Worlds Beside Series

Nicholas Hughes has broken a rule. The rule. But that might be the least of his worries. Expulsion from a program for mystical anthropology and arcane semiotics is probably nothing compared to a premature and violent death. On the other hand, the only person who is offering to help is a stranger he just met, and David Cruz comes with his own set of complications: a curse of lineage that lurks in the blood. The island transplant is diligently working at keeping his head down, but all it ever takes is one bad night, one wrong decision, and things fall apart. Just ask Jarvis, who's been a vampire since America's original sin, and everything he knows he's learned from watching people from the shadows over the centuries. A simple act can open a door that's impossible to close. But that's how it is in Charm City, where there's secrets in the water and it's never sunny enough to banish the darkness completely.

The outcast mage Nicholas Hughes has gone to ground, having fled Charm City with a target on his back and a knife at his throat. However, running away has also distanced him from his ultimate goal of restarting his beginning. Scarlet has lost sight of her quarry, her knives no longer close enough to kill. Her sleep is cursed by the memories of the fallen members of her cell, so her revenge is restless. However the European huntress is out of her depth in the new world. She turns to a group of Americans for direction and guidance, but Nicholas Hughes is the worst kind of moving target: he looks like an enemy one moment and an ally the next. So if he's the kind of trouble that trouble follows, what does that make Scarlet if she's so close behind? They both walk a hunter's road, where nothing is for certain, but everything has a price. And all debts come due.

Steeler's Mill is a peculiar place, the kind where people go to forget, the kind where people go to be forgotten. A landscape of hollow homes and forsaken factories, there are plenty of places to hide for the broken souls of the disremembered neighborhood. But that isn't why Jarvis chose the little town as his new haunt. The vampire had to leave Charm City, and he was promised Steeler's Mill would be safe for him. What he wasn't told about is the reason why the Mill is so good at making people lost. He meets Liam, the mysterious fixer and his apprentice, Piper. The pair saves people, but what they save people from is stranger than anyone might have guessed. And this crisis is going to force the dead man back into the world of the living yet again. The vampire makes for a peculiar savior, but then again, what are good and evil in the face of forever?

When the dust settled, David Cruz hadn't won Charm City. After losing his friends and after losing his clan, the city is about all he has left. He's joined the police force in an effort to exercise control over his situation, to be a benefit to the world he's chosen: the human world. But protecting and serving can sometimes become deflecting and evading for someone with secrets like his. The other cops are curious, and among them is detective Victoria Ferrara, who is both his toughest critic and his only confidante. Another complication is that a new player in town is threatening to overturn the blood-won peace. Even worse, an enemy from his past that he thought was dead turns out to be everything but. And those aren't the only shadowy figures a step ahead of the rookie cop. But David's got to keep it together. If he loses control this time, he loses everything. It may not be a lot, but it's all he has left.

Before, Nicolas Hughes was on the run, but now he's the one giving chase. What's more, he isn't alone. He and Scarlet are hunting their way across Middle America in search of the creature that haunted the young mage for harrowing seasons, that stole his secrets and killed his friends but made the mistake of leaving him alive. There's only one problem: across everything Nick's read and everything he's studied, he has no inkling about how to destroy the monster, not to mention that finding it has also proved nigh impossible. So, the pair needs to find themselves a weapon master. As it so happens, one such individual is being tracked by his own set of troubles. It's anyone's guess as to who finds Liam first, his estranged granddaughter, Nick and Scarlet, a trio of ancient killers from beyond, or worse. The web tightens like a noose, everyone, every thing, tangled and tied. But Nick is confident everything will work out if he just keeps moving forward, so long as Scarlet is watching his back. He hopes.