Antique Instincts Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

Okay. Sonia just fell out a window. Shouldn’t’ she die? Not if Rushford can stop it. He might avoid her, but he will fight anything to protect her.
There’s more going on than he can stop, though. As night shadow ravages the streets, Sonia’s drawn further into its mysteries. Each step comes with new dangers and deadly secrets.
Rushford will try to stop her. But Sonia’s about to learn – through blood, sweat, and tears – the only person who can stop her is herself. And she’s done. Done holding back, done being weak, and done letting Rushford run from her.
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A light-romance urban fantasy, Antique Instincts follows a plucky witch fighting to win back the heart of her one true love. If you crave your fiction with charm, danger, and a dash of romance, grab Antique Instincts Book Two and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series today.
Antique Instincts is the 5th 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: Jan 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005926663

Book preview

Chapter One

There was no way Sonia would live through this. But then again, there was no way Rushford would let her fall.

Sonia still hadn’t let go of the vial of ancient night shadow. As the building flit past her and the street below became sharply visible – the kind of sharp that can bust through your bones, slice through your brain, and splatter you over the pavement – the vamp finally forced her hand to release the vial. It wasn’t before Sonia got a flash of the ghost who’d told her to hand it directly to Rushford.

Sonia had no clue how much Rushford’s family was involved in this situation. But unless she could deliver this vial to him, night shadow would not just spread across the city, it could destroy the Halseys too.

Just before the guy could uncork the vial and shove it into his mouth, all while they flit down the side of the building like peregrines speed diving, Sonia shoved a hand forward. She voluntarily got between the vial and the guy’s mouth. That meant that she cut her knuckles all over his canines.

He was in a drug lust right now. That didn’t mean that he could quickly fall into a bloodlust.

As they flit past the middle of the building, Sonia gasping for air, the wind shear so violent, she felt like she’d shoved her face into a jet engine, he bit down on her hand.

She gasped. But that didn’t stop her from closing her knuckles harder around the potion bottle.

She couldn’t forget that Rushford was right there. Things might be happening so very quickly, but he was a vampire too, and he’d know her blood had been let.

With a roar, he shoved his foot down into the vampire’s head. The guy now held onto Sonia, teeth in her hand like he’d never let go, like they were pillars holding up some bridge. Let them fall, and everything would crumble.

She didn’t have the breath to scream. Rushford put his face up against hers, one arm locked over her stomach, holding her in place as the other groped for the guy, trying to get him to desperately release her. They were running… they were running out of time. Sonia’s eyes widened. Her hair flew around her face. She saw the top of the tower, so far above now. Which meant… which meant the road was just below them.

She squeezed her eyes closed. She had a moment to look at Rushford. A moment for her lips to spasm open, lurching like drunks about to take their last drinks. Sorry. I… love you.

Yep. She said that. She didn’t even know if it was true. Too much was happening and too much had been said to her. And in this, her last moment, her feelings did what they wanted.

The words were out. But they were a little preemptive.

Rushford finally kicked the guy off. Then he twisted. He put his bristling back between her and the pavement. And they fell.

The moment where they smashed into it, she was certain this was it. She allowed her eyes to close. She pressed them shut, not wanting to see a single droplet of her blood splatter over the pavement like crimson rain.

But there was no blood. At least not from her. There was the sensation of Rushford’s arms closing around her, not like a cage, but like a safety jacket. It didn’t matter what storm would come – together, they would whether it. Or at least she would. As the pavement broke around him, massive chunks spewing up high like droplets of lava from an active volcano, he coughed. He spluttered blood down the front of her red dress. They were exactly the same color, but trust her – she could discern every drop. And trust her, she could feel them. Her heart froze in her chest, feeling like a bird snapped out of the air and embalmed on the spot.

She couldn’t even catch up to the fact that she hadn’t died, after all. Rushford? she breathed.

His eyes were closed, his head limp as it tilted to the side, revealing the long line of his muscled neck. His sandy blond hair lay in sweaty scraps over his eyes, just a glimpse of one visible – enough to know it closed weakly.

