by Amy Faye
Blood Magic
A Witch Sisters Novella
Paranormal Royalty Romance
Amy Faye
Published by Heartthrob Publishing
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Here’s a preview of the sexy love story you’re about to read…
He got under the blanket with her. His smell overwhelmed her. She wanted to turn away from the wall, to turn towards him and wrap her arms around him. She wanted it so badly, that after a few moments, she did. Her arms looped under his, around his chest and tightened. She felt his breathing push his ribs out. She felt his exhale. She felt his hair against her face. Every movement made her chest ache, her stomach flip more and more.
Lance turned to face Terra, and he cupped her face in his hands. There was nothing in her that resisted. His lips fell on hers, and it felt right. She pressed her lips against his, and it felt right.
She didn't want his lips to leave hers, ever. Lance no longer felt like a stranger, he felt like an old lover, like a comfort, like a long lost friend. His hands slid down her back, pulling her closer to him. Her leg wrapped over his hip, pulling him closer to her.
His breath was hot in her mouth. Her tongue was hot in his. She bit his bottom lip. Lance groaned, groping her butt. He kneaded the cheeks, and then slid his hand up her dress. He grabbed her breasts, brushing the rough skin on his hands against her nipples. She gasped into his mouth.
Terra pressed her hand against his crotch, feeling his hardness growing. She rubbed it from over the fabric, coaxing it to grow more and more. He swore, telling her how good it felt.
She undid his pants and slid her hand into his boxers. The tip of his cock was already wet with precum. Lance slid his hand down her panties. She was already wet, too.
At Terra slowly moved her hand up and down his meat, Lance pressed a finger against her entrance. She widened her legs. His finger popped in, and she hissed. It hurt, first, but then he put in a second finger and it felt good.
It felt so good.
She came quickly, grunting and shivering against him. He pulled her panties down, throwing them onto his floor, and pulled her on top of him. He lifted her dress over her head. It also fell to the floor.
Her breasts, in Lance's opinion, were perfect. They filled his hands just right. He wanted to feel them, always in his hands. He wanted no other hands to ever feel them. He felt suddenly jealous, possessive.
He pulled her down and sucked on her breasts, hard and with teeth. She sucked in air and pressed her pussy against him. His cock was hot as it hit her clitoris. She rubbed back and forth as Lance pinched and bit her nipples, until finally she lifted herself up and sat down on his manhood.
He entered her slowly. They both breathed hard, and sighed as the full length of his cock was swallowed within her. “Ride me,” he said. She obliged.
Terra's hips moved slowly at first. She enjoyed the movement, the moment, looking into his beautiful eyes as she fucked him. And then she moved faster, unable to control herself. She was driving them both to climax.
Lance grabbed her hips, helping her to move faster still, until they both screamed and orgasmed at once. His seed spilled inside of her, filling her.
Their arms and legs tangled together as they shifted again, laying next to each other. There was no awkwardness. There was only peace, until there was only sleep.
Chapter One
Terra-Catrice Neithercutt rifled through the papers she had looked through over and over again during her childhood. She preferred to be called Terra, just as her twin sister preferred to be called Helina instead of Helina-Catherine Neithercutt. The names weren't offensive to them, simply “too much for pretty mouths” as their adoptive father said when they were young.
Terra, unlike her sister, was adventurous and brash. The sisters both had a fire in them, but while Helina preferred to be at Court, surrounded by politics and eligible bachelors, Terra detested the Court. She had spent her life consumed by only one interest: her mother, and the disappearance of both of her parents.
Her mother, Anai Neithercutt, was the last really powerful witch, and still the reigning Witch Queen despite her absence, ageless and beautiful as the fairy tales go. The photos of Anai that hanged from the wall of her room attested to her beauty. Her diaries gave glimpses into who she was, when she wasn't on the throne. What kind of person she was.
While she was a woman, who loved her husband and her nation, she was also powerful.
She was the last High Witch, capable of stopping the war that was coming, the war between witches and vampires. So far, the war had been cold, fought only by spies and propaganda. Signs, dreams, and tarot readings told Terra that the uneasy cold war would soon turn very hot.
That was why Terra was so intent on finding her mother. That was why finding her father didn't matter as much. The rumors were that he was weak, and only became king because Queen Anai truly loved him.
So she needed her mother, the last witch capable of killing vampires. The Slaughterer, as she was known by the enemy. The Savior, as she was known by the witches.
“Crap,” Terra complained, throwing papers off of her desk and onto the ground. They flitted back up to the desk and organized themselves in an orderly fashion. “Come on… Aha!”
She held up the one paper she had been looking for, a diary entry with a name. Enot Craetr, Anai's closest adviser and a dear friend.
Anai went missing before Terra and Helina were born. All of witchdom assumed the twins were lost, as well, until they showed up on the doorway of a fop, Anoud, who had once been a dear friend to Anai and her husband, Orussus. Unmarried and dreadfully unaware of how to care for children, he nonetheless tried and managed to raise them both to be respectable members of society.
One could imagine his reaction when Terra refused a marriage proposal and immediately left Anoud's home, paying for her own apartment and rarely seeing the man or her sister.
