Elrod's picked 15 of her favorite short works for this multi-genre collection spanning 15 years of publication.Also included is a never before published VAMPIRE FILES story, featuring her urban fantasy vampire PI, Jack Fleming!Each story has been polished afresh for this anthology, with pages of new material added.More information -- and previews of the stories! -- may be found at her website vampwriter-dot-com.Titles:1. A Night at the (Horse) Opera (Vampire Files, Fleming)2. The Breath of Bast (Vampire Files), Ecsott)3. Bossman (Original mystery, no vamps)4. Slaughter (Vampire Files, Fleming & Gordy)5. The Devil's Mark (Original historical vampire)6. You'll Catch Your Death (Vampire Files)7. Izzy's Shoe-In (Historical mystery introducing Izzy DeLeon, fearless girl reporter)8. The Quick Way Down (Vampire Files, Fleming and Gordy)9. The Scottish Ploy (Original romance/mystery)10. Grave-Robbed (Vampire Files, Fleming)11. The Company You Keep (Vampire Files, Gabriel Kroun)12. Death in Dover (Jonathan Barrett before he got vamped, historical mystery)13. Drawing Dead (ALL NEW VAMPIRE FILES, Fleming)14. King of Shreds and Patches (Hamlet from a different point of view, mystery)15. Fugitive (Science fiction/space opera)16. BONUS STORY! The Wind Breathes Cold (Quincey Morris: Vampire)

    This story has been revised. A bite of a story… Claret isn't just a bar for the paranormal, but a portal to another dimension. It plays tricks on the mind, and whoever enters will experience agony or ecstasy. Once Nena steps insides Claret she realizes that the price to leave may be more than she is willing to pay. But once she is in Master Erach's hold, she realizes that the life she has experienced thus far doesn't compare to what the dominant and alpha vampire has in store for her. *This short story is told in the first person from the heroine’s point of view. This is also a quick read with an ending that doesn’t fit in the HEA or HFN category. It’s purely for enjoyment purposes and has some darker content. Please be advised.

    But by adulthood, his psychic talents were so strong he'd become a threat to his politically powerful family. To protect their dirty little secrets, they arranged an "accident" for him. He survived, but now he lives on the run, only one step ahead of his family's hired assassins. Until one night, when he's finally caught... His life is saved by a mysterious man named Jarrah. Griffin senses a dangerous, primal undercurrent in the stranger--as if he's not quite human. Yet Griffin's inexplicably drawn to him. It could be the emotional pain he suspects his rescuer hides. But Griffin fears the real reason is more disturbing--Jarrah stirs a powerful longing in him that goes against everything Griffin's ever believed about himself. As the assassins close in once again, and his rescuer reveals himself for what he really is, Griffin's torn between running, as he's done his whole life, or standing up to face his past...and his own soul-deep desires... Genres: Gay / Dark Fantasy / Vampire / Action / Adventure / BDSM / Paranormal / Psychic Phenomena / Science Fiction / Futuristic / Suspense / Thriller

    Unable to stop the vampire inside from preying on humans, he keeps himself confined to a lonely existence. Everything changes the night he is lured into a trap and taken prisoner by High Lord General Tarrick—a seductive incubus who feeds off sexual energy. Forced into the middle of a war between vampires and incubi, Matthew is used as a weapon against his own kind. Although he's desperate for freedom, he is unable to deny the burning desire drawing him to the incubus general he now calls Master. This book is intended for mature audiences.

    A cynical, wise-cracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance between vampires and humans, he is part cop, part spy, and part commando -- James Bond with fangs. Lawson mixes shrewd cunning with unmatched lethality to get his job done. He tries his best to dismantle conspiracies, dispatch bad guys, and live long enough to get home.

    When his roommate Darren tells him all about an easy position with the company he works for, little does he know that he's about to become the favorite blood giver of the toughest vampire in town.

    He has only a few short days to claim Theo before the mating heat drives him insane. By day one he is ready to throw Theo down and rut him like a wild beast. But Theo is refusing Nazaryth, claiming that his mate died years before.Theo has mourned the loss of his mate, Dorian, for twenty years. He takes things day to day, trying his best to find happiness again. But when a large and handsome stranger claims to be Theo's mate, he runs the other way. There is no way Nazaryth is his mate, and Theo is out to prove the man wrong.When Theo is taken by the hounds of hell, Nazaryth isn’t far behind in rescuing Theo. But what the commander of the winged beasts finds instead shocks him to his core.

    An abandoned baby left to die, he was raised in a monastery and trained to kill. When his trainer pays him an unexpected visit in his native Hungary, Diamond is surprised to learn that he is needed in North America, where a curious and seemingly unstoppable force is at work.Sebastian Shade also fights vampires, but with a difference. He is one. Reformed by love experienced and lost some years before, Sebastian was urged out of his self-imposed hibernation and secretly recruited to help the Order of Destroyers fight evil. Now in present-day New York, he continues his work, along with his team of mortals.Diamond arrives in New York and goes straight to work, not knowing that Sebastian Shade is hunting the same villain as he. When they meet, it’s fireworks, and in more ways than one, when they finally come to the realization that if they are going to defeat this evil, they’ll have to do it together.

