Soul Bound
Authors: Mari Mancusi
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Fiction, #Girls & Women, #Horror
Praise for
the Blood Coven Vampire Novels
“You’ll get bitten and love it.”
—Rachel Caine,
New York Times
bestselling author
Night School
“An action-packed story with appealing characters, dark humor, and a new spin on both the worlds of the undead and the fae. Though primarily targeted to a YA audience, this novel will appeal to adult fans of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
as well as the Harry Potter series and the Twilight novels.”
—
Library Journal
“Another thrilling installment to Rayne and Sunny’s story!”
—
Romance Reviews Today
“Fifth of the Blood Coven Vampire series takes a darker turn … [an] engaging young adult urban fantasy. It is entertaining watching the twins mature through this fast-paced series that packs enough twists and humor to hold readers’ attention to the last page.”
—
Monsters and Critics
“This book has it all! Vampires, vampire slayers, and faeries, what more could you ask for? … A fast-paced book from start to finish. I can’t wait to read more about Sunny and Rayne’s adventures. This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys paranormal fiction and a good story.”
—
Night Owl Reviews
Bad Blood
“A vampire book so worth reading, with dark humor, distinctive voice, and a protagonist clever enough to get herself out of trouble … A great ride.”
—Ellen Hopkins,
New York Times
bestselling author
“Mancusi writes with a wicked sense of humor and keeps readers turning the pages, eager for more.”
—
Novel Reads
Girls That Growl
“An amusing teenage vampire tale starring a fascinating high school student … Young adults will enjoy growling alongside this vampire slayer who has no time left for homework.”
—
Midwest Book Review
“A fast-paced and entertaining read.”
—
LoveVampires
“A refreshing new vampire story,
Girls That Growl
is different from all of those other vampire stories … a very original plot.”
—
Flamingnet
Stake That
“A fast-paced story line … both humorous and hip … A top read!”
—
LoveVampires
“Rayne is a fascinating protagonist … readers will want to stake out Mari Mancusi’s fun homage to Buffy.”
—
The Best Reviews
Boys That Bite
“A wonderfully original blend of vampire/love/adventure drama which teens will find refreshingly different.”
—
Midwest Book Review
“Liberal doses of humor keep things interesting … and the surprise ending will leave readers bloodthirsty for the next installment of the twins’ misadventures with the undead. A ghoulishly fun read.”
—
School Library Journal
“A tongue-in-cheek young teen tale starring two distinct, likable twins, the vampire between them, and a coven of terrific support characters who bring humor and suspense to the mix … Filled with humor and action … insightfully fun.”
—
The Best Reviews
Berkley titles by Mari Mancusi
SOUL BOUND
BLOOD TIES
NIGHT SCHOOL
BAD BLOOD
GIRLS THAT GROWL
STAKE THAT
BOYS THAT BITE
MARI MANCUSI
BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
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 websites or their content.
Copyright © 2012 by Marianne Mancusi Beach.
Excerpt from
Blood Forever
copyright © 2012 by Marianne Mancusi Beach.
Cover design by SDG Concepts, LLC. Cover photo by Shutterstock.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
BERKLEY® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition / March 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mancusi, Marianne.
Soul bound / Mari Mancusi. — Berkley trade pbk. ed.
p. cm. — (A blood coven vampire novel ; 7)
Summary: When Rayne is chosen to track down her twin sister, Sunny, and Sunny’s vampire boyfriend, Magnus, for what will mean certain death at the hands of the Vampire Consortium, she and her boyfriend, Jareth, go deep beneath New York City and through the Gates of the Underworld in hopes of saving them.
ISBN: 978-1-101-57711-0
[1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. Twins—Fiction. 3. Sisters—Fiction. 4. Hell—Fiction. 5. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M312178Sou 2012
[Fic]—dc23 2011045746
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ALWAYS LEARNING PEARSON
Rayne McDonald
Las Vegas, Nevada
Queen Shrinking Violet
Cinderella’s Castle
Light Court, Fairyland
Tir na nÓg, Ireland
Dear Mom,
How’s Fairyland these days? I’m guessing it’s pretty sweet—you being queen and all. I mean, it has to beat the whole nine-to-five gig you had back in Massachusetts, right? And let’s just say the replica of Cinderella’s castle that you now call home completely trumps our old three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath. BTW, I totally call dibs on the tower bedroom when I come to visit this summer, k?
So… not to get all mushy or anything, but I miss you tons. I mean, staying at our stepmom Heather’s place in Vegas is fine, I guess. She bought the condo next to hers and did a little renovation so we all have our own bedrooms now. And I love being able to teach Stormy everything there is to know about video games. Seriously, my half sister is so smart. Guess we know who she takes after, right?
Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing you this letter, especially since we just signed off of Skype a few minutes ago. Well, Mom, I think it’s time to come clean. There’s still so much you don’t know about what happened
to Sunny and me in the last year and it’s my New Year’s resolution to be more honest with people. I’m sorry we kept you in the dark for so long, but let’s face it—if you had known what we were up to, you’d have totally flipped, right? Though, um, now that we know what
you’ve
been keeping in the fairy ancestry closet all these years, I don’t think you’re one to talk.
So here goes nothing. And please, I beg of you as your firstborn daughter (by seven minutes—woo-hoo!) read all the way through and spare us any judgment, okay? We always claimed you were the “cool mom” to all our friends, so try to live up to your rep.
It all started back in the spring. When I met these really cool vampires at the local underage dance place, Club Fang, and they recruited me into their vampire-in-training program. I know, I know—you’re not happy with me becoming a vampire. But, Mom, it’s my life, right? And think about it for a moment: eternal life, riches beyond belief, a hot blood mate to call your own. There really aren’t a lot of downsides to the gig.
In any case, I started my training—taking courses, achieving my certification, getting on the waiting list for my very own blood mate. (It’s a very complicated process, you see, involving DNA matching and blood testing for ultimate compatibility.) I was on the road to becoming a creature of the night—and totally psyched.
But then something terrible happened. On the night I was meant to be bitten by my new blood mate, the stupid
vampire (Magnus) accidentally bit Sunny instead. I know, right? I suppose it was an honest mistake. I mean, even
you
can’t tell us apart sometimes and you gave birth to us. So how could we expect some random vampire to make out the differences in the dark?
Sunny was so not happy, as you can imagine. She hadn’t even heard of vampires up until then. (She always was the Goody Two-shoes of the family!) And now she finds out she’s going to be morphing into one a week before prom! Needless to say, I got the brunt of the blame, even though, I’d like to—again—point out it was Magnus who made the actual mistake.
Luckily for everyone involved, Magnus was able to make it all work out. The two of them located the only thing able to cure new vampires—the Holy Grail—and bang, boom—Sunny’s human again, just in time for prom. (Okay, it was a little more complicated than that, but you get the picture.) In addition, she’s suddenly head over heels for Magnus, the Master of the Blood Coven, and they start the interspecies dating thing.