Demon Road (book)

Demon Road is the first published book in the Demon Road Trilogy by Derek Landy. The book was published on the 27th of August 2015.

## Plot

Amber Lamont is sent to the principal for getting into an altercation with a fellow student at her highschool, Saffron. It is only the latest in a idiosyncratic spree of fights Amber has gotten into recently. As a result, Amber's parents are called in and after some discussion with the headmistress have her fired with a phonecall. They ultimately make the principal beg to keep her job. Amber starts developing a headache from the incident.

Amber has an after school job as a waiter at the Firebird and talks to her coworker Sally about what happened. Two young men come into the restaurant, making Amber's headache worsen all of a sudden. She accidentally spills milkshake onto Brandon (one of the afforemention), angering him. Sally eventually had to make the duo leave due to their obnoxiousness. However, Amber runs into the two (Brandon and Dan) on her way home, and a brief scuffle ensures. Amber emerges victorious, having smashed Brandon's face in and biting off Dan's finger. Horrified with what she'd seen and done, Amber runs home, wondering whether she could trust her eyes.

Back at home Betty notices that something was bothering Amber, so she has a long talk with her daughter to find out what happened. Amber tells Betty everything, noting how strangely elated Betty was when hearing the news. Betty then proceeds to call her friends over, which puzzles Amber further. Amber also notices that she was the only one that ate the meal prepared by her parents, and excused herself early due to a bad headache because of the drug in the food. Then she receives a call from Sally, warning her that the police were looking for her. Amber tries to go downstairs, and sees her parents turn into demons and kill the policemen looking for her. Completely shocked, Amber proceeds to flee from the house, but doesn't get far in her weakened state. She eventually passes out in front of Imelda, one of her parents' demon friends, whilst lying on the road.

When Amber wakes the next day, she realizes that she has been moved to another location. She sees Imelda talking on the phone outside her room, and tries to sneak away before she is spotted. But there is a man waiting outside the apartment with a shotgun on a nearby table. Amber tries to frighten the man by threatening to shoot him with the shotgun. Unfazed, the man asks her to go back inside, where Imelda will explain everything to her. Amber reluctantly obeys, and gets a terrible shock when Imelda reveals that they are all demons, having made a deal with a demon (the Shining Demon) roughly a century ago. Things get worse when Amber finds out that her parents and friends want to eat her so their powers can be augmented as a part of the pact they made with the Demon. Imelda then tells Amber to flee with Milo Sebastian, the man Amber met outside. Initially apprehensive, Amber agrees to the plan after realizing that Imelda had loved her the most.

After Amber was all set, Milo takes her to an occult expert by the name of Edgar Spurrier. Edgar helps Amber to contact the Shining Demon. Amber strikes a deal with the Shining Demon where she hands him the man who'd evaded him for fifteen years in exchange for making her blood poisonous to her parents. However, Amber neglects to mention that she has a deadline of three weeks to locate the said escapee.

Amber and Milo continue on their journey, and Milo switches the SUV for a 1970 Dodge Charger. When they stop for gas, Amber shifts into her demonic form in the bathroom so she can examine herself better. But someone ends up seeing her, and Amber had to beat the witness into unconsciousness. Amber then ran to the woods nearby, where she encountered Glen whilst skinny-dipping. Amber goes back to Milo, and he warns her to never shift in public as it would attract the attention of her parents. Glen is then allowed to join them on their journey, as he helped misdirect Betty and Bill when they suddenly caught up at the gas station.

When the trio reach Chicago, they start searching for leads concerning the serial killer Dacre Shanks who made a deal with a demon for a key that lets him open doors to anywhere. His MO is turning his victims into dolls in the small dollhouses he creates and then accesses using his key. Amber finds him in order to find the man who eluded the Shining Demon (Amber's bargaining tool). They eventually locate the man in one of the dollhouses he made in the past, Dacre is now the size of a doll. Dacre eventually tells them that the man they were after is Gregory Buxton. Amber is tricked into letting Dacre out, and Milo had to get help from the sheriff's wife to defeat Dacre. Milo throws Dacre in the trunk of the Charger, and they all hit the road.

At some point, Milo takes Amber and Glen to The Dark Stair so Glen can pass his Deathmark to someone named Abigail. They are all stunned to see that Abigail was just a young girl and the owner of the joint as well. She doesn't seem to mind that Glen had been originally sent to kill her, and instead directs them to pass the Deathmark to Ralphie and Ossie instead, two drug dealers that had tried to kill Abigail in the past. After a car chase which resulted in Milo getting slightly injured, the three decide to sleep for the night in the car. The next day, they track down the two brothers and a fight takes place. Ossie is shot twice in the chest, while Ralphie was nearly beaten into a pulp by Amber. Glen passes the Deathmark to Ralphie, which ultimately finishes him off. The three weren't particularly happy with Abigail as she had alerted the brothers to their plan, but they take their leave without a fuss.

After a very long drive, the three arrive at the Varga Hotel. Amber notices that there was something amiss during the first night they spent there, but was unable to put her finger on it. Glen was snatched away by something in the hotel, but Amber was unable to save him. The next day, Amber tells Milo all about what's happened, and they find Glen fast asleep in his room. Suspecting that something was up, Milo decides to break into Althea Buxton's house, while Amber and Glen would tail after the old woman to church. After witnessing strange events at the church, Amber and Glen help an unconscious Althea back home. When Gregory Buxton's mother woke, she informs them that the town was overrun with vampires, and points out that Glen was bitten as well.

