Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son. ***** Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice. [[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]] [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙨, 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙖𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨." Valerie Tenebris is not human. She never was, and never will be. She is a monster, a nightmare, a killer, who dreams of an ancient battlefield and a different, brutal world where stars fall and dark blood stains the earth. Kye Merran is an Ember, one who wields fire magic. When a childhood friend shows up at his house with a strange girl who is bleeding black blood, he knows that he's getting into something he definitely shouldn't. Especially when the Dark King of Rurik, who may have much more to him than it seems, is looking to conquer another kingdom or two, preferably with a powerful, dark queen at his side. But Kye can't seem to stay away from the mysterious girl with the blood of Darkness. And Val can't stay away from Kye either, no matter how much she claims that she hates him. As Val, Kye, and their friends race to stop the Dark King and his approaching army, what they don't realize is that they are playing a part in an ancient, deadly game, a game between the light and the dark, one years in the making. But it is a game which neither of them can win, for their fates have already been determined by the desperate Gods, written in blood among the stars. Cover picture credit: Laura Sheridan **VIOLENCE, MENTION OF CHILD ABANDONMENT, ALCOHOLISM, RAPE, ASSAULT, DEATH, TORTURE, AND ABUSE** 364K words •HIGHEST RANKING• #1-Wind-1/26/21 #1-lightanddark-3/24/21 #1-magicalpowers-5/4/21 #1-War-5/13/21 #1-stars-8/9/21 #3-Night-4/10/21 #5-swords-4/18/21 #11-Darkness-4/10/21 **There will be a sequel; it will be a duology!