Fallen Angel of Mine (53 page)

I shook my head and fought down the
panic, the same close feeling I’d felt in the theater, on the
sidewalk under the light.

I opened the door. Osmond slammed on
the brakes and I managed to get my seatbelt off.

"I’m going to walk home. I need the
exercise. I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Good night, Osmond."
Osmond opened his mouth to protest but something in my face must
have stopped him because he nodded and let me shut the door and
turn away from the truck before the first tear trickled down my
cheek.

I walked purposefully and tried not to
slouch down like I wanted to collapse. That wasn’t brave and strong
and Wild. I should be ripping up tile and reupholstering furniture,
or saving the world with brilliant medical marvels. I should not be
burning down movie theaters, if that had really been me. Was it
possible? I sniffed and wiped my nose on my sleeve wishing I had a
tissue. In my screwed up world anything was possible. Everything
bad was possible.

I walked down the sidewalk past the
cheerfully lit houses feeling lost and trapped, desperate for
something, anything to stop the panic. I turned a corner and headed
down a street on the edges of town not so well lit, somewhere I
wouldn’t accidentally blow up a streetlight, if that had been me.
After I was halfway down the block I had a feeling like I was being
watched.

"Good evening," a voice said out of the
darkness.

I froze and searched the shadows,
wishing I’d chosen a better lit street to wander down, but of
course I hadn’t really chosen it since wandering wouldn’t work very
well if you used a map and compass to plot your course. I shook my
head and forced myself to stop the inner dialogue that was only
making me slightly hysterical.

"Evening," I said politely to the
general air and forced myself to continue walking. My heart pounded
in my throat as I walked and heard the sound of ice cracking. I
shivered in my coat and wished I had my knife on my leg. I hated
feeling defenseless, being defenseless. Of course I could always
bite him. The idea of someone’s blood in my mouth made my stomach
roil. Maybe not. Maybe it would be better for me to be defenseless
and die so that other people wouldn’t have to.

"Giving up without a fight? I didn’t
think you’d have it in you."

I spun around and started yelling. "I’m
sick of disembodied voices, and I’m sick of fighting. You don’t
know me and you don’t know what’s inside of me. If you did you’d
stay far away because people who get too close to me don’t end
well. Friends as well as enemies, and disembodied voices have never
gone over too great with me. So get lost!" This last was so loud it
echoed strangely on the dark snow covered streets. I startled
myself with my intensity, my rapid breathing and clenched fists
reflecting the anger that burned inside of me. It didn’t burn like
a fury, but more icy and cold, scary and dark.

"Disembodied voices in the darkness
represent your inner demons. If I showed you a face, any face at
all, you’d be unable to realize that what you see is only a
reflection of who you are."

"Is that supposed to be funny? Typical
that the reflection of my inner turmoil would be a crackpot
philosopher. At least I won’t have trouble falling asleep at
night." I kept walking towards the corner where a street light
burned hoping that once I got there I’d find relative
safety.

He grabbed me by the back of my coat. I
spun around to knock his hands off me, but slipped on the ice and
went down instead. I banged my knee but rolled to my feet as
quickly as I could. Unfortunately I still couldn’t see him and the
footing was very bad. I took a breath to scream, to yell,
something, and it was like all the air was sucked out of me. He
gripped my face with icy fingers that dug into my skin until it
felt like they sunk through the skin into the bone, into my brain
with pain that seared through everything I’d ever known until I
forgot myself, forget everything besides one name I whispered
before the explosion of agony collapsed into darkness.

"Lewis."

A. M. HARGROVE

BOOK 3

THE GUARDIANS OF
VESTURON

Read an excerpt from A.M.
Hargrove's DETERMINANT, Book 3 of The Guardians of Vesturon series,
the sequel to RESURRECTION.

Available now!

Prologue

The six men moved through the city
streets in a triangular formation. Not a single soul paid them a
bit of attention. Dressed unusually, even for a large metropolis
such as Atlanta, they were donned in snug black leather pants,
black vests and wore unusual criss-crossing bands on their bare
chests. They looked like a scene from a fantasy movie. Their bare
arms were heavily tattooed and their hands were covered in black
gloves. However, the few that glanced their way didn’t notice any
of that. Utilizing an advanced form of technology, unknown to
humans, the men had altered their appearance and speech. To anyone
watching, they appeared as six jean-clad men in their late
teens—college students perhaps, out for a night of fun.

Conversation between them was minimal.
The language they spoke, while it sounded like English to any human
within hearing distance, was most definitely not. It was a guttural
mix of sound that didn’t exist on Earth.

The men were tall and self-assured.
Their eyes were an unusual color—a blend of lavender and indigo
with flecks of silver. No one stopped to look at them long enough
to notice, and if they had, all they would have seen would have
been six pairs of brown eyes. The men weren’t exactly handsome, but
they were nonetheless impressive, with their rugged features.
Power, strength, and fearlessness emanated from them.

Never hesitant in their steps, they
moved along in an unhurried, but purposeful manner toward their
destination, as if they had been there dozens of times before. The
leader directed them not with speech, but by the movement of his
head. They carried no weapons that one could see, but they were
most definitely armed. A single glance from one of them could
annihilate an entire city. Not only were they their own deadly
weapons, they also possessed strength, unknown to humans, and
powers that would be considered impossible by any human
standard.

