Blood Magic (Blood Books Book 2)

  Praise for

  DANIELLE ROSE

  “Some authors are great storytellers. Some authors are great writers. Danielle Rose is both!”

  Beauty and the Books

  “There is no doubt that Danielle knows her craft. She writes with a fast-paced intensity that is liberally sprinkled with beautiful poetry and sharp commentary on life and the human condition.”

  Busy, Busy Book Wyrm

  “Danielle Rose shows incredible maturity as a writer and mastery of her craft with her keen attention to detail, well-drawn characters, and brilliant plotting that will grip you from beginning to end.”

  Narrative Ink

  Copyright © DANIELLE ROSE 2015

  This edition published in 2017 by

  O F T O M E S P U B L I S H I N G

  U N I T E D K I N G D O M

  The right of DANIELLE ROSE to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover art by Gwenn Danae

  Cover & Interior design by Eight Little Pages

  CONTENTS

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  BLOOD PROMISE PREVIEW

  AS A MORTAL witch destined to fight in a war against immortal vampires, my life had been surrounded by death. Before my birth rite, the ritual in which I obtained The Power, the ultimate weapon against the vampire race, I had even prepared for my own death. Being chosen came with consequences—likely not living to see my next birthday was one of them. I had accepted this fate, because my sacrifice would bring honor to my coven. Unfortunately, the prophecies were right. Obtaining The Power did result in my death—I became one of the creatures I had spent my life hunting.

  I closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing. As a spirit user, I had a small affinity for all elements, but as a chosen one, a being who harnessed The Power, I had greater control. According to Sebastian, the only other vampire I’d met who shared my differences, that control was limitless, but he had yet to show me how to wield the gift.

  I called upon the element air. A breeze swirled around me, fluttering through the thick locks that hung past my shoulders. I smiled as it sent shivers down my spine. As a vampire, I didn’t feel cold in the same way I had as a mortal, but I still felt the sensation, and it was uncontrollably overwhelming. With my new, heightened senses, I could feel everything around me. It was as if the blindfold had finally been lifted, and after years of living in darkness, and even in silence, I could finally see, could finally hear. I had to die to truly feel alive.

  As I brushed my palm against the dead grass I sat atop, I admired my handy work. I had been carving protection runes into headstones for hours and was due for a break. I knew the sun would rise soon, and with it, the remaining members of my vampire coven would slumber. But first, there was much to be done. Seventeen vampires from my new coven had fallen, including the guards of our coven’s high priestess, Amicia. Jasik, my sire, explained that a burial had never been rushed. In fact, we were skipping key parts, but with Amicia missing, we weren’t given the luxury of something as simple as time.

  No one would talk about the likelihood that she had also been killed. Instead, my fellow Hunters and I put saving Amicia at the top of our to-do list and then called it a day. Ignoring the fact that Amicia was probably already dead didn’t bother me as much as it should have. Being a Hunter, a vampire blessed with my very own set of superpowers, it was my job to protect my coven and the members within it. We had failed when she was taken. Saving her was the only way to redemption.

  Though I focused on carving the thick lines into the headstone, my eyes kept flickering to the vampire beside me. Sebastian had offered his help—a ploy, I was sure. Nearly four days had passed since I threatened to kill him if he didn’t tell me everything I wanted to know. He had brushed off my crassness with ease. Even now, as I watched him, he ignored me.

  Lingering thoughts crept their way back into my mind. I remembered the dream I had the night I discovered we’d won the battle but lost so many in exchange. The Sebastian in my dream was nothing like the one sitting beside me. In my dream, he was cruel, evil. I was sure it was a vision warning me of what was to come. Being a spirit user, I had visions, but I had yet to learn control. I shuddered at the memory of the Hunters hanging from a tree, split open from navel to neck, their innards swaying from side to side as they hung, lifeless. Had I influenced it in some way? Was Sebastian lying in wait? I shook my head to clear my mind. I needed to remain focused on the task at hand. With one final stroke, the rune was complete. I stood, sheathing my knife and wiping the fine shards of rock from my hands.

  “How much longer?” I asked.

  “Done,” Sebastian replied as he stood, his light, sandy-brown hair bouncing as he moved. It fell to just below his chin. His lanky frame towered over my short stature, though he wasn’t quite as tall as Jasik.

  I nodded, glancing around. We were attacked in this very place. Rogues, soulless, evil vampires who feasted on the blood of the living, had attacked my witch coven the eve of my birth rite and left me for dead. When they realized they’d failed to truly kill me, they came back to finish the job. Though I escaped again, others died in my stead. I closed my eyes, listening to the wind rustle the leaves. I focused on them but felt nothing. The world was empty. Our coven was broken. I hadn’t been a vampire for long, but I was already drawn to them. It was powerful, unexplainable. They felt like family—family I had failed to protect.

