Falling
Angels
AngelFire
Chronicles
Book
2
Ami
Blackwelder
Genre:
Angel YA Romantic Suspense
Publisher:
Eloquent Enraptures Publishing
Date
of Publication: June. 1, 2014
ISBN:
978-1499769401
ASIN:
B00KQ3SXZU
Number
of pages: 277
Word
Count: 81,119
Cover
Artist: Ami Blackwelder
Book
Description:
Now
that Ali Maney knows the world of Angels and Demons, she is
discovering more secrets in the once forbidden books of the angel
libraries.
Her
relationship with Kian proves to be growing now that they can finally
touch, but a few surprises puts her life and her feelings for him in
danger.
With
Were and Fanged Demons taking over Manhattan, and Ali's brother in
danger, Ali will have to be stronger than ever!
Read
this second installment of AngelFire Chronicles and find out if Ali
and Kian make it to the end.
EXCERPT:
Crash
“Kian!
Catch me!” My chalk-white wings spun crazily in the gust of wind as
I plummeted toward the soft grass in the park. Soft or not, I didn’t
want my nose slamming into the green. I already dyed my hair a new
color - blonde. I didn’t need a new nose too.
Plus
I wore a pair of new black skinny jeans and I couldn’t have grass
stains all over my clothes. I had to get used to wearing tube tops,
since the wings ripped a few of my blouses on my first attempts at
sprouting them out of my back and flying. I also hated showing my
belly.
Kian’s
face grimaced in pain as he saw me heading straight for him. He
rubbed his fingers through his copper hair in quick thought before
his glowing amber eyes caught mine, which were of silver-violet hues.
I still couldn’t get over the fact that every time I grew into an
angel, my eyes morphed from their natural color of sea-blue into
something spectacular.
Soon
after my transformation, I asked why my eyes carried a silver tint. I
thought only demons had that color. Krysta snidely explained the
reason. “You turned because of one of our own dying. Death and
darkness makes the color silver.” Made sense, I guess. My eyes
would always be a reminder of an Angelfire loss. Now, I had to get
over the fact that in five seconds flat, I might be one with the
earth.
Leaping
towards me, Kian’s celestial form expanded its wings and the force
of my body pleasantly met with his instead of the ground. Moments
before I felt his regal arms embrace me, a soft bounce of our chests
told me he found me. Safe. Minimal damage. Other than a slight pinch
in my stomach and a few feathers bent on the right side, I felt fine.
The
right side of his mouth curled up in a smile as his pink lips rubbed
mine. His winged arms braced my back as his hands and fingers
caressed my neck. We floated upward toward the moon; two souls bound
as one. Warmth from his angel-esque form felt as if I had curled up
next to a fireplace with the one I loved.
We
had waited so long to be physical with each other that, as we kissed,
we forgot to care about anything else around us for a moment. Lost in
his eyes, I never wanted to leave the safety of his chest and the
comforts of his wings.
However,
life has a way of changing things.
“Ali,”
he whispered, “It’s time for you to use your gift.”
I
flinched. The mere thought of fire scared me. How could I propel the
dangerous blaze from my fingers?
“But?”
“No
buts this time. This gift is your weapon. You’ll need it someday,
because I can’t be with you 24-7, and we have Samuel’s life to
look after now too.”
The
sound of my brother’s name caused my mind to return to the night
when Dameon changed my life forever: the night he murdered Nathaniel;
the night Samuel saw the angel world for the first time; the night I
had been changed into an Angelfire.
“Yes,
my brother.” He weighed heavily on me. After all, I drew him into
this world and into this danger. “I have to do this for him.”
Kian
twirled me as if I were a feather in his hand. I became completely
weightless. “Are you ready?”
“I
think I finally am.”
My
body dropped with his. Our wings went from undulation to retreating
into our sides. Standing on the wet grass, I was reminded that it had
rained just hours earlier. Good thing too, because it made sure
everyone was indoors or had found shelter somewhere else while Kian
and I used our powers.
“Just
focus, Ali. You can do it,” Kian encouraged, his confident sunglow
eyes on me.
A
burning sensation rose underneath my palms. I could feel the heat as
if standing over a stove, but every time I tried to push, nothing
came out of me. I squeezed my hands, my forehead wrinkled and when I
opened up, nothing.
“What
am I doing wrong?”
“You
fear the power. You’re afraid of what it might do, where it might
go. The gift feels your fear.”
“Then
how do I get over it?”
“The
secret is to embrace your power. Look at where you want the flame to
go and focus.”
I
closed my eyes and threw my hands forward, squeezing and releasing as
my thoughts churned, but only my father came to mind.
“I
can’t,” I cried and threw my hands to my forehead. I fumbled
backward, but Kian grabbed my shoulder to steady me.
“What’s
wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“I
know you, Ali. It’s something.”
