Natasha Drozdova is desperate to save a life. Doctors can do little for her cancer-ridden mother, who insists there is only one cure—and that Nat must visit a skyscraper in Manhattan to get it. Amid a snow-locked city, inside a sleek glass-walled office, Nat makes her plea and is whisked into a terrifying new world. For the skyscraper holds a hungry winter goddess who has the power to cure her mother…if Nat finds a stolen object of great power. Now Nat must travel with a razor-wielding assassin across an American continent brimming with terror, wonder, and hungry divinities.

It was a dark and stormy knight, and nine dark defenders embarked upon a most perilous quest. They're the ultimate defenders of humanity, modern day knights who do dark deeds for all the right reasons. In this all-star collection, nine of today's hottest paranormal authors bring us thrilling, all-new stories of supernatural knights that are brimming with magic mystery and mayhem.

She’s happy renovating homes and occasionally thumping bad guys until she learns of a mysterious artifact hidden under the house she’s working on. Everybody from humans to orcs to werewolves wants it, and they’re willing to kill to get it. Things go from bad to worse when someone frames her for murder.

I’m Val Thorvald, and I’m an assassin. When magical bad guys hurt people, I take care of them. Permanently. This doesn’t make me popular with the rest of the magical community — as you can tell from the numerous break-ins and assassination attempts I’ve endured over the years. But thanks to my half-elven blood, a powerful sword named Chopper, and a telepathic tiger with an attitude, I’ve always been able to handle my problems with aplomb. Maybe some cursing and swearing, too, but definitely aplomb.

Sophie doesn't have big ambitions. She only wants a job that will keep her landlord off her back, enough extra cash for whiskey at the neighborhood bar and a bit of free time to hang out with the naughty old lady next door. When a chance encounter with a quiet stranger leads to a job offer at the San Francisco City Morgue, Sophie jumps at the opportunity. She never expected to find her calling on the graveyard shift surrounded by dead bodies and the strange characters that make up the morgue's staff.

It's easy to feel forgettable. Nyx literally is, and the condition seems to be getting worse. Homeless and alone, she's at the end of her rope when she stumbles onto Earth Between, a nexus between worlds. The residents may be magical and alien, but they don't have any problem remembering she exists.

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career - a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile situation. Nevada isn't sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire. Then she's kidnapped by Connor "Mad" Rogan - a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers.

Her beginning may be our end.... Deep in the humid Mississippi bayou, a half-wild child is dragged from the murky waters. She has no memories and no family and is covered in mysterious markings. Adopted by the policeman who rescued her, Luce Boudreau follows him onto the force, determined to prove herself in the eyes of those who are still suspicious.

Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.

As a bookish, introverted database programmer, Morgen Keller never thought she was a candidate for a midlife crisis. That was before her husband divorced her, her boss let her go, and her grandmother died. Forty wasn’t supposed to look like this. When Morgen heads up to the small town of Bellrock, Washington, to settle the estate, she looks forward to taking a peaceful break from life and figuring out what she’s going to do next. But peace isn’t to be had.

A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires....

Few people know the name Vesper Quill. To most folks, I’m just a lowly lab rat who designs brewmakers and other household appliances in the research-and-development lab at the powerful Kent Corp. But when I point out a design flaw and a safety hazard in the new line of Kent Corp spaceships, everyone knows who I am—and wants to eliminate me. I might be a seer with a photographic memory, but I don’t see the trouble headed my way until it’s too late. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by enemies and fighting for my life.

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party...and to feed. Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it’s Rachel Morgan’s job to keep that world civilized. A bounty hunter and a witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she’ll bring ’em back alive, dead...or undead.

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

A reckless act of compassion costs Dr. Kira Aist her family and her future on Earth. To escape her enemies, she calls on her heritage as a descendant of Baba Yaga and walks between worlds. As Kira roams the paths of Reality, strangers are drawn to her House. Some seek refuge, some seek power, and one just wants kitty treats. With the fate of multiple worlds hanging in the balance, Kira must discover what it means to be a sorcerer and the keeper of a House.

Dru Anderson is a very special girl - even if she doesn't always feel it. Gifted with "the touch", Dru travels about with her dad, hunting all manner of things that go bump in the night. But then her dad turns up dead - or, er, undead - and everything changes.

