The Adventure of Immanuel

By Kevin L. O'Brien

Every Christmas Eve, Eile and Sunny of Team Girl spend the day at Pastor Sjauken's homeless shelter for single mothers and their children, preparing and serving meals, handing out presents, and generally helping everyone to make merry. In their own way, they like to remind his charges that miracles can happen.

But tonight they will be involved in another miracle, as a force greater than themselves manipulates them without their knowledge, only this time it could mean the difference between life and death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kevin L. O'Brien
• Release date: Jul 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301292943

Kevin L. O'Brien

Kevin L. O'Brien was born with a pen in his hand.Well, not quite, but he has been writing for as long as he can remember, at least since First Grade. Writing has always been his first, true love, but it hasn't always been his career. He worked for 15 years as a biomedical researcher, then for 3 years as a web designer. However, after 30 years of trying to be published in print with little success, he has decided to try his hand at self-publishing.He writes primarily speculative fiction -- fantasy, science fiction, horror, and their sub-genres -- but he also likes to try his hand at thrillers, suspense, mystery, and even westerns. However, his stories tend to have a fantasy element, no matter how subtle.Most of his stories involve the following three main characters:Medb hErenn (http://www.medbherenn.com/) -- One-time queen of Ireland, she is over 3500 years old. A warrior and a sorceress, she cannot be harmed by any weapon made by the hand of man.Eile and Sunny, Team Girl (http://www.teamgirlforever.com/) -- They are two adorable, vivacious, fun-loving young women whose motto is ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!!! Yet trouble follows them like a love-sick puppy wherever they go.Sir Differel Van Helsing (http://www.sir-differel.com/) -- The descendent of Abraham Van Helsing and King Arthur, she heads the Caerleon Order, the premier monster-hunting organization of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She commands Dracula, the most powerful vampire extant, and the greatsword Caliburn, better known as Excalibur.He also writes a series of sword & sorcery stories set in an alternative universe known as the Lands of the Dreams of Men.Kevin lives in Denver with his family and 4 cats.For more information, see his website: http://www.kevinlobrien.com/

Book preview

The Adventure of Immanuel

Kevin L. O'Brien

Smashwords Edition

+++

Text Copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

Cover design and typography copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

Agincort font distributed under a free use license by SWFTE International, Ltd.

+++

License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. It is licensed for your personal enjoyment and remains the copyrighted property of the author. This ebook may not be sold, reproduced, or copied, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, but it may be given away if no changes are made. If you enjoyed this book and would like to share it, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from Smashwords or their favorite online retailer, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support, and for respecting the hard work of this author.

Please consider writing a review for this book on the retailer's website.

If you see any misspellings or typographical errors, please notify Kevin L. O'Brien using one of his online social networks. Thank you.

+++

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, including those based on the real world, are either products of the imagination of Kevin L. O'Brien or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Because some ebook platforms do not support special characters, certain words may appear misspelled, but this was done deliberately to avoid the problem of the platforms deleting the characters. Also, the LRF platform used by older models of the Sony Reader does not permit the use of links to external URLs, whereas the PDB platform used by Palm reading devices does not support any form of linking whatsoever.

+++

Table of Contents

Preface

Immanuel

About the Author

Other Books by Kevin L. O'Brien

Connect with Kevin L. O'Brien

Sample Excerpts

+++

Preface

This is a Christmas story, though it owes more to The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde and the universal belief in protective spirits than it does to Christian dogma. The actors were chosen based on the theme, but otherwise non-Christian symbology could have been used.

It takes place on Christmas Eve, 2011. Eile and Sunny are married and have two children. In Post-Traumatic Redemption, they had decided that the best way to atone for Eile's victims while a vampire was to adopt Pastor Sjauken's mission and help support it, and they have done so in a dedicated fashion ever since. Sjauken makes his second appearance in a Team Girl story, and the names of other characters are dropped, who will show up in their own stories in future. Beyond that, this story was inspired by tales of mysterious strangers, often children, who alert and guide good samaritans to people in distress and then disappear without trace.

Whether they are true stories or urban legends, they are nonetheless inspiring.

Back to TOC

+++

From the dread caverns of the grave, thy people save.

Eile checked her bag to make sure she had everything, then looked around for Sunny, spotting her on the other side of the chapel talking with Pastor Sjauken. John was a good friend, and a Lutheran minister who ran a homeless shelter that catered to single mothers and their children. He was also their spiritual advisor and counselor, who often guided them through personal crises and moral dilemmas. He had been instrumental in helping her work through her guilt over her victims when she had been turned into a Vampire, and he had married her and Sunny in a private religious ceremony prior to their public wedding officiated by Medb.

In return, she and Sunny helped him out with his shelter as much as they could. As their own personal fortunes improved, they provided him with donations, including co-signing