Her heart pounded worse than it had when she’d fallen. She grabbed his shoulders. She went to shake them. But that’s when she heard a moan from behind her. She twisted her head around so wildly, she heard something crack in her neck.

The vamp… he was still alive. He started picking himself up. Sonia didn’t need to tilt her head back and regard how high the tower was to know that it was way too high for anyone to survive falling from. But the vamp… this pulse of energy ricocheted from his throat down his body and up into his head. It came from the site of his night shadow infection. It now bulged over his skin like a spider ready to snap out of some fleshy web.

She was on her knees. There was nothing she could damn well do but put herself between Rushford and the vamp. Even though Rushford wasn’t the target.

Her fingers knew well what the vamp was after, and they tightened around that vial of night shadow. It was remarkable that it had survived the fall. But it had. It could not survive much longer. Neither would she.

It was a busy street, but it was night. Most of the people had already arrived at the function. There were valets around, but they’d already parked the fancy cars. In other words, there was no one close enough to make a difference. And they would have exactly one split second to make said difference.

As wind clipped down the street, fast enough that it grabbed the ends of Sonia’s dress and whipped them around her knees, she bravely tucked the potion behind her back and winced. Then the vamp rammed her. With one arm around her middle, he used the other to clutch at her throat. He squeezed.

With a grip like his, he could rip her jugular out – in under a second. He would be far more effective than any wild animal and far, far more brutal.

But just before he could try, there was a rush from behind her. Wind maybe? Perhaps a gun? Some stray bullet that had remarkably come to her aid? No, it was Rushford. He picked himself up from the impact site, pulling himself out of it in a flash, regardless of how deep it was and regardless of how blood splattered his once-pristine shirt had become. She saw magic rush over his body, far more effective than even the largest, most oiled muscles. It was this quick flighty yellow speckled with gold and silver. It was pretty almost – if you were to forget that it was very, very lethal. But it wasn’t directed at her.

The vamp’s fingers pulsed around her throat, but they could get no further. Rushford reached the guy, twisted him around, and hauled him bodily into a nearby lamp post. The steel bent inward with a crack that could be heard down the street and echoing high up the side of the monstrosity of a building.

She imagined everyone would be watching from the broken window above. A few of them would be riding elevators down to help, though, right? And she needed that help. Soon. Rushford was in a bad way. Maybe no one else could tell this, but Sonia could feel it. That blow had weakened him. While the vamp seemed to be okay, he was jacked up on night shadow. It was preventing him from recognizing just how damaged his body was. Plus, the vamp had only had to save himself during that fall. Rushford had used a great deal of magic to protect Sonia instead. What she was trying to get at was that Rushford could be on death’s door. Fight a bit more, waste more of his valuable energy for Sonia, and that door would soon shut.

There was nothing for Sonia to do. Ringing picked up in her ears, and the desperate tang of adrenaline rushed through her mouth, hit her bloodstream, and screamed at her. He only had seconds. Do something. She had to do something to save him.

Remarkably, she still had Harley’s jacket.

She searched the pockets. She didn’t know what she was going to find. A gun? Highly unlikely. A wallet, maybe? But unless she thought she could throw Harley’s money at this guy and use that to bring him down from a drug rage, she was fresh out of luck.

And that would be when… when she found a vial.

Her fingers closed around the glass.

It was night shadow. She didn’t need to open it to know. It sang to her, its gothic, macabre tones like standing at the foot of some great black castle, the door opening with this low, creaking groan, beckoning you inside for your last dance before death.

If Sonia thought she could somehow use the vial to lure the guy away, then she was wrong on two counts. One was that this guy would not be lured away by a newer version of the drug. He wanted the old stuff. The pure stuff. She’d never seen somebody in a drug rage like him before. It wasn’t just him, either. She could practically feel the night shadow in his veins. It roared until, if it had possessed a throat, every part of it would’ve fractured like someone blasting water down a thin plastic tube.