Nobody expected Dru Anderson to survive this long. Not Graves. Not Christophe. Not even Dru. She's battled killer zombies, jealous djamphirs, and bloodthirsty suckers straight out of her worst nightmares. But now that Dru has bloomed into a full-fledged svetocha — rare, beautiful, and toxic to all vampires — the worst is yet to come. Because getting out alive is going to cost more than she's ever imagined. And in the end, is survival really worth the sacrifice?

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party...and to feed. Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it’s Rachel Morgan’s job to keep that world civilized. A bounty hunter and a witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she’ll bring ’em back alive, dead...or undead.

By day, her tattoos are her armor. By night, they unwind from her body to take on forms of their own. Demons of the flesh, turned into flesh. This is the only family demon hunter Maxine Kiss has ever known. The only way to live---and the very way she'll die. For one day, her demons will abandon her for her daughter to ensure their own survival---leaving Maxine helpless against her enemies.

For what seems like the first time, Elena and her friends are happy. Elena and Stefan have built a home for themselves in Dalcrest, and all of Elena’s friends are as in love as she and Stefan are. Even Damon is enjoying visiting his favorite old haunts in Europe, and is more surprised than anyone that he’s traveling with Katherine. But lately, Elena’s Guardian senses are on edge, and she can’t ignore the feeling that danger is coming....

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. Raised among the Wardens - a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe - Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most.

What newly married couple doesn't dream of a romantic retreat where they can escape the world for a while - but what happens when supernatural forces intrude on their wedded bliss? Nine of today's hottest paranormal authors answer that question in this all-star collection of supernatural stories.

Private Investigator Nikki James grew up on the tough streets of Lyndhurst and believes there's nothing left to surprise her. But all that changes the night she follows a rich man's daughter into the shadows and finds herself caught in a war between two very different men. One is a madman, intent on destruction. The other has his own heart of darkness. For three 300 years Michael Kelly has existed in life's shadows, gradually learning to control his vampire cravings.

It always started like this, a pulse inside me, like a warning before the tide surged, roared... and froze everything. Twenty-year old Emma just landed in Rome, to find the father who walked out of her life more than a decade ago and was too busy eating pizza to call. Traveling with her is a secret she's carried alone since childhood: sometimes, around her, time stops. People and cars freeze, rain hangs still in the air and there's only her left in the silence. To make things worse, instead of her dad, Em runs into a past she'd rather forget in the person of Lily, her stepsister.

Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits - talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead alike. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot. The undead are another matter. Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires, but when the bloodsucking mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.

Sage is eighteen, down on her luck, and struggling to survive on the streets of Los Angeles. Everything changes the night she's invited to a party - one that turns out to be a trap. Thrust into a magical world hidden within the City of Angels, Sage discovers that she's the daughter of a Celtic goddess, with powers that are only in their infancy. Now that she is of age, she's asked to pledge her service to one of the five deities, all keen on winning her favor by any means possible.

Murdered contortionists aren't exactly what Vivienne signed up for when she ran away to join the circus. But like most things under the big top, nothing is what it seems. With a past she can't quite remember, Vivienne finds that running away forever might not be as appealing as it once sounded - because forever means something quite different at the Cirque des Immortels.

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré - a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world... and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks. Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds.

Zoë Merrick lived an ordinary life until late one night, she was brutally attacked and left for dead. She survived, saved by a stranger who witnessed her undergo a physical transformation. That's not the only thing that's different. Zoë is unable to control an unexplainable energy coursing through her body. Justus De Gradi is a man who can teach her that control. He's handsome, arrogant, and not entirely human. He reveals that she is a Mage - an immortal made of light, not magic. She must now make a choice: Rebuild her life in the human world with the man who saved her, or live with Justus and learn how to use her extraordinary gifts. Justus has sworn an oath to protect her life, but can he guard her from the one man who has a right to claim it?

Recovering witch Garnet Lacey owns Wisconsin's premier occult bookstore. And a fringe benefit of the job is getting customers like Sebastian Von Traum - piercing brown eyes, a sexy accent, and a killer body. The only thing missing is an aura. Which means he's dead. And that means trouble - something Garnet's a sucker for....