Showing results for "The Game" in Horror

I rejected my fated mate, and didn’t regret it for a second. Until now. Shipped off to Ravenscroft University, a graduate school for the supernatural elite, I have a lot to live up to. As heir to America’s most powerful pack, I was locked away. Not to be protected, but because I was born broken. A disappointment. A wolf who couldn’t shift. This is supposed to be my fresh start, but my past won’t leave me alone. Not when he’s here.

After an eviction notice and one too many apple martinis, I wake, stripped bare and alone in a cell. No, wait, not alone. My evil garbage fire ex, Andrew, who suggested he’d let me stay with him “for a price” is here, too. He’s the whole reason I lost my job. My head is throbbing, my vision fuzzy. “Andrew, you piece of… what are you doing?” “Who’s Andrew?” My blood runs cold. That’s not Andrew’s voice. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.

In the game of predator and prey, sometimes the greatest trap is discovering you no longer want to escape. I've always escaped into gaming when reality became too much. As MistressOfMischief, I found freedom behind a screen, building a bond with my online partner, Rogue, that felt more real than most of my relationships. For two years, we shared victories and late-night conversations—I thought I knew him. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Michael has been playing the Game. Growing in strength. Slaying his foes. And avoiding entanglement with the Powers. But the time is fast coming when that will no longer be possible. Almost a Power himself, Michael must answer the question: is he ready? Are his people? And what will they do if the truth is uncovered?

She’d always been my destiny. The woman whose life was tied to mine. I just hadn’t planned on falling in love and being forced to choose between my vows and my soul. No matter how deep my connection to her ran, I had a greater purpose I was meant to serve. And now that she was carrying the Harbinger of the Apocalypse–the result of our passion–I had to get her away from the rest of them.

Michael finds himself in the realm of the Forever Kingdom, with no memory of how he got there and who he is. Even so, he must participate in the Grand Game and forge a new destiny for himself. Dropped into a dungeon of monsters and strange magics, would you survive in a game where to lose means death? Alone, and with little more than his wits to aid him, Michael must advance as a player, slay his foes, and gain experience. All while navigating the intrigues around him and discovering his purpose.

Marty Strauss, a gambling addict recently released from prison, is hired to be the personal bodyguard of Joseph Whitehead, one of the wealthiest men in the world. The job proves more complicated and dangerous than he thought, however, as Marty soon gets caught up in a series of supernatural events involving Whitehead, his daughter (who is a heroin addict), and a devilish man named Mamoulian, with whom Whitehead made a Faustian bargain many years earlier, during World War II.

Arthur Du Fuss, bitter, alone, and ignored by his neighbours, has two secrets: one dies with him when he commits suicide; the other is the vast wealth he amassed through the creation of a cult board game. Now his erstwhile neighbours receive a post-mortem invitation to the offices of a charismatic City lawyer to play a final version of the game; the prize - Arthur's fortune. As they dice with the devil, the game first exposes the fragility of their relationships, and then tears them apart, with tragic and horrifying consequences.

Michael has escaped the clutches of the Dark, if only temporarily. Surfacing in the world above, he finds matters no less complex than down below and survival as challenging as it had been in the dungeon. Is the harder path the one you must forge on your own? Many want Michael as their ally. Yet more want him dead, and the Dark is not done with him either. Can he find a way to navigate the treacherous waters of the Game and uncover the mysteries about himself? Or will Michael bend to Powers greater than him?

Michael has taken the Game by the throat. No longer content to lurk in the shadows, he has started down a path that will inevitably bring him into conflict with the Powers. But the Powers are no easy foes. Nor are they Michael’s only adversaries. Other enemies stir. Some confront him openly, while others watch patiently from the sidelines. A lone wolf no more, and with many of his own pieces in play, Michael may find himself more exposed than he believes. The stakes are high. And the schemes of the players convoluted.

The Lambert Family is heading to Crescent Lake, a rural cabin community in western Pennsylvania, for an idyllic weekend getaway. Some fishing, some barbecue, some games...

When horror-obsessed Riley Lawrence and his group of college friends arrive in the small town of Carousel for their Centennial Celebration, the few decrepit cars parked in the street don’t scare them. But when they enter a locked building, an animatronic usher hands them each a ticket, and the lights dim, Riley realizes they’ve entered the inescapable patchwork of a horror movie set. And they’ve each been assigned an archetype—Scholar, Athlete, Eye Candy, Final Girl—to play out as the curtains rise.

Archer Daniels is the biggest flirt at the academy, and he’s determined to have me. Coach Daniels has a history of sleeping with students. Now that I’m in my senior year, he’s determined to add me to the list. I’d rather die than end up another notch in his bedpost. But the man is persistent to a fault. He’s not someone who gives up easily, pushing harder the more I reject him. I fear that Archer will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. A fear that quickly turns to reality as he digs up dirt about me I don’t want people to know.

The explosive and highly anticipated sequel to Daggermouth...

Our hero entered the store that fateful evening and became involved in a life-or-death game arranged by a mysterious creature. He survived, but instead of being on Earth, he now appeared to be in a different world, with other people who had passed a similarly deadly test. Some made it through by using force, some by using their cunning.... Everyone has their own story, but they all have one thing in common - there are no good people among them.

Months have passed since Michael first entered the Forever Kingdom, and while a great deal of the Game remains a mystery, his own place in it grows surer. Yet, survival—much less success—is by no means assured, and Michael will have to tread a delicate path to forge a place for himself. Ancient mysteries resurface. And long-buried truths are uncovered. The Forever Kingdom’s past is as murky as the Game, and there are nearly as many truths as factions. But if Michael is to emerge victorious, he must separate fact from fiction.

A burgeoning Power. Dormant followers. Ancient forces. Forgotten Allies. And Lurking Enemies. Will they clash? And when they do, will the Wolf emerge triumphant? Michael has come far in the Game since his somewhat-ignominious entry through Erebus’ dungeon. Now, a force to be reckoned with, he is more than a mere player and someone the Powers would do well to fear… But as Michael’s power has grown, so too has his Pack.

A man and woman possessed of telekinetic powers. She is the doctor. He is the experiment. What comes between them is a terrifying secret history that could save them or destroy them.

There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love. When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish. Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations. Ophelia will face nine challenges, each more dangerous than the last. There can only be one winner, and the other contestants will stop at nothing to eliminate their rivals.

Nick Antosca's The Girlfriend Game is a tumble through the looking glass into a vortex of violence and desire. The 12 stories in the newest collection by the Shirley Jackson Award-winning author are brutal, urgent and unforgettable. In "Predator Bait", a decoy in a sex-sting news show questions her job and the man who shares her bed. An undependable son watches his mother become a creature he hardly recognizes in "Amphibian". A young man plots the death of his girlfriend's killer in "Winter Was Hard".