Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Featured stories
Activity feed

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 3 of 10

When The Forest Spoke

Submitted to Contest #316

Elara had always been drawn to the forest. Even as a child, she would wander past the fences of the village, past the fields where the cows grazed and the earth smelled of thawing spring, until the dense trees swallowed her in shadow and mist. There, the air smelled of wet moss and something older—something that felt alive. She would press her small hands to the bark of trees, feeling their slow, patient pulse. And there, she heard the whispers. At first, she thought it was the wind. “Elara… Elara…” The sound was soft, almost coaxing, like...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Hum of the Wires

Submitted to Contest #316

The world hums. Not the gentle thrum of a refrigerator or the distant drone of traffic that most people tune out. For me, it’s a different kind of sound, a constant, low-grade static that lives inside the walls of every building, coiled in copper veins. I’m an electrician, which is either a cruel irony or the universe’s idea of a sick joke. I spend my days surrounded by the very thing that isolates me.Every wire, every circuit, holds a residue of the life that passed around it. It’s not a voice, not exactly. It’s more like the ghost of a fee...

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Hand in Hand

Submitted to Contest #316

The credits filled the screen, and the romantic music faded. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Inka swiping a tear from her cheek. Hmmm. Very interesting. I’ve never seen her cry while watching a romantic movie before. I bumped her elbow, and whispered, “What’s going on with you? The guy got the girl. Wasn’t he hot? With his black hair?” Inka shook her head and waved me off. We left the theater and walked to the bus station. The evening was mild. Although the sun had gone down two hours ago, it was a warm and beautiful summer night. I...

2 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

London's Mask

Submitted to Contest #316

There was something wrong with London. It wasn’t broken; it was just misaligned. Cora James had lived in the city for nearly three years, long enough to grow used to its chaos. The Tube delays, the polite apathy, the rain that never stopped. She walked its cracked pavements with her headphones in, a bag full of books over her shoulder, a coat too thin, and a determination that masked the tiredness in her spine. Lately, things had shifted. It began with her reflections. Mirrors and windows showed things that shouldn’t have been there. Slight...

20 likes 13 comments 13
Read story

The Reveal

Submitted to Contest #316

It is official—I am the last human in the US of A. "How would you possibly know that, Carl?" you would ask. You see, I work twelve hours a day as a Senior DevOps, supporting a critically crucial, constantly breaking, poorly designed, and completely undocumented legacy system platform that services all US government agencies, without which our government would supposedly collapse—or so I'm told. Alone. And I've yet to see a single cent of paid overtime that Uncle Sam owes me. For the purposes of catching software bugs and cleaning up their co...

8 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Cafe Appointment

Submitted to Contest #316

Tammy's stomach churned and a sickening, green stench rose up through her blouse in a hot cloud, burning her nose. She was sure she'd throw up soon, or her abdomen would rupture, turning her into a human-sized stink bomb of sick filth and nervous gas. She looked at her manager with pleading eyes. "You can't be serious," the manager hissed. Her eyes darted nervously to the crowded bank lobby, a dense line of impatient customers snaking all the way to the double glass doors leading outside. "You're done with training, you don't get a scheduled...

10 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Birthday Bones

Winner of Contest #315 🏆

The story’s the same every year. Light the candles, blow them out, eat the cake. I smile while everyone sings, I party with my friends, I have a few drinks, and I go home. Then, the second the clock hits 3:27, I sit up straight in bed and wait for my bones to break. It’s an ugly sight, my limbs cracking and twisting, and the smell of blood and marrow isn’t exactly the most appetizing thing. But the worst part for me, without a doubt, is the sound. The crunch and pop of bone, the whine of stretching skin, the wet splat of blood an...

138 likes 69 comments 69
Read story

The Racoon, The Interviewer, and The Coffee-Maker

Submitted to Contest #315

A raccoon had broken into Emma’s car.Four years of college and a shiny, new degree later, and she was still working jobs that barely paid the rent. This interview could change everything. A dream job with a better-than-dream paycheck. She was running on five hours of sleep and a cup of black coffee that certainly wasn’t hitting the same way a comfort late would have. At least she was running early.The cold morning air nipped her cheeks as she crossed the lot. Frost feathered the windshield, catching pale gold in the early sun. Her phone was ...

