Chapter
1
A
breaking news alert flashed on the TV screen as I bit into my bagel.
As
the reporter stood by, the camera panned over to the lifeless body of
a young woman hanging from a tree branch. “Witch” was carved into
her gray, blood-stained forehead. He sighed and hung his head. “A
seventh victim has been added to the list.”
I
shoved my bagel aside as a sick feeling gripped my stomach. My heart
ached as I stared at the girl’s lifeless face. How could someone be
so cruel and sadistic? This was not just a random act of cruelty. And
where were the police in all of this?
My
mom walked in, grabbed the remote, and shut off the TV.
“I
was watching that.”
“There’s
no need to watch some sicko murder young women. Life’s too short to
fixate on people like that.”
“I’m
not fixated,” I clarified. “I’m concerned. There’s a
difference. That’s seven girls now. Each with the word ‘witch’
carved into their foreheads. What are the police doing?
Nothing?”
She
blew me off. “Investigations take time. The police are doing
everything they can. Your dad and I see a lot of accidents at the
hospital. Sadly, crime is a real thing. But you,” she kissed my
forehead, “don’t need to worry about that. Your focus should be
on college and the class you need to get to.”
Mom
was wrong. I had to worry. The creep pursued young women,
specifically witches, a trait I shared and kept to myself. While my
parents were blue-eyed and blonde-haired, I had pitch-black hair and
brown eyes, and I also had strange birthmarks covering my forearms.
It might seem like I have a tragic story, but I believe everything
happens for a reason. Maybe I was destined to be abandoned outside
the hospital where my adoptive parents worked. As they headed home
after a long shift, they heard a faint cry near the emergency
entrance. Rushing to investigate, they found me abandoned on the
front steps, bundled in a pink blanket. As fate would have it, they
immediately took me in and showered me with love.
As
a baby, a toddler, a teen, and now at 19, a college student, they
never saw me as anything but sweet, curious, sulky, and smart. They
had no idea what I was hiding, the power I perfected, the spells I
practiced, the magic I shed. In their eyes, I was like them. I knew I
was someone beyond their comprehension, someone powerful. But who was
I? Who were my birth parents who should have taught me how to use the
gifts given to me at birth? The only information I had about my past
came from visions—an image of a dark figure dropping me outside the
hospital. There were no records of my birth, my parents, a
location—as if I never existed. Bringing my questions to my
adoptive parents wouldn’t do any good. They’d kept these secrets
hidden from me. In spite of me knowing the real truth, my adoptive
parents provided a birth certificate, giving me the name, Raven
Sagestone. I love them, but I want answers. I wanted to know the
truth, and it was clear it wouldn’t come from them. This was
something I had to figure out for myself.
I
put on my cropped denim jacket, kissed my mom on the cheek, and hit
up Uber on my cell. My driver’s tests were a total disaster. I
failed every time. It creeped me out when the instructors stared at
me with their beady eyes. So…my driver’s license was out, and
Uber was in. Having someone else do all the driving was a much better
plan, for now anyway.
Forty
minutes before class, the Uber driver dropped me off in front of the
massive steps leading up to entrance of Granite Bay University. It
was one of the oldest schools in Jodence, like something straight out
of a fairytale. Its structure was reminiscent of a castle, with its
towering columns, decorative arched windows, and cone-shaped roof;
yet modern-day people dressed in jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers
surrounded the ancient building—me being one of them.
In
the past fourteen weeks, my daily agenda had consisted of visiting
the library before class and researching its extensive collection of
witchcraft, magic, and supernatural books.
One
of those books was certain to contain the answers to my birthright. I
absorbed every word I came across about soul-bending, mental
conjuring, healing rituals, protection rituals, binding magic, and
the lore of fire, water, and air. One of the most fascinating things
I discovered was the witch’s mark. It has likely been around for
hundreds, if not thousands, of years. However, between the 15th and
18th centuries, it had a much darker history than it does now.
Witches were often burned, hanged, drowned, and tortured, and those
with red hair and extra fingers and toes were often suspected of
witchcraft. Witch hunters used moles, birthmarks, scars, and extra
digits to identify witches. It was a myth that a particular god or
bloodline was associated with the presence of a mole cluster or
rose-colored mark. My arms were covered in black symbols like ancient
ink, and neither a cluster nor a mark applied to me. Thank goodness I
wasn’t born back then.
With
my arms full of books, I walked beneath the library’s massive brick
archways, combing its numerous aisles for books I hadn’t read. When
I rounded the corner, I tripped over a guy sitting on the floor. My
books flew through the air and landed with a thud. I groaned as I hit
the ground, hoping I had not damaged my books. The guy on the floor,
on the other hand, quickly sprang up and apologized profusely.
