Ancient Bonds Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

Camille can’t stop. Not when there’s so much to learn.
She’s pulled deeper into the twisted world of magic – and power. Hers specifically.
Something’s pushing her to develop her skills – so it can take her magic. And make no mistake, it won’t slow down or stop now it has her in its sights.
...
Ancient Bonds follows a determined glass witch struggling to save the city – and her vampire – from an ancient curse. If you crave your urban fantasy with charm, danger, and a dash of romance, grab Ancient Bonds Book Two and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series today.
Ancient Bonds is the 6th 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: Jun 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215418857

Book preview

Chapter 1

Thorne Ashcroft

It was over.

Everything I’d ever worked for….

I strode into the Council chamber. One of the most sacred sites in the city, you could feel it from a mile away. At least if you were an ancestral vampire like me. I’d had it burnt into my very bones. Literally. When I’d come of age, my father had brought me here for one of the numerous violent vampire ceremonies that dragged a child into adulthood.

Vampirism, despite its modern flare, had roots steeped in blood. The same blood my enemies sought to spill tonight. But as I strode into the room, shoulders incapable of holding up my body, let alone the city, I stopped. There was an echoing slap as my expensive leather shoes came to a sudden halt just behind the head’s seat.

My detractors and supporters lined up behind me.

Fabian Cartel – one of my loudest detractors of all – stopped right by my left arm. A man half wizard and half werewolf, he’d appeared in this city only two years ago. He’d proceeded to buy up the wizard clan to control them from within.

His eyes locked on the talisman. It sat there, in plain view, in front of everyone, right before the head’s seat.

It could’ve been a fake. It wasn’t.

Just as my body had been changed to recognize this room – it knew how to recognize the talisman.

Every line in the gold, every smoothly carved angle of the jade spoke to me. More than anything, it was the magic that pulsed beneath. It reached out to me, calling my name in a language no one else could understand.

Bailey came to a stop behind me.

For a fleeting second, I assumed he had put it there.

He’d been adamant that I shouldn’t quit yet – that there was somehow hope.

As I swung my gaze toward him, never moving an inch, not wanting to give anything away, I saw he was just as flabbergasted as I was.

I straightened. Fabian jolted forward, likely to check if the talisman was real. From the look on his face, he had probably been promised by my enemies that tonight would be my ultimate downfall. Before he could get a centimeter closer, I reached out and used my far superior strength. I only required my thumb and my forefinger. I locked them around his bony wrist and held him in place. As you have been reminding us vocally all night, the Council must remember tradition. I sit first.

But— he demanded, his thin lips wobbling and a few glimmers of saliva glinting off his clenched teeth. His body was wracked with tension. It climbed his jaw and sank into his throat. Every sinew sat out like ropes desperately trying to hold onto a sinking ship.

I imagined he’d gambled a lot on supporting my enemies tonight. Maybe he’d gambled so much that, if I scratched under the surface, I’d actually find some evidence.

This silent, reverent hush settled over the Council chamber. Outside, everyone had been clamoring so loudly, you could likely hear it from the street, even through the triple magical reinforced walls of the Council building. In here, a single droplet of blood could’ve fallen on the far side of the room and even then only by a millimeter, and it would’ve clanged like somebody smashing a cymbal.

I slowly unpeeled my feet from the floor, walked over, grabbed my seat in a claw grip, pulled it back, and sat. Only when everyone else was seated did I pluck up the talisman. It sang in my grip. As my thumb slid over the gold, a halo of light chased around it clockwise.

The lighting in the room was always dim. As I lifted the talisman, as was tradition, every candle in the room suddenly flared. It was all to draw attention to the talisman and the fact that whoever held it was currently in charge of the Council.

Everyone, though they had just sat, rose to their feet – even Fabian. His hands were clenched behind his back. I could feel the sweat clinging to the cold skin.

It had wended its way under the folds of his wrists, through his webbing, and mostly down his back. His shoulder muscles were so tense, even a team of masseuses couldn’t relax them.

When the ceremony was done, I sat. I placed the talisman in front of me, one hand on the carved arm of my seat, the other right next to it.

How— Fabian began. His voice was quiet. Just a whisper. But considering no one was speaking right now, it echoed in this cavernous expanse. There were certain magical spells interwoven, not just into the walls and floor, but into the table itself. They magnified whoever was speaking. Not everybody had a booming voice. Some people, due to injury or simple biology, required assistance to be heard.

Fabian should’ve been careful.

I slowly turned my head toward him. You wish to ask a question. Ask it loud enough so everyone can hear, I said, though that was defunct. Everyone had heard. I simply wanted him to repeat it. With the same expression on his face, preferably. With the same haunted, frightened body language. Let them see and let them start questioning what he’d done.

Fabian, put on the spot, had to rise. He pressed his pale-knuckled hand down on the smooth carved surface of the table. He stood. He did a good job of holding himself steady. And I could tell how he did that. He slipped a hand behind himself, and though he was technically too close for me to see, I knew he clenched it into such a bloodless fist, he would require a cardiac surgeon to return oxygen to the limb.

I was simply going to question how… you let this happen to the city. Two major fires tonight. It was a blessing that nobody died in the tower blaze. But your laboratories— He swung his gaze to me.

Yes. My lab had not been assessed yet.

The damage was too significant. It was unlikely anyone had been killed. Nobody worked there at night.

The security guard was currently unconscious, however.

It wasn’t impossible that some of my scientists could have returned to continue experiments after hours. It was far more likely that someone had gone in, stolen what they wanted, and escaped while setting the place on fire.

And that someone might just be… her.

I settled my hand down on the table. I didn’t need to clench it into a fist to control my emotions. They controlled themselves. I had come here today knowing this would be my end. Someone… somewhere, somehow had given me another chance. I’d take it.

