Avenging Angels (The Seraphim Chronicles Book 1) by Nicholas Adams Page B
Authors: Nicholas Adams
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self-conscious about his eerie eyes.
Graham ensured that Celeste never left his side. She was with him twenty-four hours a day, even helping him bathe in the mornings. Her devotion to his every need, want, and desire was absolute. He had no tolerance for the simple attire commonly worn by the Angels. Celeste obliged when he insisted that she dress in a more provocative fashion, although what she wore on the outside did not seem to affect her selfless disposition.
After setting the drink down in front of him, she stood by his desk with a pleasant smile on her face, eager to please. “Is there anything else I can get for you, Silas?” she asked in soothing tones. He had always insisted she call him by his first name instead of using formal salutations.
Graham turned from the window and smiled. Her eyes captivated him with their sincerity, yet there always seemed to be something missing. “No thank you, Celeste. That will be all for now.”
She turned with a warm smile, walking toward the door and returning to her desk outside his office. In Graham’s mind, she was a capable assistant, but lacked initiative. He liked giving orders, and he liked when people did as instructed. She always did as he asked without question or hesitation. However, she never did something that he had not already asked her to do, like the routine of his morning pick-me-up. Celeste never brought it to him without his requesting it each morning.
This flaw frustrated him, but her blind obedience was better than having his authority questioned by a subordinate. The last time he had been shown a lack of respect had been off world, when his perseverance bore fruit and he found the Dissident laboratory, when he had been face to face with the daughter of his old friend, Captain Evangeline Chapel.
“Captain Evangeline Evans, now,” he thought to himself. He had tried shaming her by demoting her rank for her insubordinate attitude. But after locating and securing Matthew’s lab, and even denouncing her parents in her mission report, the worst damage Graham could inflict was having her reassigned to security patrols in the LTZ.
Graham wanted the reassignment to be a punishment, but from the scant reports and rumors from his contacts on the base, the transfer did not have the effect he desired. From everything he heard, Evangeline had remarried and became a successful TRTV instructor on the base. It frustrated Graham to no end that the base commander had intervened on Evangeline’s behalf and protected her from his wrath.
Graham continued to stare out the glazed wall of his large corner office. His last off-world mission was the success he needed to obtain a permanent assignment to Olympus. The promotion afforded him the luxuries he so enjoyed. Increased pay, heightened security clearance, and living quarters in the upper levels. He even had a private transport with an Angel driver in addition to Celeste. The equipment, specimens, and notes recovered by the second team he dispatched down to the moon were what he needed to obtain the post on Mars’ staff, even though Graham himself did not understand what it was Evangeline’s team found, or why it was so important.
The public personnel file of General James ‘Mars’ Reynolds illuminated above Graham’s desk. The file showed Reynolds to be a short man with a stocky build. Many believed that Reynolds, and the other members of the Quorum of Zeus, were immortal. No one knew his actual age because he had had countless Angel transplants over the years, perpetually extending his life. Some had even speculated that he did not have an original body part left in his frame.
Reynolds had carried the title of Mars longer than anyone alive could remember. To serve under him was considered a great honor, and those on his staff had taken the name of Martian upon themselves with pride. It was said Reynolds could be as wise a prophet and as cunning as the devil.
Graham had wanted to work under James Reynolds
Graham ensured that Celeste never left his side. She was with him twenty-four hours a day, even helping him bathe in the mornings. Her devotion to his every need, want, and desire was absolute. He had no tolerance for the simple attire commonly worn by the Angels. Celeste obliged when he insisted that she dress in a more provocative fashion, although what she wore on the outside did not seem to affect her selfless disposition.
After setting the drink down in front of him, she stood by his desk with a pleasant smile on her face, eager to please. “Is there anything else I can get for you, Silas?” she asked in soothing tones. He had always insisted she call him by his first name instead of using formal salutations.
Graham turned from the window and smiled. Her eyes captivated him with their sincerity, yet there always seemed to be something missing. “No thank you, Celeste. That will be all for now.”
She turned with a warm smile, walking toward the door and returning to her desk outside his office. In Graham’s mind, she was a capable assistant, but lacked initiative. He liked giving orders, and he liked when people did as instructed. She always did as he asked without question or hesitation. However, she never did something that he had not already asked her to do, like the routine of his morning pick-me-up. Celeste never brought it to him without his requesting it each morning.
This flaw frustrated him, but her blind obedience was better than having his authority questioned by a subordinate. The last time he had been shown a lack of respect had been off world, when his perseverance bore fruit and he found the Dissident laboratory, when he had been face to face with the daughter of his old friend, Captain Evangeline Chapel.
“Captain Evangeline Evans, now,” he thought to himself. He had tried shaming her by demoting her rank for her insubordinate attitude. But after locating and securing Matthew’s lab, and even denouncing her parents in her mission report, the worst damage Graham could inflict was having her reassigned to security patrols in the LTZ.
Graham wanted the reassignment to be a punishment, but from the scant reports and rumors from his contacts on the base, the transfer did not have the effect he desired. From everything he heard, Evangeline had remarried and became a successful TRTV instructor on the base. It frustrated Graham to no end that the base commander had intervened on Evangeline’s behalf and protected her from his wrath.
Graham continued to stare out the glazed wall of his large corner office. His last off-world mission was the success he needed to obtain a permanent assignment to Olympus. The promotion afforded him the luxuries he so enjoyed. Increased pay, heightened security clearance, and living quarters in the upper levels. He even had a private transport with an Angel driver in addition to Celeste. The equipment, specimens, and notes recovered by the second team he dispatched down to the moon were what he needed to obtain the post on Mars’ staff, even though Graham himself did not understand what it was Evangeline’s team found, or why it was so important.
The public personnel file of General James ‘Mars’ Reynolds illuminated above Graham’s desk. The file showed Reynolds to be a short man with a stocky build. Many believed that Reynolds, and the other members of the Quorum of Zeus, were immortal. No one knew his actual age because he had had countless Angel transplants over the years, perpetually extending his life. Some had even speculated that he did not have an original body part left in his frame.
Reynolds had carried the title of Mars longer than anyone alive could remember. To serve under him was considered a great honor, and those on his staff had taken the name of Martian upon themselves with pride. It was said Reynolds could be as wise a prophet and as cunning as the devil.
Graham had wanted to work under James Reynolds
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