Gothic Themes

Sage Casey Ember-Brooks, who goes by Casey, is a fast-food worker and aspiring fantasy novelist whose ordinary life crumbles when mysterious strangers ask cryptic questions about her dragon series. Her recurring dreams of golden coins suddenly make terrifying sense when Marcus Chen—a businessman with eyes that flash gold—reveals that dragons are real, living hidden among humans for centuries. Casey's unnaturally accurate fantasy writing stems from awakening genetic memories. She's a rare "Convergence" bloodline capable of harmonising opposing elemental forces. The revelation comes at a critical time: a new cryptocurrency called DragonCoin, featuring symbols identical to her dreams, creates magical interference that weakens concealment spells protecting dragon society. At the Crossroads shopping complex where she works, disruptions cause dragons to flicker between human and true forms in full view of witnesses. Caught between Marcus (a traditionalist who wants to hide her with the Dragon Council) and the enigmatic Xaihuang (who advocates ending the masquerade entirely), Casey discovers an underground chamber housing ancient dragon artifacts. When she touches a magical coin, visions reveal three futures: chaotic revelation leading to war, continued concealment resulting in magical extinction, or a mysterious third path of integration. Casey realises DragonCoin wasn't created to expose dragons, but by another awakening hybrid like herself—someone in Seattle whose unconscious dragon heritage channels ancient power through modern technology. As magical concealment fails worldwide and dragons begin manifesting publicly, Casey must race across the country to find this unknown programmer before the interference between magic and technology tears reality apart. The story explores themes of identity, integration versus assimilation, and the collision between ancient power and digital-age innovation. With her awakening abilities growing stronger and the masquerade crumbling around her, Casey faces a choice that will determine her fate and the future relationship between the hidden magical world and human civilisation.

Shantali Mae Cross, a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Ancient Arts, encounters an impossible phenomenon during her night shift—smoke from the heating vents coalesces into the form of a cobra near ancient Egyptian canopic jars, showing her visions of possible futures. She sees herself accepting a promotion, arguing with a dark-haired man in a hospital, wearing a wedding dress, and standing at a graveside in autumn. Shaken by the experience, Shantali becomes obsessed with understanding what she witnessed, diving into research about serpent smoke divination practices. Her investigation reveals that others throughout history have experienced similar visions at crucial crossroads in their lives, but those who became consumed with interpreting and controlling their prophetic glimpses inevitably destroyed the very relationships and opportunities the visions had shown them. As Shantali spirals deeper into her research, she begins shutting out her boyfriend David, a fellow security guard who loves her deeply. When David witnesses the cobra phenomenon himself, he helps ground her in reality rather than obsession. Through her studies, particularly the warnings left by Dr. Amelia Thorne—a researcher who died alone after chasing similar mysteries—Shantali realizes the cobra's true message: choose love over fear, presence over obsession. The visions weren't warnings of tragedy but glimpses of a life fully lived with all its ordinary struggles and profound connections. When David proposes, Shantali chooses their real relationship over her pursuit of supernatural answers. She completes her research by writing a fictional novel about her experience, transforming obsession into art while helping future cobra witnesses understand that some mysteries are meant to guide rather than be solved. The story explores themes of choice versus destiny, the danger of sacrificing present love for future certainty, and the wisdom of embracing life's uncertainties alongside those who love us.

