In Charlaine Harris’s “Bacon,” a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In “Seeing Eye” by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother—and ends up helping him in more ways than either of them ever expected. And in Jim Butcher’s “Last Call,” wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers—the ones who dare to mess with his favorite beer. Anyone who’s ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who’s imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection! Patricia Briggs Jim Butcher Rachel Caine Karen Chance P. N. Elrod Charlaine Harris Faith Hunter Caitlin Kittredge Jenna Maclaine

From anthology Strange Brew Lia de Croissets, half-human, half-Were, isn't considered an ideal employee. But her bosses at the War Mage Corps, the supernatural community's version of a police force, have found the solution—make her the mentor to a group of raw recruits. It's a thankless job designed to keep her busy, useful and out of trouble. And it seems to be working—until Lia receives an early morning visit from her suddenly homicidal students. The mages may be young, but they know enough to be deadly. Lia soon finds her house in pieces and herself and her Were boyfriend, Cyrus, in little better shape. In the end, though, it's one of the students who lies dead on the ground—from Lia's own spell. An investigation uncovers the unsettling fact that the students were acting under a powerful illusion cast by someone with a long-standing grudge against Lia's family. Even worse, the spell hasn't been affected by the cadets' defeat, and if it isn't lifted soon they may all die. Only the mage who cast the spell can lift it, forcing Lia to track down an assassin with the abilty to weave terrifying and very real illusions. Her Were heritage offers her some protection against these, but Lia is half-human, too. Can she find the killer before her own mind betrays her?

A war mage in Las Vegas stumbles across an ominous magical ward that appears as a dragon on her skin—and has a mind of its own, in this paranormal tale from the New York Times bestselling author of the Cassie Palmer novels. Lia de Croissets' mother is a werewolf—but Lia can't shift. Caught between the Human and the Were worlds, she has found a place for herself as a war mage, working to help solve magical crimes. But when her Were lover goes missing, Lia learns Weres are being killed for their skins. Now Lia and her magical, unpredictable dragon tattoo may be the only hope of finding him alive. Skin Deep originally appeared in the anthology Inked.

Half werewolf Lia de Croissets is a member of the War Mage Corps, the police branch of the world’s leading magical organization, the Silver Circle. She’s an instructor assigned to train new recruits, a job considered to be significantly tougher than combat—especially right now. There is a war going on in the supernatural world, and the other side has discovered a deadly new tactic. Popular street drugs have been laced with a potent narcotic known as “fey wine”. An import from Faerie, the wine has been known to bring out latent magical abilities in humans, but this version does much more than that. It is so strong that it is drawing forth dangerous talents that were long ago deliberately weeded out of the magical gene pool. Someone is making monsters out of regular people and turning them loose on an unsuspecting and very unprepared world. The Corps cannot afford to fight on two fronts at once, so Lia gets a new class: one made up of the only people who might be able to counter these latest threats. It remains to be seen if a group of sullen, disaffected magical outlaws can come together to contain an ancient plague before the whole world gets sick.

Let’s face it—the holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard if you’re a lycanthrope. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest, saddest werewolf tales, by an outstanding pack of authors, best heard by the light of a full moon and with a silver bullet close at hand. Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year’s morning, the werewolves in these fifteen frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off listeners who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe. “Fresh, interesting tales...\[that\] star some of the more famous series characters like Sookie Stackhouse.” —Alternative Worlds “A captivating collection...offers up the Christmas spirit in a wonderfully wicked way.” —Darque Reviews