Vampire Novels

Rejected By My Mate "I, Alpha Azrael Shepherd, reject you, Alexandria Gregory as my mate," he said coldly then turned his back towards the packhouse. ****** When Alexandria Gregory turned 18, she met her mate and that is Azrael Shepherd, the Alpha of her rival pack. But Azrael rejected her when he found out she was an omega of her pack. The rejection she felt was excruciating. Once her mate rejected her, she would never find another mate again. The reason why Azrael rejected her is because the man will be married to Liza, the Alpha's daughter of her pack. Even though they aren't mates, they decided to stay together for the union of the two packs. No one knew her mate was Azrael. Rage fills her heart and she will make sure Azrael would regret ever rejecting her. She ran away from her pack and promised to herself that she would come back and take her place as the real Alpha. *************** [Alexandria’s POV] Tomorrow, I’ll turn eighteen, and I have a feeling something big is going to happen. I sighed as I scrubbed the floor, and beads of sweat dripped from my face. I can hear the laughter coming from the dining area where my pack dined together except me. Because I am an omega, the most unfortunate and weakest of the pack. They thought I was an omega because I didn't show any qualities of a werewolf. Unbeknownst to everyone, I can shift ever since I was little, but I am different from everyone else because werewolves can only shift at age eighteen, so I hid my wolf. My parents taught me how to hide my wolf form and powerful aura when I was little before they passed away. My parents died when I was six years old. Then someone took over the pack when my Alpha father died. The new Alpha threw me into the barn and I lived as an omega. However, being an omega was tough because my job was to obey everyone’s commands. Since then, I trained myself every night on the far side of the woods, where no one would notice my presence. But tomorrow, I will find my mate so that I can get out of this hellhole. And I can’t wait for that! I was also bullied because of the color of my eyes. It has two distinct colors—on my left eye; it is blue with golden flecks, while my right eye is green with golden flecks too. This made me different from all the werewolves. I didn’t even know why I have this eye color. But I think it’s pretty, just like my wolf. ‘That’s right!’ My wolf, Xandra, chimed in and I giggled. When I finished scrubbing the floor, I went to the back of the packhouse where my house was—the barn. For years, I was sleeping here together with some cattle and my only best friend Layla. I took out some clean clothes in the old broken cabinet and then ran off towards the lake to take a night bath. I scan the place to make sure no one would see me, then I put my clean clothes on the rock. When I’m a hundred percent sure no one was around, I took off my dirty clothes and swam towards the cold water. I feel refreshed. After three minutes, a familiar scent

If there is one city that Scarlett Bernard hates, it’s Las Vegas. But when the cardinal vampire of Los Angeles convinces her to go investigate a new vampire-themed stage show, Scarlett quickly finds herself shoulder-deep in sequins, slot machines, and Old World intrigue.The show’s creators are vampire celebrities Arthur and Lucy Holmwood, who once inspired characters from the original Dracula. Now, however, they have no qualms about announcing their true status to the human world, endangering the secrecy of the Old World and Scarlett’s mission to keep it hidden.But before she can begin untangling the Holmwoods’ motives, Scarlett also discovers that their new production has attracted more than just fans: Las Vegas’s many vampires are suddenly disappearing, and rumors are flying that actual vampire hunters may have followed Arthur and Lucy to town.Now, without her allies, her bargest, or her frequent partner Jesse Cruz, Scarlett must navigate a new underworld of secrets and murders in a city where nothing is ever as it seems. And the stakes have never been higher. Prologue Pasadena, CA Four years ago The girl in the cell paced and paced, trying to ignore the new signals from her body. Everything hurt, and the blasted emptiness in her belly cried out - for food, of all wretched things. She screamed with frustration, smacking her palms against the bars of the cage, but that hurt too. How did anyone do this? How did those fragile little humans survive in these soft shells of skin and blood? She hated it. She sat down once more on the bed, huddling under the thin cotton sheet. The cold was another old-new experience she now had to endure. The basement cells weren't damp, she had to give him credit for that, but they were eternally cold - as the grave, she thought manically, and laughed at her own joke. They had given her a plain shift to wear, little more than a glorified sheet, but it was better than the torn and shredded cocktail dress she'd arrived in, which lay discarded in one corner, still covered in blood. Blood that now meant nothing to her. It no longer knew how to call her name. It was all his fault. He had come to her several times, her John - she refused to call him by the name he now used. Each time, he would silently draw her blood into syringes, check her pulse and her pupils, and depart without a word, leaving behind a tray of food, like a final slap in the face. At first she refused to cooperate, kicking and scratching with her frail human body, but he'd calmly pressed her mind to make her obedient. Imagine that - being pressed by a vampire! Was there no greater humiliation? She had decided she would rather be still than be used as a puppet. But whether or not she submitted, her time was running out. When he completed his tests, she knew that her long, turbulent life would end. All those years . . . the days and nights spent with distinguished men, the child she'd borne, the efforts she'd made, first to be with greatness, and then to

Mercy Thompson has found her voice in the werewolf pack. But when Mercy’s bond with the pack—and her mate—is broken, she’ll learn what it truly means to be alone...   Attacked and abducted in her home territory, Mercy finds herself in the clutches of the most powerful vampire in the world, taken as a weapon to use against alpha werewolf Adam and the ruler of the Tri-Cities vampires. In coyote form, Mercy escapes—only to find herself without money, without clothing, and alone in the heart of Europe...  Unable to contact Adam and the rest of the pack, Mercy has allies to find and enemies to fight, and she needs to figure out which is which. Ancient powers stir, and Mercy must be her agile best to avoid causing a war between vampires and werewolves, and between werewolves and werewolves. And in the heart of the ancient city of Prague, old ghosts rise... 1 Mercy This wasn't the first time chocolate got me in trouble. I DIED FIRST, SO I MADE COOKIES. They were popular fare on Pirate night, so I needed to make a lot. Darryl had gotten me a jumbo-sized antique mixing bowl last Christmas that probably could have held the water supply for an elephant for a day. I don't know where he found it. If I ever filled the bowl entirely, I'd have to have one of the werewolves move it. It ate the eighteen cups of flour I dumped into it with room for more. All the while, piratical howls rose up the stairway from the bowels of the basement. "Jesse - " Aiden began, raising his voice to carry over an enthusiastic if off-key whistling rendition of "The Sailor's Hornpipe." "Call me Barbary Belle," my stepdaughter, Jesse, reminded him. Aiden might have looked and sounded like he was a boy, but he hadn't been young for a very long time. We had assimilated him, rather than adopted him, as he was centuries older than Adam and me put together. He was still finding some things about modern life difficult to adjust to, like the live-action-role-playing (LARP) aspect of the computer-based pirate game they were playing. "It only works right if you think of me as a pirate and not your sister," Jesse said patiently. Ignoring his response that she wasn't his sister, she continued, "As long as you call me Jesse - that's who you think of when you interact with me. You have to believe I'm a pirate to make it a proper game. The first step is to call me by my game name - Barbary Belle."

