Dead Magic: The Sanctuary Chronicles, #3

By India Kells

A cursed witch.
A vampire on his last mission.
A love that must defy the odds to survive.

As one of the oldest vampires to walk the earth, Finn O'Malley has lived long enough and is now ready to put an end to it all, to seek solace in oblivion. Just as he makes the decision to disappear, the only woman who ever stirred his curiosity, and the one woman he should avoid, calls for his help.
Witch Violet Shaughnessy knew becoming involved with a vampire was the last thing she should do, especially as her parents had been murdered by one. There was something about Finn O'Malley that called to her though, and she couldn't keep away, even giving him her blood to save his life. Through darkness and despair, her magic cursed, and good and evil fighting for dominance inside her, Violet reaches out to Finn through their blood connection, knowing he's the only one that can save her.
With the clock ticking, Finn and Violet work to defeat the unseen and unknown foe that condemned Violet, only to discover they are stronger together than they are apart. With their lives on the line and pulled into a world of dark magic, Finn is confronted with all the reasons he longed for death, while Violet makes him realize there may be one thing powerful enough to save them, and give him the will to live after all—love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: India Kells
• Release date: Jun 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781989354117

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Finn sat at the bar, an untouched glass of whiskey in his hands. He twirled the liquid over and over again, his gaze lost in it. Easthallows lacked decent pubs, and it was in those moments his Irish blood stirred the most. He missed the energy, the joy, and the music. Everything was too calm in this sleepy Maine town. In fact, after centuries traveling around the world, he still only claimed Ireland as his own. The New World was interesting but lacked something. Although, since he’d met a certain red-headed witch, he’d found more and more reasons to stick around.

Taking a sip of whiskey, he let the liquid burn down his throat, his gaze examining the human world outside the window. Over the years he’d almost forgotten about them—human beings—like images on a painting. It was one of the consequences of living a long existence. At some point, life bursting all around him contrasted too much with the stillness within, like shadows engulfing the light at dusk, so he’d shut himself off.

The more time passed, the less he found anything that held his interest. Until he’d been rescued by Valeria and welcomed, after a while, into Sanctuary. That they’d accepted him so quickly came as a surprise. Clans and species never mixed, except on political or diplomatic issues, and vampires were always outcasts in some form or another. A reality he’d experienced from the moment he’d become a vampire.

His glass now empty, he lamented time past when he could get drunk. Alcohol didn’t affect his metabolism now. Same with food. He ate and drank to keep up appearances. Finn knew drinking blood brought him a closer sense of ecstasy than any other liquid. And the blood of some could become an addiction. Again, the image of the red-haired witch formed in his mind. Once they’d exchanged blood. Once he’d fed on her. His entire body tensed at the memory. Taking blood could be personal, sensual, and if allowed, it formed a link. And Finn knew links, whatever kind they were, could be a threat. Easily turned into a weakness.

Violet Shaughnessy was anything but weak. Worse, she could be dangerous. It was something he’d sensed in his bones, even if part of him, instead of retreating, begged to get closer.

Licking his lips, Finn remembered her taste, her pure life essences, and he knew what he had to do. Ireland was calling, and he’d heed the call.

The setting sun outlined the dust motes floating in the air. The fiery orb colored the sky in so many intense hues, Finn allowed his mind to return to the fascinating witch once more. For one last time.

From the moment he’d seen her, with her wicked mouth and disdainful attitude, it had sparked something inside him. Her blood ignited him.

Downing his whiskey, Finn decided he’d leave tonight, determined to shut that chapter of his immortal life for good. He was delusional. Sharing blood with Violet had opened a line of communication between them, one he battled against and shut off the best he could, one that would only be severed when the witch died.

The thought brought pain and anger, and those futile emotions annoyed the hell out of the vampire, a consequence of spending too much time with humans.

He needed to go back to his motherland and stay there until he’d regained a sense of reality. With immortality came immense powers and influence, and he needed to focus on those instead of a weak human, despite how delectable and fascinating she was.