His
hands steadied me as he blurted, “Whoa, sorry.”
He
helped me gather my books and ensured I was okay.
An
adorable smile swept along his lips as he brushed sandy-brown hair
out of his hazel-colored eyes. He was probably one of those guys
unaware of how cute he was, but cute or not, he’d parked his ass in
the middle of the aisle, causing me to trip.
“What
the hell, dude? There are tables to sit at and read.”
“Yeah,
I see your point,” he grinned, revealing dimpled cheeks as he
flipped through the books. “So you’re into witches? Or maybe it’s
research for a paper about what’s going now right now?”
“Does
it matter?”
He
squished his eyebrows together and tilted his head to the side. “Do
you know my sister?”
“Huh?”
“Never
mind.” He tucked the books under his arm and bobbed his chin toward
the tables. “Here, let me help you. It’s the least I can do.”
With
a smile, I accepted his offer. “Thank you.”
He
arranged the books on the table before shoving his hands into his
pockets. Then he stood there, studying me.
“Stare
much?”
“Has
anyone told you, you’re difficult?” He didn’t wait for me
to respond. “But hey, I apologize for staring.” He spread his
fingers and moved them in a circular motion over my face. “You
remind me of someone, Eve. She’s got the same dark hair, ivory
skin, and red lip look.”
I
shrugged. “I don’t know anyone named Eve.”
“Hmph.”
The
sound of a distant scream sent chills down my spine. My eyes darted
around, searching for the source. “Did you hear that?”
“That
was definitely a scream.”
Students
leapt from their seats, hurling books onto the floor as their gazes
swept the room. Librarians abandoned their posts and spilled into the
aisles. Panicked voices shouted, “Who screamed?” “What
happened?” Me and the guy were thrown into madness by a stampede of
people charging to the exits and pushing us out of the building and
onto the library’s steps.
The
echo of my thumping heart filled my ears as I tried to figure out
what was happening around me. The once orderly campus had become a
chaotic mess as hundreds of people rushed by, pushing and shoving,
their faces filled with panic. As I fought my way through the crowd,
I couldn’t help but wonder where everyone was going and what had
happened to cause such chaos.
“There!”
the guy pointed toward the sculpture of the university’s tower in
the courtyard.
I
gasped as my eyes landed on the bodies. Three girls hung from the
white tower with their necks bound together, now covered in blood. As
I looked at their lifeless eyes and saw the word “witch” carved
across their foreheads, a chill ran down my spine. An eerie, tragic,
and horrific scene surrounded the stained white tower. As students
and teachers huddled together, whispering in disbelief, a shrill of
sirens echoed in the distance, intensifying panic and fear. Police
authorities were under pressure to find those responsible for these
horrific acts.
“Damn,
three this time,” he uttered with shock.
I
couldn’t speak. My throat swelled with a huge sob as I slowly shook
my head.
The
police rushed in, their footsteps pounding the sidewalk as they raced
toward the tower. Their faces were determined as they cautiously
approached the cordoned-off area. They quickly pulled out their
clipboards and meticulously documented the evidence, taking
photographs of the area.
An
officer, wearing an exasperated expression, yelled. “Get back! This
is a crime scene.”
I
flinched, staggered backward, before firmly planting my feet on the
ground. I wasn’t going anywhere. This was my battle. I needed
answers. Those poor girls needed answers too. My eyes grew wide as I
demanded, “Why don’t you find this sick creep before we all
die?”
The
guy’s gaze burned into my flesh as he snapped his head toward me.
“What are you doing?”
The
officer thrust his shoulders back and barked out, “You need to step
back.”
“Are
you trying to get arrested?” the guy whispered in my ear.
Just
as his words entered my head, I overheard someone say, “They’re
ice cold; not a drop of blood in them.”
My
eyes locked on the authoritative policeman. “Blood? Is that new?
Were the other girls drained of blood too?”
A
pair of squinted eyes glared at me. “You can retreat or go downtown
and think about your actions in a jail cell.”
“Omgeez,
man up much?” the guy said as he grabbed my arm and hurried me
away. “You need to calm down.”
I
tore my gaze away from the dead girls and locked it on him. “Don’t
tell me what to do. You don’t know anything about me. I want
answers for those girls.” And
myself,
I privately declared. “It seems nobody is fighting for them.”
“It
might seem that way on the surface, but I’m sure they’re doing
everything they can to help.”
“I
wish I could believe that, but dead bodies keep showing up…” My
voice cracked as the sob squeezing my throat broke free. My shoulders
quivered, and I buried my face in my hands.
