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Once We Were Witches
Immortal Kiss Series Book 4
by Laura Daleo
Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy
The mysterious world of witchcraft, murder, and mystery thrusts Raven Sagestone into an adventure whose main goal is to unlock the secrets of her powers. To do this, she teams up with Brandon Cass, an outsider with knowledge of the supernatural world. Raven is introduced to Eve, a psychic who reads destinies. Despite this, Raven is protected by a strong magic barrier, preventing Eve from seeing her. Brandon and Raven search for the truth at Bloodthirst, a vampire club. Visiting The Council's haven with Margarete and Caleb is Raven's chance to find answers to the questions that have plagued her.
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The Vampire Within
Immortal Kiss Series Book 3
Brandon Cass is not your average teenager. He has a taste for blood—human blood. For sixteen years, he stumbled through life without a hitch until the enigmatic aroma of blood awakened something dark within him. Visions of a beautiful young woman with chocolate brown hair and ocean blue eyes haunt his mind, yet her identity is a puzzling mystery.
His hunger for blood strengthens, and the cravings become too powerful to control. No one is safe, not even his family. To safeguard all he once found dear, Brandon sets out on a quest for answers. In an unfamiliar city, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful young woman, confronts the dark force which controls him, and learns what he must endure to reclaim his soul.
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Bound By Blood
Immortal Kiss Series Book 2
Five years crawled by at a painfully slow pace for young vampire, Beth; each year more agonizing than the next. The powerful unyielding spell which masked Amon’s whereabouts showed no signs of weakening. Influenced by the binding ritual and Amon’s blood surging inside her, Beth will stop at nothing, and risk everything, to find him and turn the tables on Osiris, Isis, and Hathor. In foggy streets of London, lives are threatened by a new breed of hunter, and nothing is what it seemed. Beth once again finds herself surrounded by betrayal. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between Philippe and Amon – knowing that her decision will change one life forever. But whose?
Immortal Kiss
Immortal Kiss Series Book 1
Centuries ago ten powerful vampire gods first walked the earth; their blood thirst knew no boundaries. The destruction of mankind was inevitable. Recognizing their weakness, they selected twelve wise human beings to transform with their godly blood. These twelve, known as The Old Ones and The Council, govern The Ten. A blood lottery appeasing The Ten’s hunger was set forth into the human world and passed down every fifth generation, continuing into the present day.
All of Beth Ryan’s life a mysterious mist has watched over her; a mist she believed to be a vampire. On a cold winter night, Philippe Delon, a 700-year-old vampire walks into Beth’s life. She is drawn to him, certain he is the vampire behind the mist...but is he?
Beth and Philippe cannot deny their love for each other, nor do they try to fight it. Within days of their encounter, Beth accepts Philippe’s invitation to move into his mansion. The mansion unlocks the door to the vampire world and exposes secrets from Beth’s past. Within its walls, she learns the true identity of the mist, her link to the blood lottery, and betrayal of her loved ones. Surrounded by lies, Beth stands before The Council begging for resolution.
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Once We Were
Witches – short excerpt
Chapter
1
A breaking news alert flashed on the TV screen as I bit into my bagel.
As the reporter stood by, the camera panned over to the lifeless body
of a young woman hanging from a tree branch. “Witch” was carved into her gray,
blood-stained forehead. He sighed and hung his head. “A seventh victim has been
added to the list.”
I shoved my bagel aside as a sick feeling
gripped my stomach. My heart ached as I stared at the girl’s lifeless face. How
could someone be so cruel and sadistic? This was not just a random act of
cruelty. And where were the police in all of this?
My mom walked in, grabbed the remote, and
shut off the TV.
“I was watching that.”
“There’s no need to watch some sicko
murder young women. Life’s too short to fixate on people like that.”
“I’m not fixated,” I clarified. “I’m
concerned. There’s a difference. That’s seven girls now. Each with the
word ‘witch’ carved into their foreheads. What are the police doing?
Nothing?”
She blew me off. “Investigations take
time. The police are doing everything they can. Your dad and I see a lot of
accidents at the hospital. Sadly, crime is a real thing. But you,” she kissed
my forehead, “don’t need to worry about that. Your focus should be on college
and the class you need to get to.”
Mom was wrong. I had to worry. The creep
pursued young women, specifically witches, a trait I shared and kept to myself.
While my parents were blue-eyed and blonde-haired, I had pitch-black hair and
brown eyes, and I also had strange birthmarks covering my forearms. It might
seem like I have a tragic story, but I believe everything happens for a reason.
Maybe I was destined to be abandoned outside the hospital where my adoptive
parents worked. As they headed home after a long shift, they heard a faint cry
near the emergency entrance. Rushing to investigate, they found me abandoned on
the front steps, bundled in a pink blanket. As fate would have it, they
immediately took me in and showered me with love.
