Guild Codex Universe
13 primary works • 15 total works
The Guild Codex includes three linked series: Spellbound, Demonized, and Warped for a total of 16+ books and 3 bonus stories.
They can be read in publication order, chronological order, as individual series, or in Annette’s recommended order, which is listed below.
Book 1
Meet Tori. Sassy redhead, ex-waitress with an attitude, and human bartender of a magic guild. Three Mages and a Margarita opens the hilarious and heartwarming Guild Codex series.
Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.
It went downhill the moment they asked for a trial shift instead of an interview—to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete jerks, and I was an asshole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?
I expected to get thrown out on my ass. Instead, they . . . offered me the job?
It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-shit bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.
So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course—with a pay raise.
Book 2
A bold and sidesplitting new adventure awaits magic-less guild bartender Tori in Dark Arts and a Darquiri. Bad guys will be vanquished. Somehow.
When I found myself facing down the scariest black-magic felon in the city, practically daring him to abduct me, I had to wonder exactly how I ended up here.
It all started when I accidentally landed a job as a bartender—but not at a bar. At a guild, populated by mages, sorcerers, alchemists, witches, and psychics. Good thing this lame-o human is adaptable, right?
Then my favorite guild members—three sexy, powerful, and intermittently charming mages—asked for my help. Did they want access to my encyclopedic knowledge of cocktails? Oh no. They wanted to wrap me up in a pretty ribbon and plunk me in the crosshairs of a murderous rogue to lure him out of hiding.
So that's what we did. And that's why I'm here. About to be kidnapped. Oh, and our grand plan for safely capturing said murderous rogue? Yeah, that completely fell apart about two minutes ago.
Why did I agree to this again?
Book 3
The third installment in sassy UF series The Guild Codex: Spellbound, Two Witches and a Whiskey dumps an unprepared Tori into the world of witches, fae, and very angry sea gods.
Three months ago, I landed a job as a bartender. But not at a bar—at a guild. Yeah, the magic kind.
I'm not a badass mage like my three smokin' hot best friends. I'm not a sorcerer or an alchemist, or even a wussy witch. I'm just a human, slinging drinks like a pro and keeping my non-magical nose out of mythic business. Seriously, I know my limits.
So why am I currently standing in a black-magic ritual circle across from a fae lord?
Somewhere behind me, my three mage friends are battling for their lives. Somewhere near my feet is the rogue witch I just knocked out with a stolen spell. And I have about five seconds to convince this very angry sea god not to shmoosh me like a bug.
I'm pretty sure this wasn't in the job description.
Book 3.5
When a bounty hunting job goes wrong, a mysterious aeromage saves Aaron's life...
Delve into the three mages' pasts in this exclusive Guild Codex short story, available as a free download for subscribers.
Book 3.75
Only one thing matters to Kai: getting the job done, and doing it better than anyone else.
But when a beautiful thief crashes his security gig, claiming she's trying to protect the valuable artifact he's guarding, all his careful plans go up in flames. He doesn't believe a word she says—until the item is stolen right out from under them.
Recovering the artifact before the real thief can unleash its ancient magic requires insider knowledge—information the mysterious trespasser possesses. Teaming up with a stranger isn't Kai's idea of smart, but he'll need all the help he can get to take on a notorious rogue and arcane power from the time of the gods.
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This novella can be read as part of The Guild Codex: Spellbound series, as an introduction to The Guild Codex world, or as a standalone adventure. All proceeds from its sale will be donated to youth and youth literacy charities!
Originally published in the limited-time charity anthology, Love Potion.
Book 4
Deadly secrets are revealed in Demon Magic and a Martini, the dark and enthralling fourth instalment of urban fantasy The Guild Codex: Spellbound.
When I first landed a bartending job at the local guild, I didn't know a thing about magic. These days, I'm practically an expert on the different magical classes, but there's one nobody ever talks about: Demonica.