A Betrayal…Everything Poppy has ever believed in is a lie, including the man she was falling in love with. Thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. But what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One. The Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that’s one order she’s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her.A Choice...Casteel Da’Neer is known by many names and many faces. His lies are as seductive as his touch. His truths as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive, healthy, and whole to achieve his goals. But he’s the only way for her to get what she wants—to find her brother Ian and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. Working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she’s ever wanted. Casteel has plans for her. Ones that could expose her to unimaginable pleasure and unfathomable pain. Plans that will force her to look beyond everything she thought she knew about herself—about him. Plans that could bind their lives together in unexpected ways that neither kingdom is prepared for. And she’s far too reckless, too hungry, to resist the temptation.A Secret…But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince. Whispers of war have become stronger, and Poppy is at the very heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message. The Descenters want her dead. The wolven are growing more unpredictable. And as her abilities to feel pain and emotion begin to grow and strengthen, the Atlantians start to fear her. Dark secrets are at play, ones steeped in the blood-drenched sins of two kingdoms that would do anything to keep the truth hidden. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late. Chapter 1 "We go home to marry, my Princess." As in get married? To him? Suddenly, I thought of all those girlish fantasies I'd had before I learned who I was and what was expected of me - daydreams given life because of the love my parents had for one another. Never once did those little-girl dreams include a proposal that wasn't remotely an actual proposal. Nor did they incorporate it being announced at a table full of strangers, half of which wanted me dead. And those dreams surely hadn't involved what had to be the kingdom's worst - and possibly most insane - non-proposal of marriage to a man currently holding me captive. Perhaps I had some sort of ailment of the brain. Maybe I was experiencing hallucinations brought on by stress. After all, there had been so much painful death to process. His betrayal to deal with. And I'd just learned I was descended from Atlantia, a kingdom I'd been raised to believe was the source of all the evil and tragedy in the land. Stress-induced hallucinations seemed a far more belie

The world has learned to fear vampires and forgotten a greater threat. Before the bloodsuckers rose, the gods had perfected one race of predators. And they’ve chosen their prey.Avani was raised in another pack, another world, away from the secluded werewolves of Oldcrest. But the shadow that has followed her every step since her first shift has forced her into exile. Oldcrest is the only place in the world where she’s safe. She won’t let anyone take it away from her. Not even her own kind.As threats surround the territory, everyone demands Alexius’s allegiance. In his hundreds of years, he’s lived without bending the knee, and it won’t start now. But when a wounded, hunted wolf crashes into his life, the healer in him can’t help lending a hand, although he knows touching a female of the royal pack marks him for life. As an enemy. Or as an alpha. Moonlight Stroll Curiosity killed the cat. No one said anything about it hurting a wolf. Avani wasn't perfect by a long shot, but none of her failings were considered a problem among the Elder Pack of the Oldcrest Wolvswoods - none except for her burning need to know what was going on, to explain things to herself. That, they couldn't understand. The wolves obeyed commands from their superiors and questioned nothing. She always questioned everything. Which was why she was out of bed on Sunday evening at the witching hour, inching toward the edge of the woods, her bare feet silent as she moved like a shadow. Like a predator. She'd been awoken by a strange tugging at the edge of her mind; her mother used to call it instinct. Avani had started to wonder whether there was something more to it, because whenever she felt that pull and answered it, something out of the ordinary disrupted her routine, good or bad. Maybe there had been a seer somewhere in her bloodline. She wouldn't know. Now that she'd gotten out of pack territory, she noticed a distinctive heady scent in the air - blood. Human blood and something else underneath. Magic. A paranormal creature was bleeding. That was nothing to write home about here, in the hidden territory concealing the hill from which the vampire royalty had once ruled the world, also home to the well-known Institute of Supernatural Studies. Here, blood was on the school supply list, and served warm in the cafeteria. But something felt wrong. Then she saw it - him. A man walking aimlessly, as if he was drunk. No, that wasn't it. Avani had seen many a drunkard in her life. This felt even more unsteady; he advanced without conscious volition, like she imagined a ghost would, or a puppet pulled by strings she couldn't see. His steps were tottering and he tripped every time his feet hit a vaguely uneven surface on the old sand road leading from the Scottish Highland train line to Night Hill. Frowning, Avani focused on the man. From a distance, her wolf eyes could see that his gaze was glazed over, unfocused.

For years now, Scarlett Bernard has counted on two things: her ability to nullify magic, and Shadow, the bargest who guards Scarlett with her life. But after a sudden revelation turns Scarlett’s world upside down, she panics and leaves town without warning, leaving Shadow with her partner, Jesse. In the chaos that follows, the bargest is stolen—and Jesse nearly dies from a brutal psychic assault.It seems that an old enemy has returned for revenge…and the attack on Shadow was only the beginning. As Scarlett races home to find the bargest and rescue her friends, she is dragged deeper into a terrifying legend that has somehow found its way to present-day Los Angeles.Now she will have to recruit every possible ally for a battle that will test her null ability to the limit. Scarlett has been in over her head before, but now she risks losing everything—and she’s never had more to lose. Prologue Three years ago From the age of five or six, Petra Corbett had been told that she had bitter in her blood. This was not surprising: even as a small child living just outside Paris, she had collected grievances as easily as other children obtained toys or trading cards. In some families this attitude could have been a problem, but in Petra's world, animosity and resentment were practically the family trade. Her natural pull toward hostility in all its forms - verbal, physical, magical - actually wound up making Petra her grandfather's favorite, despite the unfortunate circumstance of her not being male. Petra's mother hoped that time might mellow her youngest daughter's rancor, but instead Petra's capacity for hatred only seemed to expand. And expand. Until she was on her first scouting trip to America, and she realized that her entire lifetime of dislike had just been a long and arduous escalation to that precise moment. Because the reality was that Petra Corbett had never loathed anything as much as she hated driving in Los Angeles. For the first four days of her stay, that was all she had done: drive the streets, getting to know the city and the shallow idiots who lived in it. It was bad enough that Americans insisted on driving themselves everywhere, but Los Angeles in particular seemed to depend on individual cars the way other, more intelligent cities depended on public transportation. And their reward for this individualism was to spend hours of every day in gridlock. Petra thought it was a perfect example of American "independence" - selfish, lazy, and with a complete lack of foresight. Still, Grandfather felt that she needed to understand the city, so she gritted her teeth and drove, usually accompanied by the bargest Belle. Belle couldn't be trusted to ride up front untethered, so she stayed locked in the back of the rental van, inside one of the two massive steel crates that had flown to the city with them in Grandfather's private jet. Occasionally, Petra would pull over, her whistle in hand, and let Belle out of the crate to run drills. This was only

Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, faces a threat unlike any other in this thrilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. I am Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman.My only "superpowers" are that I turn into a thirty-five pound coyote and fix Volkswagens. But I have friends in odd places and a pack of werewolves at my back. It looks like I'm going to need them.Centuries ago, the fae dwelt in Underhill--until she locked her doors against them. They left behind their great castles and troves of magical artifacts. They abandoned their prisoners and their pets. Without the fae to mind them, those creatures who remained behind roamed freely through Underhill wreaking havoc. Only the deadliest survived.Now one of those prisoners has escaped. It can look like anyone, any creature it chooses. But if it bites you, it controls you. It lives for chaos and destruction. It can make you do anything--even kill the person you love the most. Now it is here, in the Tri-Cities. In my territory.It won't, can't, remain. Not if I have anything to say about it. 1 "ARE YOU OKAY, MERCY?" TAD ASKED ME AS HE DISCONNECTED the wiring harness from the headlight of the 2000 Jetta we were working on. We were replacing a radiator. To do that, we had to take the whole front clip off. It was a rush case on a couple of fronts. The owner had been driving from Portland to Missoula, Montana, when her car blew the radiator. We needed to get her back on the road so she could make her job interview tomorrow at eight a.m. The task was made more urgent by the fact that the owner and her three children under five were occupying the office. She had, she told me, family in Missoula who could watch her children, but nobody but her alcoholic ex-husband to watch them in Portland, so she'd brought them with her. I wished she had family here to watch them. I liked kids, but tired kids cooped up in my office space were another matter. To speed up the repair, Tad was taking the left side and I was working on the right. Like me, he wore grease-stained overalls. Summer still held sway - if only just - so those overalls were stained with sweat, too. Even his hair showed the effects of working in the heat, sticking out at odd angles. It was also tipped here and there with the same grease that marked the overalls. A smudge of black swooped across his right cheekbone and onto his ear like badly applied war paint. I was pretty sure that if anything, I looked worse than he did. I'd worked on cars with Tad for more than a decade, nearly half his life. He'd left for an Ivy League education but returned without his degree, and without the cheery optimism that had once been his default. What he had retained was that scary competence that he'd had when I first walked into his father's garage looking for a part to fix my Rabbit and found the elementary-aged Tad ably running the shop. He was one of the people I most trusted in the world. And I still lied to him. "Everything's fine," I said.

Scarlett Bernard is used to cleaning up messes. As a human who cancels out any magic around her, Scarlett’s job is to keep the supernatural world hidden—at any cost.But on the eve of the Vampire Trials, a two-day tribunal that allows the otherworldly community to air their grievances, Scarlett receives a blood-soaked message from Molly, her estranged former roommate. Molly, a vampire, had been living with twelve human college students…and in one terrible night, she slaughtered them all.Scarlett believes Molly’s been set up, but no one else in the Old World agrees with her. Meanwhile, the true perpetrator is determined to make sure Molly goes on trial for the massacre—and the penalty is death.With less than two days to prove her friend’s innocence, Scarlett calls on former LAPD detective Jesse Cruz to help her dig into Molly’s past. But no one—Molly included—wants Scarlett and Jesse to bring the terrible truth to light. Prologue It had helped that she knew exactly how the whores would react. The setting had changed, but the setup hadn't: A large "visiting" room where the girls had to parade around in whatever passed for sexy at the time. A gaudy, ornate staircase leading to a long hallway of doors upstairs. Every door led to a small room that contained only a bed and a chair. Unlike most brothels, there were no security guards here, no bouncers. It wasn't necessary. Abuse of the girls was not only expected, but welcome, and no one knew that better than the girls themselves. It didn't matter where they came from, what cultures or languages or backgrounds. They first thing they were taught in their new lives was never fight back. And they didn't. They couldn't. The magic didn't let them. She had been an anomaly that way. She arrived in the most expensive outfit she owned: a scarlet-red pantsuit with nothing underneath, so that the suit jacket gaped almost to her navel. It was sexy, and made her look like she had money and power, which she did. Female clients may have been rare at the brothel, but it was common enough that her presence didn't even raise an eyebrow, just welcoming smiles. The female manager began to lead her into the visiting room, and for a moment she felt a sharp slash of panic. She could see the girls posed around the room, holding watery drinks and making small talk with listless smiles and empty eyes. Many young women in their position took something to numb the senses, but no drugs in the world would work on these girls. She felt the familiar urge to fight, to snap the manager's neck and run out of there, but she reminded herself that she was no longer property. She gave the aging woman her name and explained that she was not here for a date, but to see the owner. They were old friends. The manager paused and eyed her with renewed speculation. Then she simply shrugged and walked over to a black telephone. Within moments she was being led into his office. He looked the same, of course. Why wouldn't he? True, the cut of his suit

In this powerful and exciting fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, humans and the shape-shifting Others will see whether they can live side by side...without destroying one another.There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance. But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the Blackstone Clan, outlaws and gamblers all, will uncover secrets…or bury them. CHAPTER 1 Windsday, Sumor 25 Jana Paniccia followed the gravel paths through the memorial park. There were no cemeteries on the continent of Thaisia, no individual gravestones, no family mausoleums unless you were very rich. Cities couldn't afford to waste land on the dead when the living needed every acre that they were grudgingly permitted to lease from the terra indigene who ruled the continent. Who ruled the world. They had smashed and torn that harsh truth into humans around the world, and only fools or the blindly optimistic thought there was any chance of things going back to the way they had been before the Humans First and Last movement had started the war against the terra indigene here in Thaisia and in Cel-Romano on the other side of the Atlantik Ocean. Instead of gaining anything from the war, humans had lost ground - literally. Cities had been destroyed or were no longer under human control. People were running to anyplace they thought could provide safety, thinking that the larger cities were less vulnerable to what the Others could do. In that, too, humans were wrong. The destruction of so much of Toland, a large human-controlled city on the East Coast, should have taught people that much. But this wasn't a day to think about those things. Jana found the large flower bed with the tall granite marker in the center. There were no graveyards, no gravestones, in Thaisia, but there were memorial parks full of flower beds and small ponds, with benches positioned so the living could visit with the dead. She looked down the double column of names carved into the granite until she found the two she'd come to see. Martha Chase. Wilbur Chase. The foster parents who had taken her from the foundling home and raised her as their own. There hadn't been even a birth certificate left with her when the Universal Temple priests had found her on the temple doorstep. Just a

An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from a stalker. Adam isn’t the kind of man to turn away a person in need—and Mercy knows it. But with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something about the situation isn’t right.Soon her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the furthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get him, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s stalker is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart. 1 The phone rang while I was elbow-deep in sudsy dishwater. "I'll get it," said my stepdaughter, Jesse, hastily dumping two glasses and a fork in my sink. A werewolf pack that eats together stays together, I thought, scrubbing stubborn egg off a plate. Sunday breakfasts weren't attended by the whole pack - some of them had families just like regular people or jobs they worked on the Sabbath. The breakfasts weren't mandatory because that would have ruined the intent. Darryl, Adam's second, who usually prepared the meals, was a hellaciously good cook, and his food attracted anyone who could manage to come. The dishwasher was running, stuffed full and then some. I would have let the rest of the dishes wait until it was done, but Auriele, Darryl's mate, wouldn't hear of it. I didn't argue with her because I was one of the three people in the pack who outranked her, so she'd have to back down. That felt like cheating, and I never cheat. Unless it is against my enemies, whispered a soundless voice in my head that might have been mine but felt like Coyote's. The second reason for my compliance was more self-serving. Auriele and I were getting along, which made her the only one of the three female werewolves in the pack who was friendly with me at the moment. Auriele hadn't been happy having me as the Alpha's mate, either - I was a coyote shapeshifter among wolves. She didn't think it was a good thing for pack morale. She also thought, correctly, that I brought trouble for the pack with me. She liked me despite herself. I was used to the company of men, but it was nice to have a woman besides Jesse, my teenage stepdaughter, who would talk to me. So, to please Auriele, I washed dishes that the dishwasher could have taken care of, ignoring the burn of hot soapy water in the wounds of my trade - barked knuckles are a mechanic's constant companion. Auriele dried the dishes, and Jesse had volunteered to tidy up the kitchen in general. Three women bonding over household chores - my mother would be pleased if she could see us. That thought hardened my resolve that next week, some of the men would do cleanup. It woul

