Redemption

By Elise Marion

In a world full of the sick and dying, the hurting and desperate, and those lost in darkness, angels dwell.
Once a Warrior Angel, Nathaniel has now become one of the Fallen, after losing sight of his purpose. Fallen angels are cursed to wander the depths for all of eternity, a fate that Nathan has avoided every day for the past seven years. As the demon within him grows, he knows that it is only a matter of time until he becomes a monster. His love of a human woman is what caused him to lose his wings, yet Nathan cannot bring himself to regret it, or the child that came of their love. It is that child’s identity as a Naphil—half angel, half human—that threatens the existence of everyone he loves and Nathan finds himself having to face his past in order to secure his son’s future.

Carmen Rodriguez lives her life in constant fear. The power of her son grows every day, leaving him vulnerable to the plans of the Evil One. When a demon’s bold abduction puts Carmen in a desperate position, she turns to the only one who can bring him back. Nathan warns her that the road to rescuing their son will be a treacherous one ... one that leads them straight into lair of the Prince of Darkness.
The third and final installment of the Angels Among Us series goes where it never has before.
Even in the very pits of hell, can an angel find salvation? Will the love that Nathan has for Carmen and his son be enough, or will Nathan finally have to face the consequences of his actions.
Is there redemption for the Fallen?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elise Marion
• Release date: Nov 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301065684

Elise Marion

Elise Marion is a lover books and has a special place in her heart for sweet and sensual romance. Writing about love across all walks of life is her passion, as is reaching people through the written word. The Army wife and stay-at-home mother of two spends most of her time taking care of her children. Her second job includes writing stories about characters that people can fall in love with. When the Texas native isn't caring for her family or writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, singing loudly, or cooking up something new in the kitchen.

Book preview

Angels Among Us

Book Three: Redemption

Smashwords Edition

Elise Marion

Redemption

Copyright 2012 by Elise Marion

Edited by Melissa Ringsted (There For You Book Editing)

Cover Design by Larry Stephens (Imagine Images Photograph & Graphic Design)

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please respect the work of this author by not copying or reproducing their work.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or people living or dead is coincidental.

The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark of products or people used in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication use of these trademarks is not associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

The Guardians Series (Sneak Peek)

About the Author

More by Elise Marion

Coming Soon

Dedicated To:

Kilby Logan; brother, soldier, friend.

Never forgotten.

Special Thanks to:

Melissa Ringsted for your hard editing work. Thanks for teaching me how to use ellipses and em-dashes!

R.K. Ryals, for your friendship and support throughout the writing of this series. *Hugs*

Chapter 1: Manifestation

The church was empty, save for the two who knelt silently at the altar. The woman placed her hand on the arm of the small boy to still him. He glanced at her with wide brown eyes and understood the solemnity of the moment. They had been coming to this place almost daily his entire life.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart Catholic Church was a steady fixture in the lives of Elian Rodriguez and his mother. She insisted on coming for prayer often, during which he was to remain silent and reverent. The high, arched ceilings had once intimidated him, and the figures of Jesus and Mary gazing down upon him had once been overwhelming. Now he barely spared them a second glance; Jesus with his outstretched arms and Mary with her benevolent eyes and serene expression.

He followed his mother in the sign of the cross and bowed his head as she recited aloud the Lord’s Prayer. He mouthed the words with her automatically, a reflex.

Our father who art in heaven …

Carmen Rodriguez glanced at her son out of the corner of her eye as she recited the words she’d committed to memory. She knew the boy was bored, but someday he would understand just how important this ritual was. It was vital for his protection.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil …

She spoke these words with emphasis, recognizing them as the most important words of her prayer. Deliver us from evil. She had been led into temptation once, and as a result, evil was now upon her. She could feel the presence of the Evil One’s minions stalking them, waiting for the day when they would be found unaware and unprotected.

Over my dead body, Carmen thought vehemently as she performed the sign of the cross once more as the closing to her prayer. She grasped her son’s hand tightly, and they stood. She shouldered her purse, and he adjusted the straps of his backpack as they made their way down the center aisle. Elian squirmed against her grasp, but she only held on tighter. There wasn’t a single seven year-old boy alive that wanted to be seen holding his mother’s hand, but Carmen wouldn’t let her son out of her sight for a single second. To do so would be equal to feeding him to the wolves.

As they neared the set of double doors that led outside, a sound like a ragged whisper rang out through the church. It bounced off the high ceilings, followed by another and another until a chorus of spine-tingling whispers surrounded them. She reached for the door, only to find that the handle was like ice in her palm. Ignoring the biting sting of the cold against her hand, she pulled with all her might. Her breath came in shallow gasps as the realization of what was about to happen ripped through her.

No, she moaned, pulling Elian against her protectively.

The boy clutched at his mother, his eyes wide as the lights flickered ominously overhead.

What’s happening, Mama? he asked, his voice small and frightened.

A shadow swooped over their heads, followed by a second. Carmen felt a frightening mix of terror and helplessness sliding down her spine when a third shadow crossed over them in the other direction.

Get down, Elian, she commanded, shoving him gently toward the row of pews on their right. He opened his mouth to protest, but Carmen’s expression indicated that she would not tolerate insubordination. Elian obediently ducked down between the pews, watching as Carmen rifled through the bottom of her large purse.

The figures were swooping lower now, and Carmen could feel the rush of air that they conjured up with the flapping of their metallic wings. She could feel the heat from their red, flaming eyes and smell the hatred and malice that oozed from them, like the putrid mingling of rotting meat and fetid garbage.

Demons.

