Darkness Reigns

The world changed while they were away...

Gabrielle Williams has done the impossible. She pierced the Veil, entered the Beyond, and dragged her husband Cade back from the nightmare realm where he'd been slowly transforming into the very monster he'd fought his entire life. Together they've survived spectres, shadow demons, and the corrupting nature of the spirit world itself.

But the world they return to is not the one they left behind.

The sky bleeds red. Tornado gods tear across the land. The towns and cities stand empty, abandoned to looting and decay. Every road is choked with the rusted remains of a mass exodus that went nowhere. And the only living things Cade and Gabrielle encounter are nightgaunts—bat-winged horrors from the darker planes that hunt humans for sport.

A pulse-pounding fight for survival in a world conquered by demons, where the last free humans wage a desperate resistance against an enemy that wears the faces of angels.

The truth is worse than they feared. While they were gone, the Adversary and the Seven—fallen angels possessing the bodies of archangels—completed their conquest. America has been carved into demon territories, each ruled by one of the Seven. In the Northeast, a being calling itself the Regent commands from a fortress in Manhattan, enforcing his rule with the Knights of the Red Fist and an army of half-breed fomori warriors bred from captured human women in forced breeding programs.

The Templar Order has been shattered. Most are dead. The rest have gone underground, scattered into isolated pockets of resistance barely clinging to survival. Major Hale commands the last functioning commandery, hidden deep in the ruins of western Connecticut, where a handful of loyal knights prepare desperate raids to free prisoners from the Regent's work camps.

And Captain Matthew Riley? Against all odds, he survived the grenade blast that should have killed him. Now commanding the Templar remnants alongside an enigmatic hooded figure radiating immense power, Riley has been holding the line, waiting for the one weapon that might turn the tide.

Cade Williams. The Heretic.

But Cade is changing. Something about the world's transformation has activated his angelic bloodline in ways it never did before. He's faster, stronger, able to tear thoughts from minds with his bare hands. The question is whether these new abilities will be enough to face an enemy that has already won—or whether Cade is becoming something just as monstrous as the demons they're fighting.

When fallen angels rule from towers of glass and steel, and humanity has been reduced to livestock, three warriors launch a suicide mission into the heart of darkness itself.

Gabrielle is captured during a raid on a work camp and dragged in chains to the Regent's stronghold atop Trump Tower in Manhattan. There, the demon prince—a creature that heals instantly from any wound—selects her for "special questioning," a fate worse than death.

Cade won't let that stand. With Riley at his side and his newfound powers blazing, he's going to storm the Regent's fortress, tear through an army of demons and human collaborators, and bring his wife home. He doesn't care that it's suicide. He doesn't care that the odds are impossible.

He's died before. He'll do it again if that's what it takes.

The battle for Manhattan begins at midnight. The Templars have one chance to strike at the heart of the Adversary's power structure. One chance to prove that humanity hasn't been beaten. One chance to ignite a rebellion that could spread across the conquered territories.

All they have to do is survive.

The Echo Team has faced impossible odds before. But this time, they're not just fighting for their lives—they're fighting for the soul of a world that's already been lost. This time, victory means nothing less than taking back the Earth itself, one blood-soaked city block at a time.

Perfect for fans of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim, and post-apocalyptic supernatural warfare.

What readers are saying:

"Darkness Reigns is The Road meets Constantine—Cade and Gabrielle return from Beyond to find civilization has collapsed and demons rule from Manhattan. The world-building is bleak, visceral, and absolutely gripping."

"If you thought Book 6 was dark, this takes it to another level entirely. Forced breeding programs, work camps, nightgaunts hunting through abandoned cities, and Riley ALIVE with a prosthetic leg. Nassise doesn't hold back."

"

The Adversary WON. That's the gut-punch this book delivers in the first chapter and never lets up. Watching Cade develop literal superpowers while planning a suicide raid on demon-occupied Manhattan is everything I wanted."

"Post-apocalyptic urban fantasy done right. The empty highways, the feral dog packs, the tornado swarms—every detail screams 'the world ended while you were gone' and it's terrifying and brilliant."

New York Times and USA Today bestseller Joseph Nassise continues his internationally acclaimed Templar Chronicles series with a devastating vision of demonic conquest and the desperate resistance of those who refuse to kneel.