The day after Hugo gains access to magic, his train explodes. Unknown magic flings him back in time, and he narrowly avoids death this time. While he is trying to unravel the mystery of this unexpected second chance, life goes on. His new gifts lead him to the magic academy. At the school, he will face off against noble students that don’t want him to be there, teachers that expect him to already know everything, and literal monsters that want to kill him. To survive and thrive he will need weapons, friends, and a healthy danger sense.

Over twenty years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors - and the items stolen from her family were never recovered. Until now. On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead - with the suitcase and painting both pointing them toward one man.

When Barnabas discovers one of the biggest players in his sector, he vows to bring them down. But can he handle an entire fleet bearing down on him?

Get four complete stories in Frank Kurns: Tales of the Underworld: You Don't Touch John's Cousin, Bitch's Night Out, Bitch's Night Out, and Challenges.

Duke is born into the world a hired killer. Then one fateful night, the unthinkable occurs and in the most tragic of moments, a promise is made. That promise is kept for almost fifteen years, until he comes face-to-face with a target he never expects and a future he never sees coming. Kelly spends his days in a classroom, while his nights couldn't be more different. For over a decade he has watched Button Man's back from behind a computer screen. When the past collides with the present, Duke and Kelly must prevent it from destroying the future.

An existence spent being forced to kill others to satiate a Monster. Where the only thing to look forward to was the blessed, if brief, period of time between paying that bribe. Except that very same Monster is and isn’t Rene. It just happened to live inside his own mind and force him to do what it wanted. Rather than being an actual Monster. That was Rene’s entire life until a fateful day changed that. A day that the career as a hitman for hire built on the Monster’s needs will end. Where Rene will be forced to atone for his actions. To be held accountable and judged.

When CIA Agent Alisa Flynn flaunts the rules by breaking into a mansion in the middle of the night, she skillfully circumvents alarms and outwits guards only to find herself standing in billionaire Gabe Korgan's study...busted by Korgan himself. This could cost her her job unless, in a split second, she can turn the tables and try to convince him to join her on the most important mission of her life. In a ripped-from-the-headlines plot, schoolgirls in Africa have been kidnapped, and Alisa knows that Korgan has the courage, financial means, and high-tech weaponry to help rescue them.

The fact that she’s a werecat is just something she’s had to live with Alone in her territory, she’s lived a secretive life for six years: under the radar, avoiding her past and the baggage that comes with it. Trouble finds Jacky, though, in the form of an 11-year-old girl and a werewolf turf war just outside her borders. Forced to honor an ancient treaty and the Laws of the supernatural world, Jacky swears an oath to protect Carey Everson, the human daughter of a local werewolf Alpha from Dallas.

Rico has a problem. The experimental program that gave him the high intelligence and lightning reflexes he needs as a hit man for a galactic crime syndicate left him incapable of internalizing moral imperatives the rest of us take for granted. It takes real effort for him to pass as a normal human being and he avoids it whenever he can. But he has a job he loves, a fast ship, and plenty of cash. So life is good.

Grant Phillips has always been a team player. He lives his life for the Force and worked hard to land a coveted spot with Team Bravo. He follows the rules, keeps his head down, and never causes trouble. Grant does everything for everyone else and wants for very little. The mission always comes first, until she waltzes into his life.

When she came to Detroit, Isabella “Izzy” Sage was looking for answers about the death of her parents, who were killed while doing the very job she’s about to take on: managing the death gate - a border between the living and the dead, located on Belle Isle. What she found was a sense of family, a little romance, and a whole lot of adventure. This omnibus includes the first three titles in the Death Gate supernatural thriller series: Only the Lonely, Only the Quiet, and Only the Lost.

In a city where magic is outlawed, teenage thief Ridley uses her special powers to steal from the rich and give to those in need - until the night someone follows her home after a heist and ends up murdered outside her apartment. When her best friend is accused of the crime, Ridley is determined to prove his innocence.

Strong-willed and full of hope, Leo strives to learn more of the magic he has read so much about. He's heard of invisible links in his world, and hidden rifts to other realms filled with creatures and stones of power. But Leo's family is stuck in an impoverished city. He performs backbreaking farm work beside his older brother, a rebellious and cunning thief, but nonetheless a brother whom Leo would trust with his life. Leo believes everything will change for the better when he begins work as a bookbinder and finally leaves the dreadful farm.

Fourteen-year old Karina doesn’t know what she wants, but knows what she’s found - fascinating silver shoes. Fascinating, dangerous, and potentially evil. On the upside, they do bring cool visitors. When a princess invites her to go to Whyland and save her kingdom, of course she accepts. There’s that little “let’s destroy the shoes” detail she’s not crazy about, but hey, free trip, alternate world. But Whyland is nothing like she expected.

Clayton Sanders left home the minute he had his high school diploma in hand. He waited that long only because the Army wouldn't accept him without one. Now, 10 years later, he's home. Home with no warning, no advance notice, no anything after being gone 10 years with almost no contact with his family. Home carrying a secret that is burning him up from the inside. A secret that has pushed him to the brink, forcing him to become a criminal in order to be where his family needs him to be, even though they don't realize it yet. Because Clayton knows something they don't.