Blood & Shadows
Completed Series
PNR
sci-fi
futuristic
telepaths
shape shifters
military
Civil unrest grows as people with extraordinary abilities get labeled as a threat. Bloody battles are fought in the shadows, tearing families apart, thrusting couples together, while the rest of civilization gets caught in the crossfire of a massive civil war.
Series Notes
While the individual books can be read as stand-alones, they do follow a larger storyline spanning several years. Characters from previous books appear in subsequent ones. The series is loosely divided into two phases:
Phase 1 (books 1-4)
The couples are interconnected by existing relationships (friends/family) and they lead-up to a shift in the tone and theme of the series. Classic PNR tropes like alpha heroes, beauty and the beast themes, etc.
Phase 2 (books 4-7)
The focus is more on the telepaths and their military enemies. One of the heroes/heroines is always part of the secret Shadow army. These books are much darker, with tropes like enemies to lovers, second chance, touch her/him and die, etc. There may be difficult, uncomfortable scenes, and some deaths that will leave you aching.
Blood Hunt (book 4) is the pivot point of the series. It acts as an epilogue to Phase 1 and a prologue to Phase 2. Whether you choose to read only one of the phases or both of them, don’t skip this book.
1. Blood Moons
Tristan Hunt & Dara Frost
2. Blood Trails
Jeremy Calen & Hailey Chase
3. Blood Debts
Gabriel Connors & Amelia Chase
4. Blood Hunt
John Wayland & Emma Calen
5. Shadow Hawk
Finn Rowe & Laura McNally
6. Shadow Hound
Quinn VanWarren & Vega Ortiz
7. War of the Shadows
Zachary VanWarren & Raven Dello Russo
SPOILERS!!
Additional Content
SPOILERS!!
Series Characters
by order of first appearance...
Dara Frost
Former librarian, temporary New Alaska inmate, and untrained telepath. Tristan Hunt's personal and only safety pin.
Tristan Hunt
New Alaska inmate, master telepath, and first surviving genetically modified shape-shifter. Destroyer of Green 24 and the Shadows' worst nightmare.
Amelia Chase
Doctor, scientist, genetic engineer, and the pioneer of multiple medical breakthroughs, including the creation of shape shifters and the Chase regeneration serum.
Jeremy Calen
Telepath, professional investigator, and acquisition agent for the Special Unit. Older brother to Emma Callen and her personal pain in the ass.
John MacMurphy
Director of the Special Unit, leader of the Gray Dublin branch on Earth. Collector of lost telepath souls, father figure, and behind-the-scenes general.
Emma Calen
Born telepath, criminal runaway, Shadow POW, and eventually interim director of the Special Unit. She has her quirks... before and after her ordeal.
Hailey Chase
Free spirit, genius, self-taught scientist, and the second half of the Chase sisters duo. Self-made shape-shifter (partially successful).
Gabriel Connors
Fighter, gladiator, champion, tech nerd, and newly-made shape-shifter. Takes a baseball bat to the ribs like a champ, but will complain about it after.
John Wayland
Shadow Hawk. Retrieval specialist and telepathic null (impervious to telepathic probes). Likes chess and glitchy redheads.
Matthew Griffith
ICG Senator, Commander-in-Chief of the Shadow army. The brains and influence behind the plan to eradicate all telepaths (and eventually all chem-resistants).
Vega Ortiz
Shadow Hound. Professional badass with an eidetic memory and an obsession with throwing knives. If she smiles, run.
Latham Bigellow
Shadow Hound. Mentally unstable, psychopathic, sadist. Otherwise a thoroughly unremarkable piece of shit.
Finnegan Rowe
Shadow Hawk. Pilot and machine specialist with a missing pinky and the memory of his first love haunting his brain.
Jessica "The Brain"
Teenage genius and head of Special Unit's medical center. Provides primary care to everyone, even if they're rude or ungrateful.
Laura McNally
Humanitarian and telepath with a gift for manipulating one's free will. Diehard scrapper and champion of lost causes. Married to William Belden.
Quinn VanWarren
Gentle giant with a heart condition. Gets an artificial one and then just gives it away to a certain knife enthusiast. Also extremely rich.
Eskel Andersson
Medic who can't sleep. He pretty much keeps everyone else alive and in one piece. Or tries to, anyway...
Brent Catton
Shadow Hound. Expert pilot who rarely takes anything seriously. Man's got jokes, but also standards. His trust has to be earned.
Zachary VanWarren
Shadow Hawk. Spy, double (triple and quadruple?) agent. Chameleon. Infiltration specialist and all-around enigma with a wicked sharp mind.
