Urban Supernatural

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.

Aileen has a few rules for her life. Do her job and go home safe. Keep the supernatural world away from her human family. Stay off the vampire radar. And, above all, don't get involved in spook politics. But when Liam comes back into town bringing a mystery that threatens the life she's built, she finds every closely guarded rule flying out the window as she sinks ever deeper into the supernatural world. Ultimately, it may be the people she loves the most who pay the price in the high-stakes game that vampires call life.

He is solitude. He is darkness. He is the ruler of the night. Yet Kyrian of Thrace has just woken up handcuffed to his worst nightmare: An accountant. Worse, she's being hunted by one of the most lethal vampires out there. And if Amanda Devereaux goes down, then he does too. But it's not just their lives that are hanging in the balance. Kyrian and Amanda are all that stands between humanity and oblivion. Let's hope they win.

In The Killing Dance, vampire hunter Anita Blake finds herself the victim when a $500,000 price is put on her head, and the two men in her life-a vampire and a werewolf-aren't helping the situation.

It's the dead of night; you are fast asleep. Suddenly, you are wide awake but unable to move. Hunched over you in the shadows is an eight- or nine-foot-tall gaunt entity with spider-thin limbs, dressed in an old-style black suit, its pale face missing eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. You finally manage to cry out. The monstrous thing disappears as suddenly as it appeared. You just had a terrifying encounter with the Slenderman. Who - or what - is the Slenderman? His existence began on the Internet, but he didn't stay online.

When radical terrorists take hostages in Indonesia, Captain Ezekiel Fortunes is called to lead the rescue team. Part of a classified government experiment, Zeke is a super soldier with enhanced abilities. He can see better, run faster, disappear when necessary, and hunt the enemy along any terrain. There are those in the world willing to do anything for power like that. A formidable spy genetically engineered to hide in plain sight, Bellisia rarely meets a man who doesn't want to control her or kill her. But Zeke's different.

A trip back to Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with Vic's large, exuberant family means dodging old frenemies and a bitter ex-boyfriend. A cold case comes back to haunt Vic when a murdered woman's ghost begs Simon for justice. Then a new murder back in Myrtle Beach looks suspiciously familiar, and the dead man's ghost isn't playing nice. When Simon gets a vision of the next victim before the crime occurs, he realizes that all the murders are supernaturally linked. Catching the murderer will take his psychic sleuthing skills along with Vic's street smarts to avert a tragedy.

In the thralls of supernatural passion, Anita Blake faces a most human dilemma.

I watched in horror as dark magic sprang from my hand faster than an imp after your socks. I didn't know my name, let alone that I had such power. The man was dead. I panicked. I ran. How was I to know I was a dark magic enforcer, tasked with keeping magic hidden from the world? Yeah, total noob move, I know. But my memory is returning, and the Hidden have given me 24 hours to make amends. Cover it up. Finish the job I was given, or else. Failure isn't an option.

I survived the Obsidian Order's first series of trials. I stopped a madman from putting a massive crater in the middle of NYC. Good job, Seline, but that was only the beginning. As I take on my silver trials, friends become competition, competitors turn ruthless, and I still can't touch my magic without it nearly killing me every time I do. If I don't win these trials I'll get left behind, and I've been promised that won't be good for me. If that weren't enough, the infuriatingly sexy Draven asks me to accompany him on a mission to retrieve an item of incredible magical power.

Into Anita Blake's world - a world already overflowing with power - come creatures so feared that centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names.

Amber Farrell, Denver PI and hybrid paranormal, is hunting a rogue Were through the secret heart of her hometown. Without the help she needs from Denver's paranormal community, she's unsure whether she can keep ahead of her own lethal problems long enough to catch the rogue.

Tamara Bentley thought rescuing her parents from the fairy queen would be enough—that she could go back to college and resume her life. Pity for her that reality has other plans, especially since it's on the verge of collapsing. Demonic entities are destroying the portals linking Earth to the multiverse. When the last one falls, all life as we know it will end. Sadly, with each connection severed, the supernatural beings of our world grow weaker. As their power fades, so too does their chances of stopping this cataclysm once and for all.

It is the summer of 2013, and Abigail Kamara has been left to her own devices. This might, by those who know her, be considered a mistake. While her cousin, police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, is off in the sticks chasing unicorns, Abigail is chasing her own mystery. Teenagers around Hampstead Heath have been going missing, but before the police can get fully engaged, the teens return home - unharmed but vague about where they've been.

Nell is a rookie PsyLED agent, using the powers she can channel from deep within the earth to solve paranormal crimes. Nell is called to the Tennessee mansion of a country music star and finds a disturbing scene - dead bodies rapidly decaying before everyone's eyes. The witch on her team, T. Laine, has never seen magic that can steal life forces like this. PsyLED needs to find this lethal killer fast. But when a paranormal-hating FBI agent tries to derail the investigation and the dark magics begin to spiral out of control, they find themselves under attack from all sides.

Apprentice mage Chance Fortunato just can’t catch a break. His training has gotten even harder, and his mentor, Dr. Corwin, is pushing him to take his mage trials early. Still, it beats his old gig working for a demon. But life takes a turn for the worse when a member of his girlfriend Shade’s werewolf pack is killed by a member of a rogue pack. Adding insult to grief, the pack is forced to let the Conclave send an observer to monitor their investigation.

I never saw it coming...the bones...the magic...the betrayal. It’s no longer a question of who I can trust - the answer is no one. Now, it’s about survival. I’m in the heart of the Order, trying to solve a series of mysterious disappearances, while doing everything that I can not to become bait. Enemies are circling, and they can’t seem to decide if they see me as a pawn or as a threat. Oh, and there’s that little issue of being tethered to Rogan, who I now want to kill. It’s time to figure out just what I’m capable of though. Because fool me once...shame on you.

When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it's up to shapeshifting car mechanic Mercy Thompson to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not. And she'll have to choose between the two werewolves in her life—whether she wants to or not.

Merit, the Sentinel of Chicago's Cadogan House, is pregnant. She's ready to meet her daughter but also excited to see her feet again. While out on an evening walk, Merit stops to help a man in need, only to find herself the victim of a kidnapping attempt. Someone with a serious debt to some very serious people thinks Cadogan House will pay a rich reward for Merit's return.

Bailed out by a mysterious wizard, John Smoke, an ex-con turned bounty hunter, is returned to his home with his life hanging by a thread. Aided by his sharpshooting wife, Sid, they set out on an explosive mission against dragon invaders sent to enslave mankind. Through inter-dimensional portals, savage winged dragon men, ferocious dragons and shapeshifting monstrosities wielding otherworldly magical powers threaten the very existence of humanity. And it will take more than flesh and blood to stop them before they seal the world's fate.