❝ Anitchka, Anitchka, will you not invite me in? ❞ In which a girl is indebted to a wintry demon for saving her life, and the gold from her fingertips is a magic whose price she must repay tenfold. Unless she guesses his name first. | loosely based on rumplestiltskin |

❝DEATH IS COMING, DEATH IS COMING.❞ A girl watches kingdoms fall as a man stained with the blood of an empire, puts a crown on her head. [4.15.17] all rights reserved ©2017

Can a natural killer learn to be human again? Regan's unique talent for murder makes her a perfect assassin. After a lethal encounter leaves her broken body washed up on a beach, she finds herself adopted by a group of teenage bodyguards. She doesn't intend to stay for long, but soon Regan finds herself faced with a choice: become a hero or stay a villain? *** The boy played with the flat brim of the cap in his hands and looked around the room. He sat back in his chair, trying to look casual, but the heel of his hi-top sneaker drummed rapidly on the concrete floor. Regan sat opposite him with her legs crossed and her hands folded on her tartan skirt. She watched him without a word and brushed a strand of blue-dyed hair behind her ear. Somehow this seemed to unsettle him more. 'Calm down,' she said. 'It's just murder.' *** Author's Note: Darkness Girl: Trickster God is represented by Louise Fury from The Bent Agency. P.S. The epic cover was made by Paul Kopetko (you can stalk him at paulkopetko.com). Enjoy!

There is no politician above him. There is no authority to end him. There will never be a man with a status higher than his. He is Virtus Lux. He is the Bone Cutter. The most ruthless one in history. His job? Remove the corruption of the United States government, one kill at a time. His goal? Get a wife to establish the Bone Harvester. Every Bone Cutter needs a Bone Harvester at their side. So, why is it that every wife of his ends up dead? He is the threat parents tell their kids at night. The murderer nobody wants to face. After all, he killed six of his wives. His heart shows no evidence of being real, perhaps he was even born without one. Wasn't he? Being a Bone Cutter is his greatest dream. Isn't it? All six of his wives ended up dead. Didn't they? Who, above anything else, is Uri Ruben; the young man who stands by his side throughout every interview, and media coverage? And are they even a man at all?

Inanis Messor is The Bone Cutter. He's America's most fierce and cursed celebrity. He's America's modern prophet. He's America's very own murderous darling. Inanis's job is to broadcast a live death on public television once a month, as a sacrifice to the public. Every month on the 15th, Inanis steps on a large, vibrant stage, in front of dozens of cameras, and executes a living political individual as repentance for the sins of America's government. It keeps the public satisfied. It keeps the government from having to own up to their mistakes. Mirea Dhalmi is the daughter of a famous state governor; a man who involves himself in every political discussion the media has to offer. But when he's chosen to be Inanis's next victim, Mirea desperately pleads with The Bone Cutter to spare his life. Inanis agrees, but at a price. Mirea must now become his bride, his public display. She becomes The Bone Harvester, the woman who stands beside The Bone Cutter on the bloody stage that is broadcasted throughout public television. The unfortunate woman who stands beside the celebrity who kills in front of the nation.

Cain Luther is mad. Truly, voluntarily mad. He's obsessed with mutilation, creation, and absolute discovery. His goal is to create a chemical that the government will fear. To create something that the American people want more than anything else. A chemical to rid all of life's problems. He's willing to die for this experiment, and little do they know; he is. Cain is addicted to injecting himself with the deadly failures his studies produce. His body is quickly falling apart, as his bones have become so brittle you could break them with no effort at all. His eyesight is dimming each day, he'll soon be blind, and his muscles are so weak, he doesn't have the strength to carry himself most days. He is a walking test subject. His body struggled to hold life. Doctors warn he will die in no less than a year if he keeps this up. So can Ophelia Alvarado, a college student who just so happens to be his roommate, have what it takes to save Cain from voluntary suicide? Can she save him from his own man-made plague?