Anna's Hope Episode Two

By Odette C. Bell

Anna might’ve defeated that dark wizard, but she’s done nothing since.
Before she can pack her bags and quit the bounty hunting business, she’s drawn further into the murky depths of Marchtown. Scott has a lead on the calling candles, and he needs her help. It’s dangerous though – the kind of dangerous that sees dead wizards wash up in the river.
From murders to kidnappings, dark forces will throw everything they have at her. If she can’t fight back, she’ll lose – not just her job, not just her life, but her soul.
....
Anna’s Hope follows a bumbling, allergic witch and the most powerful (and handsome) wizard in the city fighting to solve magical crimes. If you love your urban fantasies with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Anna’s Hope Episode Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Mar 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310318238

Book preview

Chapter 1

It had been a few weeks since Anna’s victory, and she hadn’t had one since. Any enthusiasm she’d earned after toppling that dark wizard was dissipating in the face of reality.

She couldn’t do this, could she?

Anna was not a bounty hunter.

Meredith Pride worked behind the bar, humming to herself as she cleaned glasses and rearranged suspicious bottles of liquor. Meanwhile, Anna sat on the edge of a stool, leafing through a manila folder full of photos. They weren’t happy holiday snaps; they were mugshots. Terrible mugshots. It was a surprise the photographer hadn’t died on the spot. Just a few glances at each photo was enough to give someone a deadly case of the creeps.

Have you found anyone you want to go after yet? Meredith questioned as she threw her rag into the air and caught it with one manicured hand that looked as if a master like Leonardo da Vinci had painted on the polish. Though Meredith never slept, and rather spent all of her time either tracking down bounties or serving alcohol, she looked perfect. In fact, she looked like the definition of perfection. Everyone else could and would be judged against her, and they would come up lacking.

Anna especially.

Though she was no longer wearing her trademark floral blouses and lacy socks, it didn’t matter. She would always look like an awkward, ditzy kid in comparison to Meredith.

Meredith leaned on the bar, one elegant elbow pressing into the polished wood. Her lips kinked into a smile. Though she wasn’t wearing lipstick, it didn’t matter; makeup was there to accentuate what was already present on her perfect face.

Anna had always had a problem with confidence. She was the kind of girl who went about her life, judging herself against impossible examples and fantasies.

Still, as hard as it was to believe, she was getting better. Marginally. After her victory against that dark wizard, things were changing. Slowly. Very slowly. But it was a start, and that was a good thing.

She offered Meredith a smile. I’m still looking, unfortunately.

Meredith curled an eyebrow. Sweetie, you’ve been doing that for the past half hour. There are only 20 or so shots in that file. You sure you haven’t come across any you want to take on today?

Anna sank her teeth into her lip and rolled it about.

Let’s see, who were her candidates this week?

There was a guy named Frank Waters, and while his name seemed almost decent, his bio didn’t. He was half wizard, half confirmed nut-ball. He’d broken out of the nearest magical asylum and was peppering the streets with graffiti. Not just any graffiti, mind you, pictures that would and could come alive, drawing their unwitting witnesses into the mural. While that was a great way of keeping your artwork fresh, it was a horrible way to spend the afternoon. Until a witch or wizard came along to break you out, you’d be rubbing shoulders with painted evil.

Now let’s see, who else? Ah yes, there was a woman called Vera Walkers. While people with the name of Vera were always evil, Anna didn’t know, but the rule stood. Vera Walkers had a traveling market stall that would appear down different alleys or laneways, selling the hardest-to-find, darkest gear you could imagine. From calling candles to real blood, she was the woman you went to if your aspirations were dark.

Calling candles…. Just the thought of them made Anna straighten in her chair.

Now that was a bounty she wanted to go after. Problem was it wasn’t a bounty yet. Though Aaron was still looking into the mystery of those candles and had been ever since the demise of that dark wizard, he had no leads.

There was nobody to arrest, and therefore nothing Anna could do.

She’d tried doing some informal investigations on her own, but nothing worked.

You look distracted, sweetie. What are you thinking about? It better not be that Scott Heart, Meredith grumbled.

Anna looked up, blinking in a frenzy, her eyelashes like windscreen wipers trying to clear her vision. Ah, her voice trembled, why would I be thinking about Scott?

Meredith snorted. It was so loud and reverberating, it was a surprise the glass she was cleaning didn’t shatter. I’m not an idiot, Anna, I know you’ve got the hots for him. But trust me, don’t go there. It’s not worth it.

Anna blushed. She tried everything to stop the heat from rising over her cheeks, but nothing short of magic would help. If she did practice magic on her own body, the resulting heat rash would be far worse than the blush. It would be so incandescent, you’d be able to fry an egg off her face and still have enough heat left over to warm an entire Siberian village.

Trust me, Meredith leaned back, grabbed another glass, and started to shine every mark and scratch off it, "Scott is nothing but trouble. He may look good – no great – from the outside. But if you get involved with a bounty hunter, you’ll never be the same again. A boy like that would just corrupt you," she added as she wagged a finger Anna’s way.

Anna did blush at that. I wasn’t thinking about him, she defended herself, I was thinking about the case again.

She didn’t need to elaborate. Though there was an entire manila folder in front of her full of cases, there was only one she could be referring to now.

Meredith looked up with a twitch, her crystalline eyes sparkling as she narrowed them. As much as I hate to admit this, that’s above our station, hon. We can’t go looking into it, certainly not alone. I may not always like the guy, but I can guarantee that Aaron will be trying to sort it out. He’ll be throwing wizards at it left, right, and center. All we can do, she leaned over and tapped the manila folder, is get to work. We’ll leave the impossibly hard stuff up to Aaron and his boys, and we’ll do the still dangerous but far more profitable stuff.

