A genius analyst has to leave her desk behind and team up with the sour Agency hothead to track down her missing partner. ----- Quinn O'Reilly doesn't belong in the field. She's better off as the brilliant intelligence analyst behind some of the Agency's biggest arrests, and more than comfortable surrounded by her screens. Special Agent Cameron Kent, Agent Quinn's primary partner, is the pro carrying out the plans formulated with Quinn's brainpower. She's the closest thing to family Quinn's ever had. She's also missing, having dropped off the map in the middle of an undercover operation. There is no one better suited to find Cam than Quinn. There is no one better suited than Gavin Locke, agency hothead, to protect her in the meantime. With clues left all around the world, this unlikely pair will have to pick up the pace to find Cam in time - and avoid killing each other in the process. It's time for Special Agent O'Reilly to step forward - and into the field. ----- standalone, 150k words completed

Several millennia ago a war raged between the factions of dragonkind. With their world ravaged, the Kaldean Alliance forged the Amulet of Draconic Control and the Tethering Stone, and banished their foes to other realms, saving Kalda from utter destruction. Fearing the power of the Amulet, the survivors secreted it away. But now knowledge of the Amulet has resurfaced-and in the wrong hands, war could erupt anew. Long ago, men harnessed the Channels of Power, creating tevisrals-devices capable of manifesting magic. But men weren't the only ones to accomplish such feats. Dragons crafted the most sophisticated tevisrals. These shaped the world, defining civilization of man and elf alike. Over the centuries, the people of Kalda have fallen into a dark age, where elves are estranged from men and dragons have retreated into legend. Tevisrals are scarce and men are willing to trade everything for them. But there are some who wish to bury the past, and in their lands, possessing tevisrals is tantamount to treason. Still, daring men scour the world in search of Kalda's past. One such man, the scholar Krindal, seeks an ancient order known as the Keepers of Truth and Might. He yearns for their knowledge, long feared lost. Prince Kaescis Midivar also searches for these Keepers. The assassination of his uncle, the emperor of Mindolarn, killed his hopes of peace with his empire's enemies. His empire's survival hinges upon unearthing the Keepers' secrets. An aging warrior, Cornar Dol'shir, longs to be home with his wife. But his retirement must wait, as his band of adventurers is recruited to help find the Keepers' hidden temple on the Isle of Klindala. Haunted by his tragic past, Iltar, the Son of Adrin, does not join in the search for the Keepers. Instead, he seeks to unravel the mysteries held within a volume of prophecy foretelling the advent of the Unspoken One and the return of the Crimson Eye.

stitching storms into lovers' thighs (poetry #1 / prose #1 - 061120) © VANGOHS, 2017