As Finn threw money on the table and stepped out into the mild spring evening, he looked around one more time. He wouldn’t go back to Sanctuary, and he headed toward the main street where he could catch a cab to the airport.

As he turned the corner, a deep unease spread through his body, surprising him. He was about to dismiss it when unexpected pain sliced through him, and a heart-wrenching scream reverberated through his head. Blood rushing, Finn felt fear for the first time in centuries as he recognized the voice. Violet.

CHAPTER TWO

Breath sliced through his lungs like sharp steel. The pain was like a tide as it ebbed and flowed, he couldn’t think as it was crested. In his unending haze, Finn moved on autopilot. Find where he’d parked his car, drive it on the road, avoid the trees, and head to Sanctuary, the only place that would know where Violet was.

Part of him didn’t want to go there. The panic in him was a scream, and the fear he felt for Violet, for what was happening to her, like a bleeding wound.

Finn forced himself to focus as his car swerved into the opposite lane. A horn sounded, but he didn’t see the car; instead, he saw the sign he’d been searching and turned the wheel.

When he hit the brakes on the Sanctuary road, another scream tore through him, and this time the pain didn’t compare to the flood of fear that came directly from Violet.

The witch was in pain, tortured, felt such a paralyzing dread, it twisted his heart. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he barely had time to open the car’s door before nausea overtook him, and he started retching blood.

He didn’t see the dirt or the blood, his vision was filled with Violet’s beautiful face, and he couldn’t stand what she was currently living through.

Finn!!! How he wished that voice was another’s, but he immediately recognized Valeria, even if he couldn’t see her clearly. He sensed someone else, a man, just behind her, but he couldn’t speak as pain gripped him again, and he almost passed out.

When the agony finally receded and he could draw a breath, Finn found himself crawling in a pool of his own blood mixed with mud, but for the first time in an hour, he wasn’t twisting in agony, his thoughts finally clearing.

Through the red blur, he saw Valeria hovering over him, and her father and his best friend, Soren, by her side. The weredragon, an old member of the High Council, had been the only steady presence in his life, and seeing him with worry on his bearded face almost broke him in two. Soren must have sensed his fragility as he sent his daughter away. Valeria hesitated, but obeyed, quite a feat in Finn’s opinion.

Weak and hungry, Finn sat up and looked around, surprised he had indeed reached his destination.

Soren crouched in front of him, his golden eyes analyzing his face. What happened? Were you attacked? You’re bleeding everywhere!

Wiping his face, he saw his tears were tinged with blood. I’m not wounded… It’s… Violet.

Anybody other than Soren, the person who knew better than anyone else, would have believed the worst at his words. A vampire’s reputation was one of legend, one of a seductive animal that had gained a reputation of being ruthless. It was one of the reasons Finn had dissociated himself from his race after so many centuries.

What do you mean, Violet? I only smell your blood, not hers.

Regaining his ability to breathe normally, Finn looked around, seeing the fading sunlight through the trees. Spring was taking over. Despite patches of snow that still remained, leaves were beginning to bud, making the branches shimmer with green. The same green he saw when he looked in the red-haired witch’s eyes. She’s in trouble. She’s in fucking pain, and I feel it too.

Soren nodded. You took her blood. Man, I can’t remember the last time you did that. It’s opened a portal between you.

He wanted to return with a snide remark but snorted instead. I wasn’t thinking. I acted on instinct when I did that to her. I was in need of blood, and she willingly offered it. Twice. And now I feel what she feels, probably because of how strong the sensations are.

It was obvious his friend was surprised. Hell, Finn couldn’t believe it himself. Over the last few years, since he’d decided to stay longer in America and make Easthallows his temporary home, many things had happened, but the most unexpected had been the fiery witch with the sharp tongue insinuating herself into his blood, making him curious again.

