Set in the small, intimate world of Ryars Valley, these tales chronicle the lives of a group of Nightworld and human teenagers over several years; showing the small tragedies and triumphs that shape their lives and characters.
She was the last of an ancient race, and the first of a new. Reve-Lai, the Dream Immortal, half-dragon and half-witch had awoken millennia after the end of the war between the two races. Now, she found herself tangled in new webs of deceit, small and silent wars in the depths of Ryars Valley, trying to solve a series of ritual murders, trying to keep everyone away from her heart - until someone intruded on both.
Cougar Redfern was an exile, one of many in a town full of people running from their pasts. He didn't care about much, except maybe his friends - and then the two witches came to town, and he found himself unaccountably intrigued.
Bliss; beautiful, dangerous, clever. And Ria, her sister, too shy to even meet his eyes. Digging at his past, unearthing his secrets - which he'd protect at all costs.
Trifolia Rasmussen didn't believe in much. God had let her down a long time ago. The once-noble Night World crept around in shadows, little more than thugs and petty criminals. Her family loathed her, and she wasn't too fond of them. Life, in short, was boring - she wanted a little excitement.
What she got...well, it was certainly exciting. But it wasn't what she had been expecting.
With her dying words her sister gave Zara the only clues she had to finding out who had killed the last of her family, two words that meant nothing and everything.
Dark star.
She wanted vengeance... but she underestimated the Nightworld. She wanted answers - but found only knife blades and death. She wanted out - and she was trapped.
She was cursed with memory that stretched beyond the grave. Lost without hope, and weighed down with the guilt of the death she had caused.
Alisha thought herself alone, and indeed, prided herself of her aloofness and independence. But then Circle Daybreak sent her to Ryars Valley, where she found her memories lived again. But she was being hunted by hatred, by a man who wanted what she could no longer give.
Alone. Abandoned. Torn.
Alisha thought she had seen it all. She was wrong.
They say: still waters run deep.
Jallakri ap Ganra woke up with no memory of who she was, in a world that had changed beyond recognition. She knew only her name and her face.
When she met the strange people who lived there, she had no idea how closely they were bound to her. How closely their pasts and futures intertwined. She knew nothing of herself or them, except for the fragmented dreams that haunted her and revealed what had lain hidden for ten thousand years.
Ten thousand years is a long time.
Not long enough.
I can make you fall in love with me. I can rip your soul in two.
The words of Chatoya Irkil's soulmate. Blue Malefici was a killer, an unfathomable boy who carved his own path through the lives of others, and he had made her a promise; to destroy her. He had killed her family, and hurt her friends, and there was only time and trifles between the fulfilment of those words. Maybe she could stop him. Maybe she could hurt him.
Maybe is a dangerous game to play.
VIII: Long Lost (To be written)
A few hints at the next tale.
Lisa Ochai and her soulmate had parted ways more than thousand years ago and left a killing ground in their wake. Nothing was quite so bitter as love turned to contempt and since then, she had been wary of love and all its trappings.
But he had always sworn to find her: she had spent years moving from place to place, never daring to settle in case he caught track of her - until she came to Ryars Valley, and thought herself safe. She should have known better - he had found her, and he had come to Ryars Valley to finish what they had started.
Last time, they had caused a war. This time...what would he stop at?
A short Christmas-inspired ficlet that takes place somewhere between the end of Chimera and Ripples: the perils of mistletoe, steel kisses and the enduring nature of both friendship and love.
Characters: Origins, Relationships and Histories
A brief overview of the major characters in each story.