He
wrapped his arm around my shoulders and softened his voice. “They’ll
catch ’em. It’ll be okay.”
Sniffling,
I sighed, “I can’t concentrate. I can’t be in class.”
“We
can walk to The Grind, get a coffee, and just relax.”
I
nodded and then hung my head as he led me away from the gruesome
scene of dead girls.
Once We Were Witches
Immortal
Kiss Series Book 4
by
Laura Daleo
Genre:
Dark Urban Fantasy
The
mysterious world of witchcraft, murder, and mystery thrusts Raven
Sagestone into an adventure whose main goal is to unlock the secrets
of her powers. To do this, she teams up with Brandon Cass, an
outsider with knowledge of the supernatural world. Raven is
introduced to Eve, a psychic who reads destinies. Despite this, Raven
is protected by a strong magic barrier, preventing Eve from seeing
her. Brandon and Raven search for the truth at Bloodthirst, a vampire
club. Visiting The Council's haven with Margarete and Caleb is
Raven's chance to find answers to the questions that have plagued
her.
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The
Vampire Within
Immortal
Kiss Series Book 3
Brandon Cass is not your average
teenager. He has a taste for blood—human blood. For sixteen years,
he stumbled through life without a hitch until the enigmatic aroma of
blood awakened something dark within him. Visions of a beautiful
young woman with chocolate brown hair and ocean blue eyes haunt his
mind, yet her identity is a puzzling mystery.
His
hunger for blood strengthens, and the cravings become too powerful to
control. No one is safe, not even his family. To safeguard all he
once found dear, Brandon sets out on a quest for answers. In an
unfamiliar city, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful young
woman, confronts the dark force which controls him, and learns what
he must endure to reclaim his soul.
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Bound
By Blood
Immortal
Kiss Series Book 2
Five
years crawled by at a painfully slow pace for young vampire, Beth;
each year more agonizing than the next. The powerful unyielding spell
which masked Amon’s whereabouts showed no signs of weakening.
Influenced by the binding ritual and Amon’s blood surging
inside her, Beth will stop at nothing, and risk everything, to find
him and turn the tables on Osiris, Isis, and Hathor. In foggy
streets of London, lives are threatened by a new breed of hunter, and
nothing is what it seemed. Beth once again finds herself
surrounded by betrayal. In the midst of it all, she is forced
to choose between Philippe and Amon – knowing that her decision
will change one life forever. But whose?
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Bound by Blood continues Beth’s and Philippe’s story. In book
one, readers got to watch Beth and Philippe lead a whirlwind romance
and Beth go from being a human to a vampire. Secrets were revealed,
and Beth’s true love was revealed – Amon, the being of mist who
visited her frequently and whom she gave her heart to. The problem?
Well, Beth believed the lies that Philippe lead her to believe, and
so she married him. But Amon is who she truly cares for. Book one,
Immortal Kiss, ended with Amon being tricked, and Philippe left to
deal with Beth as she mourned his loss.
Bound by Blood’s
cover showcases a young woman with blond hair holding a goblet and
her hands are dripping with blood. It’s a scene that will feel
familiar as a similar scene played out in book one. Is this image a
prediction of what is to come in this story as well? Well, only time
will tell.
Bound by Blood picks
up where book one, Immortal Kiss, left off. Amon has been “taken”
from Beth and she mourns his loss. This has created quite a lot of
tension between Beth and Philippe. Beth is struggling and Philippe
resents her ultimately for it. In his mind? She should be thrilled
that Amon has been out of the picture for this past few years.
Meanwhile, on the anniversary of the loss, Beth gets ridiculously
drunk.
Beth has been a
vampire for five years, and this story will, overall, showcase some
maturity compared to book one. We get to see Beth struggle with her
binding to Amon, but knowing that he is off, against his will, with
another. You’d honestly think that since Philippe agreed to share
her that he’d be more considerate of her feelings.
Instead, the author
routinely has Beth feeling bad for having an emotional attachment to
Amon. She frequently feels guilt for caring about Amon and not
putting Philippe first. Yes, they are married, but in the vampire
world, that holds little to no weight in their eyes. Yet, you have
Philippe routinely being a jerk in one form or another. It’s a
touch bizarre. But then again it goes to the point that with Amon’s
appearance in book one, Philippe now has no reason to continue to
wear the mask of deception he used to lure Beth to love him.
Readers are
definitely going to get another side of Philippe in this book. He’s
far from the sweet “Mr. Perfect” guy that he showed to Beth.
Instead, there is a darker side to him that comes out quite
frequently. Author Daleo writes Philippe as routinely either playing
victim in an attempt to manipulate Beth, or simply looking to control
her to keep her away from Amon. You’d think that Beth would try to
stand up for herself when it comes to Philippe’s attempts at
controlling her. Yeah, that’s a no. Which is disappointing.
