Chase the Dark
Author: Annette Marie
Series: Steel & Stone, #1
Publication date: October 25th 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Urban Fantasy
Piper Griffiths wants one thing in life: To become a Consul, a keeper of the peace between humans and daemons. There are three obstacles in her way.
The first is Lyre. Incubus. Hotter than hell and with a wicked streak to match. His greatest mission in life is to annoy the crap out of her, but he isn’t as harmless as he seems. The second is Ash. Draconian. Powerful. Dangerous. He knows too much and reveals nothing. Also, disturbingly attractive — and scary. Did she mention scary?
The third is the Sahar Stone. Top secret magical weapon of mass destruction. Previously hidden in her Consulate until thieves broke in, went on a murder spree, and disappeared with the weapon.
And they left Piper to take the fall for their crimes.
Now she’s on the run, her dreams of becoming a Consul shattered and every daemon in the city gunning to kill her. She’s dead on her own, but there’s no one she can trust — no one except two entirely untrustworthy daemons … See problems one and two.
about the Kickstarter campaign
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Annette Marie’s gritty epic urban fantasy universe, Steel & Stone, with luxurious collector’s editions. The first of two campaigns, this one will feature the Spell Weaver trilogy and the first book in the Steel & Stone series, Chase the Dark.
The Steel & Stone universe encompasses the Spell Weaver Trilogy (three books) and the Steel & Stone Series (five books). These 10th anniversary special editions include:
- The first book in the Steel & Stone series: Chase the Dark including all-new scenes and POVs
- All three Spell Weaver titles: The Night Realm, The Shadow Weave, The Blood Curse
- Iridescent foil stamping on faux-leather hardcovers
- Four different double-sided and embossed dust jackets
- New interior design
- Hand-signed by Annette
- Colored & textured endpapers
- Sprayed/printed edges
- Unique metal bookmark, stickers, and more! (More via stretch goals)
an excerpt
Roaring, the minotaur rampaged straight toward the prefects. Rifles fired, and Piper pressed into the floor, arms clamped over her ears.
The nonstop gunfire petered out, and the screaming started. Another roar from the minotaur, and more rifle shots.
Piper pushed up on her elbows and peeked over her shoulder. The minotaur was smashing prefects around like ceramic dinnerware, but with so many of them—and a lot of bullets in the daemon—it wouldn’t last much longer.
She hopped to her feet, head swiveling one direction, then the other. Go in the waiting room or get past the prefects to escape?
A boom of exploding magic erupted from within the waiting room. Chunks of obliterated metal chairs hurtled into the wall.
The hallway and the prefects it was.
She turned back—and found two prefects bearing down on her. They’d swung their rifles over their shoulders, clearly intending to take her alive while their comrades finished off the minotaur. Piper didn’t move as they reached her. The nearer one tried to grab her wrist.
Piper’s fist snapped out, hitting him in the diaphragm.
As he doubled over, she spun, foot flying, and slammed her boot into the thigh of the second guy. He stumbled, then lunged for her. She dodged him, caught his arm, and twisted it. With a yelp, he went down, yielding to the pressure before his limb dislocated. She stomped on his belly. He rolled sideways, spewing his supper.
The other guy was moving again, his face tight with anger. She dropped low and swung out a leg, sweeping his feet out from under him. A third prefect rushed in on her left. She rolled onto her back and slammed a double-footed kick right into his groin. His face went bloodless, and he sank to his knees.
Piper flipped off the floor and onto her feet in a single movement, just in time to meet prefect number one again as he let a punch fly at her face.
She stepped inside his swing and ducked to shove her forearm into his hip. She grabbed his ankle with her other hand and shoved the two-hundred-pound man off his feet. Amazing what a little leverage in the right spot could do.
Dancing away, she looked past her downed opponents—and froze.
“Steady,” a prefect called.
The minotaur lay unmoving in a puddle of blood. The rest of the prefects had formed up again, and every gun was pointed at her.
“Hit one more of my men and we’ll open fire,” the man at the back called. “Lie on the floor with your hands on the back of your head. Now!”
Piper hesitated. Getting a hundred holes blown into her would end any escape attempt, but if she obeyed, they’d take her prisoner.
The air rippled. Electricity filled the atmosphere, crackling like lightning about to strike. She could suddenly sense someone directly behind her, their breath stirring the fine hairs that had escaped from her ponytail.
“Go ahead and shoot—if you all want to die.”
The voice was deep and resonant, shivering through her skin and sliding across her bones like black silk. It sounded familiar but undeniably alien.
Every gun was now aimed at a point just over Piper’s right shoulder. Terror tightened the prefects’ faces, their complexions bleached of color and their hands shaking on their rifles.
Fear bordering on panic built in Piper’s gut. “Ash?”
He shifted closer, so close she could feel his heat.
“Do you have what we need?” he breathed.
“Yes,” she replied.
He huffed, sounding almost normal for a second. Then he slid an arm around her waist, the movement oddly careful, as though he were afraid of accidentally crushing her.
“Don’t move!” the prefect leader yelled shakily. “Not even daemons are bulletproof!”
“Are you sure about that?” Ash asked as he extended one hand in front of Piper.
She stared at his hand, too shocked to react. His outspread fingers were black with a dull gleam like leather, the tips smoothly transitioning into pointed claws. Large black scales covered the back of his hand and ran up the top of his arm like plates of armor. The scales gave way to skin, leaving the underside of his arm disconcertingly normal. Somehow, that was even freakier.
about the author
Annette Marie is the best-selling author of The Guild Codex, an expansive collection of interwoven urban fantasy series ranging from thrilling adventure to hilarious hijinks to heartrending romance. Her other works include YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter.
Her first love is fantasy, while fast-paced adventures and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) with her husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
To find out more about Annette and her books, visit www.annettemarie.ca
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