Darrow Iridiae
Youngest regional supervisor for the Special Unit. Executioner by skill. Younger brother to Jessica "The Brain."
Raven Dello Russo
Triple threat telepath and interrogation specialist for the Special Unit. Recently widowed and traumatized (physically and emotionally).
Ripley Parecourt
Telepath, Evolutionary, double agent with an attitude problem. They can induce lust and strip someone of their personality.
Rajeev Sandoval
Shadow Commander, secret up-and-coming Commander-in-Chief. Unrelenting in his pursuit of Griffith's mission to eradicate chem-resistants.
Series Timeline
2881-2895
War of the Stars
Regional conflicts in the galaxy escalate into the largest, most destructive war in human history. The battle claims billions of lives, destroying entire worlds in the process. Fallout from untested weapons causes a severe and deadly breakdown in DNA integrity, which results in mutations, disease, and low birth rates. Unable to maintain a steady population growth, humanity faces extinction.
2899
Birth of the Interplanetary Council of Governance
In response to the existential crisis, the sectors come together and form a new government with the express purpose of stopping and reversing humanity’s decline. The Interplanetary Council of Governance (ICG) allocates all available resources toward medical research into the effects of the fallout, as well as potential treatments and cures.
2921
The Chem-Treatment
After two decades of research and study, scientists have perfected the most viable solution to restoring population growth. When administered directly after birth, the “chem-treatment” stabilizes a child’s DNA for the duration of their lifetime. However, while up to 90% effective, the genetic correction is not inheritable.Chem-treatments become mandatory for every child born.Genetic research continues. Over time, prison worlds are restructured into sophisticated laboratories where inmates are secretly used as involuntary test subjects in unethical studies designed to push the human body to its limits and beyond.
3000
The Rise of Chem-Resistance
Eighty years of data indicate a declining trend in the effectiveness of chem-treatments across the population. This growing “chem-resistance” presents in different ways. In the worst cases, it causes genetic defects and lifelong diseases that do not respond to common cures. However, in other cases, it enhances physical or mental abilities.While population growth remains constant, chem-resistance is considered a rare outlier condition. Treatments address the symptoms, but not the underlying cause.
3005
Canaries in the Coal Mine
Two members of the ICG observe an increase in societal unrest, particularly in urban centers with high population densities.With a gift for predicting the future, up-and-coming Senator Matthew Griffith blames the unrest on the growing number of chem-resistants in the population. He concludes that those with unique mental abilities (mind reading) will eventually unite and render existing laws unenforceable. He recommends that the ICG take action against them.Secretly a mind reader himself, Special Liaison John MacMurphy recognizes the stigma against chem-resistants as the greater threat to society as a whole. He advocates for integration and social reform to address the current lack of resources for an increasingly diverse population.The ICG takes their feedback under advisement and does nothing. All issues pertaining to chem-resistance and its impact on individuals and society as a whole are swept under the rug.
3006
The Shadows are Born
Senator Griffith begins building the brutal Shadow army in secret to further his political agenda. His troops are slotted into one of two ranks: Hounds or Hawks. The majority are Hounds, brute force foot soldiers with the sole purpose of wreaking as much death and destruction as possible. The much smaller percentage of Hawks are further honed into subversive infiltration operatives who undermine or eliminate target spaces from within, leaving no trace of their presence once the mission is complete.To maintain absolute control, all Shadow soldiers undergo repeated treatments of electromagnetic-chemical mind control (EMC), which involves disrupting target neural pathways in the brain with electromagnetic shocks and a chemical injection that prevents them from reforming. This leads to memory loss and an unquestioning obedience to the Shadow directive. However, repeated treatments cause brain damage that can render soldiers obsolete, necessitating ongoing aggressive recruitment, often by force.
3007
The Special Unit
Witnessing the rise of the Shadows under Senator Griffith’s command, John MacMurphy realizes that genocide against chem-resistants is inevitable. Driven to take action and protect others like himself, he resigns from the ICG and begins to form the Special Unit (SU). The communal organization provides both protection and resources for telepaths, allowing them to integrate undetected within the general population. However, his obsessive focus on mind readers excludes all other forms of chem-resistance, leaving the majority of affected individuals to fend for themselves.Outside of the SU’s limited reach, chem-resistant individuals driven to insanity by the late onset of unique mental abilities begin to disappear from urban centers. Their absence goes largely unnoticed and unreported.
3018
Green 24
Shadow outpost Green 24 is wiped out overnight. The lack of discernible exterior damage suggests the outpost was attacked from within. Of the six hundred soldiers on base, five hundred eighty-seven are found dead. The remaining survivors are psychologically compromised beyond any hope of rehabilitation. Those who don’t suffer fear-induced heart attacks are eventually euthanized. The incident is recorded as a telepathic attack and used as a case study in the ongoing radicalization of Shadow soldiers everywhere.
