Jeaniene Frost's story, One for the Money, features vampires Cat and Bones trying to protect a spoiled heiress with a price on her head and an undead hitman on her trail. Previously published in Death's Excellent Vacation. Also includes the first three chapters from Jeaniene's story in The Bite Before Christmas anthology, as well as a sneak peek at ONCE BURNED, the first novel in the new Night Prince series. Ilona Andrews' story, A Questionable Client, is a prequel to her award-winning Kate Daniels series. In a world beset by magic waves, Kate Daniels works as a mercenary. She is tired, hungry, and there is foul-smelling blood on her boots. All she wants to do is to go home, but when Mercenary Guild offers her a job she can't refuse, she finds herself protecting a man against Russian wizards. Previously published in Dark and Stormy Knights. Also includes first two chapters of FATE'S EDGE, book 3 in the Edge series, and first two chapters of Magic Grieves, a Kate Daniels novella.

    Her only thought is to save the Deva Clan, her family, from the dangerous Loups De L’Ombre, the Shadow Wolves. She knows she will not exactly be welcomed with open arms. She is, after all, an Unborn, the lowest caste of Vampire. As a natural born from the purest line, Zander Sariel knows the rules are sacrosanct-a Trueblood mates with his own kind. But one taste of the young Unborn is all Zander needs to know that rules were made to be broken. With enemies at every turn, Zander risks everything to save Regina from the monster that hunts her, his own kind’s ignorance and-if he must-her lack of faith in her own unique abilities.Only together do they have a chance to defeat the shadow that haunts their future, and save their entire race from extinction.

    Now, humans and supernaturals alike have learned how to survive in the new world. For Avery Hendrin, the eldest daughter of the man who brought light back to the world, life has taken a turn for the worse. Sold into slavery after her father’s death, Avery’s only concern is keeping her younger sister safe. Branded as a witch and rejected by her own kind because of her red hair, Avery resigns herself to a life in the slave house until a chance meeting with a powerful Lycan named Tristan Williams.Although Tristan does not believe the human’s tales of the Reds being witches, he has no need for Avery. He’s in search of a nanny for his young children and after an impassioned plea from the redhead, agrees to hire her younger sister as his nanny. However, his beloved daughter Sophia has an immediate connection with Avery and Tristan cannot deny her request to purchase Avery as well, despite the discord it will bring to his household.Struggling to accept her new life as a slave and to ignore her almost immediate attraction to Tristan, Avery tries to hide her healing powers from him but exposes her gift when she saves Tristan’s adopted brother from death.Tristan believes his obsession with Avery is nothing more than lust. Determined to bed her despite her strange powers, will he convince her to accept her new life or give her the freedom she craves?

    What he craves is red gold—human blood. After being held captive as a blood slave to a female vampire for years, he has finally escaped. Unchained at last, he follows his nose to the nearest blood bank to sate his hunger. ER nurse Erin Hamilton expects just another busy night shift…until she finds a gorgeous stranger vandalizing the hospital blood bank. Though her logic tells her to turn him in, she’s pulled by stronger and unfamiliar emotions to protect the man who seems oddly infatuated with her scent. Chemistry sizzles between them, but Dante, plagued by nightmares of his time in captivity, fears he won’t be able to control himself…especially when he discovers a secret she doesn’t even know she’s hiding.

    If not for the vampire slayers of the Gardella family, these immortal creatures would have long ago taken control of the world. In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake. But as she moves between the crush of ballrooms and dangerous moonlit streets, Victoria’s heart is torn between London’s most eligible bachelor, the Marquess of Rockley, and her dark, dangerous duty. And when she comes face-to-face with the most powerful vampire in history, Victoria must ultimately make a choice between duty and love.

    The angels are no longer in charge. From the extravagant appetites of the vampire world above, to the gritty defiance of the werewolves below, the specter of darkness lives around every corner, the hope of paradise in every heart. All walk freely with humans in a tentative peace, but to live in Los Angeles is to balance on the edge of a knife. One woman knows better than most that death lurks here in nights of bliss or hails of UV bullets. She’s about to be tested, to taste true thirst. She’s about to regain the power she’s long been denied. And Fleur Dumont is about to meet the one man who may understand her: a tormented protector who’s lost his way and all he loved.

    She had no idea that the man who had saved her from drowning, the man she now depended on, Aiden, was more than mere mortal. A warrior of ancient.No memory, nowhere to go, Skye stays in the mountain town, only to discover she herself, has unexplained powers. Her life, her destiny, are soon out of her control, as are her feelings for Aiden. The deeper Skye gets sucked into Aiden’s hidden world, the more the past, and who she really is, threatens her future, her love, her sanity.

    When a mysterious new girl comes to town and runs afoul of the ghost that lives in his theater, Cody’s caught in the middle and needs to figure out exactly who he can trust. HAUNTED LOVE is a short story by New York Times Bestseller Cynthia Leitich Smith -- set in the same dark universe as her novels TANTALIZE, ETERNAL, and BLESSED. This story includes a sneak preview of Cynthia Leitich Smith’s latest novel, DIABOLICAL, which unites characters from the previous three novels in the Tantalize Series along with a fascinating cast of all-new characters for a suspenseful, action-packed clash between the forces of heaven and hell.

