(This is an excerpt from Redemption. Savannah has been
killed by Revenants, mutated creatures who live in a toxic wasteland and feed
on human flesh. She has just finished being returned to her body and the
healing is complete.)
Before me stands
the
most beautiful man I've ever seen. His blond curls are brushed back from
his
face, white shirt pressed
and neatly tucked into a pair of grey slacks. Soft looking
leather shoes cover his feet and he leans against a crumbling wall, arms
crossed. Eyes so pale they are almost white shine like silver. Widening
my
gaze and squinting
alternately changes nothing. There's more to
this man
than
arms
and
legs—he has wings.
Angel.
"You never did
listen to your mother, Savannah. Close your mouth now,
before you
draw
flies."
I'm
flabbergasted
and covering myself
the
best I can, I swivel until I'm sitting cross legged, shredded fabric between us
and the sun warming my back. The prisms of light I saw when I was dead
are
still visible
to me,
though
at a much lower wattage.
Maybe
human eyes suck at seeing the light.
"Do you know what's happened to you?" He straightens from
the
wall, extends a wing and shakes it the way a cat might shake its tail while it stretches.
I can hardly drag my gaze away from the wing to look him
in the face. "I was dead."
He
nods but continues
to
wait.
"And
now I'm not."
"Yes," he smiles. "Good. At least you understand that much.
You
wouldn't believe how many mortals end up insane after a
resurrection. Truly sad."
His smile doesn't dissipate and I'm so struck by the
wrongness of all this I
forget this being is more powerful than I
can imagine. Dryly, I say,
"Yeah, sad. You
look truly upset."
Now the smile falters
and he comes closer. Large wings
extend behind him. They
cast
brilliant light over the daytime
foliage I've never seen, with or without the filter of a face mask. Flowers bloom larger than
a man's hand, green and purple leaves
grow unfettered, the drooping
trees full of strange fruits. The squidplants, such an ugly thing in the harsh glare of manmade lights in the night, spread like gorgeous cords of ruby
crystals. Is this supposed to
be paradise?
No, I answer myself, remembering the Reves scampering for the shadows like
exposed insects.
I ask, "Who
are
you?"
"I am Michael."
"Michael?
Like the Michael?"
He nods and spreads his wings further.
"Do you need
more
proof than your own
healed body and
what you see before you?"
I'm
not given time to answer before our surroundings are
replaced by the bedroom I once
had as a child. The painters
haven't come to create the pink and frilly environment I chose
when I was seven. I stand, uncertain, my legs shaky and nearly bare. Only from digipics do I know the dark wooden furniture, the cheery
yellow and pink
stripes, the ballerina mobile over my
crib. Dancing
teddy
bears march along the wall beyond the crib. Inside, a soft cooing ensues. I draw near, my rapidly beating heart a reminder I'm no
longer dead.
I peek over the rails of the crib and see a nearly bald baby with blue eyes sucking on its fat fist, the pink shirt shoved high on its sturdy belly. Michael stands at the foot of the crib. Gone are
his
wings and bright glow. He's still beautiful and his nails
gleam when
he wiggles his fingers at the baby…at me.
My baby self gurgles and kicks her legs, shoving the light
blanket further off her lower half.
"Little Savannah," he soothes, "sweet baby Savannah."
His
gaze
turns to
me. "You don't recall this
visit,
do you?"
I shake my head afraid to move closer, to touch anything.
My boots crush
the
soft carpeting.
"Don't be ashamed. All your kind have difficulty
remembering unconditional love. He designed you to
love Him freely, by choice."
The baby
glances toward me, as if following
Michael's line of questioning, but I can tell she/me doesn't see me/her standing there. Her/my gaze is unfocused. This doubling of myself is unnerving and my head
begins to
ache. "Why?"
Michael pays
attention
to the
baby again, winding
the mobile so the haunting strains of the melody can echo in my
memories, a sort of freakish stereo. "Why what?"
"Why did
you visit me?"
He looks up and the room
dissolves, returning us to the rubble of the toxic garden and the remains of the world that once was. The sickness I've fought returns and
I swallow bile.
He's as I first saw him–a model of the perfect man but without the wings or glowing light. "Because you were chosen, of course."
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Just Another Rabid Reader
Redemption
By JR Turner
Blurb:
Half-angel Savannah Mantas smells the sulfuric stench of wrath when it enters her city, Iron Point. Resurrected by the archangel Michael, she’s hunting for redemption and half-demon Nico Montenegro is her prey. He comes from the Fringes, the border between the city and the toxic wasteland beyond. When they meet, Nico tells her a story, one of genocide and confiscated bodies. Not revenge, but justice is his purpose and his target is the most admired family in the world–Commander Hathaway and his daughter.
Hathaway’s soldiers are slaughtering Fringers and secretly feeding them to Revenants, mutants who survived the bio-bombing of 2120. They have a twisted idea they can train these clever creatures like dogs and keep them out of the city long enough to mobilize an evacuation for the wealthy and well-connected. Savannah knows better. Revenants are what killed her. When they attack, the last of humankind may be wiped out completely. Stopping Hathaway might just be enough to gain her redemption and escape a hellish fate.
Createspace https://www.createspace.com/3830999
About the Author:
J.R. Turner is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Writers Association. She writes in a variety of genres including middle-grade adventures, young adult horror, romantic suspense, horror, military action, and urban fantasy. In her spare time she enjoys arts and crafts, traveling, and movies. Few things in life compare to her passion for the written word, except perhaps the pursuit of chocolate.
Website: www.jennifer-turner.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JRTurner17
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JRTurner
1 comments:
Thanks so much for being a part of my blog tour!! :)
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