Eve of Chaos
Praise for
the
Marked
Series
“Great
characters and terrific storytelling in a hot- blooded adrenaline ride. A
keep-you-up-all-night read.”
—Patricia Briggs, #1
New York Times
bestselling
author
“Gripping,
nonstop action and one hell of a heroine.”
—Shiloh Walker, national bestselling author
“Eve of
Darkness
is a sizzling,
heart-pounding urban fantasy that thrilled and fascinated me from beginmng to
end. It’s got smokin’ hot angels, blood-chilling demons, and questions that go
deeper than who’s kicking whose butt. Eve is a smart, spirited heroine I won’t
soon forget!”
—Jeri Smith-Ready, award-winning author of
Bad to
the Bone
“You’ll never
think of the old Cain and Abel battle the same way. Day’s gripping, compelling,
and kick- ass
Eve of Darkness
will have you eagerly awaiting the next
book in the series.”
—Toni McGee Causey, author of the Bobbie Faye series
“Eve of
Darkness
is really damned good. I
can’t wait for the next installment”
—Lauren Dane, author of
Relentless
“Day has mixed
her urban fantasy with biblical references, tight plotting, exciting action,
and a hero—or two—you won’t soon forget. Eve manages to be a kick-ass yet human
and vulnerable heroine. I highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait for the
next in the series!”
—Erin Quinn, author of
Haunting Beauty
“A kick-ass heroine to inspire us all, mixed with a
fabulous cast of secondary characters and a plot that just won’t quit. Day has
hit a home run.”
—Kathleen Lawless, author of
XXX Marks the Spot
“Day
lets her imagination free with an urban ad ventur that is not only fast-paced
but erotic and addictive.”
—Sasha White, author of
Most Wanted
“Day explodes
onto the urban fantasy scene with a new twist on the Cain and Abel story. It’s
dark, gritty, and sexy to the max, so readers can be thankful the next chapter
in this pulse-pounding series is only a month away!”
—Romantic limes BOOKreviews
“Exhilarating
adventure in an edgy world of angels and demons.
. .
Dynamic and vibrant, Eve is an impressive protagonist,
and her fierce spirit and determination to make the best of her circumstances
will keep readers enthralled.”
—Publishers Weekly
TOR BOOKS BY
S. J. DAY
Eve of Darkness
Eve of Destruction
Eve of Chaos
EVE
of
CHAOS
S. J. Day
TOR®
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK
NOTE: If you
purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is
stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher,
and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this
“stripped book.”
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.
EVE OF CHAOS
Copyright ©
2009 by Sylvia Day
All rights
reserved.
A Tor Book
Published by
Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth
Avenue
New York, NY
10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a
registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN
978-0-7653-6043-4
First
Edition: July 2009
Printed in
the United States of America
098765432
To all the
readers who‘ve followed Eve on her adventures so far Thank you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Faren Bachelis,
copy editor at Tor, for the attention paid to my books and for all the lovely notes
of praise that sprinkled the margins, both of which I deeply appreciate.
Gary Tabke, for
making the delicious One-Eyed Jacks that Eve loves in this book.
Everyone at Tor
who went the extra mile for this series. You rock! I appreciate all of you.
Kate Duffy, who
went above and beyond, as always. Thank you for the patience and support.
And to Patricia
Briggs, for her generosity and kind words. There is nothing in the world like
receiving compliments from an author whose work you would camp out on a bookseller’s
doorstep to get to.
“God will
stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of
desolation.”
—ISAIAH 34:11
EVE
OF
CHAOS
Evangeline
Hollis watched with clenched jaw as a kappa demon served
yakisoba—Japanese
pan-
fried noodles—to her mother with a broad smile. Eve guessed that the ratio of
mortals to demons at the Orange County Buddhist Church’s annual Obon Festival
was about fifty-fifty.
After three
months of living with the Mark of Cain and her new “job” as celestial bounty
hunter, Eve was resigned to the reality of Infernals mingling undetected among
mortals. However, she was still surprised by the number of transplanted
Japanese demons who had come out to play at the festival. There seemed to be an
inordinate amount of them present.
“You want some?”
her mother asked, holding out the plate. Miyoko had lived a mostly
quintessential American life in the United States for thirty years. She was a
naturalized citizen, a converted Baptist, and her husband, Darrel Hollis, was a
good ol’ boy from Alabama. But she appreciated her roots and made an effort to
share the Japanese culture with her two daughters.
Eve shook her
head. “I want
yakidango.”
“Me, too. It’s
over there.” Miyoko set
off,
leading the way.
The festival was
contained within the gated parking lot of the temple. To the right was a large
gymnasium. To the left, the temple and school complex. The area was small, but
still managed to hold a variety of food and game booths. A
taiko
drum
was elevated in a
yagura
tower overlooking a space that would later
showcase Bon Odori dancers. Children competed to win prizes ranging from live
goldfish to stuffed animals. Adults hovered over displays of trinkets and
homemade desserts.
The Southern
California weather was perfect, as usual. A balmy seventy-eight degrees with
plenty of sunshine and very few clouds. Adjusting her sunglasses, Eve relished
the kiss of the sun on her skin and breathed in the scents of her favorite
foods.
Then a foul
stench wafted by on the afternoon breeze, assaulting her nose and ruining her
rare moment of peace.
The putrid smell
of rotting soul; it was unmistakable. It was a cross between decaying flesh and
fresh shit, and it amazed Eve that the Unmarked—mortals lacking the Mark of Cain—couldn’t
smell it. She turned her head, seeking out the source.
Her searching
gaze halted on a lovely Asian woman standing across the aisle from her. A
yukionna—a
Japanese snow demon. Eve noted the Infernal’s white kimono with its
delicate
sukura
embroidery and the detail on her cheekbone that
resembled a tribal tattoo. In truth, the design was the demon’s rank and it was
invisible to mortals. Like the Mark of Cain on Eve’s arm, it was similar to
mortal military insignia. All Infernals had them. The details betrayed both
which species of damned being they were and what their rank in Hell’s hierarchy
was.
Contrary to what
most theologians believed, the Mark of the Beast wasn’t something to be feared
as the start of the Apocalypse; it was a caste system that had been in place
for centuries.
Eve’s mark began
to tingle, then burn. A call to arms.
Now?
she asked with a mental query, exasperation clear in
her dry tone. She was a Mark, one of thousands of “sinners” around the world
who’d been drafted into service exterminating demons for God. She was expected
to kill at the drop of a hat, but her mother was with her and they were at a
house of worship.
Sorry, babe.
Reed Abel sounded anything but.
You’re in the wrong
place at the right time. Her number’s up, and you’re closest.
You’ve been
singing that tune all week,
she
retorted.
I’m not buying it anymore.
She’d been
vanquishing a demon a day—sometimes two—for the last several days. A girl
needed more than just Sundays off when her job was killing demons.
Why am I
always closest?
Because you
‘re a disaster magnet?
And you’re a
riot.
Reed—aka Abel of
biblical fame—was a
mal ‘akh,
an angel. He was a handler, a position
that meant he was responsible for assigning hunts to a small group of Marks. It
was a lot like skip tracing. The seven earthbound archangels acted as bail
bondsmen. Reed was a dispatcher. Eve was a bounty hunter. It was a well-oiled
system for most Marks, but to say she was a squeaky wheel would be an
understatement.