Temporal Locum by Wendie Nordgren

She thought it was a harmless piece of costume jewelry.
She believed monsters only existed in fiction, and magic was only sleight of hand.
She had no faith in the loyalty or love of men.

Bronwyn, a fashion design student, is learning that talent, hard work, and dedication aren’t always enough. Desperately grasping at the unraveling threads of her life, she hopes to prove her worth by winning the couture Halloween costume contest. However, a chance encounter on a busy street corner and an unfortunate accident change the course of her existence. Suddenly, she finds herself alone in a world of nightmarish, bloodthirsty monsters, and she doesn’t know who to trust.

Long ago, magic, unable to thrive but impossible to be destroyed, was forced to flee from our world. Bound inextricably with good, evil, light, and darkness, magic found a new home for itself and its people. However, to co-exist with the new world, magic required a host. When the burden grows too heavy, she passes the Temporal Locum to her successor, and until she embraces her powers, the world is cast into chaos.

Warring religious factions scour the land, searching for the goddess of time reincarnate, the host of the Temporal Locum, the conduit for magic. They must find her before the monsters kill her. Unfortunately, the new goddess trusts no one, not the Solis sun worshippers who kidnap females, or the Umbra moon worshippers who mask themselves like demons and whose sorcerers wield black magic.

While keeping her identity a secret, she flees not only the monsters but also capture. However, Solis and Umbra males unwittingly aid her, making her question her perceptions of good and evil while the attraction she feels for them confuses her heart. To stop the female sacrifices, she’ll have to reveal her identity either to the soldiers of the light or the devils of the dark, but to do so she’ll have to survive and decide who to trust.