Another botched encounter gets Tom on the bad side of the Dry Ones, a coven of blood-drinking near-humans. Tom heads to their colony in New Orleans to plead his case before their barbaric court, and becomes embroiled in a brutal power struggle between the colony’s two leaders: pragmatic Judge Berenger, and bloodthirsty Archbishop Hatcher. Hosting the ancient demon known as Aki is taking its toll on Tom's new friend Keda, making the young medium increasingly unstable. The deranged paranormal broker Harold Saldana still wants Aki back, and his influence still looms far from his base in Tokyo. All Tom wants is to get out of Louisiana in one recognizable piece, before he's turned into a Dry One himself. The nightmares are back, showing Tom a terrible power that grows deep in the swamp…