**THE SCARS SERIES: BOOK ONE**PLEASE NO EDITING OR CRITIQUING BECAUSE I DON'T CARE** Abused and neglected, scarred and rejected; how could someone fall in love with someone when they don't even love themselves? Casey Ryan has been trapped in the terrors of his dark mind for four years, ever since the decision to come out of the closet, leading to the betrayal of his best friend and the parents who were always meant to cherish him. Beaten down like the ocean carving up a cliff, Casey no longer sees his worth or the worth of his existence. He sees no purpose in living, and is empty of everything besides immeasurable mental pain, morbidly immoral thoughts, and the disfiguring scars that litter nearly his entire body. He lives his life as a shadow of his former self, until he quite literally runs into fate. His life is rattled, his reason tested, and his heart strings pulled to a breaking point, but will the pain endured end in the bliss he so desperately longs for?

BOOK ONE Demitri Inou is an assassin of the new government, molded and manicured into the perfect pet. Obedient and submissive, he'll do anything the Con Rồng tells him to because he knows the consequences of disobeying them, but even through years of torture and instilled fear, he remains somewhat defiant towards his handlers. Though he's lost all humanity, virtue, and hope of being free, he refuses to completely succumb to them, and uses his hatred towards them to fuel each assassination. Being the skilled killer he is, it isn't at all surprising when the leader of the Con Rồng sends him on a mission that could either end the new government or boost their following and power. A mission to eliminate the leader of the Phoenix Rebellion, Phoniks Vidroh. At first it seems like just another mission, another simple assassination, but things go terribly wrong, and Demitri finds himself smack in the middle of the rebellion, fighting against the strings that tie him to the Con Rồng, and the hope of freedom and safety with a childhood friend he'd always assumed to be dead. "... and even as the world is consumed in the flames of evil, the strong will continue to rise from the ashes." ((rated M, will contain explicit content, sexual themes, rape, blood, violence, & mature language.)) **cover art by ChiyoPurr on DA: https://www.deviantart.com/chiyopurr**