Rockstar Witch Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

Well, there’s no going back now, is there? Technically, Jake Carlisle just kissed Charlotte.
Except he didn’t kiss her. He was just teaching her to control her magic. Something she desperately must learn to do. It’s that, or her gates will do more harm than good.
With Theodore on the war path, after more books and power, Charlotte must navigate him while dodging an all-new threat – Monique Fairweather. There’s only so long Charlotte can hide her powers. Even with Jake’s help, they will reveal themselves. And when they do, they’ll do it with a bang, a crackle, and somehow, another kiss.
....
Rockstar Witch follows a librarian and a vampire rockstar fighting a magical curse. If you love your urban fantasies with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Rockstar Witch Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Rockstar Witch is the 3rd Your True Vampire series. In a world where vampires know their true love at first sight, love brings trouble. Packed with action, wit, humor, and a dash of romance, you can read them separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Sep 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005205669

Book preview

Chapter 1

Charlotte stared up at Jake, mouth open, no words coming out, heart somewhere up near her throat. I… what?

Look, Charlotte, you have no idea what you are, do you? Somehow, he managed to look relaxed, regardless of everything that had just happened. And, you know, the fact that he was covered in cuts.

Charlotte realized that, and she lurched toward him, but only half a step. Her hand opened at least. You’re injured.

He briefly lifted one hand from his pocket, looked at all the cuts and the damage to his jacket, then just shrugged. Yep.

Shouldn’t we get you to the hospital—

There’s no need to get me anywhere. They will show up in a second. Disappointment rose through his voice, as thick as bile.

Who—

You know who. Monique and her team.

Crap. Charlotte had stupidly somehow assumed that they weren’t on their way. A dumb thing to think. Thus far, the two times Charlotte had gotten into any trouble with Jake, Monique and the special division of the police had arrived without needing to be called. Why would now be any different?

Jake watched how much she paled. Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here before then. Though you could probably get yourself out of here. All you need to do is open a gate. His eyes glittered.

She lurched back. It wasn’t in fear. Okay, it was in fear. But not because of the look in his eyes – because of one little word. Gate.

Charlotte had been forced to get over the fact that she was a weak witch during her fight. But there was still a lot to reassess. And there was a lot to… learn.

She couldn’t take it anymore, and she withered under his direct gaze. Swallowing until her throat punched out like a hand against plastic wrap, she turned.

She clenched her fingers together. Then she expanded her senses as much as she could, hoping to catch the second Monique arrived. Then again, wasn’t it within Charlotte’s best interests to leave right now? Wait until the second Monique arrived, and Charlotte would be caught red-handed.

Or… red-something.

Her cheeks flushed again, even brighter when she felt Jake staring at her with that… look.

She could feel his eyes slipping up and down her back and neck, even though she now turned her back to him completely.

There’s a lot we need to discuss, he said through a soft sigh. So you are going to need to come and see me soon.

I still have your backstage pass, she blurted.

She went to add the stupid detail that it was still under her bed. Fortunately, she overcame her twitching lips in time. If they kept going like this, she would have to wrestle them into a cage and lock them away for good.

But excuse her if her body didn’t know how to act normally around him.

And excuse her if her lips particularly were still tingling from when they’d… what exactly had he done again?

She turned back to him. Some things can be greater than our fears, and the curiosity that now rose through Charlotte was one such force. Why did you…? She pointed to her lips. She couldn’t even frigging say it.

What? You know… kiss.

I was channeling magic, he said. I figured that you didn’t know how to fully control your gates yet. And that’s an important fact we need to discuss before Monique— His eyes widened. He snarled. Crap. She’s on her way here. You have got 30 seconds. Open a gate – but not the kind you just opened. Not a gate that absorbs things – a gate to transport through. They are two very different things. He spat all of this out as fast as he could.

The problem was, Charlotte couldn’t even begin to understand a word of it. What if I get it wrong and open an absorption gate? What if you won’t be there to—

You won’t get it wrong. Go, Charlotte. Now. Don’t let Monique catch you with me.

Fear catapulted through Charlotte’s stomach. She lifted her fingers, just like the gate warden had shown her how to do. But just before she could open a gate, Jake lurched over to her. Meet me—

It was too late. Without really having to think it through that much, Charlotte opened a gate. It was just as exhilarating a process as it had been only minutes before. She didn’t have to think too much about it, either.

With the threat that Monique was on her way, all Charlotte wanted to do was run back home and hide her head under her covers.

Her magic did the rest.

Her mind was still remarkably open. Perhaps it wasn’t that remarkable, considering everything she’d been through today.

And from that open perspective, it was pretty easy to see the gaps through matter. Then boom. Or rather, crackle. The gate opened underneath her feet, and she sank right through.

She arrived on top of her bed.

Her knees were at an angle. She fell down onto her pillow.

It was so very different from the sewers.

It was so very different to Jake.

She shot up.

She stared around her room in the faint hope that somehow Jake had come with her. He had not.

So Charlotte was….

Charlotte was exactly where she wanted to be.

