ANGEL – THE SUMMONED by Cameron Dokey

A young woman attempts to escape from a terror of her own making. She knows she will shortly die, but she tries to mail a letter containing information about the horrific situation she has created for herself. She fingers the “Mark,” a coin that determines her death. Suddenly, she is aware of a pillar of fire before her. A voice speaks from the flames and she is burned before she can scream.

Doyle’s latest vision hits him while he’s in the supermarket. It is typically vague – fear, fire, death. As he recovers from the pain, an anxious young woman attempts to assist him. Doyle quickly thanks her and races off to tell Angel and Cordelia about the latest message from the Powers that Be.

The girl, Terri Miller, is a shy girl feeling overwhelmed by the loneliness she has found in Los Angeles. However, shortly after her meeting with Doyle, she meets a handsome, charismatic young man who invites her to join a club to which he belongs.

Meanwhile, Angel Investigations tries to discover who or what has been burning apparently random victims beyond recognition. The police are having no luck in capturing what has become known as the Krispy Kritter Killer. Someone from Wolfram and Heart passes a “Mark” to Angel that gives the vampire and his friends only one day to solve this latest case.

THE BURNING by Nancy Holder and Jeff Mariotte is the first in a new crossover trilogy involving Buffy and Angel.

Salma de la Navidad is a friend of Willow and Buffy’s. Although Salma is a sweet girl who has blended in with her new friends at UC Sunnydale, her brother Nicky longs to gain acceptance in the LA Latino gangs. To impress his new friends, Nicky uses some magics stolen from his grandmother. The spell goes horribly wrong, doors to alternate realities open, and a variety of vicious demons pour into Sunnydale. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Angel investigates corrupt cops and a prisoner who has supernatural powers, while Cordelia stumbles upon a group of runaway girls who want to become vampires. Both must dodge the street warfare between the Latino gangs and the Russian Mafiosi.

Added to the mix is a strange Russian family who lives in an impregnable bunker and has a mysterious machine that may alter realities. Buffy, Angel and the others struggle with the internal question of do I make a difference in the world and the more pertinent question of will they be able to right all the wrongs going on in the volatile present situations.

DOOR TO ALTERNITY by Nancy Holder and Jeff Mariotte is the second book in the UNSEEN trilogy.

Buffy and Riley travel to Los Angeles to try to track down Salma who has disappeared. They meet with Angel to see how he can help them and realize that they are both trying to find missing teenagers. Meanwhile, Willow is working with Dona Pilar, a bruja, or witch and also Salma’s grandmother, to see if they can create a way to see into the distant realities and perhaps bring Salma back. After talking with Giles, Buffy decides to return home to try to plug up the hole through which all the monsters are entering Sunnydale. They have discovered that the Russian family has created a machine that has the ability to open portals into a variety of different dimensions. The daughter feels guilty about what her parents have done, steals the machine from them and escapes to Cordelia’s.

Willow, Dona Pilar and Tara have worked on a spell that will help send Angel and Buffy through portals to rescue the teenagers. Alina, the Russian girl, will use the machine to assist in the time-travel. The slayer and the vampire walk through spiritual doorways not knowing what they will find.

LONG WAY HOME by Nancy Holder and Jeff Mariotte finishes the UNSEEN trilogy.

When Angel and Buffy step into the new reality, they do not enter in the same place. In fact, they each have to fight strange beasts and seemingly alive buildings to get to each other. While the vampire and the slayer search for each other, Riley breaks Faith out of prison, so that she can help Buffy and Angel. As the rogue slayer walks through another supernatural opening, Spike unexpectedly dives through. They too are separated in the new reality.

As Angel and Buffy fight their separate battles in the strange alternity, mayhem and violence continues to storm through Los Angeles and Kate Lockley struggles to contain it. As they search for each other, the former lovers wonder if there is an alternative reality where their love could survive. Finally they locate each other and the missing teens, except Salma. As a portal opens near them, one of the teens is killed through his own carelessness, and it quickly closes. Shortly thereafter, Faith enters through a portal nearby, Spike enters from another and Salma enters from yet another. As more monsters march toward them, Faith listens for Alina whose voice in her head is suddenly silenced. Close to panic, Faith feels the Mayor talking to her. A portal opens and the motley group jumps through to safety.