It wasn't pretty. There were many tears, even in Terra's eyes. She tried, from then on, to avoid Anoud. It hurt to see her adoptive father suffering.
Terra and Helina were two halves, split evenly from their mother. Both as wild as she was, but neither were quite whole. Helina found happiness in trying to become queen, to fill her mother's shoes.
Terra? Terra wasn't sure if she'd ever find happiness. All she had was purpose.
With the name of her target, she gathered up her bag and stepped out of her old room, the one that Anoud had furnished lovingly and with much money. He kept the room clean for her, but it was otherwise untouched from when she left. It was because he was hoping, even still, for her to return home.
“Ahem,” came a voice from behind her. She stopped and grimaced. “Thought you could dash in and out of my house without even saying hello?”
She turned to face Anoud. Though he was old, he was still unmarried and still very much a fop. Anoud was handsome, though in a garish sort of way. He liked colors, the brighter the better, and fashion was his true passion. He crossed his arms to seem stern and punishing, but she had never feared the man. Often, she found him rather pathetic, though she loved him as if he were her father.
“Sorry, Anoud.” She hung her head in shame.
He softened, opening his arms for an embrace she could not avoid. “Oh, I forgive you! Of course I do! I'm glad to see you, and I wish you would come by more often.”
“Sorry.” He was holding her so tightly, nearly crushing her.
“Your sister misses you too, in her way. She's so sore with you still for refusing that marriage proposal. Well, maybe she's mad that you got the first proposal though you're younger.”
She was only younger by twenty minutes, according to her horoscope. “Sorry.”
“We're having dinner next week with some fine gentlemen! Would you care to join us?” That meant she had another marriage proposal, in spite of being away from court for a long time. Another man for
her to turn down. Another reason for her sister to refuse to speak with her.
“Sorry, Anoud, I'm really busy. I'll come by soon for a longer talk! Bye bye!” She waved as she walked so fast it was almost a jog away from him. He had a confused and disappointed look on his face when she looked back before leaving the house.
Once the door was closed, she leaned against it and sighed. Marriage would be nice, one day.
Not today. Not when there was a war that needed to end.
Terra's apartment was small, but that was how she preferred it. Small apartments were easy to ward against intruders and spies, and as a princess and the daughter of Anai, spying was a real possibility. Plus, it was just easier to keep clean.
The vampires didn't have much going for them, as far as magical ability. Over the years, most had become not much more than stronger humans that drank blood. There were few families who kept their powers of seduction and shape shifting.
Some kept their mind reading. Few had all of their gifts, still, though the royalty still had much more power than even the strongest witches had. Aside from Queen Anai, at least.
Many of the vampires had gone insane, or feral, either from hunger or old age. None, however, could still contact their gods, and for that all witches could be thankful. For their gods were full of wrath and destruction, and saw the vampires as the true rulers of Europe.
Their lack of magic didn't make them weak enemies, however. While those with weaker vampire lineages were able to walk in the sun, the race itself had spent millennia in the dark. They trained in subterfuge and their schools still taught how to mix poisons and where to find the ingredients for them. There had been more than one witch monarch poisoned by a vampire. There had been at least five attempts against Queen Anai, before she disappeared.
Terra flung her bag onto her old, dusty couch and sat on a mat made of synthetic materials. The fake materials left the mat a spiritually neutral place to meditate and do dream work, since it couldn't hold memories or be possessed.
With her legs crossed and her eyes closed, she willed herself into the deep darkness of her dreams. She chanted the name of her target over and over again in her head.
Enot Craetr. Enot Craetr. Enot Craetr. Enot Craetr. Enot Craetr.
Each intonation of his name drew her deeper into her dreams. Her eyes saw blackness, then red, yellow, green. She fell through each color of the rainbow, until she finally reached The Fates. The Fates were a barren land where the future could be seen in the stars, and few could reach them without the use of psychoactive drugs, which were heavily regulated to all but the priesthood.
“I'm looking for Enot Craetr,” she said, looking to the skies. For a moment, nothing happened. All was silent, the only sound was her foot tapping against one of the knives on the ground. Then, suddenly, the stars shifted, the fog of space moved, until a sort of map with dotted lines formed. There, a house. Surrounded by nothing. In the countryside?
Terra looked for a landmark near it, something to tell her where the house was in relation to her. A familiar building or statue. She scanned each star, until she noticed the brightest one planted exactly where Mindren Manor was. Anoud took Terra and her sister there many times, and she knew that the formation of the stars in the sky was exactly how they would form for that manor. Special landmarks had unchanging constellations.
“Thank you,” she said, bowing low and taking one of the many knives laying on the ground. She used it to slit open her thumb, bleeding onto the soil. A singular flower grew from her blood, purple and sparkling.
That was all The Fates asked of you for their visions. A drop of blood. Some thought it a heavy price, but when you were searching for the Witch Queen, there was almost nothing one wouldn't pay.
As she drifted away from The Fates and back to reality, Terra's hand moved on its own to draw a map on the mat she sat on. It grabbed a nearby pen and moved quickly, but the picture wasn't sloppy. It was exactly what she saw in the stars.
