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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of urban fantasy short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

150+ Urban fantasy Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From vampires at the bar to werewolves around the corner, our collection of urban fantasy stories will bring the magical into everyday life.

Urban fantasy Short Stories – Page 2 of 10

We Know One Another

Submitted to Contest #309

Charlie swore he saw the guy before. Sure, the city was a big place and he knew a lot of guys who had the same haircut, wore similar clothes and had similar faces. There was just something about this guy that stood out though. He didn’t look like the other guys in Charlie’s world. He didn’t wear a tailored suit, gel up his hair with pomade or tan by the looks of him. In fact, this guy looked like he did anything but take care of himself correctly. What the hell had he done to deserve an invite to a killer place like this? Charlie felt a sick...

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The Domovoi

Submitted to Contest #309

Please note, this story contains themes of war, violence and suicide. He can smell garlic salt and coffee. Last night, he forgot to shut his blind, so the weak, white winter sunlight spills onto his bed. There is the peculiar prickle of snow in the air and he can hear cars, trundling through slush for the morning commute. Spurred by the smell of breakfast, he puts on his big socks, slings a granny blanket around his shoulders, and slopes downstairs. In the kitchen, his mother is kneading dough under her sun lamp with an unlit cigarette pokin...

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A table for one

Submitted to Contest #309

The drizzle outside has started to pick up. The drops are growing larger with every passing moment. The gap in time between their fall is getting smaller. The pitter patter sound they make as they splash on the ground is becoming louder. Ever since I was a child, I never could tell if it was raining strongly to take cover or was it mild enough to enjoy it just a little more. It's the reason I fall sick every rainy season. I am still wondering about why it is so when a soft but assertive hand pulls me into the coffee shop. We stand against th...

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I finally found you

Submitted to Contest #309

DISCLAIMER: This story contains mature intimate content, adult themes, fantasy violence/magical elements, intense emotional themes, and LGBTQ+ relationship content. Reader discretion advised. *** STORY: Aeshan knelt beneath him, lips parted, eyes glazed with devotion, as Alexander traced a glowing glyph across his chest with two fingers and a breath of command. The mark pulsed with light, reacting not just to Alexander’s aura but to the soul-deep bond thrumming between them—raw, primal, and unbreakable. Around them, the air shimmered with he...

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Cravings

Submitted to Contest #309

“Excuse me, do I know you?” Mandragora turned around and looked up the driveway. A woman with long brown hair pulled up into a ponytail stood in the open door of an SUV. Mandragora walked up the driveway, getting what she knew would be uncomfortably close for most people. The woman was dressed for the gym and held a large metal cup. She was leaning back and looked like she might swing her cup at Mandragora. “My name is Mandy, I’m a little lost. Could you give me some directions? I’m looking for the Clark residence.” Mandragora held out her ...

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Fireflies

Submitted to Contest #308

Concerns the aftermath of the death of a loved one “Nana’s gone, Jack.”“Off with the fairies again?” Jack quipped, glancing at his watch. It was too early for a social call, so Nana must be wandering again. Their grandmother was prone to flights of fancy, particularly where the Fae were concerned. She had delighted both Jack and his sister with tales of sightings and fairy hunting adventures from the time he and Betty were able to toddle into the backyard. As her dementia had worsened, so had her fairy obsession. She could be found wanderin...

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The Lonely Shepherd

Submitted to Contest #308

“Are you going to cry on my shoulder or what?” the bartender asked.“What’s the point?” I shrugged, looking down.“Just human interaction,” the bartender said as he wiped another champagne flute. He arranged them in a sparkling row. Then his finger glided along the golden rim of one, and the flute emitted a divine moan.“Okay, here’s your interaction,” I sighed. “My wife left me for my best friend. They took our money and the business.”“Ouch!” he said. “It sucks!”“Yeah… Today, I’ve lost everything.”“Not everything,” the bartender replied. “You’...