My
eyes swelled with salty tears, “It’s...it’s my father.” My
chest rose and shrank several times with heaving breaths. Kian drew
me into his strong form.
“I’m
here. You can tell me.”
“He
was a fire-fighter. The fire, the smoke everyday just finally got to
him, made his heart weak.”
“And
he died.” Kian spoke with a low sound, a sound that told me he
understood pain too.
“Just
like that.” The tears slipped down my pinking cheeks.
“You
don’t have to be afraid of the fire, Ali.” Kian grasped my hand.
With his other fingers, he wiped my tears. “The flames won’t take
you too. You can control them, own them.”
I
had no more words, only heaps of emotion, I didn’t know what to do
with. Fear and bravery competed with each other beneath my skin. An
invisible battle waged, and then I heard the words that tipped the
scales in my favor.
“Remember,
Ali, this power came to you because of Nathaniel, because he is gone.
Fire is a gift. Don’t let the flames die with him. Don’t let this
gift die with your father. Both of them would want you to conquer
your fear.”
I
took in a deep breath, sniffled one last time, and nodded my head. As
I turned from Kian, and entered into my own space, a space I knew
would soon be the conception of a power so strong it could take life,
I felt the presence of something magical. Maybe my father’s spirit?
Maybe something inside of me changed?
I
focused on the air pocket five feet in front of me and a flicker in
my eyes fixed Kian’s full attention on my hands. However, I no
longer saw my dying father, but a ghostly father and a ghostly
Nathaniel standing beside me. Glowing red-orange, my palms could have
been mistaken for stars.
Then,
as if I had been shooting flames all my life, the fire burst out from
underneath my skin and rushed a pocket of air. The fire moved at my
simple command, the orangey flames swirled and swiveled in the
contained space, an area that had become, for a time, my fixation.
Then,
just as soon as they had been born, they died.
“You
did it, Ali,” Kian said matter-of-factly.
“Yes,”
I beamed, like a kid opening his Christmas gift, “I did.”
“Do
it again, but this time hit the tree.” He pointed ahead.
“No,
Kian, that will cause a park fire.”
“It
won’t. I’ll use my gift of ice to freeze it.” My eyes shot at
him half uncertain that his plan would work.
“Trust
me.” I had to admit I completely did.
“Okay,
here goes.” I flipped my palms up and felt the tingling of heat
surge along my skin before the radiant flames shot across the grass
and into the chestnut trunk of the tree. The bark lit up in crackles
and the fire moved as if a forbidden dance.
Suddenly,
a bolt of ice crashed into the tree, splinters of frost and bark
blew left and right...but the flames, the chaotic motion of reds and
oranges, shriveled into nothingness.
“It
worked,” I tried not to sound doubtful it ever would.
“Again.”
Kian could see the exhaustion in my face from flying, and then firing
fire. The whole experience took a lot out of me, but he also wanted
me ready for anything. The Were and Fanged demons wouldn’t hesitate
to kill me. He knew it and I knew it.
“I’m
so tired.”
“I
know, but evening is our only time to practice and avoid being seen.
You can do it, Ali. I believe in you.”
I
sighed, and then when I saw Kian’s elegant wings lift him into the
air, I somehow grew the strength to push the image of my bed pillows
from the forefront of my mind.
With
a deep breath, my toes pushed me into the air and I floated, every
time feeling as if the first. Then I grabbed onto Kian’s outstretch
hand.Freezing.
“I
need you to use your gift while flying,” he spoke with cold air
clouting my face.
I
nodded and then let go of him to lift my palms forward. I had to do
this, not only for myself, but also for my family. At anytime the
demons could kill Samuel to get their Essence back, or even try to
get at him through Mom. I already lost my father. I couldn’t lose
anyone else.
With
two arms up and one leg balancing, I felt as if I belonged in a David
Copperfield performance and if I hadn’t been the main attraction,
I’d have been the one in the audience making notations in my mind
like, he is totally using wires! Wings are so fake! Except nothing
about
this could be more real, though sometimes I could hardly believe this
angel existence myself.
I
focused on flying and not on plummeting to the ground as I had done
so many times before. Harder than it looked. I’d been surfing only
once in my life. A vacation trip I took with Dad and Samuel a long
time ago. I remembered the waves under my board, and how they pushed
me every which way and I remembered how unbalanced the world seemed
at the time. However, surfing didn’t come close to the difficulties
of flying. Every time I looked down, I became nauseous and whenever
another gust of wind rushed past me, I lost my balance.
Still,
I had to get over myself. Nathaniel would not be proud, and I owed it
to my father and to my brother. If they could risk their lives every
day as a fireman and a policeman to serve the city, then the least I
could do would be to serve as AngelFire.
I
managed to hover above ground without tumbling downward for several
minutes and actually felt stable. Then I grew courageous and threw my
palms into the pocket of wind that crashed past me. Fire lit up the
sky. I went from magic act to circus performer, just like that.