  I opened my eyes, ignoring the cheeky grin plastered on Sebastian’s face. He had been with us for almost four days, and he had already gotten on my nerves. He was always watching me—just as I was watching him. He liked watching me tap into this power within myself, and even though he wouldn’t admit it, I believed he liked knowing it was always just out of reach. I think he felt safer that way. No one but me had the power to truly hurt him. He knew that. Jasik knew that. I knew that. And it left a gnawing sensation in the pit of my gut. I didn’t like being bested, and I especially didn’t like being vulnerable.

  I turned on my heel and walked the stone path that led to the manor’s front door. My new vampire coven was hidden deep within rural Washington State. The forests of national parks surrounded us, keeping our existence secret from prying eyes. Each evening, I woke to crashing ocean waves and thick, salted air. It was nothing like home. My family moved from the remote woodlands of Wisconsin to the mountains of Shasta, California nearly a decade ago. I missed home. I missed Wisconsin and Shasta. I missed my family. But they had turned their backs on me when I needed them most—and now it was my turn to walk away from them.

  I glanced back at the cemetery that was laid before our manor’s front entrance. Thinking about how cliché my new vampire life was put a smile on my face when times only called for sorrow. Our gothic manor, painted with splashes of gray and black, sat on wooded
property in the middle of remote land, and our front yard consisted of a burial ground and mausoleums. Now all I needed to do was turn into a bat, fall in love with a human, renounce my new destiny, and call it a day. I chuckled at the thought.

  “What’s on your mind, love?” Sebastian asked, his Australian accent coating his words.

  I rolled my eyes. “Please stop calling me that.”

  Sebastian frustrated me to no end, and though I didn’t fully trust him, I found myself questioning myself more. It was easy to fall into step beside him. I allowed myself moments of peace even though he was within reaching distance. This was a mistake I never would have made as a human, a witch. Why now? Was it my knowledge of the power bubbling within me? Was it his easy-going personality? Why did he affect me like this?

  I opened the front double doors, and Sebastian closed them behind us as we entered. Vampires lingered in the conservatory and smiled softly as I passed. I smiled back as I took the grand stairs two at a time. I wasn’t sure what our relationship was. They were my family now, and I had accepted that—even though, at first, there had been a lack of trust on both parts. My survival was dependent on them, and it seemed, their survival was dependent on me. We both needed each other in ways we didn’t understand.

  The double doors to Amicia’s office were open. With Sebastian by my side, I entered, nodded to my fellow Hunters, and made my way to her desk, where Jasik sat, flipping through pages of a thick book. Dark circles were painted below his eyes, and he ran a hand through tangled hair. We slept in shifts after Amicia’s abduction, but I suspected Jasik skipped his rounds altogether.

  I cleared my throat, and Jasik tore his eyes away from the yellowed paper to meet mine.

  “Is it finished?” he asked.

  “Yes. The runes are carved, and the headstones are spelled. We can begin the ceremony at any time,” I answered.

  He released a quick burst of air—no doubt the breath he’d been holding since Amicia had been taken. He leaned back in the chair, running his hands over his eyes.

  “I’ve been reading Amicia’s journals for days and haven’t found anything,” he said, dropping his arms and straightening in the chair. “I only know my part and the basics. But it’s not enough. It’s been too long since we’ve…” It was an odd feeling: we were thankful for the lack of deaths, but the distance between the last burial ritual and now meant no one could remember the exact steps that needed to be taken. No one but Amicia, that is.

  “We do what we can,” Malik said. He looked just as exhausted as his brother. I knew it had to be difficult for Malik to watch his younger brother in such pain, even though the hard features of his face betrayed nothing. I was always amazed by Malik’s ability to be completely and thoroughly unreadable.

  “That won’t be enough,” Jasik said.

  “Maybe we can do something different this time. I’ve done countless burial ceremonies. I mean, it’s the least I can do,” I said, hopeful.

  “As much as I hate to say it, she’s right,” Lillie said, her Irish accent faint. She was sitting beside Malik, her pixie blonde locks in disarray. Her usual bright, blue eyes were red, puffy. We hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye, but her confession didn’t surprise me. We really didn’t have another option. There were thousands upon thousands of hand-written journals in Amicia’s library. After all, she was over seven hundred years old. A girl could accrue a lot of crap in that amount of time.

  “I agree,” Jeremiah said. I almost hadn’t noticed him. Even now, he cowered in the corner, hiding in the shadows. “Besides, we need to get this over with.” The harshness of his words struck anger in the others’ eyes.

  “Jeremiah—”

  “I didn’t mean—I just meant we need to hurry. The longer Amicia’s out there, the more likely she’s going to die. We just need to hurry and get her back, and then things can get back to normal.”

  “I don’t think anything will ever be normal again,” I said, meeting Jeremiah’s sad, gray eyes. His dark chocolate skin turned ashy as he nervously scratched at his arms.

  No one spoke. I knew we were all thinking the same thing: we couldn’t go back to what we had. We had to move on, to let go. Opening our arms to the future and its possibilities was harder than we imagined.

