On a bright sunny day, REGAN O'CONNELL sits on a park bench, sulking, just a few minutes from a bad decision. The year is 1891, and the park bench is located on the campus of the Sh'ree demon College of the Arcane. She has been sent to the demon Plane of existence and the college as part of her training for the job of Wolfe, a special agent for the vampire syndicate, the GREY BRETHREN.
Twenty going on twelve and a reluctant student, Regan's lack of enthusiasm is compounded by her chronic inability to master magic. Though she is the self-described result of human and vampire hanky-panky, her blood sings with potent but chronically unresponsive magical energy. When her friend, TALIS, a dark elf, offers to help with her academic difficulties, she readily agrees. Unfortunately, his form of assistance is best described as cheating.
Now more than a century later, Regan is a constant screw-up, hanging on to her position as Wolfe only through nepotism--her father is on the Brethren's board of directors. Hoping to keep her out of trouble, the Brethren assign her to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a place that sizzles with magical energy, but is too far from available interPlanar travel routes to garner much interest from non-humans (elves, demons, fairies, et al.).
In Albuquerque, her responsibilities are confined to brokering minor trade agreements. After one such negotiation, a disgruntled Teile demon storms off, complaining that the Brethren impede the business of creatures like himself, while ignoring the "dark magical dealings" of humans. Regan doesn't pursue his comment any further for fear of alerting her superiors to another failed negotiation.
Barely competent in her real day job, Regan find needed respect in the 8-to-5 workplace. Although the combination of a magical disability and dyslexia has made study of the arcane difficult, Regan is a math wiz and through the decades accumulated a host of degrees in the sciences. She puts her latest degree, a PhD in computer science from M.I.T., to use as a computer programmer for Koar Industries. A few weeks after the meeting with the demon, Regan's mundane life collides with the paranormal when Eva Osborne, a compulsive matchmaker, sets her up on a blind date.
Regan meets Eva, her boyfriend Kyle and JASON BLAIR at a local pizza parlor. Jason and his partner are HOLDERS, an ancient order devoted to protecting humankind from things that go bump in the night, creatures like Regan. Complete with a beating heart, Regan is outwardly a young human woman, and Jason is eager to get to know her better. Though discomforted by the idea of spending any time with a Holder, Regan agrees to a second date with Jason.
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