River Crow : Fated Mates Paranormal Vampire Hellhound Romance : The Crow Sisters
River Crow
The Crow Sisters Book Two
V. Domino
Contents
Excerpt from Blood Crow
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Raiding Road, (Cutthroat MC #1)
Prologue
ONE
TWO
THREE
About the Author
Also by V. Domino
Acknowledgments
RIVER CROW, THE CROW SISTER BOOK II COPYRIGHT © 2021 V. Domino
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in a book review. This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, plots, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is coincidental. The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of all word marks, products, and brands mentioned in this work of fiction.
Cover Design by V. Domino
Ebook formatting by Rosie Alice
Edited by Mackenzie at Nice Girl, Naughty Edits
Proofreader, Alpha, PA & Queen: Rosie Alice
Trigger Warning
Before continuing, please be aware that The Crow Sisters series contains graphic violence and death, power control, explicit sexual content including consented sex, blood, and kidnapping. There are mentions of rape, sexual assault, abuse, and suicide. Each book is on different levels in terms of triggers, but all contain them. This book has dark humor, cussing, alcohol, cigarette, and drug use and is for mature readers only.
Thank you!
“Kiss me with forever where only death remains.”
-Nicole Dollanganger
Dedication
To my brother, Bam.
Losing you was one of the most gut-wrenching moments in my life.
I miss you every day, but at least I get to see your smile in your daughters’ faces.
We love you, brother.
1976-2021
Message from the Author
This book starts where book one left off at only now, you’re following Drac and Roxy. Yes, you’ll see the blooming of their relationship just as you witnessed Ronny and Drug in Blood Crow. This book has a whole new set of adversaries and loads of new twists. I truly hope you enjoy this book and fall in love with Drac and Roxy or as I call them, Draxy.
Get ready to have the front row seat to this crazy duo and their fierce family. Watch them learn about themselves and become the mighty ones they are meant to be.
As always, you’ve been warned of the triggers on the last page, but I want to again remind you… This book is not for the faint of heart. It’s for those who have those tiny sparks of darkness, those who root for the underdog and live precariously through the characters in each page. This is for those of you who love strong men and independent women.
Excerpt from Blood Crow
Ronny Crow
The moon is high, and the sky is clear of clouds, showing the twinkling stars that seem to dance in delight as we stand around the soon to be dead Merelda. I, on the other hand, am waiting for these witches to show up and crash the party.
I'm not itching for a fight, I honestly hope they want to make sure the True Witch isn't like Merelda, after all, they did get run off by her and most likely don't want a repeat.
If these witches want a problem though... I still have some pent-up anger to spew. Mayfly seems to be thinking the same thing as his fingers continue to twitch while his eyes scan the tree lines.
"Okay, let's get this over with." Elsie says as she stands next to the pyre, we have Merelda laying on. I gotta give the girl some props. She went from hostage to a fighter. She is brave and willing to sacrifice anything for her family. She will always have my respect.
Elsie lifts the blade and chats out the woes of death in Romanian. It's supposed to be a respectful death and even though I don't feel Merelda deserves one, we want this done correctly.
She brings the point to the Witch's heart and plunges it deeply without hesitation as the last words of the script is said.
The ground begins to shake, not violently but in a way that shows Merelda's energy is being taken back into the earth for recycling. I certainly hope no one is unfortunate enough to be born with her wicked soul.
Elsie leaves the blade in place and stands back. We all wait for her nod before all seven of us toss our Hellfire at the dry wood beneath the body. As the flames lick along the logs and catch onto the hem of Merelda's black robe, the Witches come out of the woods around us.
They stand in silence as the pyre becomes a blaze of black flames and smoke. After minutes of staring into the flames, one speaks. The leader I presume.
"We've come seeking the True Witch. We have seen the death of Merelda, the Witch of Decay," Hmm that's a new one. Not that it doesn't fit but I haven't heard the name before.
"You seek an audience or blood?" I ask with a growl to my voice.
"It depends, Oracle. Does she intend to restore what was once ours or does she wish to kill as Merelda had?"
I bristle at that, but Elsie holds her hand up, stopping me from saying anything more.
"I am the True Witch, but you must show me your intent before you can take back what you gave away."
All the Witches before us are now the ones bristling at those words.
"How dare you, young witchling. You know not what you speak. Merelda took with blood..."