  “Okay. Avah will lead the burial, but it needs to be done tonight.”

  I nodded. “Everything I need should be in the basement stock room.” I glanced at the clock. Still four hours before dawn. Plenty of time. “I just need an hour.”

  “We’ll make the announcement while you prepare, then.”

  I left Amicia’s office in a daze. Jasik rarely spoke of vampire law to me. In fact, my only experience with it had been when he had broken it to change me. I was on the brink of death, and I suppose he thought the sacrifice was worth it. The cost, he had explained, was death. Thankfully, Amicia granted him immunity. The day following Amicia’s capture, Jasik had explained just how important it was to find Amicia: the Hunter’s sole purpose was to protect his priestess. Failure would cost the Hunter his life. Bringing Amicia home, alive, was our only option.

  I entered the basement quarters with Sebastian tailing me. It was easy to forget he was around—especially during the rare occasions he chose to remain silent. He was stealthy, invisible… almost.

  “I don’t need assistance,” I said without meeting his gaze. I didn’t like the power he held over us. He had information about what I was, and he had the strength that we could have used in battle. He had saved me, and I was grateful, but still, I couldn’t stop thinking of ‘what-ifs.’ What if he had gotten there sooner? What if he had bypassed me and saved the others? What if…

  “You sure? I’ve been to my fair share of burials, too.” He quickened his pace so he was walking beside me.

  I swung the door to our stock room open and walked inside. I discovered this room a few weeks ago, and it had become difficult to stay away. In it, we stored all things magical: relics, herbs, powders, oils, crystals, candles, books, and more. I remembered my first reaction to this room wasn’t as pleasant. The elders of my witch coven had taught me that vampires and witches could—and would—never find a common ground. But since I became a vampire, that’s all I’ve seemed to discover: a common ground.

  “Want to help? Here,” I said, grabbing some items from a shelf and tossing them into his arms. “Hold these.” I grabbed the final pieces for our burial ritual and closed the door behind me.

  Outside, I sat the items down beside the cemetery and began to work my magic—literally. The hour I spent cleansing ritual relics by passing them through the sage stick’s smoke and setting up for circle seemed to come to an end almost as soon as it began. Behind me, black-clad members of my coven filed out of the manor and took the steps down toward me.

  I smiled at my house-mates. “I know this isn’t going to be the ceremony you’re used to, but I promise I will do my best to honor our fallen. It is very important that you do not cross this line,” I said, pointing to an invisible barrier. In truth, there was nothing there, but I couldn’t allow anyone to break the circle. Had I had the time to learn control, I would have raised my own shield—one of my nifty vampire powers—as a barrier. “Sebastian will cleanse my aura and then join you.”

  I nodded to Sebastian, and he stepped forward, grabbing the burning bundle of sage. While I didn’t fully trust his motives for finding me, I knew I didn’t have another choice. Only a witch could speak these words, and besides me, he was the only one around.

  “How do you enter?” he asked.

  “With perfect love and perfect trust,” I said. He waved the smoke stick up and down the length of my body. I turned so my back faced him, and he repeated the cleansing motion. I entered the circle, picked up my athame dagger, pressed the tip to the ground, and closed the circle. I walked to the center, where my altar sat. On it, I placed relics to represent each of our seventeen fallen members. Jasik and the other Hunters had chosen their memorial items. They brought pictures, cherishe
d collectibles, and more.

  I took a deep breath, calming the turmoil that raged within me, and then faced east. With my arm outstretched, I maintained my grasp on the athame and pointed the tip before me and toward the sky. “All that falls must rise again, and so, our friend shall be reborn. The treasure of life is the air we breathe, that for which we will forever be grateful. I call to the gods of the east to bless this circle.”

  Still holding the athame, I turned and faced south. “As our life is but a day, our friend has passed into the night. Our strength, memories, courage, and the fires of our lives are given to us by our fallen friend. I call to the gods of the south to bless this circle.”

  The athame burned in my hand now as the power of my words fueled its energy. I turned again, this time facing west, and said, “As the sun sets, our friend has now left us. Our tears are like the waters of the ocean. I call to the gods of the west to bless this circle.”

  One final time, I turned and faced north. “As the earth has formed us, we now must return our friend back to that earth. We honor the gods for the life they have bestowed upon us and our friend. I call to the gods of the north to bless this circle.”

  My breath came in short, quick bursts, as the elements swirled around and within me. As they flowed into each crevice of my being, I smiled and silently thanked the gods. I may not have been a very good vampire, but I was a damn good witch.

  I turned to face the altar and the remaining members of my coven, who watched with watery, wide eyes.

  I raised the athame and pointed it toward the moon, saying, “You are the moon, Mother Earth, and the goddesses. Though you have fallen, you will remain an eternal creation, a life with no end, a never-ending cycle.

  “You are the sun, the gods. You are born from us and will live through us. You only live and die to be reborn again. You are the destroyer, the ruler of the land of the dead.