Eclipse of the Soul: The Interdimensional Saga, Book 2 (7 page)

BOOK: Eclipse of the Soul: The Interdimensional Saga, Book 2
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Chapter Seven

 

Over the
next few days we had a lot of different fae coming and going who were
investigating the “incident”, as they called it. When the clean-up crew went to
the sewer to extract the bodies of warriors they discovered that Maliki was still
alive, but just barely. He was taken out and medevac’d to Sendryl where they
had better facilities to take care of him. The Commander told me that they
expected Maliki to pull through but it would be a long road to recovery and he
might not be back in the field again.

Lancer
and Ash were very happy when I was able to share that news with them. But once
Lancer was out of bed, I hardly saw him. He was in meetings all day long and
then slept a lot as he was still recovering.

Since
there were no missions going on during this time, we didn’t have new members
assigned to our squad yet. I didn’t want to interact with the fae who were
conducting the investigation unless I had to. My only time with them was more
like an interrogation of a prisoner, than questioning of someone on the team. I
didn’t like them. And I hated how they were treating Lancer. He should have
been able to get more rest and recover before they subjected him to fifteen
hours of questioning every day.

So I
spent most of my day either in my room, or with Ash. He didn’t mind, he enjoyed
my company. We played a lot of board games and even a few games of poker. He
tried playing strip poker but I wasn’t going to fall for his tricks.

After
about five days of questioning I heard that Lancer was sent home for further investigation.
He was called back by the council. He never said goodbye to me. Instead, while
I was training with Cash in hand to hand combat he went to say goodbye to Ash
and asked him to relay the message to me. He expected to be back within a week,
two weeks tops.

I was
pretty upset and Ash knew it. He was still confined to bed but he talked me
into laying down with him so he could hug me. I fell for it. I have no clue
what I was thinking when I crawled into bed with the biggest flirt on two
planets.

I fell
asleep in his arms and ended up getting the best two hours of sleep I had seen
since the explosion. Sleep had been difficult as I had nightmares every night
and could only get a few hours of fitful sleep.

Since
the explosion, I had dreamed about watching Lancer and Ash die over and over. I
also dreamed about my time with the master. Sometimes I would dream that I was
the cause of the explosion, and other times I was in the explosion.

I was
starting to look haggard. My eyes had bags under them and I was very short
tempered.

After
that, Ash talked me into spending three nights with him. It started out to see
if I could sleep without nightmares. When it worked, I ended up spending the
next two nights with him. Most of the medical staff was fine with it since we
couldn’t get into any trouble. There was no privacy.

Sadly, I
was kicked out on the fourth night when the night nurse discovered that Ash’s
blood pressure was too high. Turned out he was a bit too excited with me in his
bed. So I wasn’t allowed to sleep with him again. The nightmares returned and I
didn’t get much sleep after that.

Until
Ash was released from the infirmary. Then he snuck into my room every night and
wrapped his arms around me so we could both sleep the whole night through. Apparently
he was having nightmares as well. He would joke with me and flirt, but I knew
he needed the sleep more than I did. And it was about the sleep more than
anything else.

On the
fourth night in my room he got a little too flirty.

“Care to
give me a goodnight kiss? I bet we both sleep much better after a kiss. You know
what they say, a kiss a day keeps the nightmares away.” He said while turning
me towards him. He was snuggling up to my neck and ear and was coming closer to
my lips. However, all I could think about was the kiss I shared with Lancer,
even though Ash’s actions were raising my blood pressure. I was very confused.

“I’m not
going to kiss you Ash.” I said while laughing. “Come on, we both agreed to just
sleep so that we wouldn’t have nightmares. If you can’t behave I will have to
kick you out of my bed.”

“Alright
spoil sport. I know you want to kiss me. You are just too afraid you won’t be
able to stop yourself from ravaging my awesome body.”

I
started to seriously laugh and turned over so we could spoon. I was thankful I
didn’t buy a twin size bed, but really wished we had gotten something bigger
than a double.