The group separated as they neared
their destination. To avoid suspicion, they would access the
building using two different entrances. Once inside, they would
reconvene near their goal.

Minutes later, the façade of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came into view. Three of
the men entered through the main doors and the other three went in
through a side entrance. It was late evening when the premises
would be mostly vacated, except for essential personnel, so it
would be unlikely anyone would interfere. That wasn’t much of a
concern for the men. Interfering humans were quickly indisposed by
a few simple tricks. Locked doors and high security areas didn’t
pose a problem either. It would be a simple task to retrieve what
they came for and they would be gone in a moment, leaving no trace
of their break-in.

They moved as a group of six again and
traveled through the maze of corridors as if they had done this
daily. It was a surprise to them when the figure of a young woman
came into view, for most employees should have vacated the premises
by now. What surprised the leader even more was her proficiency at
mind communication, which was an impossibility for humans. He knew
with certainty she was otherworldly, but from where, he could not
discern. Her pale eyes intrigued him and he experienced the
briefest feeling of regret for what he was about to do. He forced
himself to shove that thought out of his mind, as the choice was
not his to make. His family would die if he weren’t successful in
this mission.

His fleeting encounter with
her ended as quickly as it had begun and he was on his way to
completing his task at hand. He moved through the secure area and
headed for the cryogenic containment section where the
variola major
specimens
were located. He gathered the most deadly of them with efficiency
and replaced them with the
influenza
specimens given to him by
the lab director he had so eloquently threatened. Moments later,
his group was back on the streets of Atlanta, putting into motion
stage two of their mission.

This phase would be completed rapidly.
Entering various locations, they would spread the virus. He was
glad his species was immune to this deadly disease. Humans had
eradicated this illness in the 1970’s and had ceased vaccinating
against it. Since he had stolen most of the viable strains, the
feasibility of recreating a vaccine was nonexistent. The disease
would spread rapidly and a pandemic would ensue. Once again, he
felt the brief pangs of his actions, but pushed the thoughts out of
his head. His family was more important to him than a group of
unknown humans, no matter the number of casualties.

The virus needed to be spread quickly.
Infected aerosols would be the most rapid mode of transmission, so
the mercenaries released some of the virus into the ventilation
system in the building before he exited. His group then proceeded
to enter a few of the dorms on the Emory University campus to
repeat their actions. The summer session was ending and the
students exposed would shortly be traveling home before the fall
semester would begin. This would give the disease a wide and
various possibility of dissemination. His goal was to have an
epidemic in place before he left Earth.

The men visited the most populated
buildings in the city and lastly they arrived at Hartsfield
International Airport. This was the ultimate place for disease
transmission. With travelers moving around from plane to plane, and
country to country, it wouldn’t take long for this illness to
manifest itself worldwide.

Book 1

January St.
Davis

Present Day

The fever consumed me. I gripped the
steering wheel until my knuckles were white and close to bursting
through my skin. I was wracked with chills, which I thought odd.
How could I be freezing and burning up at the same time? I had
never been sick a day in my life, not a cold, strep throat,
nothing. Payback was hell and I was living through it now,
literally burning in it. What a way to make up for eighteen years
of health.

I must have contracted the flu. I had
worked with the influenza virus all summer at my internship with
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. My
eight-week program had ended and I was on my way back to Cullowhee,
North Carolina to resume my fall semester at Western Carolina
University where I would start my junior year.

The fever had begun last night. I felt
flushed and went to bed thinking it would be gone in the morning. I
forced myself to pack up my scant belongings and dragged my achy
body to the car for the drive home. It was just past noon when I
left. I had anticipated arriving by four as it was about a three
and a half hour drive.

I hadn’t been in the car
for thirty minutes when everything went south.
What in the world is wrong with me?
The chills hit first. Then I was alternately burning up and
shivering violently. It was hard to keep my car in the lane with my
uncontrollable shaking.

The headache turned into a crushing
vise. My head was piercing with pain. It started inching its way
down my neck and into my back. My stomach rolled with nausea. I
finally pulled off the road into a rest area. I fumbled around in
my purse, hoping to land on some Tylenol but came up empty handed.
Leaning my head against the steering wheel, I dozed.

I opened my eyes to the
darkness of the night.
Geez, how long did
I sleep?
My eyes tried to focus on my
watch but my vision was blurred.
Did I
sleep or pass out?
My goal was Cullowhee,
so I pulled the car back on the road, heading in that
direction.
God, please let me make it
home.

My vision was
deteriorating. I could barely discern the trees as I passed them.
Even though it was dark, I shouldn’t have trouble seeing the trees.
I knew I was very ill and my heart skipped a beat as I wondered
what was wrong with me. I began to worry in earnest about whether I
could make it back to Cullowhee.
Oh God,
what am I going to do? I don’t know if I can keep driving!
I didn’t have a choice. I was in the middle of
nowhere, Timbuktu if you will. There wasn’t a hospital or motel
anywhere near me. I pushed on, praying I would make it back
safely.

The chills and fever
continued. I was using my air conditioner and heater back to back.
I realized I was becoming disoriented and dizzy. I knew I should
stop but I forced myself to continue driving. I was trembling,
whether it was from fear or the chills from fever, I didn’t know.
The road began to move, like a wave. I made several turns and the
fisting of my stomach made me aware I was hopelessly lost.
Where am I? None of this looks familiar!
I stopped my car.