For Michael Gilbert, the only High Demon ever known to work for the Temple, nothing is ever simple. Not even meeting the new Temple Team sent to be based in his home town. To work with them, he must reveal his true nature to them: and temple teams, trained to be the shield against all threats to the Human Realm, would be unlikely to accept a peaceful coexistence. One particular member of the team is clearly antagonistic from the beginning. Whether the new Guardian will work with Michael or try to kill him was only one of the questions this meeting would have to answer. Meanwhile, reports are trickling in from Michael's sources in Riverton's government that there have been a series of murders of humans with power that bear all the hallmarks of organized demonic involvement. Now Michael must discover who was behind the murders, keep his Priestess, May, out of their crosshairs, convince his new colleague that he is not the enemy, and determine if the young Guardian has been sent deliberately to provoke Michael into a death match. If it came to that, it would hardly matter whether Michael won or lost...because when it comes to demons, there is no self-defense plea.