

FANTASY AUTHOR
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DAVID COMBS

With his clawed fist, Shade grabbed the front of the man's tattered robe and lifted him from the swirling smoke floor. "The Guardians must fall. Punish them directly. Hunt down someone close to their hearts." The beast glanced at [his apprentice's] arm swaying limply at his side and wrenched it back into place with a sickening pop. The man's shriek echoed through the hellish wasteland as Shade threw him back to the ground. The Father of Nightmares fell into a crouch beside his apprentice and growled a single command.
"Make the suffer."

Angelica Brighton lies gravely wounded after her magical duel on the front lawn of Pioneer Vale's High School. Although her classmates' lives were spared, the lightning magic at her command was revealed to the world. Haunted now by dreams of the growing might of Shade, The Father of Nightmares, the impetuous and headstrong young woman ignores caution and rises to face her adversaries once more.
Anne-Marie Carmichael languishes in a stockade in colonial Pioneer Vale awaiting a verdict that could mean her execution. unable to bring her lavender flames to bear without giving the town the evidence it needs to convict her, the proud and fierce farmwife turned witch helplessly watches as Shade's servants beguile the settlement with promises of safety and security, while secretly strengthening the demon's bid for power from the shadows.
As Shade's forces sow chaos and bloodshed across the valley in his unholy name, Anne-Marie and Angelica scramble to protect their loved ones from the spreading darkness that threatens their once peaceful home. The time has come for the Witches of Pioneer Vale to prove just what it means to be a Guardian.