara who desperately needs to understand her abilities. I don't personally think this will last, but what do I know?

If you've read this series from the beginning, you know that Kara was a bit on the lonely side until Ryan and Zack came along. Kara's Posse has grown larger with the additions of Bryce, Paul, and yes, even Sonny. Kara's other Posse members even include a slew of demons, including her bodyguard Eilahn, and perhaps a new understanding with Detective Pellini who has always treated Kara with scorn and ridicule.

I am, however, wondering in what direction this series is heading since not much is settled in the book. Except for the unveiling of Ryan's true alter-ego Szerian, and hopefully the end to Kara's descent into obscurity, there are so many questions about Kara, about her love for these Demons, about how she can truly trust any of them after all the shit she's been through, and whether or not there are traitors within Kara's Posse just waiting to strike.

I don't know about other readers, but I was happy that the story returned to Kara's hometown, and took a break from the Demon Realm. I needed a break from the Demon politics and a good ole fashion action packed adventure. There was an interesting revelation in this book, and if you truly want to know what it is, I am sure there are spoilers on Goodreads that you can peak at. Let's just say that Kara's life is far from settled at this point and move on wards to the next installment!

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