“Demon magic, I would have died if you didn’t pull it out, it would have slowly eaten away at me.”
“Nate! I didn’t know what the hell to do! You never taught me to heal, that’s first on our training to-do-list!”
“Sera, I don’t know what you did, I’ve never seen anything like it. You almost died giving me all your energy, your aura!”
“I did what?” Almost unbelieving, how could one possibly do something like that?
“I felt such a rush of adrenaline before, my heart was pumping what felt like fire through my veins, even my senses are so much more.” He looks at me in awe like he had no idea one could possess such power, “Is this what you feel like? Is this what you experience Sera?”
“I guess, but I thought that was just being an Angel…”
“I think that you may be more than that…” he lets the sentence drift off between us as we both process the gravity of his words. “I guess it’s only fair, I gave you my blood and now I have a piece of your aura in me.”
I giggle, “It was always yours to have,” I whisper against his lips before kissing him softly. He grabs my face and kisses me firmly before pulling away.
“You’ve gotten so powerful Sera, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask curiously as my hand finds it’s way to his chest.
“That blast of power, I’ve never experienced anything like that. I was twitching in the grass, trying to get the blade out, when I saw the surge of power coming towards me. It looked so beautiful until I felt the power from it, it blew me clean off the cliff. I struggled so hard to grab hold of something,” he shakes his head as he remembers, “I don’t know what you can be capable of anymore…”
I blink hard, I was the reason he fell off the cliff. Holy guilt trip. I blink once more taking in the remainder of his words, he doesn’t know what I’m capable of… who the hell would? What does that make me?
“Sera, don’t freak out…”
“Nate… remember what I said about the ‘don’t-get-mad’ statement? The same thing applies for this one!”
“Well, since you’ve been asleep, I’ve been experimenting with my own powers.”
“And…” I take it back, I’m actually curious.
“I think your energy has made them powerful like yours. My fire is strong and my senses are even more advanced, I even swear when you were asleep I could feel your dreams, sensing way more than your emotional state.”
“Really?” I’m intrigued. Nate and I can be on the same page now!
“I just had this gut feeling that you would wake up today… I think that maybe your dreams are visions.”
“Have you had dreams?” I whisper excitedly.
“No, but I can feel things, sense things that haven’t happened yet,” he shakes his head like it doesn’t even make sense to him. “Anyways, I’d like to change the subject to something else…”
“Oh yea, like what?” I ask placing my head on his shoulders.
“We were so busy training we missed Christmas and New Years,” he softly tells me.
“Aww,” I moan in anger, “I really looked forward to celebrating the holidays with him. Hopefully, next year will be better.
“Well, we were so deep into training and then after the fight, you were asleep for three days!” he informs me.
“What! No way!” I exclaim maybe a little too loud in his ear.
“You used so much power and energy, your body needed to regenerate. But while you were asleep I thought of the perfect gift.”
“But I didn’t get a chance to give you anything!”
“You gave me so much already,” he whispers linking our fingers in my lap. “So I got you this…” he snaps his fingers and I glance down to see the necklace dangling from my neck in the shape of an infinity symbol. “It represents my love for you… it’s infinite.”
Tears well up in my eyes, “I love you too,” I place a kiss against his lips before he pulls away.
“You know you took that from me too!” he pretends to be seriously upset, but I see the joke behind his eyes. “You said you loved me first in that voicemail, you keep taking the firsts from me!”
“Well, you’re just going to have to step up your game mister!” I joke leaning back into a stretch pretending to be macho. He tickles his fingers across my stomach calling my bluff and I burst into giggles retracting into a ball. His hands spread out and pull me close to him before his face nuzzles into mine. Our noses touch and his eyes flutter open to mine.
“I guess I’m going to have to,” he tells against my lips once more.
“Mmm, I think… your doing a pretty good job,” I tell him between our kisses.
*
It seems like forever sitting here in Nate’s arms neither of us have touched the pizza we are just happy to be together. My hands are wrapped around his neck and my face is on his shoulder. I feel his hair mingle with mine above our heads with our breathing in tune to each other. “Nate who stabbed you?”
“Gabriel,” his body tenses under me and I know the thought alone infuriates him. Honestly, it infuriates me too, Gabe putting his hands on my Nate.
“Did you kill him?” I somehow get out through clenched teeth as my fists ball themselves up. There is a pause before I lean back to look at him.
“No…” he mutters.
“No?” I sit up slightly. Wait a minute, did Nate just call him Gabriel?
“He must have sensed you building power because he skipped out before the blast.”
“What!?” I blurt out whipping my arms back and sitting up from him, “Gabe is still alive?!”
The End
Epilogue:
Jack
A few weeks earlier…
Walking back into the coffee shop after that revolting display of affection played out like a corny black and white movie. I collapse into Sera’s chair with my head in my hands. Without dropping my hands I yell, “Get him!”
They know whom I mean, he’s only tried to contact me a million times since Sera’s accident. I feel all the spirits rush to leave with the good news, they all want to be the one who delivers it. I sit there for only a few seconds when I feel him.
