Showing results for "The Dark" in Dark Fantasy

From USA Today bestselling author Jeneane O'Riley comes the first in a series of deliciously dark and whimsical standalone romances. Some secrets were never meant to be unearthed. Perched on a windswept cliff, Blackwood Manor looms like a dark monument to a mysterious family. Behind its grand...

Orphaned as a baby, Raven has spent fifteen years ruling over a kingdom she believes she did not earn, all while hiding secrets—she possesses dark magic, and she thirsts for blood. Now, at almost twenty-five years old and with a sudden addiction to stealing life, Raven must fight through her newly procured darkness to save her soul. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in her kingdom, she starts experiencing vivid dreams that detail who she truly is.

Princess assassin Gray Monroe is ordered by her father to kill the villainous prince responsible for throwing the modern world into a post-apocalyptic society. In a decrepit landscape where two magical species war with one another while a human militia hunts them all, Gray has only one thing on her mind: vengeance. With a single focus on killing the man who murdered her first love, she believes nothing will stop her. That is until she hesitates when she comes face-to-face with her nemesis at long last.

Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear. Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for one client, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now.

Lukas Aguilar does not believe in gods. Despite—or perhaps because of—his deep knowledge of mythology and lore, Lukas has always valued what is practical, factual, and verifiable, eschewing faith for what he can see right in front of him. That is, until an earthquake destroys his home, and he wakes up in a dark cavern infested with bloodthirsty and unearthly creatures, wielding strange powers and hearing an even stranger voice in his head claiming to be a goddess.

The Founders were the first marked, and they used those powers to build kingdoms, subjugate the land, and enrich themselves. They will not suffer another to join their ranks. Lost in a world with levels, stats, and monsters, Hal fights to survive in an unforgiving land, and to escape execution from its rulers. Ingenuity and courage won’t be enough. With marked powers he doesn’t understand, he’s easy prey for all the goblins, bandits, aberrations, and foul monsters that plague the realm. He’ll need to abandon his humanity by embracing the beast within.

Kullen is the emperor’s assassin. The sharp hand of justice. The Black Talon. Gifted a soul-forged bond with his dragon, Umbris, Kullen is tasked with hunting any and all who oppose the empire. But when the secretive Crimson Fang murders two noblemen before his very eyes, Kullen must discover the truth of who they are and what they want. What he uncovers is a web of lies and deceit spiraling into the depths of Dimvein.

Traumatized college student Morgan Mallory has survived the treacherous land of Pandaemonium by evolving into a soul-devouring entity. Now a merciless warrior, she goes by Alice. But her new identity is fractured, and she finds herself hopelessly grasping at the shards of her parallel selves from different timelines. To piece these multiple personas together, she must kill the Demiurge, the world's tormented creator, who has banished Alice to a facsimile Earth.

It has been thousands of years since beast-kind were united under one banner. The empire encompasses most of the known world, driving out or enslaving the lesser races without mercy. In a state of constant war and conquest, they have perfected the art of battle. For commoner wolf-kind Valian, being accepted and trained in a noble house's army was a dream come true. Without wealth or a family, it was his best shot at attaining honor and glory. Until fate intervened. When Valian discovers he's descended from an ancient and long-thought-extinct line, everything changes.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

I spent most of my life feeling dead inside—until I met Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. It wasn't until Pan and Neverland that I finally felt alive. But things are not all full of magic and sunlight on the island. There's something darker and more sinister haunting the forest. And worse, the fae queen and Captain Hook are ready to fight for control of Neverland and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. War is brewing—can the Never King get his shadow back and assume his rightful throne? Or will all of Neverland be in jeopardy along with my dark, twisted heart?

What do you desire in exchange for your soul? Everlasting youth? A million dollars? Women? Power? Bored high-schooler Adam Staples wants for nothing. Such an offer could only be a prank, right? Who would have thought that the prankster is a demon in disguise? After selling his soul and turning into a half-demon, Adam finds himself orphaned and dragged into a realm outside of the world he knew. Training under his benefactor and enrolling in a school made for those who were gifted with powers, Adam ventures around the Outworld to hunt down the demon that turned his life inside out....

Isolde de Lara considers her wedding day to be her death day. To end a years-long war, she is to marry vampire king Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev, and kill him. But her assassination attempt is thwarted, and Adrian threatens that if Isolde tries to kill him again, he will raise her as the undead. Faced with the possibility of becoming the thing she hates most, Isolde seeks other ways to defy him and survive the brutal vampire court.

Camille Ellis is the Earthen Conclave's golden girl. Her peculiar talent solves cases with a touch. She isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty, but every bright star casts a shadow, and her deepest scars lurk just beneath the skin. A routine consultation goes sideways when a victim's brother gets involved in the investigation. Riding the edge of grief, the warg will go to any lengths to avenge his sister's death. Even if it means ensuring Cam's cooperation at the jaws of his wolf.

The battle grows dire. The death toll rises. The end is nigh. Natisse, believing Kullen has fallen to a traitor’s blade, fights on to honor his memory and to complete his final mission: to save their Empire from the enemy fleet threatening destruction. Together with Golgoth, she must stand before the very fires of Hell to protect the city and people she has come to love.

Sarika Silva has come to Peru’s rainforest to learn about her family’s history and her own capabilities as a jaguar shapeshifter. What she finds is a dangerous world out of her nightmares, where jungle shifters and ravenous vampires vie for dominance and a gorgeous, lethal predator is waiting to claim her for his own. Tomas Smolnycki and his brothers have hunted vampires for centuries. As some of the oldest Carpathians, they are accustomed to seeing the world in unfeeling gray. So Tomas is ill prepared for the emotions that rise like a tidal wave when he hears Sarika’s voice.

Ivory Malinov’s only brethren are the wolves. Abandoned by her family, and cast out by everyone she held dear, Ivory has lived centuries without love. She has sustained her sanity by preparing for one purpose—to destroy her greatest enemy. Then she picks up the scent of a man. Her salvation. Her lifemate. The curse of all Carpathian women.

Five scholars of Arfell have been assassinated. A spellbook has gone missing – a powerful summoning manual from the time of elves and fire-born daemons. The Arkmages are running out of time and options, and the world is once again on the brink of war with the Siren dragon-riders. It falls to Farden – one of the Arka's most powerful yet troubled Written mages – to keep Emaneska from falling into chaos.

When Pyresouls released, it was a brutal new virtual reality game with a twist: The first to beat the game would win billions of dollars. But after the Burgon Beast couldn’t be defeated, Pyresouls turned very real and unleashed an apocalypse of undead, monsters, and a system of levels and stats onto the world. For many years since, Jacob Windsor has fought with sword and shield to survive Post-Collapse Earth where only ancient, guilt-soaked weaponry can harm the monsters from Pyresouls.

Rys awakes to the smell of blood and nearly two thousand years of dust. Maybe he overslept a little too long. Once, he was a great champion and general in the demonic empire that ruled the world. Now, he’s been erased from history. He’ll need to remind the world of the price of forgetfulness. Now is the time to build his own empire, as the ancient powers of his time are long gone. Rys has an archipelago to conquer, women interested in extending their bloodline with him, and a mysterious labyrinth that holds the secret to why he was sealed away to begin with.