11 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

A Tarot Reader's Plight

Submitted to Contest #315

“Maya, are you sure you are not clairvoyant?” The question from Toyol the other day kept bothering her. She joked about being a highly stimulated, burnt-out autistic person with special interests in spirituality, esotericism, and occultism; however, she honestly wondered about her situation. How could she be the only one who could see Toyol when the others could not? She tossed and turned on her bed. It was now half past 1:00 AM, and the glow of the salt lamp painted her wall the colour of sunset. Her phone was facing down on the nightstand...

8 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

His Only Warning

Submitted to Contest #315

His Only Warning Chris tossed and turned. He couldn’t sleep. The same dream had crept into his mind as he tried to sleep soundly. He woke up with his heart racing with every breath he took. His head aching as if he had been drinking all night. Drenched with sweat, Chris sleepily removed his shirt and tried to go back to sleep. Tap! tap! tap! Chris opened his eyes slowly; he shook his head from side to side. Maybe I’m hearing things he thought. But he heard something else. At first it started as a whisper, but it grew louder and louder until ...

1 like 0 comments 0
Read story

Opened Eyes

Submitted to Contest #315

“Sorry, no can do, bud. I can’t make your book a best seller. I can’t make your parents accept you. Besides, I don’t think you’d appreciate it if I made you not gay–” I spit my coffee out, the spurt of brownish liquid spraying out onto the beach below us. Thankfully no one was down there or it would have been awkward, but he had caught me off guard. I could already feel my face growing hot as my brow furrowed. I turned towards him, teeth gritted, my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head. Who the hell does this wannabe genie fr...

2 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

The Man Without a Head

Submitted to Contest #315

I am 17, and I watch the man across from me as he sits alone at a small, weathered table. The wood is chipped and faded, with hints of its original color peeking through the worn surface. The man’s fingers drum a restless rhythm on the battered tabletop, his other hand absentmindedly tracing circles around the slender neck of a wine glass. His shirt bears deep maroon stains, resembling dark roses blooming from his chest and trailing downward. Yet, my concern does not lie in his stained shirt or his actions; it does not stem from my ignoranc...

6 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Prime Engineer

Submitted to Contest #314

Chapter #1 “A Future is a very thoroughly defused Present.” Call me Zaratustra. It was still dark when I started waking up from my sleep, and what I thought was unusual, I could not understand where I am until the sun rays broke through the gaps in the tinfoil rolls that I covered my windows with. Eventually, the sun lit up the small studio I rented on a 12-month prepaid lease agreement on the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia. My “rational economic choices” meant that I had to hibernate in a 31-square-meter “furnished” apartment, which, given m...

2 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

A Hot Summer's Day and the Nightmarchers

Submitted to Contest #314

It was so hot! Elena was sweating so much that she took three showers during the day before sitting outside on her porch. Hawaii is like that -- hot and tropical, meaning humid. Plus, the sun is bright during the summer. She sat on her porch chair facing the mountain that rose at the end of the street about two blocks away. There was just enough room for her chair in front of the screen door. She gazed at the fruit trees in her yard and then turned to look at the huge avocado tree near the street. None of them moved. There was no breeze. Dur...

3 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

Memoir: Toyol in Cashless Society

Submitted to Contest #314

At this point, I am not even sure I am alive. Or why I bother living. I used to be good at this. Like, don’t get me pissed off. I was once feared. Just the mention of my name had the villagers hide their jewelry, money, coins, and any treasure that they had, whatever that was supposed to mean. Back in the 60s, I could slip from one house to another, creep from one room to another, and steal everything clear until they had nothing left. Whether they had them hidden in a treasure chest, under a pillow, or inside a wardrobe, my keen, sensitive ...

4 likes 7 comments 7
Read story
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. All for free.