Swear updated edition, p.1
Swear: Updated Edition, page 1
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SWEAR. Copyright © 2016 by Amanda Hocking. All rights reserved.
Second Edition ©2022 by Amanda Hocking. All rights reserved.
www.hockingbooks.com
Table of Contents
Other Books by Amanda Hocking
A Note from the Author
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
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Chapter Forty-five
Chapter Forty-six
Chapter Forty-seven
Chapter Forty-eight
Chapter Forty-nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-one
Chapter Fifty-two
Chapter Fifty-three
Chapter Fifty-four
Chapter Fifty-five
Chapter Fifty-six
Chapter Fifty-seven
Chapter Fifty-eight
Chapter Fifty-nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-one
Chapter Sixty-two
About the Author
Other Books by Amanda Hocking
My Blood Approves Saga
My Blood Approves
Fate
Flutter
Wisdom
Swear
Letters to Elise (Prequel Novella)
Little Tree (Short Story)
My Blood Approves: Complete Saga (eBook Bundle)
Seven Fallen Hearts
Virtue
Tristitia
Superbia (Coming Winter 2022/2023)
Trylle Saga
Switched
Torn
Ascend
Frostfire
Ice Kissed
Crystal Kingdom
The King’s Games: A Short Story
The Lost City
The Morning Flower
The Ever After
Watersong Saga
Wake
Lullaby
Tidal
Elegy
Forgotten Lyrics: A Short Story
The Hollows
Hollowland
Hollowmen
The Hollows: A Graphic Novel
Valkyrie Duology
Between the Blade and the Heart
From the Earth to the Shadows
Stand Alone Novels
Freeks
Bestow the Darkness
A Note from the Author
These novels were originally published in 2010. When I wrote them, I was still in my early twenties, and I had a lot of internalized issues that I hadn’t confronted yet. While much of the original book was a fun vampire romp, there were also unfortunate moments of misogyny, body-shaming, and ablism, among other problematic elements.
That led me to have a difficult relationship with these books. When I was first writing the My Blood Approves Saga, I loved it completely. After I published it, I read a few reviews that eviscerated the books. Some of the complaints were justified (calling out the problematic issues) but it was still a jarring experience for me.
It took me a long time to be able to feel the original love and enthusiasm I had for Alice and her complicated world of vampire. Especially once I knew there were legitimate issues with the books.
So, I decided to re-edit them. I have left the overall story intact as often as possible, but I re-worked so much of the internalized hatred that Alice feels and how she expresses herself. The largest changes take place in Alice’s friendship with Jane and with Jane herself. When I was re-reading the books and editing them, I was genuinely surprised by how cruel Alice (and I, as the writer) were to her. I tried to fix that and show that Jane is a three-dimensional young woman and decent friend to Alice.
These are still imperfect books, but they are definitely kinder ones now. I have fallen in love with them (and Jack and Peter and Ezra) all over again, and I hope that you will, too.
For you long time readers, thank you for sticking with me all these years, and for allowing me to grow and change.
For new readers, thank you for giving me a chance, and I hope you find some happiness in these pages
Chapter One
A cold mist settled over the city as I walked. The lights on the buildings made them glow red along either side of the canal, which was perfect for my vampire vision. Not that any of the tourists that strolled along seemed to have any problem getting around or minded the chill in the air.
Bobby trailed a few feet behind me with the bag of my gear slung over his shoulder, in case I needed it. Not that I should tonight. It was just a house call to one of our regulars, so to speak. But with vampire hunting, you could never be too sure.
His black bangs fell haphazardly across his forehead, hiding a scar above his eyebrow from one of our more recent scuffles with a rogue vampire. When I had first met Bobby, he’d been a scrawny twenty-year-old struggling art student dating my kid brother. Since then, he had added a few scars, several new tattoos, and about twenty pounds of muscle — and in the process, he had become one of my closest friends.
Back when I had still been training as a hunter, I had told him if he wanted to help me out on my missions, he needed to be able to handle himself better, and he had emphatically complied. Eventually, he’d dropped out of art school to train and work with me full time.
While both my brother Milo and I had been initially skeptical that a human would be an asset and not a hindrance in vampire hunting, Bobby saved my life many times even though he was still mortal. Whether it be watching my back, tossing me a titanium stake, or bringing the getaway vehicle just in time, he had become indispensable to my career as a vampire hunter.