Elsie speaks over the leader's words, "Yes she did but you, the leader of your coven, ran. You gave up without a fight when you could have had the backing of your people. You chose to hide and wait for someone else to pick up the responsibility you so hurriedly dropped. So, I say again, you must show me you are worthy of the power you seek and your place amongst the new Elders. Right now, I find you sorely lacking."
I really want to yell out, mic drop! But I don't. It would be fitting though.
"And you are worthy?" Someone else asks.
Elsie smiles in the direction the question came from, "A worthy one wouldn't claim it. Power is for those who are willing to bear its weight. While I can hold it, I do not seek it. If your coven chooses me, I will be honored but I will not allow bad intent to have such power. I've seen what it does to people."
The lead witch steps forward with a menacing stance. "I will try you, witchling."
Elsie's face morphs from sweet to hellish in a heartbeat. "And you will die old Witch."
I pull my short swords from my thigh holsters and take a stance, ready for someone to jump in unfairly but every single witch steps back along the tree line as Elsie waits for the Witch to make her move.
Like lightning, t
he coven leader lashes out with a glowing whip that is almost transparent, but it's cut across Elsie's face shows it is definitely a solid object.
My sisters and I hiss while the brothers hold Mayfly back.
Elsie catches the whip on the Witch's next snap and uses her powers to light the weapon on fire, but the leader is not deterred.
She swings her arm out and begins launching wooden stakes at Elsie, but none hit their mark. It seems that Elsie is playing with the old bat.
"Enough of your child's play!" Elsie swings her hand out and clenches her fist and the Witch before her, suddenly stops moving. Must be those invisible ropes Merelda used on me.
"Yield, Witch or you will die." Elsie tells her as the other witches around us watch with their brow stuck to their hairline but none of them seem to want a fight with the True Witch.
"I will never yield to such a..." Her words are cut off with a loud snap of her neck.
There are no gasps or outbursts of any kind from the silent witches around us. Even as Elsie uses her power to drop the body on top of Merelda, none of them speak a word.
Instead, they all turn and disappear back into the woods.
Suddenly my vision changes. No longer is my family standing before me. I'm in the same field where we burned Merelda but the sight in front of me is a bloody battle and there is a large wooden stake in the center. All around me Blood Crows and witches are killing each other and my stomach lurches at the gory sight.
"NOOOO!" I hear Drac's howl, and I turn back to the center where the wooden stake is. Tied to the pole with fire licking around her is my baby sister, Roxy.
"May the River Crow die the death of a Witch!"
A scream rips through me as my vision comes back to the present. Everyone surrounds me and lifts me from my knees. But I hug Roxy close to me and make eye contact with Drac. He must see the fear in my eyes because he rips his shirt from his chest and howls in a rage, tearing at his hair like a wild man.
Our war is not over.
Making a legacy for my sisters will never be over. Well fuck that, if these Witches want a fight, they'll have to kill us all before they can lay a finger on my sister.
I'm Ronny motherfucking Crow and if blood is what they want... I’ll pour them a river of it.
Prologue
Roxy Crow
‘Human Race’ Three Days Grace
Everything hurts.
My head pounds as consciousness slowly returns to me, lifting me out of the black fog and making a groan slip past my lips. My throat feels like I spent hours swallowing glassy sand and seashells. Pretty descriptive, I know, but it’s the first visual that comes to mind as I try to swallow. I crack open my eyes but there’s a blinding light above me, so I slam my lids closed and try to move my limbs.
Where the fuck am I and how the fuck was I asleep? I’m a Blood Crow for pussy’s sake! Ha! Get it? Because a woman’s womanhood is all-powerful in this world. It can take a beating and still bring you to your knees.
“Psst, Vampire!” A voice coming from the left pulls me from my weird thoughts. “Are you okay?”
I try to sit up, but everything hurts, and it feels like there’s a ton of weight on top of me, so I end up rolling to my side instead. There’s no reprieve from the bright light, though. I slowly reach up and tug my long pink hair over my face and begin the process of opening my eyes. Fucking hell! This spotlight is a pain in my ass.
“You were out for a long time, I thought you might be dead. You’re one of the Crow sisters, aren’t you?” The girl continues to ask quiet questions, her whispers sounding harsh, as if she’s forcing herself to talk through the fear.
But fear of what?
Who is she?
Where am I?
Finally, my eyes adjust to the blinding light, but this angry pounding in my head hurts like nothing else. My eyes take in my hands pressed against a grate on the cement floor and notice my pants are gone. What the fuck?! I’m wearing white boy-shorts and a matching sports bra that I do not own. Someone changed me while I was unconscious.