Turns out they have a good reason for that.
My guild is strictly hellion-free, but some people will risk life and soul to control the biggest bullies on the mythic playground. And now a demon has been loosed in the city.
My three best friends are determined to slay it, but even badass combat mages are critically out-magicked. And that's not all. The monster they're tracking—it's not hiding. It's not fleeing. It's not leaving a trail of corpses everywhere it goes.
The demon is hunting too. And in a city full of mythics, it's searching for deadlier prey.
If we can't unravel the demon's sinister motivations, more innocent people will die, but finding the answers means digging into dark secrets...and learning truths I never wanted to know.
Book 5
Rule one: Don't look at the demon.
When I arrived at my uncle's house, I expected my relatives to be like me--outcast sorcerers who don't practice magic. I was right about the sorcery, but wrong about everything else.
Rule two: Don't listen to the demon.
My uncle chose a far deadlier power. He calls creatures of darkness into our world, binds them into service contracts, and sells them to the highest bidder. And I'm supposed to act like I don't know how illegal and dangerous it is.
Rule three: Don't talk to the demon.
All I had to do was keep my nose out of it. Pretend I didn't find the summoning circle in the basement. Pretend I didn't notice the shadowy being trapped inside it. Pretend I didn't break the rules.
But I did, and now it's too late.
Book 6
Something dangerous is brewing in The Alchemist and an Amaretto, and Tori is all geared up to save lives and crush bad guys.
As a guild bartender, I can handle pretty much anything—mages, sorcerers, witches, the occasional demon. But show me anything family-related and I'd rather run for the hills. It doesn't even have to be my family.
So I have no idea why I thought spending the holidays with Aaron's mom and pop was a good idea.
Meeting his famous parents is already terrifying enough, but I've got a bigger problem. Students of his family's renowned mage academy are being attacked on the grounds—and somehow no one has seen a single assailant? Unexplained tracks litter the nearby woods, rumors of forbidden alchemy are circulating the campus. . . and Ezra has been acting strangely since we arrived.
Something deadly is brewing in the shadow of Sinclair Academy, and the longer we take to uncover it, the more dangerous it becomes. But no matter the risk, we'll protect the students.
And Aaron's parents too, I suppose. If we have to.
Book 7
I'm bound to a demon.
For my entire life, I avoided magic at all costs. Now, I'm responsible for a demon who wields magic more powerful than the toughest mage or sorcerer.
Demons are evil.
That's what my textbooks say. That's what I see. He's ruthless, he's temperamental, he's cold. But he protects me without fail. I wonder if he's hiding a heart behind his hostility.
My demon is a monster.
Whether he's heartless or not, my contract with him is illegal and beyond dangerous. Together, we must find a way to return him to his own world before anyone discovers our secret. If that wasn't bad enough, I've come to realize something else:
My demon isn't the only monster I should be worried about.
Book 8
Tori dives into the dark and dangerous mythic underworld in Druid Vices and a Vodka, the sixth book in The Guild Codex: Spellbound.
I've said it before, but sometimes I'm a bad person. I cheated on my twelfth grade math final, I've run countless yellow lights, and I gossip about how hot my kickass best friends are. (Good thing my job as a guild bartender doesn't require moral perfection.)
But there's bad, and then there's bad. And I'm not sure which applies to a certain dark druid/wanted criminal/reluctant friend of mine. His transgressions include black-magic dealings, kidnapping, and murder, and he's about to add "revenge-fueled killing spree" to his resume—if I don't stop him.
Should I stop him?
He and his nemesis are gearing up to tear each other apart, rogues and vultures are converging with their sights on the spoils, and the guilds that would normally stomp them into the ground are under attack. We're on the brink of an all-out criminal turf war, and my time to decide is almost up.
Who's the real bad guy . . . and do I dare stand in his way?
Book 9
Robin uncovers a dangerous secret from her family's past in Hunting Fiends for the Ill-Equipped.