“You called…” his deep voice makes me stand at attention as my hands fall to my sides. Something in me answers to him in a way I never thought possible. He glides out from the shadows wearing a hooded black cloak. I can’t see him but I feel his authority, his evil deep within me. I tried so hard to believe that I could choose my own destiny. I tried so hard to be what Sera wanted me to be, but I have a feeling it was always going to end like this.
“I want her.” I tell him not able to look at him and admit my submission.
“If I give her to you, will you be able to get her to choose our cause?”
“I will sure as hell try!”
“Trying isn’t good enough!” he hollers at me making all the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. “She is everything! We need her! She is the prophecy, Seraphina will change the world as we know it!”
“I…” stammering trying to choose my words carefully, I knew Sera was special. But the way he talks about her…
“Will you or won’t you be able to do it?" he snickers before I hear a deep laugh-like noise, "See, I don’t think you can anymore. I don’t think you have it in you and I don’t think she loves you…” he taunts me gliding across the floor to me like he’s on roller skates.
“She does!” I fire back through clenched teeth, “I will be able to do it, I will get her!” I scream slamming my foot into the floor beneath me.
“Good,” his black skeletal fingers stretch out from his cloak and waives his arm like he’s making it all come to pass in a world only he can see. I find myself staring at his witch-like fingers, don't get me wrong my gift has made me see some impossible things. Never in my life have I seen something that creeped me out more than this very moment right now. He wiggles his fingers as if reading my thoughts before sm
oke begins to circle around him and spiral up to the ceiling. "For your sake, I hope you do succeed. I don’t do well with false promises." The threat echoes in my ears with a voice deeper than what was spoken. The smoke continues to billow before it vanishes like someone turned on a fan and whisked it away. I stare into the empty darkness, I feel nothing. Not a shadow or a spirit in sight. I collapse into the chair behind me when my knees give way. What have I done?
A few amazing weeks later…
I watch her stomp away from where I kneel, her long scarlet hair swishing back and forth behind her in angered succession. I let my hand fall from my throbbing cheek, I think she broke my jaw. I know I deserved it, but I can’t believe she hit me. Struggling to hold the tears back as I climb to my feet and collapse into my desk chair, I feel as though my heart is breaking. I can’t breathe, my heart is pounding in my chest with anxiety, and fear is the only thing that consumes me. It’s the fear that she may never speak to me again. They say all is fair in love and war, but what she doesn’t understand is that my love for her is twice that of any man. I would do anything for her, anything … and by any means necessary.
How do I make her see that she chose wrong? How can I ever make this up to her? My eyes shift to the corner where the possessed had lay when she threw them without a touch like they were nothing less than a feather. Sera is getting so powerful, so beautiful as she comes into her own. I can’t wait to see her reach her full potential, she’s going to be unmatchable. She doesn’t even comprehend what she could be. She doesn’t understand why she is so desirable! I can help her—I will show her.
Okay—I admit it, I got carried away. The feeling of power and strength, and the feeling of having everything that you’ve ever wanted. I was what Sera wanted. I was hers and she was mine, now to have lost everything I don’t know what to do. I was on an inexplicable high, I felt invisible, untouchable. She was what my world revolved around, she was the only one who could change me… and now that I lost her… I lost everything. I will do anything to have her again, I just hope she gives me that chance.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of you.
From family and friends to complete strangers halfway around the world, this book was created for you. The outpouring of kind words and support means more to me than you will ever know.
The Seraphina Series is something dear to my heart that has helped me through a rough time and ultimately to find my true passion in life. Words cannot express how I feel when I find that people have actually fallen in love with the characters as I have.
For more updates, fun facts or release details visit:
www.SheenaHutchinson.com
For more frequent updates, like my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/TheSeraphinaSeries
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I want to take the time to thank my awesome friends & family again for their love and support I’m truly blow away by
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To Maria M—thank you for your honestly about the first draft, I hope this one is up to your standards!
I would be nothing without the helpful editing of my mother, Debbie Hutchinson as well as Lauren D, Leigh Ann K.
And my beta readers: Alexis C and Maria M for helping me up the drama!
The awesome cover work is done by the talented Andrea Garcia. You can see more of her work at: www.AndyG4rcia.com or www.andygarcia666.deviantart.com
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Last but certainly not least, I want to thank God for giving me this insanely detailed dream, for putting it on my heart to write it down, and finally for instilling me with the creativity and patience to make my dreams become a reality.
About the Author
Sheena is a born and raised New Yorker, even her writing can't seem to hide her hard sarcasm. She claims destiny has lead her back to her true passion for writing.
She constantly strives to be a positive role model and writes stories that empower and inspire. Sheena always roots for the underdog, believes in love at first sight, and that everyone should have their happily ever after.
While God is currently still writing her love story, she continues to put all her effort into her writing as she is constantly getting new inspiration.
For more info, updates, and fun facts visit her website at www.SheenaHutchinson.com
Seraphina: Initiation Page 15