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched? *Library Journal 1 I sat up in bed, a feeling of urgency gripping my stomach in iron claws. Body stiff with tension, I listened for whatever had awakened me, but the early-summer night was free of unusual noises. A warm arm wrapped itself around my hips. "Mercy?" Adam's voice was rough with sleep. Whatever had awakened me hadn't bothered my husband. If there were something wrong, his voice would have been crisp and his muscles stiff. "I heard something," I told Adam, though I wasn't certain it was true. It felt like I'd heard something, but I'd been asleep, and now I couldn't remember what had startled me. He let me go and rolled off the bed and onto his feet. Like me, he listened to the night. I felt him stretch his awareness through the pack, though I couldn't follow what he learned. My link to the Columbia Basin werewolves was through simple membership, but Adam was the Alpha. "No one else in the house is disturbed," he said, turning his head to look at me. "I didn't sense anything. What did you hear?" I shook my head. "I don't know. Something bad." I closed my fist on the walking stick that lay against me. The action drew Adam's eyes to my hands. He frowned, then crouched beside the bed and gently pulled the walking stick away. "Did you bring this into bed last night?" he asked. I flexed my fingers, frowning with annoyance at the walking stick. Until he'd drawn my attention to it, I hadn't even realized that it had, once again, shown up where it shouldn't be. It was a fae artifact - a minor fae artifact, I'd been told.

In this thrilling and suspenseful fantasy, set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, Vicki DeVine and her lodger, the shapeshifter Aggie Crowe, stumble onto a dead body . . . and find themselves enmeshed in danger and dark secrets.Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others–vampires, shapeshifters, and paranormal beings even more deadly. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget . . . After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. Towns like Vicki’s have no distance from the Others, the dominant predators that rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what’s out there watching you.Vicki was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe–one of the shapeshifting Others–discovers a dead body, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the man’s death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, things get dangerous–and it’ll take everything they have to stay alive. CHAPTER 1 Vicki Moonsday, Juin 12 I wouldn't have known about the dead man if I hadn't walked into the kitchen at the exact moment my one and only lodger was about to warm up an eyeball in the wave-cooker. Until that moment, I hadn't known I had a scream that could crack glass; I hadn't wondered if an eyeball would puff up and explode in a wave-cooker like those animal-shaped marshmallows; and I hadn't realized my lodger - Agatha "call me Aggie" Crowe - was that kind of Crow. She seemed so normal, if you overlooked her timely payment of the rent each week and the fact that she had taken up residence in The Jumble three weeks ago and seemed to be enjoying herself. "You can't eat that!" I tried to sound firm, like a responsible human and business owner should. In truth, I sounded a wee bit hysterical, and I wished with all sincerity that I had walked into the kitchen five minutes later. Then again, since the kitchen was one of the common rooms in the main building, I could have walked in when Aggie was halfway through her lunch, which I'm sure would have been more distressing for at least one of us. "Why can't I eat it?" She looked at the eyeball rolling around in the small bowl that was now sitting on the counter. "Nobody else wants it. It's starting to get squooshy. And the dead man doesn't need it." The words got me past the physical evidence. "What dead man?"

Rachael Barnes has been writing about Silverwood Academy for almost three years. In her make-believe world, vampire hunters train up and coming slayers to defeat the bloodsuckers that hide in the dark corners. But when Rachael kills off her main character, everything starts to get strange. An earthquake, her cat acting crazy, and friends from her old job begin to question where she's been. Just when Rachael begins to question her sanity, a knock at her door confirms she's either lost her mind or written herself into her story. Will Rachael survive as the next new student at Silverwood Academy? *************** Silverwood Academy Chapter 1 The cursor on the laptop continued to blink at her expectantly, even though Rachael Barnes couldn’t think of a single word to type. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath, realizing the pen she’d been chewing on was also useless at this point. Scrappy, her calico, American shorthair, rubbed up against her leg, but Rachael didn’t pull her eyes away from the damn blinking beacon. “In a minute, kitty. ” She had to write three hundred more words in the next couple of hours to meet her deadline, and if she didn’t, there were going to be a lot of angry WebReader fans across the world. This was no time to screw around. “What happens next? ” she asked, tossing the pen into the air as if it might clatter off of the table and give her some sort of indication of what her main characters should do now. Of course, that was also no help, so Rachael dropped her head onto the desk, evading the keyboard, and letting out a sigh. Not for the first time in the last week, she was regretting killing off her heroine. Sure, she’d been able to stretch out the grieving amongst the rest of the cast enough to fill her quota for a few days before she’d had to figure out a new plot line. At the time, as Chell Knight lay dying in her fiance’s arms, it had all seemed so clear. It was time for Chell to go, for the other characters in the Silverwood Academy series to take flight. After all, Chell was taking up so much screen time, and as much as Rachael loved her, she’d become a crutch to Rachael’s writing. She needed to find a way to make her story interesting without Chell. More importantly, it had been huge for ratings. Over a million people had read Episode 574 within hours of its posting. Even on her best days before that, Rachael had been pulling in shy of 700,000. Since then, her views had continued to grow so that Silverwood Academy was by far the most popular series on WebReader, which was the most popular novel series site in the world. Killin...

The vampires have always feared the first of their kind and his descendants. Now all immortals know there’s a new Eirikrson threatening their way of life. And they don’t intend to let her.Catherine Stormhale has spent decades trying to crawl out of her family’s shadow. Now they’re calling her back home, to serve their clan against her new friends, and she has a choice to make.Bash used to know who he was. A protector. A provider. A huntsman. After being bitten by a feral vampire and turned into a blood-craving thing, he’s lost everything. Family, purpose, honor.When students are attacked outside of the Institute, all warriors are called to help secure their borders. Bash and Cat sign up for the same schedule. He’s a newborn vampire with no control over his thirst and she, a princess born to this life. Neither knows what they’re in for. More from May Slayer Blades Cat remembered the first time she'd held a sword. It had been heavy and awkward in her chubby little hands. She'd cut herself that day, and the day after. A kinder tutor might have given her a light wooden practice blade more suited for a five-year-old. Instead, she wielded a jeweled, curved blade with a silver handle that a woman twenty years older might have found awkward. Kindness had no place in Stormhall, home of her forefathers, some of whom still roamed the marble corridors. Twenty-three years after that lesson, her grip was light and effortless on any sword, but this one felt particularly nice. Well-balanced. She circled her wrist and marveled at the perfect, fast swing. "You like it?" She reluctantly lifted her gaze from the blade to her host, a dark-haired, dark-eyed ancient as handsome as he was powerful. And terrifying. Leviathan De Villier could destroy her on a whim if he so desired. And when she'd first arrived in Oldcrest, his territory, she'd believed he just might. She'd been able to tell from the start: he disliked her. No wonder. Catherine Stormhale didn't possess many likable qualities, and didn't care. She wasn't here to win any popularity contests. Cat was in Scotland because, regardless of Levi's opinion of her, this place was a definite improvement over where she came from. He seemed a little less intimidating these days. Not friendlier, exactly, but when she looked into his eyes, she no longer saw mistrust or hostility. Just indifference, a change she knew was due to his partner. Girlfriend. Mate. Cat didn't know what to call Chloe Eirikrson. They were downplaying their relationship, living separately, dating like they were mere mortals. "It's beautifully crafted. I can't believe it feels so light, despite the size," Cat told Levi, her blade hitting the air as she lunged to test it further.