3028
[Blood Moons] A Public Scandal
As more cases of chem-resistance arise, people begin to question the effectiveness of chem-treatments. Parents refuse them for their newborns. Protesters gather around clinics. The growing unrest leads to ostracism for chem-resistants whose differences are noticeable, good or bad.Librarian and mind reader Dara Frost is arrested for reporting a crime she didn’t commit. On the prison world of New Alaska, she is assigned to Dr. Amelia Chase, whose DNA studies revolve around shape-shifting. Dr. Chase’s first and only partial success is Dara’s cellmate, Tristan Hunt. Also a telepath, Tristan helps Dara hone her abilities and, in the process, reveals that he was the one responsible for the massacre at outpost Green 24. When Tristan begins to transform and the murderer that Dara reported strikes again, proving her innocence, Dr. Chase and both of her patients transfer to a minimum-security prison for further processing. Dara is exposed as a telepath and taken back to Earth to help John MacMurphy’s SU find the real murderer. Tristan masters the painful process of shifting into a tiger and back, escapes, and follows Dara. He saves her life and kills the murderer, earning himself a special release.Dr. Chase secretly leaks the experiments being performed in New Alaska to news outlets, sparking public outrage.
3032
[Blood Trails] DNA Augmentation: The Chase Serums
Protests against the chem-treatment industry are turning into large “antichem” rallies on every major world. While a handful of communities embrace chem-resistants and make moves toward inclusion, most shame and shun them.Without permission, Dr. Amelia Chase’s sister, Hailey, changes the shape-shifting serum formula and uses it on herself. The new version takes effect immediately, but its most crucial part begins to degrade over time. On the run from the consequences of her actions, Hailey’s body loses the ability to heal the damage of rearranging into a new shape. If left unaddressed, the transformations will eventually kill her. Dr. Chase hires SU’s Special Agent Jeremy Calen to find Hailey and bring her back for her own good. The sisters then work together to create a new serum that restores Hailey’s healing abilities. Both serums only work on chem-resistant individuals.
3032
[Blood Debts] The Chase Serums Perfected
Dr. Amelia Chase comes home after saving her sister’s life to find a stranger with a gun in her apartment. Gabriel Connors is a gladiator in the brutal neomodern version of Rome. To get out, he needs Amelia to make him into a shape-shifter like she did with Tristan Hunt.Amelia agrees under duress and proceeds to combine her research with Hailey’s to restructure her original formula into two separate serums: one to enhance healing and one to produce shape-shifting abilities. Despite the Caesar’s interference and the pair’s abduction to Rome, both serums turn out to be a success. Gabriel and Amelia escape, and Rome falls.
3036
[Blood Hunt] The Shadows Come into the Light
Antichem rallies have now evolved into full-scale riots in larger cities, prompting local law enforcement to take action to contain damage. It is clear that despite continued support from the ICG, the chem-treatment industry is finished as society teeters on the brink of full-scale conflict.During an antichem riot, telepath and SU member Emma Calen gets trapped and abducted by the Shadows. She discovers that the army has developed technologies to protect itself against telepaths.Shadow Hawk John Wayland is tasked with overseeing Emma’s stay. But when she begins to break down, he defies all orders and escapes with her, taking refuge with the SU—the first instance of a Hawk defecting from the Shadow army.With the whole galaxy on a tipping point, Tristan Hunt takes Dara and their children into hiding. Gabriel Connors and Dr. Amelia Chase quickly follow suit. Both couples disappear. A faction of chem-resistants who were overlooked and rejected by John MacMurphy and his SU enters the spotlight, naming themselves the Evolutionaries. Guided by Michael, whose precognitive abilities border on prophetic, the chaos they create escalates antichem riots into a full-scale war with the Shadows. Michael dies during an attack on the newly rebuilt outpost Green 24. In a last-ditch effort to put a quick end to the conflict, John MacMurphy takes out his long-time rival, the Shadows’ Commander in Chief, Senator Matthew Griffith. It doesn’t work. John MacMurphy disappears. In his absence, Emma Calen takes over as the Acting Director of the Special Unit.
