Exiled from heaven, fallen angel Matthew spends his time on earth by fleecing the suckers with his traveling preacher act. Matthew turned his back on faith and hope long ago. He has little respect for himself and even less for the true believers who stupidly, blindly sit in their folding chairs with their eyes turned upward, their hands clutching prayer books while he preaches fiery sermons and gives them miracles that a mediocre magician would be ashamed of. His tent show goes bad one night when instead of his usual shill, a member of the audience is lead forward by newsmen hoping to discredit Matthew on national TV. As soon as Matthew lays hands on the girl, he realizes her possession by demons is genuine. For the first time in centuries, Matthew finds himself in a battle against evil and in a fight for his life.

Matthew's "act" that night is witnessed by Natalia Ashley, who manages rock superstar Cain. She's impressed by Matthew's charisma and wants to hire him to participate in Cain's stage show. Natalia realizes right away that Matthew is a fraud, but one with the allure her show needs. Part of Cain's bad-boy image is his claim that he has sold his soul to the devil. Natalia's idea is that Matthew come up on stage with Cain to "drive the demons out" in a show- stopping number at the end of each performance. Trouble is, Cain has stupidly sold his soul to the Devil and a couple of Satan's henchmen are in place as roadies to make sure Cain fulfills his part of the bargain. They know who Matthew is, even if Cain and Natalia are in the dark, and aren't keen on him joining the group. They have a plan and a timetable and disposing of Matthew and Natalia has just moved on to their list of "things to do." Matthew finds himself coming back to life with Natalia. His love for a mortal woman turns out to be just what it takes to restore Matthew's spirit and get him back into the fight between good and evil.

Margaret Weis has been writing for decades, so is an author with plenty of experience who knows her way around a plot. What I'm not certain about is angels, Biblical angels, as the romantic and sexual lead. Sharon Shinn used angels successfully, but there's a science fiction twist that explains exactly what they are. Anne Bishop uses men with wings, but they're an alien race, no one can call them angels. There is some literature about fallen angels, the nephilim, coming to earth to marry human woman and have children. But the sexless, fiery warrior angels who "take neither man or wife"...I don't know. It's not that I think biblical angels should be "off limits" in any way -- I'm not coming from a religious viewpoint -- I'm just not certain they're the "fantasy men" I want to read about.