heaps of shovelled snow. ‘I don’t know, Tania. I’m just not sure.’
‘What don’t you know?’ I kept my distance, had a prickling sensation at the back of my neck that the axe might be about to fall on our love affair. If you think I’m overreacting, just bear in mind my extra-sensory gift.
‘If I can go through this again.’
Think about it – one, two and now three attacks. The first time my dark angel made me his target was through Zoran Brancusi at Black Eagle Lodge. That’s what the twisted, tormented spirit does – he finds a human form and enters it, builds his power base, prepares to ensnare innocent souls and drag them from their lovers and their families. He’s flanked by fallen angels, also in disguise. He shape-shifts and creates a world of monstrous creatures; he’s into total mind control.
And with Zoran it was fire. Flames leaping into the night sky, smoke billowing across mountains, and only me with my psychic powers to warn and try to rescue his victims – first my best friend, Grace, then Holly.
Yes – second time round it was Holly, and not fire but water. On that occasion Aurelie and Jean-Luc Laurent were dark angels in disguise, a twin threat. Their nightmare visions emerged from Lake Turner. Beneath the surface lay a sunken town. Corpses rose from the graveyard to entice the living into the icy depths.
I saw all this and suffered, fought back against the wolf-man vision until I discovered the double mask my dark angel was hiding behind. Through it all Orlando had been there at my side. He’d believed me, put himself through incredible dangers to protect me.
Fire and water. And now this third time I was convinced that my dark angel belonged to the earth. That’s where he was hiding – crawling, writhing, emerging from the subways of New York City. And this totally sucked because I was a long way from home and he existed in total, suffocating darkness, so far without any human shape.
But worse than anything, here in this hotel room on Hubert Street my one and only love, my soul mate Orlando was warning me he couldn’t take it; he’d had enough.
I sat on the bed and put my hands to my head.
‘Maybe you’re imagining it.’ Still with his back turned, he denied the hell that I’d described. ‘This could be some kind of panic attack.’
‘So we’re back to the old routine – you’re saying I’m ill and I should see a doctor?’ My voice was hollow. I felt my strength drain away.
‘I tell you I don’t know, Tania. I mean, you’ve been through a lot lately. Maybe it’s messed with your mind more than we think. You could ask for help.’
I groaned because we’d been here before: anti-anxiety pills and sessions with a shrink re-entered the frame. This is what Orlando was saying, though I know he didn’t mean for it to wound me like it did. ‘You don’t believe me,’ I said flatly.
He let out a long sigh. ‘The truth is, I don’t want to believe you,’ he acknowledged. ‘I want us to be free.’
Free of destroyers who gather at the shoulder of my dark angel, all driven by malice, all tormented since they fell from heaven. They are part of the cosmic battle between good and evil – an army of fallen angels.
‘How can we be free?’ I asked.
The axe hovered over us all evening but didn’t fall. After we’d undressed and showered then got into bed Orlando relented and didn’t give up on me after all.
‘I will be here,’ he promised, digging deep to find the strength he needed. ‘It was my head telling me to back off and get you checked out by a doctor, but you know how I feel in my heart.’
‘I wouldn’t blame you,’ I tried to tell him.
He put his arms around me and drew me to him, skin against skin, smooth and warm. ‘I would. I’d blame myself. Tania, it’s only with you that I feel … like a whole person. Without you I can’t make sense of this crazy world. You know how much I love you.’
I smiled through tears. ‘You really
‘What don’t you know?’ I kept my distance, had a prickling sensation at the back of my neck that the axe might be about to fall on our love affair. If you think I’m overreacting, just bear in mind my extra-sensory gift.
‘If I can go through this again.’
Think about it – one, two and now three attacks. The first time my dark angel made me his target was through Zoran Brancusi at Black Eagle Lodge. That’s what the twisted, tormented spirit does – he finds a human form and enters it, builds his power base, prepares to ensnare innocent souls and drag them from their lovers and their families. He’s flanked by fallen angels, also in disguise. He shape-shifts and creates a world of monstrous creatures; he’s into total mind control.
And with Zoran it was fire. Flames leaping into the night sky, smoke billowing across mountains, and only me with my psychic powers to warn and try to rescue his victims – first my best friend, Grace, then Holly.
Yes – second time round it was Holly, and not fire but water. On that occasion Aurelie and Jean-Luc Laurent were dark angels in disguise, a twin threat. Their nightmare visions emerged from Lake Turner. Beneath the surface lay a sunken town. Corpses rose from the graveyard to entice the living into the icy depths.
I saw all this and suffered, fought back against the wolf-man vision until I discovered the double mask my dark angel was hiding behind. Through it all Orlando had been there at my side. He’d believed me, put himself through incredible dangers to protect me.
Fire and water. And now this third time I was convinced that my dark angel belonged to the earth. That’s where he was hiding – crawling, writhing, emerging from the subways of New York City. And this totally sucked because I was a long way from home and he existed in total, suffocating darkness, so far without any human shape.
But worse than anything, here in this hotel room on Hubert Street my one and only love, my soul mate Orlando was warning me he couldn’t take it; he’d had enough.
I sat on the bed and put my hands to my head.
‘Maybe you’re imagining it.’ Still with his back turned, he denied the hell that I’d described. ‘This could be some kind of panic attack.’
‘So we’re back to the old routine – you’re saying I’m ill and I should see a doctor?’ My voice was hollow. I felt my strength drain away.
‘I tell you I don’t know, Tania. I mean, you’ve been through a lot lately. Maybe it’s messed with your mind more than we think. You could ask for help.’
I groaned because we’d been here before: anti-anxiety pills and sessions with a shrink re-entered the frame. This is what Orlando was saying, though I know he didn’t mean for it to wound me like it did. ‘You don’t believe me,’ I said flatly.
He let out a long sigh. ‘The truth is, I don’t want to believe you,’ he acknowledged. ‘I want us to be free.’
Free of destroyers who gather at the shoulder of my dark angel, all driven by malice, all tormented since they fell from heaven. They are part of the cosmic battle between good and evil – an army of fallen angels.
‘How can we be free?’ I asked.
The axe hovered over us all evening but didn’t fall. After we’d undressed and showered then got into bed Orlando relented and didn’t give up on me after all.
‘I will be here,’ he promised, digging deep to find the strength he needed. ‘It was my head telling me to back off and get you checked out by a doctor, but you know how I feel in my heart.’
‘I wouldn’t blame you,’ I tried to tell him.
He put his arms around me and drew me to him, skin against skin, smooth and warm. ‘I would. I’d blame myself. Tania, it’s only with you that I feel … like a whole person. Without you I can’t make sense of this crazy world. You know how much I love you.’
I smiled through tears. ‘You really
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