Blood Spells Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  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

  GLOSSARY

  Teaser chapter

  Praise for the Nightkeepers Series

  Blood Spells

  “This series goes right to your heart! Jessica Andersen is a must read for me!”

  —#1 New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward

  Skykeepers

  “An exciting, romantic, and imaginative tale, Skykeepers is guaranteed to keep readers entertained and turning the pages.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “Will knock you off your feet, keep you on the edge of your seat and totally captivated from beginning to end.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “A gripping story that pulled this reader right into her Final Prophecy series.”

  —Romance Reader at Heart (top pick)

  “The Final Prophecy is a well-written series that is as intricate as it is entertaining.”

  —The Romance Readers Connection

  “The world of the Nightkeepers is wonderful, and I love visiting it. It is intricate, magical, and absolutely fascinating. . . . Step inside the Nightkeeper world and prepare to be swept away!”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  “If you’re looking for a book to read, one that has an intricate, inventive, and well-researched world with characters that are fully realized, might I suggest Skykeepers?”

  —Romance Novel TV

  Dawnkeepers

  “Prophecy, passion, and powerful emotions—Dawnkeepers will keep you on the edge of your seat begging for more!”

  —Wild on Books

  “This strong new series will appeal to fantasy and paranormal fans with its refreshing blend of Mayan and Egyptian mythologies plus a suitably complex story line and plenty of antagonists.”

  —Monsters and Critics

  “This exhilarating urban romantic fantasy saga is constructed around modernizing Mayan mythology. . . . The story line is fast-paced and filled with action as the overarching Andersen mythology is wonderfully embellished with this engaging entry.”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  “Using the Mayan doomsday prophecy, Andersen continues to add complexity to her characters and her increasingly dense mythos. This intense brand of storytelling is a most welcome addition to the genre.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Action-packed with skillfully written and astounding fight scenes . . . will keep you on the edge of your seat begging for more.”

  —Romance Junkies

  Nightkeepers

  “Raw passion, dark romance, and seat-of-your-pants suspense—I swear ancient Mayan gods and demons walk the modern earth!”

  —#1 New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward

  “Andersen’s got game when it comes to style and voice . . . a mix of humor, suspense, mythology, and fantasy . . . a series that’s sure to be an instant reader favorite, and will put Andersen’s books on keeper shelves around the world.”

  —Suzanne Brockmann on Writers Are Readers

  “I deeply enjoyed the story. It really hooked me!”

  —New York Times bestselling author Angela Knight

  “Part romance, mystery, and fairy tale . . . a captivating book with wide appeal.”

  —Booklist

  “[A] nonstop, action-intensive plot. . . . Ms. Andersen delivers a story that is both solid romance and adventure novel. If you enjoy movies like Lara Croft . . . or just want something truly new, you will definitely want this.”

  —Huntress Book Reviews

  “Intense action, sensuality, and danger abound.”

  —Romantic Times

  “If Nightkeepers is any indication of her talent, then [Jessica Andersen] will become one of my favorites. . . . [The book] brought tears to my eyes and an ache in my heart. I read each word with bated breath.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “[A] terrific romantic fantasy . . . an excellent thriller. Jessica Andersen provides a strong story that . . . fans will cherish.”

  —Midwest Book Review

  The Novels of the Nightkeepers

  Nightkeepers

  Dawnkeepers

  Skykeepers

  Demonkeepers

  Blood Spells

  SIGNET ECLIPSE

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

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  First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, November 2010

  eISBN : 978-1-101-44484-9

  Copyright © Jessica Andersen, 2010 All rights reserved

  SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  To family

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My heartfelt thanks
go to Deidre Knight, Kerry Donovan, Claire Zion, and Kara Welsh for helping me take these books from a dream to a reality; to J. R. Ward for her unswerving support; to my many other e-friends for always being there for a laugh or cyberhug; and to Sally for keeping me sane.

  The card readings used in this story were adapted from The Mayan Oracle: Return Path to the Stars, written by Ariel Spilsbury and Michael Bryner. The stuff I got right is thanks to them. . . . The rest is on me!