He knew very well the implications of drinking blood from another being, something he’d stopped doing decades ago. Now he only feed on animals as a way to make sure he didn’t become attached to anybody.

Listen, what’s done is done. I won’t explain anymore. And maybe what I did wasn’t such a stupid move after all. Through that link… I felt… It’s unspeakable, Soren. I need to find her. Quickly.

The weredragon groaned but offered him his hand. Nothing is ever simple with you, O’Malley. And since your arrival at Sanctuary, my greatest fear has been that you’d get yourself in trouble, but I’ve got your back, and I’ll do whatever I can to help.

Despite the dread still pulsing through every cell of his body, knowing Soren was always on his side, ready to support him, was more than he could ask.

Although he wanted to jump into his car and search for Violet, Soren held him back, telling him he’d be more useful if he cleaned up and ate first. Determined to be quick and avoid the large mansion, he peeked through the trees. He’d hunt in the woods surrounding Sanctuary for a meal.

Desperate as he was, his senses were still sharp, and it didn’t take long before he found a young buck that filled his need and recharged his power.

Ignoring the cold despite the pale sun, Finn shed his blood-soaked clothes and stepped into a glacial stream to clean up. Vampires were highly sensual beings, more than any other creature of the underworld. For that reason, they also had the capacity to shut down, both physically and mentally, if need be. It was a skill that was often misused by new vampires and misinterpreted by outsiders, one that made bloodsuckers look distant and cold when in reality they were just protecting themselves.

Over time, that skill developed into a sort of shield, allowing them to put distance between themselves and the outside world.

Now sitting in the stream, a semblance of calm returning, he closed his eyes and tried to remember how life had been before he met Violet and linked himself to her. Against his better judgment, he’d been fascinated by her, by the woman who’d made him smile with true amusement for the first time in forever.

He had used humans for food, for sex, to remind himself who he’d been when melancholy had hit, but Finn always considered them disposable tools, although he made it a point of honor to respect them. Creatures of the underworld were different as they were part of his world, knew of his existence. Although they rarely mixed, their own magic flowing through their veins, Finn couldn’t keep his distance, and when he’d met Valeria, he’d been accepted into the weirdest family he’d ever known. A family filled with shifters, monsters, and witches. And Violet—one of Valeria’s two best friends with shy Sera being the other—had turned his world upside down. Lines he didn’t know existed started to intersect, bringing all of them even closer.

For the first time in all his eternity, he didn’t wish for death, but wished he could be someone else, defy the system as Valeria and Sera did, and end his solitude. He’d fantasized about it with Violet, even though he knew very well that any kind of relationship with a witch was out of the question. Not only would the High Council have his hide, but if he allowed himself to bare his heart, it would only lead to suffering. No woman in her right mind would willingly ask to be turned into a vampire, and he didn’t know if he had the strength to see someone he cared about age and die while he remained living until the end of time. Alone.

The only reason he’d forged a friendship with Soren was that as a weredragon, he aged much slower than everyone else. Nonetheless, losing Soren would hurt deeply, so thinking about losing the woman who’d hold his heart was inconceivable.

Even as he fought against that possibility, Finn reached for that thin, almost invisible line of communication linking him to Violet.

***

It was like floating in murky waters, her body heavy, holding itself up only through gravity and the weight of the liquid surrounding it. Violet didn’t want her brain to work, not yet. For the first time in hours, she wasn’t feeling pain, and that alone was all she could ask for.

The shell that was her being felt so cold and empty, as if what had happened had robbed her of breath, blood, and life.

Where was her magic? That too, she was unable to feel. Way past the point of fear, a part of her was now willing to die to escape. With an ultimate effort, she used her last sliver of strength to force her eyelids open.

Either she was blind or surrounded by deep darkness. There wasn’t a speck of light, but she knew in her gut she was alone at the moment. With consciousness causing her brain stir, Violet knew she was lying on the floor, and when she forced her limbs to move, she shivered at the raking of chains over the ground.

That sound in the ocean of silence made her fearful someone would hear her and return. If only she could remember how she’d arrived here and who’d taken her.

The more she was aware of her body, the more aches and pains awakened, and the more her desperation threatened to get the better of her.

Mustering every possible ounce of energy, Violet tried to sit, but her body failed her.

Despite being unable to see with white dots blurring her vision and her head spinning, she relaxed once more, immobile, tears sliding down her cheeks in surrender.

Her end was near; she couldn’t endure much more. Life was slowly seeping out of her replaced by death, and if her torturers returned, Violet knew her fate.

She wished she could reach out to her friends and tell them how much she would miss them. Valeria and Sera had been the only family she’d had since her parents were murdered by vampires. She’d even come to consider Asher and Ian, the two werewolves who’d stolen her friends’ hearts, as big, annoying brothers. And then there was Finn… the contraction in her life. A vampire.

She should have killed him the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, but he’d proved to be trustworthy and useful, to the point where she’d even shared her blood with him.

When she thought about it, Violet still couldn’t understand why she’d done that. Finn had helped her friends so many times, that when he needed saving, she wanted to be the one who shared that bond with him.

When her mind circled around Finn’s image, something warmed in her belly. Even if he was a vampire, and she despised them all so greatly, she longed to have him by her side at this moment.

Of all the people close to her, he was the only one she would let see her like this. What a strange thought, it almost made her smile.

Her mind swirled some more until she could almost feel the vampire standing beside her. She reached out a hand to him, but there was only empty air.

Violet!

Her head fell to the left, listening as if someone had called her name, but the room was empty. It was a sure sign she was going insane. Her mind was turning against her, before her body shut down forever.

Violet?

This time, the male voice was softer, more tentative. And familiar. Her brain cells worked overtime until the voice resonated once more in her skull.

Violet, darling witch, I feel you. Answer me.

Finn. And she felt as if he was taunting her, that annoying smile in his voice that always made her want to punch him present in his words.

Violet reached toward this unexpected lifeline.

Finn… I’m dying.

No, you are not, witchy witch. I’ll find you. All you have to do is stay alive. Shouldn’t be that difficult.

Again, he used that irritating tone as if she were a stubborn child, but she ignored it as the sands of time slipped through her fingers.

Finn, tell Valeria and Sera that I love them, that I’m so sorry…

No! I won’t allow you to say something that stupid.

That made her smile once more.

As if you could ever order me around, vampire. I’m dying. And if you’re not a figment of my imagination, just relay that message. My last testament. Please.

There was a pause, and she thought the tenuous link between them had broken.

I won’t allow it.

Again, through the connection, she could feel his determination, although Violet knew her body wouldn’t survive the next few hours.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Finn. After all, I’m only an annoying witch. You won’t miss me that much.

Another pause.

You mean more to me than you think.

It was cryptic, and before she could wrap her mind around it, footsteps announced the return of her tormentor. When the door opened, and light blinded her vision, Violet couldn’t do anything more than scream as fear pulled her into hell.

CHAPTER THREE

Finn felt like he was being dragged down into the bowels of misery when all he heard was Violet’s scream, and once more he was in a world of agony and pain.

And then it stopped. It was so sudden, Finn felt unsteady until he got his own emotions back under control. Only then did he open his eyes.

Sanctuary’s forest was eerily silent and dark. Still sitting in the stream, ignoring the cold, Finn tried to reach Violet again, but it was as if that door had closed.

Reaching deep down inside his dead soul, he managed to ignore the inner turmoil to stand and act. Leaving the cold stream, Finn headed toward Sanctuary.

Soren stood at the edge of the forest with clothes in his hands. I didn’t think you’d like your junk flinging around for everybody to see.

Finn didn’t speak and covered himself quickly, glad the clothes fitted so he was decent by human standards. With that bothersome task out of the way, Finn looked for his car before remembering