    The rest of the world may be enamored of the creatures, but he doesn’t share the obsession. When local vampire Maikel van Triet pays a visit to the brothel, Arjen tries to slip away—drawing the one thing he doesn’t want: Maikel’s attention. Arjen’s too pragmatic to refuse a paying customer, but Maikel doesn’t want his services. All he asks for is a bed, shelter, and a meal before bedtime.Arjen’s reticence and open dislike intrigue Maikel, who’s delighted by the jaded young prostitute’s attitude, so different from the adoration he’s accustomed to. He’s never been a regular patron at any brothel, but now he can’t keep himself away. He still refuses Arjen’s services though, instead demanding Arjen tuck him in with tales of the daytime Amsterdam he hasn’t known for nearly two centuries. But when Arjen tries to seduce him into leaving, he realizes they’re forging something completely unfamiliar to him: emotional bonds.It’s equally obvious to Arjen that their arrangement is becoming more than either of them expected, and the thought terrifies him. Vampires are shallow, fickle creatures, and Maikel could never truly love another—could he?

    Keats's education starts tonight!Keats may have reluctantly agreed to admit that vampires are fantasy and not reality. And he may have promised his friend that he would stop searching for them. But people who merely think they are vampires are still fair game for a fun night out.Leland has been resisting the temptation to bite his friend for months, but when he sees Keats wander calmly into the middle of a Halloween feeding frenzy, he no longer has a choice. He has to claim Keats as a private blood slave before he ends up becoming the community property of his clan.Everything rests on his ability to convince his clan he can bring the bratty submissive to heel. It's going to be very long night...

    As a man, he risks everything to escape. Martin has faithfully served his uncle Cormac his entire life, allowing the evil ruler to siphon off his magic. So when Cormac declares that Martin will be bound to an alpha warlock forever, Martin knows that he needs to run or lose his chance at happiness forever. Vampire hunter Broden has been spying as a guard in Cormac’s castle, keeping an eye on the rare omega warlock who could bring about a new age of vampires in the wrong hands. He just never expected the warlock to be so handsome. Or to save him when they’re attacked by vampires. The worst part--in order to save Broden, Martin had to turn him into a vampire. And their passion for each other sparks a night together that leaves Martin expecting a baby. A baby that could be the birth of a new race of vampire/warlock hybrids. Now they’re on the run from Martin’s uncle and ex-fiance to protect their love and their baby. But there are dark forces at work that would do anything to get its hands on both Martin and his unborn child. The Vampire’s Warlock Omega is a sweet M/M MPREG paranormal romance with some spicy heat, adventure, surprise babies, and a guaranteed HEA. It is the first book in the Warlock Omegas and can be read as standalone.

    He wanted it as much as he asked to have a sissy circle over the å in his name. He just woke up dead one day with a piece of paper that said, “Dude, you’re a vampire. Drink some blood. Don’t suntan.”Luckily, another vampire finds Mårten and agrees to teach him how to live (well, not live, exactly) as a vampire. And so Mårten goes to Vamp Camp, where he has to survive without getting staked or baked, learn how to work with fangs and blood lust while spending time with his boyfriend, and employ his wicked wit as he masters the art and science of vampirism.

    Simon has decided they need to have some joy and laughter back in their home, especially after the recent tragedy that the coven has suffered. As friends arrive and settle in, it's clear that Simon has planned a night of surprises for them all.

    However, that isn’t always possible…The Lost 1: Broken Vows: Daniel's looking for answers about his sexuality. He’s sure just one night with an older, experienced man will finally answer the questions that have been tormenting him for years. But he doesn’t expect the older man to be a gorgeous vampire named Gabrielle. It’s love at first sight for Daniel but Gabrielle has made a vow not to interfere in human affairs.The Lost 2: Blood Hustler: James became a vampire almost two hundred years ago and recently lost his only companion. Even though he's lonely, the grief's too fresh to be looking for another man to fill the hole in his heart. Then Tad, a young street hustler, offers to sell James the best sex he’s ever had. James knows he shouldn’t bind a human to him, especially one as young as Tad who hasn’t experienced life yet, but the boy’s hungry heart calls to his own.Publisher's Note: This book contains one re-edited, revised story previously released by another publisher, and one new, unreleased story. It also contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices, violence.

    He has a terrible job, no friends, and his home life is unbearable. He wants to end it all, but is too frightened to slit his own wrists. Instead he goes to The Victorian, a seedy underground blood den for vampires and their groupies, where he hopes to find an angel of death to end it all for him. Instead he finds Damian, who has much sexier things on his mind than death. Will Jamie succeed in his plan of suicide by vampire, or will he get an unexpected HEA?This story is m/m paranormal erotica. It contains BDSM, anal sex, dubious consent, blood play, age gap (116 years), bjs.