Hell's Heroes

Grubbs Grady sits in a cave with his uncle Dervish, who has only a short time left. They joke the way they always have, and Grubbs recalls how Dervish stood by him. Dervish dies, and Grubbs carries the body out into the open air and digs the grave himself, slowly and painfully.

Roughly four weeks on, Grubbs faces a snakelike demon, the creature that killed the granny Disciple. Demons are breaking through all over the globe, wave after wave, and he has gathered another group of werewolves to hold them back. He is slowly being worn down.

A recurring dream shows him Bec in Lord Loss's kingdom, and in one of the torture chambers he sees Bo Kooniart. Bec then persuades Lord Loss to take them into Earth's first chessboard, where time seems to freeze. Afterwards Grubbs watches Bec hug Lord Loss once he agrees to something involving lodestones, and Grubbs concludes she has betrayed them.

So the group sets out to destroy every lodestone they can before Bec reaches it. They start at Carcery Vale, the one site they know, travelling with Kernel, Kirilli and the werewolves Curly and Moe. Governments and militaries help them get there by plane and helicopter, and the werewolves hate one and love the other. Kernel warns that this may be exactly what Bec and Lord Loss want.

Grubbs smashes the lodestone and grinds the pieces into the ground. Then Shark and Timas Brauss step out of the dark, and a window to the Demonata universe must be opened.