The Eclipse of Power (6 page)

“Sit up for a second while I clean your face off.” Ash took
his shirt off and turned it inside out and used the cleanest part of it to wipe
off the blood from my face and hands. He then did the same to his face and
hands and threw the shirt into the back.

“I swear, we are going to have to keep a stock of wet wipes
in all of our vehicles. We never get out of a fight without being covered in
blood. Yuck!” I said.

Later, after we had all cleaned up, eaten, and told the
story at least three times, Ash asked me to take a walk with him in the garden.
“Fillie, she is safe with me. I promise you don’t need to follow her every move
now that we are back in the compound.”

“If you weren’t so cute, I would bash in your face. Of
course she is safe, but that doesn’t mean she is safe from you! I will be
watching. You better be on your best behavior and remember who’s compound you
are in buddy!” Fillie said while staring Ash down.
I think Fillie has a
crush on Ash, how cute!

“Hmph,” Fillie said as she flew off to the roof.

We walked around the garden for at least ten minutes without
one word said between us, but it wasn’t awkward. Ash held my hand and we
strolled along slowly looking up at the stars and the two moons. “I had heard
you had two moons, but I never thought I would see them. You must miss this a
lot when you are on Earth.”

We stopped and Ash turned me towards him. He slowly moved
his hand up on my cheek and was looking right into my eyes. “B’Lana, you are so
much more beautiful than the moons. I would miss you more than Sendryl if we
were ever separated.”

And then he leaned down slowly to kiss me. I closed my eyes
and held my breath in anticipation. His kiss was more than I imagined it could
be. Just as I opened my lips to accept his kiss deeper, Fillie came down and
landed on Ash’s head.

“Boy I told you to watch yourself! You can’t be kissing
girlie here while in the Reverend’s compound, you know better than that!” She
flew off again as we stepped apart.

“Buzz kill!” Ash yelled out to Fillie.

Oh I am in trouble now; I don’t know why I didn’t see
this coming. He is such a flirt! How could I have fallen for it! Lancer was
right, once Ash gets what he wants he will leave me. What have I gotten myself
into?

Want more of the story? Keep reading for a snippet of Book
4.

Who do you want B’Lana to end up with? Ash or Lancer? Come
to my Facebook page and let me know:
https://www.facebook.com/JLHendricksAuthor/
 this page is dedicated to all things Eclipse series of books.

Or check out my blog:
https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/blog/
you can sign up to receive updates from my blog and even chat there about the
latest blog.

There are a lot of people involved in the process of putting
out a book. Even for an independent author like myself.

First off, I want to thank all of you who have read my
books! I am truly grateful and honored you have taken the time to read these.

I couldn’t have done this without my beta readers, Diane Velasquez,
Dorene Johnson, Dawnya Goode, Bree Buras, and Craig Martelle (yes I killed him
off at the end of this book!).

And I can’t forget Michael Anderle, he is the person who got
me started. He said I could do this and he believed in me, thank you Michael!

Book cover images purchased from 123RF:
www.123rf.com

Cover illustration by Dawnya Goode

Eclipse design by Michael Anderle

As I was writing this book, my author’s group was discussing
different names to use for “red shirts” those are the characters we intend to
kill off pretty quickly. I took three names from my group. Xandrie, who I
haven’t killed off yet. Not sure if or when I will as her character is
developing quite nicely. But she is in my author’s group and said I could use
her name. Doesn’t Xandrie just sound like a fae name? Thank you Xandrie Kovak!

Also, I used Craig Martelle as a bad guy. He was the bad
vampire at the end of this book. I did kill him off in a bloody manner, as I
promised Craig I would. LOL Craig, I hope you enjoyed your death as much as I
enjoyed writing it!

I also took a name from one of my Beta Readers. Diane has a
son (Reuben) who volunteered to be killed off by an author, so of course I
couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use his name. Thank you Reuben and Diane! Reuben
hasn’t died yet, but we only saw him for a short time at the end of book 3.
Just wait until Book 4 comes around.
J

Too many of my deaths have been nameless so I will start
naming the guys and gals I kill off. If you want your name used, come to my
blog or the Facebook page for my book series and let me know.

Again, thank you to all of my readers, as well as all of my
author friends who have given great advice and assistance. Or in the case of
the night I wrote the end, a lot of laughs!

As promised, I am going to post the reviews I have received
as of this date, April 12, 2016:

3.0
out of 5 stars
Decent start for a YA audience?

By
 
Geezette
 
on
April 8, 2016 (a 3 star review)

Fairly
short intro book, more like a serial episode than a series volume. I suspect
that I fall outside of the target audience, so please don't take my rating as a
negative review.
I'll probably check in on future additions so I definitely can't say that I
didn't like the story. Pretty formulaic as a YA rated paranormal romance genre
entry? Absolutely nothing wrong with that. If that's what the author intends,
then she has succeeded.

Thank you Geezette! Even though you don’t normally read this
genre I appreciate you taking the time to read as well as write a review!

A 4 start review:

Great Short Story by dstars2797;

Loved the book. The
writing was great with a pretty good story line. This book was recommended by
Michael Anderle via the KG Facebook group. The only drawback, and the reason I
gave it 4 stars, it was only 70 pages long. This storyline would make an
awesome book. I am going to follow the series via Kindle Unlimited. I normally
don't purchase short stories, but doable with KU. Overall I highly recommend
giving it a read.

Thank you
dstars for a great review! The first part of my story is going to all be short
stories. If enough people like the world I have created then I will continue
with longer stories.

And my first 5
star review:

By Andrew:

Enjoyed the book and left
me wanting the next in the series.

Thank you
Andrew! That is one of the best things a reviewer can say! Authors always want
readers to go to the next book, this is how we are making our living after all.
So thank you very much for such a great review! I hope you enjoy the next book
even more!

B’Lana – Main character who started out as a human and
became a fae hybrid, she is a member of Squad 1.

Lancer – Leader of Squad 1, fae warrior who changed B’Lana
into a hybrid. Currently in prison on Sendryl.

Ash – Asst Leader of Squad 1, fae warrior who cares deeply
for B’Lana. Temporary Leader of Squad 1 while Lancer is in prison.

Commander Terra – Leader of the Earthen West Coast Squads of
Fae Warriors. He is in LA.

General Avex – Leader of all of the Earthen Squads of Fae
Warriors. He goes back and forth between Sendryl and Earth.

Toren – Current Leader of Squad 2 in LA. Friend to B’Lana,
Lancer, and Ash.

Cash – Asst Leader of Squad 2 in LA. Friend to B’Lana,
Lancer, and Ash.

Netty – Best healer on Sendryl. She occasionally visits LA
when they need a great healer.

DeeDee – B’Lana’s human best friend. They grew up together
and are basically sisters.

Ripper Master – He was in charge of the rippers in the LA
area. He held B’Lana captive in the sewers.

First – Second in command of the LA Rippers. He kidnapped
B’Lana.

Sennafae – These are the fae warriors from Sendryl. They are
on Earth to keep the rippers from kidnapping and changing human beings into
hybrid rippers (aka Nosferatu).

Rippers – These are the vampires we see on Earth. They were
once Sennafae hundreds of years ago. Now they are the offspring of the Sennafae
who contracted a disease but were healed of said disease. On Sendryl they look
like a hung-over version of the Sennafae with bags under their red eyes. On
Earth they develop the vampire look, they have bright red eyes with dark red spider
web veins around their eyes.

Hybrid Sennafae – A human who has been transformed into a
fae. There hasn’t been one for almost 200 years. Until B’Lana.

Hybrid Rippers – a human who has been transformed into a
ripper, or vampire. Also known as a Nosferatu. They have very limited brain
functions. Blood and killing is all they think about.

Fae Warrior – Short for Sennafae warrior. B’Lana calls all
of them fae.

Sendryl – The home planet of both Sennafae and Ripper. It is
another dimension from Earth. There are portals all over Earth that lead to
various places on Sendryl. There is also one known portal on Sendryl that leads
to another world, but it has been determined that it is too dangerous to go
there so that portal is closed.

“Good morning B’Lana. How did you sleep?” The reverend asked
me as I walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

“Pretty good all things considered. I guess my life is going
to be full of fighting and killing from now on?” I couldn’t believe how many
times I have had to fight in the past few months.

“Dear, there are a few things we should probably discuss now
that you have recovered from the attack yesterday. I understand you won’t be
needed at the courthouse until later today. Why don’t we go outside after you
eat and sit in the garden?”

“That sounds wonderful, thank you Reverend.”

About 30 minutes later the Reverend walked me to a nice
shady spot in the garden.

“Please tell me you are going to help me understand what all
of this prophecy talk is about? I don’t see how I am to fulfill some thousand
year old prophecy.”

“We don’t know a lot about the prophets from old, but we do
know that every one of their prophecies have come true, with the exception of a
handful. One is about a girl who is from Earth. She becomes a hybrid Sennafae
and rescues her people from a great evil. She makes quite a few allies along
the way, and it was even foreseen that she would bond with a dragonette; that
is the ultimate honor for us. We only have a small amount of them left on this
world.

“Some think that evil has come already and you are the key
to stopping it. While others believe you will bring the evil with you. And of course
there are those who want the evil to thrive. So you see, you will need to be
extra vigilant while you are here, and even when you return to Earth. There
will be Sennafae and Rippers who will try to destroy you.” The Reverend sure
knew how to make a girl feel special.

“Is that all you know? Isn’t there anything else you can
tell me?”
That couldn’t be all there is? How could that small amount of
information be enough to cause such a problem?

“The rest is a bit confusing, it states that she will fall
in love and her love will sacrifice himself for her. Although we don’t know if
that means he will die. Ash and Lancer both have already sacrificed a lot for
you. Lancer is on trial now because of you.”

“Wait, I am the reason he is on trial? How can that be?”

“He turned you into a hybrid without getting permission
first. Also, he sent a lot of warriors to their death because you wanted the
Earthlings saved.”

“So, it’s all my fault he is here? That’s so not cool! How
can you say such a thing?”
Is that why he was so cool towards me when I
arrived? That would explain his behavior.

“Ok, so if I believe what you say, and I am not saying I do,
what is it exactly that I am supposed to do? Kill the ‘evil’ you mentioned? How
is that possible?”

“Like I said, we don’t know much, just that you will be the
savior of your people. That could mean you will save the future Sennafae
Hybrids or you will save the Earthlings from the rippers. Both are you people.
But you must remember, now that you have long life, you may be many years from
fulfilling the prophecy. Please don’t expect to be doing this now or even in
the next few years.

“Take this time to learn about our culture and to study
everything you can about fighting techniques and various weapons. It could be
another 100 years before you see the end of the prophecy; if it is even you who
is to fulfill it.” The reverend looked at me with a pensive face and brought
his hand up to his chin and just said, “Hmm”. That was it nothing else, and
then he walked away.

I ran to catch up to him, “Sir, what did that mean? Is there
more to tell me?”

“I’m sorry B’Lana but I must get ready for the trial, and I
believe you need to as well. We can talk again later, after I have had a chance
to look further into the prophecy.”

With that he left me standing there in the garden, alone.

I think I am more confused now than I was yesterday? And
what did he mean that both Lancer and Ash have sacrificed a lot for me? Am I
supposed to fall in love with one of them? That’s crazy! One hates me and the
other loves every woman he encounters!