Blurb:
Three months have
passed and Melina thought she was safe. Safe from the effects of the angel
powers and safe from the Noxin demons. But she thought too soon.
Just as she’s starting
to enjoy her new powers and her new relationship with Lee, the slight pain she
still experiences after using the powers starts to grow worse. As the pain
becomes more and more unbearable, she finds herself lashing out at innocent
people with unex-plained anger and hatred. Then to make matters worse, she sees
a Noxin demon again.
No one, not even the
elders, seems to know what’s happening to Melina, or how a Noxin demon found
her. And when she’s introduced to Dean, another unique human like herself, she
learns that his pain is completely gone, which only makes her situation even more
con-fusing.
Grasping for any type
of answer, Melina throws out one possible explanation after another. But as her
angry feelings intensify, and her angel powers grow weaker, she begins to think
there might be something malevolent inside her that’s trying to take over. It’s
not long be-fore her internal struggle spirals out of control, and her body is
turned into a battlefield that’s torn between good and evil.
Melina fears that if
no solution is found, then she might lose all the people she loves, especially
Lee. But what scares her even more is that she might lose herself to evil.
Author:
Ashley Stambaugh grew
up in a small town in Illinois where she and her two siblings creat-ed some of
the best memories playing on their family’s farm. She stayed in the southern
re-gion of the state to attend college where she earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree and also met her husband.
Now, she and her
husband live in central Illinois and spend their time creating new memo-ries
with their two rambunctious boys and their comical black Pug. She also enjoys
reading, taking long walks, and finding great bargains. When her sons are a
little bit older, she has a great desire to travel with her family. Oh, and she
also has a slight obsession with chocolate.
When she’s not busy
chasing after her two young children or losing herself in a good book, you can
find her curled up on her couch with her laptop, writing.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Melina took a sip of
her coffee and gazed out at the lightly falling snow. Mesmerized by its
delicate beauty, she didn't even notice when someone took a seat in the chair
across the table from her.
"How’d I know
you'd be sitting at a window seat?" the voice mused.
Her eyes widened in
excitement as she turned and smiled at the newcomer. There sat Lee, bundled up
in his black wool coat, a gray and black plaid scarf wrapped loosely around his
neck, his tawny hair messed about from the wind. She leaned over and gave him a
soft kiss, a slight blush reddening her cheeks. They had been together for
almost three months now, but she still got flushed and giddy around him.
She turned back to
look out the window again. "It's breathtaking, isn't it?"
Lee chuckled.
"Yeah, snow's pretty to watch. But if you know you have to drive in it
later, it loses some of its luster."
"That's why I
walked here," Melina said as she pointed down at her tall, black snow
boots.
He smiled at her.
"I'm happy to see your Christmas gift is being put to good use."
"These put my old
pair to shame. They're much warmer. I can go for a lot more walks now."
Melina grinned then returned her gaze to the snow. "I'm trying to catch
sight of my first snowflake. It's snowed six times this month already, and I
still haven't seen one."
"I'm sure you'll
have plenty of opportunities, seeing how it's only the third week of January
and how much you love to watch snow." He let out another chuckle just as
Nina, the owner of the café, showed up with his coffee.
She was a plump, older
woman with short, spiky white hair and always had a smile on her face.
"Good morning, Lee." She beamed at him as she set the steaming coffee
mug down on the table. "I brought you your usual."
"Thanks, Nina," he said and then
took a sip of his drink.
"You're welcome,
sweetheart. You two let me know if you need anything else." She gave them
both a quick wave then made her way back to the front.
Lee looked back over
at Melina. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late. I know you said you wanted to get
out of here before the morning crowd arrived."
"It's all
right," she said, shaking her head. "We still have about twenty
minutes or so before the usual rush shows up."
He held her gaze, his
light brown eyes full of concern.
Melina averted her
eyes down to her coffee mug. She didn't want him to pick up on her anxiety, but
she must've been doing a lousy job of hiding it, because she could still feel
him staring at her.
"I'm okay,"
she said as she lifted her eyes back up to meet his. "I'm just—"
Melina's voice cut off as she suddenly let out a short cry. Her hand shot up to
her head as her face contorted in pain.
"What is it?
What's wrong?" He jumped up from his chair and knelt down beside her.
She rubbed at her
aching forehead as she struggled to speak. "Too many… people. Too many…
thoughts. My head… it feels like it's… going to explode."
Lee furrowed his brows
as he stood up from his knees and glanced around the room. "There aren't
even ten other people in here."
A low groan escaped
her. "It feels like a hundred." She continued to massage her temple
when suddenly the pain intensified. "Ahh!” she screamed as she raised her
other hand up to her temple. “My head feels like it's on fire now."
He quickly threw some
money onto the table then slid his arm around Melina. "Come on. Let's get
you out of here." He hoisted her up from her chair, and let his arm slip
up underneath hers.
"It burns! It
burns!" she cried as she squinted her eyes shut. "What is going
on?"
"We're almost out
of here. Hang on." There was a side exit a few steps away from them, and
Lee led her out through the door as discreetly as he could. Melina hated not
saying good-bye to Nina, but if she saw her in this state, she would become
overly concerned and cause unnecessary stress.
They stepped outside
and the windswept snow caused her to turn her face into Lee's shoulder. When
they were several feet away from the café, she finally lifted her head and
said, "I need to stop for a minute." She released her arm from around
his neck but continued to lean on him.
"Okay," he
said, keeping his arm wrapped snugly around her. "I'm parked just up at
the end of the block. Do you think you can make it there?"
She nodded and slid
her arm up around his neck again. When they had finally reached his SUV, he
helped to ease her down into the passenger seat. He shut the door for her then
ran around and climbed into the driver's seat.
"What happened in
there?" he asked as he started the engine and turned on the heat.
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