A Maiden…Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.A Duty…The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.A Kingdom…Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel. Chapter 1 "They found Finley this eve, just outside the Blood Forest, dead." I looked up from my cards and across the crimson-painted surface to the three men sitting at the table. I'd chosen this spot for a reason. I'dfelt nothing from them as I drifted between the crowded tables earlier. No pain, physical or emotional. Normally, I didn't prod to see if someone was in pain. Doing so without reason felt incredibly invasive, but in crowds, it was difficult to control just how much I allowed myself to feel. There was always someone whose pain cut so deeply, was so raw, that their anguish became a palpable entity I didn't even have to open my senses to feel - that I couldn't ignore and walk away from. They projected their agony onto the world around them. I was forbidden to do anything but ignore. To never speak of the gift bestowed upon me by the gods and to never, ever go beyond sensing to actually doing something about it. Not that I always did what I was supposed to do. Obviously. But these men were fine when I reached out with my senses to avoid those in great pain, which was surprising, given what they did for a living. They were guards from the Rise - the mountainous wall constructed from the limestone and iron mined from the Elysium Peaks. Ever since the War of Two Kings ended four centuries ago, the Rise had enclosed all of Masadonia, and every city in the Kingdom of Solis was protected by a Rise. Smaller versions surrounded villages and training posts, the farming communities, and other sparsely populated towns. What the guards saw on a regular basis, what they had to do, often left them in anguish, rather it be from injuries or from w

Seven names. Seven families of royal vampires on Night Hill. One stands above all. After centuries of freedom, no one is happy to kneel to a new Eirikrson.Diana intended to stop by Oldcrest for a pit stop. Catch up with her brother, meet his mate, maybe convince them to name their firstborn after her. She’ll soon learn, as a Helsing, she must pick a side. Before one is picked for her.Mikar has spent centuries following Levi, to thank him for saving his life, but when all hell breaks loose, he has to decide: get the freedom he’s earned, or die with the rest of his friends.Was there even a choice? Under the Surface Diana Helsing considered herself a patient person, but if the regular human spouting line after line didn't catch the memo anytime soon, she was going to snap his neck. It would be a service to mankind, truly. "So, did your license get suspended for driving all the guys crazy?" She groaned. "Stop, please, I'm begging you. You're hot," she admitted. The guy was just her type: tall, dark, and handsome. He must have had Italian or Spanish roots - she couldn't quite place the look, and though she was naturally curious, she sure as hell wasn't going to ask for his name to see if she could pinpoint his origins from it. It'd only encourage him. "But then you had to open your mouth, and given what came out of it, there is no way in hell I'll ever end up in bed with you." The idiot winked. "It doesn't have to be a bed, sweetheart. I'm flexible like that." Diana forced a calming breath out. It had been over a hundred years since she'd spilled human blood - a record she was proud of and wanted to keep intact. She was not breaking it tonight of all nights. She was on the continent for the first time since the Great Fire of London. Tonight was supposed to be a night of fun, indulgence, and above all, distraction. In the morning, she was flying up to Scotland and heading to Oldcrest. The place of her birth. Her home. A home she hadn't set a foot in for close to nine hundred years. Diana had been changed nine hundred and one years ago, at age twenty-one. Early, for a fledgling of the House of Helsing. They normally waited until their twenty-fifth year. They hadn't had much choice in her case. She gestured to the bartender, who promptly abandoned the cocktail he was mixing to come serve her. "What can I get you?"

In this powerful entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, Mercy Thompson must face a deadly enemy to defend all she loves...My name is Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman, and I am a car mechanic.And a coyote shapeshifter.And the mate of the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack.Even so, none of that would have gotten me into trouble if, a few months ago, I hadn't stood upon a bridge and taken responsibility for the safety of the citizens who lived in our territory. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. It should have only involved hunting down killer goblins, zombie goats, and an occasional troll. Instead, our home was viewed as neutral ground, a place where humans would feel safe to come and treat with the fae.The reality is that nothing and no one is safe. As generals and politicians face off with the Gray Lords of the fae, a storm is coming and her name is Death.But we are pack, and we have given our word.We will die to keep it. 1 So what did you do, Mary Jo?" called Ben in his crisp British accent. Mary Jo shut her car door and started toward us and toward the mountainous metal barn that Ben and I waited beside. She gave Ben a quelling frown, and waited to speak until she had come up to us. She asked, "What do you mean, what did I do?" It was a little chilly, made more so by a brisk wind that blew a bit of hair I'd failed to secure in my braid into my eyes. The Tri-Cities don't cool off at night with quite the thoroughness that the Montana mountains I'd grown up with did, but night usually still kills the heat of day. Ben bounced a little on his toes - a sign that he was ready and eager for violence. I could sense that his attention, like mine, was mostly on the barn, even though his eyes were on Mary Jo. "I killed Mercy three times in a single session of Pirate's Booty the night before last. I think that's why she woke me up to come out hunting tonight." He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow in an open invitation to address the situation. Okay, that's not exactly what he said. As usual he spiced his language with profanity, but unless he spouted something truly amazing I mostly edited it out. "You passed up the opportunity to gain a hundred Spanish doubloons in order to kill me that last time," I told him, unable, even days later, to keep the indignation out of my voice. In the fierce high-seas computer-generated battles the werewolf pack delighted in, a hundred Spanish doubloons was a treasure trove of opportunity for more or better weapons, supplies, and ship repairs. Only a homicidal maniac would give up a hundred doubloons to kill someone. Ben gave me a wicked grin, an expression mostly empty of the bitter edge all of his expressions had once contained. "I was merely staying in character. Sodding Bart enjoys killing more than money, love. That's why his kill score is third on the board, just behind Captain Wolf and Lady Mockingbird." Captain Wolf Larsen, stolen from the titular character of Jack London's The Sea-Wolf

Half Vampire half Werewolf, meet Van Floyd Vaughn the most goofy of the Vaughn brothers. He loves Aphrodite so much but he never thought that he would also learn to love a woman who would change the course of his life. Cleopatra was always by his side whenever he needed someone to talk to, whenever he was sad and whenever he was hurt. Cleopatra who is a cold and rugged white alpha. He was the one who reminded Van that not everything he wants is easy to get. Despite their love, the Black Alphas who want to spread evil in their town will grow strong again and they will need Cleopatra's blood to keep their leader alive, but Van will not let this happen because Cleopatra is just for to Van, no one can approach the woman he loves the most. *************** Blood Sucker Prologue "Stay away from her Von! " Annoyed I said while holding his collar. I don't know who I'm referring to. Whether Aphrodite or Cleopatra. I don't know who that's for. I'm confused. "Tell that to her! " Annoyed Von said and pushed me away from him. "You're a traitor Von! " I said, feeling too heavy. I can't control myself. He laughed. "Isn't it amazing how one tiny sperm can turn into giant piece of shit? " Von asked me. "I didn't stole anything to you Van. She, she likes me but I don't know anything and i don't care. " Annoyed Von said and turned his back on me. I clenched my fist. "Von Floyd Vaughn! " I annoyed calling him so it stopped. I took a deep breath then looked at him as he turned his back. "I reject you as my brother and twin. " I said coldly. Von didn't say a word and just kept walking. When he disappeared from my sight I immediately burst into tears. When my knees weakened, I sat on the floor crying. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH! " I shouted loudly as I knelt down and cried. I do not know. This is the painful day for me. Very painful. I was only in that position for a few minutes when I decided to stand up. I wiped away my tears and faced the habit of our rooftop, but the door open and I saw Cleopatra with a few steps from me. In a blink of an eye, she is already in front of me, She cross her arms around me causing my tears to flow again. It's her again, it's her, the only woman who's always there at my sidee when i feel down and sad, the only woman who is always comforting me. The only woman who understand my feelings. Cleopatra. She looked at me, No emotion could be seen on her face. She took a deep breath then approached me slowly again. "I said, don't ever instill anger in your twin. " She said coldly. I could just look at her. She's so cold but she's so concern. "Because of a woman you rejected him as your twin? " She asked. She shook her head as she turned to look at me. "You two are very close, but just because of Aph...