3039
[Shadow Hawk] Rebel Shadows
Three years into the war, humanity’s worst traits shine once again. Infrastructure is in shambles. People suffer without access to basic resources. Having crippled society as a whole, the Shadows now focus their attacks only on the chem-resistants. Under the guise of reconstruction, the ICG turns a blind eye.Deserted Shadow Hawk Finnegan Rowe returns to his hometown to find it in ruins. His old cohort, Latham Bigellow (also known as “Talon”), has assembled a radical and unhinged unit of rogue Shadows that terrorizes the region. Their primary target is Finn’s childhood sweetheart, Laura McNally, and her small group of refugee survivors.To get Laura and her people out, Finn summons the SU for help. They win the battle, but Talon escapes. The surviving Shadows opt to integrate into the SU. Finn deems Talon a persistent threat and assigns former Shadow Hound Vega Ortiz to hunt him down.
3039
[Shadow Hound] The Catalyst
Quinn VanWarren was born with supernatural strength and a failing heart. After surviving Talon’s reign of terror, he receives an artificial heart and a dose of Hailey Chase-Calen’s regenerative serum. He then hires Vega Ortiz to help him uncover whether his ultra-rich family is secretly funding the Shadows. Having failed to locate Talon, Vega takes the job as her last hope of tracking him down.However, during their investigation, Vega’s target finds her instead. Talon launches an attack and is killed by a Shadow operative who has been posing as one of the VanWarrens for several years. Shadow Operative M then rescues Vega from near-death and abducts Quinn for the Shadows to reverse-engineer his unique mutation and the healing serum. The Shadow scientists are unsuccessful in replicating either. With the help of her deserted Shadow friends, Vega stages a rescue and burns the outpost to the ground. Operative M is recovered and forced into an EMC treatment to erase his memories and reprogram his mind toward the Shadow directive. Upon waking up, he finds a recording of himself with instructions to run. So he does…
31st Century Transportation
Transport
A personal transportation vehicle, similar to today's cars. They utilize electromagnetism to rise several inches to several feet off the ground. Most have automatic built-in navigation. They follow the established traffic rules and regulations of the region and are "locked" to established roadways. In cases of emergency, they can rise above traffic to take the fastest, most direct route to the nearest emergency care facility. As they do today, styles, colors, sizes, and available features vary between models and manufacturers.
NOTE: The limitations of these particular vehicles are pre-programmed by the manufacturer. It is, however, possible for someone with the technical expertise and know-how to circumvent them, effectively turning a transport into the equivalent of a personal helicopter (without the spinning blades) that can rise to any elevation, and fly in any direction, with manual navigation.
Hover
A mass transportation aircraft used for both short-and long-distance travel on a particular world. Depending on the size and model, it can ferry small groups (up to 50 passengers) between cities, or large groups (over 2,500 passengers) around the globe. Short-range models can reach speeds up to 500mph. Long-range models travel at speeds up to 1,200 mph.Hovers use electromagnetism to levitate above the ground. The travel elevation is determined by the flight distance. Long-range models travel at a much higher elevation where the thinner atmosphere minimizes pressure waves. A combination of various energy sources, including solar power and static electricity, create and maintain forward motion through a number of different environmental conditions without interruption. They also have built-in systems to counteract and minimize sonic booms and maintain passenger comfort during supersonic flights.
Shuttle
A mass transportation spaceship used to convey people between inhabited planets of the Milky Way galaxy. Most models have a capacity of 50,000-250,000 people and associated cargo. After the near-apocalyptic war of the late 30th century, the Interplanetary Council of Governance (ICG) has also mandated that every city with a population of 5 million or more maintain a fleet of shuttles with ten times that capacity for emergency off-world evacuation. Due to limitations of interplanetary travel, both types of shuttles are roughly equal in size. Commercial shuttles merely offer more comfort and cargo space, whereas emergency shuttles prioritize passenger capacity over cargo.Shuttles are specifically designed and carefully calibrated to harness dark matter energy to bend time and space. Once a shuttle has reached a safe distance from an inhabited planet (approximately ten Earth-standard hours out of orbit at supersonic speed), the shuttle locks down from the outside, creating a seamless shell. Its proprietary technology then generates a force field around the shuttle which causes it to “drop” into subspace to complete the bulk of the journey and then reemerge a safe distance from the destination planet. This process is commonly referred to as “skipping” and allows people to cross the distance between inhabited planets much faster. Since the effects of prolonged exposure to subspace forces are still unknown, in 2999, the ICG capped the allowed shuttle travel time to three Earth-standard days in subspace per Earth-standard month.
FUN FACT: If a shuttle was to travel the longest distance between currently inhabited planets in one skip, the journey would take approximately two Earth-standard weeks in subspace. The shortest travel distance is between Ela and Mai, two planets in orbit around the same star. The distance between them can be traversed in several hours at the time of planetary alignment to several days at opposite sides of their respective orbits, and does not require a skip.