Once fully aware, Terra redrew the map on paper and grabbed her bag again. It was nearly empty, and contained only what she needed most. Her Book of Shadows, chewing gum, and a stick cut from a cherry tree that she could use as a wand in a pinch. Then she bandaged her still bleeding thumb.
She ran out her door and to the train station, which she would take to Mindren Manor. From there, she would walk until she found Enot Craetr, and hopefully, a sign of her mother.
To Terra, the country landscape outside of Mindren was basically an alien land. She had only been there once, for a failed lesson in horseback riding that ended in a broken arm. Helina continued to take the lessons for a year, but Terra stayed home and played the violin. Until she gave that up, too.
She enjoyed fencing for a few months, until she gave herself a few good welts while playing with a foil and Anoud forbid her from holding a weapon ever again.
Over her short life, she had given up a lot of hobbies. Perhaps she would give up many more, until she finally found something she loved.
She approached the grand house surrounded on both sides by fruit trees. Peaches here, apples there. She considered taking an apple from a tree, but focused on the house of Enot Craetr.
Before she could even step on the porch, a young man in fine black clothing stepped out and pointed a shotgun right in her face. He didn't look like he was afraid to shoot if he needed to. Terra put her hands up. The man scoffed.
“State your business or leave.”
He looked more like a businessman than a farmer, so to see him holding a shotgun would have been comical if Terra hadn't been afraid of being shot at that very moment.
“I'm here to see Enot Craetr,” she said, holding up her hands.
“That's me, but that doesn't tell me what your business is. Why are you on my property?” He glared at her, his silver eyes sparkling in the sun. “You have five seconds before I start shooting.”
“Wait! You used to know my mother. I'm looking for her.” She hoped that would convince him to lower his gun. The last thing she needed was to piss him off.
Enot Craetr lowered the shotgun, which Terra noticed had her mother's royal crest etched into the barrel, and stepped towards the girl, examining her face closely. He reached out and touched her chin, tipping her face from side of side. “You're Anai Neithercutt's daughter?” His fingers on her chin left a burning, tingling sensation. It wasn't unpleasant, but made her uncomfortable.
“One of them.” She pulled away, wanting to not feel those strange feelings anymore. It must have been a spell to force her to speak the truth, or one to see the truth through lies. Maybe it was a simple protection spell.
Enot glanced around, for what Terra did not know. “Come inside, and we will talk about your mother,” he said in a hushed tone, pressing his hand against her lower back and ushering her up the stairs. The touch, again, burned and fizzled inside of her.
The inside of Enot's grand house was beautifully furnished, with antique French furniture, imported from Mindren's neighbor that did not know that Mindren existed. There were paintings of various women, each one wearing very little clothing. One looked orgasmic and was covered in blood.
A pitcher of red liquid sat on the mahogany table in front of the couch. A piano could be seen in the next room, as well as an easel. There was a half-finished painting of a nude woman on it. Her skin was dark, but the painter had been skilled enough to show the opalescent sheen on her skin that gave away an African vampire.
The air felt cold and damp, despite the hot dry weather outside. There was a part of the room with the piano that sang with magic, a protection spell, one designed to ward against destruction.
She turned to face the young man as he shut the door behind them. “Sorry, but how can you be Enot? You barely look any older than me.” She really looked at him now, but only really noticed that he was pleasing to look at. It wasn't a glamour that made him so handsome, she could tell this was his true form. His lips were full and looked soft. His eyes were almond shape an
d looked kind, though wary.
“No one ever expects The Slaughterer's adviser to be a vampire. I won't hold it against you.”
Terra stepped back, gasping. “You're a vampire? If you kill me, the whole world of witches will be in your front yard with pitchforks-”
He held up a hand to silence her. “I'm not going to kill you. Your mother trusted me, I would expect you to do the same.”
How could she trust a man who had just used the horrible epithet against her mother that the vampires used to slander her? Queen Anai was only trying to save her own people, and killed only when necessary.
In spite of the insult, she felt inexplicably safe with Enot, though he was a stranger and a vampire at that. Being close to him felt good. That feeling of safety put Terra even more on edge. Is he trying to put a spell on me? Maybe he's hiding something about my mother.
“Unfortunately, there isn't much that I can tell you. Your mother is gone. For all I know, she could be dead.” Enot draped over his elegant couch, looking like one of his own paintings. His hair fell slightly to the side as he watched her, his eyes heavily lidded as if he were bored. “And if I did know, I am in no hurry to see more of my people killed for yours.”
“You don't know anything? At all?” She asked, sitting down next to him. She put her hand on his thigh. “And we don't want to kill your people. I just need to end this… war. You can sense it, too, can't you?”
“It can't be ended,” he answered stubbornly.
Terra slipped her hand an inch higher. “I think it can. My mother can save all of us.” She licked her lips just as he was staring at them.
He knew exactly what she was trying to do, but he wasn't going to stop her. He raised his eyebrow, then looked away, outside at the sun shining through the apple trees. “I'm afraid I don't. If I did know where she was, I might not be an outcast right now. When she left, I was threatened with murder or exile.”