 

Want to
know what happens next? Keep reading for an excerpt from book 3, The Eclipse of
Power, an Interdimensional Saga.

Want more? Follow me on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/JLHendricks

Do you want to be notified when I have a new book
release or major information updates? Check out my blog:
https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/blog/

I will
also post the special short stories on my blog once I have enough reviews on
Amazon, so be sure to review my books!

Author’s Notes

 

Again, I
have to thank you all for picking up my book and reading it all the way to end.
I truly hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! At this
point I can’t decide who I like more, Lancer or Ash?! Who do you like more?
Have you come up with a shipper name? Or do you think you know who B’Lana will
end up with? Come hang out with me on my website and chat about it all at:
https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/blog/

I will
be offering shorts on my site for every 25 reviews I receive. If you have a
question about a scene and want to know more, maybe that could be one of my
shorts. Be sure to visit my blog to check out the latest shorts I release and
see what is coming soon.

As
planned, in the book 3 Author’s Notes I will post Amazon reviews. If there are
questions for me in those reviews, I will answer them as well. Whether you
liked my book or not, be sure to post a review!

As of
today, April 8, 2016, I have written about 1/4 of book 3 and boy is there a big
battle coming up! Be sure to pre-order Book 3, The Eclipse of Power, when it is
available.

Check
out my blog for sneak peaks as well as my Facebook page!

Acknowledgements

 

No independent author could survive without his or her
beta readers/editors. I was very lucky to be mentored by Michael Anderle as he
put me in touch with some of his beta readers. A huge thank you to Michael and
his readers/friends for all of their help!

My beta readers are awesome! You guys pointed out some
tweaks to words that turned out to improve a scene or a mood. I can’t thank you
all enough! Huge shout out to: Dorene Johnson, Diane Velasquez, Dawnya Goode,
Bree Buras, Andrew Rowe, and Brandi Stone.

I also want to thank all of the authors in my 20books
to50K group! You guys have rooted me on and provided invaluable feedback!
Independent authors helping each other are just amazing! Let’s keep it going!

Book cover images purchased from Dreamstime:
http://dreamstime.com
and 123RF:
www.123rf.com

Cover illustration by Michael Anderle and Dawnya Goode

Chapter One

 

Lancer – Sendryl High Court

Home. On the one hand I am excited
to be here. But on the other, not so much. I miss Earth and her. I shouldn’t
miss either. Earth isn’t my home. Her people aren’t my people. And she is off
limits. I imagine by now she is sharing Ash’s bed and has forgotten about me.
But I miss her craziness. I miss how she cares for everyone and I really miss
how she makes me want to be a better male and a better leader.

When I left Earth two months ago I
thought it would be only two weeks. But I should have known I wouldn’t be going
back. I am stuck here in my own prison awaiting trial for the deaths of so many
warriors. I shouldn’t have gone down that sewer. But I heard her crying out for
those women and I couldn’t help myself. I wonder what happened to them? They
are probably hybrid rippers by now. All of that pain and loss for nothing! I
should be mad at her, but I can’t be. I miss her…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“What? What was that noise? Guards! What is going on out
there?” All I could hear was the scraping of boots as the guards ran outside.

“Please tell me that was some military drills and not a
real bomb going off?” I yelled over my shoulder as I jumped up to the window
trying to see outside, but I couldn’t see anything other than smoke. I heard a
lot of screams but couldn’t tell where they came from.

◊◊◊

B’Lana - Los Angeles, CA

 

“Ash, how far away are you now?” I asked as I rubbed my
temples. “I think it is time for a break, there are too many minds around you.
It’s giving me a migraine.”

“I’m about two miles out and there are a lot of people
around me. Looks like everyone is getting off work about now. All of the office
buildings are starting to empty out.” Ash replied over the phone. We used cell
phones when not on a mission.

Today we were just testing my “psychic abilities” to
hear him from a distance. Sadly, I also picked up on everyone around him. Even
though I tried to just focus on his mind.

“Ash, are you indoors? I swear I can hear rippers near
you! Get outside right away if you are.”
Am I going crazy? Why am I hearing
rippers when the sun is still out?

