Pitch:

Slade House meets Rear Window. When opioid addict Blake Dywell tries a mysterious street drug, he gets a pure-magic high and witnesses a demon consuming his neighbor’s soul. As a rare human who sees these creatures—but only when under the influence—Blake must stop the killer before others die. His dealer grooms him for the fight while enabling his new addiction. But as Blake spirals downward, his only escape might come from the very demon he hunts.

Excerpt:

Blake shivered under the thick heat that settled in the alleyway. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He wasn’t sure if it was his nerves from meeting Savas for the first time, or the early stages of withdrawal.

I shouldn’t be here. The thought buzzed in his head like a fly hitting a closed window; no matter how many times he swatted it away, it circled back and rammed again and again. His feet twitched to scuttle home. But he stayed and paced under a pool of yellow light.

The alley was deserted, but Chicago had a way of never going completely still, even in the peak of night. Ambient sounds put Blake on edge. Elevated tracks of the Red Line hummed atop worn-down support walls on one side of the passage. When a train trundled overhead, sweeping the alley with light and rumbles, a cat darted out from a nearby dumpster. After a few minutes, Blake headed for the street, but stopped when a figure from the adjacent sidewalk rounded the corner.

The man strolled with his hands tucked into the pockets of his black bomber jacket. He wore the shadows of the alleyway, and moved through the seedy space like he crossed his own living room. He gave Blake a toothy smile, framed in a well-groomed beard.