Horror Urban Fiction

For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the president's vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios of which ordinary citizens only dream. When a new outbreak of an ancient evil - one that he has seen before - comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source.

For more than 30 years, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror fans crave. Now, with the 11th volume of the series, Daltow's back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. This light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows.

Nate Temple has an appointment in Hell. One he can’t reschedule… After recent events, Nate took some much-deserved time off for a little rest and relaxation. But when he finally returns home to attend what should have been a celebration of love, he finds insidious fear infecting the streets of St. Louis. Paranoia. Chaos. Anarchy. It seems every supernatural family in town is sick and tired of Nate and wants to put him in his place. The worst part… all his friends seem to agree.

Multiple sclerosis. Ever since her doctor spoke the words out loud, Maeve has lived in fear of what that means for her life, her family, but most of all, her marriage. Terrified that her husband will leave her - or worse, stay with her out of a sense of obligation rather than love - Maeve has put off telling him about her diagnosis. She convinces her sisters to accompany her to an underground magic market in search of a cure for her chronic illness.

After three decades of hiding, Ariane is ready to take her place as a respected member of the American vampire society...or so she hopes. The aristocracy of the night enjoys games. Schemes already abound from enemies old and new, but Ariane is not alone and she is not the naive girl she once was.

Halfway through SEAL training, Cadet Jack Walker, still green but showing incredible promise, is whisked away to join four SEALs and their dog for a special-ops mission. Walker soon finds himself in a whirlwind of otherworldly creatures and events as he discovers the true nature of SEAL Team 666. Battling demons, possessed humans, mass-murdering cults, and evil in its darkest and most and ancient form, the members of SEAL Team 666 have their work cut out for them. And it’s not long before they realize that the threat isn’t directed against the US alone....

Thomas Cavanaugh’s life is now a blur, a blend of foggy memories and hidden horrors. When his fae girlfriend Jillian begins to act strangely, he wonders whether he should put an end to their relationship. Then Jillian does the unthinkable and vanishes with four-year-old Jacob Jenkins, a boy with terrifying supernatural powers. Suddenly, years later, Jacob reappears unaged, claiming to have been in another world. Sheriff Glenn is called in to investigate a series of violent murders, all with evidence pointing toward the boy from two worlds.

Suppose there really were vampires. Dark, stalking, destroying. They’d have to be killed, wouldn’t they? Of course they would. But what kind of fools would try to make a living at it? In best-selling author John Steakley's vampire classic, one tightly knit band of brothers devotes itself to hunting down the monsters that infest the modern world—for a price.

My name is Bill Ryder. With Armageddon rapidly approaching you’d think I’d have my priorities straight, but you’d be wrong. Sidelined from action and with too much time on my hands, I’m stuck obsessing about the ladies in my life, lethal as most of them might be. Too bad it’s a distraction I can ill afford. An unstoppable terror from the dawn of time has awoken deep beneath the Earth and it’s headed my way. To make matters worse, I’ve been deemed a traitor by the Draculas, the ruling coven of the vampire nation.

As Shadow and Gabe become more involved with The Orphic Guild, they find out that the occult world is full of intrigue and far more complicated than they realised. Especially when it seems that someone wants the same thing that they do - The Trinity of the Seeker. Cause for concern? Absolutely not. If anything, Shadow is more committed than ever, and relishes pitting her wits against an unpredictable enemy.

From the Battery to the Bronx, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe Pitt is one of them, and he's not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that's eating at him isn't his idea of a good time.

This panoramic fictional oral history begins with one small mystery: the body of a young woman found in an Arizona border town, presumed to be an illegal immigrant, disappears from the town morgue. Soon, the US government - and eventually biomedical researchers, disgruntled lawmakers, and even an insurgent faction of the Catholic Church - must come to terms with what they're too late to stop: an epidemic of vampirism that will sweep first the United States, and then the world. With heightened strength and beauty and a steady diet of fresh blood, these changed people, or "Gloamings", rapidly rise to prominence in all aspects of modern society.

Stormy Bay is a dying town nestled against an eerily placid ocean, and Ray Lilly is trapped in it. He can barely remember his name let alone his mission for the Twenty Palace society. Worse, he realizes that for some time now he's been living as a puppet, his body and mind under the complete domination of an unknown power, and the townsfolk think this puppet is his real identity. And that power can still seize control of Ray's body at any time, forcing him and the people around him to playact in nonsense stories that center around a mysterious boy and his monster dog.

Madeline Black is an Agent of Death, meaning she escorts the souls of people who have died to the afterlife. Of course, not everyone is happy to see her... If obstinate dead people were all that Maddy had to worry about, life would be much easier.

As the largest threat ever to rise against mankind prepares its own twisted Apocalypse, the only thing standing in its way is the Monster Squads. Man and monster will fight side by side in an epic battle to the death to try to defeat an evil so great, it could only have been created by God himself.

Ever since their scorching affair ended years ago, Julian, the Nightkind King, and Melisande, daughter of the Light Fae Queen, have tried to put the past behind them - and distance between them. But when a war breaks out between Julian and Justine, a powerful Vampyre of the Nightkind council, they find themselves thrown together under treacherous circumstances....

The inevitable moment of crisis has arrived, and it's left Castor with blood on his hands. Castor drowns his guilt in cheap whiskey, while an innocent woman lies dead and her daughter comatose, his few remaining friends fear for their lives, and there's a demon loose on the streets. But not just any demon - this one rides shotgun on Castor's best friend's soul and can't be expelled without killing him.

Magic is seeping out of the world, leaving the witches who've relied on it for countless centuries increasingly hopeless. While some see an inevitable end of their era, others are courting madness - willing to sacrifice former allies, friends, and family to retain the power they covet. While the other witches watch their reality unravel, young Alice Marin is using magic's waning days to delve into the mystery of numerous disappearances in the occult circles of New Orleans.

In Boulder, Allison "Lex" Luther barely gets her niece to safety. In Los Angeles, Scarlett Bernard is nearly shot in the back. It seems that a powerful enemy is unhappy with the Old World leaders' plans to form a government, and they've coordinated a strike against those rare individuals who can undo magic itself.

After her twin sister’s brutal murder, former US Army Sergeant Allison “Lex” Luther vowed to protect her niece, Charlie. So when two vampires try to kidnap the baby, it quickly turns into a fight to the death - Lex’s death, that is.