A short story from the world of Department 19. In 1891, Abraham Van Helsing and a group of friends faced Dracula, the world’s first vampire – and won. The survivors of that battle founded Department 19, and have been secretly saving the world ever since. A highly classified archive exists recording every act of bravery in that time. That archive is now open. These are the Department 19 files. Belgium, 1917. Quincey Harker and his hand-picked Special Reconnaissance Team are behind enemy lines, scouting ahead of the big push that everyone knows is imminent. They think they are prepared for the worst case scenario; a village full of German soldiers, armed and waiting for them. But they're about to discover that there is something far worse in the darkness of no man's land, something beyond their understanding. Something with glowing red eyes, and gleaming white fangs…

A short story from the world of Department 19. In 1891, Abraham Van Helsing and a group of friends faced Dracula, the world’s first vampire – and won. The survivors of that battle founded Department 19, and have been secretly saving the world ever since. A highly classified archive exists recording every act of bravery in that time. That archive is now open. These are the Department 19 files. Rome, 1918. The Great War is over, but the world is in the grip of a Spanish Influenza pandemic, and people are dying in their millions. Quincey Harker and his Special Reconnaissance Squad recuperating in Rome, trying their hardest to drink away their memories. But they are not the only visitors to the Eternal City: Valeri Rusmanov, the oldest and most powerful vampire on earth, and his wife are roaming the dark streets on a ghastly holiday, delighting in the death that surrounds them, soaking in the sounds of the sick, feasting on innocent blood… and about to cross paths with Quincey and his men.

A short story from the world of Department 19. In 1891, Abraham Van Helsing and a group of friends faced Dracula, the world’s first vampire – and won. The survivors of that battle founded Department 19, and have been secretly saving the world ever since. A highly classified archive exists recording every act of bravery in that time. That archive is now open. These are the Department 19 files. London, 1919. Safely returned from the killing fields of Europe, Quincey Harker is bored and restless, his mind full of the terrible things he has seen, things he cannot seem to forget. So when his father invites him to hear a proposition from him and his friends, Quincey is hopeful that a new project may be just the thing to take his mind off the monsters he encountered, terrible creatures that flew above the ground and killed without mercy. He has no idea quite how wrong he is…

Larissa Kinley is a fully armed Operator for Department 19, a secret branch of the British government dedicated to saving us all from the supernatural. She’s also a vampire. And a teenage girl. When the 17-year-old survivor of a vampire attack is brought to the Department’s secret base, Larissa sees the chance to find out what a normal life is like, the kind of life she could have had if things had gone differently. As the two girls talk, Larissa finally finds the courage to tell someone her deepest secrets, and the terrible things she has done to survive as a creature of the night. But when the past catches up with you, sometimes it has fangs… Included in the World Book Day 2013 App.

An all-new short story from the blood-pounding world of Department 19. In 1816, in the brutal wilderness of north America, a man with no history and no name is tied to a stake, his strange grey-green skin hidden beneath layers of warm clothing, as he and his captors wait out a night that seems to have no end. Danger is everywhere in this remote corner of the world. Bears and wolves roam the dark forest, and the cold can kill a man in his sleep. But there is something far worse moving silently through the trees. Something unnatural. Something hungry. In 1891, Abraham Van Helsing and a group of his friends faced Dracula, the world's first vampire – and won. The survivors of that battle founded Department 19, and have been secretly saving the world ever since. A highly classified archive exists recording every act of bravery in that time. That archive is now open. These are the Department 19 Files.