Dark Occult

When Ava López’s new life is at stake, she wants nothing more than to be free of her mortal shackles, but just when she’s ready to walk away from her upbringing, her past comes back to haunt her. To force her hand, the newcomer takes the only things of value to Ava—her amulet and her sire. With the looming threat of world annihilation, Ava must destroy the black onyx crystal, stop a rogue vampire army, and rescue Jasik, but a confession from an ally shatters the idyllic illusion surrounding Darkhaven’s magical community.

The battle for Templar has only just begun. The city is under attack by a mysterious woman in a purple cloak who wields an extraordinary elemental power: Every few hours, a sustained lighting column strikes the city, slowly draining the lives of everyone it touches with its deadly, crackling energy bolts.

Paul Mahan escaped the terrifying evil that dwelled in the Rookwood Apartments. But others have not been so lucky. Young Ella Cotter, an innocent child, finds herself tormented by a ghost Paul unwittingly freed when he escaped the building's haunted grounds. As Paul attempts to use hypnosis to separate the child from the tortured entity that clings to her soul, blood runs in the streets.

On the night of his 60th birthday, Sheriff John Mucklow’s wife dies in a car accident. He thought her death was the worst thing to ever happen to him. He was wrong. Seeking a diversion from his grief, John throws himself into investigating the recent disappearance of a local teenager. After discovering a video depicting a bizarre murder with occult undertones, John becomes obsessed with catching the killer.

Brenda Strange is back and is spooked by a fishy apparition that leaves wet footprints behind. During her most current murder investigation, she's got the living and the dead wanting a piece of the action.

Stefan Korzh continues to unleash his bloodthirsty haunted antiques onto an unsuspecting world. But as his past catches up with him, he discovers that there's a price to pay for his murderous desires. The latest item is an eerily cold, silver class ring that drives its wearer into a frenzy for human flesh. A brutal urge to plunge a knife deep into innocent bystanders is overtaking the residents of Concord, New Hampshire. An unlikely alliance is formed between Ariana Leckie and Victor Daniels on their hunt for Stefan and the collectibles.

Once more Wren Valere's game plan has taken an unexpected direction. She'd agreed to a bargain with one supersecret magic-watching outfit to protect her and her partner on their last job. But now the Silence is trying to wedge them apart. On the one hand, ever since she and Sergei began to talk about their "relationship," things have been tricky. On the other, though... Well, no one better try to stand between Wren and Sergei when danger is near!

Naked. Incoherent. Covered with blood. That's how Detective Frank Blackburn finds her - a beautiful Jane Doe brandishing a pair of scissors near the scene of a brutal murder. Is she the perpetrator? Or is she the only eyewitness to the handiwork of Vincent Van Gogh, a twisted serial killer with an "artistic" bent? To find out, Blackburn takes her to renowned psychiatrist Dr. Michael Tolan. But Tolan has problems of his own. One year ago today, his beloved wife, Abby, was savagely slaughtered by the very same serial killer.

Charles L. Grant's town of Oxrun Station became real to horror fans (much like Lovecraft's Arkham and King's Castle Rock). While most of Grant's stories were contemporary, he did write a trilogy of "historical" novels placed in an earlier Oxrun. The Dark Cry of the Moon is a classic werewolf tale for fans of the old Universal and Hammer horror films. The emphasis is on character and atmosphere, not on gore. It is the second volume in Grant's acclaimed "historical horror" trilogy.

Fiona Garris never believed in ghosts or evil spirits. A loner by nature, all she wants to do is complete her latest freelance assignment and retreat to her city apartment. But when she suddenly inherits the sprawling estate of an uncle she barely knew, Fiona soon discovers that the supernatural is all too real. Deep within her uncle’s mansion, a vault has been hidden away from prying eyes, built to hold a very special collection of dolls. But these are no ordinary playthings. Each one is a vessel for a lost soul, an evil spirit.

How could Sadie have lived so long in this town without knowing it was harboring a very old secret? The dark side of the woods was a place she walked by nearly every single day and it seemed perfectly normal. But one day, she realized that nothing that walked in there walked back out. Curses and wolves are somehow entangled in Sadie's new romance, and a gruesome transformation threatens to change everything she has ever known. She's the only one who can save her town, her love, and herself. It has to end where it started, in the center of the forest.

Life at St. Agatha's School for Girls is anything but a fairy tale. With ratty blankets and a torturous device called the box, it's not hard to understand Eliza's desperation to escape. When the timing is right, Eliza manages to run away with her best friend, Millie, heading through the Louisiana swamps to the town on the other side. But the swamps may be even more dangerous than the orphanage. Silver and black fairies invite the girls to experience a world where they can have it all, but Eliza doesn't trust the sparkling beauty.

Everyone knows Jaxon Slater. He's the life-of-the-party guy. He's the fun guy we want to invite to our outdoor barbeques but not to marry our daughters. He is our nephew, the next-door neighbor who drinks too much, a friend of a friend that overdosed on heroin. He's the class clown in high school that was always in trouble from drinking and driving.

Ava López's best friend from childhood is missing, and her former coven has asked for her help to find her. Despite all the pain the witches have treated Ava to with their rejection, she is determined to find Liv - even though her new allies harbor resentment. Ava hopes finding Liv will put an end to the feud between the two groups, but she realizes that to help the witches, she must turn her back on the vampires. But this is the least of her problems.

After Ava López’s deepest secret is exposed, Sofía discovers the vampires are hiding a staggering truth: Ava is a hybrid - part witch, part vampire - a creature that should not exist. Sofía worries the repercussions of allowing such a powerful being to remain as sole protector of the amulet will have everlasting and dire effects. Even as the line between protecting the amulet and harnessing its power begins to blur, Ava assures her friends that she alone must carry this burden.

For years, Betsy Lupino has lived alone in a rundown apartment. Alone, except for the growing wall of darkness that slowly devours her thoughts and memories. When a mysterious stranger moves into the building, Betsy fears the worst: that all of the darkness inside her head has escaped into the real world.

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, but even the light can't keep away all that goes bump in the night. From rituals and witches to summer slasher and sunny horror, this anthology has it all.

Representing the dark underbelly of Romanticism and beyond, these stories reach the shadowy corners of the human soul as seen through the writings of some of the most prominent authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

East St. Louis deputy Patrick O’Shea is tired of living in the line of fire. So when he gets a chance to transfer to his wife’s small hometown, he doesn’t hesitate to load up the moving van. But his family’s bags are barely unpacked before their newfound peace and quiet shatters in a surge of demonic voices. The deputy has faced his fair share of evil, but nothing quite like this. Normally the first into the fray, he worries they’ve unearthed a force not even his special training and inner-city experience can combat.

It’s been four weeks since Ava López cursed her coven, extinguishing any chance they had of restoring their magic. But as Ava and her vampire nestmates try to rebound from the chaos she caused, she discovers the war hasn’t ended. The humans of Darkhaven are suspicious of recent events, and a mysterious note etched in the ashes of tragedy shakes Ava to her core. On top of everything, she is forced to rely on information provided by a newcomer - a fire witch hot on the trail of a particularly malicious rogue vampire.