Kindle Edition
Amazon
Amazon
Category:
Young Adult/Teen
Publisher: PublishAmerica
ISBN-10: 1448959063
Type: Fiction
Pages: 244
Copyright: Feb 12, 2010
ISBN-13: 9781448959068
Price: $9.95 (eBook)
Vampires? Wizards? Witches? Fairies? It’s all make-believe, right? Cora thought so until she was thrust head-first into the world’s most unbelievable war. Being a single mother doesn’t even hold a candle to any of this.
If vampire stories are right up your alley, then check out Dark Deliverance for a whole other take on vampires.
Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Labor threw her into a frenzy. Torturous pains convinced her she couldn’t wait for the ambulance any longer. She piled into her car and backed out of the driveway, determined to drive herself to the hospital. The night was retched. Clouds blotted up every hint of moonlight as hard winds battered the moving vehicle. Thunder roared on the heels of lightning as a bolt hit just off the road. She screamed. Startled, her heart raced as if she wanted to escape her body and fly far away. She made herself stay calm for the sake of the coming child.
Desperately, she spun the wheel as a great dark shape fell in front of her, trapping her vehicle with a tangle of
branches. Lightning had hit a tree and tossed it her way. The air bag deployed, saving her from shards as the windshield shattered.
The next flash brought a downpour that sheeted her side window, drumming relentlessly on the roof. And strangely, she seemed to catch snatches of chanting coming out of the night. Thoughts of “what-is-that-about?” vanished as returning abdominal pains wrung a frustrated curse from her that morphed into a wail of anguish.
She white-knuckled the steering wheel as the car door left its hinges with a screech. A drenched man knelt by her, tearing away the airbag. His eyes pried with concern. Water trickled down his handsome features onto a drenched t-shirt. His hand smoothed her hair from her face.
“It will be all right,” he promised. “I’m here.”
TWO YEARS, FOUR MONTHS LATER:
CHAPTER 1
Cora groaned as she heard the front doorbell ring. Elbow deep in dish soap bubbles, she grabbed a towel while maneuvering her slender body around the kitchen chairs and her toddler to the door. The street lamp across the road shined through the window in the darkened living room giving it an eerie appearance that only the night could bring. With one hand on the deadbolt, Cora stood on her toes to see into the peep hole. Behind her, she could hear the shuffling of her young daughter, Agitha, so it was no surprise when the child grabbed her mother’s leg and giggled.
Sighing, Cora came down off of her tip toes when she found no one at the door. Moving slowly to the window with Agitha holding onto her as if she were in a conga line, the young woman parted the curtain and peered to the left. The street light revealed a silhouette leaning against the house by the door. She held her breath for a moment, knowing good and well that the visitor would hear any agitation in her voice. Letting the curtain fall back into its place, she went back to the door and twisted the deadbolt. Agitha giggled again at her favorite game of conga and Cora rolled her eyes, before pulling the door open.
“Hello Cora.”
“Talon.” Tucking a strand of auburn hair behind her ear, she forced a smile.
Agitha squealed in delight as she spotted the man on the other side of the screen door. Cora knew her daughter was only happy about the possibility of a new playmate. While Cora, on the other hand, was thankful she had been smart enough to put up the screen door. The last thing she needed was the toddler bolting out of the house into Talon’s arms.
“Uh…I was just in town and thought I’d stop by and see how you were doing.”
Cora heard the genuine concern in his voice. It was true that this man was a lot of things but artificial had never been one of them, at least to her anyway. Her heart softened a little until the memory of their last meeting flashed into her mind.
“Can I come in?”
“There’s no way I’m inviting you into my house.”
He lowered his voice a little more.
“I’m sorry, Cora. Really. I never meant to…”
“Let’s just end this conversation. Okay? It’ll save both of us a lot of trouble.”
Moving the child aside, Cora closed the door and twisted the deadbolt. She heard him curse softly as her harshness startled even her. She had never meant to be so rude but her life depended on more than it used to. Looking down at her daughter, she knew that to be true. Agitha’s little face and the blue eyes that she inherited from her mother were all that mattered. Everything else was just superficial.
Hefting the child up to her hip, she moved in front of the window and watched as the man sauntered away from the house. His black duster ruffled in the night breeze. In seconds, he had disappeared from sight. Cora kissed Agitha
on the forehead.
“Never invite just anyone into your house when you grow up, Aggie,” Cora said to her child as she tucked the young girl into her crib and doused the light.
Later that night, tossing and turning, Cora wondered how she would ever get to sleep. The clock displayed the next hour proudly as she mumbled under her breath. Forcing herself upright, she stumbled into the kitchen for a cup of herbal tea. Maybe, just maybe, this would help her sleep, although she wasn’t that hopeful. Talon’s visit had definitely set her on edge and she felt disquiet within her bubbling to the surface, almost fear. Once, she’d never have thought herself capable of feeling anything towards him, but gratitude.
As the elements raged, Talon had been there for her, to deliver her one and only child into the world. She’d given her daughter the middle name of Talon as a reward to him. She winced at that now, remembering a time he’d helped her again; she’d been jumped from behind while crossing an alley to get to the babysitter’s apartment.
She tried to scream but the guy held his hand tightly on her mouth. Pulling her firmly against him, the man shoved her head aside revealing her neck. Cora gulped as
she thought about that now. His breath was hot and yearning with the smell of old blood lingering in his exhale. She was scared, terrified really, but what happened next had haunted her for the past year. Cora felt her body jolt forward and the man lose his grip on her as she went flying to the cold asphalt.
Pulling herself up, she saw Talon hit the man Cora figured to be her attacker. How Talon had known where she was at the moment she was attacked was a mystery to her. He had to have been watching her the whole time, Cora thought as she took a sip of the tea. When her attacker retaliated and slammed Talon into the side of a building, Cora saw his facial features change. The sight scared her so much that she still felt it. She watched in horror as the person she thought she knew turned into something she had only seen in movies. Fangs jutted out and those cool blue eyes transformed into something no human could know. In moments, the monster she thought was her friend stood over a pile of dust. It let out a growl and then turned to her.
Cora shivered as she recollected screaming and backing up into the main street. She could remember him calling her name, wanting her to stop, but she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Running as fast as she could, she ducked into the building
where her sitter lived.
The police had taken her home that night assuring her that they would take care of it. Since then, she had moved away to another city but the nightmares hadn’t. She knew what she had seen and she couldn’t put it behind her.
Giving up on sleep, Cora wandered into the bathroom and showered. When she emerged from the house with baby and
diaper bag in tow the next morning, she spotted a thick, white envelope at her feet on the welcome mat. Scooping it up, she put the child in her car seat and climbed in the driver’s side. Her heart stopped briefly as she tore the seal on the envelope. Inside was a large amount of cash nestled in between a note. She took the bundle out and unfolded the paper. Agitha spouted gibberish from the back seat as Cora began to read.
I am so sorry for anything I put you through last year. I never wanted you to find out that way. I know you don’t want to have anything to do with me now, but please believe that I will always be around for you no matter what.
Talon
Cora swiped at the beginnings of a tear at the corner
of her eye. As if it weren’t hard enough to be a single parent, trying to make it in a world where no one wanted you to succeed, she now had this to deal with.
“Damn you, Talon. Why can’t you just make me hate you?”
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