Showing results by author "Matthew S. Cox" in All Categories

Princess Oona Talomir enjoys the little things that come with her station: a handmaiden, her lavish bedchamber, and scores of fancy dresses - the duty to win a decades-long war, not so much. Oh, did I mention assassins? Seers foretold the conflict would end by her hand. From the moment she drew her first breath, the neighboring kingdom has been trying to kill her so she could not grow powerful enough to destroy them. The burden of her crown becomes too much to bear, yet one thing lifts her spirits amid the gloom. Her servant girl, Kitlyn. Alas, in a kingdom obsessed with the god of purity, she is terrified to confess her forbidden love.

Sarah Wright woke up a few times after parties in strange places - but the morgue's a first. At 18, she's eager for a taste of independence, moving out of state to attend college. A change of scenery is extra-needed due to a bad breakup with her boyfriend, Scott. However, soon after escaping the body cooler, she makes two startling realizations: vampires are real and she is one. There's nothing quite like an untimely death to ruin plans. California's sunny beaches aren't the best place for vampires to chill, and worse, she winds up stuck in Seattle, living with her parents.

Samantha Moon spent the past 13 years fighting the evil trying to consume her, but at least she knew where it lurked. With the dark masters unleashed, her life has become one of constant vigilance and sleepless nights. One upside, though: She's on speaking terms with the sun again. Allison's vision of a ticking supernatural time bomb wiping out civilization sends them racing out to the Arizona desert. After hastily gathering reinforcements, they confront the harbinger of the end times before it can strike.

Alexis Silver has always defied convention: In the 1920s, she tried to attend college. Oh, by the way, she’s also a mermaid. When a well-to-do woman hires her to find her missing adventurer brother, Alexis feels like she’s landed straight in the middle of the sort of action movie they just don’t make anymore. The man’s trail leads all over the globe, but she suspects he’s not dead - yet. An international mining conglomerate evidently wants whatever the missing explorer has found, and they’re more than willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. Even mermaids.

Samantha Moon's newest friend turns out to be a supernatural the world has never seen before, not for real - a zombie, or at least something similar. The young woman isn't rotting or mindless, but no self-respecting dark master would want such a shell. Fearing this poor woman is the spearhead of the apocalypse, Sam rushes to find the source of the infection before humanity is doomed.

Five months after becoming a Vampire, Sarah Wright’s unlife has gone back to relative normal - until demons start coming out of the woodwork. Before graduating high school last June, she never imagined she’d wind up staying at home with her parents and siblings. Now she savors every minute she has with them. Her friends juggle school and jobs, leaving precious little time to hang out with her mostly nocturnal schedule. A vampire’s hours aren’t exactly awesome for spending time with tween-age siblings either, but the family has adjusted to her undeath.

Coping with being attacked and left for dead isn't easy, but Samantha Moon is grateful that she survived - until she suspects she didn't. Vanishing from mirrors is only the first of a series of bizarre events that defies explanation, even to her trained investigative mind. A severe allergy to the sun, alertness at night, inability to eat food that isn't blood, and worst of all: She can't remember the last time she needed the bathroom.

Detective Madeline Wimsey tends to stand out with her wild red hair, pentacle amulets, and offbeat methods, but she has a tool few other cops use - magic. After a man turns up dead in a grisly satanic rite, her fellow detectives are quick to crack jokes. Since they can't tell a pentacle from a pentagram, Maddy's happy to get the case. She suspects the ritual to be the work of amateurs, a theory that pans out when they track down the pack of clueless high school students who made the shrine in the woods. But then Maddy learns that the Devil's Eye is watching her....

Six months ago, Harper Cody stressed out over finding the right college. Now, she’ll be thrilled if she makes it to her 18th birthday. Unexpected nuclear war destroyed the world she knew, along with her dreams for a future. Violent thugs took away her parents and home, sending her fleeing into the ashes with her traumatized little sister. Following her best hope for survival, she chased a rumor of safety in the mountains.

