Ceridwyn Brent and Cheryl Tennant are having a very busy year. There is the long-term project to build a ley line bringing energy from the German Rift to London where it will be converted into electricity to run the entire city. There is the annual Thaumatology Conference, this year based in London. And everything seems to be going remarkably well, even if people are still thinking the world might end before New Year.Then the conference is threatened by a group of militant scientists and there are growing rumours of a war between demons and dragons which has been going on for millennia, but may be about to flare up again on Earth. It is time to pick sides and decide upon loyalties, and Ceri has dragon ancestors while Lily Carpenter, her lover, is half-demon. When colleagues and friends begin to vanish or fall, can the two friends keep their relationship together?