The eldest son of Senator Owen Nickelson (himself the son of famed World War II hero and former Secretary of Defense Arthur Nickelson), this third-generation politician first gained attention as an Oregon attorney with a passion for taking on the toughest of cases… and winning. Now, as a member of the U.S. Congress, he’s brought that same tenacity to the national stage. But it’s his forthrightness, honesty, and yes… good looks, which have won over the hearts and minds of America.

Sure… John’s father might soon become the next President of the United States. But it’s John whom many are already calling “America’s conscious,” and the man who will someday lead this country to true greatness. All-too-aware of his son’s growing popularity (especially with female voters), Senator Owen Nickelson keeps John at his side whenever possible, furthering the notion that politics are just “the Nickelson family business.”

But while John’s future looks bright, a terrifying darkness waits just over the horizon for him. It’s a darkness that will shatter the Nickelson family forever and bring John to the attention of Bodie Taylor in a way neither of them ever expected…

She’s also the love of Bodie Taylor’s life.

A tomboy at heart, Angela Taylor is the kind of woman that every man wants and other women admire: beautiful and competitive, but also compassionate and grounded. She’s the perfect match for Bodie, always teaching him to “get out of his head” and give his body a chance to have fun, too. She even turned Bodie—an avowed jazz enthusiast—into a fan of Nine Inch Nails and Seattle grunge (still her favorite music in the world!). He, in turn, taught Angela how to cook exquisite recipes from around the globe, most of which he’d learned to prepare during his extensive travels abroad.

Theirs is a devotion that makes others believe in the endless power of love, and that anything is possible.  But with what will soon happen to both of them… it’s a belief that’s about to tested far beyond their wildest imaginings.

For in the world of ETHE(r)eal… love has no boundaries.

But Colin had sinned. He’d gotten away with it, too, time and time again.

Early on, he discovered that what he couldn’t afford could just as easily be stolen. Also, while brute strength was an asset when it came to making his way in the world, fear—effectively applied—was a more powerful weapon. And what of lust? When it comes to women, he’s found that they can be seduced with the simplest of lies. Yes, life is easy when you play by your own set of rules.

Killing is easy, too, especially when taking lives in the name of God and country. But there was time—long ago—when Colin’s talents were deemed “too brutal” for even the IRA. This drove him to find new fortunes as a mercenary for hire around the globe. Soon, no cause would be too extreme, as long as payments arrived on time.

Today Colin has a new cause to fight for: the human race. His current employer? Purusha Ventures.  But with allies like this on their side, is the company sacrificing its soul in order to win a supernatural war?  It’s this question that Bodie Taylor will ask… and in doing so, put himself on a collision course with destiny.

And they could be anyone you know.

Every culture has legends surrounding them, tall tales about immortal beings who exist in the shadows, influencing the course of human history. Hushed whispers about Those Who Will Not Die…

They have been returning since the Dawn of Man, refusing to die, and defying the laws of nature to exist as living abominations. But where once there were few, now their numbers are growing.  Soon they will become LEGION and establish a new evolution that will end human existence as we know it.

They must be stopped.

But how?

That’s what Danielle Kuhr always believed.  It was why she was honored to attend medical school at AIIMS in New Delhi. Becoming a surgeon was the achievement of her life’s dream.  To her, all human life was sacred… and deserved to be protected.  Then she witnessed something so terrifying that her path in life was altered forever: Filicide.

It was a Traveler who—after taking over her father’s body—seduced her mother and killed her beloved brother, Kavi.  Danielle couldn’t bring herself to kill the monster then, especially with her misguided mother protecting him. But much has changed since that horrifying event, an event that made her an easy recruit to the cause for Purusha Ventures.  Now she’s a soldier in the war against Those Who Will Not Die… and an uneasy ally for Bodie Taylor.

Danielle will find the man who destroyed her family someday.  And if her mother, still blinded by her devotion, should stand in her way… then she’ll be forced to deal with her, too. Does this mean Danielle has abandoned the Hippocratic Oath she once took?  No.

Because sometimes you have to take lives… in order to save them.

While Sergei’s father had been the victim of a drowning accident, the man who sank beneath the waters of the Volkhov River in Novgorod, Russia, was not the man who emerged from its icy depths. That man—the miraculous survivor of a near-death incident—was a TRAVELER.

By this time, Sergei had already begun to hear the screams in his waking hours and see apocalyptic visions of dark spirits in his nightmares. The Ether had laid its claim upon him and soon, as a TOUCHSTONE, he would eventually gain the power to move freely in and out of that terrifying place.  But such power is often a curse… a curse Purusha Ventures is determined to take advantage of.

Now Sergei works as part of a covert unit whose mission is to locate and destroy Travelers at all costs. It’s a job Sergei believes in, but one he does not relish. It’s also one that has him on a collision course with Bodie Taylor.  The result of this fateful meeting will save one man’s life… and irrevocably change the other’s destiny.

In Hinduism, purusha refers to the “cosmic” man, a primordial soul representing the essence of the entire universe. Sutra literature designates this essence as a “self” that connects the cosmos and eternity. Purusha is everything… it is the moon, the sun, and the wind… and it exists inside us all upon our creation.

It is the human soul.

Founded by CEO and reclusive billionaire RICHARD BARROWS, Purusha Ventures is the fourth largest corporation in the world. Built on groundbreaking advances in computer technology and software, it’s said that eight out of every ten computers in the world use Purusha operating systems. But this technological kingdom masks the corporation’s true agenda… one that CEO Barrows has hidden from the world: The detection and eradication of Those Who Will Not Die.

TRAVELERS.

With the power and financial backing of Purusha Ventures behind him, Barrows has spent the last decade hunting down and destroying these unholy beings. Then why has he now begun to study them? Only one woman knows the truth, Indian physicist DR. ESHANA RAO. As Barrows’ second-in-command, she’s become a steady and commanding presence at the Purusha Complex, located in the Arizona desert. What she has to offer Barrows is unknown as of yet.

But Dr. Rao has her own secret… one that will affect someone very close to Bodie and change both their lives forever.

A master of eight languages by his graduation in only three years from Portland State University, Bodie spent the next six years traveling across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, helping anthropological teams uncover and decipher some of history’s greatest mysteries. By age twenty-nine, Bodie was already a superstar in his field—a wunderkind whose uncanny abilities in the areas of linguistics and cryptology lead to a return to his Alma Mater, where he became the youngest tenured professor in the school’s history. It was there that he was also reunited with his childhood sweetheart, fell in love all over again, and married.

The ultimate man of science, Bodie Taylor is now the U.S.’s leading authority on cryptolinguistics—the complex study of dead languages. But it is the opposite world… the world of the supernatural… that will call to him, destroying all that he loves and changing him forever. It will also turn Bodie into the one man who can help ensure humankind’s survival. But to do so, he’ll have to unlock more terrifying secrets from the past… secrets protected by the most frightening keepers of all: the living dead.