Does Beth show some
backbone in Bound by Blood? Yes, there are a couple of moments, but
we wanted and needed more. She wants to seem like a fierce and fiery
character, but when a situation truly calls for her to show that
backbone...she wilts. Honestly, we got tired of her basically
catering to Philippe so much. How often does he cater to her? It’s
few and far between for the amount of back bending that she does for
him in an attempt to spare his feelings.
There is a lot of
transitioning in this book. Beth and Amon finally come together, but
the way that things play out between Beth and Philippe is a touch of
a head scratcher. It doesn’t really make sense. She does nothing to
merit the emotional trauma that he puts her through. It’s simply
about his bruised ego and so he does what he can to hurt her the
most.
Author Daleo writes
Beth as an overly forgiving character. When we say overly forgiving
we mean exactly that. If someone can cheat on you, and you managed to
flip it all around and say that it was your fault for them having a
temper tantrum and hooking up with the first piece of tail they could
grab...yeah, you’re over thinking it. The same when someone learns
you don’t want to be in a relationship with you, and they decide to
go join a group of homicidal maniacs.
Beth is made to
shoulder too much of the blame and believe that everything is her
fault. We don’t know if the intent is to make her look like a truly
“caring” or make her look overly forgiving. Either way, it makes
her look too soft. We wanted more from Beth, and it just fails to
deliver. Author Daleo focuses heavily on Beth “maintaining” her
“humanity.” But it just feels like it gets overly done and
detracts from her development as a character.
When it comes to the
overall storyline, we have to admit that book two was leaps and
bounds better than book one. While book one had some good elements,
Bound by Blood exceeds it by really captivating the reader into
plunging through this book to learn whether Beth and Amon are
reunited, and what exactly will be the fall out for all the swirling
relationship drama and much more.
The ending of this
book appears to give the characters a HEA moment, so it’s safe to
say that this will be the conclusion of Beth’s and Amon’s story.
It’s an okay ending with basically all the loose ends being tied up
rather neatly and leaving most of the characters to pursue their
paths as they see fit.
Pros:
- Storyline is
engaging
- Twists
- Interesting
elements
- Nicely paced
- Good character
development overall
Cons:
- FMC still clings
to her naivety
- FMC is made to
shoulder too much blame and responsibility for other’s actions and
choices.
4 out of 5 stars
Immortal
Kiss
Immortal
Kiss Series Book 1
Centuries ago ten powerful
vampire gods first walked the earth; their blood thirst knew no
boundaries. The destruction of mankind was inevitable. Recognizing
their weakness, they selected twelve wise human beings to transform
with their godly blood. These twelve, known as The Old Ones and The
Council, govern The Ten. A blood lottery appeasing The Ten’s hunger
was set forth into the human world and passed down every fifth
generation, continuing into the present day.
All
of Beth Ryan’s life a mysterious mist has watched over her; a mist
she believed to be a vampire. On a cold winter night, Philippe Delon,
a 700-year-old vampire walks into Beth’s life. She is drawn to him,
certain he is the vampire behind the mist...but is he?
Beth
and Philippe cannot deny their love for each other, nor do they try
to fight it. Within days of their encounter, Beth accepts Philippe’s
invitation to move into his mansion. The mansion unlocks the door to
the vampire world and exposes secrets from Beth’s past. Within its
walls, she learns the true identity of the mist, her link to the
blood lottery, and betrayal of her loved ones. Surrounded by lies,
Beth stands before The Council begging for resolution.
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About
the Author
LAURA
DALEO has been writing for over 20 years and has published 7 books.
In addition to advocating for reading and writing, she is a strong
supporter of the Indie author community. She is well known for her
Immortal Kiss series which captures vampiric persuasion. The Egyptian
pantheon, which gave rise to vampires, is explored in this series in
an interesting way.
Laura
has a passion for writing stories that explore the supernatural realm
and bring her characters to life. Her published works include
Immortal Kiss, Bound by Blood, The Vampire Within, Once We Were
Witches, The Vow, The Soul Collector, and The Doll.
With
her Facebook group, The BOOKLounge For Readers and Authors, she has
created a community for readers and authors. It is home to over 65k
active members. In addition, Laura is contributing to a short story
anthology with four other authors from The BOOKLounge for Readers and
Authors. The anthology is scheduled for release in October 2023.
A
native of San Diego, California, Laura now lives in Tucson, Arizona
with her two dogs, Rose and Cooper.
Website
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Author
Links
Website:
https://www.lauradaleobooks.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLauraDaleo
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