Dark Fantasy Thriller

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color.

A collection of twenty-five horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to thrill you and chill you to the bone. The creepers include: ALONE: Laura keeps hearing weird noises in her house while her husband is on a business trip. FOREVER YOUNG: An elderly multibillionaire will pay five hundred million to be young again, but he also needs a young female to sacrifice to an island of cannibals. LOVE ON THE ROCKS: After twenty years of marriage, Louise can't stand the sight of him and wants a divorse. His temper is boiling over. Is there another man? THE ALIEN: Marge just found out her ...

Murders are taking place on Haven's Street of Gods - the gods themselves are being killed. Hawk and Fisher are assigned to work with a Seer, a Sorcerer, and a Swordsman, a peacekeeping team known as the God Squad. Together, their task is to bring the killer to justice before the mounting panic erupts into an all-out War of the Gods, which could destroy the city of Haven.

Magic is child’s play. The true test? Facing down darkness… When a rival newspaper opens up in Orament, Caly's world is shaken. It publishes nothing but anti-supernatural propaganda, and the whole city seems to be losing its mind. Soon, violence erupts against an imaginary supernatural foe, and her editor puts her on the story. But for once Knox, her Prince of Wizards boyfriend, doesn't want her investigating magic. Just like the city, he isn't himself. Something is very wrong with Knox. As the owners of the rival title come out of the shadows, Caly realises much more is at stake than ...

Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to consider—that her murdered sister is gone forever and there is nothing she can do about it. Rather than grieving and moving on, Zara decides she will do whatever it takes to claw her sister back from the grave—even trading in the occult.

The chieftains of Sevenwaters have long been custodians of a vast and mysterious forest and a new heir has been born. But the family's joy turns to despair when the baby is taken, and something unnatural is left in his place. To reclaim her newborn brother, Clodagh must enter the shadowy Otherworld and confront the powerful prince who rules there.

The Magic is Changing. The Land is Turning. And in the Shadows, Something Stirs. The Hollow is quiet—but only for now. Weeks after blood was spilled and secrets laid bare, the Reilly family tries to mend what’s left. Sean wrestles with his new form and the weight of his legacy. Erin sees enemies where there is silence. And Donovan—once the mountain’s fiercest protector—knows all too well that stillness in the hills never lasts. As moonshine operations spread like wildfire and tempers simmer, an old alliance between coal barons and the New York mob begins to sour. But a darker deal...

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex-best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn’t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.

Kel Turner is a victim of his own success. His exploits and victories as part of Kill Team Three bring the attention of forces seeking hegemony over the Republic. These shadowy power brokers know that a man like Kel represents a threat to their plans...unless he can be persuaded to join them. And if the operator declines, his hidden enemy will stop at nothing to destroy him. At a deadly crossroads, Kel is told to choose between love and duty. But his foes are ignorant that he has a third choice. Win.

Wes and Raider have found themselves in the thick of things once again. The KGR are hitting back relentlessly and, with Jessica’s group feared to be wiped out, the homestead falls into a quiet panic. Paranoia is running rampant, and rightly so: there’s a mole who has been working for Spider in their midst. After learning more about how the KGR operate, and where some of their caches are, Wes’s group goes on the offensive. Everything changes with Jess’s revelation; they know they have to keep the pressure up to keep their freedom.

The Forge... It’s not a place that gives anyone the warm and fuzzies. No, The Forge is a dungeon mine that used to be home to the Deep Mountain Clan of dwarves. Then the orcs took control of it and forced the dwarves out. Now it’s a death sentence to any who try to voyage into its dark depths. That’s where I come in. No, I’m not some sort of soldier or mercenary trying to set things right. I’m a thief. And I’ve plundered many dungeons—enough to have earned a reputation for myself. I’m good at what I do and that’s the exact reason why I’ve been hired by holy knight, Cade,...

Mattie can't remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws. When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

In New York City, magic controls everything. But the power of magic is fading. No one knows what is happening except for Sydney - a new, rare magician with incredible power that has been unmatched in decades, and she may be the only person who is able to stop the darkness that is weakening the magic. But Sydney doesn't want to help the system; she wants to destroy it. Sydney comes from the House of Shadows, which controls the magic with the help of sacrifices from magicians.

Lassiter, the fallen angel, is too good at the savior business. In his new role overseeing the fates of all vampires, he’s influenced outcomes he shouldn’t have—so the Creator is calling him home. But the angel has a reason to stay in Caldwell. He’s bonded with a mysterious female who seemed to appear from out of nowhere...and has powers that defy all reason.

Can three brothers save their bride before it’s too late? Neima was allowed out of the City of Women for the first and only time. The women with her were afraid of their surroundings but Neima loved the experience. Just as she is set to be claimed by three husbands, Neima is kidnapped by a group of men claiming she is their lost daughter. Finnton, Waylon and Bode, proven warriors from Finn, know Neima is the bride for them after just one look. Before they can finish the claiming ceremony, she is kidnapped. Even though the ceremony was interrupted, they know and feel she is their bride. ...

In a lonely village in the Peak District, during the onset of a once-in-a-lifetime snow storm, Constable Ellie Cheetham finds a body. The man, a local ne'er-do-well, appears to have died in a tragic accident: he drank too much and froze to death. But the facts don't add up: the dead man is clutching a knife in one hand, and there's evidence he was hiding from someone. Stranger still, an odd mark has been drawn onto a stone beside his body.

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.

Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, is smart, beautiful, and dangerous. Domingo is mesmerized.

Max and Holly were trying to leave Phoenix in their rearview mirror but it wasn’t safe to just cruise down the freeway, people could be watching. Things had degenerated so fast as the necrotics spread, having a working vehicle made them a target for anyone trying to escape. How would they make it out of Phoenix, let alone all the way to Flagstaff? With the world on the line, there was a zero percent chance something wouldn’t go wrong.

Heather Morell is haunted. Otherworldly nightmares and monstrous hallucinations lurk around every corner, relics of childhood bereavement and schizophrenia. Until she meets Evelyn and Raine—a bad-tempered mage and her self-proclaimed bodyguard—and learns that she’s not insane after all. The monsters she sees are all too real, the god-thing in her nightmares is teaching her the secrets of creation, and her twin sister—the lost girl who supposedly never existed—might still be clinging on, a dwindling soul somewhere beyond the walls of reality, Outside.