As a baby, a toddler, a teen, and now at
19, a college student, they never saw me as anything but sweet, curious, sulky,
and smart. They had no idea what I was hiding, the power I perfected, the
spells I practiced, the magic I shed. In their eyes, I was like them. I knew I
was someone beyond their comprehension, someone powerful. But who was I? Who
were my birth parents who should have taught me how to use the gifts given to
me at birth? The only information I had about my past came from visions—an image
of a dark figure dropping me outside the hospital. There were no records of my
birth, my parents, a location—as if I never existed. Bringing my questions to
my adoptive parents wouldn’t do any good. They’d kept these secrets hidden from
me. In spite of me knowing the real truth, my adoptive parents provided a birth
certificate, giving me the name, Raven Sagestone. I love them, but I want
answers. I wanted to know the truth, and it was clear it wouldn’t come from
them. This was something I had to figure out for myself.
I put on my cropped denim jacket, kissed my mom on the cheek,
and hit up Uber on my cell. My driver’s tests were a total disaster. I failed
every time. It creeped me out when the instructors stared at me with their
beady eyes. So…my driver’s license was out, and Uber was in. Having someone
else do all the driving was a much better plan, for now anyway.
Forty minutes
before class, the Uber driver dropped me off in front of the massive steps
leading up to entrance of Granite Bay University. It was one of the oldest
schools in Jodence, like something straight out of a fairytale. Its structure
was reminiscent of a castle, with its towering columns, decorative arched
windows, and cone-shaped roof; yet modern-day people dressed in jeans, T-shirts,
and sneakers surrounded the ancient building—me being one of them.
In the past fourteen weeks, my daily agenda had consisted of
visiting the library before class and researching its extensive collection of
witchcraft, magic, and supernatural books. One of those
books was certain to contain the answers to my birthright. I absorbed every
word I came across about soul-bending, mental conjuring, healing rituals,
protection rituals, binding magic, and the lore of fire, water, and air. One of
the most fascinating things I discovered was the witch’s mark. It has likely
been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. However, between the 15th
and 18th centuries, it had a much darker history than it does now. Witches were
often burned, hanged, drowned, and tortured, and those with red hair and extra
fingers and toes were often suspected of witchcraft. Witch hunters used moles,
birthmarks, scars, and extra digits to identify witches. It was a myth that a
particular god or bloodline was associated with the presence of a mole cluster
or rose-colored mark. My arms were covered in black symbols like ancient ink,
and neither a cluster nor a mark applied to me. Thank goodness I wasn’t born
back then.
With my arms full of books, I walked beneath the library’s
massive brick archways, combing its numerous aisles for books I hadn’t read.
When I rounded the corner, I tripped over a guy sitting on the floor. My books
flew through the air and landed with a thud. I groaned as I hit the ground,
hoping I had not damaged my books. The guy on the floor, on the other hand,
quickly sprang up and apologized profusely.
His hands steadied
me as he blurted, “Whoa, sorry.” He
helped me gather my books and ensured I was okay. An adorable smile swept along his lips as he brushed sandy-brown hair out of his hazel-colored eyes. He was
probably one of those guys unaware of how cute he was, but cute or not, he’d
parked his ass in the middle of the aisle, causing me to trip.
“What the hell,
dude? There are tables to sit at and read.”
“Yeah, I see your
point,” he grinned, revealing dimpled cheeks as he flipped through the books. “So
you’re into witches? Or maybe it’s research for a paper about what’s going now
right now?”
“Does it matter?”
He squished his
eyebrows together and tilted his head to the side. “Do you know my sister?”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.” He
tucked the books under his arm and bobbed his chin toward the tables. “Here,
let me help you. It’s the least I can do.”
With a smile, I
accepted his offer. “Thank you.”
He arranged the
books on the table before shoving his hands into his pockets. Then he stood
there, studying me.
“Stare much?”
“Has anyone told
you, you’re difficult?” He didn’t wait for me to respond. “But hey, I
apologize for staring.” He spread his fingers and moved them in a circular
motion over my face. “You remind me of someone, Eve. She’s got the same dark
hair, ivory skin, and red lip look.”
I shrugged. “I don’t
know anyone named Eve.”
“Hmph.”
The sound of
a distant scream sent chills down my spine. My eyes darted around, searching
for the source. “Did you hear that?”
“That was
definitely a scream.”
Students leapt
from their seats, hurling books onto the floor as their gazes swept the room.
Librarians abandoned their posts and spilled into the aisles. Panicked voices
shouted, “Who screamed?” “What happened?” Me and the guy were thrown into
madness by a stampede of people charging to the exits and pushing us out of the
building and onto the library’s steps.
The echo of my
thumping heart filled my ears as I tried to figure out what was happening
around me. The once orderly campus had become a chaotic mess as hundreds of
people rushed by, pushing and shoving, their faces filled with panic. As I
fought my way through the crowd, I couldn’t help but wonder where everyone was
going and what had happened to cause such chaos.
“There!” the guy
pointed toward the sculpture of the university’s tower in the courtyard.