Samantha Moon isn’t prepared to handle the scariest moment of her life - her daughter’s turning 18. Facing the truth her children are powerful in their own right is the door to a scary new reality, worse than her dread of what Elizabeth is planning. The dark masters are still out there, but it almost feels trivial compared to having an empty house...at least until the phone rings....

Two weeks after waking up as a vampire, Sarah Wright is starting to feel comfortable in her fangs. She’s doing okay, if you don’t count wicked mood swings, crushing guilt, and a pervasive sense of existential dread. On the upside, her family is adjusting to the new normal of supernatural in stride, and she’s even testing the waters with a new guy.

Solstice Winters has spent most of her life halfway between normal society and the world of her magical parents. However, when getting caught between two worlds becomes more than metaphorical, being able to summon light or open locks might not be enough.

Harper Cody used to worry about the SATs or a getting a new laptop for Christmas...but now, she only wants to keep her little sister alive. At 5:59 a.m. early in September, life as she knew it came to an end with a nuclear flash ninety miles away in Colorado Springs. For two months, her family sheltered in the basement of their home, surviving on whatever canned goods Dad could scavenge. Passing evacuees told of a safe haven in the mountains, but her father refused to leave. He thought their home was safe...until a gang of looters kicked in the door.

Monarchs often face the consequences of a predecessor’s actions - but death is asking too much. Kitlyn and Oona never wanted power, only to love each other...a potentially deadly desire in a kingdom obsessed with a twisted notion of purity. After years hiding the truth, even from themselves, they sit on the throne together as queens. It only took bringing an end to a horrible war - and the direct intervention of a goddess - for the citizens to accept a marriage between two young women.

Sarah Wright has gone through a lifetime of mess in a mere five months, but her most difficult challenge yet is making it through Thanksgiving without spilling blood. It isn’t only her extended family tempting her to sprout claws. A vampire hunter has arrived in Seattle, his sights set on Professor Heath.

Sarah Wright knows she’s in for a rough week when a ghost asking for help is the least frightening thing with which she has to deal. A month after waking up as a vampire, unlife is feeling pretty sweet. Her mood swings are easing off, she’s got a decent boyfriend, and best of all, the parents let her slide on being lazy. They understand it’s a little awkward to keep a job when daylight can kill her. Oh, and the whole magical powers thing is pretty cool, too. But after two weeks of quiet, her new normal blooms into a chaotic mess.

Alexis Silver was ahead of her time, a woman too smart to fit into society at the turn of the century. She gave up her dreams of higher education for love, marrying young. But her husband, and the life she wanted, perished in World War I, soon after. Heartbroken and restless, she booked passage on a cruise along the West Coast in search of adventure, but adventure found her.

In the wake of a 20-year war, the people of Lucernia struggle to believe their former enemies aren’t demon-loving savages. However, that’s easy compared to the more alarming change: accepting their nation now has two queens. Many citizens in a land devoted to the God of Purity view the love between Kitlyn and Oona as unnatural, but the young women have earned guarded acceptance in the wake of their heroic deeds. Alas, unrest stirs in the shadows. Worse, Oona thinks the Talomir family line is cursed. All who have worn the crown before her have met with untimely deaths.

Sarah Wright doesn’t think something as minor as death should get in the way of her future. With the worst summer of her life behind her, it’s time to start focusing on her education. An immortal vampire - even if she is still new at it - pursuing a degree may or may not be a waste of time, but it at least it’s a way to keep up an illusion of sanity. Soon after classes start, a mysterious presence trapped at the school attaches itself to Sarah, and her hopes for a normal college year evaporate. Sensing a lost soul in need, she decides to help.

From the moment Elizabeth escaped her mind prison, Sam and her friends braced for the worst. With the Dark Masters' plan now set in motion, only two things are known for sure: The plan is big, and it's going to be horrible. After tracking the dark masters down to the remote jungles of Venezuela, Sam and her crew rush to prevent the apocalypse they're certain is brewing. Not only are they facing a new type of vampire, but Sam is thrust into a maze of alternate realities where she is forced to face an enemy far more dangerous than an ancient sorceress: Herself.