All good things must come to an end... and sometimes that means death. Cadence Findley McReynolds is on her honeymoon and doesn't want to be disturbed unless the world's falling apart. When she has a horrific dream that pits her against creatures she's never seen before, she knows it can't be only a nightmare. She and Aaron come back to their team only to find out nothing is what it should be. Daunator is on the attack. With thousands of people missing, including a teammate, LIGHTS has to act quickly. But going in unprepared against the most powerful Vampire in creation can't be a good idea, and when Cadence receives an even more shocking surprise, her focus is jarred. How can she face off against a power so evil when she can't even keep her head in the game? Will her effort to defeat Daunator and free her friend cost Cadence everything? The last installment of the nine book long series is yours for the reading. *************** Termination: The Clandestine Saga Book 9 Prelude to Evil He was getting close. He could feel it in his bones. Every step was taking him further in the right direction, and despite the alarms going off inside of his head, he felt compelled to carry on with this self-assigned task, not to let the fear creep into his conscious mind and slow him. Tree branches reached out to obscure his view, so he often switched to the mode that allowed him to see right through them, ignoring those who would scratch his face or trip him up. The forest was dense and desolate, and in all the hours he’d been here, he hadn’t seen another person—human or otherwise. There was a time when he would’ve counted himself more of the former, but as this journey continued, the harder he prayed he was actually more of the latter than he’d ever cared to admit to anyone. As well as some of his colleagues professed to know him, none of them knew the truth, not even the ones he’d known the longest. The secret he carried had died along with the man who’d saved him, well over a century ago. Battling uphill against evergreens and loose rocks, stumbling near jutted cliffs, and fighting his own inner demons, he pressed on until the electricity in the air confirmed this had to be the correct location at last. It was time to prove himself, once and for all, to let the others know just how severely they’d underestimated him. He stepped through a clearing and felt a tremor in the ground beneath his boots. The moon hung in the distance, a satisfying ally reminding him that the monster could not strike him down. With every ounce of courage he had within him, he roared, “Daunator! Where are you? Come forth and show yourself! ” The ground went still. Nothing so strong as the flap of a nightingale’s wings stirred the air as he awaited a response. Seconds turned to minutes, and still he was all alone. Confused, he looked around, wondering if perhaps the creature might try to overcome him from behind....

He broke up with her in the last year of their college. She begged him to not do it. Cried badly for nights craving for him but he didn't listen. However, after almost three years of separation he appeared in her life with a proposal... A proposal that changed her for real bad. Love will be deceived, hearts will be broken, lives will be destroyed and souls will be ripped apart in this journey filled with secrets, obsessions, relationships, greed and lost love! Check the book to know more. *************** His fake wife Prologue Prologue Getting down of his Audi R8, he straightened his casual wears awkwardly. His eyes intriguingly looking at the tower in his front, he adjusted his glares. After pocketing his iPhone he moved inside of the tower slowly. The night was slow and silent. Yet the moon in the sky shone bright. One could clearly see the spots it has amidst the dancing black clouds. He pressed the button of '9th floor' and stood silently against the mirror behind him looking at the small screen above the elevator doors that screened the number of floors he crossed by. The doors unlatched with a ding, he bit his lower lip exiting the same. His emotionless peepers gazed the door of the flat located in the corner, 'Flat no. 903' with a sigh. After a moment of blank thinking, he finally pressed the bell button. Almost after five minutes, he sensed the lock from within getting unlocked and there, she stepped out. "Uhh, you! You here at this time, anything serious. "... She pulled her loose hairs in a bun with a sleepy yawn while at the same time pulling close the loose jacket she wore close to her chest. She couldn't stand his dark eyes checking her petite body when she was only wearing a loose knee-length nightdress with no brasserie. "Umm yeah, I... I mean no. It is not serious. "... He diverted his pupils from her body, he can't let his mind to lose his patience now or else, they would end up in her bed for good time! Never mind, he could not find words to speak the reason why was he standing at her door step at this hour of night. So, simply removing some papers from his jacket he forwarded them to her. Her eyes grew wider looking at the paper type, and she shockingly blurted out, "We did not plan on getting married for real. It was supposed to be a fake marriage, wasn't it? " It made him sigh whilst rolling his eyes lazily, he unfolded the papers and showed her the title that read, 'Marriage contract' "Yes we don't marry for real. Th...

Berlin, 1020. After their family is massacred, twins Erik and Adam Von Hagen swore revenge for every single drop of bloodshed. Having no time to lose Erik decides to trick and manipulate a young girl with special gifts to their advantage. And there was Jessica, a human with mystic powers who barely understands what is happening to her. With her ability to control and read minds, seeing the future, and master the fire she must never fall in love or she will destroy everything she touches. But as the heart never listens to reason things might get really bad. There is no room for love only revenge and manipulations. Will all this suffering bring them closer? Will Erik put his plans aside and give love a chance? And if he does will this be the end or the beginning? *************** For the love of BLOOD Prologue 23rd October 1887, Berlin The sky was just as red as the blood of the unfortunate ones that Kane fed on. It was heavy cold rain, the perfect scenario for this ruthless vampire to go hunting. He only wanted the half pure blood of the tweens and nothing more. That would make him invincible. Or at least that is what he thought. - Find them and bring them to me! - Yes my Lord! - I want them alive. Kill everyone that is interfering. Kane was a pure-blood too, just like Louis, his brother, but he knows that drinking the blood of other pure vampires will become the most powerful. And he needed that power to gain respect and tame the rebels that no longer know their places in the hierarchy. He was capable of killing his kind with the coldest of hearts and without any remorse. Kane was royalty so was his brother Louis, the one he was looking for right now. They never got along and always were in the competition. Their father took care of that. Louis was the one with a warm heart and Kane with cold as ice one. Their mother was killed by the villagers they swore to protect. They never fed on their blood, at least not the king or the queen, and for certain not Louis. But with Kane was another story. He was made of stone and always blamed his parents for their weakness for humans. He wanted to rule over his brother but always the king took Louis’s side, standing for kindness, peace, and harmony. For a decade they ruled in this peace. People knew about their origins but they never cared or being scared, as long as they were treated right. After these ten years of peaceful reign, Kane had enough. He was tired of all this kindness and wanted something more and different. Being the eldest he was sure that he will succeed his brother to the throne. Due to his coldness and his harsh decisions so far, his father decided that Louis will take the throne instead, for being the most balanced. And that will ...