I gasped as my
eyes landed on the bodies. Three girls hung from the white tower with their
necks bound together, now covered in blood. As I looked at their lifeless eyes
and saw the word “witch” carved across their foreheads, a chill ran down my
spine. An eerie, tragic, and horrific scene surrounded the stained white tower.
As students and teachers huddled together, whispering in disbelief, a shrill of
sirens echoed in the distance, intensifying panic and fear. Police authorities
were under pressure to find those responsible for these horrific acts.
“Damn, three this
time,” he uttered with shock.
I couldn’t speak.
My throat swelled with a huge sob as I slowly shook my head.
The police rushed
in, their footsteps pounding the sidewalk as they raced toward the tower. Their
faces were determined as they cautiously approached the cordoned-off area. They
quickly pulled out their clipboards and meticulously documented the evidence,
taking photographs of the area.
An officer,
wearing an exasperated expression, yelled. “Get back! This is a crime scene.”
I flinched,
staggered backward, before firmly planting my feet on the ground. I wasn’t going
anywhere. This was my battle. I needed answers. Those poor girls needed answers
too. My eyes grew wide as I demanded, “Why don’t you find this sick creep
before we all die?”
The guy’s gaze
burned into my flesh as he snapped his head toward me. “What are you doing?”
The officer thrust
his shoulders back and barked out, “You need to step back.”
“Are you trying to
get arrested?” the guy whispered in my ear.
Just as his words
entered my head, I overheard someone say, “They’re ice cold; not a drop of
blood in them.”
My eyes locked on
the authoritative policeman. “Blood? Is that new? Were the other girls drained
of blood too?”
A pair of squinted
eyes glared at me. “You can retreat or go downtown and think about your actions
in a jail cell.”
“Omgeez, man up
much?” the guy said as he grabbed my arm and hurried me away. “You need to calm
down.”
I tore my gaze
away from the dead girls and locked it on him. “Don’t tell me what to do. You
don’t know anything about me. I want answers for those girls.” And myself,
I privately declared. “It seems nobody is fighting for them.”
“It might seem
that way on the surface, but I’m sure they’re doing everything they can to
help.”
“I wish I could
believe that, but dead bodies keep showing up…” My voice cracked as the sob
squeezing my throat broke free. My shoulders quivered, and I buried my face in
my hands.
He wrapped his arm
around my shoulders and softened his voice. “They’ll catch ’em. It’ll be okay.”
Sniffling, I
sighed, “I can’t concentrate. I can’t be in class.”
“We can walk to
The Grind, get a coffee, and just relax.”
I nodded and then
hung my head as he led me away from the gruesome scene of dead girls.
Trying to do this without spoilers
This series offers a little bit of everything in the romantasy genre
The author crafted quite a unique universe with this series.
The rules are a bit different
Each book interconnects in the universe some highlighting different characters
with slightly different story tones
Immortal Kiss
We have Beth, The mist, her BFF, the vamps
This first book took a bit for me to really get into
Admittedly I almost skipped the series I am glad I did not!
There is a lot of insta love, on Beth's part really, everyone else has been pining for her for since,
well forever
a sort of love triangle (not your norm though)
Beth finds out her whole life has been a lie and she is determined to uncover who and what she really is
Even take on the old ones
Bound By Blood
Beth's world is turned upside down but she is not giving up
On finding her maker or keeping her marriage alive
I was much more invested with book two
Lots of twists and little surprises I did not see coming
The Vampire Within
This is Brandon's story
A 16yr old who finds he suddenly craves the blood
All the blood
All the time
Brandon sets off to get answers
This was more of a personal growth adventure though it was still packed with all the vampy goodness and twists I have come to expect from the series
Once We Were Witches
Raven is about to find out that there is a whole lot more out there going bump in the night
Lots of new characters as well as some of the ones I have grown to love
This was fast-paced with lots of mystery and edge-of-your-seat suspense
Overall a solid series with some standard vampire lore as well as some unique new views
Plenty of edge of edge-of-your-seat suspense and mystery
In most of the books, the romance takes a back seat to the action, it's there and it burns hot, but there is more of a focus on the cast and their quests. Which I liked
LAURA DALEO has been writing for over 20 years and has published 7 books. In addition to advocating for reading and writing, she is a strong supporter of the Indie author community. She is well known for her Immortal Kiss series which captures vampiric persuasion. The Egyptian pantheon, which gave rise to vampires, is explored in this series in an interesting way.
Laura has a passion for writing stories that explore the supernatural realm and bring her characters to life. Her published works include Immortal Kiss, Bound by Blood, The Vampire Within, Once We Were Witches, The Vow, The Soul Collector, and The Doll.
With her Facebook group, The BOOKLounge For Readers and Authors, she has created a community for readers and authors. It is home to over 65k active members. In addition, Laura is contributing to a short story anthology with four other authors from The BOOKLounge for Readers and Authors. The anthology is scheduled for release in October 2023.
A native of San Diego, California, Laura now lives in Tucson, Arizona with her two dogs, Rose and Cooper.
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