THE DARK ROSE

South Point survived the siege. But survival isn't the same as understanding.

In the smoke-filled aftermath, veteran journalist Thomas Snow and his editor wife Zay can't stop pulling threads. The church that didn't burn. The machete-wielding man they called The Beast. The mysterious stranger who appeared at exactly the right moment and vanished just as quickly. The missing girls - including their own daughter Megan - still out there somewhere, still in the hands of the trafficking network no one has fully mapped yet.

What begins as investigative journalism becomes something far older and darker.

A century of journals, ledgers, and private letters hidden in a pastor's study hold the answers - and the warnings no one heeded in time.

A Nordic priest named Father Gustafson documented it first: the demon lords, their hierarchy, their cursed weapons, their methods of possession. His successor continued the record until a final battle with a possessed cartel leader ended in blood and a last desperate journal entry.

The machete with holes in its blade. The demoness with green eyes.

The Vasquez bloodline - bound to The Brotherhood through a weapon passed from father to son across generations. Jorge Vasquez didn't find that machete by accident. He was sent for it. And the woman who sent him has a name. They call her The Dark Rose. The Mistress. Lilith. She has been watching South Point for a very long time.

The Spanish mission had been utterly destroyed by the cartel war.

They had nowhere to go. Four widows and their five sons. Scratched out a meager existence in shadows of the mission bell. Finally, a replacement priest arrived only to drink himself to death in the desert. The demon patrols ceased, there was nothing to see here. A priest, sent here to live out his final days, began to make a difference. Until an imp whispered timely words to The Mistress. "The Brotherhood needs fresh blood."

The first recruit, sent on a quest to find his father's bones and the truth.

His father's fingers still clenched to the handle of his inheritance.

A young man, bound to a daughter of The Mistress, but in love with another.

The Mistress has dealt with human love before. The men were easily distracted...or the women removed.

The Dark Rose is Book Two of The Stronghold Series - a Christian supernatural thriller saga that traces the ancient roots of evil threatening one small Texas town, where cursed bloodlines run deep, demonic contracts outlast generations, and the faithful are only beginning to understand what they are truly up against.

Fiction with Purpose.

Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to organizations whose primary focus is the rescue, recovery, rehabilitation, and restoration of victims of human trafficking. Join the Fight.

"A wonderful piece of fiction that I could easily see being adapted into a screen production. Gave me a

similar feeling as the Netflix hit STRANGER THINGS... extremely memorable. I cannot recommend this

fictional world and author enough." - Matthew Lloyd, Reedsy Discovery

"This isn't fast-paced for speed's sake - the story keeps raising the stakes while making sure every choice

leaves a mark. Generational curses, fractured loyalties, and the idea that victory doesn't end the war - it

complicates it - give the book a weight that goes beyond surface-level thrills. Multiple threads, prophecy,

corruption, sacrifice... it's ambitious, but it never feels careless. The story knows where it's going, even

when it's letting chaos reign." - Harper B. Morgan, Reedsy Discovery