Kris Starr used to be famous. Rock and roll. Sold-out shows. Literal magic. Empathic talents and screaming fans. But he has a problem or two. He's having a hard time writing new music. It’s Midwinter, which means he’s surrounded by depressing holiday cheer. And he's in love with Justin, his manager, who has a talent for rescuing almost- or once-famous bands ... and who’s hiding secrets of his own. Justin Moore, on the other hand, is very good at keeping those secrets -- he's had to be for years. One secret involves a demonic inheritance that would make him a target of suspicion. Another involves his past. And the third involves Justin’s feelings for Kris Starr, rock and roll icon and now his client ... and a powerful empath of his own.

A Demon for Midwinter

She had Justin’s pointed chin and wide light-up-the-world smile. Filled up the nursery, the room, the painting. Tempted life in to celebrate along.


“I don’t remember much.” Justin let his hand fall. “Bits and pieces. Her voice, I think. Warm and sort of smoky, the way voices can be, you know? And scents—I always think of flowers, roses, carnations, and I don’t know why. The big floppy crimson kind of flowers, almost spicy, like breathingholidays. But I was too young to really…I don’t know her.”


The girl in the painting was young also. She’d forever be young. She’d’ve seen Justin in that crib, growing up in that small children’s room with the starry-sky mural, for only three years. Before a car and an accident, and minor demons were more or less as mortal as anyone else, faced with brutal unforgiving metal.


Chapter 65