A growl works its way up my throat, but I swallow it down as I take in the area around me. First thing I notice is the cage separating me from the dirty girl next to me. She must’ve been the one talking… or was she? I turn to my other side, ignoring the pulsing pain in my head, and see a boy looking no older than fucking thirteen years old. He’s lying on his side, and my heart pounds.
Is he dead?
I crawl over to him and try to teleport myself through the fence, but my powers aren’t working.
“What the fuck?” I whisper as I stare at my fingers, trying my hardest to push my Hellfire flames through my palms, but nothing happens. Panic sets in, and I spin on my ass, sticking my fingers through the metal squares of the cage, then pull as hard as I can, but I can’t break this damn thing.
My breathing ratchets and becomes harsh, rivaling the rush of blood pounding through my ears, Rory, Ronny, can you hear me? I’m scared.
They don’t answer.
Drac!
He doesn’t answer either. I can't even feel a spark of them! It’s as though the bond we share is completely severed, and all that’s left is a detached emptiness. Like a planet getting knocked out of the gravitational pull and floating aimlessly.
I squeeze my eyes closed, my head pulsing like a time bomb about to go off, as I force myself to remember how I got here. I think about earlier in the day, trying to remember if my sisters were with me when these... whoever they are, caught me.
Rory and Ronny teleported to me and Drac as we followed behind a group of women... but what happened after that? Where were we? How did I end up here?
Wait! There was a note. Yeah, yeah, there was another riddle written on pink paper at the hotel in the French Quarter, not far off from my river dock.
You killed him here.
You whispered in his ear.
His body fell.
It’s the same old tale.
Now, it’s time for a treat.
Time to remove you from our street.
Then we all split up… but I can’t remember why. Drac and his brothers went one way, me and my sisters went another way.
“The humans have found us, sisters.” Ronny’s words echo in my mind as flashes of chaos breaking out around us plays like a movie.
I was looking down at a paper, a document of some kind, when the feeling of my cloak dissipating made me spin on my heel... but then the humans were there, too many of them to fight.
Next thing I know, I’m here. Oh fuck, where are my sisters?!
I swing my head around. My movements are loud and echo off the walls of this large room of cages. I search as well as I can, but I don’t see my sisters anywhere.
“Rory! Ronny!” I scream as I run around my cage like a wild animal, but my sisters don’t respond.
“Hey, hey, calm down. You’re going to make the guards come back in,” the girl next to me says as she stands and puts her own fingers through her cage, but I’m not hearing her. I need to see my sisters; I need to lay my eyes on them and know without a doubt they’re okay.
“You were brought in alone. The guards were questioned, and it sounds like they didn’t get your sisters. They were severely punished for not getting them.”
Her words have me dropping to my knees, inhaling and exhaling deeply as I try to figure out if I’m thankful or not that I’m here alone. I rub my temples and focus on relaxing my heart and mind. This fucking banging in my head doesn’t help much, so I focus on the room around me.
I’m in what looks like an industrial building. There’re exposed pipes all over the place, wiring and tubing run along the edge of the floor and bolted to the molding. The windowless room has white cement walls and a polished cement floor. There is a giant aluminum ventilation system hanging from the ceiling, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re pumping some type of supernatural toxin into the room to keep us subdued.
With humans, anything is possible. Hell, they even
live by that double meaning motto. When a human is scared of the unknown, there’s no limit to their sinister acts, whether it be to eliminate the perceived threat or conduct their sick tests on subjects in the name of science. Just flip through their own textbooks and you’ll see exactly what the human race is capable of when they're frightened of the unknown or coveting it.
Between all the air ducts and piping, there’re spotlights hanging low over every occupied cage. In each corner, there’s a camera slowly moving from side to side, a little red light blinking above the lens.
I close my eyes and try my hardest to slow my breathing. I’ve been in worse situations than this. This is a piece of cake. I got this. My sisters will come looking for me; they’ll track me and break the skulls of whoever is holding me captive. Shit, even my pops will go off the rocker looking for me, and he’s become the first seating Elder for the Vampires. My heart squeezes when I think of Drac. I just know he’ll lose his mind.
My beastly man always forgets that I’m Roxy Crow. I don’t need a motherfucker to save me, I just need a neck to break. And a cupcake! Damn, I’d kill for a peach cobbler cupcake right about now.
I continue to talk myself off the ledge, as I have hundreds of times, then I open my eyes to reassess my surroundings and keep myself from losing my shit.