It was hard to believe it had been just over five years since we’d left Minnesota behind for good. The first couple years we spent bouncing around Europe, trying to find some place that felt like home for all four of us. Finally, we happily settled on Amsterdam.
Since then, many of my nights had been spent patrolling the Singelgebied district with its garish red lights and scantily clad women dancing in storefronts. It was an area renowned for selling sex, but that wasn’t the kind of prostitution that kept Bobby and I occupied late at night.
“This shouldn’t take too long, right?” Bobby asked, for the third time since we’d left the apartment.
“I told you that you could’ve stayed back tonight,” I reminded him. “It’s only a noise complaint. It will be a quick in and out job, and I doubt I’ll need any backup.”
“No, no,” he insisted. “If something were to happen to you before this weekend, your brother would never forgive me.”
I shot him a look. “Yeah, and if something happens to you before this weekend, Milo would never forgive either of us.”
“Right. So let’s neither of us get hurt tonight.”
“It’s a deal,” I agreed as we approached our destination.
At the end of the canal was a building that looked much like all the others around it. A squat brick building smashed between two others. Though it would be indistinguishable to the human eye, the red light out front was several shades darker than the rest on the street.
A wrought iron sign above the door declared the name — Darah Merah. I knocked on the heavy front door, and a hulking mass of a human bodyguard opened it.
Since I had regularly been called to Darah Merah, I had met this particular bodyguard many times before, but he always stared at me from under his protruding forehead like he’d just woken up from a caveman slumber and couldn’t remember what other people looked like.
“Ottaline sent for me,” I began, but the words had barely escaped my mouth when Ottaline appeared, pushing her guard out of the way.
“What took you so long?” she demanded in her distinctive voice. It was raspy with a thick Russian accent, so she ended up sounding like the Moscow version of Kathleen Turner.
Ottaline Rebane was a vampire Madame, a job she’d held for over half of the 285 years she’d been alive. Standing half a foot taller than me, she had a regal elegance to her. Her blonde hair was short and loose, and sh e always wore flowy garments, like a satin robe draped over a long negligee.
“We came as soon as we got the call,” I said as she ushered Bobby and me into the lush parlor room.
“What seems to be the problem tonight?” Bobby asked.
Ottaline’s frantic eyes darted toward the stairwell. The place was filled with vampires feeding on humans, so it was hard to distinguish one heartbeat from another, and there was the faint scent of blood permeating the building.
“It’s a new client,” Ottaline explained, with her eyes still locked on the stairwell. “She took one of my best verkurva upstairs, and there was screaming, and now she won’t let me in.”
Verkurva was the name given to those who sold their blood to vampires, the way a prostitute sold their bodies for sex. Ottaline ran a solid operation, as far as brothels servicing vampires went. The humans who worked for her were compensated very well, and in my interactions with them, they always seemed healthy and happy. She tried to protect them from more violent clientele, and that’s where Bobby and I came in.
Ottaline wasn’t much of a fighter herself, and the bodyguard at the door was just to keep out human riffraff. When things got out of hand, she called us down to put the vampires in their place, preferably before anyone was injured. Most of the time, we were able to do it without seriously hurting the vampires, but not always.
“Which room are they in?” I asked, heading toward the stairs.
“It’s just right —” Ottaline began, but the sound of wood exploding interrupted her.
The vampire had broken through the bedroom door, sending wooden shrapnel flying everywhere, and with blood dripping down her face and a crazed look in her eyes, she charged right toward me.
Chapter Two
When the vampire ran at me, I leapt toward her, and before she even realized what was happening, I had my hand around her throat and pinned her to the wall.
Months of training with Olivia back in Minnesota taught me to harness my power as a dhampyr-turned-vampire, and now I moved faster and fought harder than most other vampires. I had become the top of the food chain.
The vampire I was fighting appeared young in human years — maybe her early twenties — and the frantic hunger in her dark eyes led me to believe she hadn’t been a vampire for that long, either.
I held her high on the wall, so her feet dangled uselessly above the stairs. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and blood trickled down from her full lips. Futilely, she clawed at my hands, her hard nails digging into my flesh.
From behind me, Bobby handed me a titanium stake, and with my free hand, I pressed it into her chest. That was enough to get her to stop fighting, and she slacked against the wall.
Ottaline raced up the stairs behind me, going to check on the verkurvas and help them as they needed it.
“Who are you?” the vampire asked, her voice thick with a Spanish accent.
“I’m here to keep order,” I replied, my voice a firm growl. “And I’ll be your worst nightmare if you cross me.”
