Dark Intent

One family. One bond. Forged in evil. A centuries old grudge match, a witch hellbent on revenge, and a demon who creates chaos just because… For years, the Mercier family has despised the Red Witch. When Elsbeth comes to their town, Melisande Mercier sees the chance to get even. But before the head of the clan can exact vengeance, the sexy sorceress has to deal with the trouble brewing in her own house. Melisande’s overwhelming attraction to Kenrick Locke, her cousin, is at odds with her growing affection for another. She has no idea of the evil she’s invited into her bed until it’s too late. A son of one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse has possessed Marsilius Mercier. The demon won’t rest until he unleashes Hell on Earth. The only way to stop him is if Melisande can put aside her hatred to team up with Elsbeth.

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 was a benchmark of triumph and a harbinger of tragedy to come. Rather than herald a new era of Cuba joining the world community of nations as a paragon of democracy as many fervently hoped and believed it would, it became instead a new stage in authoritarian rule in the Western hemisphere.For more than a half century since then Cuba has been defined by the capacity of a single family to command and determine the fate of a nation?and to do so with a minimum of opposition. Incredibly, even those professing adhesion to democratic norms have been ready to forgive the dictator his excesses. This volume explains the theory and practice of this absence of internal opposition and the persistence of external support for the Castro family and its entourage.The Long Night of Dark Intent is chronological in order, with the author indicating major points in each of the five decades covered. The volume covers five centers of system analysis: economics, politics, society, military, and ideology. Who or what "determines" events and decisions is the stuff of real history. It is precisely due to variability in causal chains in society that we have huge variance in levels of predictability. The course of the Cuban Revolution gives strong support for such an approach to the Castro Era. This is a unique, unflinching account with a strong emphasis on the importance of U.S. policy decisions over time.

When Danielle's favorite student is kidnapped right before her eyes, the police want to know exactly what she saw. All she can recall is a dark shape inside a waiting van--and the fleeting glimpse of a man's eyes. Now, with the victim's cries echoing in her mind, Danielle knows she is in a race against time. For the man she saw is a killer--and he knows who she is.

He's the only man I trust to protect me. But he's my assassin. Violet He's coming for me. There's nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. All I can hope for is that I can stay ahead of him. It's my only shot. The only problem is I have no idea how to stay on the run. Growing up the way I did prevented me from learning any real survival skills. The best I can do is keep my head down and resist the urge to call my family. They can't know where I am. Because if they know, he'll find out. When he finds me, there isn't a damn thing I'll be able to do to stop him from killing me. Xavier Violet needs to keep running. If she stops, even just to rest her eyes for a bit, the other Shade and I will catch up with her, and she'll be doomed. We both will be. I have to find her. Then I have to get her the hell away from The Shades. That means I have to earn her trust. But why would she ever trust me? I held a gun to her head last night. I nearly killed her. Some moments, I think I should have. It would have been easier than this. She wouldn't have had to suffer all this fear. She would be free. But I didn't pull the trigger. And now, Devon and I are right on her tail, and there's no telling what kinds of wicked things he'll do to Violet if—no, when—he gets his hands on her. She won't stand a chance. I'm the only thing standing between her and a grisly death, and I refuse to let the mistakes of her father destroy her. I'll fight for her until the end.

It was one of those things. No one really knew about it. What it was, who was a part of it, or how it worked. They only knew that something was happening. There was no way to define it, not really. No explanation for what they discovered, yet it was there, inexplicably, right in front of them. It was not a tangible thing, rather, a shift when needed, a call to action. The knowledge that something had to be done, someone needed to do something. Then something would happen, or nothing would happen, at least not that could be seen, and things would change. Those who appeared invincible would fall, those who seemed unstoppable would continue no further, and those who were behind the chaos, those who were the most dangerous, the most destructive, would be stopped one more time in their never ending desire for misery and death. That is when the Order of Watchers was formed.

When his grieving father orders the destruction of the Dark Library, Victor retrieves a book in which he finds the promise of not just communicating with the dead, but entering their realm, and soon he, Elizabeth, and Henry are in the spirit world of Chateau Frankenstein, creating and growing a body.