Dark Awakening by Patti O'Shea

in Crimson City, was the only friend she had left. Well, that and the promises he'd made to get her back for this assignment.
    She wished she had the nerve to give up L.A. and move to her aunt Lucy's beach house in Bodega Bay. Her aunt wanted someone she trusted in the house. She could open a little coffee shop and serve killer espresso and sandwiches. At night she could sit on the porch, eat salt water taffy, breathe fresh air and watch the stars. It was a stupid fantasy, but it was all hers.
    In the video, the perky receptionist kept looking in Tuan's direction. Tuan Ng was movie-star handsome and, now that Hell wasn't seeing him, notoriously available. If these jackass agents expected a scene, they were destined for disappointment. Her relationship with the vampire had been doomed from the start because he was a fang, and she wasn't.
    On screen, the lobby door opened and one of the most beautiful men Hell had ever seen in her life walked in. He wore loose trousers and no shirt, and he had the pecs, abs and everything else to pull off the look plus more. His black hair was held back by two narrow braids that started at his temples and secured his long hair in a pony tail. Silver threads gleamed in the braids. His skin bordered on bronze, and he was ripped. Seriously, beautifully, ripped without looking like he spent hours in the gym. What was a guy like that doing in a place like the Golden Wing?
    If you had the money, the Golden Wing accommodated any and all consenting adult interactions, regardless of species. Tuan's open-minded attitude cleared him a million and a half a week. A guy who looked like this one could have any woman he wanted with one flex of a pectoral. Flex the other and his beauty of choice would do any kinky thing he wanted. Mr. Gorgeous walked toward the reception desk camera. His   eyes were a freakish pale amber. She'd never seen eyes quite that color.
    "Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
    The man gestured and a flash of yellow light filled the screen. When it died down, the blonde was face down on the counter. Scarlet blood oozed around her head and dripped onto the floor. On screen, Tuan shouted. Six of his enforcers rushed into the lobby.
    West paused the video and pointed his laser pen at the screen. "No need to identify him," West said, centering the light on Tuan's forehead. "But this—" the light shifted to the bare-chested major god who was, it seemed, a deranged killer "—is our DX. Demon of unknown origin." Hell sat up. "For the uninformed in the room, Hell, he's been identified as a Bak-Faru demon."

School Bites by Jade Lee
     
    Chapter 1
     
    "To a wise man, every day is a new life."
     
    The screams reached her first. Toni Freedman was just putting the chalk swoop into the last letter of her morning inspirational quote when she heard teeny-bopper squeals become alarmed jeers. Within moments a full-out riot of noise crashed into her little special ed classroom on the second floor. She was already running down the stairs when her walkie-talkie sounded "Cafeteria incident" in its garbled, dark tones.
    She slowed briefly as she waded through a crowd of lunchroom staff and kids. At a short 5' 2", many of the on-lookers were larger than her, but what she lacked in stature, she made up for in attitude. She was the adult here, the teacher, and the woman trained to take down either of the three boys mixing it up on the floor. Of course, a little back-up would be nice, but when had that ever arrived on time? In truth, she was supposed to wait for help. Her training told her to "monitor the situation" until at least two other staff members helped her take control—one for each kid. To hell with training. She wasn't going to sit on her hands while two kids were pummeling a third.
    As she pushed through the last of the crowd, she mentally categorized the incident. Gang-related: the somebodies against the somebody-elses, spurred on by some girls with affiliation to whatever. The particulars