Barbara Gross

When I answered an ad for a caretaker at Saint Mark’s Sanctuary, I thought I’d be dusting chandeliers and polishing floors. I didn’t expect to be tricked into a curse, going into debt to a monster, and being forced to take a self-paced “let’s learn magic” course so I can fix a 2,000-year-old problem. And that monster? Not your ordinary, everyday beast. He has hooves, and horns, and fur on his legs. But you know where he doesn’t have fur? Yeah. There. Which is fine. Except he doesn’t wear pants.

I died. It was supposed to be the end of my story. But after Aon buried me in the Pool of the Ancients, I learned that Under wasn't done with me yet. Even though I escaped death the first time, there's a prophecy predicting my demise, and it's driving Aon mad. His desperation to protect me is dangerous, deadly, and I'm afraid of what he might do. The void that threatens to destroy this world is receding, yet Under is still not safe. I can feel it in my blood, the warning that something terrible is coming. Something bigger and stronger than all of us.

Driven by his insatiable need for revenge, Lothaire, the Lore’s most ruthless vampire, plots to seize the Horde’s crown. But bloodlust and torture have left him on the brink of madness - until he finds Elizabeth Peirce, the key to his victory. He captures the unique young mortal, intending to offer up her very soul in exchange for power, yet Elizabeth soothes his tormented mind and awakens within him emotions Lothaire believed he could no longer experience.