The Witch of Castleton
Historical Fantasy with Slow-Burn Romantic and Supernatural Suspense
97,000 Words
For centuries, Ariana Goderick has upheld the Order’s laws as its Supreme Hunter—an immortal witch tasked with eliminating supernatural threats before they reach the human world. She has crossed empires, survived inquisitions, and learned that mercy is often more dangerous than the blade.
Yet when she encounters Frederick Jones—a recently turned vampire who should have died on a Revolutionary battlefield—Ariana does the unthinkable. She spares him.
Haunted by the circumstances of his turning and convinced something far more dangerous is at work, Ariana strikes a secret bargain: Frederick will learn to control his bloodlust under her supervision, or she will execute him herself. But as vampire attacks escalate among wounded soldiers on both sides of the war, Ariana is forced to investigate a conspiracy that reaches beyond any single monster—and into the fraught politics between the Order and the Realm.
Hiding Frederick from her fellow Hunters risks everything Ariana has built. Discovery would mean exile, execution—or worse. Yet as Frederick proves himself capable of restraint, loyalty, and compassion, Ariana must confront an impossible question: if monsters can choose not to be monstrous, what does that make the laws she enforces?
Ariana Goderick
Born on the vernal equinox of 1450 in the humble village of Alderleaf, north of London, Ariana Goderick was the first daughter in a long magical bloodline. Though gifted with her mother’s healing talents, she proved far more adept with her father’s rare ability of conjuring and commanding fire. When she inexplicably ceased aging in 1482, Ariana discovered she was a high witch—an immortal witch whose power surpasses mortal limits.
Centuries of discipline and devotion to the Hunter faction earned her a seat on the Exalted Council of the Order, where she rose to the title of Supreme Hunter. By the time of the American Revolution, Ariana had crossed the ocean to the Colonies, investigated the remnants of witch trials in Salem and other small colonial towns, and continued protecting both humanity and her kind from the shadows.
Frederick Jones
Born in September 1743 as the second son of Castleton’s wealthiest family, Frederick Jones spent his youth striving to distinguish himself from his elder twin. Through his diligence and intellect, he became one of the colony’s most respected lawyers—and a devoted husband and father.
Despite being viewed by his hometown as destined for a future in colonial politics, he chose to join the Revolutionaries to fight against the injustices of British rule, but during a battle outside Baltimore, Frederick was mortally wounded. Desperate to return to his beloved wife and daughters, he accepted an impossible offer of survival from a stranger in the medical tent. He awoke to find his humanity forever altered—his heart slowed, a thirst for blood awakened, and his life transformed into that of a vampire, cursed to wander the night.
