Being accepted into an elite school of magic, monsters, and assassins was not my idea of higher education. But here I am, fighting my way through the Culling Trials to claim my right to be taught. As if the gauntlet-type physical and mental tests aren’t enough, people are going missing. People who are my friends. In a dangerous world where no one is as they seem, the golden rule is simple: Trust no one. They think we should just look out for ourselves. That we should leave the fallen behind and ask no questions. They clearly think we’re idiots.

The last of the Culling Trials is here. I foolishly thought I’d survived the worst. My team is falling to pieces around me, and my heart is shattered for the losses I’ve endured. But I can’t stop when I’m so close to the end. There are too many people depending on me. I foolishly thought there wasn’t much more I could lose...until the nature of my bloodline comes to light. I’m not who I thought I was. Not what anyone thought I was. But to tell people the truth would be to kill us all.

Maddison James is about to discover some truths about the world. Firstly...supernaturals exist. WTF? Secondly...she is one, even though no one seems to know exactly what kind. Double WTF. Thirdly...she’s about to go back to school. Well, things just got a little more interesting. The Supernatural Academy is where shifters, vampires, magic users, and fey are educated. Where they are taught about their abilities, and how to function in the human world. Maddison already has the human part down, but this supernatural thing is an entirely new dangerous game.

They rule my new town, my school, and with more money than God, there’s very little out of their reach. Four gorgeous, perfect, scary boys. There used to be five, but one of them died, leaving a fifth position that I now fill. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to be part of this billionaire-boys-club. But no one cares about what I want. Sebastian Beckett is the worst of them. Their leader. He draws me in, and strips me of every defense I have. He calls me Butterfly, but it's not a pet name, it's a threat.

My name is Vinna, and I've been keeping a lot of secrets. You would too if you'd experienced some of the weird shit I have: red-eyed monsters chasing me, markings on my body appearing out of nowhere, a strange power that crackles colorfully over my skin from time to time, and don't get me started on the weapons I can conjure up almost out of nowhere.

I've dealt with my share of homelessness. I've endured being the bad gal in the room. I’ve taken a lot of life’s punches on the chin. But never did I expect to be forced to attend an academy full of power-hungry delinquents. I can handle whatever threats, traps, bullying, and schemes are thrown my way, because I'm not here to be a good student. I'm here to keep my secret safe from those who will do everything to see me perish. Game on.

My name is Vinna and I am a Sentinel. I'm the last in a line of a hunted, magical race, coveted and killed for our power and abilities. I was hidden and protected, but now that I've been found, it's a race to see who can command and control me. Joke's on them, I bow to no one. I need to master my magic, and protect the five guys I've marked as my own at all costs. Because the line between friend and foe is dangerously blurry, and I'm collecting enemies like Sentinels collect runes.

Welcome to Half Death Academy. That's what they call my new school - because only half the students survive. Rule number one: Keep your head down and don't mess with the four gorgeous demigods who rule the school. Rule number two: When the demigods try to kill you, lie down and die.Too bad I never was very good at following the rules. And when my forbidden power awakens, I'll make them regret they tried to make me their bitch.

I'm not all that special, really. I'm sure there are a lot of girls with old gypsy blood who see the dead, have killer cults hunting their family, and turn into something that gets scary when they panic. Yep. I'm just an ordinary girl. I wish people would believe that. I've been labeled as one thing or another for most of my life: Death Girl. Crazy Gypsy Girl. Gothic Chick. Monster. It took my mother's death for me to finally start getting answers about what's really been going on. Unfortunately, most of the answers come from men...who aren't just men.

Welcome to the Nightworld Academy, attended by vampires, shifters, and witches. A place filled with harmony and mutual respect between the supernatural races. Sometimes. I'm told my curse is a gift. A valuable one that could cost me my life...I thought I had the academy figured out: the mean girl, the quirky friend, the nerd, the emo, and the jock. But on the evening I swear allegiance to my new school house, everything spins out of control and I realize I’m dealing with more. Much more. One of us will die, and I know who.

Maud Demille is a daughter of Innkeepers - a special group who provide "lodging" to other-planetary visitors - so she knows that a simple life isn't in the cards. Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her young daughter, Helen, were exiled with him for his treachery to the desolate, savage planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud - completely abandoned by his family - has spent over a year avenging his debts. Rescued by her sister Dina, she's sworn off all things vampire.

Five broken, brutal, possibly sociopathic people, and we are all that stands between the world and the powerful, corrupt Delta corporation. We have no idea what we’re doing, but somehow, we are determined to stop them. Permanently. We just need leverage...irrefutable evidence of their corruption. And we need it now. Before the vote that will change everything. Only, there are a few other issues to deal with first. Dante in prison for murder, blood-coated roses showing up on my doorstep, and my bio mom reaching all new levels of insanity. 

I'm like a snowball rolling downhill. That's the first thing that pops into my mind when I try to explain my life. I don't know exactly "what'"I am, but I do know who I am. At least...I did. Sometimes life sends things your way that upend everything you thought you knew, and then slings you in another direction without any sort of harness or warning. Sometimes it drops someone like me off in the path of four wildly different monsters, who all used to be best friends, but now sort of hate each other and compete over absolutely everything, including...me.

Charity hasn't had it easy. Growing up in a bad part of Chicago, left by her mother at 16, she's a survivor. So when she gets a scholarship to a good college out in California, she thinks all her dreams have come true. Instead she falls head first into a nightmare. At a posh party she doesn't belong, she gets the shock of her life: vampires and shifters are real! Magic is real. And she is anything but a mundane poor kid just trying to make it.

"Sing, gypsies, sing of your lies." That old song plays in my head as the world turns around me faster than it has ever turned. Monsters and mayhem. That's become my life. Fear and apprehension. That's become the normal for those around me. Dread and distraction. That's what has interrupted my own personal romance story with my mon-star quad. Vengeance and retribution. That was the theme of the monster world long before I landed in it, and it's starting to heat up more than ever. I guess it's time to see if I can handle being in the middle, because that's where I'm about to put myself.