Not before I ticked my head forward, spread my lips wide, and promised this, We will find her. The army has been called precisely for this task. That rare witch will not slip our grip. You have my word.

Chapter 2

Camille Knowles

I hung around right behind the door, though it was likely the stupidest, most dangerous thing I’d ever done. That room was full of some of the strongest magical practitioners in the country. Vampires with the ability to sense blood from a block away – werewolves with hearing that could pick up a twig cracking in a forest outside of a freaking noisy city. You name it – they could sense it. But I couldn’t pry myself away. I had to be here for this moment.

I could hear the Council room. I no longer had the talisman, but before I’d returned it to Thorne, I had memorized the map on the back. There’d been a symbol stamped over this room – a magnifier.

I assumed, though I couldn’t be sure, this was a room Council members went to if they could not attend the full Council but they needed to hear what was going on. Perhaps they were not permitted to speak. Maybe they were injured or required solitude. Whatever the fact, what was being said in the Council room was easy to pick up here. So I heard the moment Thorne promised to use the freaking army to capture me.

It was luck alone that stopped me from gasping out loud. My fingers shot up and locked over my mouth. I shook. I’d shaken all night, but this was different. These were the kind of trembles that pushed up from your soul, that told you it was over, so just give up.

I… I’d returned the freaking talisman.

Okay, I’d been present at the murder of that man, but people would figure out Mr. Glass had done it, right?

Why send the army after me?

I eased my way backward.

I looked at the other door. Without the talisman, I had to remember how to get out of here, though I was pretty confident that I could retrace my steps. Then I kind of had to remind myself of something else pretty important. The ghoul vampire. I’d just left him there.

He’d be able to recognize me.

If the police took him in, he’d tell them about me… right? Or maybe not, considering he was working for Mr. Glass himself.

It didn’t matter… I had to go and check.

I pulled myself back from the door. I teetered. None of my muscles wanted to work properly, because all of my body was injured.

At this rate, I wouldn’t have to run from the army. I’d collapse in this room and be found by the cleaning staff.

Come on. Come on, body, I mouthed, careful to barely move my lips. I didn’t think Thorne knew I was here. He would’ve jumped into the room and caught me if that were the case. I couldn’t tempt fate, though. Because fate had proven tonight it was very much not on my side.

I turned. I reached the opposite door.

What would I do? My original plan had been to try to get back to the apartment. I’d assumed it would offer an alibi, but….

This wasn’t over, a voice said at the back of my head. It was quiet. But it was insistent.

Things that don’t require volume to make a point are some of the scariest things there are.

They exist as a warning, regardless of how much attention you focus on them, regardless of what else happens. The more you ignore them, however, the bigger they get.

This was just the frigging beginning. John Storm had the blueprints for Ashcroft Manor. Sure, what happened tonight might set his war on Thorne back a bit. But Ashcroft Manor could still be attacked. And what about Thorne’s laboratories?

He had multiple, and I hadn’t figured out which one had been burnt yet.

But maybe I could.

Closing my eyes, ignoring the conversation of the Council as it droned over me, I tried to remember where the smoke had been thickest in the city.

The apartment block was to the left of the Magic Council. That had been where most of the smoke was coming from. But there’d also been smoke from the other side, toward the northeast. That was where one of Thorne’s smaller, more experimental laboratories was.

The one that burnt down had to be the one he’d inherited from his father.

I went to click my fingers, proud of the fact I’d just figured that out. Then I of course stopped before I could reveal myself so ridiculously.

I turned.

I looked at my dislocated shoulder.

I ran my tongue over my teeth.

I could just call it a night. I could try to head back home to the apartment in the hopes that it really would offer me an alibi. Or I could… go to the labs and see what I could find.

I was confident that John wouldn’t attack Ashcroft Manor tonight. He would presumably be running around like a headless chicken. I didn’t imagine Mr. Glass would be happy.

There was only one thing for it.

I walked over to the other door. I settled my hand on it. I dearly wished that I was one of those magical creatures who could just sense if someone was on the opposite side of something. Having true vampire senses would come in so handy right now.

All I could do was pause, hope to get lucky, then open the door.

Before I did, I turned toward the door separating me from the Council chamber. Thorne couldn’t see me, and that was the freaking point. But as I forced my lip to the side and bit it hard, I kind of wished he could.

It wasn’t that I wanted to take credit for the fact that I’d saved his career. It was just… I don’t know.

And maybe that was the scariest thing of all.

Ghoulish vampires were one thing. Glass practitioners another. The fact I didn’t know how I felt about my boss – oh, that was categorically terrifying.

I still pulled myself out of the room into the small corridor beyond. I picked up voices from further into the Council corridors.

The vampires are complaining of a terrible smell. Something must’ve died nearby. Perhaps an animal crawled down one of the chimneys. Find it, someone said with a strict voice. I think I’d heard them before. They were the Council guardian.

An ancient vamp, he apparently had senses matching even Thorne’s.

Crap. It was the jacket, wasn’t it? I briefly thought of pulling it off, then realized that would be a really bad idea. Thorne would know my scent.

I just had to go check on the ghoul vampire.

I opened the door into the room where I’d left him. I ensured my footfall was as quiet as it could be, even though I was more nervous than ever.

I would’ve assumed by now that my nerves would have run themselves out. They should have been like a car someone had driven too much until they were out of petrol. The problem was, my nerves, apparently, would stay with me as long as I was in mortal peril. And my mortal peril, apparently, would stay with me for good – until this city was dragged back into the light. And that didn’t seem like a project I could finish anytime soon. Not considering precisely how many dark things had chosen to rise up from the cracks.

I opened the door and rushed inside.

I expected to see the ghoul vampire precisely where I’d left him – a puddle of