Showing results by author "R-L King" in All Categories

The last person Alastair Stone wants anything to do with is his twin sister Acantha. Having her consciousness stuffed inside another body has done nothing to improve her. So when one of the Windermere druids reaches out to him with news that Acantha’s disappeared—and by the way, she’s also losing her mind—he’s in no particular hurry to help track her down.

It's hard enough for Alastair Stone to keep his two lives - powerful mage and mundane Occult Studies professor - separate without an old friend asking him to take on a new apprentice. Especially after a university colleague wants him to investigate a massive old house for things that go bump in the night. Still, Stone figures it's an easy job: just turn up, put on a little show, and announce that the house is clean. Only it isn't. A malevolent spirit is reawakening in the basement.

When a friend asks Alastair Stone to question a disturbed child who's committed a horrific act, Stone has no idea what kind of rabbit hole he's starting down. His investigations uncover more instances of appalling crimes, all committed by people with no history of violence. And other people have turned up missing.

It's been less than a month since Alastair Stone, Jason Thayer, and Jason's sister Verity discovered a monstrous conspiracy to take over our world one mind at a time. The battle in San Francisco struck a major blow - but it didn't eliminate the threat. Not even close.

The portals are closed. The Evil have lost their pathway between their home and ours. No longer does humanity need to worry about extradimensional bodysnatchers with a thirst for pain and terror pouring through to wreak destruction on Earth. So that means Stone, Jason, and Verity can rest for a while, right? Yeah, maybe not. The problem is, while there might not be any new Evil coming through, a whole lot of very powerful, very angry Evil are still stuck on our side.

Alastair Stone knew it would take a big sacrifice to end the Evil's hold over our world. He was ready to make that sacrifice - but he expected it to be his life. Never in his worst nightmares did he think it would be his magic. Despairing and grief-stricken at the loss of the abilities that defined his existence, he's on the fast track to self-destruction when a dear friend convinces him to take a desperate last chance. He heads to Las Vegas to find the only man who might be able to help him, but instead finds some old allies in dire need of his own help with a deadly threat.

Still coming to terms with recent events, Alastair Stone is shocked when someone from his past—someone he still feels guilty he couldn’t save—resurfaces in his life with a desperate claim that he’s the only one who can help her. She may be right. He’d thought the Evil—extra-dimensional beings with a taste for human fear, misery, and rage—had settled down. But now it appears they’ve got a new plan—and a new leader.

When his friend Jason Thayer disappears after heading to his home town to attend a wedding, the only clue Alastair Stone has to his whereabouts is a cryptic phone message about "something weird" Jason saw shortly before he vanished. Stone travels to the picturesque tourist town where Jason was last seen and is soon caught up in a horrific web of murder, malevolent magic, and a mysterious and ancient force that's resurfaced even more powerful than ever after a long dormancy.

When a police detective approaches Alastair Stone to consult on a grisly occult-related murder, he initially considers it nothing more than an intriguing puzzle to fill a few dull late-summer hours. But then the detective becomes a victim, and the murderer begins taunting Stone, daring him to discover the truth before more of his friends join the list of targets. As he delves deeper into the case, Stone soon learns that the murderer isn't human - and has committed similar crimes in the past.

Alastair Stone has some rare free time, so he agrees to help Jason with a case of a missing college student with a wealthy father who's desperate to bring her home safely. As often happens when Stone is involved, though, the girl's disappearance soon proves to be only the tip of a much larger and more dangerous iceberg, ultimately leading them to a malevolent megachurch with a lot more than salvation on its agenda.

When mage Alastair Stone’s fiancée dumps him for loving magic too much and her not enough, he never sees it coming. Craving a change, Stone picks a big one: moving halfway around the world to teach occult studies at Stanford. He expects to pick up where he left off, resuming a quiet life of study and putting the past behind him. But when a gang of cannibalistic serial killers targets the area, he’s certain their origin is supernatural. Drawn into the case after stopping a murder, he soon encounters a bizarre secret society.

With Jason and Verity in southern California, Alastair Stone quickly discovers he misses his best friends and favorite confidants far more than he expected to. It isn't long, though, before he's got some new matters to occupy his mind: a student who may have fallen under the influence of a magical cult leader, and a budding relationship with a sexy, intelligent, and stunningly beautiful woman who's everything he never dared to dream of.

Alastair Stone has just had a bombshell dropped on him about Aldwyn’s latest plans—but that particular problem will have to take a back seat to a more pressing one. Verity has disappeared. She never returned home following a weekend visit with her half-siblings in central California, and no one has any idea where she is.

Things are looking up for Alastair Stone. He's just moved into his new house, Jason's opening his investigation agency, and best of all, the university has finally hired a new professor for the occult studies department. Carefree days never last long for Stone, though. The smart, sexy new professor turns out to have secrets - dangerous secrets. When he agrees to help her track down a powerful, magical artifact, Stone is drawn into a deadly conspiracy involving a mysterious and reclusive clan, alchemical mayhem, and crimes even more horrific than either of them suspected.

Alastair Stone, determined to harness enigmatic mage Trevor Harrison’s potent power source, takes a desperate chance - he travels to the dimension where it originates, hoping to convince Harrison to teach him its secrets. He should have expected things wouldn’t go as planned. Stranded without his power in an exotic, unfamiliar world rich in magic and ruled by tyrannical practitioners, Stone knows his only chance of getting his magic back is to find Harrison - a man who has good reasons for not wanting to be found.

Alastair Stone needs a break. He’d gladly trade a big chunk of his newly-acquired fortune for a few uninterrupted weeks of rest, but that’s not going to happen. On top of dealing with his new magical status and a relationship heading in unexpected directions, he soon learns the bombshell revelations about his family aren’t even close to over yet. As if all that weren’t enough, an ancient and malevolent set of magical game pieces has resurfaced, leaving a trail of murder and mayhem in its wake.

Alastair Stone has barely begun to recover from the death of a friend when he’s rocked by yet another. It looks like natural causes, but a grief-stricken Stone isn’t convinced. As England’s magical community comes together to mourn the shocking loss, Verity meets a group of powerful female practitioners who offer to teach her potent new magical skills. Meanwhile, Stone’s shocks have only begun as new revelations come to light.

A father's sins. A son's wrath. An enemy's revenge. When a shadowy, sinister organization begins killing apprentices, Alastair Stone is determined to track down the people pulling its strings. But Stone’s life quickly spirals into chaos when a young man contacts him - claiming to be his son.

After 15-year-old Alastair Stone is caught performing magic at his prestigious boarding school, he can hardly believe his good fortune; not only isn't he punished, but his father arranges a trial apprenticeship - three years early - with one of the most powerful mages in all of Britain. He'll have a month to prove himself, or he'll be packed back off to school. But when Alastair arrives at his new master's vast, remote country house, he soon finds that his teacher's draconian style and exacting standards aren't the only challenges he'll have to face to pass his trial.

When a portal trip home to visit Aubrey on a stormy Halloween night goes awry, Alastair Stone finds himself in a bizarre, alternate-reality version of his idyllic, wealthy adopted hometown, Encantada. Not that much is different, really—except nobody can leave, most of the population doesn’t seem to know or care, and terrifying monsters prowl the streets when the sun goes down.