In an offshoot of his Circle series, Ted Dekker gives us the six-volume Lost Books series. This set of adventures takes place in the nearly 15 years between his Circle series books Black and Red. This is a time when the evil Horde, worshippers of Teeleh, led by Qurong, and the remnant of the forest people, worshippers of Elyon, led by Thomas Hunter, face off in an ever-spiraling conflict.
The third book in the Lost Books series, Renegade, picks up immediately after Infidel leaves off. This book centers on the renegade Billos and his dark thirst for the power of the lost books of History. In Infidel he got just a brief taste of this power and he became of single-minded purpose to embrace that power more deeply. At the first opportunity, he ran off with the three books that he had helped to collect with Johnis, Darsal, and Silvie, and then used his blood to enter into the cover of the book. With that decision he vanished from the forests along with the books. Darsal is deeply in love with Billos, and she realizes that the only way to bring him back is to find another of the lost books. Darsal, accompanied by the sweet child Karas, then sets out on a dangerous journey to the lair of Alucard the vampire bat, lieutenant of Teeleh. Darsal suspects that Alucard has one of the lost books. Ultimately she is proven correct and strikes a deal with the evil creature. Upon rescuing Billos, she will return to him the book he provided as well as the three that Billos has. The escape clause from this deal is to substitute either her life or that of Billos.
Billos meets a mysterious man in the world that he is transported into. Marsuvees Black promises Billos power beyond his comprehension. The more Billos tastes that power, the darker his soul becomes. This world, which is designed to look like present day Earth, turns out to be a sort of virtual reality, a portal to help find the other three lost books. The quest of the chosen four, Johnis, Billos, Darsal, and Silvie, is to find all seven of Elyon's books of history. Ultimately, Darsal rescues Billos, but there is a showdown with Alucard. They cannot hand over the four books, their power is just too great. Billos agrees to sacrifice himself to Alucard. To avoid losing the books they have, the remaining cadre of the chosen, escape into the pages of the books and end up in present day earth. Now onto the fourth book in the series, Chaos.