Prologue : •"Im sorry, put the gun down" I say afraid, looking pleadingly into his eyes. " This gun?" He asks. "What if I don't want to?" he continues to ask as he cocks the gun. At this point I can feel tears start to form in my eyes. "Ad-Adri....pl-ease st-st-stop" I shakingly beg him "Stop what baby?" "Tell me what I should stop" he asks feigning confusion as he begins to slide the gun along my cheek, dragging it slowly from my temple all the way down to my lips. I'm so scared by what he's doing that I just start sobbing unable to hold my tears back any longer "Shh-shh-shh don't cry" he mockingly coos into my ear his breath fanning my skin. "What will you do for me if I stop?" "Any-anything, just just st-stop,ok" I hurriedly reply "Anything! Lucky me" he exclaims "hmm, I've got to think about this one" "Hmm? Oh I've got it" he continues as I nervously swallow wondering what he will ask of me.• □ This book is set in two timelines, the present day and 3 years ago. □ meet: Adriano Valencia Accused of Arms dealing, Drug distribution, Murder and possible mafia ties. 3 years ago the girl he loved betrayed him and almost destroyed him but, now he's hunting for her. Meet: Klara Davis She was just an innocent highschool student until Adriano showed up and ruined her life. And now almost 3 years later the he's back and more dangerous than ever, but what he doesn't know is that Klara's changed to. By Kerry Kerry **WARNING: THIS BOOK IS FOR A MATURE AUDIENCE 18+ **contains explicit language, profanity, extreme violence and sexual situations as well as some dark romance themes that sensitive readers may find disturbing! Reader discretion is advised.

Warning: Contains erotic content with dark themes like Voyeurism, somnophilia, light bondage etc “...how many times have I warned you I do not want scents of men around you?! Why are you always infuriate me!" He snarled, gritting his teeth and I smirked coldly. “Principal Dominick! How's that your business? You said you don't want to see me ever again? If I whore around in school, how does it matter to you? Act your age!” A rumble escaped his throat, as he grabbed me by my waist, and I hated how my body melted against this man. “You forget that you're mine…” he whispered into my ear. “The next time I see you around any man, Leila…” he dragged a long whiff of my scent. "I'm going to act my age, and like your father figure, I'm going to make sure I discipline you like the bad girl you've been. Don't tempt me… The next time you do, you won't properly walk for a week.” He bit my earlobes and sucked on it, making me moan, my body freezing in shock. ~ Abused by her cruel father and the rest of the world just for being wolfless, Leila lost the will to live. Praying for a mate who would change and provide a secure life for her little sister, her hope shatters when she gets rejected, ends up arrested for a crime, and yet again transferred to another school filled with things beyond her imagination. But that wasn't what was terrifying. It was this huge older man who turned out to be her principal and new guardian. Extremely forbidden to get involved with him, things slip out of control. What if Leila realizes her new life was accompanied with new waves of challenges, doom and a truth not to be known?

Warning: Please be advised that this story contains TRIGGER WARNINGS, and POTENTIALLY OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SENSITIVE LANGUAGE ang MATURED THEMES, that not suitable for young audiences. _________ Akala ko ang pagkamatay ni mama at papa ang pinakamasakit na nangyari sa buhay ko hindi pa pala dahil may mas lalong masakit pa na nanaisin ko na lang ding mamatay para makasama si mama at papa. Ang hirap at sakit na dinanas ko sa poder ng tiyahin ko.Ang pagmalupet niga sa akin. Ang pagtalikod sa akin ng mga kaibigan ko noong kailangan ko sila. Ang ipagtabuyan ako ng taong mahal ko at ang pagkamuhi niya sa anak namin dahil isa akong biktima ng panggahasa. Imbis na tulungan,pinili nilang ako ay talikuran at pabayaan. Ngunit sa kabila ng lahat ng pinagdaanan ko may taong taos-pusong tumulong sa akin at inako ang lahat ng responsibilad na hindi niya dapat gawin sa akin. Ngunit ang hindi ko inasahan na ang taong tumulong pala sa akin ay siya pala yong taong sumira ng buhay ko ng buong pagkatao. Ang taong tumulong sa akin siya rin pala ang taong gumahasa sa akin. Gusto ko siyang maparusahan sa ginawa niya sa akin, ngunit sa anong paraan? Ipagkatiwala ko ba iyon sa batas o ako mismo ang gagawa? Ngunit, paano? Gayong sa puntong ito natutunan ko na siyang mahalin. Bakit sa ganitong paraan ako pinaglaruan ng tadhana? Makayanan ko bang ipakulong ang taong mahal ko? Maibigay ko pa ba ang hustisya para sa sarili ko kung ang taong iyon ay parte na ng buhay ko?