    Her gift enables her to work as an Auditor, enforcing the law that vampires and humans keep their distance from each other except in a purely non-physical way. The law is necessary because when a vampire tries to have sex with a human their blood-lust combines with their sexual appetite and the result looks like road kill.Alec Corbin is a Four Star Master Vampire with piercing blue eyes and intentions to get Addison into his bed. He promises he can be gentle but Addison has seen way too many vamp/human crime scenes to go for that. She has no interest in the six foot four hunk of sexy vampire man candy, even if he is supernaturally hot.But just because she Audits (and sometimes executes) vampires for a living, doesn’t mean she hates them all. Her best friend, Taylor, was turned against her will. Now, living as a slave to one of the crueler Master vamps in town, she leads a miserable existence and Addison is helpless to save her within the confines of the law.Things come to a head when the Vampire Inquisitor comes to town and Taylor is given to him as a sex slave. When Addison sees her best friend tortured, beaten, and burned with silver she knows she has to do something — even if it means teaming up with Corbin and paying the Crimson Debt.This is a plus length novel--95,000 words of Paranormal Erotic Romance. Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches are characters of note. Also included are chapter 1 of Shadowed, Book 8 in the Brides of the Kindred and chapter 1 of Scarlet Heat, Book 2 in the Born to Darkness series

    Xanthus Dimitriou-the most lethal Dagonian to rise from the ocean-is on a mission to save mankind from annihilation. But first there's one small thing he needs to do... kill a beautiful young woman in a wheelchair. Killing her doesn't start out as part of his plan. He entrenches himself deep in the human world. Aligning with his enemies, he prepares to send them to Triton to face their punishment. Then Sara Taylor rolls onto the scene. Xanthus knows at once she's a criminal. And her crime? Being born. She's a human/Dagonian half-breed, an abomination. Killing her should be an easy job. All he has to do is break into her apartment, slit her throat, and feed her body to the sharks. Simple, right? Wrong. If only she weren't so beautiful, so innocent, so sweet... Saving the world may have to wait. It appears Xanthus has a woman to save. But protecting her may cost him his own life.

    At 25, according to decree, it is time for to her to marry, but there is so much more at stake. Her royal suitors, those chosen by her parents, must fight to the death for her hand in marriage. Sam's obligations and inner wolf are at odds. But when, she meets a sexy stranger, Sam decides forever is just what she wants--with the right wolf. Spending his life alone, Chase Michaels can't believe the odds that his alpha wolf reacts so strongly to a chance encounter with a beautiful woman. Never experiencing such desire and need, Chase is bound and determined to make Sam his, despite the laws against it. Unprepared for the snobbery of the noble families, Chase prepares for battle. Can he fight the laws and ancient tradition to win the heart of the woman he's destined to be with? Or will he die trying?

    For twenty-seven years, she's kept her ability a secret, but eleven young women have been murdered in the mountains of North Carolina, and Sloan may be the only hope of finding their killer. She has just agreed to help Detective Nathan McNamara with the case, when a stranger—who is as alluring as he is terrifying—shows up at her doorstep with a dark past and another puzzling mystery: she can't see his soul at all. Now Sloan is on the hunt for a deadly psychopath with two irresistible men. One of them would die for her, and the other would kill to keep her safe.

    But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she's stressed. Menolly's a vampire who's still trying to get the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Camille--a wicked-good witch. Except my magic is as unpredictable as the weather, which my enemies are about to find out the hard way...At the Wayfarer Inn, a portal to Otherworld and the local hangout for humans and beasties alike, our fellow operative, Jocko, has been murdered. Every clue points to Shadow Wing, the soul-munching, badass leader of the Subterranean Realms. He's made it clear that he aims to raze humankind to the ground, turning both Earth and Otherworld into his private playground. Our assignment: keep Shadow Wing and his minions from creeping into Earth via the Wayfarer. The demons figure they're in like Flynn. After all, with only my bumbling sisters and me standing in the way, how can they miss? But we've got a secret for them: Faulty wiring or not, nobody kicks ass like the D'Artigo girls. . .

    . .When Dr. Elliott Drake wakes from a mysterious fifty-year sleep, the world as he knew it is gone. Cities are now desolate, and civilization is controlled by deadly immortals. Stranger still is Elliott's extraordinary new "gift"--he has the power to heal, but it comes with fatal consequences.A woman with a past . . .Jade barely escaped the immortals and is now hell-bent on revenge. She trusts no one . . . until Elliott. His piercing gaze and tempting touch shatter her defenses, but the handsome doctor seems to have dangerous secrets of his own. Is it safe to trust him with her heart?If they are to survive in this dark new world, Jade and Elliott must work together to fight the forces that take them beyond danger.Beyond desire.

    But Anita isn’t exactly plain vanilla—and neither is her love life. So it takes a special kind of courage to attend a barbecue thrown by her friend Sergeant Zerbrowski. Walking into a backyard full of cops and their families with wereleopards Micah and Nathaniel both looking gorgeous on her arm won’t be easy, even with almost-four-year-old Matthew Vespucci to break the ice…Anita is determined to have a good time with her family, just like everyone else. But it doesn’t take long for tensions to rise among the adults and kids. And Anita will learn that gossip and innuendo can be just as dangerous as anything the undead can throw at her…Includes a preview of Affliction, the new Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel.