Justice First Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

The game of cat-and-mouse continues, but the stakes get higher with every new death.
Melanie can’t and won’t stop herself. Now she’s found her power, she will wield it to bring justice to the criminal streets of Erebus.
But Tyr won’t allow her free rein. He’s more determined than ever to find Melanie. Yet what starts out as a drive for justice soon turns into something else. A growing connection kindles between them, dragging them closer like two planets in orbit.
Tyr has fought and won his whole life, but he won’t be able to stop gravity from drawing them closer, no matter what he tries.
....
Justice First follows a gritty witch and the immortal tasked to hunt her down on a quest to defeat heaven. If you love your contemporary fantasies with fast-paced action, non-stop fights, and a splash of romance, grab Justice First Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Jan 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005722982

Book preview

Chapter 1

Melanie Rose

She ran. What choice did she have?

No. She did have another option, didn’t she? Turn right around and walk back to him.

Ever since she’d left him, her whole body had started tingling – vibrating in a way she’d never experienced before. It didn’t feel like she’d swallowed electricity – it felt like she’d become it. With every step she took away from him, those vibrations simply zipped and zapped through her with evermore eagerness. They made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end and her skin feel as if somebody was continually pressing their lips up against it and blowing.

She had no clue where she was. She understood this place had something to do with the sewers, but she’d never come down here before. Erebus City – like a lot of other cities with strong magical roots – had an important sewer system. It was ancient. Back in the days, it hadn’t just taken effluent away. It had been a critical piece of magical infrastructure that had distributed force throughout the city. It was constantly monitored. It was a good way to tell how much magic was being used and if it was being concentrated in inappropriate places.

She ran.

She knew she couldn’t come up anywhere near the botanical gardens. For two reasons. The cops would still be there, and God knows how long it would take until Tyr woke up.

If she’d been paying attention to her raging heart and pulsing nerves, she would’ve realized she wasn’t 100 percent interested in the other immortal anymore. A part of her certainly was – the part that drew the bow and arrow and was controlled whenever sins occurred near her. But it was now drowned out by the tumultuous fear that kept rocketing through her from her run-in with Tyr.

Fear… right? It was fear, and not expectation, she told herself firmly.

It didn’t take too much longer until she found some kind of maintenance ladder. It was made out of iron rungs, and here and there, rust sloughed off them. As she climbed them, it impacted her skin. In places, it actually cut her. She was fascinated by the ruby-red droplets that splashed against the rough metal surface. What exactly dictated when she became injured? And why did her ability to heal quickly turn on and off as if someone was randomly toggling a switch?

She had no one to ask. No one but Tyr, right? Wrong. Not only had he promised her something he couldn’t deliver, but she also knew that even if she went to him, he wouldn’t be able to tell her what she was.

She’d seen it in the way he’d stared at her. The interest widening his pupils and contracting his lips into a thin line had confirmed he was just as clueless about her true identity as she was.

He might want to capture her, no matter what, but even he wouldn’t know what she was underneath.

She still had those two words that vampire had hissed at her face before she’d taken him down. Human punisher. Thinking them made nerves catapult through her, but it didn’t help decode what was happening, couldn’t even begin to explain what occurred whenever she encountered a murderer and those screams took control.

She climbed the ladder all the way to the top and found a manhole. She didn’t think she’d have the strength to shift it, considering it was a chunk of solid metal, but after three attempts, finally her strength switched back on, and with a roar rattling from her throat, she threw it to the side. She pulled up onto an abandoned road. It had to be the early morning now. Maybe 3 o’clock – maybe 4. The point was, fortunately for her, there was no traffic around.

She pulled herself out of the manhole and momentarily knelt on the road, her eyes closed, her whole body rocking back and forth as if she was struggling for breath. Then she thought she heard the rumble of a car. She went to leave but realized if she didn’t put the manhole cover back in place, it would be conspicuous. From now on, she couldn’t leave even a scrap of evidence. Because Tyr would come for her again.

As she maneuvered the manhole cover back into place, her stomach erupted with nerves. She might’ve escaped from him, but the tingles racing through her were even worse than they’d been when she’d actually been by his side. Maybe they were simply worsening with time. Or maybe it was her body telling her that if she turned around right now and headed back to the gardens, she’d find him before it was too late for the both of them.

Unsurprisingly, she overruled that particular desire.

She ran.

She didn’t slow herself down, and fortunately, her strength and speed returned in full. It didn’t take long to make it out of downtown.

She didn’t stop running until she reached the thick forest at the back of the city.

She instinctively knew her way back home to the safe house. She didn’t have to stick to the back highway that led to the national park. She just ran in a straight line, not caring about the rough terrain she encountered. Crevices and dips were irrelevant. Steep inclines? She powered up them as if nothing mattered. Her clothes withstood the battering surprisingly well. They were ripped here and there from everything she’d put up with tonight, but by and large, they were fine.

And so was she. When she finally made it back to her safe house, spied that door hidden in the trees, and threw herself within, she could no longer detect any injuries. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she locked her shoulders against it and slid down. Then she set her prying fingers over her skin. She started with the top of her head, made it down to her cheeks, then slid her nails over her throat. When she made it down to her side, she realized there was no evidence whatsoever that anyone had tried to eviscerate her with their claws.

Her torso was fine from Emmanuel’s vicious attack, and so was the skin between her eyebrows. She squeezed her eyes closed now, and she remembered the exact moment that Emmanuel had tried to shoot her – she could even recall the exact force of the bullet. Make no mistake, it had been a real gun. It had been no toy. Yet the bullet had bounced off her as if she was made out of pure magic.

Melanie… she wanted to say she wasn’t human. But all the evidence pointed to the fact she honestly was a human. She was just different. How different, she still couldn’t say.

She staggered through the storage room and went to head straight to bed but stopped. She searched the boxes until she found something that looked like pajamas. They were fleecy and overly large, and that was a great thing.

She went to pull her clothes off and pull her PJs on but realized she needed to wash. Yeah, she wasn’t injured anymore, but by God was she covered in her own blood. She scratched it, and it came off in great chunks that looked as if she’d received a bad coat of paint.

She hadn’t properly investigated the storage room before, and now as she turned on the spot, she noticed a small door to her left. She crouched and walked through. Then her heart leaped into her mouth, and fortunately it wasn’t because there was yet another threat.

Nope. She’d just found everything she was after. There was a bathroom. It was practically palatial compared to the rest of this magical cave system, or whatever she was going to call it.

It was the size of her old apartment. There was a clawfoot iron bath underneath a massive tap, a big sink, and equipment that looked as if it had been used to create spells. She walked straight past the old potions, tapped the edge of the bath until each finger strike rang out like footfall, then happily leaned over to the tap. She tested it to ensure it didn’t spew out green liquid or something equally suspicious. But when a few drops of actual water came out, and she’d confirmed it was pleasantly warm, she turned the tap onto full. She proceeded to pull her clothes off. Then she sunk into the water. She closed her eyes.

That was a mistake. This was meant to be relaxing, but shutting her eyes just brought up images of Tyr.

And that just led to a question that ran through her mind, almost like she’d run through the forest only moments before.

This game wasn’t over. It had only started.

Though she wanted to believe Tyr’s confident statement that he’d catch her again had been nothing but wishful thinking, she knew it was right.

She might’ve managed to run today. But he would capture her again. It was only a matter of time.

As soon as she thought that, she plunged a hand through the water and locked it on her stomach. It trembled. For one single second, a smile flicked across her lips. Then she swallowed it, pulled her lips in, and bit them hard.

It didn’t take long to sober up, to distract herself from the way Tyr had felt when he’d held her on the cracked floor of the sewers.

All she had to do was think of that immortal out there, killing people and helping the shifters do untold crimes.

She dropped her hand. She closed her eyes. She leaned back, and Melanie waited for round two.

Chapter 2

Tyr

The only thing he could be thankful for was the fact Williams and the rest of the police didn’t find him. He managed to pull himself up, stagger to a maintenance ladder, and tumble out onto the street beside the garden entrance.

Williams was there, though it looked as if she was about to man a team into the gardens, despite the danger. As soon as she saw him emerging, she jolted over. Actual compassion and fear flattened her features. Tyr—

I lost her. He knelt there on the pavement, his expression unguarded, his gaze lost.

He knew he wasn’t controlling what his fingers were doing. And right now they were locked on his chest, not his considerable weeping wound.

Are you injured? Williams demanded. Her eyes widened as she stared at how many gashes and cuts scattered him like grass torn up by a hurricane and thrown over a once pristine lawn.

Slowly, he tilted his head down, and he looked at himself.

He was covered in his own blood. His arm was torn apart.

His suit? Why even ask about his suit? Oh yes, because several hours ago, keeping it pristine had been one of the primary uses of his considerable magic. Now… everything had changed.

He pushed to his feet.

Several officers by Williams’s side jolted toward him.

He slowly stretched a hand toward them and shook his head. I will be fine. I simply need time to regenerate.

We humans call it healing, Williams said. Though her words were quick, there was hardly a snarl in them. They might have a trying relationship, but it still looked like real compassion playing in her gaze as she watched him with wide eyes.

Send a team down to the sewer system. You’ll find another pile of dust, he said. He couldn’t keep his tone even. To be fair, he couldn’t control his voice in any way. He could barely hear it. Most of his mental energy was locked on everything he’d learned. You would think the fact Melanie could heal quickly and had considerable inherent strength would be all that mattered. Yet scattered amongst that important information were details that were unquestionably irrelevant. Like the exact way it had felt to hold her against him, and precisely what his mind had done during every second of that proximity.

Who does the pile of dust belong to? Williams asked gravely.

A shifter called Emmanuel. I believe he is the—

The head of the Arcadia Gang, yeah, Williams said. Her eyebrows peaked with shock. He’s one of our number one wanted criminals in the city.

He was one of your number one wanted criminals, Tyr emphasized the word was. Now he is a pile of dust. And a tail, Tyr added.

Williams stared at him. What are you saying…? She cut his tail off before she turned him into dust?

Tyr turned. The threat was gone. The immortal? There was no sense of her anywhere. She wouldn’t have been located physically in the gardens. She would have ported her magic here from a safe location. She was likely in some spacious penthouse apartment downtown, far away from the actual action and firmly ensconced in comfort.

Though right now, she was probably unconscious. She had ported a lot of her conscious energy into controlling that tentacle. And when Melanie had shot right through it, it would have damaged the immortal momentarily. She would bounce back – and she’d do it quickly. But for now, she would be asleep.

If you thought that meant Tyr could take this chance to canvass the streets and look for her, you’d be wrong. Finding the immortal would not be that easy. She had clearly been in Erebus for a long time and had a massive head start on him.

So he turned on his foot. It was time to limp home and lick his wounds.

Where are you going? Williams demanded.

Tyr looked down at his torn-apart shoulder. I need to deal with my injuries.

If the head of the Arcadia Gang is really in the sewers as nothing more than a pile of dust, then we are going to have a gang fight on our hands as soon as this information gets out. I trust my team, but the minute this news hits the rest of the police force, we will have more than trouble on our hands. We are gonna have a war.

Tyr stopped.

He hadn’t even thought of that. His mind had been elsewhere, dammit.

He clenched his teeth now, and he shook his head once.

He had studied before he’d come to the human realm. He’d known how important it would be to get the Erebus Police Department onside. It was the key, in fact, to finding her.

As he’d already admitted, he’d studied everything he could find on every known criminal in the city. He’d done everything he could to ensure this process was smooth and easy. Yet here he was, making such a rookie mistake.

He froze, just as the sound of more squad cars and sirens split the air.

A few high beams cut across him, highlighting his considerable injuries as he turned. Only you and I currently know the dust belongs to Emmanuel, he said. Fortunately, he’d been controlling his tone since the beginning of this conversation, so not even the nearby officers had picked it up.

You and Melanie.

He opened his mouth. He had to catch himself before something came out automatically. Something he shouldn’t dare utter. A statement in Melanie’s defense.

Had Tyr forgotten why he was doing this? No. Melanie was a criminal. Or at least some part of her was.

Yet it was now clear she was being compelled by a greater force. He would now have to discover exactly what that force was before he could allocate true blame. But….

Williams was too astute for her own good. She narrowed her eyes. What’s with that look, Tyr? What did you discover?

She….

What? She’s a human? Do you know that for sure?

He pressed his lips closed. He didn’t know anything for sure.

It had been hundreds of years since Tyr had ever been out of his depth. Now not only had he almost died, but he was so out of his depth, he was certain he was going to drown.

He managed to at least clutch his cufflinks and twist them around.

It turned the majority of his magic inward. It wouldn’t be able to completely heal his injuries. He’d need to return back to his apartment and focus for several hours before the major tears to his bicep would fix themselves.