  Legend

  Mayan lore and modern science warn that 12/21/2012 could bring a global cataclysm . . . a threat that is far more real than we imagine. Dark forces stand poised to overrun the earth and crush humanity beneath a vicious rule of terror and blood sacrifice. Our only hope rests with a group of saviors living in secret among us: modern magic-wielding warriors called the Nightkeepers. Now, in the last years before the 2012 doomsday, these magi must find and win their destined mates in order to defend the barrier of psi energy that protects humanity against an ancient and powerful enemy. . . .

  CHAPTER ONE

  December 16

  Five days until the solstice-eclipse

  Far south of the U.S. border

  As the robed Nightkeepers formed a circle around the ancient stone sarcophagus, deep underground, Patience wanted to yell, Cancel the ceremony. The omens suck!

  She didn’t, though, because the others didn’t give a crap about the omens or the Mayan astronomy she’d gotten into lately. Besides, when the prophecies said, “On this day, you will jump,” the magi freaking jumped. And when they said the Nightkeepers had to enact the Triad spell at the First Father’s tomb on the Day of Ancestors—aka today—well, it wasn’t like they could put it off, sucky omens or not.

  This was now-or-never, do-or-die time . . . or potentially “do and die” given that the spell had a two-thirds attrition rate: The Triad had been formed only once before in the history of the Nightkeepers, and of the three magi chosen back then, only one had survived unscathed. Of the other two, one had gone nuts and the other had died instantly.

  Patience suppressed a shiver. The air in the tomb was cool and faintly damp, and the flickering torchlight made the carvings on the walls seem to move in the shadows, morphing from Egyptian to Mayan and back again as though echoing the Nightkeepers’ evolution.

  Sweat prickled down her back beneath the lightweight black-on-black combat gear that, along with the black, tattoolike glyph on her inner wrist, identified her as a warrior-mage. She was heavily armed—the Nightkeepers all were—even though it was questionable whether jade-tipped bullets and ceremonial knives would be any use today. The magi weren’t going up against a physical enemy; they were asking the sun god, Kinich Ahau, to choose three of them to receive the Triad powers.

  At least that was the theory.

  Problem was, theory also said that the entire pantheon was supposed to choose the Triad . . . but at the moment, all the other gods were locked up in the sky, barred from the earth by the Nightkeepers’ enemies. Which meant . . . well, nobody knew what that meant for the Triad spell, amping the “not good” vibe that had taken root in Patience’s stomach early that morning when she’d charted the day’s sun, sacred numbers, and light pulses, and gotten what amounted to a cosmic suggestion that she should stay the hell in bed with the covers pulled over her head until tomorrow.

  Not that anybody wanted to hear that right now. The ceremony was starting.

  Across the circle, Strike—wearing royal red robes and a scowl of fierce concentration beneath his dark jawline beard—ritually invited the gods and ancestors to listen up. He was speaking ancient Mayan, having memorized the spell phonetically. Beside him, Jade joined in to smooth over his occasional fumbled syllable; she was the only one there who knew the old tongue. Her human mate, Lucius, was fluent, but this was a Nightkeepers-only ceremony . . . which was why the circle consisted of a whopping ten magi when the legends said there should be hundreds, even thousands, for the gods to choose from when it came to the Triad spell.

  Yeah. Not so much.

  Beside Jade was blond, good-looking Sven, face pale and serious beneath his winter-bleached tan. On Strike’s other side were the king’s younger sister, Sasha, and her mate, Michael, who stood with a hunter’s sharp-eyed stillness. Alexis was next in the circle—blond and Amazonian, a warrior to her core. She was nearly as tall as her lean, dark-eyed shape-shifter mate, Nate, who stood beside her, their fingers brushing.

  That was where the alternating male-female thing broke down, though, because next to Nate stood interruption personified in the form of their youngest member, Rabbit. But although the sharp-featured young man’s veins ran with a dangerous mixture of Nightkeeper and Xibalban blood and he pretty much embodied Murphy’s Law, Rabbit had earned his place on the team.

  When he glanced over at Patience, seeming to feel her eyes on him, she mouthed, Good luck. Their early close friendship might have faded over the past two years, but that didn’t mean she’d stopped caring. She couldn’t turn her emotions on and off at will . . . unlike the big man who stood next to her, completing the circle.

