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
- “The Scarlet Letters” by Scott H. Urban*+
A young woman discovers that her favorite poet has a close connection to the dark subject of his poems.
- “Interesting Times” by Matt Forbeck
A former priest takes it on himself to hunt down vampires that prey on the innocent.
- “The Voice of the Hummingbird” by S.P. Somtow*+
Awoken from torpor, an Aztec priest comes to terms with the modern world and an old enemy.
- “Power” by Don Bassingthwaite*+
A Ventrue forensic scientist uses her position in the morgue to gain influence in kindred society.
- “Darkening of the Light” by Bill Bridges*
Tremere Don Benedict is tasked with maintaining control over Chinatown, in opposition to an invading Cathayan vampire.
- “Dancing with the Devil” by Keith “Doc” Herber+
An elder monster tours San Francisco while looking for new prey to torture.
- “The Art of Dying” by Lawrence Watt-Evans+
A Toreador artist seeks to embrace a young painter before her poseur rivals can do it.
- “Descent” by Sam Chupp*
Anastasia must return to the Tremere in order to save her lover from the Sabbat.
- “Expendable” by Lois Tilton*
A homeless Caitiff finds himself introduced into kindred schemes and rivalries.
- “Homecoming: Affairs of the Heart” by James A. Moore *
Nosferatu Jeremy Wix returns from exile, but to be accepted he must confront old enemies.
- “Undercover” by Matthew J. Costello*
A San Francisco police officer gets more than she expected when she makes contact with a vampire gang.
- “Prisons” by Shane Hensley
A police officer pursues a suspect right into The Alexandria Club.
- Lexicon
- Also included in the 2000 edition.
+Included in the "Strange City" (1996) anthology.
Continuity
The 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.