Dark
Story with darker themes and tone
8 items found (3 series, 5 stories)

Faery Lords Series
by Anie Ross
A romantasy series revolving around faery lords. The Dusk & Dawn Story: *A young woman with a gift is bound to an endless cycle of romance and death, pulled between two faery rulers of opposite courts: Summer and Autumn. From Coventry 1121 to New Orleans 1788 to modern day, nine lives isn't nearly long enough.*

On Darkness
by Corbie De La Luna
*First and foreword I must address the **trigger warning** in the room. **On Darkness tackles heavy and tragic themes such as but not limited to spiritual exploitation and domestic abuse.** The darkest parts of this story will be censored on this site. Chapter 17 is too dark for me to keep public on this site in good conscious.* My hope is that this tale provides a cathartic release and healing for others, as it has for me, through the safety of fantasy. May it also be just a good read for those who want a character driven dark fantasy. No AI was ever or will be ever used in any part of this book. Synopsis Emperor Koriath did not know that he married the Goddess of Malevolence almost twenty ages ago. Now Malencia threatens infanticide of their new-hatched, Koriath sells his soul to her to spare their lives. He is determined to pay any cost to keep his children safe and alive. However, Malencia strikes again, and this time Koriath has had enough. Every moment he takes a wing beat or a step to recovering himself and saving his final two living children, is another step in the dance that Malencia twists into her tempo. Can Koriath keep himself safe in the process of protecting and leaving; or will he continue down the path of martyrdom until his children and friends no longer recognize him?

The Girl in the Orange Beret
by David G McDaniel
Action heroes are too nice. Saviors, too lame. The girl in the orange beret is neither action hero nor savior. She may, however, be a better version of both. And that may be exactly what we need.

The Phoenix Within
by Tabitha Polenz
**Phoenix** - *Inner Strength, Resilience, & Renewal* We all have a story, but many choose to tell only the highlights — the palatable parts. Snippets accepted by the public. The rest is tucked away in silence. But what if we told the whole truth? Not just the chapters we survived, but the ones that nearly ended us. Not just the memories softened by time, but the moments that seared themselves into our nervous system and shaped who we have become. The path that led here didn't move in a straight line. Sometimes the past arrives uninvited in the middle of what we think is an ordinary moment. Sometimes what is happening now only makes sense when you find its origins in the past. And if you pay close enough attention, you'll see how the present has been echoing history all along. We will cross continents and class lines, silence and spectacle through the journey of my life. We'll live through poverty and brush elbows with power, dive into spiritual initiation and survive institutional neglect, through moments where survival felt accidental and others where it felt deliberate. Motherhood, medicine, money, and myth all played their part. None of it fit neatly. And eventually there will be a place, a moment when timelines converge and everything changes. This isn't a story wrapped in inspiration or stitched together with perfect lessons. It's not a sanitized version of suffering that leaves the hard parts on the cutting room floor. It's the whole thing, the shards, scars, shadows, and all. A testimony not to tragedy, but to transformation. Because I was never supposed to be here, not like this. According to the statistics, the curve, the therapists, and the odds… I should have disappeared. But I didn't. Instead, I walked through fire until I became it. And somewhere in the ashes, my soul learned to sing. This is my story.

Brides Bridge
by Kat Sidhe
Otterby is a mountain town built on what was abandoned—mines, bridges, promises, and names no one remembers clearly anymore. On Main Street, inside a purple Victorian known as *The Maid, Mother, and Crone*, two witches keep the balance as best they can. Kitty Loy is a kitchen witch who believes in the power of bread, salt, and things made by hand. Alice is a nature witch—an optimist with dirt under her nails and a deep faith in cycles, growth, and second chances. Together they form a coven of two, uneasy and incomplete after the loss of their third, a wound neither of them is ready to name. When a dead owl appears on their porch and a body is discovered on the long‑abandoned Bride’s Bridge, Otterby’s past begins to surface in troubling ways. What first looks like a simple haunting reveals a pattern tied to an old mine disaster, a doomed love story, and a bargain made long ago with powers that do not think like humans—or forgive like them. As spring stirs the land awake, Kitty and Alice are forced to confront buried histories, the cost of broken balance, and the truth that some debts cannot be ignored forever. To set things right, they may have to risk opening wounds they worked very hard to close—and accept that survival sometimes means change. *Otterby* is a standalone urban fantasy steeped in Southern gothic atmosphere, folklore, and the quiet magic of small towns that remember more than they should.

Chosen by The Moon
by Rose M Joy
“Your lips have a flavor reminiscent of mango.” “Wait, what?! How do you even know that?” “Isn't it obvious?. While you were sleeping, I—” Dove is fed up with playing the role of the Damsel in Distress. Now that she has the chance to pick a mentor, her dreams feel much closer than ever. Yet, she’s at a loss for words when the very essence of the night, draped in blue, suddenly decides to choose her.

The Faerie Godfather
by Fred Koehler
“What if,” asked the raven, “all those old faerie stories weren’t really about being good and honest and obeying your mum and dad? What if they were a warning, telling you about *real* dangers, licking their lips just beyond the firelight?” Miriam Lockhart never believed in faeries—until they killed her. Now trapped in the faerie realm as a wandering spirit (and none too happy about it), Miriam must discover her unfinished business or remain a ghost forever. Her only guide is a Death Raven named Lucky I-Ain’t-You, whose record of escorting souls to the Great Beyond stands at, well, zero. Fates intertwined, the duo enters the realm of the Family LeFae, a riffraff band of faerie criminals locked in a brutal struggle against an oppressive monarchy. There, she faces down a cast of misfits including a foul-mouthed goblin, a sasquatch assassin, and the mysterious Faerie Godfather. It’s only when Miriam sees her own misfortune mirrored in others that her heart undergoes an even bigger transformation. A dangerous deal is struck with Death incarnate to try and break the chains of the enslaved faerie folk. But it may cost Miriam the one thing she set out to save: her soul.\ \ Dark humor meets genuine heart in this funny, haunting fantasy.

Renfield Academy
by Amelie Locke
The **Renfield Academy Series** is a gothic, dark academia paranormal romance that follows mind-reader Seraphina Gray as she is thrust into a world of vampires, witches, and shapeshifters. While she is initially horrified to learn she is a familiar destined to serve the very vampires who attacked her, she soon discovers she possesses unheard-of powers that make her unique in the supernatural realm. Caught between two worlds, Seraphina faces a devastating choice for her heart. She is inexplicably drawn to Henry, a darkly handsome vampire hell-bent on revenge, yet she remains tethered to Nicholas, her first love who it turns out, belongs to the legendary Van Helsing clan. As a century-old treaty between vampires and the Van Helsing hunter clan begins to fail, Seraphina Gray finds herself at the center of a brewing war. To stop it, she must navigate a dangerous world where no one is who they seem. Her journey will take her from Renfield Academy to the heart of Romania to uncover the truth behind her connection to the original Renfield, Dracula’s servant and the first vampire familiar. To survive, Seraphina must decide where she truly belongs and which of the two men she is destined to love will stand by her side when the final battle begins.