To make matters worse, Bill and Betty catch up to them once again, cutting off their only routes out of the town. Glen wanders off suddenly, and Amber insists that they find him before leaving the vampire infested town. After sending Althea away to safety, Milo and Amber start their search for Glen in the hotel, killing any vampire they come across. An enraged Vagra attacks them for murdering his children, but Betty and Bill suddenly appear in the hotel and start fighting Vagra as well. But the vampire proves to be more of a match for the two demons, and Amber had to save them before things got out of hand. Betty tries to convince Amber that she still loves her very much, but Amber doesn't believe a word and leaves with an unconscious Glen.

Amber and Milo proceed to find Gregory Buxton's son, Jacob. They reach his desolate home in a small forest, only to find out that Jacob hadn't been in contact with his father in a very long while. Jacob also reveals that he is trapped in the forest as the Shining Demon placed a witch to make Jacob suffer for his father's actions. When Amber, Milo and Glen leave the place, the witch captures Amber and takes her to a cell under a giant tree. Amber finds several other women trapped down there as well, and they explain that they've been there for a really long time. When Amber tries to escape, the witch appears and tests Amber's skin, comparing it to a fellow captive's. The other woman dies as a result, and after Amber explains what took place, the rest of the captives come to the conclusion that the witch was in love with Jacob. During Amber's second attempt at escape, the other women who made it out set the tree on fire, distracting the witch. Amber finally kills the witch with the axe Milo brought along.

When the trio stay in a motel for the night, Betty and Bill track them down and started searching the rooms. Amber goes to wake Glen, only to find that he finally died from his vampire bite. Feeling terrible and frightened, Amber hears gunshots in Milo's room. Imelda helps Amber flee outside, and Amber notices the Charger spitting Dacre out all on its own. Dacre, now emaciated, tries to fight Amber, but dies in a horrible manner as the Charger had somehow drained him. Milo then drives to where Amber and Imelda were hiding, and urges them to hurry. Imelda was unfortunately caught, and Amber was forced to leave her behind. Milo suddenly loses consciousness as he was shot, and the Charger crashes into a lamppost. Amber passes out briefly, but comes to quickly and drives the Charger instead.

After Milo regains his strength, he tells Amber that Edgar will be meeting them in New York as he claims that Gregory Buxton was taking refuge there. Edgar accompanies them to meet Gregory, and is tasked to drive the Charger when Milo chases after Gregory. When Gregory captures Milo, Edgar drives to a warehouse and knocks Amber out. He reveals that he was going to offer her as a sacrifice to the Shining Demon, as he wanted demonic powers as well. Before he was able to complete his task, however, Bill and Betty arrive and try to make Amber join them. Not wanting Imelda to get hurt, Amber nearly gives in, but Imelda sacrifices herself by getting impaled on some steel pipes. Amber's distress was amplified when the rest of the demons start to eat Imelda, getting the power boost they wanted. The Shining Demon's representative arrives to collect the demon's blood, while Amber runs back to the warehouse. Alastair comes after her, and they fight viciously. Amber ends up eating Alastair, getting slightly drunk in the process. Milo and Gregory find her and reveal that they have come to an agreement of sorts when airborne. Amber then tells them about her plan of destroying the jars of blood, which would make Bill and Betty look bad in front of the Shining Demon.

Slightly apprehensive, Milo and Gregory aid Amber to execute her dubious plan. Another fight breaks out, and Kirsty personally attacks Amber, claiming that Amber was really annoying due to her somberness. Grant, on the other hand, takes on Milo and easily overpowers him. Grant then sneers at Milo for depending on a car to obtain powers. Amber then pushes against the Charger slightly due to being thrown around, but the Charger rolled back smoothly on its own accord. Milo is then finally able to change into his demon form, and injures a startled Grant.

When everyone was preoccupied with the fight, Amber runs to the representative and starts smashing the jars. Enraged, the representative changes form and attacks Amber. Amber is nearly eaten, but is saved by Milo and Gregory. As the fight goes on, Amber runs back into the warehouse, Bill and Betty following her. Bill and Betty try to convince Amber to join them, but Amber transports them to the Shining Demon's castle, taking Edgar with her as well. Amber tricks the Shining Demon's assistant, Fool, that Edgar is actually Gregory Buxton. Eager to please its master, Fool didn't doubt Amber and was about to escort Edgar away when the Shining Demon himself appeared.

Edgar tries to offer himself to the Shining Demon, but was scoffed at. The Shining Demon claims Edgar's soul as his own, and proceeds to warn Bill and Betty to never come back. Amber was praised for her bravery and foolishness, as she was bold enough to insult the Shining Demon for not being able to locate Gregory in fifteen years. Since Amber had broken her part of the deal, the Shining Demon promised to send the Hounds of Hell after her and Milo as punishment. Then Amber and her parents are transported back to their world, where Milo and the others were waiting. Bill and Betty then drag the unconscious Grant and Kirsty, acknowledging their defeat. Amber insists that they apologize to her for trying to hurt her, but Bill and Betty firmly believed that everything was Amber's fault. Angry and disappointed, Amber lets them pass.

When Milo realizes what had happened in the Shining Demon's castle, he gets slightly nervous as no one has been able to elude the Hounds of Hell for long. Gregory advises them to head for a place called Desolation, the sole location where the Shining Demon can't touch them. Whilst in another motel, Amber glimpses Glen outside her window, looking sad. She ignores him, and instead wakes Milo when she notices that there were five bikers getting close--the Hounds of Hell.

## Info

Preceded by: N/A

Followed By: Desolation

Author: Derek Landy

Pages: 508