Symphony for the Devil — Marcus James

t's been eight months since the events of Blackmoore, and now Trevor Blackmoore, Braxton Volaverunt, Cheri Hannifin, and Braxton's best friend J.T. Oliver are embarking on a new chapter of their lives in the great northwest metropolis of Seattle. Trevor and Cheri are beginning their freshman year at the University of Washington, and Braxton and J.T.'s band are heading into the studio to complete their first album with Arcadia Records. Kathryn Blackmoore, Trevor's mother, and the seductive stone fox of the family and president of Blackmoore World Corp. is finding uneasy freedom as a woman in her late forties finally free of the curse of the Blackmoores and rediscovering what it means to be a woman finally without obligation to anyone but herself. Now fully aware of their shared lineage and the growing threat of the Dark God of the Wood-whose name has been lost to time-and the faithful human and supernatural disciples who are poised to attack, the two young men find that their love-which is bound in blood and prophecy-is the only thing they have to rely on to keep them safe. As Trevor and Braxton exit Bellingham, leaving the ruins of the Volaverunt home in their wake, two other Blackmoores fill their place. Francesca Blackmoore, the beautiful and exotic cousin from Italy, who stayed behind after the chaos and terror of Christmas Eve, and Mary-Margaret Blackmoore from Ireland, an accomplished and world renowned solo violinist who has come to Bellingham to teach Music Theory at Fairhaven University and who reluctantly takes up residence with her cousin and Trevor's great aunt Mabel Blackmoore-also known as Queen Mab-who resides in her great Victorian mansion with the youthful and mysterious violin playing spirit Michael Donovan. A tapestry of deceit, family loyalties, tragic love, and lives lost too soon begins to unfold as two newcomers enter Trevor and Mary-Margaret's lives. When the tight-knit clan of witches is struck with a terrible and inexplicable tragedy, Mary-Margaret is pulled deeper and deeper into the hypnotic world of the sullen but loyal ghost Michael Donovan-revealing the key to the very plot that may destroy them all. Spanning more than a hundred years, Symphony for the Devil goes from present to past and back again, revealing new truths and pulling back the earth to expose the great roots of the Blackmoores and their world, and we learn that it's not just one tree, but a great forest-a forest that has only just begun to reveal all that's hidden within its shadows.