Redemptive Blood
Page 1
REDEMPTIVE BLOOD
A Blood Series Novel
Book 7
New York Times Bestselling author
Tamara Rose Blodgett
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2017 Tamara Rose Blodgett
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to a legitimate retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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Cover Art: Willsin Rowe
Editing suggestions provided by Red Adept Editing
CONTENTS
Works by Tamara Rose Blodgett and Marata Eros
TRB News
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Synopsis:
Adi and Slash have managed to find safety under the protection of a witch. Then Adi discovers a hidden truth layered beneath another that threatens not only themselves, but the life of someone precious to them.
Jenni, no longer completely human, has been given a second chance. When she accidentally stumbles into a Were feud, taking matters into her own hands, she flees, with the help of a former drug addict and her four-year old daughter.
Lazarus will be punished with Blood Sacrifice for his misdeeds against Lycan. Tessa doesn't know if he'll live through it to be the mate she so desperately needs. Drek has given a blood oath that Laz will not be put to death, while his chosen flees for parts unknown, unprotected, not realizing he seeks her for his mate.
Can Adi and Slash escape with more than their lives? Will Jenni find others like herself before the full moon rises—or will she change into a monster and harm the very ones she means to protect?
Finally, can Laz live through the barbaric torture and begin a new life Between with his Redemptive?
Warning- Spoilers!
Character Index:
Blood Singers/talent:
Julia- Queen of the Singers; Telekinetic/telepath
*Jason- Singer/”Feral”/Red Were
Scott- Royal Singer Blood; Deflector/Combatant
*Brendan- Tracker/pyro
Michael- Illusionist
Jen- Telekinetic
Cyrus- Healer
Paul- Negator/amplifier
Angela- Feeler
Marcus- Region One
Jacqueline- Royal Singer Blood; Region Two Leader
Victor- Region Two/Combatant- Boiler/Flame of Blood
Lucius- Combatant
Cynthia “Cyn” Adams - Rogue/Healer
Heidi- Reader
Trevor- Deflector
Northwestern Were Pack:
*Lawrence- Packmaster
*Emmanuel “Manny” - Beta to Lawrence
*Anthony “Tony” Daniel Laurent- Second to Lawrence
Adrianna “Adi”- Alpha female
Southeastern Were Pack:
David- Packmaster
Alan Greene- Alpha male
Lacey Greene – female Were and Alan’s sister
Buck “Slash”- Alpha male
Karl Truman- former Homer detective
Ford- Alpha male/ FBI agent
Reagan - Moon Warrior, Lacey’s daughter
Southeastern Vampire Kiss:
*Merlin- Coven leader
*William- new coven leader
Brynn- New leader of the Southeastern
Northwestern Vampire Kiss:
Gabriel- Coven Leader
Claire- William’s cousin William- Runner/shifter/Singer blood (now deceased)
Unseelie Sidhe fey:
Queen Darcel- Sidhe
Tharell- mixed Sidhe warrior
Cormack- Sidhe warrior
Domiatri “Domi”- Sidhe warrior
Rex- Sidhe
Kiel (key-ale)- dragon shifting Sidhe
Celesta- Sidhe warrior
Delilah - Vampire, third to Julia, Scott’s half-sister
Rogue Reds:
Ezekiel “Zeke”
Rogue Alpha female Were:
Tessa
FEDS:
Tom Harriet
Tai (tie) Simon
Western Were Pack:
Tramack
[the] Lanarre:
Drek
Bowen
Tahlia
Neil
New Characters:
Jenni
Devin
Bray
Ella
DEDICATION:
Julia Summers
A chick I dig.
Works by Tamara Rose Blodgett and Marata Eros:
Tamara Rose Blodgett
The BLOOD Series
The DEATH Series
The REFLECTION Series
The SAVAGE Series
Shifter ALPHA CLAIM
Vampire ALPHA CLAIM
Final Enforcement Vampire ALPHA CLAIM
&
Marata Eros:
A Terrible Love (New York Times bestseller)
A Brutal Tenderness
The Darkest Joy
Club Alpha
The DARA NICHOLS Series
The DEMON Series
The DRUID Series
Road Kill MC Serial
The SIREN Series
The TOKEN Serial
Final Enforcement Vampire ALPHA CLAIM
Shifter ALPHA CLAIM
Vampire ALPHA CLAIM
The ZOE SCOTT Series
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A BLOOD Overview
Dear Readers,
Firstly, thanks so much for reading my work, for sticking beside me through so many books and for your patience while I write them☺
The Blood Series has become a complicated work (keep your snickering to a minimum). Toward that end, I'd like to briefly re-cap the end of the last book, ENCHANTMENT, which was released sixteen months before this one. A tiny refresher might help those of you who are fuzzy on the details of what the last installment wrapped up (and do nothing for those of you who write me saying you've re-read the entire series in anticipation of reading the new book)! God love ya.