She had never seen one in person, but after Elian’s birth she’d been warned to look out for them. They had been sent for her son. As her fingers closed around the wooden, hand-painted rosary beads at the bottom of her purse, she vowed to protect him with her last breath. She tossed her purse aside as one of the demons swooped down even lower, scratching at her shoulders with razor sharp talons, tearing through her thick sweater as if it were made of paper. As she cried out in pain, the other dove toward her with a piercing scream.

She dropped to her knees and clutched the rosary beads against her chest, her fingers wrapped tightly around the cross. She began to recite the Guardian Angel Prayer, her fingers tightening around the cross with each word. The angel Reniel had given her the rosary and taught her the prayer, but she had never had to use either. Now was the time.

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here— the first demon’s long, lizard-like tongue flicked out and danced in her face. The second began pulling at her long, wavy hair brutally, causing her to cry out louder, —ever this day, be at my side, to light and guard, rule and guide!

The instant the last word left her mouth, the church began to quake. The ground shook beneath her feet. She dropped to her stomach and crawled toward Elian, who waited between the pews, his large eyes filled with tears as he reached his hand out to her. As she neared him, the double doors flew open and crashed against the walls, and the room was filled with a blinding light.

A glowing white orb rushed into the room, containing the figure of a man. The demons trembled and snapped their jaws at the orb. They circled their narrowed, glowing eyes burning with intense hatred. They flew at the orb, trying desperately to penetrate the glowing circle. They bounced off of it continuously like mindless moths, beating their wings furiously and growling with a grating sound that Carmen knew would always haunt her dreams.

The glow grew brighter by the second, increasing in its intensity as the dim-witted demons continued bashing themselves against it. Another bright flash and the orb was gone, revealing the man at its center. The demons screamed and tore at their own flesh with their claws as they came face to face with Jackson Bennett, one of Elian’s Guardians.

Good-bye, fellas, he said with a sarcastic smirk, pointing the barrel of his solid gold Desert Eagle handgun at one of the two beasts. Instead of a bullet, a burst of white light hit the target directly in the center of his chest, dispatching the creature back to Hell in a puff of smoke and gray ash. A second shot sent the other one screaming after him.

The presence of evil finally gone, Carmen felt her heart expanding as the vice of fear slipped away. She filled her lungs with deep breaths, drinking greedily as if she’d been starving herself for the past five minutes. She knelt and pulled Elian against her chest, stroking his curly black hair affectionately.

Jackson approached and knelt to help them to their feet, his smoky gray eyes—a stark contrast against his deep brown skin—wide with concern.

You all right, buddy? he asked Elian, who nodded quickly to assure him. How ‘bout you Carmen?

He gestured toward the angry red welts that showed through the tears in her clothing. Her shoulders stung and her scalp hurt, but she was just grateful to be alive and that Elian had been saved.

I’ll be all right, she answered, pressing her hand to her pounding heart in relief. I’m just glad the prayer worked.

Jackson turned to her with a frown as they neared the exit. Did you doubt Reniel when he taught it to you?

Carmen shrugged. Call her crazy, but she hadn’t been so sure that the prayer would produce help as quickly as it had. She’d called on its power in a moment of desperation; she would be forever thankful that she had.

Well it did, he said with a shrug. Filled my head with visions of what was happening here, and I got here in a flash.

Thank goodness for inhuman speed, Carmen remarked, deciding that Jackson’s superhuman skill was more useful than she’d previously thought.

Let’s get you to school, buddy, Jackson said to Elian as they moved easily through the doors and out onto the church’s front steps.

Wait, Elian demanded softly. He slipped his hand from Carmen’s and turned to face her. He motioned for her to kneel down in front of him. Gripped by confusion and anticipation, she did as he asked. As she gazed into her son’s brown eyes—so like his father’s—she knew that something special was about to happen. It was the same look she’d seen in his eyes the first time he’d used his telekinetic powers to levitate a handful of building blocks. He’d only been four at the time.

Now he reached his hands out to her, gripping her shoulders gently. The contact burned, but she didn’t move a muscle, didn’t breathe. She just stared into her son’s eyes, watching as the pupil’s dilated until the irises were nearly gone. Within seconds, her wounds began to burn so intensely that she could barely stand it. Her mouth fell open, but her cries came out as barely audible squeaks.

My God, Jackson gasped when Elian pulled his hands away and stepped back.

The burning was gone and in its place was a cooling sensation that caused Carmen to sigh with relief. She ran her fingers along her skin, only to find that the wounds were gone. As she glanced at the gaps in her shirt left by demon claws, all she saw was perfectly smooth, olive toned skin.

Her blood rushed through her veins in both excitement and trepidation. Her son had manifested a new ability and his strength had increased every year since his birth. It was an amazing thing to behold. It was also dangerous.

We can go now, Elian said, grasping his mother’s hand again as if nothing had just happened.

As they walked the three blocks to Elian’s elementary school, Carmen remained on high alert. Her eyes darted left and right, scanning the street for anything or anyone that seemed out of place. If demons were bold enough to enter Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart in search of her son, she would not assume that they weren’t bold enough to attack them on the street as well.

He’s getting stronger.

Carmen glanced up from the cup of hot tea in her hands. Across from her sat Jackson and his wife, Sarah, Elian’s second Guardian. The husband and wife team that had been assigned to Elian for protection lived in the apartment across the hall. For the past seven years, the two had kept a vigilant eye on Carmen and her son.

Sarah ran her hands over the small bump that was rapidly growing in her belly. She’d happily announced her pregnancy a few months ago. As she watched Jackson place his hand over Sarah’s with a loving