Dragon Wytch by Yasmine Galenorn

Camille D'Artigo is a half-fae, half-human witch from the Otherworld. Many eons ago, the Human world split from the Otherworld, and humans forgot that most of the creatures of Faery ever existed. Five years ago, however, the humans became aware that the otherworld existed, and Camille and her sisters, Melody and Delilah, were sent over by the OIA, the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, to help out the humans in their struggle to deal with the creatures and beings of the Otherworld.

Because their positions don't exactly come with high salaries, each of them has a job which they do as part of their daily life. Camille owns a bookstore, Delilah has a job as a PI, and Melody works in a bar at night, which fits right in with her new hours as a vampire. Delilah is a shapeshifter, and her usual form is as a golden-furred pussycat, but since she was adopted by the Autumn Lord in her book (Changeling), she has an alternate form of a black panther.

Dragon Wytch starts with the smell of pixie dust. Camille can smell it in her shop, and when she is walking home, she sees a bunch of goblins attacking a unicorn. Unusual in that most unicorns will not even enter a fae or elf city, let alone a human one. Using her magic to help the unicorn fight off its attackers, she learns that the Unicorn is named Feddrah-Danns, although she doesn't realize until later that he is the Prince of the Danns unicorns. The Danns unicorns occupy a particular forest in the Otherworld, but more importantly, they are ruled by a being known as the Black Unicorn.

As far as anyone in the otherworld knows, the Black Unicorn might be a fake, and is said to be immortal and ageless. Feddrah-Danns confirms the stories, and is there to deliver a particular magical artifact to Camille. Specifically, the Horn of the Black Unicorn. Or, one of them, anyway. Actually, the Black Unicorn is long-lived, but not immortal, and the possessor of one of the horns gains a great deal of magic power. Unfortunately for Camille, the messenger Feddrah-Danns sent to give Camille the horn, a Pixie known as Mistletoe, was attacked by Cryptos, mostly goblins with a bugbear and some trolls, and is now missing. If she wants to be the possessor of the Horn, she must find Mistletoe.

After tracking down the trolls and goblins who attacked the Pixie, Camille finally runs him to earth, and is given possession of the Horn, along with some important information and caveats about it. One that she finds the most objectionable is that she must get the horn itself to agree to be wielded by her. If she cannot, the horn will simply destroy her.

Another problem that pops up for her is her deal with "Smoky", a huge white dragon who she made a deal with in her own first book, "Witchling". In exchange for his help, she agreed to spend an entire week with him... not all at once, but spaced out over time. Now the time has come to pay up on the first night of her price, and she is scared out of her mind about what Smoky wants to do with her. She also has two lovers already, the Dark Elf Trillian, and the Youkai Morio. Both are more or less fine with her bargain, but Trillian is much more possessive of her. So when he is called back to Otherworld, where he has a price on his head, for a special scouting mission for the queen, Camille is both scared for him, and a bit relieved that she doesn't have to deal with his jealousy.

In addition to spending the night with Smoky, which knocks her socks off, he asks her to speak with another half-fey who has been squatting on land he considers his, Morgaine. He wants Camille to speak with her and find out what Morgaine wants. So Camille does so, and finds out that Morgaine wants to bring back the two courts of Faerie, the Bright and the Dark, thinking that this will end much of the strife that Otherworld is currently experiencing. The trouble is that Morgaine wishes to rule the Bright Court, while giving the ruling of the Dark Court over to Aoife, a fae who dissapeared or was imprisoned ages ago. Morgaine claims to have found a cave where Aoife is imprisoned.

Her talk with Morgaine is interrupted by Titania, former queen of the Bright Court. Once afflicted with Alcoholism, Titania has apparently recovered, and also has a problem with Smoky, who is on land that she considers hers. She dismisses Camille to have a talk with Morgaine, and Camille returns to Smoky's lair for another bout of passion.

There are many bigger problems in the human world, however, and the largest is a demon called Shadow Wing, who wishes to gather the seals that sealed his kind away from the world and break them, allowing them to bring chaos and death to both the human world and the otherworld. Camille and her sisters have been fighting him, and have managed to get two of the seals, keeping them away from Shadow Wing and his minions, However, with a total of nine seals out there, they must find the rest to ensure that his plans do not come to fruition.

Morio has found a human who claims to have found a cave that no one else can find, and who was strangely affected by a gemstone that was part of a sword that was in the cave. Based on the description of the gem, it's obvious that the gem is one of the seals, and the sword may be that of King Arthur. However, no one believes him, and his family thinks he's had a psychotic break with reality and stuck him in an insane asylum or "rest home". Morio, however, has approached the man in fox form, as he will not talk to humans, and he tells Camille about the man.

Camille pretends to be a cousin of the man, and goes to visit him, along with her "fianceé", Morio. There, they talk to the man, who recognizes them for what they are, and they determine that he is also part-fey, and this is why he could both find the cave and see the seal in the first place. He will help them find it, if only they can get him out of the "rest home" he is in.

Meanwhile, Camille recieves the distressing news that her lover, Trillian, was captured by Goblins and is being tortured. The only way to find him is to Marry both Morio and Smoky, and use their power and skills, along with her own magic, to track down Trillian in Otherworld. Before she can do this, however, she is approached by Morgaine and Titania, who need her help and the magic of the Horn of the Black Unicorn, to bring back the Courts. Actually, there will be three: The Bright Court of Day, ruled over by Titania, the Dark Court of Night with Aoife, and the Court of Twilight, which will be that of the part-fey and those who choose to live in the Human world, ruled by Morgaine. Camille, seeing the justice of the words and idea, lends her magic and her support, and the spell takes place in the cave where the third seal is found. But three demons are attacking Camille and her sisters, trying to make them give up the seals they already have.

Can Camille keep her family and lovers safe from the demons, while defending the two seals she already possesses and keeping the one from the cave safe? Or is this one battle she is destined to lose?

I have really enjoyed this series from the beginning, and seeing the further evolution in the skills and powers of Camille D'Artigo is wonderful. Her scenes with Smoky are powerful and sexy, and even if she has an obsession with fashion, she is definitely a strong woman who kicks butt and takes names. This is not to say she is without flaws, as her magic doesn't always work as she wants it to, and complications with her relationships with her lovers take up as much of her mental space as stopping Shadow Wing.

But the series is a joy to read, and one of the better paranormal series out there. From the descriptions of a group of vampires who have started a twelve-step group to overcome their addiction to the red stuff, to the descriptions of Smoky's lair, this is a book you will more than enjoy as you read. As well, the sheer number of supernatural entities Camille and her sisters encounter bring a wide variety and incredible diversity to the series. I'll look out for more of this series anxiously, and forward to a smile on my face while reading them.