I thought I understood power.
My parents taught me that magic attracts equal danger, and everything I've seen since becoming a demon contractor confirms it. I've witnessed how power twists and corrupts—and I've tasted power no human should wield.
I thought I knew greed.
Ambition and avarice drove my family into hiding. My parents died for someone else's greed. I've never hunted anything in my life, but now I'm hunting their killer—with my demon's help.
I thought I'd seen evil.
But with each step closer to my parents' murderer, I'm uncovering a different sort of evil, piece by hidden piece. I've stumbled into an insidious web that silently, secretly ensnares everything it touches. My demon and I came as the hunters . . .
. . . but I think we might be the prey.
Book 10
Tori is putting all her faith in a demon as she attempts to save Ezra's soul in Lost Talismans and a Tequila, the penultimate book in The Guild Codex: Spellbound.
You know that squirmy sensation in your gut when you have no idea what you're doing and you're about to screw everything up?
Yeah, that feeling.
I thought I was a good judge of character, but recent events proved me very wrong. Now, in a brilliant demonstration of my newfound caution, I'm putting all my faith in a demon—a demon who's tried to kill me before. The squirmy feeling is making sense, right?
Unfortunately, I don't have any other options. Ezra's time is almost up, which means I need answers and I need them fast. So it's time to toughen up, pack my gear, and find me one of the most illegal, reviled, and scarce mythics out there: a demon-mage summoner.
And all I have to do is follow a demon's instructions on where to look. How could that go wrong?
Book 11
My name is Kit Morris, and welcome to my warped life.
Picture the scene: Me, an average guy with psychic powers—not that my abilities are in any way average—just trying to scrape by in a harsh world. So maybe I've conned a few people, but did I really deserve to be thrown in MPD jail alongside magic-wielding serial killers?
According to Agent Lienna Shen, one-hundred-percent yes.
But her hardass attitude and “Arcana prodigy” status aren’t enough to bring down my former best friend, who slipped through the MPD’s fingers and is days away from unleashing untold horrors upon the city. Or he’s going to steal something. I don’t really know.
Whatever he’s up to, that’s why I’m sitting in an interrogation room with Lienna. And that’s why I just offered myself as her temporary new partner for the purposes of thwarting my ex-accomplice.
And that’s how I’m going to escape. I might even help with the case before I cut and run.
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Warping Minds & Other Misdemeanors is the first book in a new series set in the world of The Guild Codex. It can be read on its own or as part of a larger adventure.
Book 12
Tori's adventure comes to its epic conclusion in Damned Souls and a Sangria, book eight in The Guild Codex: Spellbound.
Once upon a time, I was your average spunky redhead with the lamest employment history ever, a shaky relationship with my only family member, and no idea what I was doing with my life.
Now, I'm a pseudo mythic with the best bartending job in the world, the most amazing (and hot) best friends I never knew I needed, and a guild of misfit magic-users who've become my extended family.
And I'm about to lose it all.
In my desperation to save Ezra, I stumbled into a web of ruthless deception—and seriously pissed off a sleeping hydra. Now its every murderous head is turned toward me and my guild, and I don't know how to stop it. I'm not sure I can.
I'm not sure anyone can.
But if we don't, we're all doomed—Ezra, Aaron, Kai, and my beloved guild.
Book 13
promised to avenge my parents.
But their killer is still on the loose, and he's stolen more than my parents' lives. Now, as he draws closer to his mysterious goals, he's poised to destroy what little I have left.
I promised to translate an ancient grimoire.
But it holds the secrets of my family--and the secret history of demon summoning. I fear its answers as much as I need them. Who was the foremother of Demonica...and who am I?
I promised to send my demon home.
But the way he watches me, the way he protects me, the way he touches me--how can I cast him away forever? I swore I would do this for him, but can I? Should I?
But I promised--and I will keep my promises even if they cost me my heart, my soul, and my life.