Jennifer Hillier returns to the Pacific Northwest college town where one killer's stranglehold has ebbed . . . but another sick mind has waited for the perfect moment to pick up where the terror left off. Sitting alone in a maximum-security prison cell, Abby Maddox is a celebrity. Her claim to fame is the envy of every freak on the outside: she's the former lover of Ethan Wolfe, the killer who left more than a dozen dead women in his wake and nearly added Puget Sound State professor Sheila Tao to the tally. Now Abby, serving a nine-year sentence for slashing a police officer's throat in a moment of rage, has little human contact - save for the letters that pour in from demented fans, lunatics, and creeps. But a new wave of murders has given Abby a possible chance for a plea bargain - because this killer has been sending her love letters, and carving a message on the bodies of the victims: *Free Abby Maddox*. Jerry Isaac will never forget the attack - or his attacker. The hideous scarring and tortured speech are daily reminders that the one-time Seattle PD officer, now a private investigator, is just lucky to be alive. Abby Maddox deserves to rot in jail - forever, as far as Jerry's concerned. But she alone may possess crucial evidence - letters from this newest killer - that could crack open the disturbing case. With the help of Professor Sheila Tao, seasoned police detective Mike Torrance, and intuitive criminology student Danny Mercy, Jerry must coax the shattering truth from isolated, dangerous Abby Maddox. Can he put the pieces together before Abby's number one fan takes another life in the name of a killer's perverted idea of justice? Views: 102
Welcome to the Hall of Horrors, HorrorLand's Hall of Fame for the truly terrifying.Lee Hargrove only wants one thing-to win a scholarship to Summer Sports Camp. His school is holding a competition and the winner gets to attend the camp for free. Lee is one of the favorites to win along with his friend, Cory "Lucky Duck" Duckworth and another athletic classmate, Laura Grodin. Laura is good...for a girl, but how can anyone compete with Cory's good luck streak? Lee has an idea and he's about to give Cory an unforgettable birthday present that will really get the party started. Views: 102
"SHE WAS LOST BUT NOW SHE'S FOUND Chloe Mason spent half her childhood in and out of hospitals. She has no memory of her early years and feels a gaping hole in her life. But now she's well and can go looking for her past. When she finds her long lost brother, she finds something even more important in her new life. Love. NEVER AGAIN As a child, Mike Keillor watched his family massacred. Never again, he vowed, would he be a victim. He grew up strong and tough as steel. A Marine Force Recon sniper, SWAT officer, expert in martial arts and... player. Because no woman would ever capture his heart. Now he runs a successful security company with the men he considers his brothers. But when his friend Harry reconnects with his long lost sister, Mike is felled by the one thing he can't fight. Love. When Chloe inadvertently steps into the path of the Russian Mafia, Mike finds an adversary bigger than he is, but nothing can stop him. He lost his family, but he will not lose Chloe. Failure is not an option"-- Views: 102
"Because I created you for such a time as this."The Great Luna's words ring true for every member of the Romanian pack. Not only the wolves, but for all those who stand in defense of virtue, purity, and righteousness in a world plagued with monsters hell-bent on destroying every good in their path. Time and time again, the Great Luna's warriors have faced depraved adversaries, and each time they've risen to the challenge. With Fane as their leader and members of every supernatural race willing to follow him, they will once again stand in the gap for those who cannot stand themselves, protecting those who are ignorant of the dangers all around them.The Order of the Burning Claw has been dealt a near-fatal blow. But this has only made them more dangerous, like a cornered wolf, injured and desperate. Alston, the former high fae and leader of the Order, continues to wage war on Fane and his allies. Cain, the vampire king, has other plans, and... Views: 102
For more than 30 years, Ron Francis has been haunted by the death of his younger brother, Stu. Everyone believed Stu died when he fell into the old well, because that's what Ron told them. But only Ron knows the real truth: Stu didn't fall, he was dragged into the well by something with red eyes and sharp claws.In 1980, Ron did nothing to save his brother. But when his own children suffer the same terrible fate, Ron puts his fear aside and ventures into the dark depths, determined to find them and rid the town of the evil plague living beneath it.But down in those dark depths, Ron discovers something much more terrible than even his worst nightmares. Views: 102
