Esoterrorism

**Esoterrorism** is the first book in the *Red Room* trilogy. The book introduces us to Derek Hawthorne, a snarky and pop-cultured obsessed spy that works for The House, an organization dedicated to keeping the supernatural under wraps for the sake of protecting humankind. Derek's career is upended when a routine mission is crashed by The Wazir, the leader of the Emerald Eye terrorist organization, unearthing a bioweapon plot that both threatens the entire world and may reveal the supernatural to the world - and, worst of all, Derek's ex-wife may be involved.

As Derek races to save the world, he has to put up with his all-powerful father with an inscrutable end-goal, a series of higher-ups who refuse to cooperate with each other due to their incredible greed, and, most confusing of all, a brand new partner who, against most House regulations, is actually a succubus. As the situation gets harder and harder to control, Derek has to ask himself whether he's willing to pledge his soul to a group as corrupt as the House if it means protecting the world from the kinds of threats they're not prepared to face.

## Plot

The story begins with Derek and his sister Penny on a mission to intercept some members of the Emerald Eye terrorist organization who are set to do some kind of hand-off. However, their plan immediately goes off the rails when the Wazir, an immortal warlock who has led the Emerald Eye and evaded the House for centuries, personally arrives during the mission. Derek confronts him, only to learn that the Wazir has a disturbing amount of information regarding the House, the Committee, and Derek personally and instigate an attack on the mall. As the Wazir's forces cause as much carnage as they can, Derek kills the Wazir, only to learn he was using a homunculus and have to kill him again. The Wazir attempts to drop a vial of something before he's defeated, and Derek pockets it before the local police arrive and arrest him for supposedly causing the attack.

Derek is freed by The Professor, his superior in the Red Room, who lectures him about the mistakes he made throughout the mission before revealing what was in the vial: Matheson-22, a newly created mystical virus designed to convert people into draugr. The Wazir used the virus in the past to destroy the town of Wheatfield in Kansas, indicating that he intends to use the virus in some capacity on larger targets than he has before. The Professor then reveals to Derek that they have learned of a mole inside the Red Room - in fact, before the attack, Derek was the prime suspect, as his ex-wife Cassandra's company was used to create the virus. With this new information, Derek returns to his apartment, only to be greeted by Shannon O'Reily.

The Irish woman reveals that she's a transfer from Division Two in the United Kingdom and she's been assigned to be Derek's new partner. After a brief scuffle, Derek both accepts the partnership and realizes that she's actually a lilin. The next morning, Derek shows her around Division One, introducing her to colleagues like washed-up alcoholic Tommy Moretti, the gruff and controlling Edward Strickland in charge of the White Room, and Lucy Danvers, a prodigious member of the White Room who is dating Penny. However, the trip is cut short when the White Room is attacked by members of the Sons of Mars, who use the Matheson-22 virus to convert people into draugr. After stopping the attack at the cost of the Red Room's internal servers, Derek realizes the amount of evidence implicating Cassandra is going up and requests to be put in charge of the investigation.

Derek and Shannon confront Cassandra in her Chicago office and learn that she did indeed create the virus. However, she claims it was a join effort with Dr. Strickland, who was dying from cancer and died in the White Room assault, to create a miracle cure for deadly diseases such as that and denies any role in the virus being modified to create draugr. After Derek tricks a scientist in her lab into revealing himself as a potential culprit, he instead learns that Strickland went mad when he learned he was dying and modified the virus to be deadly at any cost, killing many of Pantheon Corp's scientists in the process. However, before he can do anything with this information, Cassandra negotiates a deal with the Committee to give over a large chunk of her company in exchange for immunity, leaving Derek and Shannon no choice but to leave.

After they make love that night, they're attacked in their hotel room by Japanese Oni and more members of the Sons of Mars, confirming once and for all that Cassandra was involved. After they survive the ambush, Penny tracks them down and reveals that the Emerald Eye, the Sons of Mars, Cassandra, and the Wazir himself have gone on a coordinated rampage against Division One's holdings, killing countless people, destroying their relationship with the United States Government, and threatening to deploy Matheson-22 at an unknown location. It becomes clear that their goal is to destroy the House entirely, and the Committee, desperate to pawn the blame off to anyone else for their mistake, calls Derek into a meeting in 24 hours. Derek's only lead is to track down Strickland, who it is clear only faked his death during the assault on the White Room.

Using Strickland's true name to find him, the trio attacks his hideout, only to be ambushed by Strickland himself. After a brief scuffle leaves Shannon and Penny incapacitated, Strickland brings Derek to the Wazir personally. A sarcastic remark from Derek makes the Wazir kill Strickland, leaving the two of them to discuss the future. The Wazir hands Derek a file containing all of the corrupt acts the Committee is responsible for, including times Derek was manipulated into killing fellow agents for no good reason, before revealing that he intends for Derek to use this information to ascend to the Committee himself and lead a crusade against Cassandra so that he can swoop in and defeat whoever wins their battle. The Wazir also reveals that the vial Derek pocketed in the mall attack contained a mystical spell that forced Derek to let Cassandra escape. However, before he can reveal more of his plan, Shannon kills him, revealing him to have used a homunculus once more.

Though Derek and Shannon almost turn on each other due to their feelings of failure over Cassandra's escape, they agree to verify the Wazir's information before doing anything about it. After verifying that everything the Wazir alleged is true, Derek uses the meeting the Committee summoned him to to kill a current member of the Committee and take his place, being promoted on the spot. With his new power and some implicit assistance from his father Nathan, Derek forces the Divisions to work together and pool their resources and information, unlike before where every other Division left Division One out to dry.

The new method works wonders, and soon enough the House has located Cassandra's hidden base. To get there, Derek tracks down Ben Talbot, an agent who worked frequently with Derek's father, to use a magic carpet and get there fast. By the time they get there, the Wazir has tracked Cassandra down and attacked with his own forces, leading to an all-out war on the base. As Derek, Shannon, Talbot, and Penny navigate the carnage, they discover more facilities to produce Matheson-22 before they're confronted, first by Tommy Moretti and then by Cassandra herself.

After both are defeated, the Wazir personally arrives and kills Cassandra, continuing to offer Derek a place in the new world he will eventually create. However, Derek spin kicks him and breaks his glass eye, not only revealing that the Wazir is actually present instead of using a homunculus, but sending him into a homicidal rage. As the Wazir rages that he'll destroy the old world and bring in a new one no matter how many people have to die, Derek and Shannon use their combined powers to destroy the Wazir's spirit, finally killing the wizard for good. The book ends with the group flying away from the new destroyed base, facing an uncertain future with a new outlook on life.

## Characters

* The House
	+ Derek Hawthorne
	+ Shannon O'Reily
	+ The Professor
	+ Penny Hawthorne
	+ Lucy Danvers
	+ Dr. Edward Strickland
	+ Tommy Moretti
	+ Ben Talbot
* The Committee
	+ The Chairman
	+ Nathan Hawthorne
	+ Yuri
* Pantheon Corp
	+ Cassandra Cassidy
	+ Sons of Mars
* Emerald Eye
	+ The Wazir