Rockstar Witch Book Three

By Odette C. Bell

So it’s happened again, ha? But it’s definitely not a kiss.
... Unless it is.
Jake now has Charlotte where he’s always wanted her, and he’s not about to let her go. But he can’t control everything, and neither can Charlotte. When Monique comes after her, Charlotte will have to fight. Again. When that doesn’t work, she’ll just have to dig even deeper.
Charlotte will soon find she’s even more remarkable than she thinks. There’s more power to be found and greater gates to open. But what’s the point of fighting unless you have someone worth fighting for?
....
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 Three 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: 9781005332211

Book preview

Chapter 1

Charlotte… Jake was….

Let’s just put it this way, his lips remained locked on Charlotte’s for way too long. This wasn’t the first time he’d shut a gate down through her, but this time was oh-so different.

His lips were hotter, right? And as he opened one eye then the other, it was as if he could see right through her.

The last of the gate’s energy dispersed with a crackling fizzle. It escaped into the ground and zipped into the walls.

And only then did Jake pull away. He still had one hand pressed against her back, though. He soon tracked it up her arm and grasped her injured wrist, a quick charge of vampire magic sealing the cut off and kick-starting the healing process. Then he craned his neck. He looked at the damage.

And that would be when Boo fluttered in super close. So close that Jake had to jerk back. As soon as his hand slipped from Charlotte’s hand, it felt like the greatest heat in all the world was taken from her. She even shivered.

What are you doing? Jake demanded, lifting a hand defensively.

Just checking. What miraculous blood pumps in your veins, Boo’s voice descended low on the last bit. Charlotte might have only technically spent a short time with Boo, but that was irrelevant. The quality of the time made up for its lack of duration. She knew well that Boo was just speaking like he usually did. His tone often swung between maniacal laughter and ominous cackling. Sure, right now it made it sound as if he was about to strip Jake down for parts, but Charlotte was confident… okay, mostly confident that Boo wouldn’t do that.

She still cleared her throat and thrust forward. It’s okay. She opened her hand in front of Boo. When he didn’t immediately jolt over, she clicked her fingers pointedly and gestured to her palm. Come here.

Why are you using that tone on me? I haven’t done anything wrong. Look, Boo said as he spun in a circle, sparks erupting out everywhere, look at all the good things I’ve done. Do you see all of the destruction to the concrete support pillars? That was me, Boo said with so much pride, he might as well have been talking about solving global warming.

Yes. We’re all very proud. She clapped her hands then pointed to her palm once more. Come here. We don’t need any more damage. And I imagine… Jake wants some answers. She shrugged, bit her lip, and looked away from Jake.

Jake, on the other hand, locked her in his gaze and didn’t look as if he would ever stare at anyone but her again. Yeah, Charlotte. I guess this is where you give me some answers. That book—

Boo here comes from the special library. The same special library that…. How was she going to do this again? She had too much to tell Jake.

While this is a very fascinating conversation, should we check on your journalist friend over there? She has been knocked out. I am sure she did not sustain any brain damage, but she might’ve sustained terrible spine damage. She— Boo began.

She’s fine, Jake said, cramming his hands into his pockets and staring at Boo like you might a rival. You remember calling me the best probability vampire you’ve ever seen, don’t you? Well, that extends to my senses. The blood that pumps in my veins, Jake’s tone changed slightly, his throat tensing like a clenched fist, ensures I have sharper vampire senses than most. She will wake in a minute or two. Before she does, he took a solid step towards Charlotte, tilted his head down, and looked at her from underneath peaked eyebrows, I’d really like those explanations.

She grabbed her collar and pulled it out with a twitching hand. Those…? Why do you think I have more than one thing to explain to you?

His steady stare didn’t shift. He snorted, though. This slow, simple move. It was like the equivalent of a blank page. It was time for her to fill it, preferably with answers.

Locking her hands on her hips, she tilted her head all the way back, and she sighed deeply. You know that special library? she asked the ceiling, her eyes tightly shut – because this was the only way she could tell Jake. Though, to be fair, she would prefer to tell him over the phone or with a wall separating them – anything so she could get some distance between her and his intense gaze.

Yes. You’ve mentioned it several times now. What—

I moved it, she admitted.

You did a spectacular job. It was so easy for you, Boo said. He undocked from her hand with a whoosh and fluttered around, his pages flapping madly. He was like an itchy toddler. He couldn’t stay in the same place long. He fluttered over to Riley, checked on her, hovering above her for several seconds, then moved around, proudly assessing all of the damage he’d done to this poor sewer. He was likely judging how he could’ve done more and learning from his mistakes so next time, he’d bring the roof down and destroy the entire subway.

You moved the special library? Jake’s eyebrows twitched then clunked down. It looked like someone had just thrown two very heavy boulders off a very tall cliff. They would never rise up again – not without a heck of a lot of effort. Oh yeah, and the truth. The same truth that was having so much trouble making it out of Charlotte’s stiff, white lips.

She grabbed her collar again. Now she really squeezed her fingers around it as if she was trying to extinguish a nonexistent fire inside the fabric. Yeah… well. We discovered that Theodore had probably traveled there—

I remember that part. It was before I was knocked out. Go back to the bit about you moving the whole library, however, Jake suggested. His tone was weirdly neutral. Terrifyingly so. It would not remain that way for long.

Charlotte had spread her lips in a kind of smile. Now her mouth clunked about like a car with burst tires. Well, we figured out that place was a really important magical battery.

A battery? But it was a library— Jake challenged.

Oh, I see – you might technically look powerful, but you’re very stupid, Boo said, not holding back – never holding back. That said, as he fluttered around, he didn’t dare get too close to Jake. Maybe he didn’t like the idea of brushing up against all of that probability vampire blood, but thankfully the incision marks in Jake’s neck were healing right in front of Charlotte’s eyes.

His expression, however, remained just as deadly.

Okay. So Charlotte just had to do this. Rip the Band-Aid off, right?

Boo and I both decided it was best to move the library. It was being used as a hidden, powerful battery. As Boo described it, it was kind of like having an armory, one no one could find. Theodore – or someone – had found all of these books over the years, and they’d hidden them there, not for the purpose of their knowledge, but for the purpose of all of their power. Anyway, I managed to move the library with my gate powers—

Charlotte might be ready to completely spill the beans here, but Jake had his hand on the throttle. He opened his fingers wide. The same fingers that had been brushing down Charlotte’s back only moments before. She shivered, but at least she managed to clench her teeth and hide most of it.

Go back to the bit about changing its location. Charlotte, Theodore will know—

He hasn’t found out yet, she muttered hopefully, her brow clunking down with a twitching wince.

When he finds out—

Oh, don’t be so pompous and worried, Boo said in a blustering tone worse than a hurricane. It will be fine. We already have a plan. Charlotte is going to claim that she found the hidden library accidentally, and she is going to tell Theodore that she hid it because she was concerned it was being used for nefarious purposes. Theodore will have no idea that she knows he is the very nefarious force who was using it in the first place.

That’s unbelievably dangerous, Jake said as he leaned back, clenched one hand into a fist, locked it against his stomach, then pressed his elbow into it. He grabbed his chin. Sorry – the way his fingers moved over it couldn’t exactly be classed as grabbing it. It was more like he was trying to rip it from his face.

Charlotte had never seen him this tense. It was kind of frightening. It was way, way worse to realize that all of that tension was directed at keeping her safe.

Jake couldn’t really feel this intensely toward her… could he?

It was the wrong time to think about that. As he took another step forward, he looked her up and down. Your gate powers—

She opened her hands and spread them. You don’t need to ask about my gate powers. They’re coming along nicely. I opened… how many gates did I open today? Her nose scrunched as she looked at Boo.