Join attorney Alanna Stone as she returns home despite her determination to never set foot on Mackinac Island again. Once again in close proximity to Jonathan Covington, her first love, she vows to protect her privacy and her heart from the man who still makes her pulse race. But when her worst fears are realized and history repeats itself—landing her in the midst of a murder investigation—Jonathan may be her only hope. Will they be able to lay aside the past and let God heal their hearts, or will reconciliation come too late? Previously released as A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island. Views: 102
Leopold Classic Library is delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive collection. As part of our on-going commitment to delivering value to the reader, we have also provided you with a link to a website, where you may download a digital version of this work for free. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. Whilst the books in this collection have not been hand curated, an aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature. As a result of this book being first published many decades ago, it may have occasional imperfections. These imperfections may include poor picture quality, blurred or missing text. While some of these imperfections may have appeared in the original work, others may have resulted from the scanning process that has been applied. However, our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. While some publishers have applied optical character recognition (OCR), this approach has its own drawbacks, which include formatting errors, misspelt words, or the presence of inappropriate characters. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with an experience that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic book, and that the occasional imperfection that it might contain will not detract from the experience. Views: 102
Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Dan Chaon made a name for himself as a renowned writer of dazzling short stories. Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award.In these haunting, suspenseful stories, lost, fragile, searching characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection--and find themselves in unexpected, dire, and sometimes unfathomable situations.A father's life is upended by his son's night terrors--and disturbing memories of the first wife and child he abandoned; a foster child receives a call from the past and begins to remember his birth mother, whose actions were unthinkable; a divorced woman experiences her own dark version of "empty-nest syndrome"; a young widower... Views: 101
A witch’s work is never done, and in bestselling author H. P. Mallory’s mesmerizing new novel, Jolie Wilkins finds that the real magic is only just beginning. For smart and sexy witch Jolie Wilkins, being Queen of the Underworld is a royal pain. Back from a round of time travel, Jolie must now protect her realm from the sinister Lurkers—a powerful breed of half-humans bent on conquering the undead. And if there’s one thing she knows, it’s that the supernatural never go down without a fight. At least Jolie has her soul mate (and finally official boyfriend), warlock Rand Balfour, by her side. Honorable, brave, and unbelievably handsome, Rand is everything Jolie wants in a man. So why can’t she forget the dangerously alluring vampire, Sinjin Sinclair? With her private life heating up and a battle boiling over, Jolie sets out to prove that in matters of love and war, the fairer hex has its own set of charms.About the AuthorH. P. Mallory is the author of the Jolie Wilkins series as well as the Dulcie O’Neil series. She began her writing career as a self-published author and after reaching a tremendous amount of success, decided to become a traditionally published author and hasn’t looked back since.H. P. Mallory lives in Southern California with her husband and son, where she is at work on her next book. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.9780345531582|excerptMallory / SOMETHING WITCHY THIS WAY COMESOneI blinked.I blinked a few more times, and even then my vision was still cloudy, like I was just waking up with a massive hangover in a room bright with sunlight. I covered my eyes with my hand, trying to ward away the garish attack of light, hoping that my sense of hearing might help me figure out where I was. But my heart was beating so fast, it sounded like waves crashing into my ears.I dropped my hand from my eyes and forced myself to focus, to concentrate on the scenery around me so I could get some sense of where I was and what had happened. Once I was able to make out the rocks that interrupted the otherwise deep blue ocean before me, I realized it wasn’t my heart that was echoing through my ears at all, but the actual waves. I glanced down at my shoes and took in the sand, feeling the sea breeze as it whipped around my ankles and caused me to shiver involuntarily.