Infernal Affairs

Infernal Affairs, Jes Battis, Ace Books, 2011

Part of a series, this book is about Tess Corday, who works the night shift as an Occult Special Investigator in present-day Vancouver. She is den mother for an interesting group of individuals. Mia is a teen-age girl who, in a previous book, was bitten by a vampire, but hasn't "turned" due to daily injections. Patrick is a vampire with the ability to go out in the daytime. Miles and Derrick are gay lovers. In a previous book, Derrick was bitten by a paranormal creature, and fears that he is turning into "something different."

Today's assignment is to steal a body from the local morgue. It may look like a young boy, but it is actually a very elderly demon named Ru. They arrive just as Dr Rashid, the pathologist, starts his autopsy. He cuts into the body, and the child/demon sits up and starts screaming. At the moment, a large, angry centaur appears. It wants to bring Ru back to face "demon justice" (for lack of a better term).

In custody, the centaur threatens all sorts of grievous bodily harm, in very creative ways, for Tess and her group, and for Selena, her immediate boss. It also intimates that it knows the identity of Tess's father. Being half demon, Tess knows that her father was some sort of major-league demon who impregnated her mother. Tess does not even know his name. Do Tess and friends save Ru from the centaur? Does Tess get any answers concerning her father?

This is a first-rate piece of storytelling. It does not overdo the paranormal part, and it is extremely easy to read. Yes, it is worth the time.