My name is Liam Craig, 21 years old and I am dead; sort of. I know it is weird that I am telling my story; 'the dead man tells no tale' I know but I literally died because of love because of a girl, because of May, the love of my life. Meeting May changed everything I thought about life well before and after I died. I knew she was superhuman because no human could do what she did for me; transforming a looser into someone better. I never believed in anything outside of science, outside the ordinary or outside what I was thought to believe but that all changed after May died and I had these weird dreams that lead to the unveiling of a lot of weird stuffs to me. This is a warning monsters are real! The demons are real. I knew this because I fell in love with May; Love! Love! Love! You don't know what love could do to you. I died and woke up something different and not human; something in the shadows of may *************** Shadows Of May Prologue “I don’t know what came over me! Why did I mess up the only thing great that has happened to me in my whole life? ” I buried my head in my pillow. “Why did I drink so much? If I had known this would happen and that I would lose you to death we wouldn’t have gone out that night; we would’ve stayed back and watched movies on the couch and eat pop-corn and talk like we use to do and maybe make out a little. If I had known this would happen. I blame myself. I could’ve thought better. Even in death I still love you more than life itself! May! I miss you so much. What can I do without you? ” I said all this to myself trying to answer these questions about what happened last week. May had been buried two days ago. It is so hard without. She died because of my stupidity. “I will never forget myself. Now I’d be known as ‘The guy who killed his fiancé’ down the line of history”. “Liam! Can you come downstairs? Someone is here to see you” I heard mum call out for me; I could feel her trying to sound calm and less disturbing as she could in her voice. She didn’t want to bother me; I was morning May. “Who wants to see me, to make fun of me; the jerk who made the biggest mistake in the 21st Century. I blame myself I deserve whatever junk life wants to throw at me. Junk! Drunk! Jerk! They rhyme! ” I slowly and reluctantly walk down the stairs to see who it is that wants to see me in my glory of despair. “Hi Liam” I heard a tender voice call out my name and I looked up watching my feet as I rain curses on myself and regretting ever going to that party and the first day I even set my eyes on alcohol. “I came to check on you and see how you’re doing; I know it’s hard but try to be strong for May at least. She wouldn’t want to see you like this! Stop blaming yourself for what happened; it is not your fault” Little Amy smiled. Everyone kept saying it’s not my fault that she died, but deep down I knew that I was the cause of her dea...

It was full moon, when Lea met Lewis for the first time. full moon, when she fall in love with him. And it was also full moon when she learns about him being a werewolf. *************** Full Moon Full Moon It was full moon and yet here I am sitting with him in a big rock. Cold wind rushes into my skin, but I felt nothing, as if I was already used to it. I Look at him slightly, He was busy looking in the dark sky during the course of the moon. It was amazing view of mine, I guess. "What's your name? " He suddenly asked when his head turned to look at me. He smiled like it was the first time he saw me. I feel nervous all of a sudden. This warm guy is driving me crazy. He always giving me chills. I sighed. "Eleanor. " I answered while staring at him, waiting for his reaction. He smile widely as he turned his head again to look up in the sky as if he's remembering my name which was the most beautiful name he heard in his life. It might be delusional to think like that but his actions speaks louder than his words. "Bright, shining one. " He said as he stared into my eyes once again. My forehead twitched because of what he said. "What? " I asked with astonishment. He chuckled as he poking me on my forehead gently. I suddenly felt annoyed. "It is the meaning of your name, stupid. Didn't your mother told you that? " He jokingly said but I didn't laugh. His forehead suddenly creased wondering about my reactions. Like none. "What? No sense of humor, eh? " He asked. "My mother died while giving birth to me. " I replied coldly. He frowned and murmured something then looked at me again with a smile. "Sorry Eleanor, it was disrespectful of mine to ask you like that. I just grinned. People always feel pity for me every time they hear something like that. It was really nothing to me, I didn't even got a chance to meet her, so I didn't feel any pain for her death. She planned to left us anyways. Silence embraced us because of awkwardness. I never felt it before and not even familiar with it. I used to feel nothing. I barely know him, I didn't even know his name, I just see him on hallways of our school and that's all until we ended u...

Every country has their myth. Their monsters that haunt their every night. Rebellious Tala Luwalhati didn't expect that the monster that would haunt hers would be the very monster that she had become. Now enrolled in a school far from her country, she embarks on a journey to leave the golden castle of nightmares, away from her horrifying schoolmates with nothing and no one to stop her except destiny. *************** Mystic Academy: The Inferno Prophecy Chapter 1: The Heiress TALA I've never understood why the ancient Filipino people decided that creating a creature the feeds of pregnant women and babies just to scare children to sleep was a rad thing to do. That is until I realized, it wasn't just in their imagination. "A human?! " I heard murmurs of protest among the crowd of monsters. You heard me right. Monsters. Those creatures and children of the night who terrorize humans in their sleeps. Be it werewolves, vampires, witches and the likes. Human-eating monsters are hoarding in front of me. More like below me but still. I stood before them in a uniform like majority of what the crowd is wearing. I am wearing a white long sleeve polo underneath a big black sweater because for some reasons, I'm cold. Hana,my "mother", tucked it under my knee length black bell shaped skirt. Above the podium, beside me are two people who could be not-human as well. I never had the courage to look at the both of them. I am scared that the monsters in front of me would be enough to convince me that my nightmare is real. I know it is but I want to hold unto a slither of hope that it's not. A few months ago I was a normal human until a certain incident made me into... what I am now. I still look like a human though, that's why every student inside this auditorium gasped. Wondering why I am introduced as one of them. I'm not one of them. I'm no monster like them. A few weeks ago, I had accepted what I am, knowing that I could find a way to control my cannibalistic urges. I was still in my home country. I was still in the Philippines, I can be happy with that at least. I was wrong. The person who cursed me, dragged me to the states and enrolled me to a school called 'Mystic Academy'. I didn't know she had done this and it was too late to do anything about it. She dragged me here with her voodoo magic, manipulating me to follow her into her car like a kidnapper would. She also ...

Vivienne Petrovna has an ordinary genius life in the Ultara Academy, but then something about her begins to change. The presence of a beautiful, yet mysterious girl comes into her school and insists on having her after she discovers one of life's biggest shocks. Going through a strange evolution called Awakening, Vivienne thinks it's the least of her trouble until she's found out about her family secret and starts to realize the whole world is not what it seems. There are other predatory creatures living among humans- and worse, they want to destroy her. *************** Cursed Blood Chapter 1 I walked towards the highly equipped gate of my school. The weighty steels and laser security system no longer intimidated me despite being the only one who had to get scanned every day. Like everyone else, I had a normal school life, except my school wasn't for anyone to attend. In fact, it was the school of geniuses - the Ultara Academy of Gifted Young Women. It was founded by a bunch of female scientists and inventors over two centuries ago. After the light on the steel door flashed green, the enormous iron gate flung open, revealing the view of a great wilderness that surrounded the medieval buildings from a distance. White summits of towering mountains stood as their backdrop. It made everything seem like you were staring at a life-size postcard. I attended the Ultara Academy with an exception- I didn't have to live in the mansion provided by the school. When the year started, all students would pack up their stuff to live in the mansions- but not me. I wanted to be with my best friends, but Mom had made a secret agreement with the headmistress that it was best for me to stay at home, and if you ask me, that was a bit odd and kind of unfair. As I strolled along the gravel pavement across the campus, I heard someone whistle to me from a distance. "Cam? " I called out, "I know it's you. " "Guess where I am? " she replied in a singsong tone. I tried to follow the sound, but I couldn't make out where she was because of the echoes. The morning sun rose high above the horizon. I had to shade my eyes to look. When the breeze blew gently, it brought a palpable, sweet, alluring scent up to my nostrils. I walked toward a dark oak tree, following the familiar scent. And there she was, hiding under the canopy of dark green leaves while swinging her long slim legs over a tree branch. All 5'8 of Camilla Logan, in a short checked skirt, a white cotton blouse, and a black blazer was on the tree. Unlike me, Camilla is a younger version o...