“Jolie.”I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I turned to face Rand. His dark brown eyes showed his concern for me as he smiled, and his dimples made him appear almost boyish. His deep chocolate hair was tousled, as if he’d just awakened from a restless night. He was breathtakingly beautiful, as always. At the sight of him, something warm began to grow within me and I recognized the feeling—relief melded with love.If Rand was here, I was safe.But the question remained: Where exactly was I?I swallowed hard, trying to bridge the gap that was growing in my mind. I’d been home in . . . Los Angeles only moments ago and now I was . . . now I was . . .I glanced around again, at the beach and then behind me. I took in the craggy hillside that led up to pastures of heather, dotted with enormous pine trees and a three-story white mansion, the plaque of which proclaimed itself to be kinloch kirk. Somehow, the title resonated with me and carried me to a place in my mind that I hadn’t visited in a while.Kinloch Kirk is the home of the Queen of the Underworld, I told myself. It’s my home.“We’re back in Scotland,” I whispered to Rand as I faced him again, the dawning realization forcing the clouds from my mind. He said nothing, just nodded and reached for me, engulfing me in his strong arms. I leaned my head against his chest and inhaled his spicy, masculine scent, relishing the feel of his embrace.“You failed.”It was a woman’s voice—austere and calculating—and I knew it well. I turned to face the prophetess, Mercedes Berg, who stared past us, her mouth angry. The prophetess was the highest of all the witches and also the Queen’s chief ambassador, my chief ambassador. But what struck me was how upset she was that her plan hadn’t succeeded. Actually, it had been a complete fiasco.And that was when it all came back to me, like someone had just pumped memory juice directly into my brain.Mercedes had broken the rules of time by sending the vampire Sinjin Sinclair two years back in time to meet me before I ever became Queen . . . hell, before I was even aware that I was a witch. And Sinjin’s purpose? To get to know me before Rand did, thereby ensuring that I would never fall in love with Rand, which is what truly happened. Sinjin had wanted me to fall in love with him instead, and as much as I now hated to admit it, he’d succeeded.But luckily for me, Rand hadn’t given up. A gifted warlock, he had recruited the help of Mathilda, a fairy. They’d traveled back in time to beat Sinjin at his own game. Why Mercedes had orchestrated the whole thing, I still didn’t know. And why had Sinjin agreed to it? Well, I also didn’t know for sure, but I did have my suspicions. He undoubtedly wanted the promise of power that went along with being the paramour of the Queen of the Underworld.“I attempted.”At the sound of Sinjin’s voice, I felt something within me constrict. I had to fight the feeling, though, because I’d promised myself I would get over him.I refused to look at him. The power of his betrayal still felt like a knife in my back. Instead, I faced Mercedes and felt anger riding up my throat. She appeared so nonchalant, almost indifferent, as if sending Sinjin back in time and royally screwing up my life was no big deal. She acted like it was no more serious than if she’d just stepped on an unfortunate beetle.“And apparently you failed,” Mercedes said, facing Sinjin with an expression that was none too friendly. I didn’t miss the fact that Sinjin had no comeback. But I still refused to look at him.“Why did you do it?” Rand demanded of Mercedes. He took a step toward her, his shoulders tight. She turned away from him without answering. “Why the bloody hell did you do it?” he repeated, and his voice was rough, his English accent more pronounced and heated with his anger. I was suddenly afraid of a possible confrontation between the two of them.“You must not doubt the prophetess,” Mathilda suddenly piped up from behind me. I turned to face her, in surprise, not having realized she was present. The oldest and wisest of the fae, Mathilda was slight, barely four feet tall. Her long, silvery hair flowed around her body. When I looked at her, I sometimes couldn’t tell how old she was. She’d told me a long time ago that each person’s perception of her was different—they see her however they choose to see her— apparently my confused mind was unable to distinguish her age.But back to the time-travel thing . . . Right before Mercedes sent Sinjin back in time, I was looking for my cat, who had escaped from the house. Instead of finding her, I stumbled across Mercedes as she was performing a time-traveling charm on Sinjin. It was on the beach, just below the bluffs of Kinloch Kirk. Knowing it wouldn’t be long before everything I knew was whisked away from me, I used my telepathic connection to warn Rand—who was miles away at the time—about Mercedes’ intentions. Then, boom! When I woke up, it was two years in the past, in Los Angeles. I was completely unaware of the fact that I was officially Queen of the Underworld. Truth be told, I hadn’t even met Rand or Sinjin because they had yet to venture into my life.To make a long story short, Rand, Sinjin, and Mathilda were able to return to the present. (I hadn’t traveled back in time to begin with, so I didn’t have to make the trek back.) I was surprised that everyone had returned to the same place—right here on the beach where Mercedes had first sent Sinjin on his merry way into the past. I wasn’t sure why, but I had guessed that upon returning, each person would reappear wherever he or she had departed. Well, clearly that wasn’t the case. ’Course, I also couldn’t say I understood the hows and whys about time travel, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised.“Damn not doubting her,” Rand raged.“I had but one goal,” Mercedes answered in her same level tone, fixing her gaze on Rand and then on me.“What was it?” I asked, my voice sounding hollow and drained, which wasn’t surprising considering everything going on around me.“I made the decision to ensure the safety of our Queen and sovereign,” Mercedes finished, raising a brow at Rand as if to say, How can you argue with that?“Her safety against what?” Rand asked as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. It seemed as if just the very thought of a threat to my safety bothered him.Mercedes didn’t alter her straight-lipped expression. Instead, she stared at him vacantly for about two seconds. “The Lurkers,” she finished succinctly. “Sending the Queen back in time would give us another two years to train her in an environment free of Lurkers.” I was about to respond when she held up her hand. “I never told you, Jolie, but I could sense something was coming, something dangerous.”“So you decided to send Sinjin back in time to avoid it?” I asked.She nodded. “It was the only way I could protect you, to give us more time to plan our retaliation.”“Fat lot of good it did,” I muttered. The Lurkers, a breed of half-human/half-vampire creatures who had a vendetta against all Underworld residents, had done as good a job of attacking me in the past as they had in the future—well, now my present. Shit, this time-travel stuff was going to get confusing fast.“What do you mean?” Mercedes pressed.“She means that the Lurkers found her even though you upset the balance of time. So your reasoning was completely flawed,” Rand finished, his eyes burning.“The Lurkers found you?” Mercedes asked slowly, spearing me with her eyes.I nodded, reliving my fear as I remembered my brush with the Lurkers and how they had poisoned my dreams. “Yes.”“How?”“They sent me a dream,” I answered, remembering the images—a battlefield littered with bodies, an image of a throne unattended. It was a dreamscape that appeared to me twice in my sleep. The first time, I awoke with the realization that the Lurkers were not only half-vampires, but also possessors of magic. The second time I had the dream, I was back in Los Angeles, two years ago, and the images resulted in an attack on my psyche. “My magic wasn’t strong enough to fight the images and I became very sick.”“She could have died,” Rand finished for me, his lips tighter than before. I could feel his hands fisting around me, and I glanced up at him and... Views: 101
Justin never planned to fall in love, and he certainly never planned to tell Spencer about it. Views: 101
Ralph Fairbanks was bound to become a railroad man, as his father had been before him. Step by step he worked his way upward, serving first in the Roundhouse, cleaning locomotives; then in the Switch Tower, clearing the tracks; then on the Engine, as a fireman; then as engineer of the Overland Express; and finally as Train Dispatcher. In this line of books there is revealed the whole workings of a great American railroad system. There are adventures in abundance - railroad wrecks, dashes through forest fires, the pursuit of a "wildcat" locomotive, the disappearance of a pay car with a large sum of money on board - but there is much more than this - the intense rivalry among railroads and railroad men, the working out of running schedules, the getting through "on time" in spite of all obstacles, and the manipulation of railroad securities by evil men who wish to rule or ruin. These are books that every American boy ought to own. CONTENTS CHAPTER I--DOWN AND OUT CHAPTER II--UP THE LADDER CHAPTER III--A CLOSE GRAZE CHAPTER IV--A MYSTERY CHAPTER V--THE STOWAWAY CHAPTER VI--MRS. FAIRBANKS\' VISITOR CHAPTER VII--"YOUNG SLAVIN" CHAPTER VIII--A BAD LOT CHAPTER IX--CALCUTTA TOM CHAPTER X--A MILE A MINUTE CHAPTER XI--SPOILING FOR A FIGHT CHAPTER XII--THE SUPERINTENDENT\'S OPINION CHAPTER XIII--SQUARING THINGS CHAPTER XIV--A BUSY EVENING CHAPTER XV--A HERO DESPITE HIMSELF CHAPTER XVI--KIDNAPPED CHAPTER XVII--A MIDNIGHT VISITOR CHAPTER XVIII--A DESPERATE CHANCE CHAPTER XIX--THE DOUBLE WRECK CHAPTER XX--THE CRAZY ORDERS CHAPTER XXI--IKE SLUMPS "NUTCRACKER" CHAPTER XXII--A HEADSTRONG FRIEND CHAPTER XXIII--IKE SLUMP & CO. CHAPTER XXIV--FIRE! CHAPTER XXV--THE LITTLE TIN BOX CHAPTER XXVI--A CLEW! CHAPTER XXVII--SLAVIN GETS A JOB CHAPTER XXVIII--WHAT THE "EXTRA" TOLD CHAPTER XXIX--GUESSING CHAPTER XXX--PRECIOUS FREIGHT CHAPTER XXXI--HALF A MILLION DOLLARS CHAPTER XXXII--CONCLUSION Views: 101