Anna found herself nodding, even though she had no intention of letting this go. On the face of it, she understood and appreciated Meredith’s argument. Deep inside, Anna couldn’t deny how she felt.

This wasn’t done for her. It wasn’t over. She would find out the secret of those calling candles, and she would make sure that soul catcher was never summoned again.

Just the thought of the woman made her stomach churn. She placed a hand on her chest and tapped it hard.

She still woke up at night remembering that slender form, that sleek black hair, and the tinkering laugh of the soul catcher.

You better hurry up and find your target for this week, Meredith continued as she selected one of the glasses she had just shined and sloshed some golden liquid into it. Taking a sip and mulling over it as she stared at Anna, one eyebrow lifting and cutting high into her soft curls. I know you may not be the most confident girl in the world. But unless you want to be the most destitute, I suggest we get down to work.

Chapter 2

Anna returned home from work to find the house a mess. This wasn’t that much of a surprise; the house liked it when it was a mess. In fact, it resisted any attempt to clean it. If Anna tried to scrub the floor, vacuum, or clean the grout from the tiles in the kitchen, the mess would be back. Sometimes within days, sometimes within hours, and sometimes it would hail dirt, dust, and cobwebs on her whilst she was still brandishing her mop.

Though it was hard, she was starting to get used to her evil abode. She was still looking for somewhere else to live, of course, but the general ambiance of the place wasn’t bothering her as much.

There was one silver lining. Luminaria loved it. As such, she was less of a pest. Anna didn’t come home to find as many of her clothes lying in tatters or strewn over the floor and covered in fur and bits of rat.

As she pushed the front door open, and it creaked with a groan more ominous than a volcano getting ready to explode, she let out a soft, Hello. I’m home.

And about bloody time. Do you know how hungry I am? I’ve been subsisting off nothing but rats all morning long. Luminaria was sitting in the middle of the hallway, staring at Anna with one lip twitching. If her eyes were guns, they’d be blasting away with every blink.

Anna walked in and tried for a smile as she patted her hair behind her ears. She’d been putting more effort into it lately. Once upon a time, the most she’d done with her hair was brush it, and only when she had an industrial brush and tangle remover on hand.

These days, she utilized liberal amounts of that magical product she’d found in Aaron’s bathroom. With enough effort, a little bit of luck, and a spark of magic, she could make it look almost decent. Her wild black fuzz ball no longer looked like a rat’s nest. It resembled something more akin to human hair. On a good day, it could even be sleek and straight.

Luminaria stood up to reveal a row of five rats’ tails arranged in ruler-straight lines. I’m hungry.

Anna made a disgusted face. Shaking a hand at the rats’ tails as she clamped her fingers over her nose, she asked, Oh my God, did you eat all of those this morning?

Luminaria snorted. Of course I did. Now I am hungry. Feed me some tuna. And don’t forget the dill, she warned.

You’ve had five rats, Anna pointed out in a high-pitched, disbelieving tone. I mean, you have eaten them, right? You haven’t just dissected the tails and left the bodies somewhere? She shivered as she thought that. She would not put it past Luminaria, the most horrible witch in the world, to stash five dead rat bodies around the house, probably between Anna’s sheets or amongst her laundered and folded clothes.

One side of Luminaria’s lips kinked up. It was a slow and calculating move. Perhaps I have, perhaps I haven’t. But I will most definitely have fun watching as you find out.

Anna pressed her hand over her lips and tried hard not to throw up.

Moving into the kitchen and dumping her bag on the bench, she looked in the fridge for some food.

There was none there. Sure, there were several cans of tuna chilling to the exact temperature Luminaria preferred, but there wasn’t anything for Anna.

After she’d defeated that dark wizard, she’d received a reward – a sizable one. Somehow, three weeks later, all the money was gone, spent on keeping one Luminaria von Tippit in tuna and on fine velvet pillows.

Anna sighed, pushing a hand through her hair and blinking hard.

I should be the one sighing, thank you very much, Luminaria pointed out as she trotted into the kitchen, her claws scraping against the tiles, you are ignoring my wishes. You are contract bound to look after me, and I am hungry. Unless you want a broken leg, I suggest you go and pick some garnish from the garden.

Alright, alright, I’m going. Anna put her hands up in conciliation.

Luminaria stared on, her gaze so dark it looked like the depths of space.

Ignoring her gaze as it sliced into her back, Anna walked out the front door.

She always liked to dress in galoshes and a heavy jacket whenever she went into her garden. It wasn’t because she was worried the neighbors might catch sight of her pajamas and judge her.

Oh no, it was in protection.

While the house was brimming with evil, in many ways, the garden was worse. Some days she’d come back to find massive holes with God knows what liquid bubbling in the bottom, likely seeping up from some fresh crack in Hell.

That wasn’t to mention the junk that appeared out of nowhere. Broken hexes, shattered poison bottles, you name it.

It was a surprise the neighbors hadn’t called the cops. Then again, she hadn’t seen any neighbors. Every other house on this street was condemned. She wasn’t joking; they were all cordoned off with bright red tape and had council signs bolted to the doors.

The humans must have recognized this street was beyond creepy. That being said, even though the houses were condemned, she doubted they would be destroyed.

The evil vibe thundering off this place like water from a tsunami would resist any attempts to knock it down. It would chase away any councilman brave enough to walk down the street, let alone organize a dump truck and a wrecking ball to start cleaning this place up.

In a way, it made this hellhole of a crescent perfect. While Anna would have much preferred to live somewhere nice – more like Aaron’s stunning abode – she had to be cognizant of the fact she owned Luminaria. A brazen, bad-mouthed, talking cat.

If Anna did have neighbors, by now they would have moved away. Luminaria would have broken into their houses, murdered their goldfish,