Dark Occult

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.

A young orphan seeks vengeance against the Yakuza man who killed her parents…. A jaded Ronin seeks out an old colleague before enacting a last ritual…. And an ancient demon taunts a former Knight of a holy order from the blade of her ancient samurai sword.

New curses arise, along with the return of the Nine Witches. They hunt for items of the occult, items that threaten not only Camelot, but all of the surrounding lands. His coven is in trouble, his friends being targeted, and his throne threatened. If Arthur can't find a way to defeat the Nine, all he holds dear will be forfeit. But if we know anything of Arthur and his ladies, it's that they know how to bring the pain with a vengeance. And have spicy fun along the way.

Every instinct tells him to run. Every memory tells him he can’t. Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge, he’s summoned back to Denver, the city he ran from four years ago...

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.

Sarah is in a fight for her life with no one to trust. Her dark visions have brought her into the hands of a kidnapping ring who will do anything to find out how she knows so much about them. While the police hunt Sarah for the wrong reason, her parents think she is at a sleepover. Her life is in her own hands and whether she makes it out of this mess alive or not depends on how many people have to die.

A freak blizzard. A roadside motel. A past that refuses to die. When the snowstorm arrives - the one that no weatherman had forecast - Lance Brody is walking along a desolate road in the middle of nowhere. On the brink of freezing, he finally stumbles across the small roadside motel. Thus starts the longest night of Lance Brody’s life. One full of gruesome deaths, spirits with cryptic messages, whirlwind visions from the past, and the terror-inducing realization that the motel is refusing to let Lance leave until he’s finished what it wants him to.

A small-town psychic’s trailer burns, leaving little in the wreckage but her lovely green couch. A great find for a couple who make their living scavenging and selling secondhand items. Yet, Madame Cruller’s couch is imbedded with something unpleasant, and we’re not talking fleas.

A beer run becomes an interdimensional excursion. Two men settle their differences after discovering an extraordinary secret in the wilderness. A woman faces the bureaucracy of a digital afterlife. A grieving man seeks to know where his wife was reincarnated. Strange lights in the sky transform the lives of a small town. God and the devil play billiards for people's souls. A teenage deity's science project sprouts a startling discovery. These and more dream-like detours into the surreal, interstitial, and inexplicable await within. Chock full of gooey, mind-bending goodness.

Claire Benolt doesn’t do supernatural. Ghosts, vampires, werewolves? Total nonsense. Or so she thought. Eager to outrun her troubled past, Claire jumps at the chance to work for a private investigator in New Orleans. But her new boss isn’t exactly your average detective—he’s a centuries-old vampire with a taste for justice, and he needs Claire’s help to stop a brutal serial killer known only as the Ripper.

Being born into the prestigious Holward family isn't easy for Quinn. As his father's heir, much is expected of him. It seems as though Quinn's future is set in stone but when tragedy strikes he finds himself driven to darker and deeper depths than he ever knew existed.

After discovering an army of rogue vampires hiding in a network of secretive caves beneath Darkhaven, Ava López finds herself trapped by the sun with an enemy who bears a striking resemblance to someone she believed was lost forever. The longer Ava is imprisoned with the mysterious newcomer and his legion of undead, the more she questions everything the hunters have taught her. She fears the worst - that they too have lied to her. Out of allies and losing hope, Ava is forced to turn to a very unlikely source for help. A human.

Daniel Haley has a lot on his mind. His life isn’t exactly what he hoped it would be. His relationship with his girlfriend Jess has seen better days Things only get worse when he encounters a supernatural presence trapped in his attic. Daniel is vulnerable to attack, and it’s hungry for a soul to take. A harmless prank meant to breath life into a stale relationship unleashes an ancient evil, hell-bent on devouring everyone and everything Daniel has every loved.

'Bright Lights' AJ Starr is a pro wrestler on the rise, and his life is about to change forever. Knowing this, he plans one last party with all of his best friends. The venue? Saxon Hills theme park, abandoned 10 years ago after its flagship ride burned down and killed nine innocent people. Some people say the place is haunted, but AJ knows from his time inside the squared circle that fantasy and reality are totally separate things. Or so he thought.

A small mountain town hides a dark secret.... When his father's death brings Grant Shipman to the Appalachian town of Wallen's Gap, he believes his biggest problem will be dealing with the slow pace and odd townsfolk. But something sinister is at work. A dark power rises, an echo of the town's bloody past. A book of blood magic offers an unspeakable horror a gateway into the world of the living, and only Grant stands in the way of their "Dark Rite."

Life isn’t all that easy when you’re a paranormal private investigator involved with a police chief who’s convinced the paranormal world doesn’t exist. When he sees it up close and first hand, Jack knows that Miranda hasn’t been entirely truthful about her profession. Not that great for a relationship in its early stages.

"Dancers in the Dark" is set in the Sookieverse and features Sean and Layla. Dancer Layla Rue Le May's childhood prepared her to handle just about anything, including her aloof partner, Sean McClendon, a 300-year-old, redheaded vampire. Even so, when she somehow acquires a stalker, Layla Rue is surprised to find that Sean is the only one she can trust.

The life of deadly Russian slayer, Trace, has always revolved around death and preventing humankind from learning about the legendary creatures of the night. But now his position as a Watcher has become a prison, and dealing death for the Nation isn't as prestigious as he once believed it to be. College dropout Bessina Darrow has witnessed things she isn't permitted to see, a simple case of wrong place at the wrong time puts her life in danger. When Bessina becomes his mark, Trace is prepared to eliminate her.

In this new collection, Patrick Barb explores themes of family found and lost, media consumption and the dangers of runaway nostalgia, the supernatural in our lives, and the impact of violence in both the long- and short-term. From rural backwoods to Park Slope brownstones, Barb's characters face impossible, awful situations, testing their inner strength and understanding of reality. Covering quiet horror, weird fiction, supernatural horror, slasher horror, topical dark fiction, and more, these stories spotlight supposedly familiar terrors and fears in new and unexpected ways.