Kissed by Fire (Blood & Magic 2) by Danielle Annett
Release
Date: September 13, 2015
When
Aria gains command of Sanborn Place and takes on a case involving a
mysterious paranormal, her life is put in more peril than ever as she
finds herself bound to an influential power player. She doesn’t
want to be anyone’s puppet, but must tread carefully as she
traverses the streets of Spokane, WA, or risk being overwhelmed by
the forces moving against her.
As
the only known pyrokinetic in the area, Aria is in high demand, but
not for her services. It seems that to those in power, she’s worth
more dead than alive, and if a mysterious enemy has their way, she
won’t live long enough to find out why.
***EXCERPT***
Fire called to me, tempting me to bring it
forth, to destroy my foe in one quick and easy strike. It would be
too easy. There was something very wrong about this, about a newly
made vampire walking the streets of downtown Spokane as if he were on
a leisurely stroll. The change had to have been recent. Blood soaked
his light-blue shirt, leaving a large stain over his chest and the
left side of his body. If I’d had to guess, he’d been changed
within the last few hours. His skin hadn’t turned the pale milky
white associated with the undead yet.
Before I could think further, he struck. In
a split second, his once jerky movements morphed into a flash of
speed as he launched himself at me. I twisted out of the way but was
too slow to avoid his second strike. He grabbed me by the back of the
neck, flinging me across the road like a rag doll. My body collided
with a parking meter, the near frozen metal splitting my cheek and
knocking the air from my lungs.
I exhaled a vicious curse before drawing my
twin daggers from the thigh sheath beneath my dress and jumping to my
feet. My dress rode up, but I couldn’t have cared less at the
moment. I was just grateful that despite the dress, I’d managed to
wear the blades. Warm blood seeped from my cheek and my ribs ached
with my movements.
He charged again, and this time I was
ready. I allowed my attacker to get close, his hands brushing my
shoulders right before I sank my first blade into the soft flesh of
his stomach. My second pierced his chest, but I missed the heart.
With my blades still imbedded, he squeezed my shoulder, the pain
explosive. I heard a distinct pop before my left arm went limp.
Shit!
My brain took a backseat as adrenaline
flowed through my muscles. I kicked
out with my left foot, the heel in my shoe sinking into his calf. His
leg buckled under the assault and I pulled free, losing my heel in
the process but retaining one of my blades. The other remained in his
chest.
My left arm hung loose at my side. My right
lifted and was ready with my dagger, dark-red blood dripping from its
point. His eyes glowed an even deeper red, fangs descending farther
to cover his bottom lip. You
might as well put those back, mister. You won’t be making a meal
out of me. Hot
blood surged through my veins. I
hastily kicked off my remaining heel, ignoring the discomfort of the
snow and gravel beneath my feet. I needed to move faster.
When he struck again, I threw myself to the
left, my right arm coming up and slashing his throat in a swift
motion. A gurgling sound emanated from his throat, but I knew it
wouldn’t last. He would begin healing almost immediately.
Damn vampire.
I needed to disable him somehow without killing him. My fire was
calling to me and I shoved it down with everything I had. I could not
light him on fire. I was determined to find out who had turned him
and why he’d been set loose. I moved to deliver another blow, a
deep stab to his stomach once more, but just as I moved to strike, a
deep growl echoed through the streets. Another predator making itself
known. Like an idiot, I turned, and the moment of distraction cost me
as I felt the vampire sink his teeth into my raised forearm. A scream
escaped me, and then the growl turned into a thundering roar.
I watched in suspended silence as Declan
tackled the fledging vampire, bringing him to the ground, the crunch
of bone loud to my ears as his body hit the pavement. He’d taken a
mouthful of my flesh with him when he’d gone down, and blood flowed
freely from the wound, staining the ground red. I tried without
success to staunch the bleeding with my left hand but couldn’t get
my arm to corporate.
Before I could stop him, Declan brought his
hands to the vampire’s neck and, in one quick movement, snapped it.
The sound made me cringe. He rose from the body and kicked it once.
He grunted in satisfaction when the body didn’t respond.
As though a switch had been flicked, I
snapped out of my daze, fury and so much frustration rising to the
surface. “What the hell did you just do?” I yelled at him. Don’t
light the Alpha on fire. Don’t light the Alpha on fire. I
repeated the mantra over and over in my head. It would not bode well
for me to attack him right now. No matter how much he deserved it.
Declan looked taken aback for a moment. “I
saved your life,” he said.
Urgh. Moron!
“No, you didn’t. You ruined it. I cannot believe you just snapped
his neck like that, without any thought.” My temperature rose and I
had to take a calming breath to contain myself. It didn’t help
much.
“Why would I think about it? He had his
fangs buried in your arm. I’d expect a little gratitude here.”
