Daemons are Forever by Simon R. Green

Edward Drood is a member of the Drood Family, a family that has existed since before humanity got civilized, and serves as the protector of humanity. To assist them in this endeavor, each member of the family recieved a golden torc that could become armor. Armor to make them stronger, faster and invulnerable to harm. But Eddie, known as Shaman Bond to the outside world, discovered the price that the family was paying to receive the armor: they were sacrificing one of every set of twins born to the family to an otherworldly intelligence, who, in turn, gave the family its armor. In addition, the family had stopped being humanity's protectors, and become its controllers, blackmailing government officials into doing what the family wanted.

But Eddie put a stop to that, banishing the Heart that accepted the sacrifices, and making a deal with Strange, a far more benificent entity, to provide armor for the family. However, the disappearance of the torcs has thrown the family into chaos, and Eddie, with his girlfriend Molly, Witch of the Wild Wood, has determined to return his family to their roles as protectors of humanity. But he needs to find an enemy to take on, to show the enemies of his family that they are back, and they once more have armor.

He decides on a set of demons called the Loathly Ones, and recruits four outsiders to become tutors for the family: Subway Sue, a luck vampire, The Blue Fairy, a half-elf, mister Stab, a serial killer who was once Jack the Ripper, condemned to live forever with nothing but killing for the murders he once perpetrated, and Janissary Jane, a demon fighter who has lived longer than any other demon fighter in existence. The family trains with and listens to them, and Eddie gives out the first 50 new torcs to the family, then goes to the Nazca Plain to take on the structure that the Loathly Ones are building there.

But the mission, while successful, is also a failure. Most of the Droods in the attack are killed, and the family, naturally, blames Eddie. But Eddie has received the Merlin Glass from the Family armorer, and uses it to find the kind of military leader the family needs, that is related to the family. In the far future, it finds Giles Deathstalker, but he is too far in the future for the glass to reach. Instead, they must use an invention called the Time Train to reach him.

By the time they get him back, even though the time train could have gotten them back only a few months after they left, a year and a half has passed, and the Loathly Ones are close to their goal of bringing one of the elder gods to this world, which will result in the world's obliteration. They also discover that one of the Loathly Ones has infected Sebastian, one of the family, and been using him to spy on the Droods.

In fighting him, Molly is infected by the Loathly Ones, and now Eddie, Giles Deathstalker, and the rest of the Droods, must fight to throw the Loathly Ones back where they came from, allowing Humanity to live and be free. But can anything save Molly from her infection, or will she have to die as well?

I have long enjoyed Simon R. Green's books, from the "Hawk and Fisher" series to the more recent "Nightside" series. Eddie Drood was a peripheral character in the Nightside series, and he kept his membership as part of the Drood family to himself, and for good reason, as lots of people had good reason to hate the Droods. In this book, we find out more about the family, and are given another reason to dislike Eddie's family: They are the people who actually summoned the Loathly Ones to Earth, to fight against Hitler in World War Two. But even then, it is implied that there is a traitor in the family who pushed for the family to use them, when there were plenty of other, safer, saner alternatives.

Eddie is a study in contrasts. Much of the time, he is stuck in his family's way of doing things, even as he longs to change the family and what they are doing, and not to mention the way they are doing it. By the end of the book, though, he has shown that he is the best choice to lead the family, by finally putting an end to the Loathly Ones. And while he often comes across as autocratic and controlling, he truly has the best interests of his family at heart.

His girlfriend, Molly, is just as strange as he is, having recieved her powers from pacts with various forces, both good and evil. She is even more capricious than Eddie, but serves well as a foil to Eddie's more over the top impulses. And her infection at the end makes her more sympathetic, even as Eddie conceals the knowledge of her doomed state from her.

Even while I like the books of Simon R. Green, I had an awfully hard time getting into this book. Unlike his former heroes, Eddie is not as interesting or sympathetic as, say, John Taylor, his former hero from the "Tales of the Nightside" novels, and neither is his family. So while the book was enjoyable, I never really got invested in the story as I felt I should have. So, I'll recommend it, but with a caution, and look forward to more Nightside novels.