But he wouldn’t get the time.

Williams turned. It was just as the team returned from the middle of the gardens.

By the sounds of it, the hive of bees had stopped causing chaos. Their queen – or rather king in the form of Emmanuel – had been killed.

What did you find? Williams demanded.

Evidence that a true remote magical tentacle was used, one of her officers spluttered.

Thus far, Tyr had omitted a very important fact.

You’d think the first thing he would tell Williams was about the rogue immortal in Erebus City.

He couldn’t push the words out. Not yet.

The immortals were relatively self-contained. And importantly, they only answered to their own kind.

But perhaps this here was another test of the relationship between him and the Police Department. The exact contract he had signed detailed that whenever a murder was perpetrated by a magical creature, he would share evidence – regardless of what race they were. And it was clear that immortal had murdered – multiple times.

We have no idea who was controlling that magical tentacle, but from the evidence of how easily it burnt through trees and grass, it had to have been a damn strong practitioner. We are talking the level of a sorceress here, the officer continued, his precise knowledge indicating he was likely a warlock himself.

Williams slowly turned to Tyr. What are we dealing with here?

The rain still drove down. It chose that exact moment to get thicker. As it pounded down around him, it felt like weights being added to the already considerable force he had to carry. He managed to straighten his stance and not fall over – yet.

If it weren’t for the fact he believed in justice, he would ignore the contract and never reveal a word about the immortal. But he was ultimately a just man. It was an immortal.

Williams didn’t react, almost as if she hadn’t actually comprehended what he’d said. We’re asking you who was controlling the magical tentacle. They must’ve been working with Emmanuel…. She narrowed her eyes at him as she finally caught up to what he’d revealed.

He didn’t look away. It was an immortal.

He now spoke loudly enough that everybody could hear.

The scene had previously been filled with noise as more squad cars arrived and people shouted orders down their phones. Now everything became perilously quiet. You could drop a pin several blocks away, and everyone would’ve heard it like a clap of thunder.

Are you telling me… we have two immortals in the city? Three including Gyna? Williams forced the words out of rainsoaked white lips.

He wisely chose not to answer that. There were many more immortals than just the three of them.

Tyr, she said, her lips moving stiffly around her teeth, are you trying to tell me—

An immortal was working with the Arcadia Gang.

But you dealt with them, correct?

He tuned in to the noise around him again. The pounding rain, the driving wind. He could do that all he wanted, but it couldn’t distract him from what was happening here.

He had only come to this city weeks ago. It was already going to hell.

Something that should have been easy and cursory was now turning out to be one of the greatest battles of his life. No, he finally answered. I didn’t capture her. She will be injured, but she will rise again. And she will kill once more.

Chapter 3

Melanie Rose

As soon as she was done in the bath, she padded into the kitchen. She found some seriously big socks. They slipped a little with every single step, but they were so cushioned, it was like walking on clouds. She also found a big toweling robe, and she shrugged into it now, letting the soft fabric soothe her even more.

She planned to head straight to bed, but instead she went over to the cooker. She wondered if it only knew how to make eggs on toast. That didn’t matter. Anything would do now. She didn’t need the same amount of food she had in the past, but her stomach still rumbled.

She soon discovered the pot could create clean, iced water, and she drank several liters. Then she waited around as it cooked her something. It was a casserole. She finally dragged herself into bed. Just as she placed her head down on the pillow, she paused, her eyes springing open. What exactly would she dream of?

The last time she’d slept in this exact bed, she’d had nightmares about the immortals. She hadn’t known what they were called then, but now the word couldn’t be moved from her mind. It had taken up permanent root as if it was going to grow into some great old tree right in the center of her damn head.

What if… it would be worse than that? What if she didn’t just dream of immortals, but she dreamed of Tyr specifically? She couldn’t imagine drawing a bow and arrow on him in the real world, but what if she did it in her dreams?

You’d think that wouldn’t matter, right?

Dreams aren’t real, after all. But it didn’t feel like that with Melanie. It felt like they were the training grounds for her power. If she started drawing a bow on Tyr in her nightmares, it would only be so long before she did it in the real world.

But nothing would keep her back from sleep for too long. It soon overtook her. She found herself being dragged down through the layers of consciousness. She’d never been this aware of what it felt like