[ for marcie ]

after being wrongfully accused of a crime she did not commit, the angel of justice is cast down to the mortal realm, ostensibly to eradicate a thriving demon colony living on the earth's surface.

the message, however, is very clear: she is never to return.

friendless, alone, and stranded in hostile territory where nightfall is the only relief from the scorching heat, the fallen angel quickly makes a name for herself in the dust-dry frontier towns. she's a notorious gunslinging private investigator by day and a brutally efficient demon hunter at night . . . until a chance encounter amidst the harsh, piercing winds of ash-dark desert puts her directly in the clutches of the 'mourning star' - a thrice-widowed aristocrat who also happens to be the reigning queen of the demons living { above }.

fortunately, the mourning star wants nothing from the angel of fury. instead, she enlists the angel in her quest to rid herself of her current husband, and reveals that the divine authority that rules from the gleaming city in the clouds has been consorting with the corrupt sovereign { below }.

as the angel races to warn the others, all while navigating a vicious game of politics under desolate skies and howling sands, time grows short. the rumors that slither through the arid air hiss of bloody apocalypse, all fire and brimstone and millennia of fury just barely contained { below }, but something tells the angel that the truth of the situation is far more dire . . .