Redeemed In Shadows

Redeemed

In

Shadows

Copyright 2014 Tigris Eden

Cover: Trisha (Pickyme) Schmidt

Editor: Danielle Romero

All Rights Reserved

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the work of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental
.

ISBN-13: 978-1625174789

Acknowledgements

To The Shadow Unit Street Team, I couldn’t have asked for a more fantastic group of gals! Thank you for all your lovely words and ego boosts!

To you, the READER… THANK YOU for reading my words and enjoying my stories. It means the world to me that you welcome me to your reading device on a regular basis.

As always a big thank you to God. Without him, nothing is possible.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate Redeemed In Shadows to Vicki Sloboda! Thank you for always being supportive of my work! It means a lot!

Glossary of terms

Aja
: The den mother of The Lotus.

All Seeing Eye:
A Goddess with serpent like features that guards the Sixth Hour

Amrita:
Immortal Goddess of Nectar

Asa:
A city also known as The Sixth Hour from the Book of Gates in another realm.

Blood Phase:
When a human transitions over to a Vampiri. This happens when they reach maturity.

Book Of Gates:
Is not an actual book, but 12 Gates that house different realms guarded by different creatures. In immortal mythology, it claims to house the 12 hours of the night.

Cup of Life:
An ancient relic that is used in a blood ritual.

Croucher Demon:
An entrance demon.

Daedalus' Labyrinth on Crete:
An elaborate structure that houses Minotarus the Minotaur that is half man, half bull that no prisoner can escape from. Those sent to Daedalus never return…

Daemonia Realm:
A forbidden realm to all higher Angels. A place where demons go to get away from persecution.

Deva
: An endearment. It means love or loved one.

Elder Angels:
Earth bound Angels that act as liaisons between the realms. Their powers are believed to be limitless. But as a checks and balance, they are only allowed to mate with humans, which have diluted their bloodlines over the centuries. There are light and dark Elder Angels.

Elder Wine:
An immortal drink mixed with Angel's Blood

Ferals/Blue Bloods:
A breed of immortals enslaved by the Gods for their ambrosial blood. They were sometimes called Blue Bloods, as their blood is blue. Their blood contains healing qualities and induces the drinker into a euphoric state. They were believed to be extinct.

Fire Worms:
Little worm like bugs with razor sharp teeth that secrete neurotoxin that causes complete paralysis.

Forbidden Ruins:
A city that rests on the outer edges of hell. Its inhabitants are mostly slaves, and are forced into labor or sold to demons.

Hall of Souls
: A place where souls that can never be reborn go. Typically only the good souls go here. Whether it be by request or punishment.

Host:
Usually a human who is able to host lost souls within. They tend to see immortals in their true form, as all immortals are compatible with hosts. The abilities of the housed can be transferred to the host, lending them their talents or attributes.

House Dead Crest:
One of the three Royal Vampiri houses. Rumored to be from death demons

House Red Haven:
One of the three Royal Vampiri Houses. Rumored to be from war demons

House Vayne
: One of three Royal Vampiri Houses. Rumored to be from true blood demons

Leviratus:
Son marries his brother's widow. He can take her as a the first mate or the second mate if the son is already married. She is also to produce offspring with the second son as quickly as possible so that the child may be claimed as the dead brother's offspring. A tradition of old.

Lotus-eaters:
Female demons that entice their patrons in a seductive dance, weaving a web of forgetfulness. They enable the watcher to forget for a time.

Lycans:
A shifter breed of werewolves. They are of lesser class than those directly descended from Lycaons.

Lycaons:
A race of werewolves that are direct descendants of the Arcadia King son of Pelasgus and Melioboea. He tested Zeus by serving him a dish of his slaughtered son to see whether the God was truly omniscient. In return, he was turned in to a wolf.

Matria:
The Matriarch of the Phoenix Enclave

Nesting
: A phase of deep sleep that a female phoenix goes into before her death.

Para-Housed:
Para-Housed is the being, or soul that is housed inside a host. Usually an immortal but can be a human ghost. The Para-Housed is commonly confused with a Walker, but the two are not the same. A Walker has a body, while the Para-Housed does not, making it thrive only when housed with a Host.

Phoenix
: Mythical Immortals said to be descendants of Alexander the Great. There are five Houses now bonded as one. The females go through their nesting phase, then their death, and finally their rebirth.

Realm of Light:
The sixth hour in the Books of Gates, guarded by the All Seeing Eye

Red Sun Organization:
A radical organization of immortals who believe they should not bow to human society.

Regs/Regular:
Vampires that are considered regular. They do not have fangs, and can only drink blood that is compatible to their own.

