After cutting all ties to her human family, Allay has found a home of sorts in New York. Running the bar, The Den on C, allows her to feel connected to humans, while repaying the nourishment they give her with what all good bartenders provide; an ear to listen, and a small relief from pain and sorrow. She's under the protection of the demon Vex (who himself is posing as the leader of a proselytizing spiritualist movement), but that isn't enough to keep her safe.

Newly made demons and those who have been around for centuries find her particular blend of human emotion with demon energy as savory and seductive as a full-course dinner. And when a New York cabbie steps between Allay and a hungry demon, she can do nothing but bring him under her protection, despite the hunger he sparks within.

Vex's protection isn't free, she pays for it with actions that are harder and harder to justify to her human conscience. Mostly she keeps her head down, tending bar and sipping emotion, but when her demon-sister Shock arrives needing help and protection she has no choice but to take her in. Her carefully built world is about to get complicated. There's a demon-killer in town. It's untraceable, invisible until the being is too close to escape. And Shock appears to be next on the list. Even worse, a choice she can no longer evade is barreling toward her life of contrived simplicity. Take a life, or die.

S. L. Wright's uniquely-crafted world of urban fantasy adds a fascinating spin to what is at heart a book about relationships and self-knowledge. No heavy-handed moralizing though, just a fun, fast read with plenty to chew on before the much-awaited next in the series comes out.