“B’Lana, I’m outside. You can’t be hearing rippers, not
with all of this sunlight.”

“Are you standing over a sewer tunnel? Maybe they’re
right below you waiting for the sunset?” I know I sounded worried, but who
could blame me? Since Lancer left for the home planet over two months ago we
have lost a number of fae warriors to the rippers. They certainly upped their
attacks on humans.

“Hang on a sec, I’m going to pull up the sewer maps on
my phone and see if I’m over one now. Don’t call this in yet, unless you are
ready for the Commander to know about your extra ‘gifts’.”

I chewed on my nails while impatiently waiting for Ash
to tell me I was crazy. I hoped that I was just picking up on some sick people
who only wanted to be vampires. LA had its share of wannabe vamps that we came
across a few times already. But this nagging sensation in the back of my mind
wouldn’t let me calm down.

“B’Lana, your mental abilities might really be
improving. I’m above a sewer tunnel that leads to a large junction less than
half a mile from here. I’m on my way back to you right now and we are going to
get two squads to recon this area right at sunset.” I could tell Ash was
hurrying back as he was breathing heavy over the phone.

“Maybe we should bring everyone? Ash, it felt like I was
‘hearing’ a lot of rippers. Something like twenty to thirty voices thinking
about blood and destruction.” Chills were going up my spine as I thought about
what I heard. I sure hoped I was wrong about the number. It felt like they were
just waiting to attack.

Once we were safely back at headquarters I was able to
breathe a sigh of relief. What I heard had me on edge and I didn’t know what to
do about it. I just hoped that the commander would be alright with us taking
all of the squads out to the same place and not ask too many questions.

If he wouldn’t allow it, then I would have to come
clean. If that happened then the general would know about at least one of my
special abilities. Ash told me not to let on about the mind reading as that
would just lead to the rest coming out. I did not want to become the poster child
for human pincushions.

Before Lancer left he told me that if the general knew
about my special abilities I would be taken back to Sendryl for testing and
might never come home. I almost started crying thinking about that. It was hard
enough not being able to talk to DeeDee, who was just like a sister to me. Now
I only had Ash to confide in.

Thank God, Lancer only knew about the mind
reading!

“Ash, have you heard anything from Lancer? I miss him
and his grumpiness.” Since Lancer left Ash had taken over leadership of Squad 1
and was doing all of my training.

“B, don’t worry about Lancer. He can take care of
himself. He has been a warrior for a long time. There are a lot of fae who will
back him. His trial is just a political move. He won’t be in any trouble. There
is a group of fae who are supporting some of the more radical members of
society so this is just to show that we are taking all complaints seriously.”
Several of the parents got together when Lancer arrived back home to complain
about how he got their children killed here on Earth. So an investigation was
ordered. Lancer was stuck on Sendryl. I didn’t know if he would ever come back.

“I’m gonna go change into my uniform, I’ll meet you in
the briefing room.” I said to Ash over my shoulder as I walked toward my room.

“Wait up! I’ll come help you.” Ash winked as he teased
me. He knew he was hot, but since I became a hybrid fae I wasn’t as susceptible
to his fae charm as the rest of humanity. He still flirted with me and tried to
kiss me on occasion. But I knew he was a player so I didn’t fall for it.

“In your dreams playboy!” I shot back.

◊◊◊

Everyone was in the briefing room, looked like Ash was
able to get all of the squads together for a briefing at least.

“Ok, listen up. This may be a training drill tonight,
but you have to still be on your guard. We never know when the enemy will make
an appearance so don’t slack off just because we don’t have any new intel on
their location.” Ash addressed the entire room by looking them all in the eyes.

I started to lose some of my nervousness as I realized
how he was able to get everyone together.
Training drill, genius!
I
rolled my shoulders and could feel the tension release as a small smile spread
across my face.

Looks like I get to keep my secret for
another day…

BOOK: Eclipse of the Soul: The Interdimensional Saga, Book 2
13.8Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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