Altered World Series

As a child, Nathaniel Leone watched one of the most important events in human history. Creatures of legend were revealed to the world as more than just fairy tales. Vampires, Werewolves, Elves, and countless other entities came out of the shadows united as “Alters” – an offshoot of humanity long hiding from the rest of the world. Together, the Alters founded a new nation, “Argyre”, and declared their intention to take their place in society once and for all. The world was different now, everything changed, and Nate’s life had to change with it. Now a rookie in the Cascadia branch of the Alter Control Task Force, Nate works for the very people who shook up the world. Tasked with policing superhuman creatures and the humans who interact with them, Nate and the other agents of the ACTF stand between the two sides on Argyre’s behalf so that other governments won’t do worse. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done – not even crime is exactly the same since the reveal. Finding evidence of a new Alter drug ring, Nate gets dragged into a more dangerous situation than he imagined. With the evidence bringing up more questions than answers and witnesses not providing much to go on, he soon discovers that his suspect might be more than a drug dealer. They may be a murderer, a Shapeshifter, and closer than he thinks.

Seattle’s Fangtown has long been one of the hottest Alter enclaves outside of Argyre. The weather was great for people averse to sunny days, the border was a relatively short drive away, and the city had an underground level that was prime for some subterranean renovations. On any given night you could find everything from Vampires to Trolls wandering the streets. But recently the city became a lot more than a hot-spot: it became a safe haven. A courthouse roof exploded with a rain of glass at just the right time to set off a small political revolution and what used to just be a trendy location was now Alter-kind’s home away from home. Nathaniel Leone was there to see it happen during his first days as a full-fledged agent. Hell, he was unlucky enough to be standing on the rooftop. But now that everyone else is settling in to their new normal, he can’t help but feel uneasy about it all. It could be a touch of PTSD, a lifetime of changing fortunes, or the fact he knows a man in a glass box who helped orchestrate it all. Whatever it is, Nate’s still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Unfortunately, Nate might be right to feel uneasy. There have been reports of strange sightings, Alter women have started to go missing, and a brutal murder scene suggests something powerful is at the center of it all. After years of convincing people not to worry about Werewolf attacks, there’s suddenly an actual monster on the loose. And, worst of all, someone’s trying to cover it up.

Summer afternoons in Seattle's Fangtown are generally peaceful. Longer days and more sunlight tends to make a nocturnal population stay inside, after all. So what Agent Nathaniel Leone expected was to get his usual order from Ahab's, catch up on the local news, hope that no one had encountered any hulking behemoths out in the woods, and ease into his "day". What he didn't expect was to have a gunshot shatter that peace right outside the shop in his very own neighborhood. Even more unexpected was what he found at the murder scene right outside. With a crowd gathered around to gawk at the grisly scene, Nate discovers a shooter in an eerie trance. Snapping out of it, the shooter has no memory of what happened or anything else in the last day. Worse, she's not alone, dozens of cases like her have been appearing all across Seattle and beyond and have caught the attention of the Alter Control Task Force. Driven to murder with no apparent motive, people are killing friends, coworkers, and even complete strangers with no idea why and no memory of how they even got there. Someone is clearly pulling the strings, and the lines seem to lead back to a familiar face. Something always stood out about Marionette Corvid, the right-hand woman to the owner of the most popular club in Fangtown. Something about her felt different and her readings were never quite right, but she was never a priority. Now, as the mysteries of the recent murders unfold, Nate finds Marionette was hiding a lot more than her aura. Now, with her secrets exposed, she leads Nate into a darker place and puts him at odds with those he trusted most.