FORGIVEN Excerpt

Forgiven

Book Three in the Demon Trappers Series

(excerpt from Chapter Two)

Riley stood alone in a field of crisp, freshly fallen snow. There was nothing around her, no buildings, no people. High above a blood-red moon held court in the sky, thousands of stars paying homage.

A breeze tugged at her hair and it smelt of deepest midnight. She felt Ori’s presence even before his arms slid round her waist, drawing her back against him. She knew it was a dream, but she didn’t want to wake. Here it would be perfect. There would be no Heaven or Hell, no one to tell her what she was doing was wrong. It would just be Ori and her forever.

Turning in his arms, Riley gazed up at his black hair and those bottomless eyes. Eyes that had seen the beginning of the cosmos.

‘I am sorry,’ Ori murmured, his voice just as she remembered it. ‘I hurt you and that is not what I wanted.’

“It didn’t have to be that way,” she said. It could have been so different.

‘Let me make it right between us. Let me show you what your future can hold.’

He gestured and a scene appeared in the air in front of them. It was Riley, older now. She had a grace and strength that she never thought possible. She was teaching two apprentices how to trap demons and they were riveted on her words. This Riley was strong and confident, no hint of the troubled girl that lay within.

‘You’ll be a renowned master trapper, like your father,’ Ori explained. ‘The trappers will be in awe of your skills. All the while, my protection will keep you safe from harm.’

She could trap and be successful and everyone would think she was the best there was. Just like my dad . . .

His kiss reignited her desire for him. Her need for love, for someone to care for her. She melted against his body, savouring the touch and scent of him.

‘I am yours,’ the angel said. ‘Give me your soul and we can be together forever, Riley Anora Blackthorne.’

‘Do you love me?’ she asked. That was what she wanted, what she craved. To be loved by someone as magnificent as an angel.

Ori did not reply, his face tormented. As if he wanted to lie, but could not. He tried to smile, but failed. ‘Come with me,’ he said, offering a hand. ‘We will have eternity together. Is that not enough?’

Riley hesitated, her heart pounding hard. If he doesn’t love me . . . Was she so desperate that she’d settle for an empty life?

Caught in her doubts, she looked away and found that the field wasn’t empty any longer. Her family’s mausoleum now stood a short distance away, cloaked in snow and moonlight.

Solid red stones, stained-glass windows, all testimony to the Blackthorne legacy. The lion-winged gargoyles on the roof glared down at her, brilliant yellow flames pouring from their mouths. as if she was a threat to the dead within. The double brass doors swung open and, instead of the stone interior lit by dancing candlelight, there was semidarkness. Figures moved around inside, all talons and teeth and glittering ruby eyes. The emissaries of Hell awaiting her decision.

It was so tempting. She’d spend forever with her father. The demons couldn’t hurt her and ––

A voice cried out her name. She searched across the field and found Beck running towards her at top speed. He cried out again, his voice ragged as if he’d been shouting for hours and she’d not heard him.

‘Do not listen to the trapper,’ Ori warned. ‘He is jealous of us. Of what we have.’

She hesitated, confused.

‘Riley!’ Ori called, more forceful now. ‘Pledge me your soul. I promise you will never suffer another moment of your life.’

‘What will we have?’ she demanded. ‘Some promises? None of which you will keep.’ She shook her head. ‘You never loved me. You only loved my soul and what it will buy you in Hell.’

‘You are wrong,’ the angel retorted. ‘This was always about you.’

‘Lies!’ she shouted.

A searing cramp dug deep into her belly and she doubled over in agony. Riley forced herself to straighten up, holding her stomach. The area around her had become a minefield of skulls, each inhabited by a demon. They taunted her, threatened her, spoke of the endless tortures that awaited her soul in Hell.

Ori was no longer near her but at the edge of the skull field now, pacing in agitation. “You have to give your soul. It is the only way, Riley! Please, I beg of you!”

The snow around her turned crimson and began to boil.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I have lost too much already.’

As the skulls massed for an assault, Beck charged into the minefield, bent on her rescue. He only made it a few steps before he cried out her name once more, then died in tormented agony as the demons tore him apart.

‘NO!!!!’

Riley lurched upright in the bed, sweat pouring off her in streams. Her chest felt heavy and each breath only brought in a tiny stream of air. She bent over, clutching her stomach. Swallowing repeatedly to keep from vomiting, she struggled to regain her senses and break free of the nightmare.

With a groan, she wiped sweat off her brow. A vicious headache pounded in the very centre of her forehead. The room around her was quiet. There were no demons, no angel, no dying Beck. As the nightmare receded, the horror of it still clung to her.

Was this a sign of what her future held? Would Ori continue to push at her mind until she screamed for release? Would Beck throw away his life to save her soul?

With another groan, Riley rooted in her messenger bag and excavated two Advil and a bottle of water. She washed the tablets down, hoping they’d stay put, then leaned back against the headboard.

‘This seriously sucks.’ The verbal acknowledgement only made her head thump harder.

Once she’d shaken off the worst of the dream, she headed for the bathroom and made a totally useless attempt to do something about her hair. When she pulled on her clothes, she was relieved they smelt less like the lying angel now. It was a pity that the memory of his touch wouldn’t fade as easily.

Out of habit she retrieved her cellphone, but a second before powering it on she hesitated: did she dare check her messages? Would the hunters be able to track her here?

‘Better not,’ she said, leaving the phone off. It felt weird to be so out of touch. How would she let her friends know what was happening? Her best buddy Peter freaked if he didn’t hear from her regularly. Simi, her barista friend at the local coffee shop, would wonder what happened to her, especially since she insisted on updates every couple of days.

Staying with Mort was too dangerous for all of them. Eventually the hunters would come here. The only choice was for her and her dad to make a run for it, hide out until the Vatican’s boys got bored and returned to Rome. We’ll have to start over. Find a place to live. I’ll have to get a different job.

If they survived all that, eventually she’d have to convince Lucifer to put her dad back in the ground.

All because I wanted someone to love me.

Except from FORGIVEN – Book 3 in the Demon Trappers Series

© 2012 Jana Oliver

Macmillan Children’s Books (March 1, 2012)

St. Martin’s Griffin (March 27, 2012)