Boo thought about it. I’m not really sure. There were the gates into the special library then out of the special library, then there was the gate used to move the special library. Then there was the gate we used to get into Theodore’s real office, then his fake office, then Monique’s office—

Jake’s eyes could’ve exploded out of his skull. I’m sorry, what? What have you been doing, Charlotte? She didn’t think he could spit his words out any faster. Maybe it was because he was a rockstar and he really knew how to move his mouth – or maybe it was because his fear was getting the better of him. Perhaps it would strip the lining from his throat, crush his larynx, and turn his teeth to dust. Anything to get this warning out as fast as he possibly could.

In a snapped second, he was right in front of her, his hands weighing down on her shoulders, his terrified gaze getting so close, it loomed like an asteroid about to smash her world in half. Charlotte, you can’t—

Look, maybe you should just see it. Yeah, I’ll show it to you. She wasn’t making any sense here. You try to string together coherent sentences when someone like Jake – someone who felt like Jake, someone who looked at you like Jake looked at her – was this close.

She jerked away from him, lifted her bracelet, selected the skull, concentrated, then finally lifted it up off her hand. In a little blast of gate magic, the skull appeared. She cradled it in her palms. She did not for a second lurch back as if it was disgusting.

Instead, she let a suitably somber smile spread her lips. And that would be when she looked up at Jake.

Jake jerked back. Then he jerked back again. It was like someone had lassoed him around the middle, or at least some force had. The force of fear – total, abject horror that now pulsed in his pupils like cold flames. Charlotte… where did you… where did you get that?

She clutched the skull protectively. She looked down at it. She almost ran her fingers over the honeycombed bones. She pressed her lips together and sighed deeply. It’s a long story. Boo missed a couple of gates that I opened today.

Oh yes. There were the gates you opened around that secret vampire respite room. You see, we were trying to get into the Vampire Council—

You… where did the skull come from, Charlotte? Jake asked again. He could barely speak now. Had someone stamped on his throat repeatedly? It sure did sound like it.

Charlotte looked down at the skull again. It was one thing trying to cope with the way Jake was staring at her. It was another staring at the skull. It put everything in perspective again. Her childish emotions around Jake were one thing. The larger situation was so much bigger. As she reinforced that, she told herself it would get her through any storm.

She closed her eyes then opened them several seconds later. She took a reassuring breath as she did, and it parted her lips softly like a gentle breeze. We called the place we found a respite room. We don’t know exactly what it was, that said. We found multiple skeletons like this, all buried in old rotting fabric. We believe that they were given probability vampire blood. They must have been experiments. The Council obviously tried to make them into dark vampires but failed. We believe the vampires escaped and tried to help each other out but ultimately died. I could… feel gate magic inside them, though. Failed gate magic that caused these unique holes. She found evidence of the honeycomb holes, and she pointed to them.

All the while, Jake got further back, every movement less stable than the last. He shook his head. He looked… completely overcome.

It was a look Charlotte knew well. For it was the look that she had worn pretty much all day. It was another thing entirely to see it on the competent, charming Jake Carlisle.

But what else would she expect? Oh god… was there a possibility that his blood had been used for this very vampire she now held? Jake—

Did the Vampire Council… did they find you? he demanded, sweat glistening on his brow, the skin furrowing to the point of permanent blood loss.

No. We think we accidentally found the respite room and that someone had kept it blocked off with magic for decades. When we broke through it inadvertently, the Vampire Council must have located it too. We think they might have been looking for it fruitlessly for years. We got in, we found the skull, and we luckily got out in time before they showed up. I’m pretty sure nobody knows it was me. Because if Monique knew that not only did I steal this skull, but that I went into her office and I stole her computer, she—

Jake jerked both hands up. He slowly spread his fingers. It looked like he wanted to do it quickly, but his muscles just didn’t know how to work anymore. Maybe five percent of his brain signals were getting to them. The rest