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.

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.

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 hadn't always been a vampire. Once, she had been a wife and mother, happily married to her soul mate and raising two adorable kids. Once, she had been a federal agent investigating a world teeming with sophisticated scams, drugs, human trafficking, and violence. That is, until she caught the eye of something evil....

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.

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.

Chaos erupts in Silver Mesa when a group of outlaws decides to rob the town's only bank. The seemingly ordinary crime captures Zebadiah Clemens' full attention thanks to the lead bank robber abducting the young daughter of the stagecoach manager. But unlike the sheriff, his authority doesn't stop at the edge of town. In his pursuit, Zeb discovers a small ranching community with a rather unique problem: A dead man seems to be killing people. Zeb's not about to let the crazy supernatural stuff get in the way of finding the missing girl, but no situation is ever as simple as it seems....

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.

An inexplicable change has happened to the fabric of the universe, evidently driving some dark masters insane. An Ohio-class nuclear missile sub is about the worst place imaginable for a werewolf to have an existential crisis. Though mermaids aren't well equipped to fight other supernaturals, Alex isn't about to let nukes hit the US. Even if it kills her.

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.

The universe holds various immutable constants: death, gravity, taxes...and the Wright family road trip. Every summer, Dad plans a vacation-by-car somewhere across the country. Lameness has increased each year, but Sarah blames that on growing older. She thought dying might get her out of going, but her father’s not about to let something that trivial put an end to the tradition. Of course, as a vampire, Sarah can’t seem to go anywhere without attracting the weird...and the deadly.

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.

Deputy Marshal Zebadiah Clemens can't die. After the Civil War came to a close, Zeb decided to head west to raise cattle and a family. No sooner did he step off the train in Texas, a stray bullet knocked him senseless. Believing he'd somehow cheated death, he gave up on his peaceful plans and became a lawman. After migrating farther west into New Mexico, he expected to find the usual run-of-the-mill outlaws - not a strange woman watching him from the edge of his dreams. He might be imagining it all - or still unconscious with a head wound - but with his luck, it's probably real.

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....

Most brides have some anxiety over their wedding, but not too many have to worry a dead person might spoil it. Detective Maddy Wimsey is looking forward to her handfasting to Caius. Mostly. She’s simultaneously on edge and can’t wait. About the only thing capable of going wrong is her catching a homicide investigation complicated enough to push back the date.

The trail to the missing brother leads her to bizarre people wielding ancient, unspeakable powers. Indeed, the very fabric of reality strains to hold back the evil they attempt to unleash on the unsuspecting residents of Anaheim Hills, California.

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.

At long last, Samantha Moon’s learned the truth behind her vampire sire and why he turned her. But with that comes a revelation about an ancient evil that preys on innocent young witches. Turns out Sam has a unique connection to the fiend, but it might not be enough to help her find the monster. Of course, it’s not like she doesn’t have all the time in the world. That changes when the Red Rider abducts a 10-year-old girl, intending to devour her unusually strong magic.

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....

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.