Sanctuary:
A place for souls that are on the waiting list to be taken to hell. They can petition for their souls and ask for redemption, but at the discretion of the warden.

Sahidic:
Ancient Text Angel of Unveiling asked them to retrieve.

Shadow Unit:
A group of Immortals put together in a task force to police their kind. They are a covert group and only the highest-ranking officials of the world, know about their existence.

Siren:
A serpent like creature usually female, looks beautiful but really a scaly serpent like creature. Able to lure with their voice or repel.

Sixth Hour:
The Gate is named Throne of our Lord, or The Realm of Light and houses the realm of Asa. It’s protected by the All Seeing Eye a serpent like Goddess and her 12 mummiform Gods.

Sharma
: A priestess from House Phoenix

Slave Law:
A law for Regs to live in servitude to a royal house before they can become part of the family through a Blood Vow.

Tasting:
A bacchanalia of sorts for Ferals to come together to find their mates.

The Agency:
A secret organization that keeps tabs on The Shadow Unit.

VAB:
Vampire Blood AB it’s a drug sold to humans and other immortals looking for a high. It’s illegal to sell and punishable by death in some Houses.

Vampiri:
Royal members of one of the three Vampire houses infected with a demon strain of blood. They have fangs, and can drink from any blood source without an adverse reaction.

Walker:
A race of warriors that can walk among the living or the dead. They have the ability to temporarily walk into another body or life-form in order to heal, take pain away, or to hide. A Walker must return to its body within 24 hours or risk dying. Only the Primori Walker can be without his body for days at a time.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It’s our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

A Return to Love Marianne Williamson

The Countdown Begins

Gabe pulled his fingers through his hair for what seemed like the millionth time. There was no other way to get around this situation. He could run, but what would that get him? It’d get him locked up for all eternity, or a true death that’s what. Not acceptable. He should have requested more time on this plane. Demanded he at least tie up loose ends. But his demands would not gain the attention of the audience he would need in order to pull off such a request.

He hadn’t interfered. Hell, he rarely gave his opinions anymore. He’d learned that lesson the hard way.
He may have cracked a few jokes here and there, but never with cruelty. He didn’t even blanch at the idea of calling the search off for Stone. Even when the other male had been declared dead, and everyone had thrown in the towel
. He’d offered no words of comfort or advice. Not even for Jesminda, who was devastated and refused to believe her mate was gone. He’d said nothing to console her. She believed her mate was out there, somewhere lost and badly injured. Any immortal still licking their wounds after all this time were better off dead.
Stop making excuses, you know what’s really happening.
He knew it and it wouldn’t change a damn thing.

The computer screens flickered to life, breaking Gabe out of his thoughts. The bio signatures were complete. Everyone on the team was in the system. Jes and the Phoenix, Bells included. The system surrounding the buildings perimeter would detect any outsider. Coupled with the ward the local coven had set, it would provide information alerting them of any dangers. The glow from the monitors lit up his workstation and the darkness beyond. He kept himself busy most days, gathering intel, people watching on the monitors and even the occasional porn kept him company.
A man had to keep up on his skills, right?
Maybe today would be a good day for a stroll.
Stroll?
People didn’t say stroll anymore, they said things like, “let’s roll’ or “kick rocks.” He only had a little over a month left in this realm. How would his teammates feel when he revealed his true self? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Hopefully they would see it that way.

There was a time when he only saw black and white, right and wrong. There was a time when he’d have sung the song of justice and delivered it just as quickly.
Pansy ass.
Could he even call himself that? Sure, he hadn’t been honest with himself or the team. Soon they would be on opposite sides of this war, him up there, and them here on Earth’s plane. They’d be trying to survive and he’d be escorting the bodies of the dead, left and right. On top of that, a man he’d come to respect and like would never look at him the same again.

Gabe heard
him
first before he saw his visitor. He was in the corner of his office. The shadows seemed to shrink away revealing a being with grayish-silver metallic skin and eyes blacker than the abyss he came from, Greyson.

“You over think things.” The Seraph said as he stepped past the shadows into the light. He was an Angel of War, but not just any Seraph, he and his brothers were the Elite’s Warrior Angels. Slaves to the bands wrapped tightly around their neck. Only their mates could free them, and the Nubi were extinct.
So much for their happily-ever-after.

“You’re dramatic.” Gabe shot back.

“I’ve come to issue a warning.”

Always with the warnings, as if he hadn’t had enough during his two hundred year sentence.

“What warning?”

“Don’t interfere in this upcoming battle.”

Direct, but still elusive. He knew something was brewing, everyone did. They just didn’t know what. Too many things were happening all at once, the emergence of both the Red Hand Organization, and Eremiel was not a coincidence. Something bad was coming, and it was going to tear everyone’s world upside down.