D.H. Nevins - Angel of Shadow, Wormwood Trilogy, Book 2

Angel of Shadow

Book Two in the Wormwood Trilogy

D.H. Nevins

Angelof Shadow

D.H. Nevins

Published By BlackWraith Books at Smashwords

Copyright 2017 D.H.Nevins

This book is alsoavailable in print at many online retailers.

This ebook is licensedfor your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or givenaway to other people. If you would like to share this book withanother person, please purchase an additional copy for eachrecipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, orit was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respectingthe hard work of this author.

ISBN-13:978-0-9877612-4-8

This is a work offiction. Occasional characters are named after people who helpedthe author on her writing journey, but each characterspersonalities, traits and descriptions are completely fictitious,and in no way resemble or are meant to resemble the people afterwhom they were named. With the exception of some names andreferences drawn from biblical, Hindu and Babylonian mythology,other names, characters, places and incidents are either all usedfictitiously or are products of the authors imagination. Noreference to any real person or event is intended or should beinferred.

Cover image created byCarlos Quevedo.

Visit him at: www.carlosquevedoart.com

Black Wraith Books

Kingston, Ontario

Table of Contents

Sometimes wedont realize how much of an impact our words have on others.

Readers andreviewers, this book is, and always was, for you.

Your wordswere my inspiration, and your enthusiasm, my fuel.

Thank you

I forced myself to keep walking, mymind returning to the subject yet again, but never coming up with asolution. I was about to become a murderer. A monster. The verythought of it was acid in my veins. Yet I continued, one foot infront of the other, each step taking me closer to theencampment.

The eeriequiet permeated everything, like I was walking through a vast tomb.Moonlight splashed over the torn landscape in broken, washed outchunks, while shards of deep, black shadow gouged into the spreadof ghostly white. The pocking of light and dark made it difficultto see whether I was simply stepping into shadow or about to plungedown a bottomless pit. I assumed it was the latter. Even if I didnot physically fall, I was going down all the same. One way or theother.

My breathcaught as my feet hit a patch of rocky ground, and the resultingcrunch of small rocks echoed through the silence. I was still toofar away for anyone to hear me, but I glanced around, just in case.As expected, there was no one in sight. No people. No Richard.

My stomachdropped with dread at the thought of him and I stopped. All mymomentum was lost. Richard. For some time, I stoodmotionless, nearly blending into the landscape, another cold rockleft battered by the apocalypse. There wasnt a puff of breeze tostir my long hair, or a single sound in the dead air around me. Itwas as if my body resisted moving through the stillness of theplace. Nevertheless, I knew that was not the reason I hesitated. Ineeded to find a way out of this.

Standingmotionless, I sifted through the words that had passed between us,searching yet again for a loophole. But I came up with nothing.Nothing! It was a rotten deal, really; one life for many,the one I loved spared while unnamed strangers perished. Thedetails of the agreement were basic. If I spread my virus to thepeople of the encampment, Richard wouldnt kill Tiamat. Simple. Andmorally impossible.

I cant doit, I thought, the notion seeping out as a hiss through myclenched teeth. At that moment, it was true; I couldnt. Like theslipping of bonds, that realization seemed to free me. Spinning onmy heel, I turned and started back the way I had come, mingledfeelings of relief and dread swarming like insects within my chest.I ignored the sensation and walked on. Whether he was a demon ornot, Richard could not make me do it. I was free to choose.Yet that thought stopped me short. Choose ...If I dontdo it, then Im choosing Tiamats death, arent I?

Dammit!I stopped and planted my hands on the rough stone of a largeboulder, the smell of deep soil still clinging to it.Tiamat. He was Nephilim, one of the legion of half-angelswho were here to wipe out humanity. He had done unspeakable thingsto protect me, and had given me this virus as a way to mask me fromhis Nephilim brothers. Yet he never intended for me to use itagainst anyone. The virus was simply to make me invisible, allowingme to pass undetected as the half-angels hunted down the last ofthe human survivors.

Pressing myforehead onto the rocks cold surface, I thought of him, of hiswarm smile, his dark hair that fell into his face when he leanedforward in thought, his startling blue eyes fixed on mine, and hisfingers brushing my lips. My chest ached, deep and spreading, whenI replayed what had happened to him. The painful flurry of imageswere of Tiamat commanding his troops, powerful and charismatic; ofhim surrendering his command in exchange for my life; and finallyof Daniel sawing at his enormous white wings, while Tiamats bloodsplattered onto the rocks below.

That lastimage firmed my resolution. I could not let Richard killhim, now that Tiamat was whole and safe at last. I owed himeverything. I loved himI loved him so much it was overwhelmingandthe thought of Richard targeting him because I was too weak to dothis made my back stiffen. I took a few deep breaths and stolemyself for what I had to do, ignoring the choking feeling inside mychest. Pushing myself away from the solidity of the rock, I squaredmy shoulders, spun back around and stalked toward the encampment.There was no way out of this. I had to pass my virus on to thosepeople.

I walkedthrough a drift of volcanic ash, the sand-like grains cascadingaway from the onslaught of my boots, and I bit my lip. Thelandscape was horrific. All around me, the moonlight revealed aterrain much like a churned war zone. I picked my way over moundedhunks of dirt and clay, and then wove around elephant-sized rocksthat had been thrust up from deep within the ground. Repressing ashudder, I moved through it, remembering the incredible force theNephilim had used to rip deep into the land, twisting and churningit like the entire surface of the Earth was little more than afarmers field being sown for a spring planting. I walked on,squeezing my hands into fists as I tried to remain focused. Movingcarefully, I avoided seemingly bottomless fissures, and slippedpast the occasional twist of exposed roots from trees that eitherlay like fallen soldiers or, worse, were buried under the heavedsoil that had swallowed them up. The sight still broke myheart.

I had no ideawhat this particular area might have looked like before TheCleansingthat horrible day when the Nephilim destroyed the surfaceof the Earth. Could there have been a park here? I wonderedin passing, more to distract myself than out of curiosity. Orwas this someones backyard? I looked down at my dusty boots,causing my brown hair to fall in front of my face. Shaking my head,I pushed my hair away, tucking it behind my ear as I threw my eyesback to the hazard-strewn ground around me. It didnt really matterwhat was here before, I reminded myself. Nothing in this worldwould ever be the same again.