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Dragonfly

Submitted to Contest #308

Sue BaughmanDragonfly1120 Words Libby’s birthday celebration was going full swing at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in downtown East Los Angeles. Candles flickered in the June dusk as the sun set over the Pacific ocean. As the sky darkened, dark shadows began to appear in the courtyard where Libby’s Quinceañera, her “Sweet Fifteen” birthday party was being held. Mariachis played in the background, fountains poured water, her aunties and cousins had set the tables, blown up the red and green ballons.All their friends ...

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Tuesday People

Submitted to Contest #308

**TUESDAY PEOPLE** --- I woke up floating three inches above my mattress. At first I thought it was a dream. Then I rolled over and hovered off the edge like a poorly rendered video game character. That’s when I screamed. I screamed, dropped, thudded onto the hardwood, and my downstairs neighbor—Margot, who once tried to convert me to something called "oxygenic faith"—banged on her ceiling. So. Not a dream. --- Let me back up. My name’s Eli. I’m thirty-four, I stock vending machines across four counties, and up until this morning, I thought ...

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Solar Return Policy

Submitted to Contest #308

At exactly noon on Midsummer Eve, Nora slipped from the pawnshop clutching a shoebox that glowed through its cardboard walls. The basement had been impossibly deep, carved from stone that predated the town above. Shelves lined the walls, crowded with objects that shouldn't exist—hourglasses filled with what looked like liquid starlight, mirrors that reflected different rooms entirely, music boxes that played melodies she felt rather than heard. And behind the counter, Vincent Ness had watched her with eyes like polished coal. "One perfect ho...

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I Will Dance

Submitted to Contest #308

You step into the sunshine as if you’ve been waiting all year for the very moment. It’s the twenty-first of June 1984, and the Jack in the Green festival spills across the heart of Bristol. The clatter of boots on cobbles, the smell of fried onions from the stalls by the Harbourside and the blare of Madness from a boombox propped on someone’s shoulder merges into an ancient drumbeat echoing in the chests of the crowd with every heartbeat. Red, white and blue bunting, the colors of the city, flirts against the soot-streaked Georgian facades. ...

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[THE BONE OF CONTENTMENT]

Submitted to Contest #307

Peckham Industry had won a contract to redo the railroad by Ulster Avenue, following an explosion that had happened a week ago. In charge of this operation are Alfonso Jackson and Lorenzo Esposito. Alfonso was a 52-year-old Jamaican man with dreadlocks and a temper reminiscent of a rude boy. Spends a tremendous amount of his time with family, well, when he is not at work. Lorenzo, age 50, a dark skin Italian man with a low fade haircut, a down-to-earth attitude, and very loyal to Alfonso. Hence, the reason they are both on this job! Manageme...

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The Ghost Ledger: The Rise and Fall of The Giant Finance Hub

Submitted to Contest #307

Prologue: The Bank That Wasn’tIn the winter of 1972, a man with elegant Urdu and impeccable English walked into a palatial office in London. He carried no weapon, no briefcase—only a vision. Within months, that vision would evolve into The Inst., a financial labyrinth that didn’t just hold money—it held influence, and more than that, secrets. It operated not from one headquarters, but from many shadows.From Panama to Karachi, London to Lagos, The Inst. embedded itself like a ghost into the arteries of global finance. It lent to rulers withou...

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The Roots of Secrets Passed

Submitted to Contest #307

There was a singular root growing in Sadie Arria’s ear beneath the surface of her skin.When she’d discovered the bump under the touch of her cold fingers, she’d jumped out of bed and sprinted to the top of the tallest tower in the Academy to get a view of the cityline. It was the only thing that calmed her. The flickering orange streetlights in the distance on some days, were like thousands of swaying candle flames and on others, were dots of paint across the night sky. She often traced them in the air, following the curve of roads she could...

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The Lantern Keepers

Submitted to Contest #307

In the heart of the city that never slept, beneath its clamour and steel, an ancient society thrived. Known only to a handful as The Lantern Keepers, this covert group had guarded knowledge long forgotten by the modern world--fragments of the truth too dangerous for daylight but too sacred to die. Every year, on the longest night of the year, the keepers would gather beneath the Tomeveil Archives, a seemingly abandoned building wrapped in ivy and rumours. To most the building was a condemned relic, but to the Keepers, it was a gateway to the...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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