By Blood Sworn
Janice Jones
(The Dagger Chronicles #2)
Published by: Amberjack Publishing
Publication date: August 22nd 2017
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Supernatural
As the Dagger, Alex Stone hunted down supernatural threats on covert ops team, Night Command. After the capture of a particularly bad-ass vampire, Tristan Ambrose, Alex gets out of the game. In the years following her departure, Alex started a hot new clothing line and moved on with her life. She was happy pretending the supernatural didn’t exist, but, with Tristan’s escape, she’s pulled back into the game.
Alex is hired to continue guarding the very tempting body of Jason Stavros–up-and-coming vampire politico–alongside her new team, The Trackers. Stavros is scheduled to head to an international conference of the supernatural community in Bucharest, and Alex and her new team must keep him safe while investigating new threats, and ghosts from the past.
When the conference is interrupted by betrayal and sabotage, Alex must pull her weakened team together to bring the saboteurs to justice–and get some well-deserved revenge.
Suddenly, she’s not just back in the game, she’s all in.
By Blood Sworn is the thrilling, psychological, and sexy sequel to In Her Blood , the first book in The Dagger Chronicles series by Janice Jones.
EXCERPT:
Her stomach knotted at the sight: the position of the bodies and the chaos of the room. But, worst of all—the thing that would give her nightmares—was the look on the children’s faces, smeared with blood, as they grinned at their dead parents.“Damn shame, huh?” someone said behind her. “I thought this was supposed to be against their rules— turning little kids.”
“It is,” Alex muttered as she pushed her way through the agents while they documented the scene. But when she reached the couch, a strange sense of déjà vu came over her. It was all too familiar.
His bulky body was blanched and perched awkwardly on the faux leather couch; its light-colored pillows stained dark with his blood. Of the two victims, he had definitely gotten the worst of it. While one had fed from his neck, the other had ripped through both wrists like a chainsaw. And he was beyond bled dry. Alex could see the outline of his skeleton against his shrink-wrapped skin.
From the looks of it, the mother had come through the front door and dropped her groceries outright when she saw the carnage. Her shoes were covered in smashed fruit and spilled milk—drag marks paved the way to where she was now.
Alex pulled on a sterile glove as she made her way closer to the body. She couldn’t help but notice the sick similarities to scenes from the past, years before, in times she had hoped were long gone.
It was Tristan’s twisted idea of fun. Turn the children and send them after their own parents. His signature catch- me-if-you-can move. The sick bastard.
Was he here? Was he close? she wondered as she watched the dark blood congeal on the couch; its smell coated her nostrils then planted itself in her brain.
“Why do you think they trashed him so badly but left her almost pristine?” one of the agents asked as she snapped pictures of the scene.
Alex glanced at her. It was a good question. She turned her attention to the dead woman, the mother, sitting so very still in her rocking chair in the far corner of the room.
The woman’s hands, stained with blood that traveled down from her wounds, lay in her lap, almost peacefully, as if resting. Alex could tell from the pattern of bloodstains and the way it was smeared after congealing that one of them had brushed her hair and reapplied her makeup after her death. Maybe in a childish attempt to make her look alive. Some last, tragic moment of humanity that flickered in their almost dead hearts.
“They loved her,” Alex said softly, but loud enough to be heard by the agent.
“Love?” The agent hummed. “You buy your mother flowers when you love her, not bleed her to death.”
Alex turned to the agent and motioned toward the father. “Him? No love lost there,” she sighed with a shake of her head.
Author Bio:
Graduating with a Masters in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University, Janice's first novel, In Her Blood, is the first book in her vampire adventure series The Dagger Chronicles. This series introduces you to the world of Alexa "Alex" Stone, ex-vampire hunter and assassin turned fashion mogul. Hiding in plain sight, Alex must return to the world of the supernatural in order protect a handsome vampire and her own secrets. Look for Book Two, By Blood Sworn to hit online outlets soon. Janice is looking forward to readers of New Adult Fiction and Vampire lore to embrace a new kind of action adventure hero, a woman with many secrets and many stories to tell.
(Author photo courtesy of Omar Ramos Photography www.omarramosphotography.com/Makeup by LaChandra Middlebrooks)
The blue cover really pops and this does sound like something I would love to read.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental