Kathleen O'Neal Gear

The protege of a discredited geneticist teams up with a religious studies scholar in a race to find her mentor and help him find a cure for a catastrophic retrovirus.

Journeying to Cahokia to become the sacrificial promised bride of the Morning Star, Whispering Dawn, a woman carrying dark secrets and powers, is carried away to the Underworld, where she must rescue captured souls at the side of an embittered Fire Cat.