Book excerpt: Four dark tales of the holiday spirit. "Christmas Eve Gift" by C.D. Watson. Old Bill sets out on her annual Christmas Eve journey to her niece's house, and discovers an unexpected darkness along the way. "A Dark Christmas" by V.R. Cumming. (A World of the Vampyr short story.) Alice, a dark daughter of the vampire Elizabet, turns the table on a family of hunters, with unexpected consequences. "On the 7th Day of Christmas" by Celia Roman. (A Sunshine Walkingstick short story.) Sunny finally gets to throw a party with her friend David Eckstrom, only a monster shows up and twists a small kink into her New Year's Eve festivities. ​"Twelfth Night" by Lucy Varna. (A Daughters of the People short story.) A thirteen-year-old Lukas Alexiou encounters the Woman with No Face for the first time, and must decide between seizing his destiny, or allowing his father to control him forever.