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R E Sheahan
R E Sheahan
Category:
Fantasy
Publisher: Rule of Three Press
ISBN-10: 1500200085
Type: Fiction
Pages: 300
Copyright: October 13, 2014
ISBN-13: 9781500200084
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
A vicious attack on life and love. A race to deny death. A line of trust blurs. The chase begins.
A powerful evil threatens the natural balance of Arranon, endangering all that lives. No less important to Captain Erynn Yager, a life treasured above her own hovers in a coma, close to death.
In a race to uncover a cure and stop the mounting peril, Erynn risks everything, becoming the hunted. She attempts the unthinkable, allying with a being others believe a mortal enemy. In pursuit of the true evil, they find the line blurred between whom they trust, and those set against them.
Answers remain beyond reach. Erynn embraces her abilities, joining her will with the living consciousness of Arranon. Her authority and confidence rises, and she strikes out against a murderous cruelty, becoming the hunter.
Excerpt
An angry female voice shrieked down the hall. “What? Who are these people? You can’t be here.” Rapid footsteps pounded the floor, heralding Shan’s arrival. She burst into the room, eyes narrowed, her arms crossed defiantly.
Erynn turned, positioning herself between Shan and Jaer.
“I should have known.” Shan glared at Erynn. “The little half-blood freak. I told Jaer he’d never have you. And I won. Here’s what’s left of him.” She sneered and gestured, nodding toward Jaer’s still, quiet form.
Nev appeared in the open doorway, reaching into his pocket for the antidote he had “borrowed” from the Medical Unit during Kira’s rescue. He slipped next to the bed, studying Jaer.
Pyrn and Jess disarmed and transferred the three remaining guards to the two Anbas who had entered the room. They all stood watching, waiting for what would happen next.
Erynn’s body tensed and she stared at Shan through a red haze. “It’s time for you to go. Now.” Erynn wondered if the words delivered in that scathing tone had really come from her.
Yes. They did. I am the storm. The Storm of Arranon.
Shan raised her head, her chin jutted in Erynn’s direction. “I’m not going anywhere. But you are.” She glared at the remaining guards and snarled, “Get her out of here. Do your jobs.” She pointed at Nev, her eyes narrowed and teeth bared. “Arrest him. He’s come to finish my Jaer.”
The guards tipped their heads, eyebrows coming together, and raised their hands. They were unarmed and in custody of the Anbas—unable to force anyone to do anything.
Erynn turned her attention back to Shan. “Your Jaer? Wrong. Jaer isn’t a possession. He’s certainly not yours. You never deserved him.” Currents gathered, snapped, and popped, going from blue to a very visible purple. Erynn fought the urge to increase the current to a deadly white.
Even through the heavy curtains, a bolt of lightning blazed bright in the gloomy room. The resounding crash of thunder that followed shook the walls.
Shan’s face contorted in an ugly grimace. Hatred flamed in her dark eyes. She screeched and lunged, grabbing for Erynn.
A cold shrewd smile tipped Erynn’s lips. She stood still and allowed Shan to seize her, knowing what would happen.
Wind collided against the house with a mournful howl and rattled windows nearly to their breaking point.
Shan screamed in pain. She jerked her hands away, her face twisted in disbelief, staring at blistered fingers. She stumbled back against the wall, gasping and glaring maniacally at Erynn.
Erynn sidestepped to the center of the room, well away from Jaer’s bed. She was ready, wanting this confrontation, but didn’t want to risk him being caught in the middle of . . . well, whatever it took to convince Shan her charade of a hold on him was over.
Shan snarled, spit flying from her lips. She rushed forward. Her angry sneer gave her once normal features a grotesque, monstrous appearance. Clawed fingers reached for Erynn.
Jess and the other two Anbas moved quickly to intercept Shan.
Erynn threw up her hand, stopping Jess only a breath before Shan attacked. Quickly facing an onrushing Shan, Erynn bent low, propelling herself into the driving assault, connecting dead center with her attacker.
An eerie quiet enveloped the room as the others waited and watched. No one moved but Erynn and Shan.
Currents of purple electricity buzzed and crackled, arcing across Shan, and her body stiffened in a convulsive twist.
Outside, rain pelted in a drumming onslaught, hammering the roof like thousands of rocks thrown by a horde of angry giants.
Erynn straightened. Shan’s forward momentum carried her up and backward over Erynn.
Shan landed in a jumble, thumping dully against the far wall.
Erynn spun, arms loose but ready at her sides, feet braced in a combat stance. Her nostrils flared, breaths coming fast. “Shan. Stop. You’ll never win a fight against me. Just go. Live your life somewhere else—far away from Jaer.” Static snapped and buzzed, paling to a lethal white-hot brilliance. Erynn willed them into submission, back to a radiant purple.
Shan pushed her trembling, jerking body up the wall. Her sweat-streaked face was partially hidden by long dark hair hanging in hanks lifting sporadically with Shan’s ragged, panting breaths. She grimaced and croaked in a bitter tone, “You’re a freak. You shouldn’t be alive.”
Erynn’s eyebrows lifted, and a small cold smile touched her lips. She strode toward Shan. Chains of self-doubt fell away, vanishing along with the fear that had pursued and tormented Erynn all her life—until this moment. “But I am alive. And you’re wrong. I’m not the freak here. You are. I’m not different. I’m special. You can’t hurt me—not you or others who refuse out of fear and ignorance to understand who I am. I won’t allow it. Not—ever—again.” Erynn’s eyes narrowed and she reached toward Shan.
Shan cowered, pressing clear of the sphere of painful arcing energy.
Erynn stopped and nodded, the action brusque and somehow final. Her newfound confidence reverberated in the timbre of her voice. “I see we understand each other. I’ll give you one last warning. Leave. I never want to see you again.”
Shan shambled toward the door on unsteady legs. She hugged the wall, staying out of Erynn’s reach. Her ranting became less vigorous, and her tone no longer commanded deference. She rambled, fearful eyes darting around the room, but always returning cautiously to Erynn. “I have rights. Jaer is my cheille. Even though he never loved me, I have rights.”
Jess moved beside Shan and not so gently took her arm.
“Let go of me!” Shan shrieked in a pitiful whine. Tears joined the sweat streaming down her flushed cheeks.
Jess jerked and Shan cried out in pain. “You can make this easy or hard. Personally, I’d prefer hard.” Jess smiled.
Shan shrank back. She limped, dragging her feet across the polished wood floor, reluctantly allowing Jess to escort her from the room. Her sobs of protests, of unjust treatment, carried down the hall amid an occasional tearful moan of suffering.
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