REDEMPTIVE will be a spin-off of sorts. I envision the next few books to w
rap each couple’s story while filling in the “blanks” of othersʼ as well, thereby deepening the knowledge base of the Singer world.
During the last installment, Julia and Scott enjoyed a handfasted Singer-style wedding, and they now make their way to the fey sithen in the hopes that group of supernaturals can relieve her of the demonic spore gifted upon her by Praile.
By the way, that evil asshat is still skulking around, horns and all, jonesing to make Lazarus miserable. Thank all that is holy that Tessa is One Tough Broad.
Can Laz be trusted? Because I left things in quite a little mess when the book ended. It appeared as though Laz and Praile were in cahoots with each other and were intent on tag teaming Tessa.
But then Drek shows up—he who hath stuck both feet in his mouth when Tahlia needed him most. Tahlia has assumed her bird form to escape his attentions, not even allowing herself to fully realize their potential as a royal Lanarre couple. And why should she? Drek tied her up and didn't give her a chance to fully explain things, while the grief over losing her guardians by Tony's (so glad that insufferable douche is dead) hand is still fresh.
Slash and Adi have plopped onto the lap of a benign witch. Or so they think. They're technically mated while trying to fly under the Lanarre radar since Slash so handily dispatched three Lanarres who thought they would get froggy and jump on Adi's lily pad. Au contraire, Adi managed an escape with Slash's help, but not before getting the bite on Jenni, the helpful nurse dying of terminal breast cancer.
Although Slash thwarted an attack on Adi, her Lanarre attacker fatally wounded this innocent human caught in the crossfire of Were against Were.
Now Jenni has become that which attacked—and ultimately—saved her. Where can Jenni go? Who will teach her what it means to be Were. Is she cured? Is there a pack that would take her in or will the politics of the supernaturals deny her?
See where this is going, guys? I always make a tornado to sort and love the challenge of hammering out these characters’ lives, developing devastatingly evil villains while the hope of love propels the entire tale forward at breakneck speed.
Hope you dig the ride.
♥ Tamara
February 2017
Music that inspired me during the writing of REDEMPTIVE:
“Into the Trees”
by
Zoë Keating
CHAPTER ONE
Jenni
Jenni heaves herself on her back, the dead leaves of the forest that borders the Port Townsend General Hospital offering a cushion and temporary respite.
She puts her forearm over her eyes. What just happened to me?
Hot tears of frustration and fear slide out of her eyes as she takes in the wet gloom of the forest she dragged herself into. She scans the forest, where the familiar smells surrounding the hospital are influenced by the deep-green blanket of wet vegetation so dense this close to the rain forest. Her scrubs are damp with moisture—and her own blood, from a wound that should have killed her.
Jenni shuts her eyes, remembering.
Today, she’d gone to work like any other day. Despite the knowledge of her impending death, Jenni is accomplished. She cares for others.
Creased and neglected, the papers that prove her illness is terminal were left in her small condo, which was a stone's throw from PT General. Forgotten.
Like her future. It had once been so bright.
What had Lance told her before they broke up? Oh yeah, that they would live every remaining day to the fullest.
That was until her chemo and radiation failed to save her, and Jenni lost her hair.
Every strand.
Jenni got sick—and thin. Not the model thin so coveted by society, but with hipbones like tentpoles. Her every rib was countable, and the hollows that carved out her face made her resemble a skeleton.
Still, Jenni hoped, even as Lance grew more and more distant. Finally, he just stopped calling.
The cancer diagnosis was only slightly more awful than seeing him with his new girlfriend.
She looked healthy.
Jenni's shaky inhale is wet with the tears that come more freely now. She balls her hands into fists, angrily scrubbing her eyes of the sadness for a man less courageous than a hyena.
He laughed like one, too.
She guffaws, hiccupping through her tears, and makes a conscious effort to uncurl her fingers. In her entire short life, Jenni's never shirked a duty, responsibility, or anything that others put at her feet.
That's why she didn't back down when Adi revealed what she really was. Jenni still had a job to do, no matter how terrible the turn her life has taken.
Her fingers tremble as she explores her throat with fingertips covered in her own blood. The skin beneath her touch tingles like a healing wound.
What did you do to me, Adi?
Jenni's mind whispers the answer before her next breath. She saved me.
Am I still sick?
A thin, rope-like twist of flesh is raw and throbbing underneath the brush of her fingers.