I stormed past him and crouched beside the
vampire, tearing my blade from his chest. I wiped the blade on the
edge of my dress before sheathing it. It was already ruined so a
little more blood couldn't hurt it. I needed something else to focus
on aside from Declan’s stupidity or I was going to lose what little
control I had. I skimmed my hands over the now cold body, checking
the pockets of his shirt and pants to find anything that may provide
me with some sort of clue.
“What are you doing?” Declan asked,
obviously annoyed.
Join the club, buddy.
I was pretty damn annoyed myself.
“I’m looking for information,” I bit
out. “It would have been much easier to just question the vampire
but no, you had to go and snap his neck and be all ‘I am tiger,
hear me roar.’” I threw my hands in the air in frustration.
He snarled beside me. “I saved your
life.”
“No.
You interfered. I’m a pyrokinetic. Don’t you think if I’d
wanted him dead, I’d have lit his ass on fire as soon as he got
close? I wasn’t trying to kill him. I was trying to disable him,
and then you had to come out here all hot-headed and kill him.”
*************
Cursed by Fire (Blood & Magic 1)
by Danielle Annett
Release Date: January 28, 2015
It has been six years since the
Awakening and peace in Spokane, Washington is still tenuous at best.
The vampires and shifters are all vying for control of the city and
the humans seem to be the ones suffering the consequences, or so it
seems.
Aria Naveed has spent the last two
years of her life fighting to make the many wrongs of the world
right, but soon finds out that the humans aren’t as weak as they
appear and may be a more terrifying foe than any of the other races
combined.
When a stranger rolls into town with
trouble on his heels, Aria finds herself trapped in the middle of a
battle that could cost her more than she has bargained for as a fight
for justice turns into an unexpected fight for her life.
***EXCERPT***
The light began to fade from
his eyes as I crawled across the floor in an effort to reach my
father. My nails were raw and bloody as I struggled to carry myself
closer to him, digging into the rough wooden floors with each drag of
my body.
“I’m coming,” I
panted in between breaths. “Just hang on, Papa, I’m coming.”
I woke gasping for breath,
drenched in a cold sweat, clutching the hilt of my dagger as if my
life depended on it. I frantically looked around the room in search
of our attacker while also taking stock of any injuries. I was
perfectly whole.
“It was just a
nightmare,”
I told myself, though that did little to ease the ache in my chest
over the remembered pain. I
miss you so much.
Rubbing my hands over my
face, I pushed back the wet, loose tendrils of hair that had escaped
my braid during my fitful rest and returned my dagger to its resting
place beneath my pillow. Taking another deep breath I registered a
hint of smoke.
Shit!
My eyes roamed over the
room, frantically looking for the source of fire.
“You have got to be
kidding me!”
I untangled my body from the
sheets, tripping and falling into a heap on the floor before I was
able to crawl out of my covers and retrieve an old shirt. I
frenziedly swatted at the bedroom curtains with the old t-shirt but
the flames continued to rise. Deciding there was no other choice, I
ripped the curtains from the window and rushed to the kitchen.
Throwing the curtains into
the sink and turning the faucet on all the way, I watched as the
flames were snuffed and steam began to rise. The curtains ruined.
Turning the water off, I
allowed my body to slide down the smooth wooden cabinets until my
bottom met the cool tile floor. I folded my arms across my knees and
rested my forehead against them. Closing my eyes I took several deep
breaths, my heart still racing from the effects of the recurring
nightmare. This was getting out of hand. I had thought the nightmares
were fading, but something was bringing the memories back with a
screaming vengeance and this was the third time this week they’d
plagued me. I missed my parents but it’d been over six years now.
They weren’t coming back and I needed to let it go. My subconscious
needed to let it go and I needed to let Daniel’s death go. Not the
case, no, I wouldn’t let that go. But his death was affecting me in
ways I couldn’t allow to continue.
I breathed deeply in an
effort to calm my nerves. Small tremors racked my body, the nightmare
had shaken me more that I’d like to admit. My skin was covered in a
fine sheen of sweat. A physical reminder that I needed to relax
before I accidentally caught something else on fire.
*************
Link
to Goodreads:
Cursed by Fire (Blood & Magic #1) -
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20564142-cursed-by-fire
Kissed by Fire (Blood & Magic #2) - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25236851-kissed-by-fire
Purchase
Links:
Danielle Annett is a reader, writer,
photographer, and the blogger behind Coffee and Characters. Born in the SF Bay area, she now resides in Spokane, WA, the primary location for her Blood & Magic series.
Addicted to coffee at an early age, she
spends her restless nights putting pen to paper as she tries to get
all of the stories out of her head before the dogs wake up the rest
of the house and vye for her attention.
Website
| Facebook
| Twitter |
Goodreads
One
(1) winner will receive a print copy of books 1 and 2, and a $10
Amazon GC (INT)
Giveaway
Information: Contest ends August 12, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for visiting and posting a comment - however if you post a link to a different product website on a product review your comment will NOT be posted as that is spam and unwanted and it is downright unethical to do that and will not be tolerated.