Tess Noncoire is a best-selling fantasy writer and Celestial Blade Warrior, trained to guard our world against demon incursions from other dimensions. And though her novels are sold as fantasy, what her readers don't know is that these books are based on her own experiences. Her real-world partner in this fight to protect humankind is a strange little cigar-smoking imp called Scrap. Scrap can be rude, crude, and mischievous, but he's also cunning, intelligent, something of an expert on the demon dimensions and those who inhabit them, and devoted to Tess. And with every fight, with every demon they defeat, Scrap grows stronger and a little larger. When he transforms from imp to Celestial Blade, Tess and Scrap can hold their own against some of the deadliest foes. Though they've saved the world from destruction numerous times, they've made powerful enemies as well as unexpected allies along the way.
Now Tess is attending a writers' conference in Las Vegas, taking along her mother, who is depressed over the death of her demon husband. But Vegas, a fantasy land in its own right, will hold many surprises for mother and daughter, not the least of which is Mom getting a job as a blues singer in the casino.
When Tess takes her mom to see one of the Big Acts in Vegas, she is amazed to see winged dancers flying about the stage, seemingly unsupported by any wires. Soon Tess discovers that the reason for this is that the dancers are actually faeries who are being held captive in the casino against their will. Tess and Scrap learn that the faeries are dying, and unless they can return to their own plane they and their entire dimension may die.
As Scrap makes some forays into the inter-dimensional Chat Room to which all portals lead, he discovers that the energy leaking from the portal to faery realm is beginning to undermine all the other dimensions as well.
With time running out, the quest leads them to Lady Lucia, a mysterious "woman" of power who may hold the answers to many of the challenges they face. But whether they can or should pay the price she is likely to demand is open for debate.
Even with the aid of the two men in her life, Guilford Van der Hoyden-Smythe - Gollum to his friends - and handsome, enigmatic Donovan Estevez - the foster son of a demon and a man of mysterious origins - Tess doesn't know if she and Scrap can break the spell that binds the winged dancers and set all the dimensions - including their own - back on their proper pathways.