After moving to Italy to elude her troubled past, Mykaela pursues a modeling career with Miles' help and a renewed self-worth...until her ex shows up and ruins the illusion. Miles Falco, an artist enjoying the Italian countryside, must choose between the simple life he loves and being successor to a clan of influential purebloods contending for power in all of Italy. Will he escape his predetermined fate? A life of deceit, chaos, and deadly encounters with the mafia? *************** The Echelons ◇ Notes ◇ Scenes, some places, events, and characters in this book are all invented. This story contains profanity, violence, drug use, mature and sexual themes, and other content not intended for young readers. Read at your own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this story or plagiarism of any kind is prohibited by the law. Some chapters contain non-English dialogues (not pivotal to the plot, though). P. S. Hi, dear readers ♡ This is Book I of the ♛♔ ♕ Secret Heirs Series ♕ ♔ ♛ Thank you for giving this a shot. Much appreciated. ◇ ... EXCERPT ... Pain. Pain. All she could feel was pain. But it would go away. It had to be temporary. The knife-like pain would stop. Eventually. Except... It stayed deep in her flesh. Deep under her skin. Stinging. It burned. It made her eyes tear up. Praying didn't work. She already tried shoving him off, but her limbs... too weak. Stiff. Barely able to move. Why? She had no clue. One thing she knew for sure: her left shoulder still bled like a faucet. Warm liquid oozed from the wound. The metallic smell alone told her enough. It was her own blood, dripping all over her shivering skin. Eyes squeezed shut, Mykaela prayed in her head some more, mustering up the will and strength to stop him. He continued to feed. Drinking. Sucking in blood with no inhibitions. Seconds ticked by but his cold mouth still wouldn't leave the wounds he'd inflicted. Good God... It just hurt too much. Why was she letting him do this? Every part of her felt helpless, sore, trapped by his weight and his strong arms and legs. Was it wrong? Was she indulging his craving? But he didn't simply crave blood - he needed blood. As far as she understood, it got rid of the stomach and liver pains he endured on a regular basis. Being a "pureblood" wasn't all fun and exciting games, like Ricchar and Cloe said. Still, no matter how much she told herself she was only doing this to help Miles, the profound ache in her m...

Sixteen-year-old Ashling Shields has had her whole life turned upside down for the second time in two years. As a freshman she was the sole survivor of a harrowing disaster. Now, in the summer before junior year, her life is once again spiralling out of control. The deadly force hunting her draws closer every day, and being entangled in the affairs of a world famous rock band doesn’t make life any easier - especially when there’s good reason to believe the band members are literally angels and demons. She’ll have to take control of her own destiny - before her destiny takes control of her. Don’t miss this riveting new installment in the Fable Saga. *************** Lullaby (Book 2 of The Fable Saga) FIRST LIGHT I’M RUNNING THROUGH THE DARK midnight forest. The night-cloaked trees cluster around me like the walls of a gloomy maze, but I won’t get lost. I know the way. He’s calling me. The one I love. I glide over small streams, hollow moss-encrusted tree trunks, a sea of ferns. From time to time I look up. Stars wheel through the patches of black sky peeking through the forest canopy overhead. As I run, the sky lightens to a deep royal blue, paling to lilac speckled with the ghosts of the fading stars. Day is coming. I have to hurry. I’m almost there, but I won’t reach him in time. So I call his name, hoping he’ll hear me. But no sound comes out. I’ve forgotten his name. In fact, I’ve forgotten his face, my face, my name, everything. How am I supposed to find him again if I can’t even remember what he looks like? The gurgling melody of water rushing over stones rings through the trees. I run towards the sound, deeper and deeper into the forest. I come to the edge of a babbling brook. Something is pulling me, and I walk along its edge, picking my way over mossy emerald boulders. I stop when I reach a small, still pool, shining silver as a bright mirror embedded in the forest floor. Tiny green and turquoise dragonflies dance above the water’s surface, their jeweled armor glinting in the dim starlight. I crouch down and lean over the pool’s edge to look at my reflection. I’m met with an unfamiliar face. Long wavy hair as white as new-fallen snow. And eyes that for some reason I’m sure should be pale green, but are bright silver instead, like molten metal gleaming beneath dark lashes. The way I’m dressed is just as peculiar. I look down and see that I’m wearing a gossamer gown made of some diaphanous material; a sheath of silvery spider silk dotted with tiny pearls, light as sea foam, hanging on the air. Is this me? Has this always been me? I must be dr– A movement in the forest interrupts my thoughts. A dark sh...

The 11th day of the month is now approaching. They are approaching too, making their own ways on your homes and academy. Your blood will be sucked by them. Make sure that they are not there under your bed or up into your ceiling, observing you. Would this girl stop the curse that's hunting them for decades because if she can't, they will hunt you... *************** 11th Day Chapter 1 "Mom, stop singing loudly in early in the morning! " I turn on the other side of my bed because of iritation due to my mother's voice. I was falling to sleep again, ignoring the footsteps that my mother is making while running down the corridors outside of my bedroom. "Tasia! Wake up, sweetie! " At first, I hesitated to do so but as soon as I heard her footsteps coming for me, I stood up and stare at my wall annoyingly. "Anasta-" "I know. I know. I'm coming mom. So please stop shouting. " I neglect her and began walking through my room to my bathroom. I prepare the mild water on the tub and put some soap on it. It was my favorite scent among all, lemon. It keeps me relax and fulfilling while I'm with lemons. At the same time, it's calming. I step on the tub while feeling the soap wrapping my foot. Without clothes on, I soak my whole body down to the tub and once again close my eyes. Lately, I've been thinking on how should I act infront of the people on my new academy. It seems like it became an extraordinary feeling for me to meet other people for a long time. "Anastasia, what took you so long? You're just taking a bath. " I opened my eyes from disbelief it appears like she's really waiting and observing me from outside. Yeah, she's more excited than me. Even though she's really the reason why I have to do this. Why do I even need to do this to have a new life and move on from her problems too? Why do I feel like I am affected because of her own troubles. "I'm on my way, Mom. " I drained the water on the tub and watch it as it twirl down right to the sewer. I tug my nude hood and simply put my denim jacket above it. Also, pull my black ripped jeans then partner it with a white shoes. I let my hair fell straight to my shoulder and comb it. As I finished preparing myself, I quickly go out of the bathroom and draw my bag out of my drawer. My other bags and baggages were already at my apartment. I already transferred it yesterda...