The Maze Cutter

A race against time. A test of trust. A mystery that could reshape history. Deep beneath the ancient ruins of Messra lies a labyrinth—its twisting corridors and hidden chambers a monument to forgotten secrets and lost wars. The APG Mark 1. A machine gun designed to kill tanks. Conceived in the darkest days of World War II, hidden by the Nazis in the labyrinth’s heart. For Jessica Chase, an archaeologist and cryptographer, it’s more than a puzzle—it’s a chance to unlock the past and claim a weapon that should never have existed. A weapon of myth, waiting to be found. Jessica’s search draws her back into the orbit of Sean Michael, her ex-boyfriend and the one man she vowed never to trust again. Together, they must navigate a maze of stone and shadow, pursued by those who would kill to possess the APG Mark 1. But as they journey deeper, the labyrinth’s secrets threaten to consume them all. And with every step, they realize the greatest danger may not be the weapon they seek—but the truths they unearth about themselves.

Katherine Salazar. A girl from Spain whose life changed the day she first held a knife. She learned early that silence can be sharper than any blade. Her weapon a slender knife, always hidden beneath her clothes. Her adopted parents named her "Ghost Knife". She moved like a shadow—silent, precise, deliberate, clean. As she grew into a woman, her beauty captivated—and haunted— people around her in ways almost impossible to resist. When she took a mission she wasn’t supposed to handle herself, it tore her world apart, everything changed. She was caught by two brutal twin—opposites in behavior, different in power, identical in blood. Instead of ending her life, they chose to use her skills for their own dirty work. But then things got complicated. When both twin fell in love with her. A forbidden love, dangerous and consuming. Her next mission was supposed to be simple: eliminate the twins’ greatest enemy. But the target… was her “dead” father. "Dad?” My voice barely escaped, thick with disbelief, my vision blurred by unshed tears. “Kat?" His voice trembled with shock, more startled than I had ever seen him. In a fluid motion, he lifted his left hand, swift, precise—and the guards froze, stopped as if caught in a web of unseen power. " Y..You , I saw..." My words faltered, the knife quivering in my grip.

In an East London lock up, two film makers, Jimmy and Sam, are duct taped to chairs and forced to watch a snuff film by Ashkan, a loan shark to whom they owe a lot of money. If they don’t pay up, they’ll be starring in the next one. Before the film reaches its end, Ashkan and all his men are slaughtered by unknown assailants. Only Jimmy and Sam survive the massacre, leaving them with the sole copy of the snuff film. The film makers decide to build their next movie around the brutal film. While auditioning actors, they stumble upon Melissa, an enigmatic actress who seems perfect for the leading role, not least because she’s the spitting image of the snuff film’s main victim. Neither the film, nor Melissa, are entirely what they seem however. Jimmy and Sam find themselves pulled into a paranormal mystery that leads them through the shadowy streets of the city beneath the city and sees them re-enacting an ancient Mesopotamian myth cycle. As they play out the roles of long forgotten gods and goddesses, they’re drawn into the subtle web of a deadly heresy that stretches from the beginnings of civilization to the end of the world as we know it. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Adrian has spent his entire life surrounded by death. As the human executioner of the Demon King, he is the blade that ends traitors, monsters, and enemies of the crown. Cold. Efficient. Unfeeling. At least, that’s what everyone believes. But when the ancient Demon King Vaelreth begins to take an unusual interest in the quiet man who carries out his judgments, something dangerous begins to grow between them. In a world where demons and humans were never meant to stand side by side—let alone feel something deeper—the line between loyalty, obsession, and love begins to blur. And in the Demon Kingdom… Love can be far more dangerous than death.

Cassana has only wanted two things: to be a wizard and to get away from her small village. However, certain circumstances have been holding her back. Now it seems like she's going to be stuck in her hometown forever, but she is not quite ready to give up on her dreams yet. Minos is not a difficult man to like, charming, eloquent and brash, he has all the makings of a swashbuckling adventurer. So when the mysterious Prince of Zephyrus called for an expedition to find the missing Sword of the Godslayer, the only weapon known to have killed a god, Minos was the first one to step up to the task. Cassana and Minos met under stressful conditions, and it's made evidently clear that they don't like each other. But if they both want to achieve their goals, then they have no other choice but to put aside their differences and learn how to work together.

Elena Moore spent ten years sharpening herself into a weapon. Her target: Damian Morton—the billionaire who called her family’s destruction “market correction.” To get close enough to slit his throat, she signs a contract to become his surrogate. But the first blood test shatters everything. Silver threads ignite beneath her skin. Wounds close before the needle leaves. And a second heartbeat begins to pulse low in her abdomen. The DNA Key her father hid in her bloodline is waking up. The child isn’t an heir. It’s a biological trigger powerful enough to control the world. Damian Morton isn’t the monster she expected. He’s the man who watched her mother die ten years ago—and has spent a decade building walls of surveillance and obsession to never be powerless again. Now he protects Elena with the same ruthless control he once used to cage her. “Touch her and you’re dead,” he growls, blood on his hands. Elena hates him enough to kill him. She needs him enough to survive him. As silver hair begins to fall and the child’s pulse syncs with her veins, the hunters on her revenge list start hunting her back. Now Elena must choose: Finish the revenge she lived for— or trust the monster who may be the only man capable of keeping her human. Blood remembers.And revenge never ends clean.