  She was all too aware of him standing beside her, perfectly balanced and poised to move, as if they were headed into a battle rather than a spell. The black-on-black combat gear and flickering torchlight darkened his hair to sable and robbed his brown eyes of the shimmers of gold that brought them to life. His attention was locked on Strike and Jade as they recited the first layer of spell casting; he didn’t react to Patience and Rabbit’s brief exchange, and his thumbs were hooked into his weapons belt, his fingers not anywhere near brushing hers.

  Oh, Brandt, she whispered inwardly. They wore the jun tan marks of a mated mage pair and the wedding bands from their six-year marriage . . . but just now he seemed a million miles away, locked behind the detachment that came with his warrior’s mark. Untouchable. Unreachable.

  Part of her wished she could hide beneath the magic like that. But although her warrior’s talent had given her increased speed, reflexes, and magic, and blunted the terror of battle so she could fight through her fear, she still felt the fear and everything that came with it. Brandt, on the other hand, didn’t seem to feel anything when he was in warrior mode.

  This isn’t about us. It’s about the war, she reminded herself. Focus.

  It was a familiar refrain.

  As Strike and Jade finished the first of three repetitions of the spell, a faint hum touched the air. Magic. It began at the very edges of Patience’s hearing and gained depth, swirling around the magi in waves that resonated as both noise and energy. It was more than just the usual Nightkeeper power, she realized with an uneasy shiver. The red-gold sparkle of magic was laced through with a white-light crackle that smelled faintly of ozone, warning that this wasn’t like any other spell the team had cast before.

  Her pulse thudded in her ears as the fear broke through, reminding her of what they were doing, the havoc it could cause. If the chosen magi survived the Triad spell, they would gain the powers of all their most powerful forebears . . . at the cost of sharing their skulls and souls with the ghosts of those ancestors.

  She couldn’t imagine it. Didn’t want to. Yet the thought of becoming a Triad mage had been giving her nightmares for weeks now.

  Don’t choose me or Brandt. Please. The inner whisper broke through the bonds of duty. Even that much of not-quite-a-prayer went against the writs, but it wasn’t the first time she’d been guilty of the sin. How could she avoid it, when the rules of the magi said she had to put the needs of the gods, her king, her teammates, and mankind ahead of those of her husband and children?

  Then again, Brandt didn’t have a problem doing that. He just pushed her and the twins into a mental box called “family” when it suited him.

  Focus.

  “Okay, gang,” Strike said after wrapping up the first repetition of the spell. Red-gold sparks of Nightkeeper power haloed him, glittering in the torchlight. “Let’s link up.”

  Along with the others, Pati
ence drew the ceremonial stone knife from her belt and used it to slash her right palm along the lifeline. Pain bit, and then magic fizzed in her bloodstream as the sacrifice connected her more securely to the barrier of psi energy that separated the three planes and supplied the magi with their powers.

  With the pain came a hollow ache, as the magic swirled through the void in the center of her soul where she should have been inwardly connected to Harry and Braden. Blood of her blood.

  I’m doing this for you, she whispered to the bright, beautiful boys she hadn’t seen in two long years. They were safe, hidden with Woody and Hannah, cut off from the magic and the war. We’ll be together again. On the day after the 2012 end date, she would put her family back together.

  Gods willing that they—and the earth—survived.

  Switching hands, her grip going slippery with blood, she cut her other palm, then wiped the blade on her robe and returned it to her belt. Finally, unable to delay any longer, she dropped down to sit cross-legged on the cool stone floor, and held out her hands to the men on either side of her.

  On her left, Sven linked up immediately, gripping her hand so they were aligned blood to blood. The contact brought a flare of heat and magic, increasing the champagne fizz of magic in her blood to an Alka-Seltzer bubble as he squeezed her hand in a show of support, or maybe more because he was nervous. It was hard to tell what Sven was thinking most of the time.

  To her right, though . . .

  When her hand hovered midair, unclaimed, ice frosted the hard knot in her stomach. Don’t do it, she thought fiercely at Brandt. Not here. Not now.