She did not suddenly collapse forward and bury her head under her covers.

She pushed off her bed.

That would be when her knees gave out.

She’d managed to fight through the pages, and she’d absorbed her first forbidden book. And dammit, she’d opened three gates in a row.

But she was utterly spent, her breathing ragged, her body as weak as a newborn.

She peeled off her singed, torn clothes, managed to wash, then crawled into bed properly.

Jake had told her to meet him – but she had no idea where or when. She imagined it couldn’t be tonight. Presumably Monique and her special police division would have spirited him away until the morning.

At least that was Charlotte’s thought.

Perhaps, more than anything, it was driven by a twinge of fear. No matter how much she was trying to deny it, she’d seen something all-important tonight. It wasn’t the reality of that which was between matter. It was the rings of light that had surrounded Jake Carlisle’s pupils. It meant one thing. No matter how hard Charlotte tried to hide from it, it would catch up to her soon enough.

Chapter 2

She woke, all bleary-eyed, all sleepy, and all heavy.

It took her an age to roll over and even longer to wink one eye open. She stared up at her ceiling. There was a crack through the plaster. It always reminded her of some gaseous expanse, like a dividing line through the very heart of the galaxy.

Now Charlotte made the mistake of staring at it a little too long, and she… saw between. It was this odd, flashing moment. One second, there was the crack, sitting proudly against her pale white ceiling. The next, she could literally see inside it. She did not see darkness, however. It was too hard to describe what was actually there, but it was like the visual representation of potential. And no – you should not look at the visual representation of potential after waking up from such a heavy night’s sleep – not unless you wanted a particularly mean headache to blast through your brain.

Charlotte sneered at the pain stabbing through her temples, rolled over, and unceremoniously fell out of bed. Fortunately she was usually uncoordinated when she got up in the morning, so she had a soft, plush rug just underneath the feet of her bed.

She struck it with a thump. Her hands locked down onto the thick cream pile on either side of her, and it took her an age to breathe. Even then, it was just a mournful hiss through tightly clenched teeth. This is… frigging insane. She rose. She was still uncoordinated, and she swayed badly like a drunk that had gone on their last bender.

She palmed her face.

Then she stopped.

She could still see that crack out of the corner of her eye.

Don’t look at it. Not unless you want another horrendous headache. But….

But she looked at it anyway.

Because her head could be damned. Charlotte needed to remind herself that last night, she’d leveled up her magic. Hell, who was she kidding? She’d gone up 10 levels.

Even then, that was just a guess, for she didn’t know what a gate witch was and had no clue how powerful they were fundamentally.

The point, however, was last night Charlotte had done something phenomenal.

Hiding from that crack in the ceiling and the pain it brought her skull would be a waste of her time.

She had to face this now.

She also had to get to work. Something her mobile reminded her of entreatingly as it beeped.

She twisted.

She found the jacket she’d dumped beside her bed. She pulled her phone out.

Late again, she winced through her words.

She ran into the bathroom. While she had been smart enough to have a shower before bed last night, she hadn’t dried her hair properly. Now it was an utterly unruly mess. She poked at it miserably. God, it looks terrible. What will people think—

What was she going to fill that in with? What was her boss going to think? Screw her boss. He’d put her in an untenable position. How about Theodore? She absolutely did not care. The only thing she wanted to do with Theodore was to find out his every secret. As for Sally and the rest of the librarians? Though Charlotte had often pretended she didn’t care what they thought, now she knew what it felt like to really not care.

So who did that leave?

Jake, of course.

When exactly am I meant to meet you, Jake? Today? After your next concert? Or… next week? She slowed down way too much as she asked the mirror that, gaze darting up and down her reflection.

Was she looking for any kind of reaction?

You know, an appropriate reaction to the fact that last night they had—

She patted her lips twice. Definitely not kissed. But he knows the truth of what a gate witch is, and unlike everyone else, I think he’s gonna tell me the real facts. Hopefully without dragging me through the coals first. She shivered as she thought of Monique and her close call last night.

Then Charlotte finally dressed.

She walked outside to find a strange sight waiting for her. Her sedan.

She lurched. Crap. She’d left it near the Whisper Club last night. The same club where Monique would know Jake was attacked. What if Monique and her police team had figured out—

Charlotte paused on the side of the street for way too long.

Her sedan quickly grew bored of that.

It started itself, and as Charlotte stared in wide-eyed horror and amazement, it swung around with a rev and stopped in front of her, the tires squealing. The door opened, her seatbelt retracting with a twang.

What the… you can drive yourself? she stammered.

She could see in through the open door to the old, black plastic dash. A tiny electronic screen had appeared out of one of the vents bizarrely. It was super old-school. It didn’t have any colors other than green displayed on black. With a blink, a statement wrote itself across the display, pixelated letter by pixelated letter. Energy kept crackling through the screen, and the letters had to blink back and forth like sleepy fireflies. Last night, the automated self-driving return-to-base protocol was initiated. This vehicle returned here, as this has been established as its new base. If this program is not required, it must be switched off manually.

She blinked, her eyelashes slowly entangling then releasing like someone nervously clutching their hands. She barely understood. Then she got halfway through shaking her head, and the slightest grin took to her lips. Do you… understand English?

She felt like a complete idiot. She was half leaning in through her car door, and there was no one else to talk to. Real people kept passing her on their way to work. And yes, they noticed that she was talking to her forty-year-old sedan.

Restate your question, the car asked, that statement flashing on screen, the lettering pixelated and broken up here and there with the occasional blast of interference from somewhere.

Charlotte lurched. Crap… it could actually understand her, couldn’t it?

She threw herself into the front seat and closed the door with an echoing bang.

She bit her lip. Did you return home on your own last night like some kind of faithful dog? Is that what you are trying to say?

Yes. This car is programmed to always head to the closest location to its owner. When it cannot locate its owner due to excessive magical interference, it will return to base.

That’s insane, Charlotte stammered.

When Barry had given her this car and grinned wildly, claiming there was nothing like it, she’d just thought he was an old automobile enthusiast.

But this was… freaking awesome. You… must be worth an insane amount of money, right? Why did the government give this car to me, then? Suddenly, her good cheer started to wane. What if this was all a trap, and this was the very means Monique was using to spy on her?

This car has been superseded by 300 other models. Magical self-driving has moved on far since 1984 – the year this vehicle was manufactured.

Whoa, she stammered. So you are telling me that the police have had vehicles like this for nearly 40 years?

The history of self-driving magical cars in this city is long. If you request this information, we can escalate that request to the relevant police department—

No, she said as she punched her hand forward and waved wildly in front of the dash. No, no – I’m good. No need to escalate anything. But…. She grabbed her collar and eased it away from her neck like someone trying to push a knife away from their throat before it could cut them in half. Did… anyone see you last night?

This car is well-versed at driving discreetly.

Okay… not really the question I asked. Let’s put it this way. Would anyone else be aware of the fact that you drove home without me last night? Anyone at all? she asked as fast as she could.

This car drove home without being seen.

She clicked her fingers. She went to say that was awesome but quickly straightened up. That’s great. Okay. Time to get to work.

Do you want this car to self-drive?

Honestly, yes.

That was all she needed to say. The car pulled out from the curb.

Charlotte rested her hands on the steering wheel just to look like she was doing something.

Then she closed her eyes and thought about last night. Damn was there a lot to think about.

She winked her eyes open occasionally, and she challenged her mind to stare through matter. She did not have the knack of it – or at least not sufficiently to stare through matter while driving. Maybe she would one day have that ability, however, because while it induced splitting pain, she felt like it was possible, nonetheless.

The car faithfully got her to work. She patted the dash fondly again. It was nice to know that she had one thing in her corner.

One thing and one vampire, apparently.

But she kept going back to the fact that she hadn’t heard Jake’s message before she’d opened a gate and left last night.

She couldn’t just look for him now. Not only did she really not want to reinforce that she was Jake’s number one fan, but Monique was meant to be watching her, dammit. Or at least monitoring her communications.

Charlotte didn’t think she’d ever felt more trapped in her entire life. She also didn’t think she’d felt more exhilarated.

It was that last option that she wanted to deny more than anything.

She quickly made it up to the library.

She was very rightly in a daze.

She walked in to see Sally standing there, arms crossed. Exactly what is your relationship with Jake Carlisle? There are rumors about you all over social media. You went to Whisper Club with him last night? Did you forget that you were meant to be taking the night duty for—

Look, Sally, Charlotte said as she lifted her hands. I really don’t have time for this today.

I’m sorry, what? You don’t have time for the fact that you shirked your duty? What do you think Alfred is going to say—

You can complain to him about me if you want. But trust me, Charlotte said, he’s not going to fire me. He now needs me too much.

Excuse me? Sally’s eyes rounded with indignation.

Charlotte just turned away with a shoulder-shaking sigh.

She desperately wanted to head down to the rare books area, considering she hadn’t been there for days, then she saw Alfred darting his head out from his office door.

He waved her over, fingers stiff, signet ring glinting under more than just the downlights as he charged with a little warning magic like a submarine firing a torpedo across a poor ship’s bow.

Charlotte’s heart lurched and sank. God. What if Theodore was with him?

She would have to face Theodore sooner rather than later. She’d found one of his rare books. But she wanted to put this off for as long as she could.

She grabbed up the bracelet, looping her fingers protectively over the shelf charm. But while she had found one of the forbidden books last night, it wasn’t the only thing she’d found, was it?

Charlotte still hadn’t gotten Riley’s full story, but even so, Charlotte was inclined to believe everything Riley had said.

Her stepsister had wound up dead at the bottom of the river after being in a relationship with Theodore.

Could Theodore Percival be a murderer?

… Yup.

Her skin quickly chilled.

She tried to ignore her boss, turning resolutely toward the elevators that would take her down to the basement.

Hell, maybe she should just go home? She desperately required some time to think. Some time to—

There was a surprised