The Beast Within

The Beast Within is a 1994 fiction anthology based on Vampire: The Masquerade. Each of the thirteen short stories examines kindred living in San Francisco. The publication includes illustrations from Timothy Bradstreet.

Several of the characters highlighted in these short stories also appear in "Dark Prince" (1994), "Prince of the City" (1995) and "World of Darkness: Strange City."

Published in 2000, the second edition of The Beast Within included a mix of new material and reprints from the original anthology.

Contents
''A young woman discovers that her favorite poet has a close connection to the dark subject of his poems. ''
 * “The Scarlet Letters” by Scott H. Urban*+

 A former priest takes it on himself to hunt down vampires that prey on the innocent.
 * “Interesting Times” by Matt Forbeck

 ''Awoken from torpor, an Aztec priest comes to terms with the modern world and an old enemy. ''
 * “The Voice of the Hummingbird” by S.P. Somtow*+

 ''A Ventrue forensic scientist uses her position in the morgue to gain influence in kindred society. ''
 * “Power” by Don Bassingthwaite*+

 ''Tremere Don Benedict is tasked with maintaining control over Chinatown, in opposition to an invading Cathayan vampire. ''
 * “Darkening of the Light” by Bill Bridges*

 ''An elder monster tours San Francisco while looking for new prey to torture. ''
 * “Dancing with the Devil” by Keith “Doc” Herber+

 ''A Toreador artist seeks to embrace a young painter before her poseur rivals can do it. ''
 * “The Art of Dying” by Lawrence Watt-Evans+

 Anastasia must return to the Tremere in order to save her lover from the Sabbat.
 * “Descent” by Sam Chupp*

 <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;">
 * “Expendable” by Lois Tilton*

<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight:normal;margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.0001pt;margin-left:24px;line-height:normal;">''A homeless Caitiff finds himself introduced into kindred schemes and rivalries.  <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;">Nosferatu Jeremy Wix returns from exile, but to be accepted he must confront old enemies. ''
 * “Homecoming: Affairs of the Heart” by James A. Moore *

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;">  <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;">''A San Francisco police officer gets more than she expected when she makes contact with a vampire gang. ''
 * “Undercover” by Matthew J. Costello*

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;">''A police officer pursues a suspect right into The Alexandria Club. ''
 * “Prisons” by Shane Hensley

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal;margin-left:24px;">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">
 * Lexicon


 * Also included in the 2000 edition.

+Included in the "Strange City" (1996) anthology.

Continuity
T he first Vampire short story anthology, featured numerous stories set at least partially in San Francisco. These stories introduced an error in continuity, however, as some stories referenced Prince Vannevar Thomas while others named the city's prince as  Jochen Van Nuys. Several of these stories were reprinted in  World of Darkness: Strange City, which attempted to reconcile this error by changing references to Jochen Van Nuys into references to Vannevar Thomas. However, in the Revised era, a different solution was found in  San Francisco by Night, in which Van Nuys was revealed to have replaced Thomas as prince in  1996 , and he himself was in turn later replaced by  Sara Anne Winder. The Beast Within Revised Edition  retained the references to Van Nuys as prince that were found in the original versions of the stories, implying that those stories happened after Van Nuys' coup.