Showing results by narrator "Khristine Hvam" in All Categories

I thought I'd finally stepped away from the madness of the underworld, away from the Abnormals, away from all those who would do me and those I love harm. The world, though, had different plans. And now I'm trapped, not only physically, but inside my head. Those who have me caged say none of it was real. That I'm not a highly trained assassin of Abnormals. That I have no family. My children do not exist. That there is nothing supernatural about this world.

Kaylin returned from the West March in one piece. Now that piece is fraying. She's not at home in the Imperial Palace - and she never intends to be. All she wants is normal garden-variety criminals and a place of her own. Of course, normal in her new life involves a dragon as a roommate, but she can handle that. Kaylin can't as easily handle the new residents to the city she polices, because one of them is Nightshade's younger brother. On a night when she should be talking to landlords in perfectly normal buildings, she's called to the fief - by Teela.

From the secret reels of a notoriously cursed cinematic masterpiece to the debauched livestreams of modern movie junkies who will do anything for clicks, Final Cuts brings together new and terrifying stories inspired by the many screens we can't peel our eyes away from. Inspired by the rich golden age of the film and television industries as well as the new media present, this new anthology reveals what evils hide behind the scenes and between the frames of our favorite medium.

There’s the new treecat adoptee who needs to be kept from becoming a risk to the carefully guarded secret of just how smart the arboreal inhabitants of Sphinx really are. There’s the overeager journalist whose campaign to protect the treecats from exploitation as the newest, coolest pet on any planet could threaten the very creatures he seeks to defend. And there’s the mysterious rash of weird accidents that are plaguing Sphinx’s younger inhabitants—including some of those nearest and dearest to Stephanie.

Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered— and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin….Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and the immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth.

There have always been some pretty weird grownups in Bailey City, but the new custodian at the Bailey School is one of a kind. When he appears out of nowhere just before Christmas to help out at the school, Mr. Jolly's white hair and beard and longing for cold temperatures bring the fabled St. Nick to everyone's mind. Could this man really be Santa Claus? The Bailey School Kids are going to find out!

A civilization-destroying omega cloud has switched direction, heading straight for a previously unexplored planetary system--and its alien society. And suddenly, a handful of brave humans must try to save an entire world--without revealing their existence.

They call her the Wilder Queen. It’s a title given to Kate Brighton for her role in the war between the wilder rebellion and the Rimish empire. It’s a title that was hard earned: Kate may have saved her people, but many were lost in the conflict, immortalized in the tattoos of fire that grace her arms. And it’s a title that Kate never wanted. The rebellion may have made a home for themselves in a country that wants to cast them out, but the peace will never be safe while Edwin, the illegitimate king of Rime, sits upon its throne. And for that, the Wilder Queen must keep hers.

The daughter of a Legion war hero, fighting was in Andien Broxin's blood. But the battles Republic marines face on strange and alien worlds are a far cry from the vaunted, brutal, no-holds-barred conflicts fought at the edge of the galaxy by the elite legionnaires. Until a devastating war erupts right in the Republic’s stellar backyard. Newly stationed on a mid-core planet being harassed by terrorist revolutionaries, Andien and her fellow “hullbusters” find themselves right in the middle of a desperate fight for survival.

I had no idea how those words would change my life. Or how they’d changed my life already...until the day the most dangerous man I’ve ever met waltzed onto my farm and left us a death sentence. In an invitation. My younger brother has been chosen for the prestigious, secret magical school hidden within the folds of our mundane world. A place so dangerous, they don’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive. If he doesn't go, our entire family will be killed. It’s the same invitation my older brother received three years ago - the same place where he mysteriously died.

Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow. And those spirits want to kill you. It's the first lesson that every Renthian learns. Not long ago, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive those spirits and assume the royal throne. Since then, the new queen has kept the peace and protected the humans of her land. But now for all her power, she is hiding a terrible secret: She is dying. And if she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her beloved realm will run wild.

Life is precious and precarious on the islands of Belene. Besieged by a capricious ocean full of malicious spirits, the people of the islands seek joy where they can. Mayara, one of the island’s fearless oyster divers, has found happiness in love. But on the day of her wedding to the artist Kelo, a spirit-driven storm hits the island with deadly force. To save her loved ones, Mayara reveals a dangerous secret: She has the power to control the spirits. When the storm ends, she is taken into custody by the queen’s soldiers and imprisoned with other women like her.

My magic can kill. Now, it might be the reason I die. For years, I thought I was Raven Cursed - only to discover I’m something much worse. But nothing about my life is as shocking as what I discover about Mephisto, the mysterious and alluring client who’s always had a special interest in me. Now I know why. My curse and Mephisto’s secrets have to take a back seat when the most powerful vampire in the city hires me for a job. It seems simple enough: Negotiate the acquisition of a weapon that can kill his kind faster than a stake to the heart.

Seven corpses are discovered in the streets of a Dragon’s fief. All identical, down to their clothing. Kaylin Neya is assigned to discover who they were, who killed them - and why. Is the evil lurking at the borders of Elantra preparing to cross over? At least the investigation delays her meeting with the Dragon Emperor. And as the shadows grow longer over the fiefs, Kaylin must use every skill she’s ever learned to save the people she’s sworn to protect. Sword in hand, dragons in the sky, this time there’s no retreat....

Welcome to the crossover event fans have been waiting for: Joanne Walker and Jane Yellowrock meet in a world not quite like either of their own, where they must find and defeat the magic that brought them there - or they just might find themselves...easy pickings!

Recalled from her assignment in London, England, Clarissa Abbot is handed her most difficult assignment yet: to observe and isolate a potential threat to national security that resides inside the White House. Facing a conspiracy that threatens to rock Washington, DC, to its core, Clarissa is pitted against an overwhelming force that won't stop until she's dead.

I am what this supernatural world calls a Chameleon - a rarity even amongst all these monsters. And rare things are coveted and feared by the most powerful of all - The House Of Wonder. It’s a good thing I have my crew at my back, because this Academy? It’s about to get seriously ugly. Which means this farm girl is ready to play by only one set of rules. Her own.

Eighteen-year-old Finley Sinclair is witty, tough, talented, and driven. With an upcoming interview at the Manhattan music conservatory, she just needs to finish composing her audition piece. But her creativity disappeared with the death of her older brother, Will. She decides to take a break and study abroad, following Will’s travel journal to Ireland. Her brother felt closest to God there, and she hopes to find peace about his death. Meanwhile, Beckett Rush - teen heartthrob and Hollywood bad boy - is flying to Ireland to finish filming his latest vampire movie.

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters...Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost - how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers...to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small.

When something precious is stolen from 16-year-old Mina Grime, she will do anything in her power to get it back, even if it means traveling to the dangerous Fae plane and battling one of the strongest fairy-tale villains yet. However, nothing can prepare Mina for the dangerous obstacles she will face in the Fae world - or the choices she must make when love and life are on the line.