The
fire didn’t last long, because ice soon melted into the flames and
then fell like rain, making the park seem like the next hot spot for
a Harry Potter movie.
“You
did it!” Kian grinned and threw his fluffy feathers around me. He
engulfed me completely and I never felt safer than when I rested in
his chest. His arms would always protect me.
The
protective embraces never felt long enough with him, but I needed
more practice using my gifts. After all, New York depended on the
Angelfire and me to keep them safe from the demons, and though a
thankless job, where the human world never even knew what went on
around them, I knew.
After
squeezing Kian tightly, I fluttered further up into the dark night
sky and balled my fists before forming a mental picture of fire. I
bolted toward Kian who still hovered above the ground below me and
then released my palms in the opposite direction. Flames spread over
the air like a forest fire, as if my mind moved the waves of
sparkling color...and I guess my mind did.
I
controlled the fire bursting from my hands, the chaotic movements of
red as they mesmerized me, until Kian propelled two icicles, one from
each palm, into my sea of flames. Within seconds, the ice swallowed
the heat emanating from the flames, cooling my skin, until
eventually, the very core of the fire itself extinguished.
We
both stared at each other as if something otherworldly just took
place, and in a way, something just had. His eyes reminded me of the
fire in the sky, so brilliant and bright. I couldn’t take mine off
of his.
“Ali,”
the sound of his voice kept my full attention, “promise me
something. Promise me, you’ll never get lost in this angel world.
We lose too many to the other side for this rush of power. I can
never lose you.”
I
must have appeared dumbfounded. I never even contemplated the effects
these kinds of powers would have over me. If anything, I felt afraid
of them, not longing for more...but still,
many
like me, or maybe even better than me, had fallen vulnerable to the
darkness and had been snatched up into the flock led by Azrael and
Dameon.
My
celestial eyes locked with the concern in his, “I won’t.”
He
drew closer to me, with wings flapping, and his bare chest damp with
moisture from his melted ice. A shiver rushed through him from a gust
of passing wind and his hands trembled. Hairs on his chest stood on
end. “I won’t,” I repeated and tugged his chilled form into my
warm breast, wrapping my wings around him. “You are all I want.”
His
icy body absorbed my heat, the heat from my fiery hands. This warmth
and those reassuring words could be my only solace for him. He saved
my life during junior year and I felt I owed him more than just my
loyalty. However, for tonight, this would have to be enough.
When
the sun began to rise, we ended our practice as we had so many other
nights and headed out of the park. We flew side by side until
reaching my house and then I crept through the open window. Kian
followed.
“I’ll
come by late in the morning. We’ll go to the Angelfire house
together,” Kian mentioned as an afterthought.
“I’d
like that.” I had wanted to go for sometime, ever since turning
angel. Questions swirled in my mind that I knew only the house could
answer. Answers only Sammael had, answers only the secret books held.
“I
can see your mind racing. What is it, Ali?”
I
shook my head, “Nothing.” Actually, everything. I needed to know
more about the Weres and Fanged demons and more about Azrael and
Dameon. If I was going to help defeat them, I needed to know all I
could, but I also knew the Angelfire house kept tight reins on all
their secrets.
I
would have to play this one well.
After
giving Kian a soft kiss on the cheek, he pulled me closer and our
lips met. His heavenly features and tender touch always made him
unforgettable. No boy had ever kissed me as he did, as if everything
in his fiber poured out of him in that single moment, just to be with
me.
Climbing
into bed, my wings collapsed into my sides. I hardly felt the
transition anymore. I didn’t feel as exhausted as I once did when I
had been human, but I still needed my sleep. Kian brushed my blonde
hair as I closed my eyes and he eased my way into a dream. With him
near me, dreams came easily.
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About
the Author:
Ami
Blackwelder is a Paranormal and SciFi author. Her stories range from
Tween & YA to Adult. Growing up in Florida, she graduated UCF and
in 1997 received her BA in English and additional teaching
credentials. Then she packed her bags and travelled overseas to teach
in Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, China and Korea. Thailand is considered
her second home now. She has always loved writing and wrote poems and
short stores since childhood; however, her novels began when she was
in Thailand.
Having
won the Best Fiction Award from the University of Central Florida
(Yes, The Blair Witch Project University), her short fiction From Joy
We Come, Unto Joy We Return was published in the on campus literary
magazine: Cypress Dome and remains to this day in University
libraries around the USA. Later, she achieved the semi-finals in a
Laurel Hemingway contest and published a few poems in the Thailand’s
Expat magazine, and an article in the Thailand’s People newspaper.
Additionally, she has published poetry in the Korea’s AIM magazine,
the American Poetic Monthly magazine and Twisted Dreams Magazine.
Indie
Film Project http://ShifterEvolutions.blogspot.com
Need
a Book Cover or Trailer? http://YourBookCoverDesigner.blogspot.com
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