(Nocturnal Law Series) { ONC 2025 Shortlister }Magic and justice collide when witch lawyer Gwyneira Grimheart fights to save vampire Emrys Hawthorn's sorry fangs. Sanguine City is notorious for corrupt bat cops, human trafficking, highly addictive fairydust, and contract killings orchestrated by the bloodthirsty vampire mafia. But even these lowly criminals deserve a fair shot at trial and someone has to do it. Gwyneira defends the supernaturals that no other witch or sane mortal will go near, so when Emrys Hawthorn comes politely knocking at her law office's door in the middle of the night, she knows what she has to do. Vampires are dangerous beings, and Gwyneira knows the risks all too well, but if she's not careful, it won't just be her blood he takes. It might be her heart too. Beautiful cover featuring Gwyneira created by Neige❤️ Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Thriller Current Word Count: 35,381

28-year-old Calista's life took an unexpected turn when her parents died and left her all of their fortune. Her fiance Trevor came at an opportune time and helped her heal from their loss. Now, she is engaged and having the time of her life at her bachelorette party in Mexico with her friends. All that changes when she receives a message that will turn her life in another direction if she trusts her instincts. If she doesn't, her online protector will have to take things into his capable hands and use his hacking skills to keep her safe. ​‼️​ Trigger warnings ​‼️​ ⛔​stalking ⛔​kidnapping ⛔​manipulation ⛔​gaslighting ⛔​abandonment This novella will be for the 2025 ONC competition. I chose these two prompts: 88. Lately, your phone feels... off. It seems like it's watching you. At first, you dismiss it as paranoia. But one day, each message on your phone reads "I'm watching you." 104. While on vacation, you receive a cryptic message from an unknown sender, throwing your carefully planned itinerary into chaos.

For the fae, magic is everything: status, power, wealth, honor. For Vera Reite, a fae born with no magic, it is a shameful reminder that she will never amount to anything. Whispers of a fae-killing monster begin to circulate the Moon Court. It lurks in the woods, feeding off the mana of its victims. Those that go missing and find themselves at the mercy of the beast are never seen or heard from again. Fear quickly takes hold of the fae court; it's only a matter of time before their whole world is destroyed by this creature. However, it offers Vera a glimmer of hope. When she learns of it, she ventures into the wood to kill the beast, believing that she will be able to absorb the magic it has stolen. But the woods are as dangerous as the beast, and Vera soon finds herself lost. In a stroke of luck, she comes across an old manor deep in the forest where a strange boy is sealed away. If Vera wishes to slay the beast, she will first have to uncover the secret of the manor and its prisoner before it's too late. 𝐀 𝐟𝐚𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜. 𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭. 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝. ||Completed: 8/15/24 Word count: 90,000 - 100,000||

| 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 • 𝟳𝘅 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 | During a revolution to dethrone the corrupt nobility, a street-thief gets taken in by the very people he swore to fight. * * * The Capital tore away everything M'yu had: his family, his town's freedom, and any chance for him to live an honest life. While fat bureaucrats sit in their gleaming city, his people starve and die. Bent on leveling the playing field, he lures a group of Capital Knights to his side of town, ready to steal a tool that could burn their entire society to the ground. But when he saves a Capital girl's life instead, the Knight that M'yu stole from will open a door into the glittering world of courtiers. It's a deal too good for a revolutionary like him to refuse. It won't take long for him to find out, though, that when you start a fire, it doesn't burn just one house to the ground. It burns everything. * * * 𝟯𝘅 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱: @ScienceFiction, @magic, @dystopianapocalypse, @WattpadDarkFantasy, @WattpadUrbanFantasy, and more

|| ONC2023 SHORTLISTER x 5 FEATURED || "𝙰 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚊 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎." Denizen is Blank Slate, the number one villain in the region-except he doesn't remember it. With only a cryptic note telling him his eight rules, he sets out to discover just exactly who he is and what he did to become the number one villain. When his first lead takes him straight into the heroes' hands, Denizen struggles to keep his villain alias secret and play the confused and innocent citizen, all the while digging deeper for answers. But as he gets closer to the truth-and the heroes get hotter on his tail--two questions become painfully loud: Is he good? And should he let the heroes catch him? [][][01000101001101100-01101100][][] An ONC 2023 Novella || Round 2 Winner 25/04/2023 || ONC's Ambassadors' Pick 25/04/2023 || ONC 2023 Longlister 19/05/2023 || ONC 2023 Shortlister 31/05/2023 || Featured by Mystery on Curiouser & Curiouser 25/08/2023 || Featured by ScienceFiction on Parallel Worlds 31/10/2023 || Featured by ScienceFiction on Sci-Fantasy 7/9/2024 || Featured by ScienceFiction on Ambassadors' Pick 25/3/2025 || Featured by Science Fiction on Superheroes 25/9/2025 ***Exclusively on W A T T P A D. If you are reading this elsewhere, your device is liable to malware.***

Aqie's coming of age turns tragic when hunters enter her family's valley and abruptly leave her an orphan. Injured and heartbroken, she's forced to trust the protection of one of the very hunters that killed her parents. But what can she do when the nearest Larkwings are months' flight away, and what can she hold onto when almost everything she has has been brutally stripped away? Natan's life as a luxury Larkwing cape trader has been spiraling downwards ever since his son died on a risky trade mission at sea. Scrambling to maintain status and seeing no other option to quickly alleviate his debt, he joins a Larkwing hunting party in hopes of some quick stones. However, an encounter with a mysterious deity and a desperate girl call into question: just how far is he willing to go to satisfy both his conscience and the demands of everyone around him?

✿ Updates every Tuesday ✿ When a quiet high school junior is chosen as Hall Monitor, she uncovers a disturbing pattern in the previous candidates and begins to unravel as eerie events push her to the brink of madness, forcing her to confront the dark secrets buried within her school-and within herself. ------------------- Avra Bennett never asked to be Brookfield High's Hall Monitor, but when the unwanted title is thrust upon her, she quickly realizes it's more than just a trivial duty. Strange occurrences begin to plague her-whispers in empty hallways, cryptic notes left in her locker, and shadows that vanish when she turns around. As Avra delves deeper into the history of the Hall Monitor role, she uncovers a pattern of madness and disappearances connected to the school's dark past. With her sanity on the line, Avra must uncover the truth before she becomes the next victim of Brookfield's twisted secrets. But as the pressure mounts, Avra starts to question if the real danger lies in the school-or in her own mind. Cover by @MilaSteelesHearts ᴄᴏᴘʏʀɪɢʜᴛ © 2024 ʙʏ ᴀᴜᴅʀᴇʏ ᴀʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛꜱ ʀᴇꜱᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴘᴏʀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴏꜰ ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇᴅ ᴏʀ ᴜꜱᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴍᴀɴɴᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛꜱᴏᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴘʀᴇꜱꜱ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴘᴇʀᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ ᴇxᴄᴇᴘᴛ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ʙʀɪᴇꜰ Qᴜᴏᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ.

A book club in which members are placed in teams called guilds, where they then work to give extensive feedback and win the victory!