Shadow Rites by Faith HunterMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Things are getting a lot more complicated in New Orleans. Dealing with the vampires, their clans, the weres, and the treacherous ex should be enough to keep anyone busy but now Jane is also dealing with the witches. She's been tasked with the job of security for the peace negotiations between the Master of the City and the witch council. When she is awakened by a spell scanning her and her home she realizes that she's in for trouble and it's only just beginning. Bruiser is perfection and I am so happy for the way things are working out on that front! Jane may not be ready for it but her family is growing and although a family of humans, a skinwalker, witches and possibly an Onario is unusual Jane and Beast are both happy with the changes.
Read the spoilers section below for a quick recap before starting book number 11 Cold Reign.
***Spoilers***
When the witches scanned Jane and her home they also marked her with a spell. That spell along with all of the other times she has been marked by a magic user, especially Gee are more harmful than she first suspected. While doing a sweep of the grounds around Jane's home he finds the item the witches dropped while fleeing from Jane, Eli, and the cops. He shows her the peacock brooch which looks antique and tingles with magic but neither are sure what to make of it. Later that night while at the vamp headquarters, while sparring with Gee he stabs her while under a magic compulsion and is horrified when he realizes his mistake. Somehow the spell prevents Jane from changing and she is unable to heal herself. Luckily there were plenty of vamps nearby to heal her and Jane agrees that he was acting against his will and Leo spares his life. Edmund is also becoming closer with Jane especially after she helped knock off some of his time in service to Leo and move up in vamp hierarchy. He insists on calling her master and has suggested becoming her Primo which is something unheard of since Primo's have only ever been used with Master vamps. While they were at vamp HQ Bruiser followed the brooch's pull to a swampy area with two trap doors set underground and which feels like strong magic. After opening the door they find Ming Zoya former blood master of Clan Mearkinis who was presumed dead after her disappearance. She's been starved and left to rot underground in a hole filled with swamp water. Instead of stark raving mad from starvation, she is compliant due to the identical peacock brooch pinned to her skin. When Jane is finally able to speak with her, Ming tells her she knew the human who first kidnapped her was Antoine Bush who Jane had killed in the fight with the Damours. His wife Marlene and daughter Tau had taken over where he left off in their fight against the witches and vampires though Tau had used the blood of Ming Zoya to turn herself into something like an Onario called Senza Onore which roughly translates to Dark Onario. Leo reassigns Edmund Hartley's last 19 years of servitude to Jane as her Primo, even though she doesn't want that. Molly tells her that she doesn't think it's a bad idea because with a Primo she is essentially a Master. According to the Vampira Carta, it is a common protocol for a Primo or Enforcer to fight the blood duel for their master. When the Euro vamps visit this could work in her favor, especially since Edmund is powerful in his own right. Edmund shows up with Brute and after a brief argument, he pledges himself as protector of not only Jane but all of the Yellowrock clan including Eli, Alex, Molly, Evan and the kids. Angie then swears to take care of Edmund, and though she is just a baby she is extremely powerful already with both parents passing the witch gene down to her. Edmund doesn't hold her to the promise, much to her dismay. Even though Marlene and Tau have pulled several more stunts, Jane hasn't been able to locate them until they show up at the meeting between the witches and vamps. Tau is extremely powerful and though Jane saves her people she and Leo are taken hostage by the two and restrained with magic. Jane allows Leo do drink her blood so he can heal enough to use his compulsion to save them. He is able to get them free and the witches were turned over to the witch court where they would be either severely punished or stripped of their magic. The vamp/witch accords were signed aligning the two factions for peace.
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