“She’s okay!” Ottaline called from where she was tending to the vampire’s victim. “She lost some blood, but I can patch her up.”
At the top of the stairs, a few verkurvas had gathered together, some of them holding hands. They were all attractive and fairly young themselves — their late teens or early twenties — with fading bite marks on their necks and arms. They were unfortunately typical for blood-workers.
“You’re lucky she survived, or it would be worse for you,” I warned the vampire I had pinned to the wall.
“I knew I didn’t kill her,” the vampire sneered. “Will you let me down now?”
“As long as you promise to be good,” I said.
She grunted a reply, so I let go, and she fell to the stairs. The sound of her thumping against the wood caused the verkurvas to scatter, running down the hall to the safety of their rooms.
“Who are you?” I asked.
As she stood up, she rubbed her neck, which would’ve turned into a dark bruise if she were human, but her vampire blood would have it healed before it even had the chance to leave a mark.
“Iris Emmanuel,” she said, glancing uneasily between Bobby and me. “Who are you people?”
“Alice.” I pointed the titanium stake at myself, then to my partner in hunting. “Bobby. We come around when things get out of control to make sure humans don’t get hurt. What happened?”
“I was hungry,” Iris said. “What does it matter to you if these humans are hurt? They’re disposable trash.”
I stepped closer to her, and she shrank back from me. “All lives have value, and since humans are fragile, they deserve our protection most of all.”
“So you work for the humans?” Iris snickered at me. “It figures.”
“I don’t work for the humans,” I corrected her. “But if I were you, I would steer clear of Darah Merah and its employees until you get a better handle of yourself and learn some respect.”
She rolled her eyes, so I grabbed her shoulder and slammed her back into the wall, forcing her to look up at me.
“Do you understand?” I demanded.
Iris nodded. “Can I go now?”
“Clean yourself up,” I said but let go of her.
She wiped the blood off her mouth with the back of her arm, then cast one last angry glare at me before departing out the front door.
I went upstairs to check on her victim. The door to the bedroom had been totally destroyed, with splinters of wood everywhere, and Ottaline had moved the verkurva down to a recovery room at the end of the hall.
It was styled like the other bedrooms in the brothel, all Victorian and elegant, except this room was outfitted with a hospital bed, a fridge, and a cabinet filled with supplies. A girl of nineteen was lying on the bed, looking pale with a bite-mark-turned-gash on her neck, and an IV running blood into her arm.
“She’ll be okay,” Ottaline told me as she ran a damp washcloth over the girl’s face. “I take care of mine here.”
“I know,” I said, but seeing the girl in the bed like that, it still made me queasy.
My mind couldn’t help but flash back to my best friend Jane, and how she’d become addicted to vampire bites before eventually being murdered by one. She had died over five and a half years ago, and her death still haunted me.
Much like regular old, legalized prostitution that surrounded us, Darah Merah was a mixed bag of empowerment, exploitation, and more than a few casualties. At least the young adults here knew what they were doing, and Ottaline did her best to set perimeters and keep them healthy and safe.
Still, it was something that I could never completely stomach.
Ottaline stopped fretting over the girl enough to look over at me. “Thank you again, Alice. You know we’d be lost here without your aide.”
“It’s no problem.” I tried to brush it off. “Let me know if you have any more trouble, or if that Iris Emmanuel comes around again.”
“Of course,” Ottaline said and turned her attention back to her verkurva.
Bobby was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, attempting to make small talk with the guard, but it wasn’t going well.
“So you never watch any football?” Bobby was asking him. He leaned back on the banister and arched an eyebrow at the guard, who stood stoic with his hands folded in front of him. He’d barely even reacted when I’d been fighting with Iris.
“Nein,” the guard grunted in response.
“Not even voetbal? Or soccer?” Bobby pressed. “I don’t know what you know it as.”
“I don’t think he wants to chat,” I told Bobby as I reached them, and I fixed my guys on the German Neanderthal. “We’re done here. Can you make sure that the vampire I just kicked out doesn’t come back here?”
“My job is simple — don’t let humans in, and take orders from Ottaline,” he replied in his thick accent without looking at me. “I will wait to hear what Ottaline says on this matter, and then I will do as she says.”
“All right.” I patted him on the shoulder as I walked past. “Good talk.”
We stepped out into the cool June night, and Bobby zipped up his Member’s Only jacket to keep the chill out.