She drops her hand to feel the cool contact of decaying leaves.
The staff at PT General are going to wonder what the hell happened. Where is Jenni? What about that mess in the underground parking?
Jenni sits up, head spinning. She slaps her palms on the ground on either side to stabilize herself.
Her only goal when those creatures were going to town on one another was to get the hell out of there. She'll never get the image out of her mind. The half-werewolves are an acid-etched memory inside her brain.
Jenni's sure that she witnessed the man who had crushed Adi's heart killing those who would harm her. The idea was confusing, but true.
Adi hadn't told Jenni his identity.
But Adi’s eyes had told Jenni all she needed to know. She'd lived two lifetimes in her twenty-seven years. Cancer that doesn't kill you ages you.
Cancer that kills you ages you, too. Cancer blows.
Jenni understands a broken heart. Takes one to know one. She easily spotted the fissures in Adi like creases on a well-worn map.
Jenni shuts her eyes, scrutinizing her memory of Slash. A mountain of a man, he burst through the solid-core steel door that opens from the underground part of the hospital to the subterranean parking lot Jenni escaped from.
The impact of the door being thrown open shredded the steel into curlicues. They scattered like metallic shavings, skittering to a stop where the border of the blood from her body pooled beneath her.
Jenni craned her neck, though her throat muscles and tendons spasmed painfully with the movement. Slash's eyes were a deep, slowly spinning emerald. A line of scar tissue bisecting his hard face became granite as he took in another man holding Adi.
In living color, their torment for each other was a movie playing out in front of Jenni's eyes.
Of course, Jenni knows they were not men. But werewolves.
She heard the conversation as though the words reached her through an underground tunnel filled with water.
Lanarre. Prosecution.
Slash didn't seem to care about the warnings from the others.
Jenny lay there and watched Adi defend herself against males who were far bigger than her. Claiming she was “in heat,” they trailed Adi.
She'd wanted away so badly, she threw herself into a highway with cars traveling in excess of sixty miles per hour.
Even with the remnants of dead humans coating her body, they scented Adi. What degree of smelling sensitivity would these dudes need to have if they could find her through a body bag of human gore?
Acute, that's what.
Jenni understands she's procrastinating, that the edges of shock have worn off during the couple of hours since the battle.
I need to get out of here. To regroup.
Jenni stands, gripping a nearby tree trunk. She clings to it, pressing her forehead against the rough bark, and just that little bit of physical exertion is enough to leave her weak.
The depths of t
he forest have grown murky. Night's coming. Great. Just what I need.
Jenni rolls her face against the tree trunk and swipes a hand through her straw-like hair, plucking a leaf out of the disaster. Clinging to the trunk, its sharp bark biting at her flesh, she takes stock of her options.
She shouldn't have lived. Adi bit her on the throat, and she can still feel the heat like liquid fire pouring from the entry wound.
Jenni will never forget those spinning silver eyes. Never.
Adi injected Jenni with something vital. In fact, if Jenni concentrates, she can feel an echo of Adi.
Like a locator.
Jenni, get a grip. You don't know this girl. She's somebody that coated her face with dead people like war paint.
The facts are: She's a werewolf. I wasn't long for this world. She gave me a stay of execution.
Or so she assumes. Jenni allows several deep breaths to steady her. She's a classically trained nurse—who doesn't believe in myth.
In school, Jenni was one of those girls with her nose stuck in a book. Math and science were her favorite subjects, and when she splinted a bird's broken wing, she understood what her role was in this life.
Doctoring was her calling. Too bad life wasn’t going to give her time to fulfill that destiny.
Now this is her destiny.
Her chilled fingers touch the marred flesh of her throat again, as if the two were magnets drawn together at the spot where this new life began. And her touch finds smooth skin where a scar like a whip of rope crossed her neck a half hour before.
Jenni's gasp is loud in the forest, startling the small creatures nearby.
The grievous wound vanished completely.
She's lost blood—and seen things she shouldn't have: events that didn't seem real and creatures in half-human, half-wolf form with talons at the tips of their fingers and bright glowing eyes that appeared to spin depending on their range of emotions.
Her gaze spears the woods, finding the small gap between the trees and the softly lit streetlamps that surround the hospital.
Can I drive?
Jenni takes a step away from the tree. Her body begins to shake with a hunger she's never known before.
A random thought surfaces in her mind: I need meat.
Her mouth runs with saliva, and she licks her lips. Jenni thinks if she doesn't get food in the next ten seconds, her body will start to consume itself.
She hesitates, looking at the distance between the edge of the forest and the parking garage where her car is.