But there was another way Sonia was wrong. Rushford was not down yet. For Rushford, under certain circumstances – and all of them involving her – could find energy reserves no other vampire could.

She watched as a spark of magic erupted over him. It was like somebody had thrown fire into an entire ocean of kerosene. As it went up all around him in a woosh, he reached the vampire, twisted him to the side, threw him onto the ground, and started to pummel him. Rushford moved so damn quickly, his fists were like photons. The only reason Sonia knew that he was actually punching the guy was that she could hear the rocking crunches of his head against the pavement.

Finally Sonia heard sirens. Finally there was footfall behind her.

And finally Rushford stopped.

By the time he did, he was bent forward, and Sonia could feel that every single one of his muscles ached like trees just begging to give up once and for all so they could return to the dirt and finally rest. There would be no returning to the dirt for him. He pushed up. That’s when Sonia realized there wasn’t even a speck of the vamp’s blood on him. He’d punched that guy like a piston. Yet there was no evidence. The vamp was only just half unconscious, too. His bulging eyes rolled around like ceramic beads. When they randomly darted over the street only to lock on Sonia like she meant something – like even if the rest of the world was blurry, she would still be in pure focus – Rushford took one step toward him again, growling like a tiger.

And that would be when his wife arrived.

There was so much footfall behind Sonia that she couldn’t differentiate it. She didn’t want to turn, either. Do that, and she’d have to pull her gaze off Rushford. Not looking at him, if only for a second, would feel like stabbing her heart.

Some part of her knew when this was over, he would go back to being the cold, indifferent vampire he always was around her. But right now, they were connected in a way he could not deny.

As he stood there, muscles taut against his jacket, creaking against his once white shirt like sails that had to be set free, his wife reached forward and grabbed his arm, her wedding ring glinting under the night lights.

Sonia could only see the side of Bethany’s face. Her lips were pale, pressed down thin over her clenched teeth. One of her eyes was sharp, her gaze like a knife. Sonia couldn’t see the other one, and she was thankful for that. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a darker stare.

Nor did she understand the reason for it. Rushford had saved Sonia. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did Bethany look like she was on the warpath?

Sonia, someone screamed. They screamed like they actually cared.

Sonia could tell that, because it was Joseph. He rammed his car up on the pavement, the tires spinning as he yanked the door open without bothering to turn off the ignition. He had a talent for parking like he was crashing. He almost drove right into the side of the building.

He lurched out of the car, gun thankfully in hand. The reason she knew that he cared for her and that his scream was genuine was that somebody screamed in an entirely fake way next. And that somebody wrapped an arm around her middle without an invitation.

Sonia, Harley said.

His hand grabbed hers, and his stiff, overly protective fingers spun her around.

Without realizing it, he got hold of his jacket, too.

He twisted it around like he was a matador inviting a bull to rush him. Sonia couldn’t be sure, but maybe his fingers lurched down to his pocket and removed the vial without anyone seeing. Then he furled the soft, dark cashmere over her shoulders. He grabbed her upper arms, fingers locking her into place like nails. He brought his face close.

Sonia felt sick. The only thing she wanted to do with him right now was throw up all over his overly pretty face.

She couldn’t and wouldn’t do that until she knew that Rushford was fine.

What the Hell happened here? Joseph breathed through his sharp words. We got a report of falling bodies, but I can’t see any. He craned his neck until she heard his spine straining, and he looked all the way up the side of the building with darting eyes. He was at the wrong vantage to see the broken window. He could see the broken glass all around them, however, splayed like the casings from a machine gun fight gone wrong. He could presumably see the half-unconscious vampire perp slumped on the pavement, too.

Joseph didn’t wait around for long. His gun was still in his hand. He trained it on the perp. He also flicked a car full of officers forward with a stiff hand as they screeched to a stop several meters away. It was the magical enforcement squad, and thankfully they had this in hand. They had the kind of handcuffs that you could use to stop a herd of rampaging elephants, too.

But the perp was still conscious enough that he could stare right at Sonia. His lips